soda card vs buying cans of soda as you go

[moorlyn]

What is the better deal ? To buy a soda card and get unlimited soda by the glass or do you get more for your value buying by the can and getting 2 sodas out of a can?

[chef_christoph]

What is the better deal ? To buy a soda card and get unlimited soda by the glass or do you get more for your value buying by the can and getting 2 sodas out of a can?

 

Honestly, it is a question of preference and how many sodas you expect to drink in a day. If you don't have a preference between canned or fountain soda and you think you would drink more than three cans of soda a day then the fountain soda package would be a better deal.

[DJSteve552003]

What is the better deal ? To buy a soda card and get unlimited soda by the glass or do you get more for your value buying by the can and getting 2 sodas out of a can?

 

It all depends on how much soda you drink. I don't drink as many alcoholic drinks if I get a card so it does prove useful to me.

[Happy ks]

We used to buy a soda card for our kids, but found they only drank one or two per day. You really have to drink more than 3 cans to make the soda card worth it.

 

For myself, if I take a sip from my daughters soda 5 times per year, that's a lot for me. I can't finish a single soda on my own :p

[bplazo]

I have never bought a soda card on any of our cruises and I used to be a big soda drinker. I would bring a few bottles for when we were in our cabin and I would just drink ice tea or water for dinner. Now, when my daughter was a teen we would get her a card but even on our last cruise it was a waste of money because I do not think that she had more than two in a day.

[Bound4Bermuda]

I agree that it's really only necessary for big soda drinkers. My kids certainly didn't die of thirst with all of the iced tea, lemonade, flavored waters, juice (at breakfast), milk, hot tea, and hot chocolate they could drink. I only ended up buying them a soda one time. Another big hit was buying a virgin pina colada, which probably (I'm not exactly sure of the cost) didn't cost much more than the day's cost of a soda card.

[silentbob007]

As others have said, an average of three cans a day is the break-even point for the adult card and I believe two for the child card. I bought the soda pass only once and generally found myself drinking extra soda to "justify" its expense.

[hess2201]

we just spent 10 days on the explorer. we had the soda card, and i must say that i dont think i will get it again. The soda was kinda nasty. The best one we had was on Labadee, out of a 2 liter!

[morganboys]

its a convenience thing. on the monarch I didn't drink $27 worth of coke but I got a nice insulated cup that I still use at home. everytime I walked by a bar or pop station I filled up my coke cup. don't think i ever had warm pop. for myself I would buy again but not sure I would buy one if we took both of our boys with us.

[CariBear]

My husband bought the soda card on the Oasis last week. He drank 2 glasses of coke with dinner each night....and then about 2 other glasses during the day. He is a big coke drinker....so it was worth it for us. After the 1st night at dinner our wait staff didn't even ask for his card...they just brought them right out to the table. I drank iced tea, water and flavored waters all week and was fine.

 

On a side note, he had no problem receiving cokes at the bars throughout the ship. Not attitudes from anyone.... as some have experienced.

[floridasun lover]

What are the flavored waters people are referring too??

[Puffinater]

We get the soda card for the grandkids. It is easy to use and they enjoy having it. Not sure they drink their break even number of sodas but that is not a concern for us.

[Mary09]

I'll buy them for my daughter and me. Whether we break even or not, I don't care. If I don't buy them I'll be totalling up the soda spending in my mind. I'd rather just plonk down money once and forget it. That's half the appeal of cruises. All inclusive. Sort of.

[Kellie Poodle]

I live on Diet Coke. I drink 5 to 6 glasses at dinner alone even with a glass of wine. I need at least 2 glasses with lunch and I'm drinking several during the day and evening. My DH once counted 16 glasses of Diet Coke in one day.

 

To be honest, I have a condition that makes it necessary for me to have a lot of liquid with my meals as well as having to keep my mouth from getting dry. For some reason it's a lot easier to have them deliver several glasses of Diet Coke at a time than to keep the water glass filled. I like the Coke better anyway.

 

They lose money on me.

[andyjo0930]

We always buy one for my husband. He drinks a lot of soda with dinner, and during the day is always good for a glass or two. Then we take the alcohol we smuggle and hide it in the insulated cup that he gets, order a soda from the bar and then top it off with the alcohol.... makes smuggling much easier!! :eek:

[reallyitsmema]

We always buy one for my husband. He drinks a lot of soda with dinner, and during the day is always good for a glass or two. Then we take the alcohol we smuggle and hide it in the insulated cup that he gets, order a soda from the bar and then top it off with the alcohol.... makes smuggling much easier!! :eek:

How does buying a soda card make smuggling easier?

[JohnKen3]

The soda card is not valid at the MDR is it, or is it?

Wondered about that since other have commented about drinking soda at dinner.

 

Or do people bring a full cup of soda along them into the MDR?

 

Also what type of soda is available from the fountain?

Coke and Diet Coke (hopefully not Pepsi) I think but what about other types of soda?

[Loralie]

my boys will be 16 and 14 at the time of our cruise. I will buy them each soda cards so they can have soda for the times when they are not with us. My DH and I are not big soda drinkers so we will be fine with water and iced tea.

 

Loralie

[abhb]

Soda card is available in the MDR. Once your wait staff know that you have a card, they will bring you your drinks without asking to see it. I always get one. I like fountain much better than cans. On every cruise I have been on after the first night, my diet coke would be waiting for me!

[MrsPete]

One problem: One 12-oz can of soda does not = one cup of fountain soda. The fountain soda is much smaller, so really you'd have to drink 5-6 fountain sodas to = the cost of three canned sodas (which is the break-even point, right?).

 

The insulated cups, though, are nice. You'll have to decide whether you consider it a souvenier and put a value on it.

 

And finally, I did buy the soda package for our kids on our last cruise, even though I knew it wasn't a good financial choice. I did it because I knew our teenaged girls would be in the teen clubs, and I didn't want them to have to choose between drinking a soda that had been out of their sight for a minute or wasting money. It was a safety issue.

 

I didn't buy it for us adults. I want a Diet Coke occasionally in the morning, but I rarely drink one later in the day. The ONE TIME I wanted a soda on the ship at breakfast in the buffet, the Plaza Bar wasn't yet open -- and I didn't want it enough to walk somewhere else to buy it.

[Kellie Poodle]

The soda card is not valid at the MDR is it, or is it?

Wondered about that since other have commented about drinking soda at dinner.

 

Or do people bring a full cup of soda along them into the MDR?

 

Also what type of soda is available from the fountain?

Coke and Diet Coke (hopefully not Pepsi) I think but what about other types of soda?

 

 

No Pepsi. If this was a Pepsi only cruise line, I wouldn't be on the ship.:p

 

You don't have to have the cup with you at all. Just show the card with the sticker. They will give you a glass

[Kellie Poodle]

I'll share a little secret with y'all.

 

If you take that souvenir cup into one of the smaller bars, often they don't have the soda guns for Diet Coke so they will pour it from a 2 liter bottle or a can. I have them leave out the ice and take it back to the cabin where I add my own ice and get several glasses of it.

 

It can be beneficial for those who have cola compatible alcohol on board, too. ;)

[Merion_Mom]

The soda card is not valid at the MDR is it, or is it?

Wondered about that since other have commented about drinking soda at dinner.

 

Or do people bring a full cup of soda along them into the MDR?

 

Also what type of soda is available from the fountain?

Coke and Diet Coke (hopefully not Pepsi) I think but what about other types of soda?

 

Absolutely, YES, you can use the soda card in the MDR.

 

The fountain has Coke, Diet Coke and regular Sprite. Sometimes you can get ginger ale, and some people have reported getting a can of Sprite Zero with the card, but you can't count on that.

[Baseballkurt]

I live on Diet Coke. I drink 5 to 6 glasses at dinner alone even with a glass of wine. I need at least 2 glasses with lunch and I'm drinking several during the day and evening. My DH once counted 16 glasses of Diet Coke in one day.

 

To be honest, I have a condition that makes it necessary for me to have a lot of liquid with my meals as well as having to keep my mouth from getting dry. For some reason it's a lot easier to have them deliver several glasses of Diet Coke at a time than to keep the water glass filled. I like the Coke better anyway.

 

They lose money on me.

 

I think they still make some money somewhere! lol

I too drink a lot, my choice is diet Pepsi. I can go through a 2-liter a day if I let myself. I have got the card and thought it was worth it each time.

[mjldvlks]

One problem: One 12-oz can of soda does not = one cup of fountain soda. The fountain soda is much smaller, so really you'd have to drink 5-6 fountain sodas to = the cost of three canned sodas (which is the break-even point, right?). . .

As we have discussed before, this is an overly complicated way to look at it. One can of soda is 12 oz and costs $2.24. That means soda costs about $0.187 per ounce. That means, by volume, you have to drink $6.90 / $0.197 or about 36.9 oz. to break even by volume. The problem is, not every container is the same, so it is really cumbersome to keep track of. The standard stemmed bar glass holds about 6 - 8 oz so you would have to drink 5-7 glasses. Some bars give you tumblers that hold 10 oz or so meaning 4 would get you there. If you use your insulated glass, which holds 20 oz [i measured] you get there with 2. If you bring your own container, you might get there with one.

 

But that really misses the point. If you really want to know whether you are better off with the card, the only real question to ask yourself is how many cans you are likely to buy in the absence of the card. If it is three or fewer, stick to cans.