Holland America Signature Beverage Package

[bluesplayer]

Any wine drinkers feel wines by the glass is very limited and should be expanded? or allow Signature Beverage package holders to "upgrade" for a fee to a premium package which allows better wine? The cocktail menus is quite extensive and incorporates many higher end brands. Why are us wine drinkers left out? Would take information of thread to Holland America corporate office. Yes.. I live in Seattle. Hoping for some responses. Thanks

Wine drinkers matter!!!

[qak]

Yes! We are white wine drinkers, there's hardly any available in the Explore4 deal.

 

Not sure why - from memory there was a perfectly drinkable bottle at the lower end of the price scale when we were on O'dam Jan 2015.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Not sure but only the Koningsdam has been offering a higher Beverage package. Haven't heard of anyone mentioning a better Beverage package on any of the other ships.

I doubt that you if you are given the Signature Beverage package via the Explore 4 program that if there is a better Beverage package that you can pay the difference between the 2 and get the better one.

[qak]

I think some other cruise lines let you pay extra on top of the package drink limit price, to upgrade a drink. ie if a drink was $10 but package only covers to $8 - you can pay extra $2.

[chisoxfan]

We had explore 4 for the first time on Westerdam last year. After living with X drink package which we upgrade (approx 200 a couple for the week) I was really concerned with the HAL $8 drink limit. We got by better than I imagined but wines were definitely limited. You have to be a little careful because anything over the limit is charged at full price unlike the X package. Servers were very attuned to this and we had no issue.

 

To answer the post..yes a package upgrade would be most welcome! Alternatively if you could pay the difference for more expensive drinks that would be positive also...and you would think HAL would welcome the additional income.

[kazu]

Not sure but only the Koningsdam has been offering a higher Beverage package. Haven't heard of anyone mentioning a better Beverage package on any of the other ships.

I doubt that you if you are given the Signature Beverage package via the Explore 4 program that if there is a better Beverage package that you can pay the difference between the 2 and get the better one.

 

Retired Mustang has posted on his live thread that the higher Beverage package is available on board. Perhaps it is being moved out to the all the ships?

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Retired Mustang has posted on his live thread that the higher Beverage package is available on board. Perhaps it is being moved out to the all the ships?

 

From my understanding it was a "trial" program on Konigsdam this summer, and those with the "standard" Signature Beverage package could not upgrade to the "premium" one for a price differential, which mostly affects those booked under promos like Explore4.

 

I really feel that the HAL Signature package is out of line with their two closest competitors (Princess and Celebrity) and needs an overhaul. I am hopeful these trial programs will lead to a more competitive offering!

[chisoxfan]

From my understanding it was a "trial" program on Konigsdam this summer, and those with the "standard" Signature Beverage package could not upgrade to the "premium" one for a price differential, which mostly affects those booked under promos like Explore4.

 

I really feel that the HAL Signature package is out of line with their two closest competitors (Princess and Celebrity) and needs an overhaul. I am hopeful these trial programs will lead to a more competitive offering!

 

I completely agree but at least it covers bottled water which the NCL 'ultimate' package does not. It would seem simple to allow an $8 credit so the pax could upgrade by paying the difference. Appears like a win win proposition to me.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Retired Mustang has posted on his live thread that the higher Beverage package is available on board. Perhaps it is being moved out to the all the ships?

 

I just read his entire thread to date and found the post about the beverage package offerings interesting. It did not state a limit to number of drinks per day in any package (though it may be in the fine print) - change for the better if true. I am also hopeful that HAL will follow the lead of Celebrity and allow those on the Signature package to upgrade to the Elite package by paying the differential. These two items would DEFINITELY make HAL more competitive in the beverage package arena :D

 

I still feel the requirement for all passengers 18 and over in the cabin to have the same package a bit onerous, especially as Princess, Celebrity and Royal do not have a similar policy. HAL does not cater to the same market segment as Carnival and NCL, so I'm not sure why they align the policy with them rather than their peers?!

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I completely agree but at least it covers bottled water which the NCL 'ultimate' package does not. It would seem simple to allow an $8 credit so the pax could upgrade by paying the difference. Appears like a win win proposition to me.

 

Please don't get me started on the water and specialty coffee issue with NCL!!!!! At $79/day + 18% gratuity their package is the LEAST competitive out there!!!!!!! Their policy of charging the 18% gratuity of the total package value for a "free" perk also irks me. I have been VERY vocal on the NCL boards about this and it is a reason I have crossed them back off my list of choices (they were on my no-sail list for many years).

[chisoxfan]

Please don't get me started on the water and specialty coffee issue with NCL!!!!! At $79/day + 18% gratuity their package is the LEAST competitive out there!!!!!!! Their policy of charging the 18% gratuity of the total package value for a "free" perk also irks me. I have been VERY vocal on the NCL boards about this and it is a reason I have crossed them back off my list of choices (they were on my no-sail list for many years).

 

Yes, agree completely. We have surely crossed paths on that (NCL) board. We cancelled an NCL Getaway cruise in large part because of the gratuities added to 'free drink and dining packages' and the lack of bottled water in the drink package which is unique to NCL. Also their charge for room service which may be up to $8. I understand that these costs can be calculated as one makes cruise comparisons but NCL's overall approach comes off as onerous.

 

As you probably found on the NCL boards, the nickle and diming thread is a common one and NCL faithful seem extremely sensitive and touchy about it.

[sworksjr]

I was lucky on one cruise to get a wine steward who was willing to just charge me the difference in price of the higher price wines. I think there were only 2 wines by glass that would have been covered by the package. I agree that some tweaking of the package policy is needed.

[3rdGenCunarder]

My problem with the beverage package is the wine. We don't like the wines by the glass. The bev package lets us buy 15 drinks at a max of $8. So we can each "drink" $120 per day, $240 between us. But we can't trade any part of that for a bottle of wine for, say, $50.

[bluesplayer]

Daves live thread from the Maasdam said upgrading the beverage package is not allowed. Odd since most cocktails are available on the standard menu?? Wine seems to be the only reason to upgrade. Sailed on Celebrity and upgraded our beverage package, which was a booking perk for about 10.00 per day per person. Not sure why most nice cocktails are included in the package without including nicer wine.. or allowing a paid upgrade?? Wine drinkers matter!!

[fatcat04]

The Elite Beverage Pkg is a real consideration for us but the Signature never was because of the atrocious lack of decent wine by the glass available. We are not cocktail drinkers though we may have one at HH. We are wine drinkers and yes, we matter. :D

 

As has been stated, there are decent wines on the MDR menu that should qualify but they are not available by the glass and neither package has an allowance for wine bottles. I would love to see some allowance for bottles of wine, maybe a price limit per bottle and the whole bottle counts toward 5 drink credits as you get 5-5oz pours out of a bottle .

 

Should HAL offer the Elite Beverage Package on our upcoming cruises (and maintain the non-alcoholic beverages being not included in the 15 drink limit policy which seems to be the case with the Signature Pkg), we will definitely be getting the Elite package.

[Ayrity]

You think that's bad, try being someone who just wants a good american beer! All they have is bud, corona, stella etc etc. Terrible, not ONE beer that isn't from the big 5 macro breweries!

[3rdGenCunarder]

You think that's bad, try being someone who just wants a good american beer! All they have is bud, corona, stella etc etc. Terrible, not ONE beer that isn't from the big 5 macro breweries!

 

I know! I checked out a beer tasting one time and it was all mass-produced swill and Guinness. Thank goodness I asked to see the list in advance!

 

Zuiderdam had a slightly better variety on our Canada cruise last month. DH likes that he can usually get Guinness, and I think I saw Bass. They even picked up some Canadian beers including a delicious amber from a micro in Charlottetown (Gahan). It was a 500 ml bottle so DH and I "split" one at lunch--never go to the taco bar for chips while the beer is being poured, His "half" was bigger than mine! :rolleyes: I went back the next day and they were already sold out!

 

I did ask at the onboard "declare your wine" table if there was any way we could bring back just a few local beers--not a case--and the guy at the table said if it was just a few there would be no problem. I guess it's up to the scanner crew, but I did buy two bottles of local beer in Bar Harbor and they went through the scanner no questions asked.