Coffee card confusion

[Taxwizz]

50 minutes ago, voljeep said:

the 'punches' on future cruises was not the breaking point ... the abuse of having a punch or two on a card and using that to obtain for free the brewed coffee in IC for future cruises was the problem

 

nip it

nip it in the bud

 

that's what Princess finally did

Right....I never thought of that.

Good point.

[Colo Cruiser]

4 hours ago, Taxwizz said:

The Carnivalization of Princess.

Every year a new small "gotcha".

None big, but the effect adds up.

Too bad.

 

 

Nobody is forcing you to cruise Princess........

Lots of options out there in the big bad cruising world.  🤔   😉

Good luck in your search.

[Taxwizz]

43 minutes ago, Taxwizz said:

Right....I never thought of that.

Good point.

However....

Are the cards good for regular coffee only on the original cruise?

I think that only the specialty coffees can be carried forward.

Edited March 26, 2019 by Taxwizz

[BRANDEE]

7 minutes ago, Taxwizz said:

However....

Are the cards good for regular coffee only on the original cruise?

I think that only the specialty coffees can be carried forward.

The "old" paper cards are still good for specialty coffee (not brewed) until August of this year. Any left over on Medallion or cruise card do not carry over to another cruise unless b2b.  Once off the ship they are gone.

[RDC1]

On 3/24/2019 at 4:58 PM, Colo Cruiser said:

I have spent and continue to spend thousands on Princess cruises.

I don't lose sleep over a coffee package whether I paid $38 for or I received for free in a mini bar exchange that does not carry over to another cruise.

You can thank your fellow passengers for selling their cards on eBay and abusing the system for these changes.

If you hate what Princess is doing maybe it is time to move on?

There are so many choices out there.

Yep, especially when you consider that the only people that lost very much during this switch were people that got free coffee cards as part of their Elite benefits.  The same group which had people selling the cards they got as part of their benefit. After all if someone purchased their cards it is unlikely that they would have more then one, and statistically would have had relatively fee punches remaining on average.

[jagoffee]

9 hours ago, latebloomer56 said:

So sad 😞 I have 2 paper coffee cards from prior cruises and was told could be used on the next trip. Well the next trip isn't until next April/May because we needed to change our plans for this April. Now I will not be able to use 1 full and 1 with 2 punches next trip.

Well it is a 12 day so will use the 15 I will need to purchase. And I do like the coffee in the buffet on the Regal so will see what 2020 brings on Princess.

 

8 hours ago, Taxwizz said:

Sixty bucks down the drain.  How do you feel?

Those were purchased with CASH in good faith and with the information that they would be good on furture cruises.

Crooks.

The Carnivalization of Princess.

They did not say that they purchased the coffee cards.  Perhaps they are Elite and received them as an exchange for the free mini bar set up.  More likely than purchased.

[caribill]

10 hours ago, voljeep said:

the 'punches' on future cruises was not the breaking point ... the abuse of having a punch or two on a card and using that to obtain for free the brewed coffee in IC for future cruises was the problem

 

 

Not true.

 

For several years the rules have been:

a) Cards were marked with cruise purchased on and free brewed coffee only for that cruise and available even if all punches were used

b) Unused punches (but not free fresh brewed) available on future voyages after the voyage the card was purchased on.

 

Yes, some cards did not get marked with the cruise they were purchased on although they should have been.

 

Yes, "purchased" also meant when obtained for trading in a mini-bar setup

[caribill]

8 hours ago, RDC1 said:

Yep, especially when you consider that the only people that lost very much during this switch were people that got free coffee cards as part of their Elite benefits. 

 

There were also a number of people who had Princess coupons to buy one coffee card, get one free. They used one card on the cruise they did this and saved the other card for a future cruise.

[Taxwizz]

10 hours ago, jagoffee said:

 

They did not say that they purchased the coffee cards.  Perhaps they are Elite and received them as an exchange for the free mini bar set up.  More likely than purchased.

Why would that make a difference?

The cards cost around $30 cash, or the exchange for a mini-bar set up cosisting of around $30 worth of alcoholic and soft drinks.  Value was still exchanged for the cards.

[Taxwizz]

5 hours ago, caribill said:

 

There were also a number of people who had Princess coupons to buy one coffee card, get one free. They used one card on the cruise they did this and saved the other card for a future cruise.

Why would that make a difference?

Nothing is free. 

The extra coffee card received was part of a deal designed to create a booking, and therefore had value.

[Doug R.]

6 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Not true.

 

For several years the rules have been:

a) Cards were marked with cruise purchased on and free brewed coffee only for that cruise and available even if all punches were used

b) Unused punches (but not free fresh brewed) available on future voyages after the voyage the card was purchased on.

 

Yes, some cards did not get marked with the cruise they were purchased on although they should have been.

 

Yes, "purchased" also meant when obtained for trading in a mini-bar setup

Before marking the voyage on the card,  people would leave one punch on the card and use it on future cruises for unlimited brewed coffee. Some even bragged that they laminated the card. This abuse led to marking the voyage on the card.  I don't agree with the decision to stop honoring the paper cards after August though. As far as those whining that the electronic card expires at the end of the voyage, new program, new rules.

[famski740]

20 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

 

Unless it’s recently changed, the Pastry shop on Royal-Class ships only had specialty coffees but not brewed coffee the last time we sailed on the Royal.

We sailed on the Royal Princess in 2017 and did a b2b on the Regal in 2018 and both times at the Pastry shop I was able to get regular brewed coffee with no problem.

[latebloomer56]

14 hours ago, jagoffee said:

 

They did not say that they purchased the coffee cards.  Perhaps they are Elite and received them as an exchange for the free mini bar set up.  More likely than purchased.

I feel so much better thanks I always use the oldest cards first. Never received free coffee cards until the Regal Baltic's trip we were in a suite. The full card was free just turned over the mini set up. The 2 punches were from an old card still good (until now). Senior moment glad you jogged my memory :).

Have a great day

[jagoffee]

On 3/26/2019 at 7:11 AM, Taxwizz said:

Sixty bucks down the drain.  How do you feel?

Those were purchased with CASH in good faith and with the information that they would be good on furture cruises.

Crooks.

The Carnivalization of Princess.

 

8 hours ago, Taxwizz said:

Why would that make a difference?

The cards cost around $30 cash, or the exchange for a mini-bar set up cosisting of around $30 worth of alcoholic and soft drinks.  Value was still exchanged for the cards.

I was just responding to your original response that said it was CASH down the drain.  Crooks.

 

 

[Taxwizz]

4 hours ago, jagoffee said:

 

I was just responding to your original response that said it was CASH down the drain.  Crooks.

 

 

OK.

Cash or cash equivalent.

They still gave up something of value in return for nothing.

The amount was relatively small, but it was annoying.

The situation should have been handled better.

People felt cheated.

[CFLCruisers]

It has been a few years since we sailed with Princess. We will be on Royal in August. In the past we would always share a coffee card.

Question #1. It looks like if we prepay for the coffee package, payment will be included with cruise balance. I would prefer to use my OBC. Can I/should I just wait and buy onboard?

#2. If I buy one package, and want to bring back 2 coffees to cabin from IC... is it a problem? I get up early, while DW likes to sleep in. We will not drink enough specialty coffees to justify the purchase of 2 packages. I am confused about sharing policy.

[Jersey42]

31 minutes ago, CFLCruisers said:

It has been a few years since we sailed with Princess. We will be on Royal in August. In the past we would always share a coffee card.

Question #1. It looks like if we prepay for the coffee package, payment will be included with cruise balance. I would prefer to use my OBC. Can I/should I just wait and buy onboard?

#2. If I buy one package, and want to bring back 2 coffees to cabin from IC... is it a problem? I get up early, while DW likes to sleep in. We will not drink enough specialty coffees to justify the purchase of 2 packages. I am confused about sharing policy.

Just returned from a 28 day cruise on the Star Princess.  Here was what we saw:

1. There was no penalty to wait and buy the card onboard with OBC.
2. Policy was no sharing the complimentary fresh brewed coffees, tea or hot chocolate. You could get only one complimentary cup at a time.  They said you had to wait 15 minutes to get a second cup, but I do not know how or if this was enforced.  You could get as many specialty coffees you wanted at one time as long as you had available "punches" remaining.  I often gone one fresh brewed coffee and a specialty coffee at the same time using one cruise card.

With our 28 day cruise, the "electronic coffee card" was a no brainer if all you got was one fresh brewed coffee per day.  Specialty coffees were a bonus.  For a shorter cruise, the economics change, depending on how much and what you drink.

Edited May 2, 2019 by Jersey42

[Taxwizz]

The problem is the new Princess coffee card policy and rip-off.

The card used to be a physical, paper card.  If you did not use all of the coffees that you PAID FOR, you could get the remaining coffees on a subsequent cruise.  The card was good forever. 

Great idea, and another reason to come back to Princess.

Now the purchase is recorded on your room card and all unused but PAID FOR coffee purchases disappear at the end of the cruise.

Read...."Stolen". 

Rip-off. 

Shameful.

Edited May 3, 2019 by Taxwizz

[JimmyVWine]

37 minutes ago, Taxwizz said:

The problem is the new Princess coffee card policy and rip-off.

The card used to be a physical, paper card.  If you did not use all of the coffees that you PAID FOR, you could get the remaining coffees on a subsequent cruise.  The card was good forever. 

Great idea, and another reason to come back to Princess.

Now the purchase is recorded on your room card and all unused but PAID FOR coffee purchases disappear at the end of the cruise.

Read...."Stolen". 

Rip-off. 

Shameful.

 

Or...you could look at it this way.  Both the old card and the new digital account were based on the premise that you were paying for approximately 10 cups of brewed coffee during the course of the cruise (10 x $1.75 = $17.50) as well as 7 Specialty Coffees (7 x $2.50 = $17.50).  And as an extra added bonus, they were throwing in 8 FREE Specialty Coffees.  If you ended your cruise having only consumed 10 cups of brewed coffee and only 10 Specialty Coffees, they weren't stealing 5 drinks from you.  Instead, you got what you paid for, (10 + 7), and you took advantage of 3 freebies. Princess stole nothing from you at all.  Your entire tirade here is predicated on the notion that the customer is paying only for the Specialty Coffees and that the unlimited brewed coffee is "free".  But it isn't.  It has an embedded value and always has.  They never marketed the cards as providing FREE brewed coffee--only "unlimited". Unlimited is not a synonym for free.  

 

You need to place some responsibility on the purchaser.  For example, I do not drink brewed coffee.  The only coffee beverage I drink is an espresso, in the afternoon, and never more than one a day.  It is not hard for me to do the math to determine whether it makes sense for me to buy the card/bytes knowing that I can only maximize the value if I use all the "punches".  But give me some credit.  That is second grade math.  If I lose out on the deal, bad on me.  There is no "theft" going on here.

Edited May 3, 2019 by JimmyVWine

[Taxwizz]

5 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

 

Or...you could look at it this way.  Both the old card and the new digital account were based on the premise that you were paying for approximately 10 cups of brewed coffee during the course of the cruise (10 x $1.75 = $17.50) as well as 7 Specialty Coffees (7 x $2.50 = $17.50).  And as an extra added bonus, they were throwing in 8 FREE Specialty Coffees.  If you ended your cruise having only consumed 10 cups of brewed coffee and only 10 Specialty Coffees, they weren't stealing 5 drinks from you.  Instead, you got what you paid for, (10 + 7), and you took advantage of 3 freebies. Princess stole nothing from you at all.  Your entire tirade here is predicated on the notion that the customer is paying only for the Specialty Coffees and that the unlimited brewed coffee is "free".  But it isn't.  It has an embedded value and always has.  They never marketed the cards as providing FREE brewed coffee--only "unlimited". Unlimited is not a synonym for free.  

 

You need to place some responsibility on the purchaser.  For example, I do not drink brewed coffee.  The only coffee beverage I drink is an espresso, in the afternoon, and never more than one a day.  It is not hard for me to do the math to determine whether it makes sense for me to buy the card/bytes knowing that I can only maximize the value if I use all the "punches".  But give me some credit.  That is second grade math.  If I lose out on the deal, bad on me.  There is no "theft" going on here.

Nice try.

But you cannot recharacterize a transaction to fit the circumstances when they are changed after the fact.

I am old fashioned...."A deal is a deal."  Silly me.

I PURCHASED a "card" with 15 expressos, and I want them.

I feel cheated when they are withdrawn after I pay.

If Princess withdraws them, then they should REFUND the unused specialty coffees on a pro rata basis.

That would be easy to do on the last day of the cruise. 

Or just find a way to carry them forward by adding them to your passenger profile.  Easy.

 

The Carnivalization of Princess.

 

[skynight]

15 minutes ago, Taxwizz said:

Nice try.

But you cannot recharacterize a transaction to fit the circumstances when they are changed after the fact.

I am old fashioned...."A deal is a deal."  Silly me.

I PURCHASED a "card" with 15 expressos, and I want them.

I feel cheated when they are withdrawn after I pay.

If Princess withdraws them, then they should REFUND the unused specialty coffees on a pro rata basis.

That would be easy to do on the last day of the cruise. 

Or just find a way to carry them forward by adding them to your passenger profile.  Easy.

 

The Carnivalization of Princess.

 

I agree, if you purchased the the card then you should receive the 15 espresso drinks. But, in the previous system Princess provided many of the cards as an exchange for the mini bar. Passengers would take the exchanged cards and sell them. It was the passengers that ruined it for everyone else. Changing the program is just a solid business decision. Passengers that had cards had almost two years to use them.

I think Princess has a change in mind for the program. Based on the fine print shown below it appears Princess has thought of amending the program and cost based on itinerary. I haven't seen it yet, but maybe it's coming.

• The package includes the pre-purchase of a specified number of specialty coffees (numbers vary by itinerary) during the voyage of purchase, as well as complimentary brewed coffee and hot chocolate.

Edited May 3, 2019 by skynight

[Taxwizz]

7 minutes ago, skynight said:

I agree, if you purchased the the card then you should receive the 15 espresso drinks. But, in the previous system Princess provided many of the cards as an exchange for the mini bar. Passengers would take the exchanged cards and sell them. It was the passengers that ruined it for everyone else. Changing the program is just a solid business decision. Passengers that had cards had almost two years to use them.

I think Princess has a change in mind for the program. Based on the fine print shown below it appears Princess has thought of amending the program and cost based on itinerary. I haven't seen it yet, but maybe it's coming.

• The package includes the pre-purchase of a specified number of specialty coffees (numbers vary by itinerary) during the voyage of purchase, as well as complimentary brewed coffee and hot chocolate.

Interesting.

I had not seen the new proposed program.

I wonder if the exchange on this forum had anything to do with it.  (BIG smile)

It certainly generated a lot of heat.

As for the mini bar exchange, the mini bar had value, and cannot be dismissed as a "freebie".  It was part of the amenities earned by becoming an Elite cruiser.  Princess certainly should value these passengers highly and let them choose between a mini bar and a coffee card as they have roughly equivalent value.

I agree that the cards possibly should not have been sold on ebay, but if that is how the passenger wishes to extract the value, rather than exchange it for coffees, then why not?

That could easily have been thwarted by printing the passenger name on the card, but I ask again...Why should the passenger not sell the card and get $25 or $30 if that is how he wishes to use the redemption value?

The cost to Princess is the same regardless of who uses the card and drinks the PAID FOR coffee..

[meatloafsfan]

The new system isn't that you're purchasing 15 specialty drinks; you're purchasing UP TO 15 specialty drinks on your voyage.

 

If you use 10, you use 10. That's it.

 

No rip off, no fraud.

 

The new package is different from the previous one.

And usage of the previous one ended/ends August 31 2019.

 

Things change. It happens.

[Taxwizz]

7 minutes ago, meatloafsfan said:

The new system isn't that you're purchasing 15 specialty drinks; you're purchasing UP TO 15 specialty drinks on your voyage.

 

If you use 10, you use 10. That's it.

 

No rip off, no fraud.

 

The new package is different from the previous one.

And usage of the previous one ended/ends August 31 2019.

 

Things change. It happens.

Sorry.

If I pay for 15, I expect to get 15 or a refund.

Anything less is fraud or robbery.

[snow bunny]

Can someone please tell me the cost of the new card in US$?

 

Thanks!

snow bunny