UBP - One drink at a time?

[suesings]

This will be our first NCL cruise and first time with UBP.

 

My husband and I like to have a glass of wine before dinner. Can he go to a bar near our suite and order two glasses of wine to bring back to our room while I am getting ready, or do we both have to go together to get them? (i.e. one drink at a time per person)

 

Thanks!

Edited September 18, 2016 by suesings

[edawn]

I've never had a problem getting two drinks with both cards without the other person being present.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[KeithJenner]

Yes you can. Just take both cards with you.

 

We have never had any problem doing this. Usually the bar staff who are serving us know us (we can be fairly retailer visitors to certain bars), but I've never had any trouble when when being served by people who we don't know.

[suesings]

Yes you can. Just take both cards with you.

 

We have never had any problem doing this. Usually the bar staff who are serving us know us (we can be fairly retailer visitors to certain bars), but I've never had any trouble when when being served by people who we don't know.

 

Thanks!! Good to know! So our card will say UBP on it or something? I take a bit longer than my husband to get ready :D So it will be great that he can go grab us a glass of wine and I can continue to get ready!!

[Two Wheels Only]

The cards get swiped by the bartender so it doesn't matter if the two of you are there or not.

[WAHMto5]

I was wondering the same thing, thanks for asking and all the answers!

[casofilia]

But only 1 drink at a time each I believe.

 

My question would be can one get a beer and a chaser in one order?

[plode682]

But only 1 drink at a time each I believe.

 

My question would be can one get a beer and a chaser in one order?

 

I'm wondering this too. I sometimes like a scotch or a whiskey on the rocks, but like to have a soda to sip on in between.

[Misself]

I think it depends on server. I ordered a wine and a sprite in one order as I was thirsty but not sure about 2 alcoholic drinks at a time.

[fstuff1]

I think it depends on server. I ordered a wine and a sprite in one order as I was thirsty but not sure about 2 alcoholic drinks at a time.

the answer is no on 2 alcoholic drinks at a time on 1 card.

the bartender said their supervisor checks the orders on the computer system.

 

he said come back 15min later.

i assumed it was 1 drink of any kind (alcoholic or non-alcoholic).

 

i didnt know you can order 1 and 1 at the same time.

Edited September 18, 2016 by fstuff1

[KeithJenner]

the answer is no on 2 alcoholic drinks at a time on 1 card.

the bartender said their supervisor checks the orders on the computer system.

 

he said come back 15min later.

i assumed it was 1 drink of any kind (alcoholic or non-alcoholic).

 

i didnt know you can order 1 and 1.

 

 

 

I assume this can vary from ship to ship (and maybe between different supervisors).

 

Often the servers just take one card and run multiple drinks up on it.

 

Perhaps this was something that this servers supervisor looks at, but it certainly isn't fleetwide.

[hawkeyetlse]

Ive never had a problem getting a soda on the side. After all, it's the same price if you get a shot of something, or a shot and a mixer. (At least it was back when then they still gave you a ticket with the price on it.)

 

Beer and a chaser, I haven't ordered that on any recent cruises, but lots of people seem to, with no great difficulty.

 

Until now, I have never heard of anyone being told to wait 15 minutes between drinks. It may be because fstuff1 was a solo cruiser? They usually ask us if we're in the same cabin before putting our drinks on the same card, which suggests that maybe they can't ring up multiple drinks at the same time if the account only has one UBP on it.

Edited September 18, 2016 by hawkeyetlse

[casofilia]

I have had another thought about this. With the price rise a whisky chaser on a beer would take you over the $15 limit!!! I may have to drink my beer and then go back for the whisky!!!

[cb at sea]

One drink PER CARD....one person can carry whoever's card they want, and get the drink.

[cml4958]

I have had another thought about this. With the price rise a whisky chaser on a beer would take you over the $15 limit!!! I may have to drink my beer and then go back for the whisky!!!

It's $15 per drink I believe.

[casofilia]

If you can only get 1 drink at a time to a limit of $15 and you can get a whisky chaser and beer at the same time then they would count as 1 drink which would cost over $15.

[hawkeyetlse]

It's still two drinks, just rung up on one ticket. The $15 limit is per drink, as cml4958 said, not on the total ticket.

 

The issue is the "one drink at a time" rule, not the price limit. You could order two beers for less than $15 total, but they still won't serve them to you, if they are following the rules strictly.

[skiwee]

Just returned from the breakaway today. Many times we just had to show one card for two drinks. I would go to a bar ans get two with no issue. There were times at dinner that we were both there ordering drinks and the server said he just needed one card. These were for alcoholic drinks.

[LrgPizza]

One drink PER CARD....one person can carry whoever's card they want, and get the drink.

 

Without exception, the bartenders always look at both our cards then ring our drinks through on just one.

[suesings]

Just returned from the breakaway today. Many times we just had to show one card for two drinks. I would go to a bar ans get two with no issue. There were times at dinner that we were both there ordering drinks and the server said he just needed one card. These were for alcoholic drinks.

 

Wow, that is interesting. I wonder why they don't ask for both cards? If they let people walk up to a bar and get two drinks with one card, wouldn't people be more likely to buy drinks for other people who don't have UBP?

 

This will be our first NCL cruise. So much to learn.

[KeithJenner]

This thread is getting confusing as there are so many different experiences. This isn't set in stone at all.

 

These are the facts as I know them, based on the experience of a number of cruises with the UBP.

 

The way the UBP should work is that you can just get one drink per person. It is unclear what the official policy is regarding getting two drinks if you have both cards, but just one person is there, but in practice this is almost always possible.

 

Many members of staff will like to see both cards, but will only take one of them to run the drinks up against. However, some will still swipe both cards. On my cruise last month I would say the split between the two methods was about 50:50, but this may vary from ship to ship and bar to bar.

 

If the barstaff know you, and know that you are with another person who has the UBP then they are more likely to just let you have two drinks even if you only have one card on you. This depends totally on the specific barstaff and you may get different results from bar to bar and from person to person.

 

None of this is set in stone, and people will have, and report on here, different results.

 

I don't know how common it is for staff to allow more than one drink with just one card (as I always have both cards with me if getting drinks for us both), but a few have specifically told me that I don't need to if I'm being served by them. Swiping just one card is about 50:50, as mentioned earlier and I have never once not been able to get two drinks if I have both cards.

 

The golden rule, be nice to the barstaff, talk to them (both of these are more important for this in my experience than tipping although that helps too), and they will work with you.

 

I too have never experienced, or heard the 15 minute rule before. I assume this was an issue with this person (their supervisor may just have been an excuse).

[SwissLe]

The answer is that it's completely inconsistent.

 

On occasions I've seen a bar tender request to see the other persons card when asking for two drinks at once. I've also sat at a bar drinking for hours and they don't ring it up until the end - so effectively putting 10 drinks through at once.

 

I've also gone to the bar with 10 cards from a group and get 10 shots of tequila - other times he's asked me for one card and put them all through on that. With soda from the fountain at busy periods they don't always ring it up, just move onto the next person.

 

The most consistent is at a restaurant they will normally just ask for one card even if two diners are drinking.

[KeithJenner]

The answer is that it's completely inconsistent.

 

 

 

On occasions I've seen a bar tender request to see the other persons card when asking for two drinks at once. I've also sat at a bar drinking for hours and they don't ring it up until the end - so effectively putting 10 drinks through at once.

 

 

 

I've also gone to the bar with 10 cards from a group and get 10 shots of tequila - other times he's asked me for one card and put them all through on that. With soda from the fountain at busy periods they don't always ring it up, just move onto the next person.

 

 

 

The most consistent is at a restaurant they will normally just ask for one card even if two diners are drinking.

 

 

 

Absolutely.

 

The one fairly consistent thing I have noticed is that if you are a group then they do tend to ask for a different card each round. I've heard it suggested that it could cause problems (not sure for who) if one card gets charged for multiple drinks too many times in a short period of time.