Buy Your Wine Cards Now, if you want one

[bigwally]

OK, good to know. Then, yes, under those circumstances the wine cards are not worth worrying about.

[Sealog]

Hi Floridafolks

 

We were on the Noordam Med cruise in Sep 08, and had planned to buy some Italian wine in Rome, like you. The prices were higher in Rome (and in Euros) than they were in our local wine and liquor store at home for the same brands. We live in Ontario, Canada, and I suspect that your prices in FL are much better than ours.

[rochelle_s]

I can't help you with Manhattan's, but the price of a glass of wine is $4.50. (At least that was the price on the Ryndam last month.) So the 20 drink wine card saves you all of 62 cents per glass.

 

As an aside, I'm simply amazed at the gnashing of teeth and the "woe is me" sentiments about this issue over such a small amount of change.

 

You might be able to pay $4.50 for a glass of wine, but you have not factored in the 15% gratuity. When this is added in it becomes $5.12 per glass. If you purchase a 20 glass wine card it works out to $3.88 per glass. This equates to a savings of $1.30 per glass of wine, not 62 cents. Therefore a wine card would save you $26.00 overall. If you go through more than one wine card then the savings keep adding up.

 

I also question the $4.50 price, as I recall on my cruises last April and May the prices were higher than that. I too believe they were more in the $6.00 range. Which, if that were true, even more money can be saved.

 

Another part of the wine card that I like is that I don't have to keep track of all those extra receipts for my wine purchases. That one slip of paper makes it easier to reconcile my bill at the end of the cruise.

 

Wine, cocktail and coffee cards all help anyone who is on a budget to keep track of their spending, or can be pre-paid before you even leave home.

 

Personally I like the wine cards, I find them a great value and convenience and will certainly miss them if they are discontinued. Others might feel the savings is not worth it to them. To each their own.

 

Rochelle

[MadManOfBethesda]

You might be able to pay $4.50 for a glass of wine, but you have not factored in the 15% gratuity. When this is added in it becomes $5.12 per glass. If you purchase a 20 glass wine card it works out to $3.88 per glass. This equates to a savings of $1.30 per glass of wine, not 62 cents. Therefore a wine card would save you $26.00 overall. If you go through more than one wine card then the savings keep adding up.

 

As long as you're into math, here's another little scenario for you:

 

During happy hour you can get two glasses of wine for $4.50 - - - excuse me, $5.12 - - -, thus reducing the per glass rate down to $2.56. However, if you have a wine card, each glass will still cost you $3.88. How many happy hours does one need to attend before paying as you go becomes cheaper than purchasing a wine card? :rolleyes:

 

I also question the $4.50 price, as I recall on my cruises last April and May the prices were higher than that. I too believe they were more in the $6.00 range. Which, if that were true, even more money can be saved.

 

Feel free to question to your heart's content. I have no idea what a glass of wine cost on your cruise last year, nor do I care. I also don't know which wines you were drinking (Some wines cost more than others, and as I noted previously, you are limited to a few basic house pours when you use a wine card.) I merely stated what the price was for one of those house pours ON THE RECEIPT THAT I RECEIVED on the Ryndam last month.

 

See, this is why I don't bother with writing reviews. I don't need people telling me that what I experienced was not what they experienced.

[sue1898]

I've never purchased a wine card because I don't like their house Merlot but wonder if you can use it on champagne? My traveling companion in August is a lover of the bubbles...

[Boytjie]

I've never purchased a wine card because I don't like their house Merlot but wonder if you can use it on champagne? My traveling companion in August is a lover of the bubbles...

 

Yes, you can, but the house sparkling wine isn't all that great IMHO.

[bigwally]

During happy hour you can get two glasses of wine for $4.50 - - - excuse me, $5.12 - - -, thus reducing the per glass rate down to $2.56. However, if you have a wine card, each glass will still cost you $3.88. How many happy hours does one need to attend before paying as you go becomes cheaper than purchasing a wine card?

 

That probably wouldn't work for us - we're in our cabin getting ready for dinner during happy hour. And we'd probably be partaking in a glass of wine from one of the bottles we've brought aboard anyhow.

 

I wonder too if the price varies by itinerary - cheaper for some than others.

[bcirish]

During happy hour you can get two glasses of wine for $4.50 - is this something new? we have not been on HAL for about a year but do not remember a happy hour on our last cruise. Is the happy hour price just for wine or did it include beer and mixed drinks? This before dinner drink would be appealing to me and might change some of my purchasing plans - we usually have our own wine in our room but this is a more reasonable cost - and I don't mind house wine most of the time.

 

Glad I checked this board - thanks for the possible perk - always looking for those

[kryos]

I don't see how this could possibly be good news unless they do something like give you a certain $ amount on the card and offer special pricing (varying % discount off full price) when you use your card specific to the type of drink you are buying... That could work but I think it would confuse some people.

I'm thinking along the same lines. Perhaps the card will be like a prepaid phone card. You will purchase a card loaded with a preset amount of credit ... say $100. But, you will get it at a discount (as the "draw" for buying the card) ... say $80. Each time you buy a drink of any type, they swipe your card and the amount of that drink ... the same amount anyone paying "as you go" would be charged ... is deducted from your card. The discount you would get would be preloaded onto the card at the time you purchased it because the card would have more credit than you paid for it. And, if the card is running low, all you have to do is buy more credit on it, either while on the ship or in advance before your next cruise ... whichever the case may be. That additional credit too would be purchased at a discount.

 

This would avoid the problem of people complaining that they can't use beverage cards with left over credit from previous cruises. Technically HAL doesn't allow that, and if the color or design of the card has changed since your last cruise, you won't be able to use that excess credit. The preloaded cards will permit that. You just keep loading it everytime you take a cruise. If you buy the credit in advance, you would either get an entirely new card with the credit loaded onto it, or there would be a voucher in your stateroom that you could take to any venue onboard with your existing card to have it loaded.

 

As long as they gave discounts for the amount of drink credit you buy, I think they are actually a great idea. I don't have to worry about buying another card toward the end of my cruise and maybe not being able to use all of the punches on there. Also, I can't use my cocktail card for "Happy Hour" two-for-one-specials. With the preloaded drink card, I probably could since the same amount would be deducted from that card as would be charged to my room card if I used that.

 

Another disadvantage of the cards in use today is that I have to buy various cards for various things. I need a coffee card for specialty coffee drinks, a wine card for that, cocktail card, etc., etc. This new method allows me to load up one card with credit for everything. And, don't forget, it's smart on HAL's end too. I load up a card with say $200 for my next cruise, but don't use it all. That's fine, I don't have to because that card can also be used on my next cruise, which may not be for another year. But HAL gets to keep and use that money I still have on the card. Might not be a lot of money we're talking about, but multiply that by all the passengers holding unused drink credit on their cards, and it can add up to millions.

 

Frankly, I think these new cards are a smart thing ... at least they are from the way I understand they will work.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

During happy hour you can get two glasses of wine for $4.50 - is this something new? we have not been on HAL for about a year but do not remember a happy hour on our last cruise. Is the happy hour price just for wine or did it include beer and mixed drinks?

I didn't realize the happy hour was for wine too, but it would make sense. It's something HAL recently started ... it debuted on the Statendam about midway through my 35-day Hawaii/South Pacific cruise last September/October.

 

It's a one-hour period of time where signature cocktails were two for the price of one. You had to pay full price for the first one, and then the second would be free. Also, both drinks had to be the same thing, and you could not use a discount card (the prepaid Signature Cocktail Card) to pay for the first drink because the price of the drinks on the Signature Cocktail Card was already reduced. So you had to put the first drink on your regular cabin card at full price.

 

Different venues onboard had the Happy Hour at different times. The Ocean Bar had it from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. every day, while the Crow's Nest had it from 9:00 to 10:00 p.m. A week or so into the program, they started another one at the Piano Bar, billed as the "Non-Smoking Happy Hour" and I think that was from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.

 

I think the purpose of these Happy Hours were to stimulate drink sales onboard. It sure worked since at least the Ocean Bar (I really didn't go to Happy Hour anywhere else, so can't speak to them) was absolutely mobbed between the hours of 4:00 to 5:00 everyday!

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

During happy hour you can get two glasses of wine for $4.50 - - - excuse me, $5.12 - - -, thus reducing the per glass rate down to $2.56. However, if you have a wine card, each glass will still cost you $3.88. How many happy hours does one need to attend before paying as you go becomes cheaper than purchasing a wine card? :rolleyes:

Only downfall to those wine cards, however, is that you are forced to drink "house pours." What if you don't like the house wines and prefer something else? That's what I like about the idea of a universal type of beverage card. You can use it for whatever you like.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[takemewithyou]

As long as you're into math, here's another little scenario for you:

 

During happy hour you can get two glasses of wine for $4.50 - - - excuse me, $5.12 - - -, thus reducing the per glass rate down to $2.56. However, if you have a wine card, each glass will still cost you $3.88. How many happy hours does one need to attend before paying as you go becomes cheaper than purchasing a wine card? :rolleyes:

 

 

This is the reason I still had punches left on my wine card.!!!

(Check the Bible in Room 7059 - Noordam) :D

[mszula]

Hmmmmm? Happy Hour on a ship. Do tell.

What time?

All bars?

[RuthC]

Hmmmmm? Happy Hour on a ship. Do tell.

 

What time?

 

All bars?

The times and lounges are limited. Check your Daily Program for the particulars each day. For me, the Happy Hour was too early, so I wasn't able to make use of it. :(

[Jsipes]

Woe is me, I can't imagine doing a 33 day cruise without a wine card !!!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Noordam

Happy Hour was from 4:30 - 5:30 eavery day in the Ocean Bar and Crow's Nest.

First cruise -- Feb 2 - 12 -- not advertised in the daily program -- the bars were packed. Sometime people had to stand with their drinks as there weren't any seats left in the Ocean bar.

Second cruise -- Feb 12 - 22 -- advertised a couple of times in the insert in the daily program -- wasn't always packed.

[callmedeb]

Just an FYI...

 

I was able to purchase my wine card and the Signature Cocktail card last week online.

 

Deb

[jtl513]

Is the happy hour price just for wine or did it include beer and mixed drinks?

I'm not sure about beer, but it applied to cocktails on the Noordam in December. I would guess it applies to beer too.

Hmmmmm? Happy Hour on a ship. Do tell.

 

What time? All bars?

We only knew about it in the Crow's Nest at 4:30. After the 3:00p to 4:00p Trivia ended, about 1/2 the crowd would wait for Happy Hour!

[oreomycat]

On the Veendam it is from 4-5 p.m., and only in the Ocean Bar and the Crown's Nest.

[oreomycat]

<P>Sorry that should have read Crow's Nest, not Crown's Nest</P>

[maadimom]

We will be sailing on HAL for the first time this summer to Alaska. I'm thinking hot coffee will be in order for the hours outside viewing the sites. How is the coffee onboard? I haven't had ANY good experiences with the coffee from other cruise lines. We'll be on the Zuiderdam if that makes any difference.

[seabreezer]

So there isn't complimentary wine with dinner?

[RuthC]

So there isn't complimentary wine with dinner?

No, there isn't. The only time you'll get wine without charge is the Welcome Toast, Mariners' Party, VIP party (if you're invited), and suite party (if you book a full suite).

All alcoholic drinks and sodas come with a price.

[WriterOnDeck]

No, there isn't. The only time you'll get wine without charge is the Welcome Toast, Mariners' Party, VIP party (if you're invited), and suite party (if you book a full suite).

All alcoholic drinks and sodas come with a price.

 

Or if they place an officer at your dinner table. In the past, this has happened with us a few times, even when we were in inside cabins. Never knew the reason, but we always enjoyed it a lot. Usually a 3rd engineer who I figured might be practicing his hosting skills. The best is that the officer provides the wine for dinner and it is free. :D

[Gizmo582]

You made my day!

 

Yes whine is a favourite of ours. :-)

 

They are little cards that 'complain' about every single thing... !

 

Seriously, they are just like soda cards. Think 'one punch per glass' and you will get the idea.