thepaxtons Posted November 14, 2006 #1 Share Posted November 14, 2006 Can someone further explain the drink cards to me? I've read about them on here, but I would like to know more. How much? Separate ones for sodas and alcoholic drinks? Unlimited? Thanks! (We will be traveling on the Holiday 12/9) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yearnin4cruisin Posted November 14, 2006 #2 Share Posted November 14, 2006 The cards are not for alcoholic beverages. They are good for soda's at any bar and you can also use them at your table in the dining room. The price varies based on the length of your cruise and for adult/child. It was $32-ish for a five day cruise and this includes the gratuity. You can only get one drink at a time and you can't share the card with anyone but it is unlimited. It really depends on how much soda you drink daily. A can of soda is $1.75 plus 15% each. You can also buy a glass of soda for a bit less, but I can't remember the price. I pretty much break even with the card but it is a real convenience because all you have to do is flash your card - no signature needed. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yearnin4cruisin Posted November 14, 2006 #3 Share Posted November 14, 2006 You can get free lemonade, fruit punch and iced tea up on deck anytime. Milk is available if the grill is open. You can order iced tea and milk in the dining room (not sure about the others) and espresso or cappachino after dinner in the dining room is free. Someone mentioned a great tip for me personally. They suggested bringing a big tumbler or something from home so you can get large glasses of whatever instead of using the little ones they provide. I will do this on my next cruise for sure. I like getting lemonade and chocolate chip cookies before bed and bringing them to my room. Yummy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinjerseygirl Posted November 14, 2006 #4 Share Posted November 14, 2006 The 7 day cruises on Carnival the cards are $42, this is just for soda. They ask you to get one per person but really you can get one per family and no one says anything, we got one for all 3 of us and we still didn't drink $42 worth of soda in a week because the lemonade is so good and we drank alcohol. By the end of the trip we realized that we barely drank any soda so we started getting only soda for every drink the 5-7 day. If you know you will drink a lot or a decent amount of soda on your cruise then get the card, if not and you are fine with the alcohol, a soda maybe once a day or something, and juice the rest of the time then it's not worth it to purchase the card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinjerseygirl Posted November 14, 2006 #5 Share Posted November 14, 2006 Just a note I read above that it is one per person and I know I stated it before but just to reiterate, no one at all cared who had the card or how many sodas we took at one time, we were actually at dinner in the main dining area one night and there were three of us and we all ordered our own sodas. Since the waiter knew we had a card he didn't even ask, no one does, they don't even look at the name on it or anything, they just look to see that you have one, so don't go wasting the money for each person just get one for everyone and share it. My mother gave me this tip, she goes on about 1-2 cruises a year and says that no one ever gave her a hard time so we tried it too and they didn't care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvrgirl Posted November 14, 2006 #6 Share Posted November 14, 2006 They ask you to get one per person but really you can get one per family and no one says anything, we got one for all 3 of us and we still didn't drink $42 worth of soda in a week because the lemonade is so good and we drank alcohol. Yes....technically they don't want you to share the card. But you should have no problem. We didn't. :D Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yearnin4cruisin Posted November 15, 2006 #7 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Sorry folks, but I play by the rules. To me that is stealing and I don't want to walk around feeling guilty every time I steal a drink for a family member or friend. Just my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yearnin4cruisin Posted November 15, 2006 #8 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Sorry folks, but I play by the rules. To me that is stealing and I don't want to walk around feeling guilty every time I steal a drink for a family member or friend. Just my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuyahoga11 Posted November 15, 2006 #9 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Sorry folks, but I play by the rules. To me that is stealing and I don't want to walk around feeling guilty every time I steal a drink for a family member or friend. Just my opinion. I agree. I get a great deal on a cruise, then get OBC without the hassle of canceling and rebooking, I would personally not take advantage of something so trivial as a soda card. This is JUST MY OPINION Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BallFour4 Posted November 15, 2006 #10 Share Posted November 15, 2006 ...no one at all cared who had the card or how many sodas we took at one time. My mother gave me this tip, she goes on about 1-2 cruises a year and says that no one ever gave her a hard time so we tried it too and they didn't care. I search for other words to call this anything but stealing... but I cannot. First, the soda cards are never worth the pure cost of the card. What does justify the expense is the benefit of speedy service at the bars, dining room and in the theatre. All you need to do is flash the card and order your soda. If you don't have the card then you must wait for the transaction to be rung up and posted to your sign and sail card. The card allows you to also get juices at the bars after exercise in the mornings. We use them to get pineapple juice and fruit juices during the day, and after our morning run. The theatre and the dining room beverage service also make it easy, as your dining waiter will have your soda waiting for you each evening after you show the card to he/she and place your order the first night. Ask yourself a question based on the logic from the response above. Let's say you and a friend go to a buffet and both of you are not very hungry. Can you and that friend go through the line one at a time, and then justify that you ate only as much as one hungry person? If you can live with that answer then do what you wish... Finally, the cost of the actual soda is a fraction of the expense of serving a drink to cruise passengers. The shipping costs, human costs of labor involved and the entire expense result in only a small profit for the cruise line. A Tylenol costs about $2 at one of my hospitals by the time it gets to a patient. The difference is the expense of handling, dispensing and human cost to get it to the floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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