Teen Passport/ Drink card

[Chexmix]

I will be sailing on the SUN for an 18 day cruise. I don't want to purchase a soda card as I wouldn't use it enough to justify the cost of $155.34. However, I have thought of purchasing the Teen Passport which would entitle me to 20 non alcoholic drinks.

 

Do you think I would have a problem since I'm not a teen using it?

[starfamily]

when we got the booklet last year for my son it was different than I expected, it is not a card but a bunch of coupons in a little book, you bring one up to the bar and order your smoothie or whatever.

Several times my husband got the smootie for our son while he ordered our drinks and used the coupons for the child's drink and no one batted an eye but he did walk away with them. If you were in the dining room and tried to hand the coupon to the waitor without a kid at the table you might get some strange looks :)

[LA_FadeAway]

$155.34 for an 18 day soda card????? That's $8.63 per day. Is that what NCL charges? Geez, I was on Princess a few weeks ago and their's came to something like 3.95 per day plus 15% tip. Is the soda card really going to have to be $77.67 for a 9 day cruise? If so, I'll just need to bring my own on board.

[Chexmix]

when we got the booklet last year for my son it was different than I expected, it is not a card but a bunch of coupons in a little book, you bring one up to the bar and order your smoothie or whatever.

Several times my husband got the smootie for our son while he ordered our drinks and used the coupons for the child's drink and no one batted an eye but he did walk away with them. If you were in the dining room and tried to hand the coupon to the waitor without a kid at the table you might get some strange looks :)

 

Thanks for letting me know your experience. I hope someone else will also chime in on this.

 

$155.34 for an 18 day soda card????? That's $8.63 per day. Is that what NCL charges? Geez, I was on Princess a few weeks ago and their's came to something like 3.95 per day plus 15% tip. Is the soda card really going to have to be $77.67 for a 9 day cruise? If so, I'll just need to bring my own on board.

 

 

Yes, according to the Bon Voyage page on NCL, $8.63 is the cost per day for the card. That is why I want to know about the teen passport. You get 20 non alcoholic drinks (smoothies included) plus a few other perks that I would not use for $34.50. Thats only $1.73 per drink. Not a bad deal. With the soda card if you drink at least 8 a day the cost would be ok but I do not drink that much soda and would prefer the smoothies any way.

[monicajay]

Those of us with teens would prefer that people don't abuse this program. If everyone starts using it I'm sure NCL will discontinue it or start charging a lot more. It is well indicated that it is for "Teens".

 

Do you order off the children's menu when you go to restaurants?

[Chexmix]

Those of us with teens would prefer that people don't abuse this program. If everyone starts using it I'm sure NCL will discontinue it or start charging a lot more. It is well indicated that it is for "Teens".

 

Do you order off the children's menu when you go to restaurants?

 

As a mother of five I understand what you are saying. However, they offer the soda card to children/teens as well. They should offer an adult version of the passport program as they do the soda card.

 

To answer your question, YES I do order off the childrens menu sometimes. I am a diabetic and the portions of a childs menu is more on target to my eating needs/habits.

 

This post was not to flame you but to answer your question and give my opinion.

[josetann]

I too have ordered off a child's menu before. On the disney cruise we went on, there was a kid at our table, and his desserts often looked better to me. One night I got the Mickey Ears, another I got a sundae. I was tempted to order a regular meal off his menu too, but I didn't go that far.

[DebraDot]

My first thought when I read this was that I would never do that (order a teen passport for an adult). It just seems wrong to abuse the system. My second thought was, I am so glad I have already ordered one for my son so that when NCL stops selling them due to abuse, I already have one for my son. I really hope you will rethink this.

 

Aside from that, NCL knows who is in the stateroom because of the required registration, so if there is no teen in the room, I would think there would be no teen passport available to you. Can't say for sure, though.

[calmac]

I was seriously thinking of ordering this for our DS who will be 12 when we sail. My reasoning behind this is - at age 12 he is too YOUNG for the smoothie vouchers but at 12 he is considered an "adult" for fare purposes and also probably not entitled to the child's soda card which is cheaper than the adult one (or, at least, it used to be).

[immargaret]

The smoothie voucher coupons can also be used for bottles of water or cans of soda, so they aren't limited to the smoothies.:)

 

I have seen adults turned away from using the coupons, even though they were sold the booklets on the ship. Of course they were trying to use the coupons in the casino where you normally wouldn't find kids.:rolleyes:

 

They are a great bargain for teens, but PLEASE don't ruin it for others by purchasing them for adults.

[hsc]

I will be sailing on the SUN for an 18 day cruise. I don't want to purchase a soda card as I wouldn't use it enough to justify the cost of $155.34. However, I have thought of purchasing the Teen Passport which would entitle me to 20 non alcoholic drinks.

 

Do you think I would have a problem since I'm not a teen using it?

 

Yes, NCL would not allow me to purchase the teen passports for my grandsons for bon voyage gifts. I wanted to get them each soda cards and the teen passports NCL would only let me buy the soda cards. The boys are 3 and 6. NCL said it is just for teens and that nothing that they could do .......But I put an on board credit on my daughter account and told her to try to get the teen passports when she got on the ship [my daughter looks like she is 17] and she had no problem buying the teen passports but I don't know if she had trouble using them. We had purchased teen passports in Feb for our teens traveling with us and on couple occasion when I or my husband would be going up to the bar and our teens wanted a smoothie and were to lazy to get them, the bar staff did give us a hard time. Even with a soda card the bar staff isn't happy serving you the soda they tend to ignore you when you flash the sticker they rather sell drinks and the bartenders hate making the smoothies, they will make you wait forever They do sell adult smoothies on the ship at around $7 without the souvenir cup [the ship has a smoothie of the day]. I say buy couple cases of soda and bring them on with you in with your snorkel gear. We brought a couple cases of water with us [a lot of water], we are big water drinkers and it was nice having a unopened water bottle with us on shore excursions. We also brought powdered Gatorade to put in the water. If you are not a big soda drinker it would be cheaper to buy the soda individually on the ship or you can bring soda on the ship when you are at port too.

[vegasnvcruiser]

Major sour grapes on this one... I apologize ahead of time if I offend anyone.

 

DH and I just got back from the Star. DH loves his coke. We have always purchased the soda option for him. And he's always got more than his money's worth out of it.

 

Not so on this cruise. It was like the card of death or something. We dined in several different places on the ship. We were always asked if we would like something from the bar. As soon as that card with the Coke sticker came out, the eyes went rolling! One waitress even stated she was sorry she had asked. (YES, NCL will be be hearing from us!) We dined at Cagney's twice... once on Saturday night and again on Friday night. The soda that DH was served was FLAT both nights. So, either the Star Bar had problems with the carbonation all week or it was intentional as he wasn't about to ask for a refill. DH did get complain the second time this occurred and the waitress, simply said "that's what they gave me". So, he got up and walked to the bar, asked for another coke, which was also flat. He told them it was flat, and would like for them to fix it. They ended up giving him a can of coke. It was to the point of ridiculous.

 

I would highly advise not to waste your money on the soda card. The servers aren't getting their 15% and have no desire to see you utilize it. So, that's OUR opinion!

 

BTW... a glass of soda is 1.50, a can 2.00, plus the 15%!

[LA_FadeAway]

BTW... a glass of soda is 1.50, a can 2.00, plus the 15%!

 

Now that is really interesting! I think Princess charged around $2.50 or so per soda and only sold cans. The soda card was only good on fountain, but came to about $3.95 per day plus $15%. That means you would only have to drink about 2 or 3 per day to make up the cost. It seems on NCL you have to drink 5 or 6 sodas a day to make it worth it and put up with attitude! Looks like I'll be bringing my own on board!

[Manifest1]

It seems on NCL you have to drink 5 or 6 sodas a day to make it worth it and put up with attitude!

 

 

I'd say bring your own. I bought the soda sticker, what a waste, my cost per soda came to around $5. Getting a drink was like pulling teeth from the vast majority of servers. So much so that I stopped asking for them. I came to the conclusion that it is a money making scam on the part of NCL. I'll never buy it again. From here on out I will only get free drinks and what I take aboard with me.

 

Mixed drinks are a never again as well. I had 5 rum and cokes within two hours the one night, and couldn't feel the slightest effect. I am usually pretty well plastered after three drinks. Since you are not allowed to bring alcohol on board and only NCL can serve you, what incentive do they have to make you decent drinks?

 

Thank goodness beer and wine can't be watered down. It was my only solace.

[LA_FadeAway]

Thanks for the warning on the drinks!