Upgrading beverage package.

[Brewgirl1]

Hi, If I go to upgrade my beverage package, would that just be the difference in price?

It looks like $40 pp would be the difference, that would make it worthwhile to me.

[molemaui]

That is really a difficult question and calculation. One would think the "retail price" of $54.95 a day for the Classic and $59.99 a day for the premium would just be $5 day difference plus gratuity. 

 

That is not the case. You get this excuse that unless you actually bought the signature for $54.95, you got a "package" or "wholesale" rate and instead owe approx. $15-20/day-pp plus gratuity. 

 

I got to thinking - wine on the Signature is not that great in my opinion. I can do without wine for a week or 10 days or bring 2 bottles aboard. The $16 bottle corkage charge is reasonable.

 

Vodka, whiskey, scotch and gin are decent on the Signature. The Prosecco is adequate and worth drinking. To pay approximately $280 additional just isn't worth it to me. 

[Seasick Sailor]

For us, it depends on what our itinerary is. If we have a port intensive cruise, we will have cocktails ashore for lunch or early dinner and have maybe an evening cocktail on board. If we have quite a bit of sea days, such as our upcoming 28 day Hawaii/Tahiti cruise, we will opt for the Beverage Package, and we would go with the upgraded package.

[TAD2005]

There are new prices for the Elite Beverage package (EBP).  

The old price was $59.95 per day plus 15% ($69) and it didn't matter if you purchased it online, before your cruise with your own money, or purchased it onboard using some of your OBC.

The new pricing as of the first of the year, is $49.95 purchased online and $59.95 per day purchased onboard, both plus 15%.    

Because this new pricing is so new,  there is no feedback from people actually trying to upgrade a purchased SBP or one obtained by a promotion.   The regular SBP is still $44.95 online and $54.95 purchased onboard. 

[I like vacation]

5 hours ago, molemaui said:

 The $16 bottle corkage charge is reasonable. 

 

Corkage is $18 per wine bottle.

[Hlitner]

We have never been happy with HAL and all the silly rules (15 drinks a day, etc etc) and various policies such as the cost to upgrade your package.  And there is another issue.  If you upgrade that package you may be surprised to find that some of the items that you wanted are not even on the ship!   So, my suggestion is that if you are truly thinking about an upgrade, wait until you are on the ship and do some quick research as to what is available.  For example, if I want some decent favorite brands of single malt scotch..it does me little good to upgrade because it is unlikely they will even have what I want...and even if they do it might only be available at a single bar on the ship.   As to wine, just keep in mind that if you are expecting to get some decent wines by the glass you might be very disappointed.  Again, it makes sense to ask some questions (onboard) before you buy.

 

We once ran into the "wine by the glass" issue on a Celebrity cruise.  We had their Premium Beverage Package and wanted some decent wines (that were in stock) by the glass.  The Sommelier told us no and we had to live with a very limited selection of premium wines (by the glass).  I raised the issue with the beverage manager who defended their position by explaining that if they opened a decent wine to sell me 1 or 2 glasses they would likely need to throw away the rest of the bottle (assuming nobody else wanted that wine).  Even when I suggested that DW and I would guarantee to purchase all the remaining glasses in a particular bottle (within 2 or 3 days) he refused to relent.  His response was that we should simply buy the bottle (in which case there would have been little reason to buy the beverage package.  

 

Hank

[molemaui]

8 hours ago, I like vacation said:

 

Corkage is $18 per wine bottle.

 

Still reasonable. Take a $50 bottle of wine that would be $125-150 on the ship (and I wouldn't buy). $50 + $18 sounds pretty good. 

[TAD2005]

On 1/6/2020 at 1:10 AM, Hlitner said:

We have never been happy with HAL and all the silly rules (15 drinks a day, etc etc) and various policies such as the cost to upgrade your package.  And there is another issue.  If you upgrade that package you may be surprised to find that some of the items that you wanted are not even on the ship!   So, my suggestion is that if you are truly thinking about an upgrade, wait until you are on the ship and do some quick research as to what is available.  For example, if I want some decent favorite brands of single malt scotch..it does me little good to upgrade because it is unlikely they will even have what I want...and even if they do it might only be available at a single bar on the ship.   As to wine, just keep in mind that if you are expecting to get some decent wines by the glass you might be very disappointed.  Again, it makes sense to ask some questions (onboard) before you buy.

 

We once ran into the "wine by the glass" issue on a Celebrity cruise.  We had their Premium Beverage Package and wanted some decent wines (that were in stock) by the glass.  The Sommelier told us no and we had to live with a very limited selection of premium wines (by the glass).  I raised the issue with the beverage manager who defended their position by explaining that if they opened a decent wine to sell me 1 or 2 glasses they would likely need to throw away the rest of the bottle (assuming nobody else wanted that wine).  Even when I suggested that DW and I would guarantee to purchase all the remaining glasses in a particular bottle (within 2 or 3 days) he refused to relent.  His response was that we should simply buy the bottle (in which case there would have been little reason to buy the beverage package.  

 

Hank

If you wait to buy or upgrade your beverage package until you are onboard, then you will pay the $5 per day penalty that HAL imposes.  HAL wants you to use your own cash to buy the package instead of using HAL provided free OBC to buy it when onboard.

[Hlitner]

3 hours ago, TAD2005 said:

If you wait to buy or upgrade your beverage package until you are onboard, then you will pay the $5 per day penalty that HAL imposes.  HAL wants you to use your own cash to buy the package instead of using HAL provided free OBC to buy it when onboard.

Our reality on HAL, is that we have never seen a need to purchase any beverage package.  Our status gets us 50% off wine packages, 50% off espresso things at Explorations, and we usually take advantage of Happy Hours.  There is no way the Signature Beverage Package would make financial sense unless we got it at a big discount.  Our reality is that DW and I seldom spend more then $70 per day ($35 per person/day) on all of our beverages.  And consider that we are truly night owls on HAL since we will often be awake (and in a bar) until after 11 PM when most HAL ships are akin to morgues.

 

On two upcoming Princess cruises we were able to take advantage of a major sale and get packages (including beverages) for less than $25 per person day (which also included unlimited Internet).  Princess made it worth our while.  On HAL it is usually a bad deal.

 

Hank

[Vineyard View]

We have an upcoming trip that included the SBP. In looking at the wines available (we enjoy wine more than liquor) the selection is not impressive. I haven’t done a deep dive on the different wines between the two packages, but a quick overview did not show many additional options? Am I missing something? If what I see is accurate, on a port intensive itinerary in wine centric parts of the world, would it not make more sense to pay corkage fees rather than upgrade the package? 

[DeeniEncinitas]

5 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

We have an upcoming trip that included the SBP. In looking at the wines available (we enjoy wine more than liquor) the selection is not impressive. I haven’t done a deep dive on the different wines between the two packages, but a quick overview did not show many additional options? Am I missing something? If what I see is accurate, on a port intensive itinerary in wine centric parts of the world, would it not make more sense to pay corkage fees rather than upgrade the package? 

We have a wonderful CCer POA-1 who has on several occasions tried to be successful with his included SBP. He finally was able to upgrade his packages BUT it took persistence and patience but in the end he was able to upgrade while onboard. He lives in FLL and does cruises there. 
Now we always get included the SBP with our cruises and on our last cruise on Maasdam SA once on board we tried in vane at several bars and went to front office could not pay to up grade UNLESS WE WANTED TO PAY FULL FARE TIMES 2!!

$ extra $3,900 . (Didn’t work for us)

Sorry about the long write up!

we have the same thing for our Rotterdam cruise this March and Koningsdam next January. We are 5 Star so with that we are bringing our own wines and pay corkage fees. There wines IMO are just ok.

We have tried their wine packages AND most of the time some of the wines that are in the package are not available and we end up with other wines that IMO are inferior.

Good luck on what you do!

ENJOY YOUR CRUISE 

Denise😊

[RuthC]

36 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

If what I see is accurate, on a port intensive itinerary in wine centric parts of the world, would it not make more sense to pay corkage fees rather than upgrade the package? 

I think so. 
At $18, plus the price of the bottle, divided by the number of glasses, you have a much more affordable wine than you can purchase on the ship. Not to mention it's wine you want, not wine you settle for. 

[Vineyard View]

Denice and RuthC, thank you for your feedback and experiences. It is very helpful. It sounds like corkage fees are the way to go! 

[wbmom1]

This will be my first time on Holland America, and I am curious as to what the cost of a regular Cosmopolitan is, and do they have daily cocktail specials.    Also do they have a specialty coffee shop on board the Nieuw Statendam as well?

[molemaui]

On 1/8/2020 at 11:01 AM, Vineyard View said:

We have an upcoming trip that included the SBP. In looking at the wines available (we enjoy wine more than liquor) the selection is not impressive. I haven’t done a deep dive on the different wines between the two packages, but a quick overview did not show many additional options? Am I missing something? If what I see is accurate, on a port intensive itinerary in wine centric parts of the world, would it not make more sense to pay corkage fees rather than upgrade the package? 

 

We sailed HAL for there first time this past November and trying to upgrade the signature package did not make sense at all. The wines  (at least the red) were horrid so I just avoided wine for a week. Will bring on 2 bottles for my Feb. cruise and once again try and upgrade if  the cost is truly the difference between the two packages ($5/pp/day) and not some contrived number that I can't justify. 

 

A bit spoiled as the wines on other lines I've sailed are quite good. 

[crystalspin]

The difference would be between the pre-sailing price of the SBP and on-board price of the EBP, that is more that $5pppd.

[Alberta Quilter]

6 hours ago, wbmom1 said:

This will be my first time on Holland America, and I am curious as to what the cost of a regular Cosmopolitan is, and do they have daily cocktail specials.    Also do they have a specialty coffee shop on board the Nieuw Statendam as well?

 

Every HAL ship has the Explorations Cafe which serves specialty coffee.  The.NS also has the Grand Dutch Cafe, which also serves coffee, beer, and Dutch treats.  I'm not a coffee drinker so can't help any more than that with those two venues.  

 

Here is a link to Crew News' website which shows bar menus from his recent cruise on the NS;  http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/specialty-2/hal-regular-and-specialty-restaurants/hal-beverage-menus

[wbmom1]

3 hours ago, Alberta Quilter said:

 

Every HAL ship has the Explorations Cafe which serves specialty coffee.  The.NS also has the Grand Dutch Cafe, which also serves coffee, beer, and Dutch treats.  I'm not a coffee drinker so can't help any more than that with those two venues.  

 

Here is a link to Crew News' website which shows bar menus from his recent cruise on the NS;  http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/specialty-2/hal-regular-and-specialty-restaurants/hal-beverage-menus

Thank you I did see this, but didn't really see any info for "classic" drinks like a cosmopolitan.   I will keep looking.  thank you!

 

[Alberta Quilter]

31 minutes ago, wbmom1 said:

Thank you I did see this, but didn't really see any info for "classic" drinks like a cosmopolitan.   I will keep looking.  thank you!

 

 

The bar menu has changed since I last sailed.  I'm fairly sure that a classic drink like a cosmo or mojito would be less than $11.  HAL had most of their drinks priced at just below the price limit of the Signature Beverage Package and that limit is currently $11.

[wbmom1]

14 hours ago, Alberta Quilter said:

 

The bar menu has changed since I last sailed.  I'm fairly sure that a classic drink like a cosmo or mojito would be less than $11.  HAL had most of their drinks priced at just below the price limit of the Signature Beverage Package and that limit is currently $11.

Thank you for the information!

 

[crystalspin]

"classic" mixed drinks are priced by the liquor that is in them -- so look at Roger's bar menu for the type and brand vs price.

[molemaui]

Hopefully this is the definitive answer. I've heard there were changes coming so I reached out to ship services for the answer as we're sailing in February. 

 

 

We spoke recently about the cost to upgrade a promotional Signature Beverage Package to the Elite package onboard, and I wanted to follow up with you. The cost will be $17.25/per person/per day.

 

This is exactly what is was when we sailed in November so I see no change. 

 

On the positive side, I've never experienced better customer service pre cruise. You don't wait on hold forever and when they don't know the answer, they get back to you.

 

[TAD2005]

Crystalspin is correct.   If you purchased the SBP online or got it with a HAL promotion, and you upgrade it when you get onboard, you will pay the difference between the online price ($44.95 plus 15%) and the onboard price for the Elite package, which is $59.95 plus 15%.

If you purchased the SBP with your own cash before the cruise, just cancel and pay $49.95 plus 15% for the Elite package.   If you got the SBP by a HAL promotion, then your only option to upgrade is to wait until you get onboard and pay the $15 plus 15% difference in price.

[Vineyard View]

Thank you molemaui for your wine descriptions and feedback. You confirmed what I was afraid was true. Obtaining the upgrade pricing at $17.25/pppd also confirms my thinking that corkage fees are the way to go for us. Good Information to have ahead of time. 

[Brewgirl1]

Thanks for your answers, definitely not worth it!

I did score one of those huge double balconies on deck 4!

Now to wait 1 more month!!