sorry, yet another Signature Drink Package thread/question:

[bert425]

Just wanted to get some opinions here.

 

We're going on a 10 day ABC Islands in November, and while we had intended to get the Signature Drink Package (as we do standard on cruises we go on).. THIS cruise is a gift from my Dad as a family thing.

 

As this is a 10 day cruise, we're looking at almost $1000 for the two of us to get the 10 day package (since you have to buy for both adults in the room, and for the full cruise, right?).

 

we're not heavy drinkers, tho we do drink a lot of Sodas and water. With only cocktails on an occasional night or two.

 

so what makes sense to us?

 

I'm looking at the "drink cards". . and wondering if we should just each get the $100 cards (basically $10 a day/3 drinks per day), and see how those work out for just sodas/water. . and if we choose to drink, just do those separately to the room.

 

does that make sense? or is there an option I'm not thinking of?

[Linda&Vern]

The only other option you didn't mention was the "soda card." It cost you $25 and you get $50 worth of FOUNTAIN soda. The fountain sodas are under $2 (maybe $1.79?) plus 15% gratuity added. You get about 22 glasses of soda for the $25 card. A good value if you drink only soda. This is what I buy.

 

All other drink cards you pay for the card and get exactly what you paid in drinks. DH buys the drink cards. He usually buys a $250 card for his Grolsch beer ($6.95+) on a 2 week cruise. Sometimes he has to buy another smaller card if I have too many "foo foo" drinks on his card. With these cards ($100 or $250 or whatever) you can purchase canned soda, bottled water, mixed drinks or a glass of wine.

 

Like you, it does not make sense for us to get the Beverage Package.

Edited July 31, 2014 by Linda&Vern

[RuthC]

It does not make any sense to me to purchase a beverage card, but charge cocktails to the room car. I would use the beverage card for everything until it was used up. When gone, I could determine if it was worth it to purchase another (perhaps in a smaller amount) for the remainder of the cruise.

It would be silly to have beverage charges on my final room account, but still have credit on my beverage card.

 

There is no discount on the beverage card.

[PathfinderEss]

I don't know, do you drink 15 drinks a day. I know my DH and I drink, but neither of could get to 15 drinks a day. My high was 8 and DH was a 11. Being we did not pay for the card, it was a gift from our TA's company, didn't matter but if we were paying for it would. To me I don't think it makes much sense because you not drinking cocktails, mainly soft drinks. So in saying that, I don't think the cards are worth it to you.

[bert425]

The only other option you didn't mention was the "soda card." It cost you $25 and you get $50 worth of FOUNTAIN soda. The fountain sodas are under $2 (maybe $1.79?) plus 15% gratuity added. You get about 22 glasses of soda for the $25 card. A good value if you drink only soda. This is what I buy.

 

All other drink cards you pay for the card and get exactly what you paid in drinks. DH buys the drink cards. He usually buys a $250 card for his Grolsch beer ($6.95+) on a 2 week cruise. Sometimes he has to buy another smaller card if I have too many "foo foo" drinks on his card. With these cards ($100 or $250 or whatever) you can purchase canned soda, bottled water, mixed drinks or a glass of wine.

 

Like you, it does not make sense for us to get the Beverage Package.

 

 

ooo.. soda card!

 

that might be the winner.

 

and we can get a $250 card to share between the two of us for any drinks in the bar/bottled water? (or would we need to each get a card).

[bert425]

It does not make any sense to me to purchase a beverage card, but charge cocktails to the room car. I would use the beverage card for everything until it was used up. When gone, I could determine if it was worth it to purchase another (perhaps in a smaller amount) for the remainder of the cruise.

It would be silly to have beverage charges on my final room account, but still have credit on my beverage card.

 

There is no discount on the beverage card.

 

very good point.

 

I wasn't thinking that we could "intend" to use the card for soda/water, but actually use it for anything :)

[bert425]

I don't know, do you drink 15 drinks a day. I know my DH and I drink, but neither of could get to 15 drinks a day. My high was 8 and DH was a 11. Being we did not pay for the card, it was a gift from our TA's company, didn't matter but if we were paying for it would. To me I don't think it makes much sense because you not drinking cocktails, mainly soft drinks. So in saying that, I don't think the cards are worth it to you.

 

You're talking about the signature package cards, right?

 

If we did $100 each beverage cards, that comes out to $10/day. . with mainly sodas, that's 3 per day. . more than enough for us (probably only 2 per day, with a water thrown in).

Edited July 31, 2014 by bert425

[Linda&Vern]

ooo.. soda card!

 

that might be the winner.

 

and we can get a $250 card to share between the two of us for any drinks in the bar/bottled water? (or would we need to each get a card).

Yes you can share a card. Think of the drink cards as gift cards. Anyone can use them. Yes, the card can be used on any beverage. Just give the bartender your drink card instead of your room key. You can buy the whole bar a drink on your card ... if you wish. :eek:

 

For your purposes you might just want to start with $100 card for each of you, especially if you opt for the soda card also.

Edited July 31, 2014 by Linda&Vern

[PathfinderEss]

Just wanted to get some opinions here.

 

We're going on a 10 day ABC Islands in November, and while we had intended to get the Signature Drink Package (as we do standard on cruises we go on).. THIS cruise is a gift from my Dad as a family thing.

 

As this is a 10 day cruise, we're looking at almost $1000 for the two of us to get the 10 day package (since you have to buy for both adults in the room, and for the full cruise, right?).

we're not heavy drinkers, tho we do drink a lot of Sodas and water. With only cocktails on an occasional night or two.

 

so what makes sense to us?

 

I'm looking at the "drink cards". . and wondering if we should just each get the $100 cards (basically $10 a day/3 drinks per day), and see how those work out for just sodas/water. . and if we choose to drink, just do those separately to the room.

 

does that make sense? or is there an option I'm not thinking of?

Yes I was talking about the signature drink card. Sorry, if your talking about the $100. drink card, then soda card makes more sense for what your looking for, its not a bad deal. $25.00 for 50.00 in soda's and water. Just remember you don't get you soft drinks from cans, it comes from the bar fountains.

[Secret7]

We are thinking of getting the signature card for our cruise next year, but we love cocktails and we will only need to have 5 cocktails and a few bottles of water to break even. Even if we do not "fit in" our 15 drinks per day, we still think that we will either break even or be better off than not having it.

[Ocean Dancer]

Please explain..........am I missing something here? If there is NO discount on the beverage card, why do you even need/want one? Just have drinks charged to your account. Is it limiting your spending/drinking?......but several posters have said they will buy a smaller amount if they used it up.

 

I can understand if they were "gifted" but that does not seem to be the case. And why are they not discounted at least 5%? Are you buying it with cash instead of having it charged to your account? Why have two cards ? :confused: Now the soda one does make sense with the discount.

[RuthC]

Please explain..........am I missing something here? If there is NO discount on the beverage card, why do you even need/want one?

I want a beverage card as it makes reconciling my final bill much easier:

I have one charge against the bill---the purchase of the card.

 

If I were to charge my cocktails to my cabin card, there would be a charge for every day to reconcile. In the course of a 35-day cruise, that's a lot of little charge slips to keep track of. No thanks. I have other things to do on that last morning besides fumble with charge slips.

[Vict0riann]

We have always just charged our drinks to our room card. Some people like to purchase a drinks card ahead of time so they don't have much of a bill to pay at the end of their cruise.

[Linda&Vern]

I want a beverage card as it makes reconciling my final bill much easier:

I have one charge against the bill---the purchase of the card.

 

If I were to charge my cocktails to my cabin card, there would be a charge for every day to reconcile. In the course of a 35-day cruise, that's a lot of little charge slips to keep track of. No thanks. I have other things to do on that last morning besides fumble with charge slips.

 

Once Again . . . "DITTO ^ ^ DITTO" what Ruth said.

[cbr663]

Since you are only looking at a couple of sodas a day, you may want to consider simply bringing a 12 pack of soda on board with you and then simply buying on board when you run out. You each could bring a 12 pack if you like. The 12 pack easily fits in a standard reusable grocery bag, making it very easy to transport.

 

We recently did that on our Alaska cruise. We had HAL clean out the refrigerator in our cabin and just filled it with the soda. We took just one 12 pack for the 7 day cruise for both of us and didn't drink them all.

[Ocean Dancer]

I want a beverage card as it makes reconciling my final bill much easier:

I have one charge against the bill---the purchase of the card.

 

If I were to charge my cocktails to my cabin card, there would be a charge for every day to reconcile. In the course of a 35-day cruise, that's a lot of little charge slips to keep track of. No thanks. I have other things to do on that last morning besides fumble with charge slips.

 

Thank you, that does make sense for a longer cruise. We've had the unlimited package on Celebrity where they put a star on your card so you only need one card...your room card, but at the end of the cruise, our statement was twice my height listing every drink purchased, time and place with a $0.00 balance. It was overwhelming to read even with a $0.00 balance:eek:

[bert425]

Since you are only looking at a couple of sodas a day, you may want to consider simply bringing a 12 pack of soda on board with you and then simply buying on board when you run out. You each could bring a 12 pack if you like. The 12 pack easily fits in a standard reusable grocery bag, making it very easy to transport.

 

We recently did that on our Alaska cruise. We had HAL clean out the refrigerator in our cabin and just filled it with the soda. We took just one 12 pack for the 7 day cruise for both of us and didn't drink them all.

 

I had no idea we could do that!

 

since we're staying the night before in Ft. Lauderdale, a trip to WalMart is absolutely an option to get sodas to bring on board!