beverage card for corkage fee?

[DiploTraveler]

Can you use a beverage card to pay for a wine bottle corkage fee?

[POA1]

Yes, but in limited situations. If you took on a bottle of wine as party of your "free" allotment but then decided to take it to the dining room, you could use a $50/$100/$250 prepaid beverage card to pay your corkage.

 

You cannot use it to offset the corkage you pay at boarding time.

 

If you are referring to the Signature Beverage Package card, the answer is no.

[Krazy Kruizers]

If you bring onto the ship more bottles of wine than your allotment, there is a table right at security where they write up a bill for your corkage fees to be charged to your cabin. They also but a sticker on those extra bottles of wine so that the wine stewards know not to charge you a second time for the corkage fee.

Remember that you can not put any wine bottles in your checked luggage.

[DiploTraveler]

I was hoping to use the free beverage cards I got from booking last week to offset the corkage charged at boarding time. That doesn't sound like a possibility.

 

Thank you for the responses.

[POA1]

I was hoping to use the free beverage cards I got from booking last week to offset the corkage charged at boarding time. That doesn't sound like a possibility.

 

Thank you for the responses.

 

You could ask once you get you beverage cards. I wouldn't count on it though.

 

If you do manage to use the beverage card to pay corkage, please let us know. Inquiring minds and all that...

[DiploTraveler]

You could ask once you get you beverage cards. I wouldn't count on it though.

 

If you do manage to use the beverage card to pay corkage, please let us know. Inquiring minds and all that...

 

So here is what I found out on the cruise. The silver colored beverage cards (this happens to be what you get from the Summer on Sale promo) are refundable to your on board account. Whatever you don't spend on board goes back to your account at the end of the trip. However, you must activate the card at some point in the cruise. Any beverage staff member can do this for you.

 

So, in a sense, you can use it to pay the corkage fees. Just don't use the card on board and you'll have the balance to offset any corkage charges on your account.

[POA1]

So here is what I found out on the cruise. The silver colored beverage cards (this happens to be what you get from the Summer on Sale promo) are refundable to your on board account. Whatever you don't spend on board goes back to your account at the end of the trip. However, you must activate the card at some point in the cruise. Any beverage staff member can do this for you.

 

So, in a sense, you can use it to pay the corkage fees. Just don't use the card on board and you'll have the balance to offset any corkage charges on your account.

 

Thanks for the update! I really appreciate it. :)

[Windsailer]

So here is what I found out on the cruise. The silver colored beverage cards (this happens to be what you get from the Summer on Sale promo) are refundable to your on board account. Whatever you don't spend on board goes back to your account at the end of the trip. However, you must activate the card at some point in the cruise. Any beverage staff member can do this for you.

 

So, in a sense, you can use it to pay the corkage fees. Just don't use the card on board and you'll have the balance to offset any corkage charges on your account.

 

So once you activate the card you can see the $50 pp in the on board account? And drinks just get charged against it? So if you only buy a $5 beer you'll have $45 in your on board account to spend whatever way you want?

[windsor26]

So once you activate the card you can see the $50 pp in the on board account? And drinks just get charged against it? So if you only buy a $5 beer you'll have $45 in your on board account to spend whatever way you want?

 

I would like to know this also because it could be used for other items usually charged to your account like Bingo or purchases from the shops.

[POA1]

I would like to know this also because it could be used for other items usually charged to your account like Bingo or purchases from the shops.

 

I posted this in a similar thread, but if you are planning to do this, get a confirmation. They were pretty strict about it being beverage only on our cruise in March.

[kazu]

So once you activate the card you can see the $50 pp in the on board account? And drinks just get charged against it? So if you only buy a $5 beer you'll have $45 in your on board account to spend whatever way you want?

 

I would like to know this also because it could be used for other items usually charged to your account like Bingo or purchases from the shops.

 

assuming these work as standard beverage cards, the balance of $ you have not spent stays on the card until the last night. Sometime in the night, they credit any unused $ on your beverage card to your on board account.

 

So for Windsailer's example, you do NOT see $50 in on your board account when you activate the card. The $50 is on your beverage card for which you get an updated balance on every time you use it. At the end of the cruise, if you have a $45 balance on it (as per example), it is then credited to your on board account - so, it is in essence applied to purchases you have made, but not until the end of the cruise.

[POA1]

assuming these work as standard beverage cards, the balance of $ you have not spent stays on the card until the last night. Sometime in the night, they credit any unused $ on your beverage card to your on board account.

 

So for Windsailer's example, you do NOT see $50 in on your board account when you activate the card. The $50 is on your beverage card for which you get an updated balance on every time you use it. At the end of the cruise, if you have a $45 balance on it (as per example), it is then credited to your on board account - so, it is in essence applied to purchases you have made, but not until the end of the cruise.

 

Ours was a promo credit, much like an OBC you get as part of a sale. The Neptune Concierge told us that we would forfeit the unused portion. We did.

[Windsailer]

Kazu - thanks for the response. I'll see how it works on the Amsterdam in September.

[kazu]

Ours was a promo credit, much like an OBC you get as part of a sale. The Neptune Concierge told us that we would forfeit the unused portion. We did.

 

Kazu - thanks for the response. I'll see how it works on the Amsterdam in September.

 

standard beverage cards are refundable BUT POA1 gives a good reminder. If your beverage card is something 'given' by HAL then do check when you get on board to make sure it is not a 'use it or lose it' card.

[POA1]

I probably should have added this earlier, but you CAN use the $50 promo beverage card for corkage if you decide to take your "free" bottles to the dining room or other restaurants. On those bottles, the wine steward charges the $18 and you can pay it with the dollar value beverage card. The other bottles, assuming you take on more than your free allotment, are charged at embarkation. It's those bottles that would be the challenge. It sounds like some people have been successful in getting the $50 beverage card to offset their embarkation corkage. (Yay for them!) Just don't wait until the last day to try it in case you get a "No" like we did.

[Windsailer]

I probably should have added this earlier, but you CAN use the $50 promo beverage card for corkage if you decide to take your "free" bottles to the dining room or other restaurants. On those bottles, the wine steward charges the $18 and you can pay it with the dollar value beverage card. The other bottles, assuming you take on more than your free allotment, are charged at embarkation. It's those bottles that would be the challenge. It sounds like some people have been successful in getting the $50 beverage card to offset their embarkation corkage. (Yay for them!) Just don't wait until the last day to try it in case you get a "No" like we did.

 

POA1 - that is really great to know. Thanks.

[windsor26]

Kazu - thanks for the response. I'll see how it works on the Amsterdam in September.

 

Can you report back please?

[DiploTraveler]

I posted this in a similar thread, but if you are planning to do this, get a confirmation. They were pretty strict about it being beverage only on our cruise in March.

 

 

Interesting. So, is it up to the management of the ship? My unused portion was refunded to my account without having to request that.

[POA1]

Interesting. So, is it up to the management of the ship? My unused portion was refunded to my account without having to request that.

 

Was your $50 card part of the Explore 4 program? Ours was. In addition, we purchased Signature Beverage Package cards. The accounting was pretty much a mess. We had the Neptune concierge working on getting it fixed for a couple of days. Many of the adjustments had to be completed by the night auditors once the POS system was closed out for the day. They never got it fixed completely. We wound up losing a few dollars on the $50 cards and being charged for some drinks that should have been covered.

 

The rundown is in post #342 of this thread. The link should take you directly there.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=42141164

 

 

Hopefully they have the kinks worked out by now.

[runnergirl71]

standard beverage cards are refundable BUT POA1 gives a good reminder. If your beverage card is something 'given' by HAL then do check when you get on board to make sure it is not a 'use it or lose it' card.

 

Do you know if the card that comes with the coffee lover's package is refundable? Not that I expect to have any of that left as it's only $25... :rolleyes:

[DiploTraveler]

Was your $50 card part of the Explore 4 program?

 

 

 

Ours were part of the Summer on Sale promo.

[take us away]

Credit for unused OBC only applies to credits provided by someone OTHER THAN HAL, i.e. TA, friend, yourself before you go, etc. If HAL provided it through promotions or for owning stock, that portion of the PBC is not refundable. Same with beverage cards from a promo. If you bought a card, there is a refund for unused but please note if you bought a $50 soda card (and paid $25), only the balance under the $25 you originally paid will be refunded, not any of the $26-50 that you have as credits on the card. Cards cannot be carried over to the next cruise unless previously arranged with HAL (such as B2B cruises)

[DiploTraveler]

Credit for unused OBC only applies to credits provided by someone OTHER THAN HAL, i.e. TA, friend, yourself before you go, etc. If HAL provided it through promotions or for owning stock, that portion of the PBC is not refundable. Same with beverage cards from a promo. If you bought a card, there is a refund for unused but please note if you bought a $50 soda card (and paid $25), only the balance under the $25 you originally paid will be refunded, not any of the $26-50 that you have as credits on the card. Cards cannot be carried over to the next cruise unless previously arranged with HAL (such as B2B cruises)

 

 

Well, we had our promo card balances refunded at the end of the cruise...

[POA1]

Well, we had our promo card balances refunded at the end of the cruise...

 

That's very good news. I would caution people to read the terms and conditions on the back of the card they receive. Ours said that the unused portion would be lost, which is what happened to us. (Don't cry for us. We used almost all of it for our project.)

 

Instead of rehashing too much here, might I direct you to this post, where there's a scanned copy of the card's reverse side.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=42175584

 

 

I'd hate to be in a position where I left it lot of money on the card, hoping for a refund. I would check with the front office or concierge just to be sure.

[DiploTraveler]

That's very good news. I would caution people to read the terms and conditions on the back of the card they receive. Ours said that the unused portion would be lost, which is what happened to us. (Don't cry for us. We used almost all of it for our project.)

 

Instead of rehashing too much here, might I direct you to this post, where there's a scanned copy of the card's reverse side.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=42175584

 

 

I'd hate to be in a position where I left it lot of money on the card, hoping for a refund. I would check with the front office or concierge just to be sure.

 

 

Interesting. I never noticed terms on the back of the card. Now I wish I had kept them. I originally did not know that balances would be refunded, but was told by the front desk that it would. It would have been nice if they pointed to the terms on the back as they explained.

 

They did say that silver cards get refunded, but not gold ones. Anyone know what that means?