POLL: Are Soda Cards Fair?

[vjmatty]

Depends on the restaurant and the beverage, actually. If you go to a mass-market, middle of the road restaurant like an Outback or something, chances are you'll get the water free but pay for anything else. Some places around here offer iced tea for free as well. But never soda. I can't understand why anyone would ever expect soda to be free. :confused:

 

Maybe not free, but it certainly could be cheaper if they did use fountain service. It would then cost them pennies a serving, no can or bottle deposits and would be a LOT more environmentally sound. All of their other fountain beverages... punch, lemonade, iced tea... are free, I don't see why adding soda as a fountain beverage would be problematic.

 

I hope asking this question doesn't make me a cheapskate :)

[SandyW]

We've been on ships where the soda comes in a plastic bottle, too. More frequently, though it comes in a can. If you use a soda card...it's by the glass. If you buy it like a drink then you get the whole can.

 

Think about the restaurants.....around here some of them are charging $2.19 for soda. (Isn't it just $2 on the ship?) A golf tournament was here this week and I heard they were charging $3+ for soda. Soda is and has been for a long time the way many restuarants and businesses make their money, especially if they have the fountain kind.

 

It was my understanding they were cracking down on smuggling drinks on board because of the people who were bringing cases of soda. I'd be really surprised if you could get two cases on board....unless you are extremely lucky.

 

I believe I heard there was a storage problem with the fountain kind.

 

My husband drinks soda all the time at home, but during a cruise he switches to juice in the morning, tea during the day, and juice again late at night - or hot chocolate. We'll have our soda during the show.

[YumYumSweetiePie]

They should definitely have fountain sodas. I think I'm just really sick of being nickel and dimed now-n-days. Airlines don't give food, don't give alcohol without extra money, sometimes don't even have movies without paying for it.

Traveling used to be an experience, now industries are making it a means to an end. But cruising in particular isn't just about the destinations but also about the ship and I think there's enough money handling going on with the "included tips," extra tips, alcoholic drinks, and then add soda?! I don't even drink soda but it's annoying. Get soda fountains and add the cheaper cost to the price of the fare. ENOUGH WITH ADDITIONAL CHARGES. I just want to relax and cruise.

[ParrotRob]

I would think that well before gasoline got to $ 50.00 a gallon another fuel source will have been employed.

 

Keep spinning your wheels with this one, cause it's one you can not win.

 

LOL, I've ALREADY won this one. You can call it a necessity all you want, gas has never been and never will be a necessity.

[seminolepharmd]

We each bought a soda card on our cruise last year and realized that it wasn't worth the money for us. We didn't drink enough soda to make it worthwhile personally.

[Sandi149]

LOL, I've ALREADY won this one. You can call it a necessity all you want, gas has never been and never will be a necessity.

 

Rob, I have to disagree with you here about gas being a necessity. Ok....I could say that MY car isn't a necessity for me because I could always take a bus, if I want to go somewhere, but busses are fueled by gas. Getting away from me for a minute. How about you and the rest of the consumers in this world who eat food, wear clothing and buy things for their houses? All that stuff is delivered to the stores by either truck which uses gasoline, plane which uses some sort of petroleum product or container ship also fueled by a petroleum product. So if we didn't have gasoline or petroleum products, then we wouldn't be able receive all those products. I guess we could always start growing our own food, chopping down our own trees to make our furniture, growing cotton and farming sheep for the fabrics in our clothing. :p

[Vanessa L]

Dont forget about the juice, tea, milk and lemonade :p

 

VERY true!! We've discovered that the fruit punch is a GREAT mixer!! I am a Mr. Pibb addict and usually bring a proportionate amount with me (12 for a week) though I suspect they'd be ok with 24-48 if I so packed. At least that seems to be what I've read on the boards. So, unless you drink more than that, I'd say take your own and leave the soda card out of it.

 

To answer your question directly, do I think it's "unfair"? Yes and no. As others have suggested at no point has Carnival suggested that it is all-inclusive. However, that being said, I have been purchasing a 24 pack of Coke at my local Wal-Mart for $5.00. That breaks down to $.21 a piece for each can. With a price even that low you can bet your arse that neither Coca-Cola nor Wal-Mart is losing money. With a mark up of at least 1000% Coca-Cola is doing fairly well on the Carnival ships (assuming Cokes are about $2.50 each on board, I don't buy them so I don't know how much they are. If they are less, the percentage would be less of course, but still WAY high, proportionately speaking). I don't know what Carnival's buying power would be vs. Wal-Mart's but even at a 100% (50 cents +/-) markup, they'd get away with selling it for way less and still make money. So, that was a long way to say, bring your own or use the free stuff (juice, milk, tea, coffee, etc). :)

[xocrusiebabiiox]

this simply depends on how much soda you drink. The way i figure it on a 7 day cruise the soda is $2 a glass and the soda card is $32. In order to get your moneys worth you would have to drink at least 2 glasses of soda a day. If you think you will drink the much soda then buy it if not then dont.:)

[onlygirlgraham]

just got back from cruise on the celebration 8/6-8/11 and here is my thoughts...if you are a big soda junkie it is worth buying a "fountain fun card" since soda per glass if $1.75 plus 15% added. They offer fruit punch, lemonade, ice tea, water, coffee, tea , hot chocolate for free :) (bring a re-usable plastic bottle to fill since the cups are somewhat small)...you can bring beverages both adult and soda on, i packed them in my check in luggage and they can chill in your ice bucket in the room.

[Rowan555]

Here's another thought. Those cans of soda take up a LOT of room on the ship. If Carnival lowered the price of the sodas and the soda cards, they might begin to sell a lot MORE soda each cruise, which means they'd need to stock more (which they might not have room for) in order to make the same amount of money. The higher price allows them to make an acceptable profit without over-burdening the already limited capacity of the storage areas on the ship.

[French_Fry]

LOL, I've ALREADY won this one. You can call it a necessity all you want, gas has never been and never will be a necessity.

 

In THIS DAY AND AGE gasoline is a necessity!

 

So keep arguing!

 

Next time you go on a cruise ask the Captain to let you do your Charlton Heston # 47 imitation from Ben-Hur to power the ship if gasoline and diesel is not a necessity.

[ginacc]

They should definitely have fountain sodas. I think I'm just really sick of being nickel and dimed now-n-days. Airlines don't give food, don't give alcohol without extra money, sometimes don't even have movies without paying for it.

Traveling used to be an experience, now industries are making it a means to an end. But cruising in particular isn't just about the destinations but also about the ship and I think there's enough money handling going on with the "included tips," extra tips, alcoholic drinks, and then add soda?! I don't even drink soda but it's annoying. Get soda fountains and add the cheaper cost to the price of the fare. ENOUGH WITH ADDITIONAL CHARGES. I just want to relax and cruise.

 

Here here!!! That is my point exactly! Remember the days when alcoholic drinks were FREE on International Flights? I DO! Just 6 years ago I got happily toasted for free on my way to London.

 

Last year we flew to Paris and not even a glass of wine was included. I'm surprised we didn't have to pay for the coke too!

 

I totally feel nickel-n-dimed lately. I mean.. come on... I paid $1400 for a 5 day cruise, and I can't even get a couple of cokes thrown in?!?!? Sheesh!

[hubofhockey]

LOL, I've ALREADY won this one. You can call it a necessity all you want, gas has never been and never will be a necessity.

 

I suppose if the US had no gas or oil supply, nobody would die. But we would be a third world country in no time. If you insist that oil and gas or even utilities are not necessities, then you are playing semantics.

[Sandi149]

Here here!!! That is my point exactly! Remember the days when alcoholic drinks were FREE on International Flights? I DO! Just 6 years ago I got happily toasted for free on my way to London.

 

Last year we flew to Paris and not even a glass of wine was included. I'm surprised we didn't have to pay for the coke too!

 

I totally feel nickel-n-dimed lately. I mean.. come on... I paid $1400 for a 5 day cruise, and I can't even get a couple of cokes thrown in?!?!? Sheesh!

 

If you go to any hotel in the world...not counting "all inclusives" and no matter what price you pay, soda isn't included. Cruise ships are just like hotels, except on the sea. Carnival and all the other cruiselines are a business just like any other business and their main concern is to make money. Soda and alcoholic beverages bring in a lot of revenue.

 

Yes, I do remember when alcoholic beverages were free on international flights. It's just the way of the world now....charge more, get less. I see it with restaurants that I frequent. They either give you smaller portions and keep the price the same or they give you smaller portions and raise the price.

[dan40]

Gas is a luxury and priced more and more like one. The other things mentioned, food, air, water, shelter are necessities. Without them we DO NOT live. If you say life without gas would be very very tough, you'd be right. But it does not sustain life. There are parts of our planet that do without gas. And NO, I would want to have to live like that.

 

When gas actually runs out or gets too expensive, we will uses something else like ethanol or plant oils. They're too expensive now. But they could/will replace gas when the price is better..

 

Food, air....don't know how to replace those.

 

 

Oh, and soda cards are fair if they're hit inside the foul lines.

 

Dan

[Rowan555]

I totally feel nickel-n-dimed lately. I mean.. come on... I paid $1400 for a 5 day cruise, and I can't even get a couple of cokes thrown in?!?!? Sheesh!

 

I'm beginning to feel cruising may not be for you. If you feel "nickel and dimed" because sodas aren't free, you may find other things you don't care for. The cruise lines exist to make money, so they do everything they can to encourage you to spend as much money as possible while you're on the ship. This includes hawking drinks of the day, the soda card, casino games, portraits, liquor in the gift shop, "inches of gold", bingo cards, and much, much more. This doesn't bother me a bit, but it sounds like it might bother you.

 

And building off my last post about sodas and storage capacity on the ships - as it is the sodas take up a tremendous amount of space on the ship. Can you imagine how many more they would need if sodas were FREE? They can't hold an infinite number of soda cans, so they'd end up running out halfway through the cruise - and then they'd have lots of angry customers feeling like they're not getting something they're entitled to. Carnival knows what they're doing - if it didn't make good business sense, they'd do something else.

[ginacc]

I suppose if the US had no gas or oil supply, nobody would die. But we would be a third world country in no time. If you insist that oil and gas or even utilities are not necessities, then you are playing semantics.

 

If we don't learn how to be progressive and cut our dependency on foreign oil, we will BE a third world country. How easily people forget that the US has only been a super power for less than a century... and every empire so far has fallen. We are just as capable of failing as any other empire has been, and if we don't get our heads out of our arses... we will. American's are not above the natural order of things. And we're trailing FAR behind many other countries in terms of development and progress. Of course, "they" wouldn't let you believe that.

[Sandi149]

Gas is a luxury and priced more and more like one. The other things mentioned, food, air, water, shelter are necessities. Without them we DO NOT live. If you say life without gas would be very very tough, you'd be right. But it does not sustain life. There are parts of our planet that do without gas. And NO, I would want to have to live like that.

 

When gas actually runs out or gets too expensive, we will uses something else like ethanol or plant oils. They're too expensive now. But they could/will replace gas when the price is better..

 

Food, air....don't know how to replace those.

 

Dan

 

Yes technically we could live without gas but life without it or any other type of fuel would bring us back to medieval times.....so for our society the way it is now, it is a necessity unless we all want to live back in the stone age.

[Sweetest Sin]

I think it's so odd that some people are comparing a cruise dinner to dining in a restaurant or a hotel. If I'm not mistaken, I always pay for my meal when I dine in a restaurant as well as my drinks. I don't think I've ever been to a restaurant and walked out only paying for beverages. :confused: That analogy does not fit this situation.

[dan40]

 

I totally feel nickel-n-dimed lately. I mean.. come on... I paid $1400 for a 5 day cruise, and I can't even get a couple of cokes thrown in?!?!? Sheesh!

 

 

You said earlier that you were going to drink water so they won't be nickel and diming you for cokes

 

And its best not to use "cruise" and "thrown in" in the same sentence.:D

 

Dan

[ParrotRob]

Rob, I have to disagree with you here about gas being a necessity. Ok....I could say that MY car isn't a necessity for me because I could always take a bus, if I want to go somewhere, but busses are fueled by gas. Getting away from me for a minute. How about you and the rest of the consumers in this world who eat food, wear clothing and buy things for their houses? All that stuff is delivered to the stores by either truck which uses gasoline, plane which uses some sort of petroleum product or container ship also fueled by a petroleum product. So if we didn't have gasoline or petroleum products, then we wouldn't be able receive all those products. I guess we could always start growing our own food, chopping down our own trees to make our furniture, growing cotton and farming sheep for the fabrics in our clothing. :p

 

Hi Sandi,

How do you think goods were delivered and transported before gasoline? There are already alternate means of transporting things, from the more primitive horses and coal-fired locomotives to electric motors charge by generation of electrical power by coal, natural gas, nuclear, or hydroelectric means.

 

Perhaps you don't have an alternative-fueled vehicle and your town doesn't have alternative-fueled buses and cabs - that doesn't make gas a necessity, it means you (and your town) have chosen to live a lifestyle that requires gasoline for YOUR purposes. Now don't get me wrong, that's not a bad thing, I've made the same choices as well. But that doesn't mean that gasoline is a necessity. You will not perish without it!

[ParrotRob]

In THIS DAY AND AGE gasoline is a necessity!

 

So keep arguing!

 

Next time you go on a cruise ask the Captain to let you do your Charlton Heston # 47 imitation from Ben-Hur to power the ship if gasoline and diesel is not a necessity.

 

OK, whatever. I feel sorry for you if you've made choices in your live that will result in your death if there were no more gasoline.

 

As for me, it would be difficult, for sure, but I would survive.

[Sandi149]

Hi Sandi,

How do you think goods were delivered and transported before gasoline? There are already alternate means of transporting things, from the more primitive horses and coal-fired locomotives to electric motors charge by generation of electrical power by coal, natural gas, nuclear, or hydroelectric means.

 

Perhaps you don't have an alternative-fueled vehicle and your town doesn't have alternative-fueled buses and cabs - that doesn't make gas a necessity, it means you (and your town) have chosen to live a lifestyle that requires gasoline for YOUR purposes. Now don't get me wrong, that's not a bad thing, I've made the same choices as well. But that doesn't mean that gasoline is a necessity. You will not perish without it!

 

Hi Rob:

 

I know how goods and services were transported before the modern age. But what I'm trying to say is that in the modern society we live in now, gasoline/natural gas/crude oil, etc HAVE become a necessity for all of us. Could you really go about your daily business riding in a horse and buggy, growing all your food, keeping a cow for milk, etc? I know I couldn't and I somehow doubt you could either.:D

 

Ohhh and by the way, my town is quite large.....I live in NY City.:p So yes we do have alternate fueled vehicles.

[yst347]

Well the votes have been tallied and the result is a landslide! By a 5 to 2 margin with over 300 votes counted CC'ers say soda cards are just fine.

 

Carnival Cruise Lines business model competes on price. Many things are included and many are not. Buying a Carnival cruise provides an excellent experience that is evident in the loyalty of the lines patrons.

 

Some other lines in the CCL Corp family, Seaborne for example, do include soda, as well as several non CCL lines. Feel free to book on any of them and happy sailing! For myself, I do not drink soda so Carnival suits me perfectly. :D I cruise for a little bit less and I am not forced to pay for an option I do not use.

 

Carnival allows passengers the option to bring their own soda, or purchase cards for about $25 for a seven day cruise. If soda is so vital to your life, what is $50 more for two on a weeks vacation costing $1400 ? It just seems much ado about nothing. ;)

[Sandi149]

Well the votes have been tallied and the result is a landslide! By a 5 to 2 margin with over 300 votes counted CC'ers say soda cards are just fine.

 

Carnival Cruise Lines business model competes on price. Many things are included and many are not. Buying a Carnival cruise provides an excellent experience that is evident in the loyalty of the lines patrons.

 

Some other lines in the CCL Corp family, Seaborne for example, do include soda, as well as several non CCL lines. Feel free to book on any of them and happy sailing! For myself, I do not drink soda so Carnival suits me perfectly. :D I cruise for a little bit less and I am not forced to pay for an option I do not use.

 

Carnival allows passengers the option to bring their own soda, or purchase cards for about $25 for a seven day cruise. If soda is so vital to your life, what is $50 more for two on a weeks vacation costing $1400 ? It just seems much ado about nothing. ;)

 

You know I didn't even vote....I was busy discussing if we need to have gasoline in our lives.....LOL!!!!:D

 

don't close the poll....let me go and vote