Soda Cards According to Moi

I feel compelled to give my opinion on the soda card/sticker. It is such a waste of $$$. On a 7 day cruise the cards cost $35 including tip. What they DON'T tell you is the card is not valid on Princess Cay. Nor can you use it in ports, obviously. You can purchase three cans of Coke per day with what you spend to get flat soda out of the fountain. No one needs more than three cans of Coke per day! (IMHO) This is my recomendation - carry on a 12 pack of something you like, then buy Cokes in port for $1 each to supplement your needs. You can buy cans on the ship if necessary for $1.75 (with tip). The waiters love to sell you the tumbler/sticker and hate to fill your glass during the week. If you are buying cans, you can get waiters to bring you ice and water additionally. Plus, many of us are drinking adult beverages at some point, so Coke becomes secondary to the Margaritas, beer, and fabulous daily drink specials.

If you like the novelty of the coke card or you have kids that love to run to the bars to get refills, that is great. I am just one of those people that thinks the sticker is a bad deal. I drink way too much Diet Coke and I would rather bring my own or give to the local economy in port to buy soda than beg some waiter on the ship to fill my glass.

Heads up on the costs and keep in mind the card is not valid on Princess Cay. Party On, Sungirl

here we go again.......

Oh, sorry I don't read the boards that often. Is this a tired subject? I guess I should have added opinions on smoking, jeans, and chair hogs and then you could really give it to me. I have never once read on the boards that the coke stickers weren't valid on Princess Cay. Don't flame Chrysalis, not nice.

Just had to respond to this thread. We don't drink alcoholic beverages, usually stay on the ship at the Cruise Companies personal island, and don't want to carry on sodas, our luggage is heavy and packed too full as it is.

My big gripe about the soda card is that the drink servers and bartenders tend to give a lot of attitude, even if I tip them at that time I ask for a soda, and I get tired of flat or warm soda. The high price for single cans of soda is a lot like you pay for when you go to other controlled environments such as sporting events, fairs, carnivals.

Jim

KCSungirl, it's a popular topic. But there was a thread a few pages back that discussed this topic (and the fact that Princess raised its price). Give it a read:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=250683

Yes, it's a tired subject, but the point is for SOME people it's a GREAT deal! I honestly can't understand why so many people get so upset about the cost of the sticker. It's very simple, think for a moment how much you drink and do the math. If you don't drink much then forget the sticker and buy cans individually or bring your own. It simply depends on how much YOU drink...

Personally I drink in excess of a dozen Coke's a day - do the math! I save a lot of money by buying the sticker. There's no way I could carry enough for a weeks cruise onboard, and I don't need that hassle anyway. I'm sure not going to waste time in port shopping for soda either.

I've bought the stickers on several different lines including Princess and have NEVER received any attitude, never gotten flat or warm soda, or ever had any problem whatsoever with using the sticker.

And BTW- How many Coke's per day that anyone else "needs" is really not something for you to worry about. I don't care for alcohol, Coke and bottled water are the only two things I drink.

I do buy the Coke card and think it's a great deal for me. It may not be for others but there's no way I'm going to be so cheap that I'm going to lug cases of soda onboard. If you really like a non-Coke product, then fine. But IMHO it's nickle and diming to lug soda onboard.

.... No one needs more than three cans of Coke per day! (IMHO) ...

KCSungirl, Thank you for adding IMHO. My DH usually does 5-6 cans of Diet Soda per day on a cruise. It's surely not a "need", just a "want". And our cruises are all about that -- doing things we want.

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I've bought the stickers on several different lines including Princess and have NEVER received any attitude, never gotten flat or warm soda, or ever had any problem whatsoever with using the sticker.

I agree with Trent. I bought the sticker this past May on the Sun Princess and received the utmost courtesy, never got treated any different when I did buy an alcoholic drink or just refilled on my diet coke. It always had Ice and it was never flat. I got my monies worth. I think I had more than 12 glasses a day. It's not a bad thing. Some people like it and others don't.

Now if the cruise lines started offering a sticker for the fancy coffees, espresso's who would buy that? I don't drink coffee, hate the taste, I wouldn't buy it, but I know others would get their money's worth if it was offered. It's all a matter of opinion.

I've always had great luck with the soda cards. I drink ALOT of diet coke during the day and *try* to remember to alternate soda with alcohol drinks at night. It's worth it to me, but if you don't drink alot of soda, it may not be worth it.

As far as service is concerned, I have NEVER been treated poorly by a staff member. It has never, ever taken me longer to order a soda with the card than an alcoholic beverage and it is always delivered with a smile.

Yes ma'am, whatever you say, ma'am.

I bought a coke card on our last cruise and thought it was well worth the $$$. I used it at dinner each night and after the first night they ended up giving my husband free cokes at dinner also:) . When I ordered cokes at the bars, I asked for a large coke so I wouldn't have to keep going back a getting more.

It was the only thing DW wanted...

She uses it in the car going to work...

Deal for her and she was happy which is the main thing...

A long island iced tea with a diet coke chaser...ahh the memories.

The card is borderline for me.

If they had diet sprite in the gun, then a no-brainer.

But seriously, some bars will have flat cokes - I just avoid them. The Riviera or pool deck bars with the large plastic glasses is the way to go. But I typically go get my own cokes and only ask for cokes as a chaser, since those little chinzy bar glasses are only good for a sip or two.

Just adding my 2 cents here. I was on the Caribbean Princess a few weeks ago and we had the sticker on our card. We never once had a flat soda or bad service. We ordered with and without other drinks that are paid for and never once got an attitude or had to wait long. I guess we got lucky.

Obviously, for some people to mention the flat sodas, bad attitudes and long waits when they had the soda sticker, it must have happened to them at one point or another or they wouldn't have mentioned it. Its too bad that it takes a few bad apples (crew) to give a program like that a bad name. If they had not had a bad experience with a soda card, perhaps they wouldn't think its such a bad deal. :(

Michelle

KC- as you have seen people love their soda. I hear ya though. Was just going through this with my daughter yesterday for our next cruise 11/24. She thinks it would be nice to have and I don't think she would get my money's worth. Bottom line is the cruise lines do it cause they can and as you can see from these replies there are plenty of buyers.

If they didn't offer free coffee you better believe I would be buying a sticker. Oops, hope the cruise line officials didn't hear that.

We tried the card on the Golden a few years ago and would not do it again. No problem with the quality of the sodas but did notice some slightly "negative" attitudes after a few days by the pool where the same bartenders worked everyday. We ended up going to other bars but it was inconvenient so finally just quit using it.

Maybe they've gotten the kinks worked out by now...

Hi! Just got back from the Caribbean Princess and had no trouble whatsoever with the Coke card. We were even able to ask for large glasses - no problem! The only surprise for us was not being able to use it on Princess Cay but that's evidently because they don't have it available in the soda fountain there....

On our Oct 26th Regal Princess 10 day cruise, the soda card cost was $45 which included the mandatory 15% surcharge. No problem with large glasses or servings at the dinner and Lido tables.

Great deal for me. I think it's stupid that we have to pay for something as cheap as soda when all the meals are free. So, my wife and I only bought one soda card. Since we don't drink alcohol (well, she does, but didn't on the trip to keep me company and to save money), we load up on soda. We more than drank our money's worth... kinda like we more than ate our money's worth.

If you can drink that much, they're worth it. If not, then they're not worth it. Soda cards are simple really. Get one if you drink a lot of soda. Don't get it if you don't. I never got attitude when asking for soda. I never got shunted at the bar in favor of people buying alcoholic drinks. My dining room waiter learned to bring another one of those stupid small glasses they use in the dining room whenever he saw me getting low.

double post

Just got off the Star yesterday. My husband and 2 other family members purchased the sticker. The cost - $31.80 total.

The 3 of them drank a TON of Coke and Diet Coke. Princess probably lost money on these guys! :D

If you drink a lot of soda - Buy it!

If you don't drink much soda - Don't buy it!

It's really that simple...

Happy Cruising,

Courtney

The bottom line is that if you drink a lot of soda the card is a good deal; otherwise it is not. In addition, you can bet that the cruise line sets the price at a level that makes them come out ahead overall. But what's new about that? they are in the business of making money off of us!

The bottom line is that if you drink a lot of soda the card is a good deal; otherwise it is not. In addition, you can bet that the cruise line sets the price at a level that makes them come out ahead overall. But what's new about that? they are in the business of making money off of us!

The voice of reason !

???Soda with your dinner or lunch is not free?????Just coffe,tea ice tea or tap water......COME ON PRINCESS