Replace Minibar Setup

[cruzsnooze]

It's great with the way it is and there are options in place to trade out for a bottle of wine or coffee cards. Why do some people always want more and more. A big thank you to Princess for this elite perk exactly the way it is.

[cruzsnooze]

I am just trying to make suggestions to improve things that I feel can be improved or provide better options for all of us.

.

 

Improved for your needs not the majority. How can you say it's an improvement for all of us when "most" of us are happy just the way it is.

[cvpends]

We don't sit around the cabin much, so we like it that we can exchange our minibar for coffee cards. We did exchange for a bottle of wine once, but we are pretty picky about our wine and prefer the wines we bring onboard ourselves. Speaking of which, the Princess wine policy is awesome!!

 

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

[Times Prince]

For us, it is broke. We have to trade out everything except water bottles and gin and beer. That means someone has to set up the minibar to start with, collect things and return them to inventory, bring new things and sometimes eventually trade those out too.

 

And using a system where it's coupons or tied to your cruise card would allow you to order the exact same minibar setup from room service and trade in the coupons. Only you'd be able to order what you want from the beginning, not have to do trade outs. And for those people who want to pick up a water bottle on their way off the ship in port, or have a drink in a lounge, it could be used that way too.

 

It wouldn't have to change anything for those who like the status quo. And for others it would be a huge improvement.

When I arrive in my cabin I can drink mini-bar items on my balcony. It is really hard to drink a voucher. :confused:

 

The other benefit is that, for health reasons, we like to mix our drinks ourselves so we can regulate the amount of sugar/calorie intake. We then have those drinks during evening sailaways and sunsets seen from our balcony.

 

Like you, we swap out many of the same items (keeping Cognac for a late evening balcony treat), just because we like some beverages over others. Princess would be treating us like royalty if our preferred Elite minibar beverage selection were there in the first place. A menu in the Cruise Personalizer that actually translated via computer to a set-up order would go a long way. If this were implemented, vouchers could be an option instead of a particular beverage. It need not be an either/or, as it seems to have been proposed - just computer automated to provide all the available options, and then have those selections actually transferred to the ship before it arrives at its home port. Pre selection would allow Room Service to balance its workload so that the few minutes of slack time are used to prep the next setup.

 

We're not big liquor drinkers (at least of the items that they provide) and I feel shortchanged to trade it in for water or soda so I'd welcome the coupon idea any day. We've got dozens of their little liquor bottles at home & numerous unused coffee cards. If they switched to coupons our choices would expand to all their liqueurs on the shelf. :)

You do know that the "numerous unused coffee cards" can be used on other Princess cruises, don't you? At worst, a plain cup of java will cost you a punch, and you could get a latte for the same cost.

 

And the shortchanged feeling - I thought that until I looked at it logically. a.) it is a free perk for Elites in the first place, b.) if it is a liquor that I don't drink anyway, it is better for ME to get a free soda or water that I do drink. and c) swapping out is good business for the cruise line, as many on these boards have said they swap more expensive liquor inventory for less expensive soda or water. Follow the money.

[payankee]

You get a free mini bar drink setup in a suite or if you are an Elite passenger in the Princess Captains Circle program you get one in any cabin you sail in and 2 if the Elite sails in a suite.

It consists of 8 airplane liquor bottles/cokes/sprites/waters/2 beers/2 tonics/2 sparkling water.

After that you pay for any additional.

 

Thanks for that information.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for that information.

 

 

Hope it helps. :)

[iceleven]

We experienced our first "free" minibar a couple weeks ago. Not one single thing in there was something that we would have chosen for ourselves. It being the first day we decided not to overwhelm room service so we just ignored the mini bar entirely. A couple of days later we reassessed what we had and wondered just what was available for replacement.

 

We already had three coffee cards with enough unpunched holes to carry us through this 15 day cruise. We already brought on our preferred wines (4 bottles and 1 bottle of sparkingling wine. So, those trade-offs were not of our liking.

 

There was no sheet or notice of what types of sodas were available, no list of what types of liquor could be traded out. We didn't know if we were limited to only what was in there and only able to trade one (or more) for another or if entirely other bottles/brands/flavors were available. A list surely would have been nice. We don't like the brand of beer offered. Could it have been traded out for one of the new Princess offerings? Too many questions to present to room service over the phone.

 

So, we pretty much gave away all of our sodas, drank the one bottle of water, made one very boring gin and tonic without the fresh lime, and on disembarkation day, scooped up all the tiny bottles of liquor and dumped them into our luggage only to dump them into a drawer in our kitchen for some unforeseen event someone we know would like to have a drink.

 

I would love to see a list of offerings and choices when I book our cruises on the Princess site.

 

We prefer the social aspect of having a cocktail so a coupon would work fine for me and/or a credit applied to our passenger card such as a glass of wine at dinner.

 

I don't understand the comments made by some people here who imply that just because one doesn't agree with the current program or systems of Princess ships that they should take their business elsewhere. Change is not always a horrible thing. We wouldn't all still be here if every time Princess made a change everyone would jump ship. If the mini bar works for you, then fine...great! But options are nicer, no?

[Oxo]

When I arrive in my cabin I can drink mini-bar items on my balcony. It is really hard to drink a voucher. :confused:

 

The other benefit is that, for health reasons, we like to mix our drinks ourselves so we can regulate the amount of sugar/calorie intake. We then have those drinks during evening sailaways and sunsets seen from our balcony.

 

Like you, we swap out many of the same items (keeping Cognac for a late evening balcony treat), just because we like some beverages over others. Princess would be treating us like royalty if our preferred Elite minibar beverage selection were there in the first place. A menu in the Cruise Personalizer that actually translated via computer to a set-up order would go a long way. If this were implemented, vouchers could be an option instead of a particular beverage. It need not be an either/or, as it seems to have been proposed - just computer automated to provide all the available options, and then have those selections actually transferred to the ship before it arrives at its home port. Pre selection would allow Room Service to balance its workload so that the few minutes of slack time are used to prep the next setup.

 

You do know that the "numerous unused coffee cards" can be used on other Princess cruises, don't you? At worst, a plain cup of java will cost you a punch, and you could get a latte for the same cost.

 

And the shortchanged feeling - I thought that until I looked at it logically. a.) it is a free perk for Elites in the first place, b.) if it is a liquor that I don't drink anyway, it is better for ME to get a free soda or water that I do drink. and c) swapping out is good business for the cruise line, as many on these boards have said they swap more expensive liquor inventory for less expensive soda or water. Follow the money.

 

There use to be a selection in My Princess> Onboard Preferences> to select what you wanted stocked in your frig such as Vodka, Gin, Coke, etc. However, that option was removed. When it was an option, the requested items were not always correct. So, apparently they went to a generic setup.

 

You really made me laugh. Yes, it would be hard to drink a coupon. However, if that coupon was on your Cruise Card, you could go to any bar and get a drink just like those who use a Coffee Card. Only difference is that the number of drinks/coffees you could get would be on your Cruise Card and not on a piece of paper?card. This system is used on other cruise lines and works great.

 

Currently with the Coffee Card, Yes, you can use the Coffee Card on another cruise. However, they are making the cards now to indicate which ship you bought the card on. If it is not the ship you are on, they will not give you a coffee in the International Cafe. The free coffee is only good on the ship you bought the card.

 

Apparently due to your health concerns, you cannot order a drink from a bar on the ship. So, this suggestion would never work for you.

 

Thanks for your input!

[windsor26]

I am quite happy to take one of my brandy mineatures to the dinner table and drink it afterwards glasses supplied by waiter It was supplied by the cruise line so no worries

[PescadoAmarillo]

Maybe that's what we're doing wrong. We never drink in our cabin and we don't take drinks to the dining room to drink there, although DH does take an occasional beer to the pizza counter. We trade all alcohol in for mostly beer and a few gins. And at the end of the cruise, we're trading leftover beer for gins which we bring home and store in our kitchen island with the other 120 mini bottles of gin already there.

[iceleven]

Maybe that's what we're doing wrong. We never drink in our cabin and we don't take drinks to the dining room to drink there, although DH does take an occasional beer to the pizza counter. We trade all alcohol in for mostly beer and a few gins. And at the end of the cruise, we're trading leftover beer for gins which we bring home and store in our kitchen island with the other 120 mini bottles of gin already there.

 

Do you recall what the choices of the beer was in the set up?

[PescadoAmarillo]

Do you recall what the choices of the beer was in the set up?

 

It depends on the ship but we seem to get Dos Equis most frequently. On the Pacific Princess, DH could trade them for 16 oz. metal bottles of Bud.

[sunsetbeachgal]

It depends on the ship but we seem to get Dos Equis most frequently. On the Pacific Princess, DH could trade them for 16 oz. metal bottles of Bud.

 

That is a good deal...my DH loves those metal bottles of Bud!

 

Jeanne, a bit off topic but where is your next winter cruising adventure?

 

Have a wonderful Christmas,

Carole

[Wehwalt]

I did do the coffee card exchange on the elite-heavy 50th anniversary cruise; they showed up late on the day after embarkation to do the switch.

 

I think it unlikely that Princess will switch the minibar in favor of something that involves drinking in public areas. People will drink if only for social reasons even if they have alcohol in the cabin.

[cruiselvr1]

I personally am very happy with the options as they are.

 

Swap out any item to mix and match to suit your tastes

Swap out for all soft beverages

Swap out for all waters

Swap out for a bottle of wine

Swap out for coffee cards

 

As a welcome perk that pretty much covers an average person's want's or need's . Of course there will always be some who always want or expect more, but by in large the Elite Bar Setup is a pretty nice extra just the way it is

 

YMMV

Srpilo

On last cruise, we decided to switch out for coffee cards. Next time we will switch to soda instead. We bring our own wine to drink in the suite. If we want a martini, we will go to crooners.

[UpcountryTravelers]

We don't drink gin, so we swap those bottles for vodka. Otherwise just fine. (Never seen Bud in there, would move that out ASAP! Yuk!)

[Times Prince]

There use to be a selection in My Princess> Onboard Preferences> to select what you wanted stocked in your frig such as Vodka, Gin, Coke, etc. However, that option was removed. When it was an option, the requested items were not always correct. So, apparently they went to a generic setup.

 

...

Currently with the Coffee Card, Yes, you can use the Coffee Card on another cruise. However, they are making the cards now to indicate which ship you bought the card on. If it is not the ship you are on, they will not give you a coffee in the International Cafe. The free coffee is only good on the ship you bought the card.

 

Apparently due to your health concerns, you cannot order a drink from a bar on the ship. So, this suggestion would never work for you.

 

Thanks for your input!

You are welcome.

 

I was familiar with the previous Onboard Preferences system, and although we always specified diet sodas only, we always got stuff with sugar in it, which before we were Elite I always just told the steward to "just take it away". It really made me wonder why Princess had not fully implemented the system - they had the right idea, but incomplete execution. Then again it has taken them years to communicate "Yes we'd like a robe in our cabin" to a note on the steward's guest list.

 

The last coffee card we used up took 3 cruises to complete, and they had no problem with lattes. We usually resort to the card when the restaurant coffee is battery acid. :eek:

 

We have a pretty good collection of little liquor bottles at home now, even after drinking what we feel like onboard ship. :)

 

Do you recall what the choices of the beer was in the set up?

It's been Dos Equis. My wife doesn't usually like beer, but found she liked the taste of that brand. On our first couple of cruises as Elite it was a different brand that tasted bitter to us, and we ended up giving the bottles to our neighbors on the next balcony. Edited December 24, 2015 by Times Prince

[rockdoctor]

I always thought that minibar items, as found in hotels and cruise ships, were supplied for your convenience in your room. As an Elite or Suite occupant, theses are provided as part of your fare/benefit. Outside of your room, your on your own. I think that is is wonderful that they are willing to switch out the items according to your taste. Just my opinion.