Free Beverage Cards Promo Coming Soon

[Lady Arwen]

My friend just spoke to a HAL reservation agent who told her that HAL will be offering free beverage cards (no amount was specified, but probably will be pro-rated to cabin categories) on August 1st.  She booked her cruise and the agent told her to call back on August 1st to have it added to their booking.  I was under the impression that these types of promos were for "new bookings only", but perhaps not in this case.  I'll be calling them to see if I can get it added to our reservation that we booked last week.

[kazu]

14 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

My friend just spoke to a HAL reservation agent who told her that HAL will be offering free beverage cards (no amount was specified, but probably will be pro-rated to cabin categories) on August 1st.  She booked her cruise and the agent told her to call back on August 1st to have it added to their booking.  I was under the impression that these types of promos were for "new bookings only", but perhaps not in this case.  I'll be calling them to see if I can get it added to our reservation that we booked last week.

 

Thanks - it will be interesting to see what the offer is and how it affects pricing.

 

The promos are theoretically for ‘ new bookings only’ but since you could just cancel and rebook, usually the promo can be added assuming pricing, etc has not changed.

 

Otherwise, to get the promo, you will need to pay the higher price.

[FlorenceItaly]

Thanks for the heads up.  I just made final payment yesterday on our 51 day Tales of the South Pacific.  It is due June 30 but decided to make it a few days early.

Edited July 26, 2019 by FlorenceItaly

[Lady Arwen]

Just a note to let you all know this is NOT a Bev Package, but a Bev Card.  They come in different denominations and you can purchase them online.  Not as good as a package, but a decent perk that really does not cost you anything.

[Shmoo here]

2 hours ago, kazu said:

The promos are theoretically for ‘ new bookings only’ but since you could just cancel and rebook, usually the promo can be added assuming pricing, etc has not changed.

 

Otherwise, to get the promo, you will need to pay the higher price.

And, if you already have promotional perks on the existing reservation, you'll lose those, since you're really cancelling the existing reservation, and making a new one.

[Paulinda]

45 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

Just a note to let you all know this is NOT a Bev Package, but a Bev Card.  They come in different denominations and you can purchase them online.  Not as good as a package, but a decent perk that really does not cost you anything.

 

Hopefully you are correct about not costing anything but my lifelong learning experience is that nothing in life is really free.  I would be interested in seeing the price of the cruise before and after.  Just like all the other promos they do prices seem to go up and down. 

[Lady Arwen]

2 minutes ago, Paulinda said:

 

Hopefully you are correct about not costing anything but my lifelong learning experience is that nothing in life is really free.  I would be interested in seeing the price of the cruise before and after.  Just like all the other promos they do prices seem to go up and down. 

My friend questioned the rep about this when she booked.  The rep said that the pricing would remain the same and she would not have to pay anything more.  The value of the bev card is so small,  there would be no point in raising the price of the cruise by 25.00-100.00.   My thought is there is no harm in trying.

[taxmantoo]

As posted on Facebook ... and as we all know, if it's on Facebook, it has to be true 

 

Coming August 1st!

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Guess on Aug 1 we will find out for certain exactly what HAL is offering.

[Lady Arwen]

1 hour ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

Guess on Aug 1 we will find out for certain exactly what HAL is offering.

As usual, the HAL phone reps know as much as we do!  So probably not just the bev card promo, but Explore 4 promo, which of course will be increasing the price of our cruises if we should decide to add it to our booking.

[sevenseasnomad]

And don't forget that sometimes the lower price without the promotion is nonrefundable unless the customer pays for insurance at the time of booking, or so we were told.

[jlocole]

I hope it is a good price.  I'd like to add a beverage package to my cruise for less than what 2 packages would cost as an add on.  Mine has the gratuities in it now so I'll have to see if it is worth the swap to one with drinks.  Thanks for posting so I can look at the promotion on Thursday.

 

[wyobean]

I agree...I have paid gratuities on a 31 day cruise for April. That is over $800! The deal will have to be pretty good for me to give that up. We don’t drink much, so beverage package isn't a big deal to us. But, always worth looking into...

[Shmoo here]

1 hour ago, wyobean said:

I agree...I have paid gratuities on a 31 day cruise for April. That is over $800! The deal will have to be pretty good for me to give that up. We don’t drink much, so beverage package isn't a big deal to us. But, always worth looking into...

Same here.  We have a cruise booked, originally with beverage package and other perks.  We gave that up and rebooked when the included gratuities perk was offered a few weeks ago.  We aren't big drinkers, but we do like the included gratuities.

[Expatcat]

Holland America website had a holding page briefly yesterday. Looks to be: up to $800 OBC, Pinnacle Grill dinner, $25 beverage card and 50% reduced deposit. Suite and verandah receive free internet.

[sfocruiser]

14 minutes ago, Expatcat said:

Holland America website had a holding page briefly yesterday. Looks to be: up to $800 OBC, Pinnacle Grill dinner, $25 beverage card and 50% reduced deposit. Suite and verandah receive free internet.

 

It looks like for the new Explore 4 they have removed the SBP for the "up to" $800 OBC.  Will be curious to see how it works out.

[kazu]

51 minutes ago, Expatcat said:

Holland America website had a holding page briefly yesterday. Looks to be: up to $800 OBC, Pinnacle Grill dinner, $25 beverage card and 50% reduced deposit. Suite and verandah receive free internet.

 

Wow, I far prefer this over the old Explore4. 

 

I’ll definitely be watching to see what happens with our pricing.  I’m afraid it will be up way too high to reap a benefit but I will definitely check 😉 

 

Thanks so much  🙂 

[Crew News]

My HAL PCC says that Explor4 starts tomorrow, 7/30/19.  In addtion, she stated that fares no longer have to be rebooked to get a lower fare so no need to rebook all of the excursions.

 

FWIW my 14-day Alaska for May 2020 dropped $1000 this week.

[crystalspin]

Well, not impressed with a $25 beverage card and I know the "up to $800 OBC" is going to be something like $100 for a lowly inside and not much more if we switch to a verandah. Have been holding out for the old E4, but the SBP was the only thing that mattered to us. 

[awhcruiser]