Jump to content

Advantages to prepurchasing a Beverage Card


Fighterone
 Share

Recommended Posts

Been searching several threads without success to find out the following:

What is the advantage of purchasing a Beverage Card before the cruise?

Can the Beverage Card be purchased on board?

I presume the 15% gratuity is added on regardless of the time the card is purchase. Right?

Are the drinks cheaper when you use a Beverage Card?

Finally, if the drinks are the same price, what are the advantages of using a Beverage Card? TIA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been searching several threads without success to find out the following:

What is the advantage of purchasing a Beverage Card before the cruise?

Can the Beverage Card be purchased on board?

I presume the 15% gratuity is added on regardless of the time the card is purchase. Right?

Are the drinks cheaper when you use a Beverage Card?

Finally, if the drinks are the same price, what are the advantages of using a Beverage Card? TIA

 

The main advantage is you don’t have a bunch of $7 charges on your account so some find it easier and neater to keep an eye on their account by using the beverage card.

 

Yes the 15% is just part of what they deduct when you make a purchase.

 

No discount for drinks, they used to discount the card. For example a $100 card used to be $90 but those days are gone

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The soda card is $25 to receive $50 of fountain soda.

 

For the regular card, you buy the card for $ increments and the cost of the drink and tip are deducted as you use it. You can use it at happy hour. You can buy any price drink so long as your card has the $. They can be gifted to others. I can buy you a drink too with it.

 

One thing I found was that the magnetic strip easily fails and I had to go to guest services 3 times. The chief advantage for me was giving the card to my son and letting him order independently. Also I like prepaying so I don't get the big bill at the end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, you can always buy a beverage card (or another beverage card <hic>) on board. The advantage to purchasing in advance is that the card will have your name pre-printed on it.

This can come in handy if you are with a group, all ordering at once, or if the steward has lots of cards to return to various people. You will know if you got the right card back, and the steward is more likely to get the right charge to your car.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, you can always buy a beverage card (or another beverage card <hic>) on board. The advantage to purchasing in advance is that the card will have your name pre-printed on it.

This can come in handy if you are with a group, all ordering at once, or if the steward has lots of cards to return to various people. You will know if you got the right card back, and the steward is more likely to get the right charge to your car.

I pre-ordered a beverage card for my cruise last month so my name would be on it. It wasn't in my cabin when I boarded so I waited, thinking it would come by dinnertime. It never came. So the next day I went down to guest services .They could see I had pre-ordered the $100 card so she printed one up on the spot with my name.

 

I wonder if I purchased it onboard in a bar it would be plain (no name) but then could I go to guest services and have them put my my name on it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depending on how much shipboard credit we have, depends on whether we buy the Beverage Cards before we cruise or once on the ship.

The Beverage Cards can not be used for anything in your mini cooler or on HMC.

They can also be used to buy bottles of wine, champagne, etc.

We get the $250 card -- it goes very quickly.

We like the cards as we do not have tons of receipts to keep track of at the end of a cruise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not having to keep up with bar tabs was the biggest advantage. Purchased two (one for DW and one for me) at Guest Services when we boarded. They printed it on the spot with our names. Since we purchased it with our onboard account (no OBC), the balance was applied to our bill the last evening on board.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I pre-ordered a beverage card for my cruise last month so my name would be on it. It wasn't in my cabin when I boarded so I waited, thinking it would come by dinnertime. It never came. So the next day I went down to guest services .They could see I had pre-ordered the $100 card so she printed one up on the spot with my name.

 

I wonder if I purchased it onboard in a bar it would be plain (no name) but then could I go to guest services and have them put my my name on it?

 

Thanks for the info, I might try that the next time If I run out on my original card.

 

I was on a 24 day cruise last year and purchased a pre-ordered beverage card, which I received with my name on it. About 14 days into the cruise, I finished the card. I purchased another beverage card from one of the bars that did not have my name on. I did not finish using the 2nd card and the remaining balance was applied to the My final bill.

 

For me I could keep the my beverages and the rest of my bill separate and if I don’t use the full balance it gets applied back to my bill.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's true for the Signature Beverage Card. But for the even dollar beverage card, the price is the same whether purchased in advance or purchased on board.

It's the even dollar beverage card which was the subject of this thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have 74 cruise days and a cruise coming up in 7 weeks. When does the 3 star benefits kick in - after our first cruise day or do we have to wait until later? Would like to use the 25% discount on beverage cards on this sailing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I prepurchased a beverage card and we received the card when we checked in at embarkation. Originally we were told it would be in our cabin. The card was nice because we bring allowed wine and soda onboard and only purchase an occasional drink and it wouldn't make sense for us to purchase beverage packages. We actually had funds left on ours at the end and it was credited back to our account.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have 74 cruise days and a cruise coming up in 7 weeks. When does the 3 star benefits kick in - after our first cruise day or do we have to wait until later? Would like to use the 25% discount on beverage cards on this sailing.

 

Your benefits are updated after your cruise.

 

FYI there is no discount on beverage cards no matter what your Mariner status is. The discount only applies to wine packages as far as alcoholic drinks are concerned.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you purchase a Signature Beverage Card, it is less expensive to purchase it online with HAL vs. purchasing it onboard.

 

That's true for the Signature Beverage Card. But for the even dollar beverage card, the price is the same whether purchased in advance or purchased on board.

It's the even dollar beverage card which was the subject of this thread.

Thanks for this info, everyone and for the specifics on the « Signature Beverage Card » boze999 and RuthC!

 

I was not aware that there was « A Signature Beverage Card » available online prior to sailing and if I can find its availability on the HAL website, I will purchase one ASAP.

 

BUT ...if we decided not to purchase a card, I must ask if HAL still gives receipts for drinks purchased. Our last 2 cruises, (CCL and MSC) those were not provided.

 

A lot of great information here, thank you all for responding and if you have anymore information concerning this subject and whether paper receipts are still provided on HAL, keep the info coming.

 

Well I just looked up the available Beverage Cards and I cannot find this Signature Beverage Card available for purchase, Is it discontinued? All I find are « Signature Beverage Packages » ranging from $200 to over $600.

Edited by Fighterone
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do 4 Star get 50% off everything in mini bar?

 

We have 74 cruise days and a cruise coming up in 7 weeks. When does the 3 star benefits kick in - after our first cruise day or do we have to wait until later? Would like to use the 25% discount on beverage cards on this sailing.

 

Roberts2005 and sprockie, this thread is specific to the purchase of « Beverage Cards » and as such will probably not provide the information consistent with your query which is totally unrelated to the subject. You might find better and more complete information about your questions if you were to start your own thread.

Thank you for keeping this subject on point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Roberts2005 and sprockie, this thread is specific to the purchase of « Beverage Cards » and as such will probably not provide the information consistent with your query which is totally unrelated to the subject. You might find better and more complete information about your questions if you were to start your own thread.

Thank you for keeping this subject on point.

 

Discussions and questions about beverage cards in general is related information many will learn and benefit from. Both of our questions we're answered but thank you for the guidance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depending on how much shipboard credit we have, depends on whether we buy the Beverage Cards before we cruise or once on the ship.

The Beverage Cards can not be used for anything in your mini cooler or on HMC.

They can also be used to buy bottles of wine, champagne, etc.

We get the $250 card -- it goes very quickly.

We like the cards as we do not have tons of receipts to keep track of at the end of a cruise.

 

You've made me curious, can we use our OBC to buy a beverage card?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How do you purchase a beverage card? I didn't see that as an option. I bought the beverage package but I doubt we will use it that often to actually pay for itself.

If you log in to HAL and are redirected to book2.hollandamerica.com

the options for Water, Beer, Beverage Cards will be listed for purchase.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does anyone know if the soda beverage card is for fountain drinks or cans of soda. Thanks

Just fountain soda.

 

 

And we didn't get a refund when we ran out of card. Each had about 60 cents left, and they didn't apply that 60 cents to the next card. They just charged the full drink amount on the new card.

 

 

Also, we had about $1.80 left over from all three cards at the end of the cruise, and they didn't credit half to our account.

 

I'm reluctant to buy a beverage card if they don't refund any amount left over.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How do you purchase a beverage card? I didn't see that as an option. I bought the beverage package but I doubt we will use it that often to actually pay for itself.

 

Just fountain soda.

 

 

And we didn't get a refund when we ran out of card. Each had about 60 cents left, and they didn't apply that 60 cents to the next card. They just charged the full drink amount on the new card.

 

 

Also, we had about $1.80 left over from all three cards at the end of the cruise, and they didn't credit half to our account.

 

I'm reluctant to buy a beverage card if they don't refund any amount left over.

I agree with you and will not be purchasing one especially since doing so does not provide us with any additional discount. Will just have to ask for the paper receipt every time if they no longer provide those.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with you and will not be purchasing one especially since doing so does not provide us with any additional discount. Will just have to ask for the paper receipt every time if they no longer provide those.
I must say we didn't get a receipt each time on the Soda Value Card, but the money was already spent.

 

 

We may avoid the soda card this time, and get our soda from the mini-bar w/ the 25% 3 star discount. I figured the cost would be pretty close to the cost w/ the soda card.

 

They were pretty good getting us the receipts w/ the other drinks we purchased onboard.

 

On Voyage of the Vikings, they did refund me the balance of my Coffee Card. So, I'm not sure if they just don't refund the Soda card, or if their policy changed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...