Question regarding Explore 4 offer

[Pia1913]

Sorry if this is a repeat query, but I just received a brochure with the above offer. Having not cruised HAL in quite some time, I would like to know the average cost of a cocktail or a glass of wine. Asking this because the offer states it's good for drinks "priced up to $7" and this seems a bit low.

 

Thanks.

[PathfinderEss]

Almost all alcohol drinks on Hal are under $7. House wine is a little over $5. If your into drinking premium quality that will ofcouse be above the $7 dollar price, but like Vodka seven - Rum and Coke, Margaritas, etc. are price at $6.95.

[Krazy Kruizers]

The special drink of the day is always $6.95 and is included in the Explore 4 Beverage Package. Only House Wines are included in the Beverage Package.

You are limited to 15 drinks a day -- can be used to buy specialty coffees, bottled water. It can not be used during Happy Hour.

[sail7seas]

You cannot order a drink that costs more than $7 and say you'll pay the extra amount. It is $7 or below or it doesn't qualify.

 

[Pia1913]

Thank you all for the replies. 15 drinks a day limit? OMG! If I ever got that close they'd be carrying me. I'm just a black coffee, diet Pepsi and wine kind of girl. :D

[mollyanne]

HAL's drink prices are among the most affordable...with the recent Princess price increase they really seem reasonable.

[cruz chic]

HAL's drink prices are among the most affordable...with the recent Princess price increase they really seem reasonable.

 

Hal's prices for drinks are for are cheaper than Princess. I always forget until I get on a Princess ship and it's not a good surprise.

[mollyanne]

Hal's prices for drinks are for are cheaper than Princess. I always forget until I get on a Princess ship and it's not a good surprise.

 

I think that's what I said? :) We were on Princess in May and I think most drinks were at least $8.95 or more.

[HollDoll]

What do you mean you can't use it for Happy hour? That's generally when I'd like to have a drink. Do you mean you can't get a drink for a dollar? That would be fine to pay full price. I'd like to understand this. Thanks.

[Nanner]

Correct, you can't use the card for the second drink for $1 during happy hour. Another thing to be aware of is that you cannot buy drinks for others on your card, and they are supposed to run it no closer together than 7 minutes. At least that was what we were told on a recent cruise.

 

Another thing to watch for is that if you like the coffee drinks at the Explorations Cafe, don't try to treat your spouse on your card. I witnessed several people who only brought their card to get drinks for both themselves and a spouse who (I assume) was back in the cabin. They had to wait in line a second time to get the second drink, so if you want to be kind to your spouse in the morning, be sure to bring both cards with you!

[cruz chic]

I think that's what I said? :) We were on Princess in May and I think most drinks were at least $8.95 or more.

 

Yes, I was agreeing, not disagreeing:confused:.

[kjw869]

You cannot order a drink that costs more than $7 and say you'll pay the extra amount. It is $7 or below or it doesn't qualify.

 

 

Sail, we did on two cruises. On the Noordam in January, we had the $50 PP beverage card from the Explore4 promo, and my wife's drinks were always one or two dollars more. They took our beverage card each night in the MDR, and charged the difference on our account.

 

The same thing happened on the Zuiderdam in May, when we had the $50 per day cards for the Explore4. My granddaughter wanted a cup from our sailaway, and we were charged the difference for the plastic cup on our account. And on a few occasions, our dining room steward did the same thing for my wife's drinks as it happened on the Noordam, the difference was charged on our account.

 

Maybe the dining room stewards just wanted to please us on those cruises.:)

[Alberta Quilter]

Sail, we did on two cruises. On the Noordam in January, we had the $50 PP beverage card from the Explore4 promo, and my wife's drinks were always one or two dollars more. They took our beverage card each night in the MDR, and charged the difference on our account.

 

The same thing happened on the Zuiderdam in May, when we had the $50 per day cards for the Explore4. My granddaughter wanted a cup from our sailaway, and we were charged the difference for the plastic cup on our account. And on a few occasions, our dining room steward did the same thing for my wife's drinks as it happened on the Noordam, the difference was charged on our account.

 

Maybe the dining room stewards just wanted to please us on those cruises.:)

 

In the first incarnation of the Explore4 promo, it included one of two types of beverage cards provided depending on the itinerary. If one sailed in the Caribbean or Mexico, one was offered a $50 beverage card. If sailing in Alaska, or Europe, it was the SBP card.

 

With the $50 beverage card, which is what I believe you may have had on the Noordam in January, you would have been able to use it for any beverage at any cost, until the value of the card was exceeded.

 

With the SBP card, it is limited to drinks under $7. If one was to order a drink over $7, one had to use their shipboard account to purchase the drink and pay the full amount. Perhaps those drinks with the plastic cups were under $7, assuming that you had the SBP?

Edited August 25, 2014 by Alberta Quilter

[Hlitner]

What totally turns us off to the Explore 4 package are the wines. HAL house wines are simply awful (barely drinkable) and DW and I always enjoy wine with dinner. So with the package we would find ourselves still having to spend additional money to buy wine....even if it is the marginally OK Admiral's Package. This is one huge difference between HAL and Celebrity...where Celebrity actually has some OK choices on their drink packages. We had booked a 38 day HAL cruise with the Explore 4....but when the opportunity came for us to "reprice" the cruise without the Explore 4 and save about $10,000 on the cost (yes, we said $10,000) we quickly dumped the Explore 4. So now, with that near $10,000 in our pocket we shall buy whatever we please and still be way ahead of the price curve :)

 

Hank

Edited August 25, 2014 by Hlitner

[esimon]

I am not I repeat not a 'they have to be really expensive' to be good wine drinker - the house wine was fine for us - oh my - we enjoyed the explore 4 package as we are not big - expensive liquor - drinkers -- I love a specialty coffee - the bottled water and a couple of drinks with dinner or through the day - Explore 4 is the way to go

[FredT]

We have the explore 4 on the January 2016 cruise we just booked. Nice incentive. We figure that we each average about 7 drinks (of one sort or another) in an average day, so that comes out to a value of $1216.00. Plus you get the one dinner ( $80.00) so that makes the entire value about $1296.00. (For 2 of us) Great. BUT, should the price drop more than that before next October, hell yes we're gonna rebook.

[kjw869]

In the first incarnation of the Explore4 promo, it included one of two types of beverage cards provided depending on the itinerary. If one sailed in the Caribbean or Mexico, one was offered a $50 beverage card. If sailing in Alaska, or Europe, it was the SBP card.

 

With the $50 beverage card, which is what I believe you may have had on the Noordam in January, you would have been able to use it for any beverage at any cost, until the value of the card was exceeded.

 

With the SBP card, it is limited to drinks under $7. If one was to order a drink over $7, one had to use their shipboard account to purchase the drink and pay the full amount. Perhaps those drinks with the plastic cups were under $7, assuming that you had the SBP?

 

Yes, that was how it was supposed to work, but it didn't that way on the Zuiderdam. You are right on the $50 beverage card on the Noordam in January, as I was thinking the same thing happened on the Zuiderdam in May--it didn't. At 68, I get confused often!

 

The only two instances that we had on the Noordam in January was we were charged $5.00 extra for the sailaway cup. The waiter said it couldn't be used on the card. The other instance was in the Seaview bar where after I ordered and was served a drink, the bartender said the card was no good at his bar and he would have to charge my shipboard account. It was on the next to the last day on the 11-day cruise, and I'd only used my card twice before. He did charge my account, and I went back and talked with a "supervisor" later in the day who really was not interested in fixing the problem. He did say he would "take care of it", and it was credited the same day.

 

On the Zuiderdam in May, my wife ordered a $8.95 call drink each night at dinner and on the first night, our dining room steward came back and said they would have to charge the difference on our Shipboard account. On the first few nights,the steward always took the SBC card and our keycard. After that, only the SBC was needed. Looking over our Final Statement this morning for the Zuiderdam, we were never charged for the drinks or the differences. Maybe it was because we were in the PS and the stewards wanted to please us.

 

I know how the system should have worked but it didn't work for us that way. The drinks that were over $6.95 were charged on the SBP and the difference was never charged on our shipboard account.

Edited August 25, 2014 by kjw869

[Hlitner]

I am not I repeat not a 'they have to be really expensive' to be good wine drinker - the house wine was fine for us - oh my - we enjoyed the explore 4 package as we are not big - expensive liquor - drinkers -- I love a specialty coffee - the bottled water and a couple of drinks with dinner or through the day - Explore 4 is the way to go

 

LOL. We are also not expensive wine drinkers (go through a lot of 2 buck Chuck at home) but the house wines are HAL are just awful. I also love my Cappucino which I buy at a nice discount at Explorations (we are 4 Star Mariners) and DW and I usually have a Martini before dinner and often a late night drink. Put all this together and we would still spend less then they value that package. Our long term beverage bill on HAL averages about $30 per day per person (and that is an average based on about 300 days). But when we can save about $10,000 (which works out to about $131 per passenger day by giving up the package it seems like a no brainer :). And this what we saved on our upcoming cruise by eliminating the drink package. So one should certainly monitor the pricing of their cruise to make sure the price does not significantly drop after booking.

 

Hank

Edited August 25, 2014 by Hlitner

[PathfinderEss]

LOL. We are also not expensive wine drinkers (go through a lot of 2 buck Chuck at home) but the house wines are HAL are just awful. I also love my Cappucino which I buy at a nice discount at Explorations (we are 4 Star Mariners) and DW and I usually have a Martini before dinner and often a late night drink. Put all this together and we would still spend less then they value that package. Our long term beverage bill on HAL averages about $30 per day per person (and that is an average based on about 300 days). But when we can save about $10,000 (which works out to about $131 per passenger day by giving up the package it seems like a no brainer :). And this what we saved on our upcoming cruise by eliminating the drink package. So one should certainly monitor the pricing of their cruise to make sure the price does not significantly drop after booking.

 

Hank

 

Yes you need to monitor your cruise price. Last year we bought btb cruises in May on the Zaandam for around $1000. a cruise less then the ones in June that had the Explore 4 packages.

Now this year we are doing the same thing but have found the cruise fare has jumped 1 to 2 thousand dollars more but they all have the Explore 4 packages attached. Hey the cruise line get it one way or the other, don't kid yourself.