Buying bev pkg on-line, changing cabin mates at boarding???

[idecor8]

Tried in another thread....

Need some advice on the following:

 

1. My husband and I are traveling with another couple.

 

2. We booked our rooms technically, with the guys in one, and ladies in another. We were then able to use our C&A savings certificates for both cabins.

---The guys would pre-purchase Bev pkg for themselves.

 

3. THEN ... upon arrival, WE'D switch up and change CABINS, to couples in each room.

---New cards would then be issued.

--------------------------------------------------------------

HERE'S MY Q:

Knowing that the guys, pre-cruise,had ALREADY BOUGHT the Bev pkg for their "cabin".

 

4. How does it work, when we change cabins,

regarding the bev pkg....even though the bev pkg is in their indiv names.

 

5. I need you type-a problem solver people to help me figure this out :eek:

Please, please help me figure it out...

 

Remember they've already paid for THE BEV. PKG before boarding....

Thanks sooooooo much :)

 

Idecor8

[NanciRDH]

After you board go to guest services and have another key made for each room. They don't care where you sleep, people do this with kids all the time, for exactly the discount reason you are. It will be a slight hassle to keep a seapass for charging, and a separate room key, but that's the easiest way to keep your charges correct. Having 2 different credit cards for each room isn't an issue, we do this all the time when I cruise with friends.

[Truluv]

I've found that it helps to put a blob of nail polish on one of the cards (not on the strip!) or to ask the Pursar to punch it. This helps me to instantly tell which card is my sign & sail card and which one is only a cabin key.

[Starry Eyes]

The gentlemen want the beverage package. Do neither of the ladies not want it? If the ladies do not want it, like the others I would just leave the gents on one booking and the ladies on the other. Gent A (booked in cabin A) can have lady A's charges billed to his credit card (even though the booking has her in cabin B). At guest services, gent A can get an extra key card for cabin A for lady A's usage. Lady B in cabin B can have gent B's charges billed to her credit card. Lady B can get an extra key card for room B for gent B's use. Everybody sleeps where they wish. The bills go to the correct rooms. Two of the people carry two cards; one for charges and dinging on and off ship and such, the other a room key only.

[Cruise Princess 2009]

On our recent Oasis sailing we had to put my fiancé and my sisters boyfriend on one booking/cabin and my sister and I on another, due to them being under 21. So my fiancé pre-purchased the alcohol package since he was in a room with a minor, I am not a big drinking and would rather pay as I go. After we boarded the ship the four of us went to guest services and explained that we needed to change one person from each room into the other, they made the changes, issued my sister and fiancé new sea pass cards and my fiancé kept his alcohol package and they never said anything to me about having to purchase now that he was in my cabin. Hope this helps.

[EGG]

Now that you've managed to circumvent the rules and get the beverage package for one person per cabin, please just use the card to get drinks for one person per couple. The ships have computer systems that track how often you get drinks and the bars you get these at. (It was because of this that they started requiring both persons in a cabin to buy the package. They were able to identify who was sharing.)

 

We do not want to read about you getting thrown off the ship for sharing.

[KevinKruzer]

Tried in another thread....

Need some advice on the following:

 

1. My husband and I are traveling with another couple.

 

2. We booked our rooms technically, with the guys in one, and ladies in another. We were then able to use our C&A savings certificates for both cabins.

---The guys would pre-purchase Bev pkg for themselves.

 

3. THEN ... upon arrival, WE'D switch up and change CABINS, to couples in each room.

---New cards would then be issued.

--------------------------------------------------------------

HERE'S MY Q:

Knowing that the guys, pre-cruise,had ALREADY BOUGHT the Bev pkg for their "cabin".

 

4. How does it work, when we change cabins,

regarding the bev pkg....even though the bev pkg is in their indiv names.

 

5. I need you type-a problem solver people to help me figure this out :eek:

Please, please help me figure it out...

 

Remember they've already paid for THE BEV. PKG before boarding....

Thanks sooooooo much :)

 

Idecor8

 

I have no idea..... They may cry foul and say that you need to buy two more beverage packages.

 

I just don't get it- why go through all this trouble? Why not just pay as you go (drinking) or everyone get the drink package?

[PhoenixCruiser]

WOW, I guess that is one way to work the system.

 

###

[Cruising89143]

I personally think you will have an issue. If RCI follows their own policy, either they are only going to allow the two booked in one cabin to have the package or require everyone to buy it. I don't think you will get around it.

[EGG]

5. I need you type-a problem solver people to help me figure this out :eek:

Please, please help me figure it out...

We've figured it out. Cancel the beverage packages and pay as you go. Very few people drink enough to beat the package (especially if there are port days). You are taking a chance that they will make everyone in the group buy the package when you ask for extra keys. And once you've gotten that first drink when you get on the ship the whole thing becomes more complicated and you may not have a choice.

[fishtaco]

I dont think you will have a problem! When you board they are not as strict as online.

 

We bought two premium drinks packages when we boarded VOS but could have just as easily bought one only if we wished.

 

If you get tumbled with the one person per cabin drink package by changing cabins it is just as simple to cancel the package bought for the one person before it is used by contacting the beverage manager.

[fishtaco]

Now that you've managed to circumvent the rules and get the beverage package for one person per cabin, please just use the card to get drinks for one person per couple. The ships have computer systems that track how often you get drinks and the bars you get these at. (It was because of this that they started requiring both persons in a cabin to buy the package. They were able to identify who was sharing.)

 

We do not want to read about you getting thrown off the ship for sharing.

 

Is the above from personal experience?

 

When did RCI allow only one to purchase the package so as to find out that non purchaser were using a cabin mates package?

[Clarea]

Is the above from personal experience?

 

When did RCI allow only one to purchase the package so as to find out that non purchaser were using a cabin mates package?

I believe it was back around January 2012 that Royal started a pilot program for the drink package on 3 or 4 ships in Europe. It did not take long for them to raise the price and impose the cabin mate purchase requirement.

[TravelinGert]

This is just my opinion:

 

If two of the four really don't drink much and will pay as they go, I don't blame them for wanting to only have the drink package for the people who will actually use it.

 

My opinion is probably colored by my own situation.

 

My husband would never pay for the drinking package because there is no way he'd come near drinking enough to make it worthwhile. At most, my husband will have two pina coladas in an evening, and definitely not every evening on the cruise. I know he won't have anything the night before we leave the ship and most probably not for the night prior to that as well. He says alcohol makes him feel a tad fuzzy the next day. My husband wouldn't accept a drink off someone who got it from the drink package under any circumstances. If ever there was a person honest to a fault, that would be my husband.

 

Of course I understand the problem is the cruise people have no way of knowing how honest my husband is in advance. I count myself lucky to have such an honest husband, even if it is sometimes not what I want in the moment. I just wish they'd let just one person get the package, all the same.

[cb at sea]

I don't think they were trying to circumvent the beverage package rules....they are getting a discount on the CABINS by booking the way they booked. Not a problem.

 

Get off the high horses about sharing and such! Not everyone benefits from an alcohol package...the "rules" suck! Perhaps the women have no need of a beverage package and have no intention of "sharing"! Jeez!

[jamesr3939]

Swap sea pass cards with your friend once on board. Just make sure to swap before leaving the ship other wise the photo won't match.

[jamesr3939]

I believe the charges will show up on the bill to the sea pass card used. So you will have to settle up latter.

[Truluv]

If you swap when on-board, you're going to have to switch back to get on and off the ship since the sea-pass card is also ship-identification. Whoops - sorry. See that this info was already added.

[DonnaK]

If you go to Guest Services once onboard, they do NOT actually switch the passengers into different cabins (or at least they wouldn't allow us to on our Jewel cruise). They simply issued extra keys to each cabin, and the extra key still had the original person's name on it. So, I carried around my original Sea Pass for making purchases and to get on/off the ship, plus the extra key with my daughter's name on it which opened the door to the room into which I had moved.

 

So, you are not actually switching the people. You are just asking for extra keys. Their records will still indicate the original way you booked the cabins, not the new arrangement, so they do not have to know that you have switched unless you tell them when you ask for the extra keys (you don't have to give a reason for this request).

[CruisinDawn]

Just go to guest services and ask for a spare key to each cabin. Chances are you are with your mate when you return to the cabins anyway but just in case you have a spare key to get in. It comes clearly marked "Spare Key" or something like that so it isn't used for charging privileges. We do this every cruise with our daughter so we have access to her cabin at any time. When you fill out your online check-iin use two credit cards so no having to settle up later.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

BonVoyage

Dawna

[temple1]

I think several of our posters who have had actual experience as described by the OP have answered quite well and politely. As for the unasked for advice on how they wish to spend their vacation money, that's just it - it is their vacation dollars to do with as they wish.

 

As for "getting your money's worth" :rolleyes: from the beverage package - it is all perception and how they plan to use it. Not everyone buys the package to get totally snockered every day. Also, not everyone who wants one package per couple plan to cheat the system. Some folks don't drink.