Explore4 Package

[algriff]

I assume by now that someone has been on a cruise with the Explore4 packqage. How did it work out..did they give you a drink card when you boarded or how did they keep track of your 50.00 worth of drinks for the cruise? Also, have you heard of anyone being able to chage the reservation in Pinnacle Grill if the one they assigned you would not work out? We are on the NA for the Feb 16 cruise so if anyone has any info specific to that ship, that would be great.

[Sirius88]

I assume by now that someone has been on a cruise with the Explore4 packqage. How did it work out..did they give you a drink card when you boarded or how did they keep track of your 50.00 worth of drinks for the cruise? Also, have you heard of anyone being able to chage the reservation in Pinnacle Grill if the one they assigned you would not work out? We are on the NA for the Feb 16 cruise so if anyone has any info specific to that ship, that would be great.

 

Our drink cards were in our cabin along with any other indulgences/reservations pre purchased. The free Pinnacle dinner was not assigned before boarding. We made our reservation for the free dinner at the Pinnacle the first night.

[lv9777]

Can you comment on using the drink card? Are you confined to drinks under $7.00 or can you order more expensive drinks and pay the difference? Our TA told us you would just pay the difference, but I think that is incorrect. Did you find that there was suffcient variety and choice at this price point? Thank you for the info.

[frankc98376]

From what others have said and HAL posted $7.00 is the limit. Any drink over $7.00 is charged to your room- no paying the difference.

That said anyone know how much the (in)famous Wang Wang is? Have never tried them but they sure sound good

[POA1]

The Explore 4 drink card is just a regular $50 beverage card. You can use it however you like.

 

People have been confusing it with the Signature Beverage Package Card. The Signature Beverage Package has the $7 limit and 15 drinks per day limit.

[sallycruiser06]

We just returned from 11 days on the Noordam. Our two drink cards were in our room..no limit on cost of drink...bought a bottle of wine with one of them. Were to have free pinnacle dinner...no card in our room tho others had an invite with the date in their room on embarkation. Checked at the front desk. Yes we were scheduled for dinner the last formal night of our cruise. Waited to see when we would get the invite to it....it did not show up till 3 pm day of reservation. So it is a good idea to check with desk if no invite in your room to start with. They will charge you for the meal and only cancel the charge when you hand in the card from HAL when you go to eat. It is possible to change the booking but do early on in trip to ensure room to do so.

When we booked explore 4 we were also promised $200.00 on board credit which did not show up on our account when we got on the ship. We had booked directly with HAL so no travel agent involved. Front desk wanted written proof saying we were entitled to the OBC and without it they would do nothing for us. They kept telling us our travel agent would have to clarify things for us and did not seem to understand that they (HAL) were our travel agent!! Moral of the story : take documentation with you when you go outlining what your explore 4 includes as apparently there are many different renditions of it out there. Not everyone has the same benefits included. Insist HAL sends you written confirmation of what they have promised you as a perk.

Good luck and safe travels!

[Linda&Vern]

We just returned from 11 days on the Noordam. Our two drink cards were in our room..no limit on cost of drink...bought a bottle of wine with one of them. Were to have free pinnacle dinner...no card in our room tho others had an invite with the date in their room on embarkation. Checked at the front desk. Yes we were scheduled for dinner the last formal night of our cruise. Waited to see when we would get the invite to it....it did not show up till 3 pm day of reservation. So it is a good idea to check with desk if no invite in your room to start with. They will charge you for the meal and only cancel the charge when you hand in the card from HAL when you go to eat. It is possible to change the booking but do early on in trip to ensure room to do so.

When we booked explore 4 we were also promised $200.00 on board credit which did not show up on our account when we got on the ship. We had booked directly with HAL so no travel agent involved. Front desk wanted written proof saying we were entitled to the OBC and without it they would do nothing for us. They kept telling us our travel agent would have to clarify things for us and did not seem to understand that they (HAL) were our travel agent!! Moral of the story : take documentation with you when you go outlining what your explore 4 includes as apparently there are many different renditions of it out there. Not everyone has the same benefits included. Insist HAL sends you written confirmation of what they have promised you as a perk.

Good luck and safe travels!

If you booked through HAL, wasn't your OBC listed on your account summary page? I have OBC's from HAL coming for something else, and they are listed clearly where I can see them.

[Linda&Vern]

The Explore 4 drink card is just a regular $50 beverage card. You can use it however you like.

 

People have been confusing it with the Signature Beverage Package Card. The Signature Beverage Package has the $7 limit and 15 drinks per day limit.

Thank you for clarifying. I was pounding my head on keyboard wondering why a $50 beverage card would only be used for under $7 drinks. You said it before I could come up with a way to do that. I hope the Caribbean cruisers who have drink cards through E4 understand they are just $50 worth period - for the entire cruise - not each day.

[frankc98376]

The Explore 4 drink card is just a regular $50 beverage card. You can use it however you like.

 

People have been confusing it with the Signature Beverage Package Card. The Signature Beverage Package has the $7 limit and 15 drinks per day limit.

 

Caribbean and Mexico sailings offered the $50 beverage card. Others (ours is Alaska) included the Signature Beverage Card- it is on our confirmation.

The new promo is offering the SBC card on select Europe cruises.

[sallycruiser06]

We had $200.00 listed on our booking but it was not itemized as to how it got there.. Once we boarded the desk could see it was attached to the future cruise credit used at booking and there was no record of the explore 4 credit being applied. HAL does not record anywhere that you can see what is included in your particular explore 4 package...that is what you need in writing.

[sue1898]

According to the HAL website the Explore 4 beverage offer varies depending on the cruise: "Depending on the cruise selected, guests receive either a free Signature Beverage Package or a beverage card. The beverage package, which is excluded on Caribbean and Mexico sailings, is valued at $100 per stateroom ($50 per person), per day and includes wine, beer, spirits, cocktails, sodas and coffee. The beverage card is applied to Caribbean and Mexico sailings and is valued at $100 per stateroom ($50 per person) and applies to alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. The beverage offer is only applicable on the cruise portions of Alaska Land+Sea Journeys"

[billbunger]

From what others have said and HAL posted $7.00 is the limit. Any drink over $7.00 is charged to your room- no paying the difference.

That said anyone know how much the (in)famous Wang Wang is? Have never tried them but they sure sound good

 

The Wang Wang is the same price as other regular cocktails, $6.95 before tip, at happy hour you can get a second drink for another $1.00. You will not find the Wang Wang listed in the cocktail menu, just ask for it.

[pbnjrockette]

Our tablemates had the "free" card given to them when they boarded. They were only able to use it for $7.00 or less drinks. There were no red wines priced at <$7 in the MDR so they had to have a mediocre white wine at dinner. They were given a Pinnacle time and day-- no choice and had to share a table with another couple. (This was on the Statendam, Panama Canal cruise).

[allisonfamily]

Explore4 beverage features differ by cruise. It's spelled out in the Terms & Conditions footnote in your ExpressDocs:

 

• Explore 4 is a Free $50 Beverage Card on "select Caribbean and Mexico sailings."
  
• Explore4 is a Signature Beverage Package on all other cruises.
  

It doesn't spell out a method for determining whether *your* Caribbean or Mexico cruise is "selected" or not. I'm guessing that what they really mean is that Explore4 isn't offered on all Caribbean and Mexican cruises. But *when* it's offered on one of those cruises, then you always get the Free $50 Beverage Card.

[Big Al B.]

We had the package on our recent Baltics trip. The drink cards were in our room on embarkation along with a card saying we had a Pinnacle dinner which we could set up the reservation for ourselves. The drink card was good for just about every regular drink on board. I drink Bombay Sapphire and Chivas Regal and both were OK. I think I remember our friends getting a house red as well as a Chardonnay on the card. First time you used it, you needed your room card as well, but after that just the beverage card. Everything went very smoothly.

[PeetNL]

On our Prinsendam cruise in July they offer a "14 Day Signature Beverage Package". Price for the two of us: 2 x $ 723.66 = $ 1,447.32 :eek:

 

Our convenient, affordable :p Signature Beverage Package allows you to select from a variety of wine, beer, spirits, cocktails (including non-alcoholic), sodas & coffee! Includes any beverage priced at a $7.00 or lower menu price. Up to 15 beverages per day. * Prices are per day; Signature Beverage Package for $44.95* per day, per person a 15% service charge is not included and will be automatically applied to your purchase. The package must be purchased for the entire duration of the voyage. Up to a 15-drink maximum per day. All adults over 21 years old booked in the same stateroom must also purchase the package. Participants may order only one drink at a time. No sharing is permitted. Excludes Mini Bar, In-Room Dining, & beverages on Half Moon Cay. Packages are not transferable or refundable. Beverage management reserves the right to revoke the package if misused and reserves the right to refuse service for any reason; including refusing service of alcoholic beverages to intoxicated customers. Must be 21 years or older to purchase and agree not to give to minors.

[Big Al B.]

I don't think we could have gotten value out of it had we paid. Since it was a promotion on our cruise, it was a great deal :).

[LindaM]

I emailed HAL and was told a Pinnacle reservation would be made for us. I think I'd heard that before. No thank you....if it's not convenient, we really don't care about going.

[Alberta Quilter]

I emailed HAL and was told a Pinnacle reservation would be made for us. I think I'd heard that before. No thank you....if it's not convenient, we really don't care about going.

 

They do make the reservation for you. Ours was too late for us. We had no issue with changing it to an earlier time. I believe we could have changed the date, too, but that may have been more problematic with fitting it in with existing reservations. We were fine with the date, just not the time.

[LindaM]

They do make the reservation for you. Ours was too late for us. We had no issue with changing it to an earlier time. I believe we could have changed the date, too, but that may have been more problematic with fitting it in with existing reservations. We were fine with the date, just not the time.

 

Thanks...at least now I know we can change the time. We like to eat early---before the 8:00 show! We had to skip dessert at the Pinnacle one time---to make it to the show!

[POA1]

Thanks...at least now I know we can change the time. We like to eat early---before the 8:00 show! We had to skip dessert at the Pinnacle one time---to make it to the show!

 

We changed ours with no problem. Just go to the PG as soon as you can. There are a lot of Explore 4 Pinnacle Reservations in the system, making moving a little tricky.

[cp556]

On our recent Amsterdam cruise, the card with the "free" Pinnacle dinner date and time was in our stateroom when we boarded. We visited the Neptune Concierge and changed the date and time very easily. No problem.

 

We also had the Signature Beverage Package and it worked great for all drinks <$7. The ship DID NOT have the "SBP" stickers to place on our room keycard (in case we presented that mistakenly for a drink). And that did happen once. The concierge was able to deduct the charge for us, and we watched more carefully when we presented the drink card.

 

It would have been easier for us if the ship had had/used the little SBP sticker on the room keycard.

 

I see where one poster below was requested to share a table with another couple for the "free" Pinnacle dinner. That would not have gone over well with us .... :confused:

[Big Al B.]

We had the card in our room and were able to make our own reservations on recent Baltic cruise (same with our friends). I don't think we had a full ship which might have been why.

[Jean1946]

The Explore 4 drink card is just a regular $50 beverage card. You can use it however you like.

 

People have been confusing it with the Signature Beverage Package Card. The Signature Beverage Package has the $7 limit and 15 drinks per day limit.

 

The Explorer4 card is the one with the $50.00 per day, per person package. We had it on a 26 day TA and used it everyday. We mostly got wine and beer with ours, and never used them up every day!

 

We did have assigned time for the Pinnacle Grill but did change it. Also, beware if you get an "invitation" to the PG aside from the free deal. We got one and went, then they charged us the full price after asking the MD if this was a complimentary meal and was told yes!

[Big Al B.]

The Explorer4 card is the one with the $50.00 per day, per person package. We had it on a 26 day TA and used it everyday. We mostly got wine and beer with ours, and never used them up every day!

 

There are two packages offered depending on the cruise; the $50 per day or the Signature Beverage (15 drinks per day). We had the Signature one on our 12-day Baltic. Any drinks as long as they were under $7.