Any reason not to buy the beverage card

[jff50]

Going on my first HAL cruise in December. Noticed that you can purchase a beverage card online, for a 10% discount. Any reason not to? Are these only available online/advance purchase, or can they be bought onboard? Can 2 different people buy drinks off the same card? Any other pros/cons to buying a card?

[Pete Jackson]

Going on my first HAL cruise in December. Noticed that you can purchase a beverage card online, for a 10% discount. Any reason not to? Are these only available online/advance purchase, or can they be bought onboard? Can 2 different people buy drinks off the same card? Any other pros/cons to buying a card?

 

Just an extra thing to carry around and to lose. I have enough things to worry about so stopped buying these.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Going on my first HAL cruise in December. Noticed that you can purchase a beverage card online, for a 10% discount. Any reason not to? No Are these only available online/advance purchase, or can they be bought onboard? You can buy on line, or calling HAL or wait till you get on the ship all the same price. Can 2 different people buy drinks off the same card? YES Any other pros/cons to buying a card?

I cannot think of a single reason to not buy the beverage cards. Also if you do not use up a card you receive refund in cash the last morning.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Just an extra thing to carry around and to lose. I have enough things to worry about so stopped buying these.

WOW :eek: did you ever think of just placing the card in the same place you put your key card for the ship. But on the other hand HAL I am sure HAL loves you because they can make more money off you ;)

[Boytjie]

Just an extra thing to carry around and to lose. I have enough things to worry about so stopped buying these.

 

With everything electronic they should just incorporate the beverage card into your key card you already have. I don't want to carry two cards.

[Boytjie]

WOW :eek: did you ever think of just placing the card in the same place you put your key card for the ship. But on the other hand HAL I am sure HAL loves you because they can make more money off you ;)

 

So everyone should just take an inside cabin ;) It saves money too and HAL loves the people in the suites because they can make more money off them. :D

[LAFFNVEGAS]

With everything electronic they should just incorporate the beverage card into your key card you already have. I don't want to carry two cards.

This actually is in the works but may take some time. They are also working on a card that can be reuseable and if you have credit at the end of the cruise you keep it for the next cruise.

[chelseababy]

Just be careful if you are sitting with other people that they don't get your cards mixed up. On our last cruise the room number was put on the first card we got but on later ones it was not and we got in a real muddle with the bar staff mixing up our card and the card of our friends. We spent quite a while on our last evening trying to sort things out.

[George C]

Buying these cards was the best suggestion we got before going on a hal cruise ( we like to drink ) went thru about 5 cards on last cruise saved 50 bucks.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

So everyone should just take an inside cabin ;) It saves money too and HAL loves the people in the suites because they can make more money off them. :D

No comparison, you are in a sence purchasing real estate size and location. This is like comparing apples to tomatos. The Beverage card is for drinks and you can either save 10% off of a drink or you can get the same drink and pay full price, totally your choice. I personally prefer to save 10%.

[BearInStPete]

Beverage cards are great and easy to use - yes you have to be careful on mixing them up, and yes it would be nice to key it from your cabin key card. But the value is there for the pittance of carrying an extra card. Also for you soda and coffee (think explorations cafe) folks they have a soda card in $50 face values that is a 50% discount! These came out sometime between December 2010 and now.

[jff50]

I cannot think of a single reason to not buy the beverage cards. Also if you do not use up a card you receive refund in cash the last morning.

Thanks so much. If I can buy it on board, I'll just wait until then. No reason to buy online now. Why give them the money in advance, and risk misplacing it before the cruise?

[jtl513]

Going on my first HAL cruise in December. Noticed that you can purchase a beverage card online, for a 10% discount. Any reason not to? Are these only available online/advance purchase, or can they be bought onboard? Can 2 different people buy drinks off the same card? Any other pros/cons to buying a card?

Yes, the card can be shared with as many people as you like. You should be aware that you don't get each drink at 10% off as you go, it's more like buy "9 drinks at full price and get the 10th one free". So, if you use up just the purchase you get nothing back and you've saved nothing.

 

Why give them the money in advance, and risk misplacing it before the cruise?

It isn't sent to you - it will in your cabin when you board. Some people like to pre-pay a lot to lessen the final bill.

[bcd2010]

Thanks so much. If I can buy it on board, I'll just wait until then. No reason to buy online now. Why give them the money in advance, and risk misplacing it before the cruise?

 

Are you thinking they send it to you now and that's why you might lose it? They deliver it to your cabin, i.e., you can't lose it before the cruise. Take printouts of all the things you purchased before the cruise in case there's a discrepancy once you get on board.

 

(jtl and I were typing at the same time)

[jff50]

Are you thinking they send it to you now and that's why you might lose it? They deliver it to your cabin, i.e., you can't lose it before the cruise. Take printouts of all the things you purchased before the cruise in case there's a discrepancy once you get on board.

 

(jtl and I were typing at the same time)

 

That makes sense. Duh, not sure what I was thinking. Still not inclined to give them my money in advance.

[Pete Jackson]

WOW :eek: did you ever think of just placing the card in the same place you put your key card for the ship. But on the other hand HAL I am sure HAL loves you because they can make more money off you ;)

 

But they don't because water is free and so is iced tea in the Lido:D

[RuthC]

There's only one reason I can think of not to purchase a beverage card of any type---that is, if you aren't going to drink as much as the purchase price of the card.

(Right, like that's gonna happen. :rolleyes:)

Even then, it might still be worth it for other reasons. You would get the balance of the purchase price back, so there's no loss. Since you use a card, you don't have to keep track of all those sales slips for individual drinks. It's easier to proof out the final bill with only the one charge for the card on it.

[bet410]

Just be careful if you are sitting with other people that they don't get your cards mixed up. On our last cruise the room number was put on the first card we got but on later ones it was not and we got in a real muddle with the bar staff mixing up our card and the card of our friends. We spent quite a while on our last evening trying to sort things out.

 

Beverage cards are great and easy to use - yes you have to be careful on mixing them up, and yes it would be nice to key it from your cabin key card. But the value is there for the pittance of carrying an extra card. Also for you soda and coffee (think explorations cafe) folks they have a soda card in $50 face values that is a 50% discount! These came out sometime between December 2010 and now.

 

When we purchased soda cards online before our last cruise, the cards were delivered to our stateroom with our names printed on them! I really like that feature. It saves the chance of confusion with someone else's card!

 

I would love to see them link these cards to our key cards! A couple of times I pulled out the wrong card and gave it to the wine steward. So although I had a beverage card, the soda was charged to my room account instead! Fortunately, with a little effort, the charge was switched to the soda card from the room account, but it would be so much more convenient if it were all on one card. Hopefully as Lisa indicated, it's in the works and will come out very soon!

[Mar56]

If you have the beverage card, can you use it for the drinks "on sale" - you know buy 1 get 1 at 1/2 price or their drink of the day which seems lower than the regular drinks?

[TWOFERTWO]

They deliver it to your cabin, i.e., you can't lose it before the cruise.

 

Have them delivered to your cabin when at sea, you don't pay tax on them. :D

[Jade13]

I cannot think of a single reason to not buy the beverage cards. Also if you do not use up a card you receive refund in cash the last morning.

 

Really. We neve received a refund. We were told we could use them on anothr cruise. This was the cola card, so at 50% off there probably was nothing to refund.

[IslandThyme]

After reading this thread I just tried to purchase cards for at sea delivery. The tax (we live in WA) was added automatically, even though I specified at sea. I cancelled the order and will buy on board.

[igraf]

Beverage cards are sold to generate revenue for HAL. HAL wouldn't sell them if the net result was reduced beverage sales income. Cards of this nature are designed to entice the customer to buy more than they would without the card.

 

Also, I have read that sometimes drinks ordered with the card are not as good (too much ice in a soda, as an example) as drinks ordered at full price.

 

igraf

 

 

 

 

I cannot think of a single reason to not buy the beverage cards. Also if you do not use up a card you receive refund in cash the last morning.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

After reading this thread I just tried to purchase cards for at sea delivery. The tax (we live in WA) was added automatically, even though I specified at sea. I cancelled the order and will buy on board.

That is strange,:confused: I have purchased one soda card and 3 $100 Beverage cards for our upcoming Hawaii cruise. I stated Delivered at Sea and in our Stateroom like have have done for the past two cruises and my charge was 3 at $90.00 and the $25.00 Soda card. I just like pre-paying for them so my charges at the end of the cruise are not so much.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Going on my first HAL cruise in December. Noticed that you can purchase a beverage card online, for a 10% discount. Any reason not to? Are these only available online/advance purchase, or can they be bought onboard? Can 2 different people buy drinks off the same card? Any other pros/cons to buying a card?

 

We love the cards -- we wait until we are on the ship to buy them -- that is just us.

We usually use 4 cards on a 14 day cruise between the 2 of us.

Besides the drink being subtracted from the cards the 15% service charge is also subtracted -- so for 2 people you do use them up pretty quickly.

I also like the fact that I don't have to keep track of a lot of extra receipts.