Soda Fountain Card Question

[dleighb]

My parents are taking a cruise with HAL in April. The last cruise they took was on Princess and for $7.00 or so a day, I was able to buy my dad a basic soda card that covered his diet sodas that he likes to drink throughout the meals. He said it was so easy because once the servers knew he had that card, he didn't even have to show it anymore, they just had his two sodas ready when they saw him.

 

I see on the gifts page for HAL that I can buy a $50 soda fountain card. Does anyone have an experience with this? Is it something that gets swiped or deducted? How much are sodas? Are they included with the meals (I haven't found that to be the case on many cruise lines, but they are all different). Is there another option that's more like a drink package but non-alcoholic? He really just drinks Diet Cokes.

 

Trying to figure out what would make a good Christmas gift, and he still talks about how great a Father's Day gift the drink package on Princess was, so I thought covering his drinks on their upcoming cruise might be a good option.

 

Thanks!

[Shmoo here]

My parents are taking a cruise with HAL in April. The last cruise they took was on Princess and for $7.00 or so a day, I was able to buy my dad a basic soda card that covered his diet sodas that he likes to drink throughout the meals. He said it was so easy because once the servers knew he had that card, he didn't even have to show it anymore, they just had his two sodas ready when they saw him.

 

I see on the gifts page for HAL that I can buy a $50 soda fountain card. Does anyone have an experience with this? Is it something that gets swiped or deducted? How much are sodas? Are they included with the meals (I haven't found that to be the case on many cruise lines, but they are all different). Is there another option that's more like a drink package but non-alcoholic? He really just drinks Diet Cokes.

 

Trying to figure out what would make a good Christmas gift, and he still talks about how great a Father's Day gift the drink package on Princess was, so I thought covering his drinks on their upcoming cruise might be a good option.

 

Thanks!

 

The soda card is $25.00 and is good for $50.00 worth of fountain drinks (not a can). The cost is deducted from the card each time a drink is ordered.

[RuthC]

You have a couple of choices here.

There is a soda card which costs $25 for $50 worth of fountain sodas. The amount is loaded on the card, then $1.50 per glass is subtracted when the card is swiped with each order. If the passenger spends at less than $25, the balance of the amount paid will be refunded at the end of the cruise.

 

Another card is the beverage card. It can be purchased in amounts starting at $50, going up in increments of $100, $250, and ???. There is no bonus amount with this card, but it can be used for full cans of soda, as well as other drinks. Anything not used by the end of the cruise is refunded.

The main advantage to this card is that the passenger doesn't have to keep all those sales slips to proof out the final bill.

[bert425]

You have a couple of choices here.

There is a soda card which costs $25 for $50 worth of fountain sodas. The amount is loaded on the card, then $1.50 per glass is subtracted when the card is swiped with each order. If the passenger spends at less than $25, the balance of the amount paid will be refunded at the end of the cruise.

 

Another card is the beverage card. It can be purchased in amounts starting at $50, going up in increments of $100, $250, and ???. There is no bonus amount with this card, but it can be used for full cans of soda, as well as other drinks. Anything not used by the end of the cruise is refunded.

The main advantage to this card is that the passenger doesn't have to keep all those sales slips to proof out the final bill.

 

I was going to recommend the beverage card.

 

it also can be used for the specialty coffees in the Explorer's Lounge.

 

we had a $100 each for a 10 day cruise, and it was plenty for both (we each had ~$30 left over, and they just credit that against the room fees, so no money is lost at the end of the cruise)

[apples4t]

Is Club Soda usually available as a fountain drink?

[Globaliser]

I see on the gifts page for HAL that I can buy a $50 soda fountain card. Does anyone have an experience with this? Is it something that gets swiped or deducted? How much are sodas? Are they included with the meals (I haven't found that to be the case on many cruise lines, but they are all different). Is there another option that's more like a drink package but non-alcoholic? He really just drinks Diet Cokes.

There is a soda card which costs $25 for $50 worth of fountain sodas. The amount is loaded on the card, then $1.50 per glass is subtracted when the card is swiped with each order. If the passenger spends at less than $25, the balance of the amount paid will be refunded at the end of the cruise.

Subject to making sure that you use as much as possible of the $50 value of the card, I think that this one is really good value for someone who's going to drink a lot of Diet Coke.

 

To be pedantic, the card is swiped for $1.50 + service charge = $1.73. This means that you can get 28 full drinks for that $25, plus you can use the last $1.56 towards the last drink, also swiping your room card for the final $0.17 on the 29th drink. To put it another way, if you finish the card, you're basically getting these drinks from the gun for less than 90 cents each, including service charge.

 

Some people complain that you get half a glass of ice and half a glass of drink. However, this is easily dealt with. The gun usually dispenses chilled drink anyway, and therefore all you need to ask for is the drink with no ice in it.

Is Club Soda usually available as a fountain drink?

There is (fizzy) soda water in the gun, although I don't know whether it is technically Club Soda.

[apples4t]

There is (fizzy) soda water in the gun, although I don't know whether it is technically Club Soda.

 

Thanks! Fizzy water is exactly what I drink at home. Would probably save on buying bottled water every day.

[Wesmoms]

My parents are taking a cruise with HAL in April. The last cruise they took was on Princess and for $7.00 or so a day, I was able to buy my dad a basic soda card that covered his diet sodas that he likes to drink throughout the meals. He said it was so easy because once the servers knew he had that card, he didn't even have to show it anymore, they just had his two sodas ready when they saw him.

 

I see on the gifts page for HAL that I can buy a $50 soda fountain card. Does anyone have an experience with this? Is it something that gets swiped or deducted? How much are sodas? Are they included with the meals (I haven't found that to be the case on many cruise lines, but they are all different). Is there another option that's more like a drink package but non-alcoholic? He really just drinks Diet Cokes.

 

Trying to figure out what would make a good Christmas gift, and he still talks about how great a Father's Day gift the drink package on Princess was, so I thought covering his drinks on their upcoming cruise might be a good option.

 

Thanks!

 

The last HAL cruise we were on, you had to go to a bar to get your soda and have your card swiped. We couldn't use it in the MDR (or the lido or room service). Nobody else has mentioned it, so i thought i would. All in all, it wasn't too annoying, just a quick stop for the soda before proceeding to meals. {i don't find the HAL card to be quite as good a value as some cruise lines that have unlimited soda cards for one price or per day. Takes buying 4 to 5 cards per cruise to support my soda addiction! Lol}

[Shmoo here]

The last HAL cruise we were on, you had to go to a bar to get your soda and have your card swiped. We couldn't use it in the MDR (or the lido or room service). Nobody else has mentioned it, so i thought i would. All in all, it wasn't too annoying, just a quick stop for the soda before proceeding to meals. {i don't find the HAL card to be quite as good a value as some cruise lines that have unlimited soda cards for one price or per day. Takes buying 4 to 5 cards per cruise to support my soda addiction! Lol}

 

This must vary. We had the soda card and were able to use it in the MDR.

[Typhoon1]

We have used this many times. It was good anywhere on the ship. You get a glass of ice with fountain soda.

 

In the lido, since there are no soda guns, you would get your glass filled from a can.

[RoupMom]

And I've requested cans (specifically) when using the soda card and received them every time. It must vary according to the ship and server, although HAL is within their rights to serve only fountain drinks.

[Typhoon1]

And I've requested cans (specifically) when using the soda card and received them every time. It must vary according to the ship and server, although HAL is within their rights to serve only fountain drinks.

 

I've done the same in the MDR on occaision. The server indicated he would have to deduct double the charge on my card.

[dleighb]

Thanks, everyone! My parents will be on the ship for 26 days, so I may get my dad two of the soda fountain cards. He doesn't care if it is fountain or a can, and he usually has two drinks with dinner. I'll hope that he can use it in the MDR and maybe I'll double check that when I purchase it.