Considering Holland America

[3rdGenCunarder]

16 hours ago, kazu said:

 

The beverage card lets you get any drink you want.

 

It’s basically a preloaded card (think credit or debit) with X amount of dollars on it (whatever you decided to purchase) and the charges are just deducted from it.

 

I just keep the most recent slip that tells me what my most recent purchase was and what my balance is on the card.

Bascially you can buy what you want with the beverage card - soda, water, drinks, wine or wine bottles.  The drink package limits you to what the drinks cost (there is a limit on each one & it’s useless at happy hour contrary to the beverage card).

 

Note - beverage cards cannot usually be used at HMC or when you get a bottle of water disembarking - probably a couple of other spots too - nor can the drink packages, I believe.

 

You probably can't use it in the Neptune Lounge. If there isn't a point-of-sale computer, the beverage card can't be used. I think that's true of the SBP, too.

 

As for no receipts on the K, it's probably related to the fancy new Navigator system. If you want to know what your drink just cost, you can log into the system on your smartphone and check your account. I don't want to walk around constantly doing things with my phone--I cruise to get away from everyday life--but I saw way more people looking at their phones on the K than I've seen on previous cruises. So I guess HAL figures you're online anyway, why bother with receipts. Or maybe they're being "green" by saving paper. 

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, dcruisers said:

Thank you so much for the information!

- I do have another question regarding beverage card.....can my DH and I have one card or do we have to get 1 for each of us?  I’m thinking if it’s like a debit card- one should work.

Again- thank for taking the time to give me such great info.

 

 

The beverage package must be bought by both (and you can buy only one drink at a time), but the beverage card is like a pre-loaded cash card. It's money to use at the bar. You can get just one and use it to buy drinks for both of you. 

 

If you like wine, the beverage package may not be a good deal. The wines that are under the "per drink" limit aren't very good IMO. All the ones I like are over the limit. And you can't use the package to buy a bottle of wine, even by "trading" the equivalent value in drinks for a bottle. 

 

Edited May 26, 2019 by 3rdGenCunarder