New Drink Card Policy - any thoughts?

[jhannah]

When they first started offering the soda cards, you got a can with each punch. They quickly found out that we were getting too much for what we were paying. When they started pouring a (small) glass, my DW had to fight to get them to fill the glass, using no ice. It wasn't easy!

 

I agree with Mariner ... you get what you pay for, and the cards are not really saving you anything.

[twinkletoes4445]

Thanks Krazy - now all I have to do is retire so I can take that 23-day cruise... :-) Maybe it's just a ship-by-ship thing...as Twinkltoes said, we didn't experience that on the Zuiderdam, so it was just a bit of a surprise.

 

I just hope this isn't something that's going to show up on our cruise. We've done Carnival, and we really hated all the announcements, and pushing of drinks, and if HAL's going in this direction, we're going to go in another direction.

 

Thanks for the heads up. It will be interesting to see if we notice this happening on our Noordam cruise.

[twinkletoes4445]

My 2 cents for what it's worth:

 

Consider this analogy.

 

Order a can of Coke. See how many glasses you get out of it.

 

Then order a soda with a soda card. Not the dame amount.

 

Same with a wine card.

 

Savings? NO.

 

You get what you pay for.

 

I agree.

[FoxyTerrier]

We just sailed on the Westerdam last week. I asked about a cocktail card and was told they didn't offer one. Can you tell me how much they cost and what ship had them?

 

We bought a cocktail card on the Westerdam in March 2007. As I recall you get 10 cocktails for the price of 9 or something close to that.

 

We were asked to buy one while having lunch in the Ledo after boarding. I completely forgot if you purchase one while still docked you will pay Florida sales tax (7% I think). So wait until you've sailed and you'll save a little more.

 

We love Mojitos and used all 10 punches on those drinks, but I think the card can be used for anything.

 

PS. We did use the card a couple of times when they were having 2 for 1 cocktails during Bingo so we did get more than 10 drinks on our card. I don't think you have to play Bingo to the the 2 for 1 so look in the schedule and get your drinks and go where to enjoy them.

[mutuelmanager1]

You will have no Problen on the Noordam, we just got off and used the wine card at dinner....the wine steward was gracious and gave great service, also we used it in the Pinnacle and no problem !

[MaduroJim]

Bob,

 

Thanks for the story. The folks at our table that were drinkers had a similar experience to yours, although our wine stewards wasn't as rude...it was very hard to get him to visit our table. As they get the kinks ironed out, I'm sure they'll get everyone on board with the program.

 

Chicago to San Diego - I can understand why you'd make that change. Actually, SD is a great port to sail in and out of. :-)

 

The high today is 2 degrees, so enjoy the warmth for us!

[fuzzywuzzy]

How much are the cocktails onboard? Are they all the same price or different prices for different drinks?

[kenito799]

ditto Veendam--was never asked about purchasing any drink cards, or anything at all, for that matter, it was wonderfully relaxing on the Veendam. The shops tried to get out attention by filling the aisles with merchandise and "art", but to no avail...

[topcop]

Just got off the Westerdam and we were never approached to buy a card. In fact is was a few days before we saw one.

 

We were surprised that no one even gave us the opportunity to buy one.

[missygirl]

For us just off the Zuiderdam in Nov. the only day that they tried to sell the soda cards was on day 1 and I saw so few trying to sell that I had to hunt them to purchase one.

 

Missygirl

[O2B@C]

How much are the cocktails onboard? Are they all the same price or different prices for different drinks?

 

Different groups of cocktails have different prices - but all are within a dollar or so of $6.50, if I recall correctly, at least if you get them with the standard-issue brand of booze. There is also a special, slightly lower price for whichever item on the menu has been designated as the "cocktail of the day" on a given day. I think I remember reading that some of the more expensive items may not be eligible for purchase with the cocktail card, but I don't know that for sure.

 

HAL has some really delicious and unusual "frou-frou" drinks on their bar menu. I particularly liked the mango mojito and cosmo cubana. And they have a good selection of non-alcoholic "mocktails" for those who want a liquid treat but don't want to overimbibe.

[kryos]

I don't know whether this is a ship by ship thing, but on Statendam the soda card produced a can each time, including Caffeine free Diet Coke, which was a definite plus for me!

 

Steve.

I think the difference is that when the soda cards were for unlimited pours, you got fountain sodas. That's it. Now, they're no longer unlimited. You get so many sodas per card, with the card punched each time you order one. So now they give you cans of soda.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[fuzzywuzzy]

Different groups of cocktails have different prices - but all are within a dollar or so of $6.50, if I recall correctly, at least if you get them with the standard-issue brand of booze. There is also a special, slightly lower price for whichever item on the menu has been designated as the "cocktail of the day" on a given day. I think I remember reading that some of the more expensive items may not be eligible for purchase with the cocktail card, but I don't know that for sure.

 

HAL has some really delicious and unusual "frou-frou" drinks on their bar menu. I particularly liked the mango mojito and cosmo cubana. And they have a good selection of non-alcoholic "mocktails" for those who want a liquid treat but don't want to overimbibe.

 

Thank you for your response. Yummmmm, sounds delicious.