New beverage cards just posted

[NoWhiners]

Laminator, here's what I want you to ask:

 

(1) If a passenger has pre-ordered a wine card, will they get an actual wine card when they board?

 

And if the answer is yes, then ask:

 

(2) If they will continue to honor that policy, regardless of how long from now the cruise is?

 

And if the answer is no, feel free to warn them of the potential "fallout" ;)

 

I appreciate your offer to find out for sure. Let us know asap please!

 

Laminator

 

these are my top 2 questions as well. My next question ight be:do we get a choice of how to deal with any refund? i would prefer a credit back to my credit card, not an OBC but i want to know so i can start argiung now if necessary.

 

FYIW, this is really dumb. HAL should have just said they will honor wine cars purchased before whatever date they went to the new beverage card, even on a per ship basis. They are annoying the wrong people here--the ones who will contribute to their bread-and-butter profits!

 

thanks for volunteering to do recon on this mission!

ML

[Laminator]

Laminator

 

FYIW, this is really dumb. HAL should have just said they will honor wine cars purchased before whatever date they went to the new beverage card, even on a per ship basis. They are annoying the wrong people here--the ones who will contribute to their bread-and-butter profits!

 

thanks for volunteering to do recon on this mission!

ML

 

I will do my best to get these questions answered. I wish I was on the Oosterdam as I know most everyone on that ship. There are only a few people I know on the Zuiderdam and that's only because they came from the Oosterdam. I can not see the Food and Beverage Manager not wanting to take the time to talk to me though.

[NoWhiners]

I will do my best to get these questions answered. I wish I was on the Oosterdam as I know most everyone on that ship. There are only a few people I know on the Zuiderdam and that's only because they came from the Oosterdam. I can not see the Food and Beverage Manager not wanting to take the time to talk to me though.

 

The whole CC/HAL world is watching!!!

 

and holding our collective breath!

 

good luck

ML

[NCTribeFan]

So true. The number of glasses of wine you'll get for a $50 card is exactly the same number you'd get by charging it to your onboard account, except you'd have paid $45 in advance.

 

I had expected to be perfectly happy with house wine. That is pretty much what I'm asking. I could've had 20 glasses of it for $77.

 

How much is it by the glass? Is there a copy of the bar menu anywhere?

 

I've asked about copies of MDR menus and drink menus before and gotten no response. Has no one here taken photos or gotten copies and scanned/uploaded them?

[ourfamilylovescruising]

I just talk to someone at hal and asked about the soda card. I think it will turn out to be almost the same as the old card- before you bought the soda card for 20.00 plus tax and you got 20 sodas now you get 50.00 worth which she said they are 2.00 and some change so you will get about 23 or 24 drinks. but if you do get the whole can that is more than you got before. when we were on the eurodam they only gave us glasses no cans.

[a9753]

I wonder if I can still use a soda card that I still have from a previous cruise? Anyone know?

[kazu]

I had expected to be perfectly happy with house wine. That is pretty much what I'm asking. I could've had 20 glasses of it for $77.

 

How much is it by the glass? Is there a copy of the bar menu anywhere?

 

I've asked about copies of MDR menus and drink menus before and gotten no response. Has no one here taken photos or gotten copies and scanned/uploaded them?

 

the house wine card was a bargain IMO. If I recall correctly with tip the house wine was close to $6.50. i could be wrong, going by memory when we didn't have the card with us.

 

That's why I bought them.

[Thecat123]

We paid $25 for a $50 soda card, which was a swipe card, on the Maasdam last week which we bought in the Lido but don't know how many cans that got as we didn't use all the card. Maybe $4.50 for 2 cans but not sure

Maasdam was in a lot better shape than I imagined after reading some comments here. The crew were painting at every port. One couple did say that their carpet had seen better days. No other problems I heard of from the 46 odd couples that were on our tour group. Had fog at Peggys cove and Halifax. Bit bumpy for the last night for awhile but it didn't worry us.

I would have to agree with most of the comments here about the staff and tidiness of the Maasdam though. The last cruise we did was with MSC Cruises and their ships were brand new so you might be able to understand our doubts about Maasdam with some of the past comments here re the upcoming dry dock tidy up.

All good as far as we were concerned.

[Bill B]

It seems to me the 'operative' words from HAL (and the pax) are: "maybe", "not sure", "if", "could be", "perhaps", "probably" and/or it depends on the day of the week/what ship you're on...

 

LOL... anyone else wondering why they switched the cards?

[NCTribeFan]

the house wine card was a bargain IMO. If I recall correctly with tip the house wine was close to $6.50. i could be wrong, going by memory when we didn't have the card with us.

 

That's why I bought them.

 

That's about what I expected. Damn. I really didn't want to have to go shopping once I got to San Diego and then haul several bottles of wine on board. The idea that I would take on ONE bottle and have the card to use for most of the cruise was very appealing.

 

Guess I'll head over to the Hawaii board and find out where I can buy some in port to replenish my supply.

 

:(

 

See, I think this isn't a smart move on HAL's part. Rather than haul on my own wine, I was going to carry on a minimal amount and PURCHASE THEIR CARD. Now, I'll probably carry on several bottles and replenish in port and will do whatever possible to avoid purchasing alcohol on board.

 

Or I'll carry on a few bottles and pre-order a 6-pack of beer.

[croozer]

I think Holland America screwed this up and it'll take a while for the passengers to figure it out. I agree that the cocktail cards should be phased out: a cocktail can be a $4.50 gin and tonic or a $9 martini and bartenders were constantly having to tell passengers that their card wasn't good for the more expensive drinks. There are literally hundreds of cocktails, each with a different price, so a punch card for cocktails is difficult at best.

 

But house pour wine is house pour wine, always one price. Some people may complain that they want a better wine by the glass, but that's not what the wine card is for. Like soda, which is all one price, house pour wine is one price.

 

In a response from Ship Services at Holland America, the rep said: "We have made this change to benefit our guests...so instead of having multiple cards to carry for wine and soda and cocktails it is now all combined into one card."

 

OK, but now they suggest I carry around a soda card, a non-alcohol beverage card and an alcohol beverage card. The soda card is the deal, like the wine card used to be; the rest is just a pre-paid debit card with a minimal discount.

 

They also said: " The new card is comparable to a debit card instead of the punch card." which is very different than the value of wine card. which decreased the cost of wine by the glass (even more so on the 20 pour).

 

Since all these cards are just debit cards, they we might as well just let us charge up our onboard account and give us the 10 per cent discount instead of having to use up three different cards.

 

And if the task of punching a card if onerous to them, I know a couple of computer experts who can tweak their system so that their central accounting program can keep track of how many glasses of wine a passengers has consumed from a pre-loaded wine card on their onboard account.

 

The cards will be good for bon voyage gifts and even better for travel agents--if they give you a $100 onboard credit in the form of a card, they save $10 per person. With the volume of business they do, this can make a huge difference to them. To me, a mere 10 per cent is a far cry from the value of wine card and I know I’ll spending a lot less on wine now.

[trollydolly]

me too the wine card was quick convenient and good value i will still buy wine but i drank far more with the cards as it was such good value, i think they really screwed up with this and i do hope the wine cards are back soon.

[porrah]

As mentioned in an earlier post, we'll probably take a couple of 3 liter boxes on board now that they do not have the wine cards, so they won't be getting any profit from us. What do they do about corkage if you have a box of wine? Would they let you take it to the DR? Or could you fill your glass in your cabin and take it with you? I'm sure the answers are NO, but you never know unless you ask! With no wine cards, I'm sure many people are having devious thoughts like this.

[kazu]

Ok, enough of us wondering, let's all email HAL, I sail in nearly a week. I need to know. I have no desire to have a beverage card.

 

More importantly, I just want to know. My custom itinerary says they have them. Let's ask the horse's mouth if they are honoring the old cards or not.

 

I'm sending them an email and I might post on DBA's blog as well.

 

In fact, as I think about it I haven't been there recently, there might be a solution there. So, I'll check his blog first, email him and then email HAL.

 

At least is they say it's fine and it isn't when we get on board, I have something to talk about with the concierge ;)

[lka1012]

I am would like to know may I use the same card on more than one cruise (i.e, do they have an expiration date/)

[Hlitner]

Regarding the question on bringing a glass of wine into the dining room, we have seen others do this and nobody seems to mind. Since you are using a Princess wine glass they have no way of knowing if you just bought the wine at a bar or filled it in your cabin.

 

Hank

[serendipity1499]

Regarding the question on bringing a glass of wine into the dining room, we have seen others do this and nobody seems to mind. Since you are using a Princess wine glass they have no way of knowing if you just bought the wine at a bar or filled it in your cabin.

 

Hank

 

 

errr..Hank this is not the Princess Board..:confused:This is the HAL board...;)LOL :):)

[kazu]

Regarding the question on bringing a glass of wine into the dining room, we have seen others do this and nobody seems to mind. Since you are using a Princess wine glass they have no way of knowing if you just bought the wine at a bar or filled it in your cabin.

 

Hank

 

Princess or HAL, it doesn't matter, my dh would KILL me if I took a glass of wine and carried down the corridor and/or/stairs/ elevator to the MDR :eek:

 

It's not that much money to order wine in the dining room or use a card :rolleyes:

 

Just not an option for us, no matter what ship we are on.

[canadarocks]

Princess or HAL, it doesn't matter, my dh would KILL me if I took a glass of wine and carried down the corridor and/or/stairs/ elevator to the MDR :eek:

 

It's not that much money to order wine in the dining room or use a card :rolleyes:

 

Just not an option for us, no matter what ship we are on.

 

Well then, we definitely need to get you a BOX! ;):p:D

[Zyzygy]

and I just prepurchased two soda cards from Indulgences. We are a party of four and we drink a lot of soda. We plan to solve the wine card problem by bringing a case of good wine on board.

 

I'll let everyone know how it turns out when we get back.

 

When you prepurchase the soda cards, there is 6% sales tax added. If the cards are sold on the ship, as I expect they will be, I would be surprised to see any sales tax.

[canadarocks]

and I just prepurchased two soda cards from Indulgences. We are a party of four and we drink a lot of soda.

 

I'll let everyone know how it turns out when we get back.

 

When you prepurchase the cards, there is 6% sales tax added. If the cards are sold on the ship, as I expect they will be, I would be surprised to see any sales tax.

 

I'll give you some good advice. Call and cancel your order (you can't do it online). Go back online and re-order it and choose "Stateroom at Sea" as your delivery choice. That way you won't be charged sales tax, even if you want it on the first day. :)

 

Works this way for all beverage choices. :cool:

[Zyzygy]

:) Thanks!

[NoWhiners]

It seems to me the 'operative' words from HAL (and the pax) are: "maybe", "not sure", "if", "could be", "perhaps", "probably" and/or it depends on the day of the week/what ship you're on...

 

LOL... anyone else wondering why they switched the cards?

 

I agree these are the operative words. of course they did it for $$!! The wine cards were a great deal and encouraged me to spend more. See below for my plan!!

 

As mentioned in an earlier post, we'll probably take a couple of 3 liter boxes on board now that they do not have the wine cards, so they won't be getting any profit from us. What do they do about corkage if you have a box of wine? Would they let you take it to the DR? Or could you fill your glass in your cabin and take it with you? I'm sure the answers are NO, but you never know unless you ask! With no wine cards, I'm sure many people are having devious thoughts like this.

 

 

We have always brought 2 boxes of wine on board, fro drinking in our room. You can fill up your glass and walk around ship, or go to MDR with your box wine, just keep one of the bar wine glasses to do this. the glasses they give you ion your room are different!! Having said that, we have only taken a glass of wine to MDR by "accident". accident meaning we poured a glass of wine thinking we had more time, only to discover we were late, so we take the wine with us. We also always purchase a wine package with dinner, so no harm, no foul!!

 

I would certainly appreciate HAL going back to 10 or 20 pour wine cards, but I sincerely doubt it will happen. Our plan is to bring even more of our own wine on board and purchase less of HALs. Of course, in the end all they will do is say we can't bring wine on board, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it. No way for pax to win--HAL holds (most) of the cards.

 

ML

[croozer]

I would certainly appreciate HAL going back to 10 or 20 pour wine cards, but I sincerely doubt it will happen. Our plan is to bring even more of our own wine on board and purchase less of HALs. Of course, in the end all they will do is say we can't bring wine on board, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it. No way for pax to win--HAL holds (most) of the cards.

ML

1) I, too, would appreciate them offering the wine card again, even if they raised the rate. It was one of the little touches that set Holland America apart from the other lines.

 

2) I might bring more wine onboard, but I enjoy joining my dinner companions with a glass of wine while they indulge in their premium bottles. I will order wine by the glass, but not nearly as often as when I'd committed to a 10 or 20 pour card.

 

3) I think you're right--someday they will limit the amount of wine you can bring onboard, or possibly ban it entirely.

 

4) The only thing I disagree with is that HAL holds the cards--this decision smacks of revenue optimizing by the parent company, Carnival, not HAL.

[NoWhiners]

1) I, too, would appreciate them offering the wine card again, even if they raised the rate. It was one of the little touches that set Holland America apart from the other lines.

 

2) I might bring more wine onboard, but I enjoy joining my dinner companions with a glass of wine while they indulge in their premium bottles. I will order wine by the glass, but not nearly as often as when I'd committed to a 10 or 20 pour card.

 

3) I think you're right--someday they will limit the amount of wine you can bring onboard, or possibly ban it entirely.

 

4) The only thing I disagree with is that HAL holds the cards--this decision smacks of revenue optimizing by the parent company, Carnival, not HAL.

 

croozer

 

I like the way you think--never thought about our dinner companions and their wine!! Unfortunately, we are usually the people who get the nice bottle of wine and haven't been able to figure out how NOT to share with others!! seems rude, even though our past companions haven't seen it the same way. We usually cruise with friends/family so we are seated with them. The few times we have been alone, the others don't show, don't drink, or don't care!!

 

I never considered that HAL would be different than Carnival, but that is a great point. There are differences among the Carnival-owned lines, so this idea has some merit. While I agree HAL has tried to separate themselves from Carnival, I still think they will feel financial pressures and what we, the mere pax think, will have little to do with the decision. Possibly, as suggested here, if we all email our displeasure, we can have an effect, and I hope you are right but I fear we are doomed...

 

Stay tuned--same bat time, same bat channel...

ML