upgrading drink package

[ksmaxey]

4 hours ago, scooter6139 said:

This was the last message on this I got from our PCC:

 

You CANNOT upgrade on line if you already have Have It All.  You can only upgrade on the ship and the cost will be $17.70 pp/per day extra.

 

If you prepurchase the elite w/out Have It All the cost is $58.94 per day. 

 

As long as you would also purchase wi-fi, take $100 worth of excursions and 1 specialty dinner (value $250) then paying $350 for Have It All means the beverage package is costing you $100 for 7 days or $14/day.  So $14 day plus the $17.70 to upgrade to elite will mean you are paying $31.70/day which is still a better deal than buying the Elite separately.

 

I hope you follow all that but the bottom line is you can ONLY upgrade to elite on the ship if you have Have It All on your booking.

We have upgraded on many cruises before. 

On this cruise we were told that upgrading is no longer available online or in person because of the new policy that you only pay the overage amount for beverages over $11.

Given that every drink menu has this printed in it, I am certain this is going fleet wide.  It just depends on when it hits each ship

Edited February 1, 2023 by ksmaxey
clarity

[HALcruiser2001]

6 hours ago, ksmaxey said:

We have upgraded on many cruises before. 

On this cruise we were told that upgrading is no longer available online or in person because of the new policy that you only pay the overage amount for beverages over $11.

Given that every drink menu has this printed in it, I am certain this is going fleet wide.  It just depends on when it hits each ship

Considering that HIA does not include the best drink package, it is silly and restrictive for HAL to not allow any possible way to upgrade after you purchase HIA.

[LizzGo]

Just got off the Koningsdam. The first thing we did was up grade to Elite. Big mistake. It was a complete waste of money.for two reasons. The first being that we upgraded primarily to have better wine. They had an abysmal wine selection. There was only one red and one rose we liked that were $14. So we could’ve just stuck with Signature and paid the difference and been way ahead. The only white we liked was $18 so we had to pay $3 every time we ordered it, which was like adding insult to injury. The $15 white I wanted was unavailable. There were two sparkling at $11 we liked and an ok Pinot Noir which was also $11. Most of the cocktails we drank also would have been in the Signature package. We also enjoyed specialty coffee. I’m not sure if that would e been part of the Sig pkg or not but even if not, and we paid each time, we still would have been way ahead of we had not upgraded.  I strongly recommend - DO NOT UPGRADE, unless you enjoy wasting money. 

 

[terrydtx]

On 1/31/2023 at 1:22 PM, ksmaxey said:

I can say that I spoke with the Beverage Manager who I knew from previous cruises and he said there was a change in policy 2 weeks ago and no upgrades to the elite package are allowed

We were on the Oosterdam last August and we had the HIA package. When we boarded, we were told by the Beverage manager we could NOT upgrade to the Elite drinks package with the HIA. She told me if the Signature Drinks was bought pre-cruise without HIA then we could upgrade. After being on the cruise for 14 nights I saw very few wines we wanted to drink by the glass even under $15 but we got any spirits we wanted for under $11. This cruise was also before they changed the policy to paying only the difference between the $11 and higher drinks cost plus 18% tips. 

 

I would also like to point out that HAL's drink packages are a bargain compared to Celebrity's new costs. Celebrity's standard package is now $89pp per day ($10 and under) and the Premium package is $109pp per day ($17 and under).

[3rdGenCunarder]

7 hours ago, LizzGo said:

Just got off the Koningsdam. The first thing we did was up grade to Elite. Big mistake. It was a complete waste of money.for two reasons. The first being that we upgraded primarily to have better wine. They had an abysmal wine selection. There was only one red and one rose we liked that were $14. So we could’ve just stuck with Signature and paid the difference and been way ahead. The only white we liked was $18 so we had to pay $3 every time we ordered it, which was like adding insult to injury. The $15 white I wanted was unavailable. There were two sparkling at $11 we liked and an ok Pinot Noir which was also $11. Most of the cocktails we drank also would have been in the Signature package. We also enjoyed specialty coffee. I’m not sure if that would e been part of the Sig pkg or not but even if not, and we paid each time, we still would have been way ahead of we had not upgraded.  I strongly recommend - DO NOT UPGRADE, unless you enjoy wasting money. 

 

 

Yes, the specialty coffees are included in the Signature package.  I agree that the wines included at the price cap are limited. I did go over by a dollar or two sometimes on a glass of wine, but if the upsell to the Elite package is $17, I never went over the Signature package by that much on any given day. 

 

 

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

We were on the Oosterdam last August and we had the HIA package. When we boarded, we were told by the Beverage manager we could NOT upgrade to the Elite drinks package with the HIA. She told me if the Signature Drinks was bought pre-cruise without HIA then we could upgrade. After being on the cruise for 14 nights I saw very few wines we wanted to drink by the glass even under $15 but we got any spirits we wanted for under $11. This cruise was also before they changed the policy to paying only the difference between the $11 and higher drinks cost plus 18% tips. 

 

I would also like to point out that HAL's drink packages are a bargain compared to Celebrity's new costs. Celebrity's standard package is now $89pp per day ($10 and under) and the Premium package is $109pp per day ($17 and under).

 

I can understand HAL not allowing people on HIA to upgrade the beverage package. Look back at the math posted earlier in this thread. If you look at the separate costs of internet plus the excursions plus the specialty dinners, what you're paying for the beverage package is around $14 per day. If you add the upgrade fee, you're getting the Elite package for much less than if you'd bought it on its own. 

 

On a side note, I thought the rule was that you can buy only one drink at a time with the package. On Eurodam, they were allowing two. I saw a couple buy two mimosas each at the pool bar. After they signed the bills, the woman asked "Okay, now can I buy two more?" The bartender said they had to wait a while. As the couple walked away, I heard one of them say "Where were they sitting?" Sounds like they were trying to share the package. The only time I bought two of anything at one time was cans of water to take ashore on a tour.

 

 

[LizzGo]

Interesting. There appears to be lack of consistency between ships. We had purchased the HIA pre- cruise and we were allowed to upgrade the drinks package on board. I think ( but I’ll have to check) it cost us $200 each/ $400 in total. We did not come even close to getting value out of that, especially when you consider the extra $3 each time  for the Sancerre. Even if HAL had not implemented this new policy of simply paying the difference as opposed to full cost when you have a beverage that’s over your price point, it still was not cost effective to upgrade. But with just paying the difference ……it would have been much cheaper to just stick w Sig pkg.

Another interesting tidbit I had not thought of until reading previous posts- on the Koningsdam, not only did they allow people to get up to three drinks at a time,  they often allowed - even encouraged - my husband and I to put both our drinks on one card, presumably to keep it simple for them, as they had to  print and have us sign for every purchase. ( Half the reason we wanted a drinks pkg was to not have to bother with that!) Also - once when having drinks with a couple who had not purchased a drinks pkg, they allowed me to buy a couple of glasses of wine on my card. I recall on Celebrity that was a seriously not permitted!

 

 

[HALcruiser2001]

23 hours ago, scooter6139 said:

This was the last message on this I got from our PCC:

 

You CANNOT upgrade on line if you already have Have It All.  You can only upgrade on the ship and the cost will be $17.70 pp/per day extra.

 

If you prepurchase the elite w/out Have It All the cost is $58.94 per day. 

 

As long as you would also purchase wi-fi, take $100 worth of excursions and 1 specialty dinner (value $250) then paying $350 for Have It All means the beverage package is costing you $100 for 7 days or $14/day.  So $14 day plus the $17.70 to upgrade to elite will mean you are paying $31.70/day which is still a better deal than buying the Elite separately.

 

I hope you follow all that but the bottom line is you can ONLY upgrade to elite on the ship if you have Have It All on your booking.

I do not believe that this math is correct, but I cannot really confirm it as once you purchase HAL bundles the price of HIA into the cost of the cruise and then lists HIA as special services.  S

 

HIAx2	$  798.00	$  798.00
EXCx2	$  200.00	$  598.00
Wifi	$  105.00	$  493.00
Diningx2	$  150.00	$  343.00
Per Day Drinks		$    49.00
Per Day Drinks PPAX		$    24.50

[scooter6139]

I would not be interested in the $11 to $15 jump for alcoholic drinks or wine.  I just care about sharing the non-alcoholic drinks (soda, coffee, juice, etc) with the 15 per limit with the alcoholic ones in the Signature package.  Drinking 15 alcoholic drinks would be a challenge for me, but doable in a full days time.  Drinking 15 soda's and coffee and other such drinks is super easy in a days timeframe.  Put those together, it absolutely pathetic.  

[lavictoria]

Upgrading drink packages

Edited February 2, 2023 by lavictoria
Already answered

[lavictoria]

Upgrading drink packages

Edited February 2, 2023 by lavictoria
already answered somewhere else

[terrydtx]

3 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

I can understand HAL not allowing people on HIA to upgrade the beverage package. Look back at the math posted earlier in this thread. If you look at the separate costs of internet plus the excursions plus the specialty dinners, what you're paying for the beverage package is around $14 per day. If you add the upgrade fee, you're getting the Elite package for much less than if you'd bought it on its own. 

After we boarded the Oosterdam and saw what few wines by the glass were priced between the $11 and $15 limits were available, we realized that first bartender and beverage manager did us a favor by not upgrading us to Elite. I doubt we would have in 14 days spent enough between $11 and $15 to pay for the upgrade. We found you had to buy the wines listed at over $15 a glass to get anything of quality, now with the newer policy of just paying the overage plus 18% is a better deal than upgrading.

[Josie201]

As I reported earlier in this thread a bartender "recommended" against upgrading to us on Koningsdam in January.  He said we were better off just paying the difference if we found something we wanted that was over the limited.  That worked out ok for us, as supply of most wines was hit and miss.  In fact we drank mostly Decoy which I never saw on any menu anywhere and it was no up-charge.  Also, we ended up purchasing a water package, with the six large bottles of Acqua Panna.  That worked out well for us to avoid us having to worry about hitting the 15 limit on a daily basis.  In fact we purchased two of the water packages (24 day cruise).  I did find it odd that I was not allowed to order one of the bottles of Acqua Panna in the HIA package, despite their cost being only $5.95.  Weird.  As I also noted, we were told beverage cards are no longer being sold. 

 

All in all, we were concerned about monitoring for the 15 drinks per day limit but we found he closest we came one day was 13 and that included two capuccinos and buying a glass of wine each for a friend. 

[2Long2NxtCrz]

23 hours ago, Josie201 said:

As I reported earlier in this thread a bartender "recommended" against upgrading to us on Koningsdam in January.  He said we were better off just paying the difference if we found something we wanted that was over the limited.  That worked out ok for us, as supply of most wines was hit and miss.  In fact we drank mostly Decoy which I never saw on any menu anywhere and it was no up-charge.  Also, we ended up purchasing a water package, with the six large bottles of Acqua Panna.  That worked out well for us to avoid us having to worry about hitting the 15 limit on a daily basis.  In fact we purchased two of the water packages (24 day cruise).  I did find it odd that I was not allowed to order one of the bottles of Acqua Panna in the HIA package, despite their cost being only $5.95.  Weird.  As I also noted, we were told beverage cards are no longer being sold. 

 

All in all, we were concerned about monitoring for the 15 drinks per day limit but we found he closest we came one day was 13 and that included two capuccinos and buying a glass of wine each for a friend. 

Thank you. That's been my big worry and the entire reason I wanted to upgrade: to remove the limit on non-alcoholic drinks because between coffees and waters, we'd hit close each day. It's just aggravating to equate an espresso to a martini, imho. They're not remotely in the same ballpark as regards to cost.

 

I just don't like the whole idea that I'm going to have to "count" my non-alcoholic drinks since I've never even thought about that on a cruise ever before. I guess time will tell.

[AFNavigator]

3 hours ago, 2Long2NxtCrz said:

Thank you. That's been my big worry and the entire reason I wanted to upgrade: to remove the limit on non-alcoholic drinks because between coffees and waters, we'd hit close each day. It's just aggravating to equate an espresso to a martini, imho. They're not remotely in the same ballpark as regards to cost.

 

I just don't like the whole idea that I'm going to have to "count" my non-alcoholic drinks since I've never even thought about that on a cruise ever before. I guess time will tell.

If you are concerned about going over the limit partly due to coffees and waters, you can get ahead of that a bit by getting extra waters (or sodas for those who drink sodas) towards your limit on embarkation day.  Same goes for port days that you think you will be off the ship for quite a while to include Half Moon Cay where any purchase there do not count against your beverage package...because you have to pay for any HMC purchases.

[2Long2NxtCrz]

2 hours ago, AFNavigator said:

If you are concerned about going over the limit partly due to coffees and waters, you can get ahead of that a bit by getting extra waters (or sodas for those who drink sodas) towards your limit on embarkation day.  Same goes for port days that you think you will be off the ship for quite a while to include Half Moon Cay where any purchase there do not count against your beverage package...because you have to pay for any HMC purchases.

Oh! That's a good idea! Thank you for that!

[scooter6139]

18 hours ago, AFNavigator said:

If you are concerned about going over the limit partly due to coffees and waters, you can get ahead of that a bit by getting extra waters (or sodas for those who drink sodas) towards your limit on embarkation day.  Same goes for port days that you think you will be off the ship for quite a while to include Half Moon Cay where any purchase there do not count against your beverage package...because you have to pay for any HMC purchases.

 

Are you referring to just buying sodas on the ship on those days?  Or if buying off ship, I thought the Rules still prohibit bringing  soda's onboard?  

[crystalspin]

3 hours ago, scooter6139 said:

Are you referring to just buying sodas on the ship on those days?  Or if buying off ship, I thought the Rules still prohibit bringing  soda's onboard?  

Buying on ship and "stocking up" in your cabin fridge. This is often recommended. 

[AFNavigator]

1 hour ago, crystalspin said:

4 hours ago, scooter6139 said:

Are you referring to just buying sodas on the ship on those days?  Or if buying off ship, I thought the Rules still prohibit bringing  soda's onboard?  

Buying on ship and "stocking up" in your cabin fridge. This is often recommended. 

Yes, this is exactly what I was referring to.  Leverage your package limit to stock up your cabin fridge on days you don't anticipate using the full 15 beverage limit.  That's typically embarkation day and long port days where you may not be on ship for a good part of the day.