Another Silly Question about S Suite Perks

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Of course we are starting to get excited about having our first S Suite in 4 weeks. My question is I know that we will recieved a complimentary bottle of champagne, has anyone ever called Guest Services to see if they can Upgrade or get something a little bit different? We really like the Leodanardi (not sure that is spelled right) Italian Asti. We have it every night for dinner while on the ship. I just looked at the Gifts and Special Occasions page of the HAL website and was shocked. It always showed the Asti to be $22.00 now it shows $26.00. It also shows Bon Voyage Champagne which I had not noticed before on this page. The price for that is $18.00. Do you suppose they would let us have our Asti and just charge us $8.00 more? I also plan to order some of those wonderful Chocolate Covered Strawberrys. We had those at our last Sail Away and those are wonderful.

[merryecho]

I asked ships services if we could have red wine instead of champagne. They said no.

[Peggy Sue]

order your asti and have it waiting for you to enjoy... put the champagne in the fridge..order orange juice one morning when you're having breakfast on the verandah..and add the champagne...goes down rather nicely....

Enjoy!!

[localady]

Peggy Sue- Now that is really truly making lemonade out of lemons! Great suggestion!!:D
Mimosas with brunch! A great use for not so great champagne!!:cool:

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I think we may just order our Asti and try their Champagne later. I will call ship service and ask. It certainly does not hurt to ask. I will let you know what they say.

[Sierrachik]

I also plan to order some of those wonderful Chocolate Covered Strawberrys.
These were sometimes included in the offerings in the Neptune Lounge this past week, in both milk chocolate and white chocolate, yummy! :)

[LAFFNVEGAS]

These were sometimes included in the offerings in the Neptune Lounge this past week, in both milk chocolate and white chocolate, yummy! :)
That sounds great, was it offered before Sail Away? This will be our first time with the S Suite so not sure what they do for sure offer in the Neptune Lounge.

[sail7seas]

The selections in the Neptune Lounge vary daily. We also had chocolate strawberries with both milk and white chocolate a few times on Zuiderdam and they were wonderful!!! No way to ever know for sure just what will be offered on your ship the day of your sailaway but be sure, there will lots of good choices. Each day there were homemade chocolates in one form or another.

[GayleArc]

We always take our champagne to the dining room and exchange it for wine
as we are not champagne drinkers. Never had a problem doing this. They may
charge you the difference.

[iv18-Diane]

You are seeing Price differences in wines because as of Oct 1st HAL raised the prices.
Their prices are still less than other lines. For Example a bottle of wine that was on the Gift list for $14 is now $18. Celebrity gets $23 for the same wine.

[merryecho]

Gayle- thanks for the tip! I guess we get 2 bottles in a suite with amex/plat, which would be totally wasted. Now we can have a couple of bottles of wine we like.

[peaches from georgia]

I asked ships services if we could have red wine instead of champagne. They said no.
The wine steward in the dining room is responsible for putting the champagne in the suites and is the person you would ask about substituting after you are on board. It has nothing to do with ships services.

As it is a gift from the Captain and HM, I don't think I would ask for it to be changed to something else before it is even received. :o

[merryecho]

Dear Peaches, I don't think it would hurt the Captain's feelings if I exchanged the champagne- I doubt he picked it out personally for heavens sake. Why waste a bottle of champagne if it can be changed for something you would actually drink?

[peaches from georgia]

Dear Peaches, I don't think it would hurt the Captain's feelings if I exchanged the champagne- I doubt he picked it out personally for heavens sake. Why waste a bottle of champagne if it can be changed for something you would actually drink?
Huh? :confused: Exactly where did I say it would hurt the Captain's feelings or that you shouldn't see about having it exchanged? Don't attribute words to me that I never wrote.

Did I not say only that you should see the wine steward, not call ships services which has nothing at all to do with the champagne, about exchanging it after you are on board and have actually received the gift? Of course the Captain didn't pick it out personally nor did ships services. The wine steward is the person to see. Sorry I even tried to give you the information.

[dakrewser]

As it is a gift from the Captain and HM, I don't think I would ask for it to be changed to something else before it is even received. :o
It's not a gift (although the card might read "with the compliments of..."), its price is included in the cost of the suite. There shouldn't be a problem in having it switched before hand. Why add to the already overburdened steward's job?

[peaches from georgia]

Why add to the already overburdened steward's job?
Because it was the Wine Steward himself on one of our HAL cruises who told us HE was the one who handled the placement of champagne in the suites and that HE was the one with whom to discuss a substitution. That's why I made the suggestion; plus if you notice, merryecho had already been told 'no' by Ships Services.

[ekerr19]

The Wine Steward will do it for you - no problem at all!

We've never had a Wine Steward that was not willing go out of his way for us - I never got the feeling we were overburdening him.

Simply bring the bottle of Champagne to dinner with you - or strike up a conversation with the Steward who is manning the Wine Desk in the Lido for embarkation and explain you'd like to exchange it for something different.

Simple as that - we have done it numerous times without incident. :)

[sail7seas]

Gayle- thanks for the tip! I guess we get 2 bottles in a suite with amex/plat, which would be totally wasted. Now we can have a couple of bottles of wine we like.

We are AmEx Platinum and do not get two bottles of champagne in the Suite.....as a result of AmEx. We have always appreciated receiving Bon Voyage Champagne from the Captain AND the HOTEL MANAGER. We have gotten numberous bottles of all sorts of wine/champagne but not because of Platinum.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

The Wine Steward will do it for you - no problem at all!

We've never had a Wine Steward that was not willing go out of his way for us - I never got the feeling we were overburdening him.

Simply bring the bottle of Champagne to dinner with you - or strike up a conversation with the Steward who is manning the Wine Desk in the Lido for embarkation and explain you'd like to exchange it for something different.

Simple as that - we have done it numerous times without incident. :)This sounds like a marvelous idea. We have always gotten along great with the Wine Steward if only because he serves us the same bottle of our Asti Champagne for dinner every evening. On our last cruise our Wine Steward was obviously not very busy ( I think this particular cruise was a lot of non drinkers) so he was eager to talk to us every evening. The champagne glass was never more than half way down:p We had wonderful service and it was a pleasure to tip him extra at the end of the cruise.

We had planned to go right to the Neptune Lounge and set up to have a Champagne delivered to our table every evening including the night we plan to have in the Pinnacle. Prior cruises we just would find the Wine Table near the Lido Pool and pre order it.

[GayleArc]

I always ask the wine steward if I can do this several nights before we bring it
to him. Several times our cabin steward has taken it down for us. Now that you mention it I'm sure you could do this through the Neptune Lounge. Just
ask them nicely if if can be done. If not, just bring it one night to dinner to
be exchanged the following night. Never has been a big deal.

[ridolphi]

we asked the concierge in the Neptune Lounge to exchange white wine for the complimentary champagne after we boarded our Maasdam sailing last March, and it was no problem. We came back to the room a couple of hours later and it was done.:D

[ekerr19]

This sounds like a marvelous idea. We have always gotten along great with the Wine Steward if only because he serves us the same bottle of our Asti Champagne for dinner every evening. On our last cruise our Wine Steward was obviously not very busy ( I think this particular cruise was a lot of non drinkers) so he was eager to talk to us every evening. The champagne glass was never more than half way down:p We had wonderful service and it was a pleasure to tip him extra at the end of the cruise.

We had planned to go right to the Neptune Lounge and set up to have a Champagne delivered to our table every evening including the night we plan to have in the Pinnacle. Prior cruises we just would find the Wine Table near the Lido Pool and pre order it.

Lisa-

I forgot! You are in a Suite (lucky girl!) - the concierge will take care of it for you... :)

[Esme]

We always take our bottle of champagne to the dining room and share it with our tablemates. :) I don't like it and neither does DH.

[merryecho]

7seas- I just assumed that if everyone in the suites received a bottle of champagne, that amex/plat guests would get 2! I wouldn't have minded not getting any until Gayle and ekerr explained about exchanging them.

From the amex/plat site:
Holland America Line
Exclusive Amenities......
Welcome bottle of champagne

[dakrewser]

Simply bring the bottle of Champagne to dinner with you -
Not much help with a bon voyage drink, though.....:rolleyes:

[gizmo]

7seas- I just assumed that if everyone in the suites received a bottle of champagne, that amex/plat guests would get 2! I wouldn't have minded not getting any until Gayle and ekerr explained about exchanging them.

From the amex/plat site:
Holland America Line
Exclusive Amenities......
Welcome bottle of champagneI would think so too, since the Amex site says you receive a bottle of champagne and there is also a complimentary bottle for suite guests.

[sail7seas]

On Princess they gave us a pocket atlas as an AmEx Gift. We never got that on HAL. I do think we've gotten something extra from AmEx sometimes but I can't remember now what it was. Maybe it was a bottle of wine of something. I don't care about these small giveaways. They're rather insignificant, aren't they? Well, to me they are.

[gizmo]

Each to their own. I think a complimentary bottle of champagne from Hal and a bottle from Amex are both nice perks. :)

[ekerr19]

On Princess they gave us a pocket atlas as an AmEx Gift. We never got that on HAL. I do think we've gotten something extra from AmEx sometimes but I can't remember now what it was. Maybe it was a bottle of wine of something. I don't care about these small giveaways. They're rather insignificant, aren't they? Well, to me they are.
I don't recall getting anything "extra" in the stateroom as an Platinum Amex Suite guest on HAL???

Personally, I could live without the pocket atlas too. We don't want to have to lug anything home so we usually offer any liquor to the cabin steward or the wine steward if he should have an interest.

I do like the idea of sharing Champagne with tablemates, but we usually have a table for either 2 or 4 (and our kids don't drink!) - but, we will have to keep this option in mind for the future.

On the Maasdam, some of our CC friends brought all their wine to the Ocean Bar and shared with the CC group on the last formal night - they did have to pay corkage, but a great time was had by all. :)

[merryecho]

I wonder if the suite champagne is the amex bottle or the HAL bottle?

[sail7seas]

The gift card that accompanies the champagne says, Compliments of The Captain and Hotel Manager. It is from HAL.....

[sail7seas]

The gift card that accompanies the champage says, Compliments of The Captain and Hotel Manager. It is from HAL......

[sail7seas]

Ooops....sorry for the double post.

[merryecho]

Hmmm, I also asked ships services if the amex/platinum bottle could be exchanged. They said no, because that is paid for by american express. I wonder what happens to it?

[sail7seas]

I wonder what happens to it?:) I think most people who receive it say thank you and drink it.

I applaud you for your tenacity. I cannot imagine spending so much time and energy over an inexpensive bottle of run of the mill sparkling wine. Kudos to you for wanting to get all the facts and details.

We have received, literally, dozens and dozens of those bottles (which have decreased in quality through the years) and each and every gift card accompanying the bottles has always indicated it is a gift from the Captain and Hotel Manager. I hope it is possible you can 'take my word for that'. BTW....we always have it picked up from our cabin as we never drink in our cabin....nothing but water or soft drinks. We drink in lounges and the dining room.

[gizmo]

I wonder if the suite champagne is the amex bottle or the HAL bottle?
I think you should get 2 bottles. Take the advise of some of the others and handle any exchanges with the conciege or wine steward. Forget about ship services, they don't always give correct answers. I don't think they all know what really takes place on the ship, only what may be on a piece of paper in front of them.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Well, since I started this thread I thought I would tell you what DH and I decided to do. I am calling ship services to order a bottle of our favorite Asti to have in the room with an order of the wonderful chocolate covered strawberrys. We will also get a bottle of this for dinner but wait to order that in the Neptune Lounge once we board the ship. We will then talk to our wine stewart to see if he can enchange it for our favorite. If not we may attempt to drink it with orange juice one morning out on the verrandah. Who knows we might even like it, if it is icey cold most champagnes are some what drinkable:D

[ekerr19]

Lisa-

Sounds like a great plan! Oh, those chocolate covered strawberries... yum!

Last time we ordered, I didn't even get one of them! My DD became addicted to them. :)

I think the mimosa idea sounds great - I will have to remember that. I love OJ and I love mimosa's so it sounds like a good use of the champagne to me, but I can usually drink most champagne, especially if its really cold. :D

[dakrewser]

I think the mimosa idea sounds great - I will have to remember that. I love OJ and I love mimosa's so it sounds like a good use of the champagne to me
I wondfer if we can get room service to deliver a pitcher of OJ?

Hey Lisa, you leave soonest - find out, won't you?:)

-dave

[Candy]

We asked the Concierge to exchange ours for a bottle of non-alcoholic champagne, and said we would have to pay the difference in price. When she saw our chosen wine was half the price of the gift champagne, she said there would be no charge (should we have been given two?).

On another cruise, our tablemates offered to stop at a shop they knew in Key West, and bought us two bottles in exchange for the gift champagne.

[Lefty Bob]

Since HAL has gone to adding tips to your account, is the amount different for suites passengers?
Lefty Bob

[sail7seas]

No, LeftyBob.

The automatic tip is the same amount for Suite and non-suite pax. Most Suite pax, presumably, would be tipping additional on their own. For the portion of the automatic tip that applies to the dining room, there would be no reason for a Suite pax tip to be higher than non-suite. For the amount of work a steward does cleaning the much larger cabin, yes, for that there would be reason to increase it IMO

[Lefty Bob]

S7S
Thanks. That makes sense.

Lefty Bob