pop card

[cantfindaname]

just a question if you can bring pop from every port why buy the soda card? just wondering

[cruznliz]

I agree that having pop in the cabin is very convenient, and I have been known to bring it with me to the buffet.:o But there's nothing like a tall, cold one in the dining room or around the pool or at the show, etc. ;)

[Morgsmom]

it's totally a convenience thing -- you are sitting watching a movie under the stars and want a soda -- do you really want to go back to your cabin? sometimes just getting to the elevator, waiting for it, walking to your cabin, etc is a pain!

[bjboothman]

Just me, but I don't consider it all that convenient to go shopping for soda at every port, and I don't have any expectation that it would be any cheaper than a mini-market anyway. But if you don't mind hauling it ----- maybe that's a solution for you. I prefer canned soda to fountain soda, so I just buy a can when I want one and don't bother with the soda card at all.

[Pam in CA]

just a question if you can bring pop from every port why buy the soda card? just wondering

First, it's not that easy to purchase soda at every port; secondly, many Princess cruises are longer than seven days and I wouldn't want to schlepp two weeks' or a month's worth of soda onboard; third, by the time you pay a taxi to get to a store and back, and then tip the porter, you've probably spent as much or more than buying soda onboard.

 

While you might wonder why someone would buy a soda card, I wonder why you'd want to go to the time, effort and expense of lugging it onboard. To each his/her own.

[JohnLauben]

Two sides to this issue.

 

PRINCESS stocks and serves Coca Cola products. If you prefer Pepsi or something else, your only alternative is to stock up while in port.

 

Then, you need to pay for the supplies and carry them on board. Paying could be an issue if you need to buy in a port where the US dollar (or your favorite equivalent) is not the currency of choice (think, maybe, Japan?). Language may be an issue also. Can you find what you are looking for? (Diet Coke is called Coke Light in most other parts of the world.) Then, can you carry the supplies? Or, do you need a taxi? (Expense!) You then need to store some of your drinks in the refrigerator in order to cool them (or, use ice). The fridges aren't very large; okay for a 1.5 liter bottle, but I haven't been able to get a 2 liter bottle in comfortably. And, you really can't (or is it shouldn't) take your own soda to the dining room; buffet should be okay.

 

As mentioned previously, the soda card (or pop card, depending upon which part of the country you hail from) is more of a convenience. At $3.75 per day (plus 15 percent gratuity ... base cost now depends on the length of your cruise), it's not cheap, and not really a bargain. But, you can get you thirst satisfied just about anywhere on the ship.

[paul929207]

just a question if you can bring pop from every port why buy the soda card? just wondering

You would only buy a soda sticker if without it you would buy enough sodas to pay more. I rarely drink sodas. On our last cruise, 31 days in west Africa, I drank 2 sodas. I did not buy a soda sticker.

[Pam in CA]

At $3.75 per day (plus 15 percent gratuity ... base cost now depends on the length of your cruise), it's not cheap, and not really a bargain. But, you can get you thirst satisfied just about anywhere on the ship.

True. And the soda card is unlimited so you can get more than one, or two, or even three sodas a day. If it's a sea day or your cruise has a lot of sea days, I know I drink more soda, particularly if it's hot.

[Tweedy]

Since we are talking pop sticker... does anyone know if they have Coke Zero or Sprite Zero on the fountain?

[rdsqrl]

Since we are talking pop sticker... does anyone know if they have Coke Zero or Sprite Zero on the fountain?

No. The soda gun at the bar has only the standard things: Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, ginger ale, tonic, club soda. They might have the Zeros in cans -- I don't drink soda but perhaps someone else who does will know.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Two sides to this issue.

 

PRINCESS stocks and serves Coca Cola products. If you prefer Pepsi or something else, your only alternative is to stock up while in port.

 

Then, you need to pay for the supplies and carry them on board. Paying could be an issue if you need to buy in a port where the US dollar (or your favorite equivalent) is not the currency of choice (think, maybe, Japan?). Language may be an issue also. Can you find what you are looking for? (Diet Coke is called Coke Light in most other parts of the world.) Then, can you carry the supplies? Or, do you need a taxi? (Expense!) You then need to store some of your drinks in the refrigerator in order to cool them (or, use ice). The fridges aren't very large; okay for a 1.5 liter bottle, but I haven't been able to get a 2 liter bottle in comfortably. And, you really can't (or is it shouldn't) take your own soda to the dining room; buffet should be okay.

 

As mentioned previously, the soda card (or pop card, depending upon which part of the country you hail from) is more of a convenience. At $3.75 per day (plus 15 percent gratuity ... base cost now depends on the length of your cruise), it's not cheap, and not really a bargain. But, you can get you thirst satisfied just about anywhere on the ship.

 

As someone who doesn't like Coke products (diet Sprite tastes like dishwater to me so would prefer diet Sierra Mist), I would prefer to bring on my own supply of soda and other drinks. Since we were traveling via private shuttle, we packed a plastic crate of two liter bottles of my Mountain Dew and Sierra Mist as well as smaller bottles of Sobe drinks, along with some water and hubby's box o' wine. Given to the porter with a tip, it made it to our cabin along with our luggage.

 

We could put a couple of the two-liter bottles into our mini-fridge, along with smaller containers. At one port, we did get a taxi and restocked. Since it was just that one port, it wasn't a big deal.

 

The last time we weren't leaving from our home port, we padded in a day pre-cruise and did some shopping.

 

And yes, you can bring drinks into the dining room. I imagine many people with the coke mug do so. I take a similar container so I often fill it up whenever we stop by our cabin.

 

If Princess does switch to Pepsi products, I would probably get the sticker. I think NCL has Pepsi, but I'm not about to book one of their cruises.

[Tweedy]

No. The soda gun at the bar has only the standard things: Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, ginger ale, tonic, club soda. They might have the Zeros in cans -- I don't drink soda but perhaps someone else who does will know.

 

Thanks... I didn't think they would but thought I'd ask. I have gotten sprite zero in a can on one of the ships.

[Pam in CA]

Thanks... I didn't think they would but thought I'd ask. I have gotten sprite zero in a can on one of the ships.

They definitely have Sprite Zero in a can because I have my mini-bar set-up exchanged for cans of Sprite Zero. I had a couple left over from my cruise in January and brought them home where they're sitting in my frig. :)

[cantfindaname]

thanks for all the info informative as always

[Celandine]

I buy the card for a few reasons.

 

1) I prefer fountain soda

 

2) anywhere on the ship I want a drink, I get it.

 

3) I HATE lugging extra things around (including the free mug they give, my first cruise it came everywhere but the diningroom, last one, I never used it once except to transport home the paper flowers I made) Best part for me is the dining room, where I had 2 diet cokes a night, and after the first night, they just showed up for me as soon as I sat down, and the second one probably after the appetizer (good wait staff - my table mates had to ask me if I ordered them nightly, I said they just remembered)

 

 

okay, slightly off topic my rant is going.

 

 

Yes, if you don't drink coke products I can see the benefit of bringing your own and re-stocking.... I personally am the kind of person who will pay a little bit more for pure convenience.

[cantfindaname]

what do they charge per can of pop?

[cruiserus]

One reason I prefer using the soda card is that in many foreign ports, especially those in Asia, Africa, and Soluth America, the canned sodas you guy there have a different taste than the same soda bottled or canned in the US. They are formulated for the locals' taste. Some taste downright nasty! I prefer the taste of the Princess fountain sodas to those of the foreign canned ones. I also love the convenience of getting a drink anywhere I wish. As Elite members we get a bar set-up which includes canned beverages and we switch them all out for Diet Coke, my drink of preference while onboard. (At home I drink Pepsi.) However, when we are by the pool, at a show, or elsewhere, I don't want to run back to my cabin to get a drink. I just go to a bar, flash my soda card and ask for an extra large diet Coke and I am set for quite a while. I say do what is right for you and don't worry about what others might do.

[Tweedy]

what do they charge per can of pop?

 

I think it was about $2/can plus 15%.

[Treven]

I just go to a bar, flash my soda card and ask for an extra large diet Coke and I am set for quite a while. I say do what is right for you and don't worry about what others might do.

When you ask for an "extra large" diet coke, do you get a can or what?

[Morgsmom]

When you ask for an "extra large" diet coke, do you get a can or what?

 

No can, and no size can be requested. You can drink glass after glass though. Some people bring on thier own "big gulp" and get glass after glass and stand at a bar and fill it.