Change to Beverage Cards

[kamom]

We purchase the beverage cards as it significantly reduces the line item entries on our shipboard bill and have never had a problem getting the unused portion credited to our account. Hoping the new procedure pertains only to promotional beverage cards. FYI, we are 4 star Mariners, 1 star CC posters😉.

[leerathje]

15 hours ago, KirkNC said:

Yea I have heard those reasons before but they don’t resonate with me.  I look at my account every day or two anyway so that’s no biggie.  I can’t imagine the exchange rate fluctuates more then a few cents a drinks.

 

So, as a Canadian, I watch the CDN $ vs US $.  In the past 2 weeks, the Canadian dollar has dropped 3 cents to the USD. In the past month, the Canadian dollar has dropped 4 cents, and I have seen the CDN dollar be as low as .75 or .74 cents to USD, and as high as .81 or .82 cents to the USD. Time it right, and the difference can be .50 to .60 a drink. I can save $10.00 on a $200.00 beverage card if I watch the exchange.  And yet people on the board complain when the price of a specialty restaurant increases by 5 or 10 dollars....

 

Not trying to call you out, but explaining this to you so you can see that just because it doesn't affect you, doesn't mean that it doesn't affect others.

 

L.

 

[KirkNC]

20 minutes ago, leerathje said:

 

So, as a Canadian, I watch the CDN $ vs US $.  In the past 2 weeks, the Canadian dollar has dropped 3 cents to the USD. In the past month, the Canadian dollar has dropped 4 cents, and I have seen the CDN dollar be as low as .75 or .74 cents to USD, and as high as .81 or .82 cents to the USD. Time it right, and the difference can be .50 to .60 a drink. I can save $10.00 on a $200.00 beverage card if I watch the exchange.  And yet people on the board complain when the price of a specialty restaurant increases by 5 or 10 dollars....

 

Not trying to call you out, but explaining this to you so you can see that just because it doesn't affect you, doesn't mean that it doesn't affect others.

 

L.

 

I understand, never meant to get under the Canadian’s skin but I apparently did.  I happy it works for some but not us but that’s ok.  

[leerathje]

 

I have a Caribbean cruise booked for February 23, and beverage cards are available for purchase.

 

L.

 

[seaoma]

I had been contemplating a beverage card for our last cruise and ultimately decided not to purchase one. During our cruise, I ran into some things that would make me even more sure I would not purchase one.

 

First, we met a couple that said the servers would not accept their beverage card during happy hour. I did not find out if they ever got this resolved.

 

Secondly, we had several drinks charged to our account at non-happy hour prices when they were during happy hour. If you are using a beverage card, how do you manage to track the correct balance remaining on the card?

 

[SFO Peter]

Thank you.   Used Chrome instead of Safari which allowed me to see Beverage Cards to purchase online.

Talked to Ships Services.    They don't know why Beverage Cards were not sold on board NA Oct 6.

Card Supply problem??

 

Peter

[SFO Peter]

57 minutes ago, seaoma said:

. If you are using a beverage card, how do you manage to track the correct balance remaining on the card?

 

====

Ask for a receipt each time and look at the balance.

 

Peter

[Hlitner]

We are currently on the Enchanted Princess and have also recently cruises on Seabourn.  These lines are all part of the Holland America Group with lots of cross overs in management and policies.  These lines have eliminated just about all paper stuff including “cards.”  Even the old coffee cards in Princess are now numbers loaded onto an onboard account.  I would assume that HAL will soon follow suit.  I suspect one may be able to pre purchase onboard credits but I would bet those old beverage cards will be for the history books.  On Princess we could not even download boarding passes for embarkation.  It was all on phone apps and their “Medallions.”  It felt weird going to the port with no paper other then our vaccine cards.

 

Hank

 

[kazu]

40 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We are currently on the Enchanted Princess and have also recently cruises on Seabourn.  These lines are all part of the Holland America Group with lots of cross overs in management and policies.  These lines have eliminated just about all paper stuff including “cards.”  Even the old coffee cards in Princess are now numbers loaded onto an onboard account.  I would assume that HAL will soon follow suit.  I suspect one may be able to pre purchase onboard credits but I would bet those old beverage cards will be for the history books.  On Princess we could not even download boarding passes for embarkation.  It was all on phone apps and their “Medallions.”  It felt weird going to the port with no paper other then our vaccine cards.

 

Hank

 

 

Even better if they are downloaded.  If Princess can download coffee cards, surely the same can be done with beverage cards 😉 

 

If they are discontinued, so be it.  I’ll just buy more OBC but it means checking my account and quizzing DH 😉   Part of the problem is that where you purchase the drink is not always what’s reflected on the statement.  JME. 

[cruisin'mama]

If they won’t refund the unused balance, it would be nice if you could use the rest on another cruise so you don’t lose the $$! I bought 2 ( $100 and $50 ) for our cruise this Sunday but probably wouldn’t have done the $50 one if I knew I couldn’t get any balance refunded like in the past!

[SFO Peter]

2 minutes ago, cruisin'mama said:

If they won’t refund the unused balance, it would be nice if you could use the rest on another cruise so you don’t lose the $$! I bought 2 ( $100 and $50 ) for our cruise this Sunday but probably wouldn’t have done the $50 one if I knew I couldn’t get any balance refunded like in the past!

====

when I spoke to Ships Services today they said they will refund unused balance.

Let us know the outcome.  Thanks.

 

Peter

[cruisin'mama]

4 minutes ago, SFO PETER said:

====

when I spoke to Ships Services today they said they will refund unused balance.

Let us know the outcome.  Thanks.

 

Peter

Ok I will

[kazu]

3 minutes ago, cruisin'mama said:

Ok I will

 

I think the no refund only applies to the promotional cards and not the ones we purchase.  I got the same answer as Peter did and have an email off for confirmation.  I think you will be good and hope your report confirms that.

[Hlitner]

I should have mentioned that when Princess had paper coffee cards they each had 15 punches and could be used on future cruises.  When they switched to an electronic system they expired at the end of the cruise.  Many cruisers were not happy with the change.  

[Cruise Suzy]

11 hours ago, kazu said:

I think the no refund only applies to the promotional cards and not the ones we purchase.  I got the same answer as Peter did and have an email off for confirmation.

 

So glad that purchased beverage cards aren't affected. We have 2 more cruises booked with promotional beverage cards. One is with DD, DS and their spouses - all of whom can benefit by ordering wine over $11 when dining with us. Now that the balance of promo cards isn't being refunded, we're glad our TA is giving OBC instead. Especially since we book with the HIA option.

[highscar]

Re the u.s. exchange.   Always pay my onboard account in cash. If you charge to your credit card there is a additional 2 1/2 percent charge by the carrier. U.S. plus 2 1/2 per cent is very pricy. 

[kacurl]

Always get the beverage card, always use at happy hour, always get the discount, always got the refund. This time I traded my credit card points for a $50 and a $250 hal gift card which I will use to purchase beverage cards for dh and myself respectively. He will use his for specialty coffees, I will use mine for some scotch!!!

[zgscl]

We used to do the beverage cards before HIA and when you could get a discount when purchasing in advance. It was nice not seeing everything on the folio since they can get very long even on just a 7 day cruise. Now I just use the buy OBC option if I want to have money on my account. With the Navigator app it is really easy to check your account whenever you want. While the beverages are on there they all show up as zeros. Guest services can also print one out that does not show the beverage package drinks also. 

[Chickadee910]

Our beverage cards were refunded on our invoice. All three had an amount left on them and were credited back.

[SFO Peter]

thanks for posting.   nice to know.

Peter

[cruisin'mama]

We returned from Koningsdam on Sunday the 12th. Even though it was printed on the back of the purchased card that any balance would not be refunded, yesterday we received a refund for the few dollars that didn’t get used!

[Florida_gal_50]

I don’t know why but I’ve never bought one of these cards.  Thanks to this thread I will for sure consider it going forward. 

[kazu]

On 12/2/2021 at 8:48 PM, kazu said:

 

I think the no refund only applies to the promotional cards and not the ones we purchase.  I got the same answer as Peter did and have an email off for confirmation.  I think you will be good and hope your report confirms that.

 

Sorry to bump this thread but I did receive an answer from HAL and my guess was correct.

 

copy and pasted - here is their reply.

 

“Thank you for contacting us regarding your questions on the beverage cards. Sorry for the delay in responding to your inquiry. Due to the high volume of emails and the holidays, we are running a bit behind.

 

 

 

If you purchase a beverage card, on our website or onboard, if at the end of the cruise you have a balance left on the beverage card, you can go to the guest relations desk onboard and they can either refund the balance, or apply it to your onboard bill. If a beverage card is a promotional offer, which does happen frequently, those are use it or lose it. I hope this clears up your question.”

 

So, in essence, nothing has changed 😉 

[Cruise Suzy]

6 minutes ago, kazu said:

So, in essence, nothing has changed

 

Thanks for posting your reply.  Really glad that nothing has changed for the purchased beverage cards. But it has changed for the promotional beverage cards. Before Covid, they didn't have the fine print on the back and we got the balance on our promotional beverage cards refunded to our account. At least now we are aware. We have 2 more cruises with the promo cards which aren't much use since we also have SBP.