EXPLORE 4 question

[oma&opa]

Do my husband and I each get a Signature Beverage Card, or is it one per cabin?

[POA1]

Do my husband and I each get a Signature Beverage Card, or is it one per cabin?

Two per cabin.

[Alberta Quilter]

It's no longer a separate card. Just show your ship card to get your beverages. You'll still get a bill but, in our case, the charges didn't show on our invoice.

[Krazy Kruizers]

When you are given your ID cards at check-in, the Signature Beverage Card should already be loaded onto the card.

Once on the ship, you can go to any bar to activate it besides making certain that it is on both cards.

[pmjnh]

And..you can only use it where they have the capability of running it through a machine and then you get a receipt, ie, MDR,all bars and lounges,casino,explorations cafe. Servers in the Lido accepted it as well, as they used the Lido bar as their source. The receipt you get for each drink (or bottle of water, coffee, etc) will include the 15% service charge but no bar bill charges or service charges showed up on our bill. You could buy no more than 2 drinks at a time. House wines by the glass and beers were covered. Most drinks and specialty coffee, chocolate drinks were just under the $7 limit, unless you wanted premium liquors.

 

The house cabernet was tolerable and the merlot was not to my liking (I am being polite). If you eat in the Pinnacle Grill, splurge for a bottle of wine as the dinner was spectacular and deserved a nice pairing.

 

We saved all of our receipts to double check records at the end of the cruise.

 

Enjoy!

[Lizzie68]

When you are given your ID cards at check-in, the Signature Beverage Card should already be loaded onto the card.

 

Once on the ship, you can go to any bar to activate it besides making certain that it is on both cards.

 

I thought I read on here recently that the cards had to be activated at the front office. I could be wrong, but for some reason that is sticking in my mind. I have one for my next cruise, so it would be good to know for sure.

[Mary Ellen]

Don't worry. There will information about what to do with the cards. HAL won't expect passengers to guess.

I thought I read on here recently that the cards had to be activated at the front office. I could be wrong, but for some reason that is sticking in my mind. I have one for my next cruise, so it would be good to know for sure.

[Lizzie68]

Don't worry. There will information about what to do with the cards. HAL won't expect passengers to guess.

 

Not so sure, Mary Ellen - we all know 3 phone calls with the same question to HAL will likely elicit 3 different answers.:D

[dfish]

I thought I read on here recently that the cards had to be activated at the front office. I could be wrong, but for some reason that is sticking in my mind. I have one for my next cruise, so it would be good to know for sure.

 

I remember reading that as well. We have E4 in September on the Westerdam and want to get it activated as soon as possible. I'm hoping that there will be something definitive on what to do in the cabin when we get there.

 

Debbie

[Mary Ellen]

Like I said, the information for activating will be ON the ship. For us it was in our cabin, with the cards. All that was required of us was that the bar server also wanted our room card the first time we used the card. Now that it is said to be 'on' your cabin key/ID card/charge card, you may just get some sort of Explore4 info sheet when checking in. It could be in your cabin. I REALLY don't think HAL is going to keep guests in the dark if the card needs to be activated. They don't leave passengers guessing about what to do for the Emergency Drill, Tender Procedures, Disembarkation....

 

I've only had good experiences calling HAL Shore Ex. Calling any other dept - you're rolling the dice. :rolleyes: I know I sure wouldn't be calling HAL over this.

Not so sure, Mary Ellen - we all know 3 phone calls with the same question to HAL will likely elicit 3 different answers.:D

[Alberta Quilter]

When I had the E4 on my May/15 repo cruise, there was nothing in our cabin with respect to the new format of the SBP. Of course, the ship was under Code Red and embarkation had been delayed so I wasn't too concerned. But I didn't ask about it until later that evening at the Front Desk. That's when I was told we required only the ship card. Nothing had to be activated at the Front Desk. I went straight to the Ocean Bar and, if any activation was required, they did it there.

 

BTW, I had read here that it had to be activated at the Front Desk but, as above, that was not my experience.

[pmjnh]

We did not have to activate our key card on the Ryndam. It automatically started on the first purchase.

[g&gtravel]

We are booked on a future cruise that had the "Dine Around" package. Explore4, because of the Signature cards, looks better. Has anyone compared these two for best value?

Thanks, g

[AZNative2000]

Once on the ship, you can go to any bar to activate it besides making certain that it is on both cards.

 

Absolutley will do that first thing. Gotta make sure both cards work!:D:D

 

I can't imagine the line at the front desk if going there was required to activate.:eek:

 

Cheers!