Bar Credit (4 drinks)$19.50 - Carnival

[serene56]

To get a better idea of what drinks costs here is a link I found on webshots.

http://community.webshots.com/album/37944457xihAnV

 

Coupons will be delivered to you at dinner. If you want them before dinner head to the pursers desk and they can give them to you then.

 

Coupons do not save you a lot of money- what they do do is save your bar bill at the end of the week as the coupons are prepaid.

 

If you booked a gaurantee you can not buy them online but will have to call the gift services at the 1-800 number listed under gifts.

 

PS_- they also sell Photo coupons for 15 bucks. Its an even exchange dollar for dollar but because they are prepaid it helps with the bill at the end of the week,

[Angelmay]

Can we purchase the drink coupons on the ship? Thx

[Snowball]

No, they have to be purchased in advance, and the latest you can order them is two weeks prior to your cruise date.

[bcs819]

We got a bottle of Martini & Rossi Asti Spumante every night at dinner with 4 coupons. They were very flexible with the coupons I thought. We were surprised that they would let us buy the bottle. I think they determined it by how many glasses you get out of it. The dining room staff has contests on how many bottles of wine they sell at dinner. We were going to use ours to buy by the glass when our fabulous waiters on the Victory and the Prid eboth suggested using multiple coupons to buy the whole bottle. We told him what we wanted and he came back and told us how many coupons. I'm sure you could get more expensive wines with more coupons. The most money we saved was when I used them for Cosmos. We didn't really do it as much to save money as to spread out the price of them. For several monthes beforehand I bought a book or two every week. We figured it out that we had 3-4 drinks per person by the pool, and 2-3 drinks at dinner, then 2-3 drinks per show. That's 20 drinks per day for the two of us times 7days is 140 drinks. Subtract 12 drinks per person for port days and you're talking about 100 drinks. 100 drink coupons, 25 books will cost $488. Take the same 100 drinks and pay 5-6 bucks each and you save $100. Plus it's all paid for ahead of time and we found them to be very convenient and easy to use.

Before anyone asks if we were drunk the whole time, remember all the pool drinks are big, frosty, hardly buzz-worthy drinks...

CAn you tell that we LOVE LOVE LOVE the drink coupons...

[waterbound]

We've bought them and used them on our last several cruises.. We are bringing our children on the next cruise and I wondered if we can use the coupons for the non alcoholic frozen drinks for the kids that are avl at the pool bar? Does anyone know? When we cruised with them last February they each got several of those drinks and they were yummy.. This would be great if we could also use them for those drinks

[serene56]

The virgin drinks are 3.95 plus the 15% gratuity. You can use the coupon for those but will lose short of a buck every time you buy one. If you dont mind the 60 cents lose then get the kids the books- but tell them not to buy soda with them

Mostly convenient- you dont have to whip your sign and sail card and sign a receipt everytime you want a drink.

 

My biggest savings with the coupons is when I sailed on the Sensation in 1999. 4 for 15 bucks. Got too many books. But they are still good for other cruises so I put them away. I used them on the VIctory and then the coupons were 4 for 19.95 so it was I got a free drink for every three I used.

[waterbound]

serene56 thanks for the reply.. I didnt realize the cost was less on those drinks.. Im already getting them a drink card for their soda, but with 5 kids and if each of them get 4 of those drinks that would be losing too much money.. I think I will just budget $4 each drink and let each of them get 4 over the duration of the cruise and put it on our sign and sail rather than losing $20, cause I could buy an extra coupon book of 4 drinks for myself for that much!!

[serene56]

Waterbound: Kids under 12 get sodas for free in the dining room. When I first took my kids on a cruise I had to cut a lot of corners...and soda cards were not in the budget. I did get each kid a 12 pack of pepsi which each carried their own onboard. We drank a lot of ice tea/ lemonade fruit punch. also choc milk was available for dinner and in the buffet. We each had an insulated mug so those daily trips to the buffet for those refills. Soda cards are not good for room service.

 

PS: make sure your kids try ordering brownies one night from room service.

[CruisnCutie]

Sorry if this has been answered already.

 

What happens if you have bought the coupons and have to cancel your cruise? Do you get a refund?

 

Also, how for in advance can you start ordering?

[GoinCruisin]

You cannot get a refund but can use them on another cruise. We started ordering ours last year as soon as the booking was paid in full... have already started ordering them for my next cruise as well... good luck!

[serene56]

goin cruising: I would order all your coupons for your sensation cruise. That way if the price goes up-- you already have them.

The price of the coupons have been the same since 2002. I bet they go up next year.

 

 

CruisinCutie: dont start buying the coupons til after final payment. You have two weeks befoe you go to purchase...soemtimes they even let you buy up til 7 days before. But if you buy them and you cancel your cruise.. you lost out.

[GoinCruisin]

Serene, i am just buying several each week for each of our 4 cabins... easier this way... i know the drinks and coupons could go up, but it is much easier for me to do it this way, i just buy $40 worth each week and forget about it, We only have 60 days...

[sam-E]

Thanks for a very helpful thread. Going to purchase drink coupons now, since we sail on 9/12/04.

[NewCruzer1]

If you booked a gaurantee you can not buy them online but will have to call the gift services at the 1-800 number listed under gifts.

 

With Carnival's new policy of assigning guaranteed cabins well in advance of sailing, we learned our cabin 59 days in advance of our Oct. 4 departure, and ordered drink coupons online for that assigned cabin that day.

Once you've been assigned a cabin (if you have access to that information), you can order them.

[seeker]

On Carnival's website they offer "Soft Beverage Coupons" which are 4 coupons for soda for $6.80.

[serene56]

Seeker- thats for 4 cans of coke. or coke product. (not good for the cans that are in your refrigerator.

[GATravel]

Can I order drink coupons if I don't know my room number?

[BottledRed]

Can I order drink coupons if I don't know my room number?

From Carnival site: If you do not have the information, please call 1-800-522-7648 to place an order over the phone. (about booking and room number)

[helicopter]

Can I put all the credits on my cabin # and then just hand some to whom ever in my party I want (instead of trying to breakdown how much each person will drink)?

[Guera88]

So are these coupons good for drinks like Margaritas and Pina Coladas or Martinis? Cuz that's what I usually drink!

[jeast]

Wouldn't purchasing fun dollars ease the pain of the S&S bill as well as adding flexibility and convenience? I mean, if you're going to have to take out your SS card anyway for the dollar or so extra, why carry around the pesky coupons?

 

Are there restrictions on the fun dollars? I don't know when/how they are applied to the account but it seems like it would be easier and you don't have to wait until you actually GET the coupons to start. It doesn't seem that the bar coupons save you any (to speak of ) money.

 

Also, if you didn't spend them all on your SS account, you could use them for your next cruise. Is this logical or am I missing something?

[beth_s]

If you use the drink coupon to order say a Cosmo and you would like a specific type of Vodka.... Can you do that or do you have to pay a difference? Or does the drink coupon only cover the cost of house liquor?

 

Thanks

Beth

[GoinCruisin]

We tipped our bartenders upfront and whenever we had a special request when using a coupon, we got it. You save about $1 per 4 drinks, so if you are talking ALOT of drinks like we had, it all adds up. We ordered many drinks above the price on the coupon without a problem. They worked out great for us, we used our coupons while we were by the pool...

[beth_s]

We tipped our bartenders upfront and whenever we had a special request when using a coupon, we got it. You save about $1 per 4 drinks, so if you are talking ALOT of drinks like we had, it all adds up. We ordered many drinks above the price on the coupon without a problem. They worked out great for us, we used our coupons while we were by the pool...

 

 

Do you just tip them up front meaning at the beginning of your cruise or every night when you hit the bar ? ...LOL ..... This is my first cruise so I am just tryin' to get some good hints...... And like w/ the Cosmos say if you wanted Grey Goose vodka instead of the house liquor.... Would they do that w/ a drink coupon? or would you have to pay the difference you think ? .... There will be three of us 20 somethin's all in the same cabin, and we are all good tippers ....LOL ..... But we were all just debating on wheter or not to get the drink coupons? ... I appreciate any info you can give ... Happy Cruisin'

 

Beth

[GoinCruisin]

Do you just tip them up front meaning at the beginning of your cruise or every night when you hit the bar ? ...LOL ..... This is my first cruise so I am just tryin' to get some good hints...... And like w/ the Cosmos say if you wanted Grey Goose vodka instead of the house liquor.... Would they do that w/ a drink coupon? or would you have to pay the difference you think ? .... There will be three of us 20 somethin's all in the same cabin, and we are all good tippers ....LOL ..... But we were all just debating on wheter or not to get the drink coupons? ... I appreciate any info you can give ... Happy Cruisin'

 

Beth

Beth, we tipped our pool waiter after the first drink. We tipped him I believe $10.. then throughout the week, we would give a dollar or two here and there (we used the gold $1 coins) By the end of the week we had tipped him probably $25. We used him the most. At the other bars, we would just order the drink, and pull out a couple of dollars and hand it over with the coupon, nothing was ever mentioned about extra money, and we always ordered premium liquors.

 

Good luck and have fun!