Just one more thing...

[2flacruisers]

When we purchased our cruise, we also purchased the "Have it all.'   But looking at that now, it seems that we are limited to 15 beverages per day per person. But in that 15 beverages, we have to include the specialty coffees and waters, as well as the alcohol drinks.  Not that we drink that much, but we may have a bloody Mary, maybe a beer or two during the day, wine with dinner, and a couple of drinks in the evening.  My questions is, has anyone been able to upgrade the Signature package to the Elite on board?

[REOVA]

It's 15 per person. So 30 between you. Unless you are drinking more than you mentioned, I wouldn't upgrade. 

[Ryten]

Yes. We have usually upgraded on board in order to give the Bartender/waiter the sale which goes towards his internal review or required number of sales, although I'm not sure this is still in effect. Be certain however that you upgrade before you order your first drink or it may case problems with subsequent orders. One caveat however, on our last November cruise the conversion created a ridiculous mess on your billing statement and you really had to keep an eye out that you were getting the proper discount particularly when ordered a drink in one of the specialty restaurants.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I don't see the need to buy water. I think the Lido water is fine. I used to buy bottled water to take on an excursion, but the cans don't work for that. You can't take a sip now and then. Once it's open, there's no reclosing it. I will take refillable water bottle now.

[yerdua]

Why don't you just buy a beverage card to use for the less pricey drinks if you think you might go over your 15 drink limit? Coffee, water soda go on the beverage card. Any money left over gets refunded to your cc

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 minute ago, yerdua said:

Why don't you just buy a beverage card to use for the less pricey drinks if you think you might go over your 15 drink limit? Coffee, water soda go on the beverage card. Any money left over gets refunded to your cc

does HAL still do the beverage card?

[yerdua]

Just now, 3rdGenCunarder said:

does HAL still do the beverage card?

I don't know if you can still buy them on board, but I do know you can buy them on line prior to the cruise. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 minute ago, yerdua said:

I don't know if you can still buy them on board, but I do know you can buy them on line prior to the cruise. 

 

Thanks. I don't remember seeing them for sale on board. It's one of those things that used to be pushed on embarkation day, and in the papers waiting in your stateroom. now it was all beverage packages and wine packages. 

 

It's been ages since I got a drink card as part of a booking promo. Does buying the drink card save any money? Or is it just convenience of not haveing lots of small charges on your bill?

[DaveOKC]

11 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

I don't see the need to buy water. I think the Lido water is fine. I used to buy bottled water to take on an excursion, but the cans don't work for that. You can't take a sip now and then. Once it's open, there's no reclosing it. I will take refillable water bottle now.

Just bring a reusable water bottle and fill it from the cans.  Or, as you mention, the ship's water.

[yerdua]

Just now, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

It's been ages since I got a drink card as part of a booking promo. Does buying the drink card save any money? Or is it just convenience of not haveing lots of small charges on your bill?

Convenience and a drink limit work around only. No cash savings.

[Hlitner]

20 minutes ago, REOVA said:

It's 15 per person. So 30 between you. Unless you are drinking more than you mentioned, I wouldn't upgrade. 

I have a few questions/comments about upgrading to the Elite Package.  My understanding is that no matter which package, if you buy a drink that exceeds the price limit of the package, you only pay the difference.  So, if that is true than upgrading the package is only worth a maximum of $4 per drink (the difference of the drink maximum price).  So, one would need to get several drinks a day that cost the higher prices to make the upgrade worth while.  But, that assumes you can even find a wine for $15 a glass vs $11 a glass.  We have been on too many cruises when the availability of wines by the glass is quite limited.  As to more expensive cocktails, that is certainly an option if you can find items that fall into that higher price range.  Limited inventory often makes this a problem. 

 

I also noted that the more expensive Elite Package still has that same 15 drink per day limitation.  

 

Hank

[yerdua]

Just fyi, there may be a black out period of a few days where you can't buy the beverage cards on line just before embarkation. Not positive but I know specialty restaurant on line reservations cannot be make close to sailing. My point is, don't wait till the last-minute if you want to go the beverage card route.

Edited March 4, 2023 by yerdua

[REOVA]

27 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

I have a few questions/comments about upgrading to the Elite Package.  My understanding is that no matter which package, if you buy a drink that exceeds the price limit of the package, you only pay the difference.  So, if that is true than upgrading the package is only worth a maximum of $4 per drink (the difference of the drink maximum price).  So, one would need to get several drinks a day that cost the higher prices to make the upgrade worth while.  But, that assumes you can even find a wine for $15 a glass vs $11 a glass.  We have been on too many cruises when the availability of wines by the glass is quite limited.  As to more expensive cocktails, that is certainly an option if you can find items that fall into that higher price range.  Limited inventory often makes this a problem. 

 

I also noted that the more expensive Elite Package still has that same 15 drink per day limitation.  

 

Hank

Correct. It's still limited at 15 drinks per person no matter the "upgrade" package. We did find some wines by the glass over $11 but didn't partake in those (when in stock) and yes HALs WBtG menu in general is pequeno. Didn't look at liquor menu if there was "higher" priced drinks. Had a hard time meeting 15 a day even with specialty coffee, milkshakes, wine, a few beers, etc. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, yerdua said:

Just fyi, there may be a black out period of a few days where you can't buy the beverage cards on line just before embarkation. Not positive but I know specialty restaurant on line reservations cannot be make close to sailing. My point is, don't wait till the last-minute if you want to go the beverage card route.

 

They stop selling online a few days before the cruise so they have time to move all that info over to the ship.

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, yerdua said:

Just fyi, there may be a black out period of a few days where you can't buy the beverage cards on line just before embarkation. Not positive but I know specialty restaurant on line reservations cannot be make close to sailing. My point is, don't wait till the last-minute if you want to go the beverage card route.

Yes it’s 3 days before unless something has changed.  When you said this in another post it sounded like there was a blackout to be able to use it.  Thanks for the clarification. 

[BetsyS.]

3rdGenCunarder - I agree with you. I think the Lido water is fine.

[terrydtx]

On 3/4/2023 at 9:09 AM, 2flacruisers said:

My questions is, has anyone been able to upgrade the Signature package to the Elite on board?

Last August on the Oosterdam we tried to upgrade when we first boarded and were told by a bartender with the standard HIA promo it was not possible to upgrade to Elite drinks. I talked with both the beverage manager and guest services supervisor and got the same reply. In 14 days, we never exceeded the 15-drink limit, but we did get our drinking water mostly from the Lido with our refillable insulated water bottles. I wish HAL had an option when booking to pay more and get the Elite DP and premium Wi-Fi in the HIA. We do have it for our 2024 Volendam NE/Canada cruise, but it was part of an Early Booking Promo.

[Iamthesea]

Can we bring an empty water bottle onboard to refill?  We would purchase one before boarding.   

 

My husbands backpack has loops on the side that we keep bottled water in.  The loops are not big enough for most refillable containers.  Plus, we would rather drink out of the bottle than out of a hard plastic straw, or wide mouthed opening that these refillable bottles have.  Even if we could find one to fit, we do not want to have to pack them for the trip.

[terrydtx]

4 minutes ago, Iamthesea said:

Can we bring an empty water bottle onboard to refill?  We would purchase one before boarding.   

 

My husbands backpack has loops on the side that we keep bottled water in.  The loops are not big enough for most refillable containers.  Plus, we would rather drink out of the bottle than out of a hard plastic straw, or wide mouthed opening that these refillable bottles have.  Even if we could find one to fit, we do not want to have to pack them for the trip.

On the Oosterdam last year my wife kept one of their aluminum bottled water bottles and refilled it the entire cruise with water from the Lido. Cruise ships have gotten very prohibitive about plastic bottles on board. It fit nicely in her backpack or purse.

[Iamthesea]

As read above, I thought all the water was in cans with a pull tab?  The aluminum bottles would certainly work because they are rather narrow.

[KroozNut]

On 3/4/2023 at 7:59 AM, DaveOKC said:

Just bring a reusable water bottle and fill it from the cans.  Or, as you mention, the ship's water.

 

We're doing just that, and recently purchased 2 refillable stainless steel water bottles for use onboard for our cruise next week on NS. Our plan is to refill them from the lido or our cabin sink as needed.

Just to confirm that these types of water bottles are okay for going ashore and returning?

[terrydtx]

6 minutes ago, Iamthesea said:

As read above, I thought all the water was in cans with a pull tab?  The aluminum bottles would certainly work because they are rather narrow.

The ones on the Oosterdam last year had screw top caps that made it easy to reuse.

[terrydtx]

5 minutes ago, KroozNut said:

 

We're doing just that, and recently purchased 2 refillable stainless steel water bottles for use onboard for our cruise next week on NS. Our plan is to refill them from the lido or our cabin sink as needed.

Just to confirm that these types of water bottles are okay for going ashore and returning?

Yes they are absolutely okay for taking ashore and returning to the ship. We took ones like you describe on our cruises last year and when we were on shore, we would buy cheaper bottled water and fill them up before returning to the ship. In Italy and Greece, we found a one-liter bottle of water could be bought for about 1 euro or so.

[MikeD4134]

On 3/4/2023 at 11:08 AM, Hlitner said:

I have a few questions/comments about upgrading to the Elite Package.  My understanding is that no matter which package, if you buy a drink that exceeds the price limit of the package, you only pay the difference.  So, if that is true than upgrading the package is only worth a maximum of $4 per drink (the difference of the drink maximum price).  So, one would need to get several drinks a day that cost the higher prices to make the upgrade worth while.  But, that assumes you can even find a wine for $15 a glass vs $11 a glass.  We have been on too many cruises when the availability of wines by the glass is quite limited.  As to more expensive cocktails, that is certainly an option if you can find items that fall into that higher price range.  Limited inventory often makes this a problem. 

 

I also noted that the more expensive Elite Package still has that same 15 drink per day limitation.  

 

Hank

If you exceed the limit, you pay full price for the drink.  The upgraded package has a 15 drink limit, but it does not count non-alcohol purchases.

[Florida_gal_50]

2 hours ago, MikeD4134 said:

If you exceed the limit, you pay full price for the drink.  The upgraded package has a 15 drink limit, but it does not count non-alcohol purchases.

That’s incorrect.  For several months now you only pay the difference, not the whole thing.