Beverage Card question

[viajante74]

I'm going on my 3rd HAL cruise next month and it's been awhile. I am going on a 7 day, port-intensive cruise and so getting the Signature Beverage Package doesn't seem worth it to me. So I just plan on doing what I have always done and buy a beverage card. What I can't remember is do I have access to any top shelf brands if I have the card, or do I need one of the beverage packages for that?

[RuthC]

A beverage card is like a pre-paid debit card; it's your money. You can buy any drink you like, with no price limits. 

[viajante74]

Ok, thanks for the clarification, Ruth. That's what I thought, I just couldn't remember how it worked.

[five.]

On my recent (March) Nieuw Statendam cruise at the end of the cruise we did not get a refund from unspent beverage card funds. Just as FYI. We lost any unspent funds that remained on the card.

[FlorenceItaly]

7 minutes ago, five. said:

On my recent (March) Nieuw Statendam cruise at the end of the cruise we did not get a refund from unspent beverage card funds. Just as FYI. We lost any unspent funds that remained on the card.

I am sorry to hear this.  Thank you for sharing as it benefits others.

[yerdua]

1 hour ago, five. said:

On my recent (March) Nieuw Statendam cruise at the end of the cruise we did not get a refund from unspent beverage card funds. Just as FYI. We lost any unspent funds that remained on the card.

What was the source of the beverage card that you did not receive unused funds? I've had beverage cards gifted from HAL that were non refundable (received as a good will gesture for post final payment drop in cruise fare). If you purchase your beverage card personally, I believe unused funds are refunded.

[five.]

1 hour ago, yerdua said:

What was the source of the beverage card that you did not receive unused funds? If you purchase your beverage card personally, I believe unused funds are refunded.

They were purchased by me from HAL, it showed up in the same place you'd buy beverage packages and the like. I was expecting to be refunded, based on this website, but I didn't take any screenshots or anything when I was buying the card. And the card itself did not have anything on it about being refunded. Someone showed one from Koningsdam that looked similar except it had fine print on the back and mine did not.

 

It was burgundy and white and said beverage card on one side and had the HAL logo on the backside with no writing. (This is all from memory.)

[Haljo1935]

I see "beverage packages are non refundable" on the ones I looked at. While they don't say anything specifically about "unused portions" being non refundable, I believe the intent is for any amount re the card is non refundable. It would be better if the card could be used until value depleted.

[kazu]

I checked the HAL site and there is nothing about beverage cards being non refundable.  We used beverage cards a lot pre-covid and any unused amount was refunded to us.  It’s a shame if HAL has changed that and even worse, that they are not advising accordingly in their write up.

[oakridger]

13 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

I see "beverage packages are non refundable"

 

Are you confusing the terms for Beverage Packages vs Beverage Cards?  Cards are like a debit card.  Anything left on them is refunded as @kazu mentions above.   Packages are "Use it or Lose it".  

 

~Nancy

[kazu]

2 minutes ago, oakridger said:

 

Are you confusing the terms for Beverage Packages vs Beverage Cards?  Cards are like a debit card.  Anything left on them is refunded as @kazu mentions above.   Packages are "Use it or Lose it".  

 

~Nancy

 

Sadly @five. reported theirs was not refunded - beverage card.

 

I find that disconcerting as the beverage card has long been refundable and there is nothing on the HAL website indicating to the contrary

 

I am wondering now if theirs was gifted by HAL or their TA which would make it non refundable.  Otherwise it does not bode well for those that like to use them.  I will ask in October.

 

It’s always been refundable

 

[oakridger]

@kazu.  I agree.  The card, if paid for by the cruiser, should definitely be refundable.  It's paid by "real" money.  I'll watch to see if anyone gets more information.  Since the discount for buying them ended I have not bought one and won't.  I get the beverage package or HIA because I have enough drinks (soft and hard) to make it a good deal for me.  😇

 

~Nancy

[kazu]

2 minutes ago, oakridger said:

@kazu.  I agree.  The card, if paid for by the cruiser, should definitely be refundable.  It's paid by "real" money.  I'll watch to see if anyone gets more information.  Since the discount for buying them ended I have not bought one and won't.  I get the beverage package or HIA because I have enough drinks (soft and hard) to make it a good deal for me.  😇

 

~Nancy

 

We used to bypass the drink package and use use the beverage card, wine packages and wine on board (and yes, we paid corkage).  the last time was 2019 right before covid.  No issues.

there are some things we don’t now about the beverage card that was not refunded.  They are not all the same.  If I could think of a way to use enough of it, I would be tempted to buy one just to see - with hopefully a few cents left on the card😆 

I don’t see it working although I might just go do an inquiry on board 😉 

[five.]

On 8/1/2023 at 9:56 PM, kazu said:

I am wondering now if theirs was gifted by HAL or their TA which would make it non refundable.

I apologize for the slow response. As I said, it was purchased by me on the HAL website. It was not a gift from a TA or anything like that. It was a $250 beverage card, burgundy and white in color. With no disclaimers or text on the back. It was delivered to my state room on the first day, if I remember correctly. I had about $60 left on the card at the end and was not refunded. This was in March on Nieuw Stat.

[kazu]

30 minutes ago, five. said:

I apologize for the slow response. As I said, it was purchased by me on the HAL website. It was not a gift from a TA or anything like that. It was a $250 beverage card, burgundy and white in color. With no disclaimers or text on the back. It was delivered to my state room on the first day, if I remember correctly. I had about $60 left on the card at the end and was not refunded. This was in March on Nieuw Stat.

 

No worries.  Then it sounds like the beverage cards are turning into non refundable?  That’s really disappointing.  Doesn’t seem right to me 😔 

[five.]

Yea, it was my first time getting one and I did enjoy not having lots of small charges on the bill, but I won't get it again. There was other people after I had this issue that reported they still got refunds and this was specific to Nieuw Stat. But that was just rumblings on CC, nothing official. Someone else posted their beverage card had text on the back that said it would be refunded, where mine was just the HAL logo I think.

[SFO Peter]

13 hours ago, five. said:

I apologize for the slow response. As I said, it was purchased by me on the HAL website. It was not a gift from a TA or anything like that. It was a $250 beverage card, burgundy and white in color. With no disclaimers or text on the back. It was delivered to my state room on the first day, if I remember correctly. I had about $60 left on the card at the end and was not refunded. This was in March on Nieuw Stat.

=====

Did you check your final bill?   Usually that is where the unused Beverage Card credit is applied.

Peter

[PigsCanFly]

I have a beverage card question for you folks who seem to have some knowledge of how they work.  We will be on a b2b next month.  Will a beverage card we bought pre-cruise from HAL be only usable for 1 leg of the b2b or can it work for both legs?

[rodndonna]

15 hours ago, kazu said:

 

No worries.  Then it sounds like the beverage cards are turning into non refundable?  That’s really disappointing.  Doesn’t seem right to me 😔 

 

I don't get the point either.

 

We met some ladies on our last cruise and they had purchased beverage cards, but what was even more bizarre than being non-refundable, was that they could not use them during happy hour? That just doesn't make any sense, but it was what they told us (it was during happy hour). I still think (hope) they were mistaken on that.

[kazu]

5 minutes ago, rodndonna said:

 

I don't get the point either.

 

We met some ladies on our last cruise and they had purchased beverage cards, but what was even more bizarre than being non-refundable, was that they could not use them during happy hour? That just doesn't make any sense, but it was what they told us (it was during happy hour). I still think (hope) they were mistaken on that.

 

When I used beverage cards, we always used them at Happy Hour.  Not a problem.

 

You can’t use HIA at Happy Hour - perhaps there was confusion over that?

[rodndonna]

1 minute ago, kazu said:

 

When I used beverage cards, we always used them at Happy Hour.  Not a problem.

 

You can’t use HIA at Happy Hour - perhaps there was confusion over that?

 

It was definitely about the gift cards .. and it came up because they said they were non-refundable and had to use them up, but were miffed the couldn't (they believed) use them at happy hour so were just buying their drinks normally (it was a 2 for 1 happy hour).  I know at the time we thought... that can't be right ...but I also had a hard time believing the cards were non-refundable.

 

Regardless ... they had decided they would not get beverage card next time - lol.

[five.]

2 hours ago, SFO Peter said:

Did you check your final bill?

Nowadays you get that via the app, as far as I know. I went ahead and pulled it up again to see if it had changed since I last looked and it has not. No refunds. We were on Nieuw Stat from March 11-18, 2023.