Reply To: A Newbie Guide to Cruising AND getting there & back again
In my experience, travel insurance will cost between $50 and $100 per person. We did get travel insurance before JCCC1, because when we booked, Deepwater Horizon was still leaking oil and no one was sure if it was going to leave the Gulf or not. We got travel insurance this time too for piece of mine. If my wife or I had a medical emergency, we’d be able to cancel and get our money back. We can also get money back for travel delays or lost luggage.
In terms of alcohol, beer is between $4.50 and $5 per serving (plus a 15% gratuity). Most cocktails start around $5.75 There’s a list of bar prices from another HAL ship from this summer posted in #13 of this thread at Cruise Critic, but you’ll need to sign in to view it.
You can get a beverage card from any bar once you’re on the ship. They’ll just charge $45 or $90 to your account and hand you a $50 or $100 card, so there’s no advantage to getting one early. In fact, you may get charged sales tax if you order one ahead of time. You can use your beverage card for alcohol, soda, or specialty coffee.
The soda card is a little different. It costs $25 and will get you $50 worth of soda ($2.25/can including gratuity), but it can only be used for soda. I’ve also read that you can have any leftover balance from a beverage card credited back to your account, with credit equal to the amount you paid – the amount you spent… so if you spend $26 on your soda card, you get no refund.