Warning about beverage cards!

[JudithLynne]

My DH and I just got off the Eurodam 12-30.  We are three star Mariners.  We were given two non-promotional beverage cards and we purchased a third one in the Ocean Bar on the first day of the cruise for $100.  As we were leaving the ship on the last day, our account statement was lodged in our door.  As they were rushing us off the ship, the first chance that we had to look at it was at our hotel.  We were not refunded the balance on two of the three cards!  I have the last purchase receipt for both non refunded cards which I have sent a copy of to Passenger Services.

Since our return I have had several contacts with both Passenger Services in Seattle and with the Mariner's Society, all initiated by me.  I have gotten nowhere and it looks like I am going to have to accept the $65 loss.

Also, our CCL Stockholder benefit was not added to our account.  I was told to contact Passengers Services when I got home which I did.  That credit has been added to a future HAL cruise in June.

Needless to say, I will not be purchasing another Beverage Card from HAL.

[Fouremco]

10 minutes ago, JudithLynne said:

We were given two non-promotional beverage cards and we purchased a third one in the Ocean Bar on the first day of the cruise for $100...  We were not refunded the balance on two of the three cards! 

Who gave you the two "non-promotional" beverage cards, and were these the two for which you didn't receive a refund on the balance? 

 

Edited to add that I see you have posted this information elsewhere. The cards provided by HAL in light of a fare reduction are like non-refundable OBC: you either use it or lose it. In future, it would be best to use the gifted cards first and then the one you have purchased, only after the others have been depleted. Anything left on the one you purchased would then be refunded, as you experienced.

Edited January 8, 2019 by Fouremco

[RDC1]

I cannot find anything on terms and conditions on the beverage cards is the balance normally refunded at the end of a cruise or do they carry over to use on a future cruise?

[JudithLynne]

The refund of the one card was $5 and it was one of the two NON promotional cards.  The non promotional cards were given to us after a we upgraded our cabin after final payment.  The remaining non promotional card has a balance of $15, the card we purchased for $100 has a balance of $50. 

[Fouremco]

4 minutes ago, JudithLynne said:

The refund of the one card was $5 and it was one of the two NON promotional cards.  The non promotional cards were given to us after a we upgraded our cabin after final payment.  The remaining non promotional card has a balance of $15, the card we purchased for $100 has a balance of $50. 

Well, that is a mess. I wonder if they confused cards when giving the refund.

[kazu]

35 minutes ago, RDC1 said:

I cannot find anything on terms and conditions on the beverage cards is the balance normally refunded at the end of a cruise or do they carry over to use on a future cruise?

 

IF you PURCHASE the beverage card any remaining balance is refunded on the last night of the cruise to your on board account.

 

They don't carry over to a future cruise.

[canadianbear]

I don’t know about the beverage card but regarding your CCL stocks not being credited-we had an issue on the 10 day Eurodam cruise and it took forever for the front desk to get it credited. We were down there every day to keep checking (bugging) them.  Was an issue also with a complimentary Pinnacle dinner.  Had proof for both and they kept saying they were checking with Seattle.  First time we’ve ever had an issue getting our CCL stocks credited.

[rajkr74]

It's our understanding that you need to FAX a copy of your account statement that shows the Carnival stock to HAL for each cruise.  We carry hard paper copies of all credits that should be on our ship board account and verify all of them on our ship board account the first day on board.  On our last cruise an OBC did not show up on our account that we had to deal with.  It was corrected within a couple of days.   

Edited January 8, 2019 by rajkr74

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

1 hour ago, rajkr74 said:

It's our understanding that you need to FAX a copy of your account statement that shows the Carnival stock to HAL for each cruise.  We carry hard paper copies of all credits that should be on our ship board account and verify all of them on our ship board account the first day on board.  On our last cruise an OBC did not show up on our account that we had to deal with.  It was corrected within a couple of days.   

We do the same things on every Cruise. 

[Krazy Kruizers]

A couple of times we have been gifted with Beverage cards.  We use them first.  Then I buy Beverage cards and anything that is left on them have been refunded to us.  Sometimes that refund was used to offset anything we owed HAL -- thus no refund to us.  But a couple of times we did have left over shipboard credit that could be refunded to us -- and it was -- and some of it was from Beverage cards not completely used.

 

You didn't mention how you arranged for your CCL stock credit.  Did you fax it yourself?  Did your TA do it for you?  Our TA always takes care of that for us.  About day 2 of the cruise, I always check our shipboard account to make certain that we are credited with everything we are due.  And I take copies of everything with us.

[JudithLynne]

2 hours ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

 

 

You didn't mention how you arranged for your CCL stock credit.  Did you fax it yourself?  Did your TA do it for you?  Our TA always takes care of that for us.  About day 2 of the cruise, I always check our shipboard account to make certain that we are credited with everything we are due.  And I take copies of everything with us.

 

I do not have fax so I mailed it per instructions on line as I have done successfully many times before.  I received a written confirmation letter stating that CCL credit of $100 would be added to the Eurodam account.  I took the confirmation letter with me as I always do and showed it to the Passenger Service Desk.  They did not question at all the missing credit, in fact I was told that "this happens all the time." As it was near the end of the cruise I was told to contact the Seattle office for resolution after returning home.  That part actually went smoothly and we were quickly given an (additional) onboard credit of $100 for our Alaska cruise in June.  That addition shows on our Costco booking and we are pleased.

[canadianbear]

5 hours ago, rajkr74 said:

It's our understanding that you need to FAX a copy of your account statement that shows the Carnival stock to HAL for each cruise.  We carry hard paper copies of all credits that should be on our ship board account and verify all of them on our ship board account the first day on board.  On our last cruise an OBC did not show up on our account that we had to deal with.  It was corrected within a couple of days.   

I had the confirmation emails and both still took over a week-good thing we were on for 10 days!! 

[hexdragon]

We are receiving some of these beverage cards for our cruise via AAA. What are we allowed to use them for? None of us drink alcohol... I'm guessing Hot Chocolate twice a day from The Dutch Cafe?????

 

Is there a list somewhere as to what is allowed?

[skypig]

Stupid question...what is the advantage to a beverage card as opposed to paying for beverages as you go along? BTW I’m not a newbie cruiser having been on around 15 or so cruises I just have never used a beverage card. Of course I’m not a big drinker either...just curious. 

[avian777]

7 minutes ago, skypig said:

Stupid question...what is the advantage to a beverage card as opposed to paying for beverages as you go along? BTW I’m not a newbie cruiser having been on around 15 or so cruises I just have never used a beverage card. Of course I’m not a big drinker either...just curious. 

Like you, we do not purchase regular beverage cards - we have purchased the $50 value (for $25) Soda cards, thereby "saving" $25 on our soft drink purchases.  According to the CC "experts", the only "advantage to a beverage card" is that you will not need to keep (and keep track of) all your beverage purchase receipts.

Edited January 12, 2019 by avian777

[mcrcruiser]

interesting posts 

[kazu]

1 hour ago, skypig said:

Stupid question...what is the advantage to a beverage card as opposed to paying for beverages as you go along? BTW I’m not a newbie cruiser having been on around 15 or so cruises I just have never used a beverage card. Of course I’m not a big drinker either...just curious. 

 

No advantage other than saving all the slips and checking all that billing stuff.

 

For those of us subject to exchange rates (not American) it lets us buy it when we think the exchange rate is reasonable (or as reasonable as it can get at these times) and not be subject to the what the rate might be on disembarkation day.

 

In the old days, there was a slight discount, but that has gone by the way of the dodo.

 

Our cruises are long enough and so are our bills so if I can eliminate a few pages, this helps 😉 

[kazu]

1 hour ago, hexdragon said:

We are receiving some of these beverage cards for our cruise via AAA. What are we allowed to use them for? None of us drink alcohol... I'm guessing Hot Chocolate twice a day from The Dutch Cafe?????

 

Is there a list somewhere as to what is allowed?

 

If they are the regular beverage cards you can use them for anything - water, mocktails, soda, hot chocolate, specialty coffees - pretty much anything drinkable on the ship.

[sail7seas]

5 hours ago, avian777 said:

Like you, we do not purchase regular beverage cards - we have purchased the $50 value (for $25) Soda cards, thereby "saving" $25 on our soft drink purchases.  According to the CC "experts", the only "advantage to a beverage card" is that you will not need to keep (and keep track of) all your beverage purchase receipts.

In all of our  many cruises, we never purchased a beverage card and I doubt I will start now.  On my upcoming cruises,  If I want a glass of wine, I'll buy it.

 

 

 

 

 

sail.noordm@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 13, 2019 by sail7seas

[skypig]

6 hours ago, kazu said:

 

No advantage other than saving all the slips and checking all that billing stuff.

 

For those of us subject to exchange rates (not American) it lets us buy it when we think the exchange rate is reasonable (or as reasonable as it can get at these times) and not be subject to the what the rate might be on disembarkation day.

 

In the old days, there was a slight discount, but that has gone by the way of the dodo.

 

Our cruises are long enough and so are our bills so if I can eliminate a few pages, this helps 😉 

Ohhh that all makes sense! Thanks! Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing out on something. 😉 

[skypig]

8 hours ago, avian777 said:

Like you, we do not purchase regular beverage cards - we have purchased the $50 value (for $25) Soda cards, thereby "saving" $25 on our soft drink purchases.  According to the CC "experts", the only "advantage to a beverage card" is that you will not need to keep (and keep track of) all your beverage purchase receipts.

That’s what I wondered if there was a “discount” but I had never seen that...of course I don’t drink soda so wouldn’t help me. But I do like that idea of not having to worry about slips. Although I have gotten lax about checking everything. When I first started cruising I looked at everything but lately not so much. 

[drwong]

On 1/12/2019 at 1:30 PM, hexdragon said:

We are receiving some of these beverage cards for our cruise via AAA. What are we allowed to use them for? None of us drink alcohol... I'm guessing Hot Chocolate twice a day from The Dutch Cafe?????

 

Is there a list somewhere as to what is allowed?

 

Does anyone know whether the $50 AAA beverage credit can be used towards a drink package once on board?

[SFO Peter]

My experience is that if you >>bought a beverage card on board the ship and they charged your onboard account<< they will credit your bill for the unused amount of the "bought" beverage card on your final ship bill.   Beverage cards given by HAL for some kind of compensation are typically non-refundable.   Experiences are from when I disembarked Eurodam Dec 9, 2018 and Eurodam Feb 20, 2019.

 

Peter

[SFO Peter]

Also the ship may have confused "bought" with "non-bought" card.   

[SFO Peter]

Sample of unused "bought" beverage card refund.  The refund shows as a credit.  Did you keep the receipt from the last item you bought with your "bought" beverage card?  The receipt shows your balance remaining on the card.

 

Edited March 12, 2019 by SFO PETER