Explore Four - Is It Worth It?

[Zooguy]

Our winter 2019 sailing came with Explore Four. Upon investigation, EF added $71 per day to the fare for two....is it worth it?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[taxmantoo]

Our winter 2019 sailing came with Explore Four. Upon investigation, EF added $71 per day to the fare for two....is it worth it?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Have a look on the HAL website to see exactly what is included in the package, and then ... only you can tell !

[aa7yy]

I figure that E4 has a value of about $125 +/- per day for us.

 

As I have mentioned before, it is not just the price of drinks, without the gratuity, but that you can have a drink when you want without worrying about it on your bill later. Like, after dinner drink, one more glass of wine, a beer with lunch, my wife's couple of coffees. A litter of Special water. I like happy hour.

 

All and all, it is worth it to some, not worth it to others. Doesn't make it bad.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I did the math for a cruise that we were looking at.

We are not big drinkers.

The cost of the Explore4 raised our cruise about $100 a day per person.

Definitely not worth it for us.

[kazu]

KK said It quite well.

 

You need to do the math. Anticipate what you will drink (some of us drink differently on board than at home) and see if it works for you.

 

What is worth it is different for every person on this board. What counts is it worth it for you?

 

My rule of thumb that I have learned here on the boards if you can do the house wine, or regular drinks the cappuccino/specialty coffee after dinner / or a liquor and a bit of water, etc. and if it's around 7 drinks I think you break even. Cut the numbers and see how you do - but remember, when you are in ports you will be out and about so that needs to be taken into account (if you are into that kind of thing ;) )

[POA1]

There are several threads in the past two weeks where the cost of various beverages have been laid out. Just add up the projected daily cost of your water, specialty coffee, and alcoholic beverages. Multiply that by the number of days on your cruise. Add in the cost of the specialty restaurant perks. Finally, if you're getting OBC as part of your Explore 4, figure that in.

 

If the benefit is greater than the $71/day, then I'd take the Explore 4. Otherwise, I'd skip it.

[ski ww]

We had it once as part of a promo, we did not drink as many drinks as to pay for it. We never buy water if on deck we get water from the bar & in the room from the tap. It might pay for it self if you're on a longer cruise.

Allan

[dogo88]

We booked our May 2018 2 week Alaska cruise last March. At that time Ex4 wasn't offered. Week or so ago we called our TA and HAL added it for $600. That comes out to about $21 a day pp. If we had waited and ordered the SBP when we boarded we would have paid well over $50 a day pp.

The drink package makes sense if you do the math or you just don't want to bother with receipts. We've found it to be a good deal.

Dan

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

15 drinks a day 😀

[canadarocks]

Trying to decide whether to book with or without the Explore-4. Can anyone tell me how much the drink package costs per person for a 14 day cruise?

 

Ideally in Canadian $ ... but I can do the conversion if I have to. :)

[RocketMan275]

Trying to decide whether to book with or without the Explore-4. Can anyone tell me how much the drink package costs per person for a 14 day cruise?

 

Ideally in Canadian $ ... but I can do the conversion if I have to. :)

google is your friend:

 

https://www.cruiseexperts.com/news/2017/05/16/holland-america-line-cruise-drink-packages/

[Luckybee]

We've never cruised Hal before but have just booked our first with them, and went through the same dilemma. For us the price differential was about $700+ for a 10 day cruise and it didn't make sense for us. Dh and I plan to bring our own wine, will have our specialties pre booked(so that Pinnacle grill wont do us any good), and given that Hal doesn't allow one to simply pay the difference on a more expensive drink made the package useless for us. For dinner dh and I will usually bring a bottle of white wine, but dh will sometimes want a glass of red. I might want the odd frozen drink. I do not want to be sitting there questioning whether the price is within the limit in order to decide whether im going to order. Knowing dh's taste in wine...the price will never be within the package limit...lol.

 

I would rather order and pay for what we want. Now if one could pay the differential ala RCCL then we would have taken the package. Honestly though...the only one who can tell you if it is "worth it " for you....is you :)

[canadarocks]

Had my T.A. price out the difference. WOW! ... $845 per person cheaper to book it in Canadian$ without the package. Only catch is the deposit is non-refundable when booking without the Explore-4 package. No way DH & I will spend that much in drinks! :eek:

[OVgirl]

Trying to decide whether to book with or without the Explore-4. Can anyone tell me how much the drink package costs per person for a 14 day cruise?

 

Ideally in Canadian $ ... but I can do the conversion if I have to. :)

 

$724 per person for a 14 day cruise.

$1447 X 1.28 = $1852CAD

If purchased before the cruise. Once on the ship the total price goes up $180CAD.

 

That's a rough guess for the exchange rate on a CC. Give or take a few percentage points.

[Luckybee]

Had my T.A. price out the difference. WOW! ... $845 per person cheaper to book it in Canadian$ without the package. Only catch is the deposit is non-refundable when booking without the Explore-4 package. No way DH & I will spend that much in drinks! :eek:

 

We're from Canada too, and booked a cruise for November 2018 on Koningsdam. I don't know if it is because we chose to book in US dollars or not but we booked without the explore4 and our deposit is refundable.

[canadarocks]

We're from Canada too, and booked a cruise for November 2018 on Koningsdam. I don't know if it is because we chose to book in US dollars or not but we booked without the explore4 and our deposit is refundable.

 

Hmmm, that's interesting. Definitely worth a call to my T.A. Thanks.

[Sue from Canada]

We're from Canada too, and booked a cruise for November 2018 on Koningsdam. I don't know if it is because we chose to book in US dollars or not but we booked without the explore4 and our deposit is refundable.

 

I just booked a solo cruise for August 2018 with my usual US travel company and priced in CDN dollars, and w/o Explore 4. My deposit is refundable and I saved just over $1600 off HAL's price:)

[kazu]

We're from Canada too, and booked a cruise for November 2018 on Koningsdam. I don't know if it is because we chose to book in US dollars or not but we booked without the explore4 and our deposit is refundable.

 

 

Actually my friend booked in US $ too and the deposit is refundable. Apparently the rules are different if you book in US $ versus Canadian?

[canadarocks]

My T.A. is now quoting me three prices from HAL: the Explore-4, an Advantage fare, and the really low fare. Only the really low fare has a non-refundable deposit.

 

But my goodness the deposit is high! Even with the 50% discount the Explore-4 deposit is $780 and the Advantage fare is twice that!! :eek:

[kazu]

My T.A. is now quoting me three prices from HAL: the Explore-4, an Advantage fare, and the really low fare. Only the really low fare has a non-refundable deposit.

 

But my goodness the deposit is high! Even with the 50% discount the Explore-4 deposit is $780 and the Advantage fare is twice that!! :eek:

 

You need to start buying Future Cruise Deposits on board. Makes the deposit much less and gives you a bit of OBC, too ;p

[canadarocks]

You need to start buying Future Cruise Deposits on board. Makes the deposit much less and gives you a bit of OBC, too ;p

 

I know! For some reason I knew to do that with our Princess cruises, but not with HAL. I won't make that mistake again! :o

[Luckybee]

My T.A. is now quoting me three prices from HAL: the Explore-4, an Advantage fare, and the really low fare. Only the really low fare has a non-refundable deposit.

 

But my goodness the deposit is high! Even with the 50% discount the Explore-4 deposit is $780 and the Advantage fare is twice that!! :eek:

 

True that ! We booked the advantage fare and the deposit was 2x what it would have been with the Explore4 pkg. ( I thought of it as simply paying for more of the cruise sooner :) )

 

I didn't check the deposit for the super sale because I have no interest in booking a non refundable deposit having already lost one with RCCL.

 

For us I'd rather pay a bigger deposit then get stuck with a non refundable.

[81Zoomie]

My T.A. is now quoting me three prices from HAL: the Explore-4, an Advantage fare, and the really low fare. Only the really low fare has a non-refundable deposit.

 

But my goodness the deposit is high! Even with the 50% discount the Explore-4 deposit is $780 and the Advantage fare is twice that!! :eek:

 

What is an advantage fare?

[canadarocks]

What is an advantage fare?

 

Your guess is as good as mine! ;) I'd never heard of it before, but it's the "middle" tier of pricing for the cruise I was considering. Just over $200 more per person than the super low fare, with a refundable deposit. Those are both taking off the Explore-4 package.

 

HAL wants $1500+ as a deposit for a cruise that's not until January 2019, and we're just not in a position to do that. I've got cruises in 2018 I haven't paid for yet! :eek: :D