HAL Beverage Packages

[POA1]

2 minutes ago, kb4683 said:

 

Thanks.  I agree with $11.50, but one can always  hope it will be the other way at $5.75 😜.

 

Either way, we are planning to do it just for the better selection of wines.  Of course, our cruise isn't until April and with the rumors of the wine list changing, we will just have to wait and see.

 

If things have changed by the 16th, I'll cover them in my thread from the Zuiderdam. Either way, I'll cover the current situation with respect to the wines and drink packages.

[kazu]

48 minutes ago, POA1 said:

It depends on what you paid originally.  I'm interested in seeing how they treat Explore 4, because the selling literature and website valued the SBP at the higher rate. If they were being honest, the Explore 4 SBP to EBP upgrade should be $11.50/pp/day.

 

I'll be interested to see how they treat Explore4 too.  

We have it and plan to go to Elite for the wines 🙂 

[POA1]

20 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

I'll be interested to see how they treat Explore4 too.  

We have it and plan to go to Elite for the wines 🙂 

 

Excellent! Hopefully you'll get to benefit from our pioneering Explore 4 2018 SBP Research Project.  It took us several attempts to get them to sell us the us the upgrade in 2016, but I'm much more hopeful this year.

[kazu]

1 hour ago, POA1 said:

 

Excellent! Hopefully you'll get to benefit from our pioneering Explore 4 2018 SBP Research Project.  It took us several attempts to get them to sell us the us the upgrade in 2016, but I'm much more hopeful this year.

 

 

I remember your experience well from last scientific live report 😉 

I've always found your pioneering research helpful 😄 

[jimdee3636]

I hope this hasn't already been asked and answered, but does HAL offer a discount for purchasing the Elite Beverage Package ("EBP") prior to the cruise? Just yesterday, a HAL representative told me over the phone that there's a $5.00 a day (per person) discount for buying the Signature Beverage Package ("SBP") prior to the cruise, but no discount for purchasing the EBP in advance. That seems odd to me; was she correct? We're taking a 30-night Volendam cruise beginning February 2, 2019, so if we could save $10.00 per day (for two people) that would be nice. We've had the SBP in the past, but feel that the EBP offers a much better wine-by-the-glass selection.

[POA1]

23 minutes ago, jimdee3636 said:

but does HAL offer a discount for purchasing the Elite Beverage Package ("EBP") prior to the cruise?

 

Sadly, no. Only the SBP has the pre-cruise discount. 

[kb4683]

Well, while discussing this topic with a friend (better known as The Grinch) she asked, "How do you know the wine you are served is really the wine you ordered when ordering by the glass in the MDR?"  I have to admit, this question made me stop and think.

 

Inquiring minds.........

[terrydtx]

On ‎12‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 6:56 AM, kb4683 said:

 

Thanks.  I agree with $11.50, but one can always  hope it will be the other way at $5.75 😜.

 

Either way, we are planning to do it just for the better selection of wines.  Of course, our cruise isn't until April and with the rumors of the wine list changing, we will just have to wait and see.

Even at $11.50 that is not a bad upgrade price, drink one glass of $15 wine and you are ahead each day. After reading this thread we are going to try and upgrade for the better wines too. This upgrade would cost less than purchasing any wine package since we already have the  X4 SBP.

[terrydtx]

7 minutes ago, kb4683 said:

Well, while discussing this topic with a friend (better known as The Grinch) she asked, "How do you know the wine you are served is really the wine you ordered when ordering by the glass in the MDR?"  I have to admit, this question made me stop and think.

 

Inquiring minds......…

I wonder if you can ask to have the wine poured at your table in front of you?

[kazu]

10 minutes ago, kb4683 said:

Well, while discussing this topic with a friend (better known as The Grinch) she asked, "How do you know the wine you are served is really the wine you ordered when ordering by the glass in the MDR?"  I have to admit, this question made me stop and think.

 

Inquiring minds.........

 

Trust me, you can tell the difference between the wine that is $9 and under and the more expensive choices.

I might not be a Sommelier but I can tell if I am drinking Zonin or Ruffino.  And, I certainly know the taste of Nobilo 😉 

 

Actually, the same question can be asked in any restaurant where they offer different house wines 😉 

[kb4683]

13 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Actually, the same question can be asked in any restaurant where they offer different house wines 😉 

 

Very good point!  Yessss to Nobilo!

[SeaBands]

we have had X4 drink package in the past. I just order doubles and only once had a problem in the Sea Bar.  All the other bars poured up to 3 shots at a time per card. A tip early in the cruise usually covers any requests you make. I didn't like Nobilio. Ordered Drylands  SB  from the cellar 3 package. Much better.

[KroozNut]

As an update to this discussion, just off the Eurodam (12/16), and only drinks with alcohol were included in the 15 beverage count. We had a slew of waters, specialty coffees, etc, and none of those were counted against the 15 limit.

[PeetNL]

10 hours ago, KroozNut said:

As an update to this discussion, just off the Eurodam (12/16), and only drinks with alcohol were included in the 15 beverage count. We had a slew of waters, specialty coffees, etc, and none of those were counted against the 15 limit.

This is very strange. According to the Hal website, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are included in the SBP package:

"Our convenient, affordable Signature Beverage Package allows you to select from a variety of wine, beer, spirits, cocktails (including non-alcoholic), sodas, bottled water (sparkling 330ml or still 500ml) & coffee! Includes any beverage priced at $9.00 or lower (up to 15 beverages per day)."

[POA1]

19 minutes ago, PeetNL said:

This is very strange. According to the Hal website, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are included in the SBP package:

"Our convenient, affordable Signature Beverage Package allows you to select from a variety of wine, beer, spirits, cocktails (including non-alcoholic), sodas, bottled water (sparkling 330ml or still 500ml) & coffee! Includes any beverage priced at $9.00 or lower (up to 15 beverages per day)."

 

 

It may be strange, but it's true. We're on the Zuiderdam and that's exactly how it's working. If you feel more comfortable sticking to the way it's written on the website, feel free to. Just cut yourself off when you hit 15 of any beverage. You'll have to keep track manually though, because the system is only counting alcohol towards your total. 

[terrydtx]

31 minutes ago, PeetNL said:

This is very strange. According to the Hal website, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are included in the SBP package:

"Our convenient, affordable Signature Beverage Package allows you to select from a variety of wine, beer, spirits, cocktails (including non-alcoholic), sodas, bottled water (sparkling 330ml or still 500ml) & coffee! Includes any beverage priced at $9.00 or lower (up to 15 beverages per day)."

The non alcoholic beverages are still included in the SBP at no cost, but from what many recent CC members are posting is that the non alcoholic beverages do not count towards the 15 per day limit, only the alcoholic ones count.

[KroozNut]

Just off the Eurodam (16 Dec), and our experience with the SBP was that only alcoholic beverages counted toward the 15 drink per day limit. Other beverages such as specialty coffees, sodas, bottled water from the bars, etc did not count.

[Grenouille21]

On 11/18/2018 at 7:02 PM, stsmall said:

Hi, we are first time cruisers heading to Alaska on Nieuw Amsterdam in June 2019.  Is it worthwhile pre purchasing a Beverage package, are they good value?

 

Thanks

 

 

We sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam to Alaska in August (see our trip report in my signature if you'd like a preview of your cruise!) and I had the Signature Beverage Package, and my kids had the package that allowed them soda, bottled water, premium coffee, and non-alcoholic drinks.  It was SO WORTH IT not so much for the alcohol (for me) but for everything else.  We all had lattes/mochas in the morning, I had soda with lunch, we had bottled water, the kids had mocktails with dinner, and I drank wine whenever I wanted without worrying about the cost.  I was also able to try the Alaskan Beer varieties without worrying about "wasting" money if I didn't like them. 

 

Spoiler alert: I liked them.  

 

The most memorable moment of having the beverage package was when my son decided he wanted to "buy" coffee for the counselors in the Kids Club, so we ordered extra lattes and brought them to the club, and I didn't even bat an eye at the cost.  They were SO thankful and my son was beaming.  Those counselors ended up being the most helpful advisers on the cruise.  Read my trip report for their suggestions.  They were awesome and 100% right all the time.  They told me the best bars to visit, the best drinks to get, the best times and places to see wildlife, etc.  And I think those coffees had a lot to do with it.  The ability to "buy" drinks without worry made our cruise a much more relaxing experience. 

 

No worrying about how much money I was spending, no panic when I saw the final bill, no checking receipts to make sure I was charged the right amount, no need to look at receipts at all!  It was amazing to walk off the ship knowing I had only spent money on a few souvenirs.  When we sailed on Disney we had a shock with the bill (you pay for excursions at the end of the cruise in addition to everything else) so this was amazing.  I had basically pre-paid our whole vacation, minus the souvenirs.  

[stsmall]

Thanks so much for your great trip report it was so informative and the photos were excellent.  Could I ask you a couple of things. You had a verandah stateroom which we have booked also, did you spend much time on the verandah on the sea days or are the views better on the main decks?  What deck were you on? We are on Deck 8 mid ship. Do you it is worth renting a cabana for the Glacier Bay day? 

Thanks again for an enjoyable read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dshroyer]

I also just got off of the Eurodam a few weeks ago.  I really pushed the Beverage Manager AND the Food and Beverage Manager on the question of 15 drinks being total or just alcohol.  They could not tell me!  I'll be doing a video update on this.  Really sad.  This last cruise we heard totally conflicting messages.  And when the Food and Beverage manager doesn't know?  That is a mess.

[CRUZBUDS]

2 hours ago, dshroyer said:

 This last cruise we heard totally conflicting messages.  And when the Food and Beverage manager doesn't know?  That is a mess.

 

WOW!  That is really sad -- though from what I have gleaned from the boards, par for the course for HAL.  It is even worse than the staff not knowing how to upgrade Explore 4.  We experienced that first hand two years ago and it appears that nothing has changed.  Does HAL have any management at all?   Do they read the boards, do they know how ridiculous they look?  

[KroozNut]

20 hours ago, dshroyer said:

I also just got off of the Eurodam a few weeks ago.  I really pushed the Beverage Manager AND the Food and Beverage Manager on the question of 15 drinks being total or just alcohol.  They could not tell me!  I'll be doing a video update on this.  Really sad.  This last cruise we heard totally conflicting messages.  And when the Food and Beverage manager doesn't know?  That is a mess.

 

All I can say from first hand experience with our SBP's aboard Eurodam 9-16 Dec 2018 is that ONLY alcoholic beverages counted toward our daily 15 beverage tally.

 

As one example, knowing we had the SBP, our dining room server brought us 3 or 4 big bottles of Evian bottled water each night at the end of our dinner, assuring us that they did not count toward our 15 count limit (and they didn't).

[dshroyer]

We were on the same cruise!  Bartender in Gallery Bar said a couple was charged for going over and they only had 13 alcoholic drinks. (they had numerous waters and coffees)  That is why I met up with the Beverage Mgr and Food and Beverage Mgr.  I have an email from the Food and Beverage manager that says "we still do not know for sure.  Seattle has not responded".

 

Last 3 cruises everyone said it was only alcohol.  but this time about half the crew said it was total drinks.

[KroozNut]

On embarkation day, I immediately went to the front desk and asked this direct question: With the SBP, do both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages count towards the 15 beverage limit, or just alcoholic beverages?

 

(Initial) response: All beverages count. I then challenged her with the knowledge I brought from these boards about experiences on other HAL vessels, and the response changed to 'well, technically non-alcoholic drinks do not count toward the 15-drink limit'.

 

And as mentioned above, this was in fact our experience on Eurodam, only alcoholic drinks counted.

[leerathje]

I'm still unsure how this works. If I buy the signature drink package, do they just charge the difference for drinks over $9? Or do you have to pay full price for drinks over $9 on top of the drink package?