HAL "Have It All"

[BostonBoy2]

We are about to go on our first HAL cruise (out of Ft. Lauderdale, 3/19). We are seeing all the promotions for "Have It All," but we are really a bit clueless on who to value this. It seems that the only way it "pays off"/saves any money is if you are a big drinker.  I'd appreciate any thoughts on this.

 

Thanks in advance.

[CruiserBruce]

If you paid about $50 per person, per day for HIA, then spending $50 to break even isn't that hard. 5 $9 adult drinks, plus a couple soft drinks, for example. 

 

That doesn't count the free dinner or two, shore excursion credits, and, if your booking includes it, coverage of crew tips.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I think the big question is, do you intend to buy an internet package? That and the drink package are the two largest parts of HIA. 

 

Depending on the length of your cruise, HIA gives you money toward excursions and specialty restaurants. (and you can pre-book both, you don't have to wait until you're on board) It gives you an internet package, usually surf, the middle level.

 

If you're looking at a 10-day cruise and HIA is offered at $50 per day, that's $500 per person. Surf plan is (unless price has gone up) $130 for 10 days. I think at 10 days, you would get $200 toward excursions. So that's $330 accounted for, not counting the specialty dinners (becasue I don't remember the price). That leaves $170, or $17 per day. You aren't paying $50 per day just for drinks. When you consider the other elements, assuming you will book excursions and/or eat in specialty restaurants, you don't need to drink a lot to come out ahead. 

 

[badtwin]

We not only think about what we would get for HIA but we also look at what we think we would spend without it.  So we figure maybe a couple of drinks a day and bottle of wine with dinner.  In eight cruises we have only taken 1 ship tour and absent the package we would not use specialty dining so those benefits are not worth a lot to us.  We don't use ship internet - we usually find something on shore along with a local beverage.  So HIA doesn't pencil out for our typical spending habits.   But it would be well worth it for others I am sure.

 

 

[FlaMariner]

For us, I cannot make the math work.....

 

We do not want/need internet, we do not use HAL shore excursions, we are fine with the surcharge free food/dining, we are fine with surcharge free coffee and we enjoy our mariner discount for the wine package and happy hour drinks......

 

But everyone needs to get out a pencil and figure out if it is a good value........And glad we have choices. 

[WannaSea]

Another example, the math works in favor of HIA in my case for my next 7 day cruise:

$50x7days= $350 cost for HIA

$100 towards an excursion I'm taking

$109 for internet which I want to have

$49 for a Pinnacle Grill dinner (I could do without, but nice for a change)

That leaves $92 allotted for drinks on HIA which is just over $13 per day. I like a morning latte, an afternoon cocktail and a glass or two of wine with dinner, not to mention the occasional soda or water. (A la carte estimating $3.50coffee+$11cocktail+2*$11wine= $36.50 per day) 

And tips are included in all of that, so overall a savings for me and my preferences. YMMV

[shack]

1 hour ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

I think the big question is, do you intend to buy an internet package? That and the drink package are the two largest parts of HIA. 

 

Depending on the length of your cruise, HIA gives you money toward excursions and specialty restaurants. (and you can pre-book both, you don't have to wait until you're on board) It gives you an internet package, usually surf, the middle level.

 

If you're looking at a 10-day cruise and HIA is offered at $50 per day, that's $500 per person. Surf plan is (unless price has gone up) $130 for 10 days. I think at 10 days, you would get $200 toward excursions. So that's $330 accounted for, not counting the specialty dinners (becasue I don't remember the price). That leaves $170, or $17 per day. You aren't paying $50 per day just for drinks. When you consider the other elements, assuming you will book excursions and/or eat in specialty restaurants, you don't need to drink a lot to come out ahead. 

 

 

Exactly my thinking.  And it's not just booze - specialty coffees, waters, fresh orange juice, etc all count toward the 15.

[3rdGenCunarder]

Another thing that factors into the value is mariner perks. When I did the math, I forgot that 4* mariners get a discount on specialty restaurants and specialty coffees. I also get a discount on wine packages. So HIA may have been slightly less of a bargain than I initially thought. 

[knittinggirl]

We often do Specialty at noon, because the cover charge starts at 50% off, and as 4*, they apply the 40% discount to that.

[Cruise Junky]

Also, read the fine print. Some cruises are including the crew tips in the have it all. That definitely changes the math.  If that’s included the amount you need to spend on drinks drops.  

[HALcruiser2001]

Club Orange access, priority boarding rationalized it for me.  Then drinks for free.  So thankful we did not have to deal with MDR.

[rodndonna]

12 hours ago, badtwin said:

We not only think about what we would get for HIA but we also look at what we think we would spend without it.  So we figure maybe a couple of drinks a day and bottle of wine with dinner.  In eight cruises we have only taken 1 ship tour and absent the package we would not use specialty dining so those benefits are not worth a lot to us.  We don't use ship internet - we usually find something on shore along with a local beverage.  So HIA doesn't pencil out for our typical spending habits.   But it would be well worth it for others I am sure.

 

 

 

It sounds like you are at 4-5  drinks a day (2 drinks and a bottle of wine is 2.5 glasses of wine per person) so lets say 4.5 drinks/day average.

 

Assume your drinks are $9.5 average and wine $10 per glass

(9.5*2 + 2.5*10)+ 18% grats  =  $51.92/day

 

If you drink beer only and buy wine packages, you can bring that down some. Generally in the range of somewhere in the 3-5 drinks a day (or more) you will see value in the HIA package. 

 

[mightycruisequeen]

We're teetotalers, so that takes a lot of the shine off the appeal for have-it-all for us, but I'm sure it can be worth it if you like to drink on your cruise.  

[3rdGenCunarder]

6 hours ago, bdd123 said:

Club Orange access, priority boarding rationalized it for me.  Then drinks for free.  So thankful we did not have to deal with MDR.

 

Did you buy both HIA and CO? I've never seen CO folded into HIA.

[3rdGenCunarder]

42 minutes ago, mightycruisequeen said:

We're teetotalers, so that takes a lot of the shine off the appeal for have-it-all for us, but I'm sure it can be worth it if you like to drink on your cruise.  

 

It does include soft drinks, cans of water (no more plastic bottles), specialty coffees. I haven't done the math for HIA with only non-alcoholic beverages. 

[HALcruiser2001]

2 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Did you buy both HIA and CO? I've never seen CO folded into HIA.

 

Oops you are probably right.   CO was suite perk.    My bad.

[knittinggirl]

52 minutes ago, mightycruisequeen said:

We're teetotalers, so that takes a lot of the shine off the appeal for have-it-all for us, but I'm sure it can be worth it if you like to drink on your cruise.  

HAL also offers virgin drinks!  DH even arranged for them to bring our specialty coffee to our Neptune each morning.    We're also 4 star, so that may have something to do with it.

Edited March 10, 2023 by knittinggirl

[Banditswife]

We are not big alcohol drinkers, but bought the pkg for a couple of cruises last year.

My math: 350x2=$700  (2 people)

                           - 218 for 2 internet pkgs

                           - 200 for shore ex 

                           -  98 pinnacle

                           = $184 for 7 days worth of coffee, soft drinks for 2 people

coffee is $5-6, soft drinks are $4-5, virgin cocktails are $8-9.  2 people can easily drink $26 worth of non alcoholic beverages per day.

                           

[badtwin]

2 hours ago, rodndonna said:

 

It sounds like you are at 4-5  drinks a day (2 drinks and a bottle of wine is 2.5 glasses of wine per person) so lets say 4.5 drinks/day average.

 

Assume your drinks are $9.5 average and wine $10 per glass

(9.5*2 + 2.5*10)+ 18% grats  =  $51.92/day

 

If you drink beer only and buy wine packages, you can bring that down some. Generally in the range of somewhere in the 3-5 drinks a day (or more) you will see value in the HIA package. 

 

 

I see value in the HIA provided you would otherwise buy and use at least one of the other benefits of the package.  But as beer and wine drinkers, who buy a wine package (or two depending on the cruise length), the drinks per day are much closer to  $50 for the two of us (the two drinks are one each, not two each)..  And if we find a nice venue on shore, we will be having our extra drinks there. 

So it doesn't pencil out for us, especially on a port intensive sailing.

 

But  think it would be a great value for those who want and would buy internet, tours and/or the fancy dinners.  Or even someone who wants all the other beverages offered by the package.   

 

 

 

 

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

4 minutes ago, badtwin said:

 

I see value in the HIA provided you would otherwise buy and use at least one of the other benefits of the package.  But as beer and wine drinkers, who buy a wine package (or two depending on the cruise length), the drinks per day are much closer to  $50 for the two of us (the two drinks are one each, not two each)..  And if we find a nice venue on shore, we will be having our extra drinks there. 

So it doesn't pencil out for us, especially on a port intensive sailing.

 

But  think it would be a great value for those who want and would buy internet, tours and/or the fancy dinners.  Or even someone who wants all the other beverages offered by the package.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I said earlier, I think internet is the decider. I travel solo and I want internet. But when I traveled with DH, we could share a plan, as we weren't online all the time, especially him. A quick email check once a day and he was done. So for two people who are light internet users, having two plans is a convenience, but not really necessary. 

 

[mightycruisequeen]

2 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

It does include soft drinks, cans of water (no more plastic bottles), specialty coffees. I haven't done the math for HIA with only non-alcoholic beverages. 

That would be an awful lot of Coke Zeros to make it work for us!😁

[rodndonna]

Deciding HIA value has "tangible" expenses we can easily define "things we would buy regardless" and the more difficult to quantify, the would consume or use it, but wouldn't normally be willing to pay for it, and then the intangible value of the "convenience" of not having to think about it and not having a bigger bill at the end of a cruise.

 

For us as moderate drinkers (typically 3-5 alcoholic drinks a day) we generally "close" to the cost of the package or just under.

 

We like having the internet but would not generally pay for it (so it doesn't save us money but adds value for us)

We typically would buy 1 specialty dinner per week, but then have 2 dinners when 1 is in the HIA package (so doesn't save us money, but adds value to our holiday)

We typically wouldn't (or really limit) purchase of water (when going ashore), speciality coffees, mocktails etc. Again, doesn't save us money, but we like having them if they are included, so  with  HIA it adds value and we will have them through the cruise.

 

The major deciding factor for us though, is really just convenience of having drinks and some perks prepaid. We (me .. the cheap one), can't stop accessing the cost of each item as I purchase it, so it just makes things more enjoyable for our holiday.

[Real NHDOC]

The other complication is if you receive onboard credit (OBC) from your TA or HAL you use it or lose it and can’t use it for HIA. Example:we get $350 on a 7 day cruise OBC. We can use that to buy the internet, drinks or anything else but if we buy HIA and don’t spend that OBC money it’s not refundable. Basically you lose the value of that perk or you are paying for HIA items you would get for “free” through OBC anyway. 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Real NHDOC

[DaveOKC]

For my Oct cruise I calculated that the drink portion of the HIA package only cost me about $20 pp per day - well worth it IMO.

[Real NHDOC]

Don’t forget you can’t use the free drinks on Halfmoon Cay. Another misnomer of calling it “Have it All”. 
 

On port-heavy itineraries HAL knows people drink less onboard so are happy to offer unlimited drinks if they think you will be off the ship much of the day. Just another factor to keep in mind.