NO SODA CARDS SOLD: Straight from HAL

[JJPacer]

I have read other posts that there is an $!8.00 charge for 20 sodas. I also read there was a $45.00 charge for 20 sodas. Then I read that Hal is not selling the soda cards anymore. So I e-mailed HAL to find out once and for all. This is their reply.

 

"Thank you for your most recent correspondence with Holland America Line. We appreciate you choosing Holland America Line for your future travel plans.

 

We no longer offer the soft drink cards. This service was discontinued a while back. Sorry for the inconvenience. You must now purchase soft drinks individually.

 

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact us. Thank you for choosing Holland America Line. We are one of the oldest and most well known names in the cruise industry, and are confident our "Tradition of Excellence" will surpass your expectations."

 

Kind Regards,

 

 

Brandi

Internet Agent

Holland America Line

1-877-724-5425

 

There you have it. I hope this clears it up for everybody.

 

I BELIEVE the other CC posters who said they bought and used the Soda cards. Hal has changed their policy since those CC posted.

[LHC]

As for me, I love diet coke, but not at 2.00 a hit. Publix or the CVS will be getting my diet coke and carrying it aboard....I like to save my monies for spa services,ahhhh.

Linda

[rucruizin]

I hope that they are going to allow me to bring on a case of Diet Coke then. I would much rather just pay for a soda card than to lug those on but if they don't offer it I don't plan on paying $2-3 for an 8oz coke.

[snow4sandtoo]

Well, I find this very puzzling as I guess many others will too. I just returned from a 10day on the Volendam,returning Fri March 3 and we purchased one the 20 sodas for 18 dollars plus tax while on board having lunch in the Lido the very first day!!! Wonder if there is another name that they are callilng them??? Can't think what else is the reason.

[doone]

I sailed on the Volendam 2/11/06, we were able to purchase the soda cards, $18 for 20 soda's. I'll bet if you call HAL 10 different times, you'll get 10 different answers.

[jhannah]

Wow. That's surprising. Wonder what their reasoning is?

 

I hope this was mistaken communication and not really the case. As Doone noted, you can often get different answers with different agents.

[COLandlocked]

We are sailing on the 3/25 Zuiderdam trip and I purchased two soda cards last week over the phone. They were $18 for 20 sodas. They said they would be in our cabin when we arrived.

 

I would call again.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Here we go again. Too many different answers from Seattle.

 

We don't drink sodas but I do feel sorry for those of you who want to buy the cards and are getting conflicting stories.

[Travelbug 2]

Go to the HAL website, click on "gifts and special occasions", then "beverages", then "gift order form for sailings after April 14th. 2006". Under the heading "wines and beverages" item # 1934,-- SODA FOUNTAIN CARDS GOOD FOR 20 SODAS -- $18.75.

 

Somone at HAL has their wires crossed ???

 

So, if they are not sold on the ship you can order them before sailing. That is how I read it.

[doone]

I agree, Seattle needs to get their act together. We purchased our soda cards onboard.

[RevNeal]

Amazing.

I purchased a Soda card while aboard the Noordam Feb 22 -- March 4.

Perhaps this Brandi in Seattle is thinking of "unlimited" Soda Cards? The last time I saw one of those was on the Zaandam in October 2004.

[jlof]

Are things so unorganized onboard with HAL or just the phone agents?

[formercruisestaff]

As of last cruise the Zaandam was selling unlimited soda stickers

[lka1012]

Phooey! Guess I will join the "sneak my beverages on" brigade!

[csg99]

we both had unlimited soda stickers on our 11/05 Westerdam.

[Navy_Chief]

Soda Smugglers unite! :) Oh well the left doesn't know what the right is doing I guess.

[lka1012]

Hey Navy Chief, I think we are in the same Dec cruise. So lets plan our smuggling.:rolleyes:

[AAAAmerican]

Gee with soda one of the most profitable items in any place now .. why in Sodas name would they stop an avenue of added profits.

 

 

Fountain soda costs about 1 or 2 cents a 12 oz cup.. so how many do people drink ? 100 or 200 ? Doubtful....

 

Something is amis with the differences in statements...:eek:

[gbeer424]

sailing on statendam to alaska in may. i have also gotten 3 different answers from seattle each time i called. looks like the all you can drink soda card is gone. the 20 soda card is available for purchase for our trip so i am guessing therein lies the main confusion. why they would stop it is very puzzling though since the profit margin in soda is astronimical as has been noted by others. oh well, the ship stops 4 times so i can buy soda

it wont stop me from having fun

[Jim Gallup]

Sounds like the OP and HAL are both a bit confused.

 

HAL does not offer the UNLIMITED Soft drink cards any longer. Too many people brought their entire family onboard and purchased one card - then sent little Johnny to the bar every 10 seconds for yet another coke for all his brothers, sisters, parents, aunties, and uncles. HAL was losing revenue - but even worse, the Bar staff was losing out on their earnings.

 

Instead, HAL now offers a new card for $18 that gets you 20 GLASSES (not cans) of soft drink.

 

Why does HAL charge for fountain soft drinks when they cost only a few pennies to produce? For the same reasons that McDonalds charges for soft drinks.

Do you really believe that McDonalds makes a profit selling hamburgers for $1.50? Of course not. But they make a huge profit selling you fountain cokes.

 

Do you really believe that a cruise line makes a profit selling cruises for $100 a day, with all you can eat? Of course not. But they make a nice profit selling you soft drinks and other extras.

 

If you are like me and don't drink that garbage, you will be so happy to know that you can get an incredible deal on a cruise - and you don't have to subsidize other peoples' bad habits.

[Joanandjoe]

Sounds like the OP and HAL are both a bit confused.

 

Why does HAL charge for fountain soft drinks when they cost only a few pennies to produce? For the same reasons that McDonalds charges for soft drinks.

Do you really believe that McDonalds makes a profit selling hamburgers for $1.50? Of course not. But they make a huge profit selling you fountain cokes.

 

Do you really believe that a cruise line makes a profit selling cruises for $100 a day, with all you can eat? Of course not. But they make a nice profit selling you soft drinks and other extras.

 

If you are like me and don't drink that garbage, you will be so happy to know that you can get an incredible deal on a cruise - and you don't have to subsidize other peoples' bad habits.

 

Jim, we barely drink any soda. A two liter bottle of diet "anything but Coke" (Joe dislikes diet Coke) lasts about two weeks, and with diet Coke as the HAL choice, we may stick to iced tea. Joe hasn't had a single soda on our last three or four cruises, even on Radisson, where they were free. Still, we think it's a bit harsh to call soda "garbage" and "other people's bad habits". Yes, restaurants and cruise lines make huge profits on drinks; but that's no reason to criticize the victims of the profit gouge.

[Jim Gallup]

JoanandJoe,

 

I stand corrected. You make some very good points.

 

My father, a Dentist, extolls the healthful virtues of Coca Cola. He claims that the Coca Cola company alone is responsible for the thousands of his patients who paid for my 8 years at UCLA and his vacation home in Hawaii.

 

His brother, an Oncologist, buys His and Hers Mercedes 500 Sedans every year with the results of his treatment of the unfortunate victims of heavy consumption of Aspartame and Phenylketonurics in Diet Soft Drinks.

 

And I get to cruise often for next to nothing - with heartfelt thanks to the many folks who subsidize my cruise fare by paying for and drinking millions of gallons of chemically flavored, artificially sweetened, colored water.

[kryos]

We no longer offer the soft drink cards. This service was discontinued a while back. Sorry for the inconvenience. You must now purchase soft drinks individually.

I wonder what they mean by "a while back." I know of several people who had soda cars on the Amsterdam on our 30-day sailing from January 6 to February 5 of this year. I think they were about $130 bucks for unlimited soft drinks in the bars. But, of course, that was a 30-day cruise ... so the high price was understandable.

 

So, this information coming from HAL is a surprise ... because I know for an absolute fact that as of the dates of that Amsterdam cruise, it is simply not true.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[stebul]

We were offered the option to purchase a "Coke sticker" in February on Statendam that entitled a passenger to unlimited fountain (not can) sodas. The cost was about $60 including the 15% gratuity for a 14 day cruise. It seemed steep, but I also don't like signing all those slips every time I get a soda even if it is just 2 per day.

 

I did notice that the bartenders were not very willing to come back and offer refills. With alcoholic drinks, they were ready to get you another as soon as you finished one. With the soda card, you had to flag one down and hope he didn't get lost on his way back to your table. This continued throughout the cruise, even though we spent several hours each evening in the Crow's Nest ordering from the same bartenders. They did remember we had soda cards after the first couple days.

[foosing]

This is very strange indeed. My husband and I were on the Westerdam in mid-January and we each purchased unlimited soda cards before the voyage and the stickers were afixed to our id cards at check-in.

It is true that the bar staffs are not thrilled to serve people with cards. We just made it a practice to leave a few dollars behind at our tables in the bars and the attitudes and glass sizes improved immediately.