I had super intense and frequent cravings and they were the main barrier to my getting sober as I didn't know how to handle them without eventually acting out. Those mental states truly felt like being a monster from another dimension or something.
Like Melinda while I was drinking, most often I would say 9-10/10 >>> straight to the liquor store. I still had a few similarly intense (and long, sometimes lasting hours) ones during my first month sober and usually many milder ones, virtually every day, for a while. They very noticeably started to subside as I learned how to handle them sober, the more successful experiences, the more the cravings lessened. I'm now at 3 months and have not had anything stronger than maybe 1-2/10, even those quite infrequently, barely notice now. So the whole thing went from "I don't know how I can do this, due to the monster cravings" to very manageable, and much more quickly than I expected. I used the SMART Recovery as help with urge management (and to maintain motivation for recovery) - they have many different, great tools. I think they probably saved my life and would highly recommend to anyone struggling with cravings. They also teach you to identify and monitor your trigger patterns and I found that invaluable, as I seemed to have a very strong cue reactivity tendency. When you get familiar with it, it allows you to predict and foresee triggers/cravings and prepare for every situation ahead of time. I also actually found that learning super interesting and fun once I felt more comfortable and competent.
I don't expect to never have intense cravings again, but having learned those tools give me great confidence and peace that I can handle whatever hits me in the future, as long as I never drink again.