Elites - New Coffee System on B2B cruises?

[floridalover5623]

Actually, the card never promised it would be good until you used up all the punches.

 

It says "Unused specialty coffees redeemable on next voyage." So technically, any punches remaining after that next voyage are not good.

But who's to say when that next voyage actually occurs?

[srpilo]

But who's to say when that next voyage actually occurs?

Additionally, who's to say the next voyage will occur before August 31st 2019 ?

 

Srpilo

[Lucky TGO]

Actually, the card never promised it would be good until you used up all the punches.

 

It says "Unused specialty coffees redeemable on next voyage." So technically, any punches remaining after that next voyage are not good.

 

Caribill,

If I purchase my coffee card on my last cruise in January 26, 2018 it should still be good if my next cruise was in 2022. According to you Yes. According to Princess No.

Princess lead everyone to believe the card would be good until you used up all your punches.

The Coffee Card Rebellion Continues.

Tony

[Micahs Grandad]

Caribill,

If I purchase my coffee card on my last cruise in January 26, 2018 it should still be good if my next cruise was in 2022. According to you Yes. According to Princess No.

Princess lead everyone to believe the card would be good until you used up all your punches.

The Coffee Card Rebellion Continues.

Tony

 

Hopefully the rebellion succeeds, pay for certain number of punches should be able to get them.

[caribill]

Caribill,

If I purchase my coffee card on my last cruise in January 26, 2018 it should still be good if my next cruise was in 2022. According to you Yes. According to Princess No.

Princess lead everyone to believe the card would be good until you used up all your punches.

The Coffee Card Rebellion Continues.

Tony

 

I agree with you 100%. The punches should be good on your next cruise no matter how long in the future it will be.

[floridalover5623]

Additionally, who's to say the next voyage will occur before August 31st 2019 ?

 

Srpilo

Believe me, I'm probably more annoyed than most people with the amount of coffee cards I've accumulated over the years but where does it end with the old program?

 

If the cards were being fraudulently printed (which is fairly easy to do), what recourse does that give Princess? There could never be an acceptable date to choose from since the counterfeit cards would never cease.

They could have done one of three things.... gone to a harder to reproduce card (very expensive) or attach it to your cruise card like they've done which eliminates any reproducing.

Another possibility could have been is to sell the new coffee program with the info stored on their computer system for use in future cruises also, but that would have infuriated the old card holders even more since that's the same promise they made us with the old cards.

 

In any event if they continued to accept the old cards forever, there would never be an end in sight.

[Micahs Grandad]

Believe me, I'm probably more annoyed than most people with the amount of coffee cards I've accumulated over the years but where does it end with the old program?

 

If the cards were being fraudulently printed (which is fairly easy to do), what recourse does that give Princess? There could never be an acceptable date to choose from since the counterfeit cards would never cease.

They could have done one of three things.... gone to a harder to reproduce card (very expensive) or attach it to your cruise card like they've done which eliminates any reproducing.

Another possibility could have been is to sell the new coffee program with the info stored on their computer system for use in future cruises also, but that would have infuriated the old card holders even more since that's the same promise they made us with the old cards.

 

In any event if they continued to accept the old cards forever, there would never be an end in sight.

 

I here you but Princess was paid for a certain amount of coffee and should honor that.

[Wehwalt]

Is there evidence the cards have been fraudulently printed?

[floridalover5623]

I here you but Princess was paid for a certain amount of coffee and should honor that.

I fully agree & just as upset with their decision as you are but what would you do in their situation? :confused:

Stop the old program where they continue to get cheated forever or start the new one where the cards can't be reproduced?

A little explanation of their part would have been more appropriate.

[voljeep]

seems like maybe after the 8/2019? expiration date of all coffee "cards" that Princess

"could" offer a non-refundable shipboard credit of say $2 per unused punch applicable only to the purchase of a coffee 'package' for that cruise...

 

acceptable?

 

or nothing...

[Lucky TGO]

The Coffee Card Rebellion.

First of all I don’t believe the coffee cards were being Reproduce or Counterfeited!!

I just think Princess figured out a way of cheating there loyal passengers.

Princess lead you to believe the punches on your coffee card would not Expire and be good for future cruises.

I like to know is this Nickel and Diming or Lying and Cheating??

The Rebellion Continues!!!

Tony

[Micahs Grandad]

I fully agree & just as upset with their decision as you are but what would you do in their situation? :confused:

Stop the old program where they continue to get cheated forever or start the new one where the cards can't be reproduced?

A little explanation of their part would have been more appropriate.

 

How are they getting cheated? As far as I can tell we pay for 15 punches and get 15 cups of coffee.

 

If they were getting cheated one would think they would have told their customers they are changing for this reason.

[jagoffee]

The Coffee Card Rebellion.

 

I just think Princess figured out a way of cheating there loyal passengers.

 

Tony

 

Are you sure it is not because Princess wanted to convert to a digital type program like the rest of the world? Punch card, really state of the art technology?

 

Do you really think that Princess intended for people to collect unused cards forever and to have loyal customers sell them on EBay?

 

I would be willing to bet that almost all of the completely unused cards were cards received for free with the mini bar exchange. Why would anyone expect an Elite benefit to be saved for a future cruise or sold for money? Use the Elite benefit or lose it seemed like a reasonable expectation no matter how long loyal customers were previously “gaming the situation”

 

Progress is tough and resistance is futile.

[caribill]

 

I would be willing to bet that almost all of the completely unused cards were cards received for free with the mini bar exchange. Why would anyone expect an Elite benefit to be saved for a future cruise or sold for money? Use the Elite benefit or lose it seemed like a reasonable expectation no matter how long loyal customers were previously “gaming the situation”

 

 

If you have a beverage package, you do not need to use the coffee card(s) you received on that voyage and would want to use them on a future voyage.

[caribill]

How are they getting cheated? As far as I can tell we pay for 15 punches and get 15 cups of coffee.

 

 

Yes, but not everyone drinks 15 specialty coffees on a 7 day cruise. That is why unused punches were able to be used on a future cruise.

 

With the new policy, you only get the 15 cups if you order them on a single cruise.

[Wehwalt]

I do somewhat resent the implication by some posters that cruisers who sell their cards on eBay or by another means are doing something wrong, though I gather the actual offense has shifted from counterfeiting to something less fraudulent since no evidence of fake coffee cards has been posted.

 

As for options, the fact that the coffee cards no longer in small part defray the cost of cruising does go into my calculations and Princess has lost some sales to me. Add to that the change on milestone cruises from cruise credits to cruise days, and I have nothing planned on Princess until next October. I don't think of those choices as futile in the least. And with the cards I had, I made Princess pay out down to the last skinny caramello latte.

Edited September 4, 2018 by Wehwalt

[pablo222]

As for options, the fact that the coffee cards no longer in small part defray the cost of cruising does go into my calculations and Princess has lost some sales to me.

 

This will be balanced out by the folks who can no-longer purchase after-market cards,

and must purchase from Princess directly.

 

But, I don't think this is the biggest win for princess -- with their changes, the use of the card

is basically limited to a single cruise.

 

A huge change from the old days, where posters bragged about laminating their cards,

putting them on a lanyard, and getting free brewed coffee for life.

[skynight]

The new system has not been fully thought through by the Princess staff. Here are some of my thoughts.

Post the 15 espresso drinks in one common pool, the summary on board account, shared by whoever is linked to the credit card.

Sell a 7 & 10 espresso drink package for shorter voyages.

Sell a separate package for unlimited brewed coffee and teas at a price/day, similar to the soda package.

Allow those that receive the complimentary mini bar to trade half the bar for one coffee package.

[floridalover5623]

How are they getting cheated? As far as I can tell we pay for 15 punches and get 15 cups of coffee.

 

If they were getting cheated one would think they would have told their customers they are changing for this reason.

 

If Princess allowed the use of their coffee cards forever as it had been in the past and went forward with the new program, the counterfeiters could printing & selling the cards on eBay forever.

At what point does Princess cut their losses?

Since they'e decided on an Aug 31st date this gives a majority of people a window to utilize their old cards.

I realize that some people don't sail that often and I still don't appreciate the short notice but

do you have a better suggestion to allow use of the older cards and limit the loss to Princess?

[Wehwalt]

If Princess allowed the use of their coffee cards forever as it had been in the past and went forward with the new program, the counterfeiters could printing & selling the cards on eBay forever.

Again, more accusations against cruisers unaccompanied by evidence.

[floridalover5623]

Again, more accusations against cruisers unaccompanied by evidence.

I never indicated that the cruisers themselves would be printing the coffee cards but unknowing purchasing them online from people who do print them.

Can you come up with a better explanation as to why Princess abruptly discontinued their old system?

Other than pure greed.

[Wehwalt]

I never indicated that the cruisers themselves would be printing the coffee cards but unknowing purchasing them online from people who do print them.

Can you come up with a better explanation as to why Princess abruptly discontinued their old system?

Other than pure greed.

 

Pure greed, or "revenue factors" is quite enough.

 

Or to give an equally likely theory: maybe Royal Caribbean was sending drones over Princess ships dropping coffee cards a la Operation Bernhard in WWII ...

[Pierlesscruisers]

How are they getting cheated? As far as I can tell we pay for 15 punches and get 15 cups of coffee.

 

If they were getting cheated one would think they would have told their customers they are changing for this reason.

 

If someone pays for a card that is good for 15 items that has no time limit on redemption and the rules change after the fact (e.g. after purchase) to where there is a time limit on redemption, then the purchaser is cheated out of the unpurchased items. That seems pretty evident to me. Now, if the seller wants to change the rules for future purchases, that is a different matter. In that situation, there should be some visible way to tell the difference between the old item and the new item with the old rules applying to the old card and the new rules applying to the new card. In that situation, everybody gets exacty what they paid for and all's fair, so to speak. While people might not like the new rules, the seller should certainly have the right and the ability to change the rules as is seen fit.

 

Oh, in case you're wondering, no, I'm not a coffee drinker so I've got no dog in this fight.

 

Tom

[floridalover5623]

Are you sure it is not because Princess wanted to convert to a digital type program like the rest of the world? Punch card, really state of the art technology?

 

Do you really think that Princess intended for people to collect unused cards forever and to have loyal customers sell them on EBay?

 

I would be willing to bet that almost all of the completely unused cards were cards received for free with the mini bar exchange. Why would anyone expect an Elite benefit to be saved for a future cruise or sold for money? Use the Elite benefit or lose it seemed like a reasonable expectation no matter how long loyal customers were previously “gaming the situation”

Yes I agree but when they were sold under the understanding they would be good on subsequent cruises, doesn't that seem a little underhanded?

 

Progress is tough and resistance is futile.

Introducing the new technology of being stored on their computer shouldn't have anything to do with the past coffee cards, no matter how they were acquired.

The new system could have worked along with the old punch cards.....except for the fact that some old counterfeit cards would keep appearing forever.

[floridalover5623]

If someone pays for a card that is good for 15 items that has no time limit on redemption and the rules change after the fact (e.g. after purchase) to where there is a time limit on redemption, then the purchaser is cheated out of the unpurchased items. That seems pretty evident to me. Now, if the seller wants to change the rules for future purchases, that is a different matter. In that situation, there should be some visible way to tell the difference between the old item and the new item with the old rules applying to the old card and the new rules applying to the new card. In that situation, everybody gets exacty what they paid for and all's fair, so to speak. While people might not like the new rules, the seller should certainly have the right and the ability to change the rules as is seen fit.

 

Oh, in case you're wondering, no, I'm not a coffee drinker so I've got no dog in this fight.

 

Tom

Seems simple enough to me.

Is your credit card company allowed to raise they rates without first sending out notification of a change? :evilsmile: