Alcohol Beverage Cards - why buy in advance

[ghstudio]

The alcohol beverage cards seem to offer zero discount....a $100 card costs $100, etc. 

 

Am I missing something?  Why would I want to buy this card in advance or even on the ship?

[RuthC]

If you are on a short trip, or don't have many bar charges, you might not want to purchase a beverage card. 
However, if you take longer cruises, or have a lot of bar charges (including non-alcoholic), you might find a beverage card comes in handy. 

I take longer cruises, generally have one cocktail per day at $10.06. So, I purchase a $250 beverage card, and have one (or two: depending on how many second drinks I have over the course of the cruise, I might purchase a second, $50, card.) charge on my final bill.
If I were to charge to my cabin card, per drink, at the end of the cruise I would have at least 28 charge slips to proof out that final morning. 
It's just much easier to keep track of one charge slip, and proof out the only one. 

[jbecker6469]

Exactly what RuthC said!  

 

[kazu]

Along with what RuthC said, the beverage card you pre-order comes with your name on it so it makes it easier to make sure you are getting the right card back.

 

For those of us not from the U.S. and subject to exchange rates, it also offers an opportunity to purchase when the exchange rate appears more favourable than normal 🤞and avoids being the victim of the exchange rate at one particular time (night before disembarkation) and, at the very least, lets you dollar cost average the exchange rate risk 😉 

[woodworker&knitter]

We also get the card for convenience as RuthC said. Our first few cruises I had receipts everywhere. Now everything is neat and organized 

[fatcat04]

Along with only having to keep track of one receipt at a time, I think from the budget perspective it is nice. You can go ahead and get it all paid for before your cruise so less "sticker shock" at the end. I can imagine it helps maintain your budget on longer cruises especially. We have done this with Disney gift cards to help keep us on budget when we go to the giant money pit that is the Mouse's House.😊

[Krazy Kruizers]

If we have a lot of shipboard credit, I wait until we are on the ship to buy the Beverage Cards.  Otherwise I pre purchase them.

 

I get them as I don't want to keep track of all those slips.  It is too hectic on the last morning to try and check everything.  The shortest cruise we will take is 14 days but we usually take 21 days or longer.  That can be a lot of slips.

[DougK]

On 9/22/2019 at 8:15 AM, RuthC said:

It's just much easier to keep track of one charge slip, and proof out the only one. 

 

I've seen this said many times, but I don't really understand it. Sure, you're proofing only one charge slip against the final bill, but aren't you still proofing each drink slip against the beverage card itself? Doesn't it end up being the same amount of work?

[msmayor]

14 minutes ago, DougK said:

 

I've seen this said many times, but I don't really understand it. Sure, you're proofing only one charge slip against the final bill, but aren't you still proofing each drink slip against the beverage card itself? Doesn't it end up being the same amount of work?

 

Not really.

 

When you purchase a drink, you get a slip that tells you how much the drink was AND how much is left on your card.  My husband always keeps the most recent slip so we know how much is left on the card at all times.

 

Let's say the card has a balance of $180 on it and we go to a bar and buy drinks, $10 each.  Now when he gets the 'new' slip back it should read $20 worth of drinks purchased and $160 left on the card.  Check.  Now the 'old' slip that had the $180 balance on it can be tossed in the trash.  Done.  

 

If the math doesn't work, you know right in the moment that the server/bartender may have charged something incorrectly and you can get it fixed right away instead of waiting in line at Guest Services days later to plead your case.

 

This is opposed to the end of the cruise taking the statement that is received on the day before debarkation and comparing all the individual drink slips received during the voyage against the statement to make sure that you were only charged for what you ordered (meaning, you have all the slips for all your charges and there aren't any 'extra' charges on your account for drinks you don't have a receipt for).

 

 

[RuthC]

38 minutes ago, DougK said:

Doesn't it end up being the same amount of work?

It may (or may not) be the same amount of work, depending on whether or not there is an error. To leave correcting an error to the last morning would create an enormous amount of extra work, which would be very easy to do on the spot, as msmayor said. 
But even if the amount of work is the same, it is spread out over weeks, at a few seconds a day, instead of all being crammed into disembarkation morning, when you are trying to dress, eat breakfast, and get that last minute packing done. 

[kazu]

1 hour ago, DougK said:

 

I've seen this said many times, but I don't really understand it. Sure, you're proofing only one charge slip against the final bill, but aren't you still proofing each drink slip against the beverage card itself? Doesn't it end up being the same amount of work?

 

Not to me 😉   I far prefer the beverage card over having drinks charged to the bill (and I used to have it charged to my on board account).  

Slips can get misplaced at times and my memory can be short. 😉 

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

If you buy them buy high amounts you can not combine 2 on the same purchase.

[kazu]

1 hour ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

If you buy them buy high amounts you can not combine 2 on the same purchase.

 

You mean you can’t combine 2 beverage cards for the same purchase?  I certainly have. When one runs out (ie a bit of $ left on it but not enough to cover the full cost of the beverage)  I just tell them to use the other one.  No problem at all.

 

Or as I say to them, “kill this one please and put the rest on this one.  Thanks “

[TXCruiser10]

As someone else said, I simply like pre-paying for as much as I can.  So, by buying $200 worth of beverage cards, I don't have to worry about paying that $200 at the end of the cruise.