The best way to upgrade from Signiture to Elite drink package?

[lana094]

Hello,

What is the best way to upgrade from Signiture to Elite drink package? Before the cruise from your TA on when on board?

 

thank you

[scooter6139]

Do you have it as part of the Have it All package (HAI)? My PCC said you can't upgrade before sailing if it's part of the package.  

 

"You CANNOT upgrade online 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."

[lana094]

23 minutes ago, scooter6139 said:

Do you have it as part of the Have it All package (HAI)? My PCC said you can't upgrade before sailing if it's part of the package.  

 

"You CANNOT upgrade online 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."

Yes, I have it as part of HIA package.. Wow, that is expensive upgrade. I hoped for $5-6 pp/per day extra.

thank you for the information

[oakridger]

@lana094 it may be more cost effective to just pay the overage plus 18% gratuity above the $11 HIA Signature Beverage Package maximum.  It depends on what your favorite drink is and how many you think you would have in a day but do the math and see for yourself before paying the upgrade.

 

~Nancy

[scooter6139]

11 hours ago, lana094 said:

Yes, I have it as part of HIA package.. Wow, that is expensive upgrade. I hoped for $5-6 pp/per day extra.

thank you for the information

Those numbers are also based on my 7-day Alaska cruise.

[fsufancc]

18 hours ago, oakridger said:

@lana094 it may be more cost effective to just pay the overage plus 18% gratuity above the $11 HIA Signature Beverage Package maximum.  It depends on what your favorite drink is and how many you think you would have in a day but do the math and see for yourself before paying the upgrade.

 

~Nancy

^^^This^^^  We have the HIA package and there are maybe a few higher end liquors I'd like to try.  So, for me this is a very workable solution rather than paying the upgrade for the entire sailing.  For others, it is strictly a YMMV situation. 

[Murray's Pop]

Was looking at this post and checked my booking.  We have the HIA package and it includes the Elite Beverage Package.  Didn't know there were different levels of the HIA package. 

[scooter6139]

23 hours ago, oakridger said:

@lana094 it may be more cost effective to just pay the overage plus 18% gratuity above the $11 HIA Signature Beverage Package maximum.  It depends on what your favorite drink is and how many you think you would have in a day but do the math and see for yourself before paying the upgrade.

 

~Nancy

This is a good thing to consider.  It's not about the higher-end alcohols for me, but the non-alcoholic ones like soda.  I, unfortunately, drink a lot of those plus bottled water.  Can't stand that a soda counts as 1 of the 15 drinks in the Signature package.  So the $2.75 (plus 18%) per soda shouldn't be a big issue.  I hope.  🤑😏

[terrydtx]

Last year on the Oosterdam we had the HIA with the Signature Drinks, we could not up grade to Elite when we boarded, and I took the issue all the way to the Beverage manager and was told the HIA drinks could not be up graded. This was also before HAL changed their policy of only paying the difference in cost plus tips for drinks over the limits.

[terrydtx]

55 minutes ago, Murray's Pop said:

Was looking at this post and checked my booking.  We have the HIA package and it includes the Elite Beverage Package.  Didn't know there were different levels of the HIA package. 

HAL offers the Elite HIA drinks on early booking promos for cruises booked within 90 days of being released for booking. Our Koingsdam cruise in November has the SDP, but our Volendam cruise next year in August has the Early booking promos and we have the Premium drinks, Wi-Fi and gratuities,

[Murray's Pop]

26 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

HAL offers the Elite HIA drinks on early booking promos for cruises booked within 90 days of being released for booking. Our Koingsdam cruise in November has the SDP, but our Volendam cruise next year in August has the Early booking promos and we have the Premium drinks, Wi-Fi and gratuities,

Thanks, that explains it. Yep, we booked our cruise right after they were posted. 

[CruiserBruce]

The adding of the Elite Beverage Package for early booking is a new thing, and may not be always offered. We booked a cruise for March 2024 the day after it appeared on the HAL website...so quickly that two TAs we checked with couldn't see it...it hadn't been loaded into the TA's systems yet. It came with the Signature Beverage Package.

 

So, what I am saying is including the Elite Beverage Package might have been a sale item only for a short time.

[iceman93]

One of the first things I asked at the Neptune Lounge on my cruise last summer was to upgrade the Signature package to the Elite package.  Luckily the concierge showed me a sheet listing exactly which drinks were included in Elite that weren't in Signature.  There were very few, and even fewer we were likely to order, so we chose not to upgrade and didn't regret it.

[terrydtx]

18 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

The adding of the Elite Beverage Package for early booking is a new thing, and may not be always offered. We booked a cruise for March 2024 the day after it appeared on the HAL website...so quickly that two TAs we checked with couldn't see it...it hadn't been loaded into the TA's systems yet. It came with the Signature Beverage Package.

 

So, what I am saying is including the Elite Beverage Package might have been a sale item only for a short time.

Here is a link to the Early Bonus booking promo. It does say the offer is for a limited time but that is all. Have you gone back to try a  booking on your cruise to see if the offer was still available? We booked our August 2024 Volendam cruise in February and got the promo. I also looked and it is still being offered on our cruise as well.

 

Have It All Early Booking Bonus | Holland America Line

 

[CruiserBruce]

@terrydtx, no, we haven't gone back to see if we can get it. Our tastes run to champagne, and the current price structure and choices work for us. Plus, we have a ton of OBC, so could, if we needed to, just pay the difference on the one or two pricier champagnes, if we needed to.

[terrydtx]

14 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

@terrydtx, no, we haven't gone back to see if we can get it. Our tastes run to champagne, and the current price structure and choices work for us. Plus, we have a ton of OBC, so could, if we needed to, just pay the difference on the one or two pricier champagnes, if we needed to.

The Early promo has more than just premium drinks. You should check again.

[Florida_gal_50]

4 hours ago, iceman93 said:

One of the first things I asked at the Neptune Lounge on my cruise last summer was to upgrade the Signature package to the Elite package.  Luckily the concierge showed me a sheet listing exactly which drinks were included in Elite that weren't in Signature.  There were very few, and even fewer we were likely to order, so we chose not to upgrade and didn't regret it.

I think the reason some get it is because they want more than 15 "drinks" a day.  That wouldn't be me.

[lana094]

On 5/18/2023 at 10:50 AM, terrydtx said:

Here is a link to the Early Bonus booking promo. It does say the offer is for a limited time but that is all. Have you gone back to try a  booking on your cruise to see if the offer was still available? We booked our August 2024 Volendam cruise in February and got the promo. I also looked and it is still being offered on our cruise as well.

 

Have It All Early Booking Bonus | Holland America Line

 

It's a really nice offer, but the deposit is super high and become unrefundable after two weeks

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, lana094 said:

It's a really nice offer, but the deposit is super high and become unrefundable after two weeks

Where are you seeing it becomes non refundable after two weeks? I'm booked under this promo and I don't see anything on my confirmation to say that.  Thanks.

[Florida_gal_50]

Here is a screen print from my cruise I booked.  The left one is "best price" and is non refundable.  The right one is the early booking which states its refundable right at the top.

cruise.pdf

[terrydtx]

2 hours ago, lana094 said:

It's a really nice offer, but the deposit is super high and become unrefundable after two weeks

No where does it say high non refundable high deposit. Our 2024 Volendam cruise the deposit was 50% reduced to $300pp and it 100% refundable

[terrydtx]

20 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Here is a screen print from my cruise I booked.  The left one is "best price" and is non refundable.  The right one is the early booking which states its refundable right at the top.

cruise.pdf 51.22 kB · 1 download

Some people can't resist giving out false information. I agree with you that was the same offer we got on the Volendam plus a 50% refundable deposit or $300pp.

[ghstudio]

before you upgrade, check to see what liquors they actually have on board.  On our Westerdam cruise, they had only 2 scotches and 0 bourbons that were not on the regular drink package.  It would help on wine...but I just paid the $2-3 overage per drink.

[fairydustca]

On 5/19/2023 at 10:04 AM, lana094 said:

It's a really nice offer, but the deposit is super high and become unrefundable after two weeks

I just checked this offer. It is still available, but my Cali cruise in November for a balcony ends up costing $400 more than I paid and I booked an aft-facing balcony which are no longer available for pricing. Seems like their "deals" all end up costing about the same in the end by the time you add it all up. I do like to upgrade the drink package because it also includes unlimited specialty coffees and waters, which were counted as part of your 15 drink limit the last time we cruised on HAL in December. That was a recent change. Not sure if they are still doing that.