Ventura - Soda Card?

[Patsy Flower]

We will be travelling on the Ventura in January and this will be our first time on this ship, in fact the first time on P & O.

 

We have previously sailed with NCL and Princess both of which have soda cards.

 

Could anyone advise if this is the case on P & O? What is the most cost effective way to buy soda on P & O ships.

 

This is my first post on these boards so apologies if there is a thread somewhere for this subject.

[ROSEBASKETS]

Welcome to the forum. Soda cards are available at £20 each for 20 drinks and allows you anything from the soda fountain. Glasses are approx. 500ml. A word of advice if you do buy a card and want a drink make sure you ask for no ice, some barstaff fill the cup with ice and then pour the soda fountain over it which dilutes the stuff even more and you end up with a 1/3 of a cup if you fish all the ice out :eek:

[Patsy Flower]

Rosebaskets, thank you for your reply and for your welcome to the forum.

 

We have previously cruised with NCL and Princess and both these cruise lines put a sticker on your guest key card so you can obtain soda in any bar or restaurant on the ship simply by showing your key card to the bar or waiters.

 

Would we be able to use this card in the restaurant to obtain soda?

 

Not too sure how this would work in the main dining rooms.

 

Thanks for your help.

[ROSEBASKETS]

They give you a flimsey bit of card (about the size of a credit card) marked out with 20 squares. Give it to the waiter when you place your order, they put a mark or a cross in one of the 20 boxes so you know how many you drinks you have left. We used our card in the MDR with no problem. There are a couple of bars that you can't order from because they have no soda syphon in situ, you'll be told which bars when you purchase it.

 

Some points to note:- We found that some pool bars occasionally wouldn't take the card because the the machine needed refilling and because they were too busy used little cans instead. A couple of times the waiter had marked our card and came back with a drink, asked for the cruise card and put £1.50 through the card:mad: We had to go to the reception to explain the situation and the charges were removed.

 

Towards the end of our cruise on Ventura we had become friendly with quite a few waiters around the various bars who knew our order, as soon as we sat down they brought us our drinks (including 3 cokes) took the cruise card to pay for the alcohol and the soda card for the drinks, they brought back both cards, but "forgot" to mark the soda card. Not wanting to get them into trouble I asked them to mark the card and either got a "sssshhhhhh" a wink, or a drawing of the smilie on the reverse of the card! In the end we couldn't fill the card!;):D:D:D

[Patsy Flower]

Thanks again for the information. It makes life much easier if you have an idea what to do etc.

 

This is the first time for us on Ventura so I will probably have loads of questions.

 

In fact you may get fed up of me asking but I will try to check the previous threads first before posting.

[CRUMB]

Can you get free self service drinks in the buffet restaurant?

[ROSEBASKETS]

Teas (including speciality) and coffee available at all times in the self service restaurant. As well as fruit juices at breakfast. Tea and coffee served during meal times in the MDR's. Hot chocolate and milk on request at bedtime.

 

Room service will bring tea and coffee FOC if you are prepared to wait about 1/2 hr for it.

 

If you get a drink from the coffee shop you pay for it, but you get to choose a free bun or sandwich (if you ask nicely they give you a free cake without having to purchase a drink - but don't tell ANYBODY!;))

[CRUMB]

(if you ask nicely they give you a free cake without having to purchase a drink - but don't tell ANYBODY!;))

 

OK There's only you and me here. Do they not have complimentary juice etc throughout the day in the buffet or is it just breakfast?

[ROSEBASKETS]

OK There's only you and me here. Do they not have complimentary juice etc throughout the day in the buffet or is it just breakfast?

 

No it's just at breakfast I'm afraid................... but if you order it with your breakfast in your room through room service and ask for 2 glasses each e.g an orange and an apple each, there's nothing to stop you putting it in your fridge and having it later (the glasses come with cardboard lids or cling film) Not that you heard it from me, right! :o

[cruiseluvva]

The breakfast fruit juice is rather nasty so I tend to bring my own and keep it in the fridge.

[CASPALL]

"The breakfast fruit juice is rather nasty so I tend to bring my own and keep it in the fridge."

 

Me too!

 

Caryl

[purplepattimac]

We will be travelling on the Ventura in January and this will be our first time on this ship, in fact the first time on P & O.

 

We have previously sailed with NCL and Princess both of which have soda cards.

 

Could anyone advise if this is the case on P & O? What is the most cost effective way to buy soda on P & O ships.

 

This is my first post on these boards so apologies if there is a thread somewhere for this subject.

Hi Caryl - Yes they do - we travelled on Ventura transatlantic last October and if I remember correctly paid £20 for a card for 20 sodas or ice creams - better value but choice of sodas was limited

[CRUMB]

Can you buy the cards from any of the bars?