RCL Coffee Cards: Beware FALSE ADVERTISING!

[70KToM]

So we purchased the Royal Caribbean coffee card which on the website clearly states that you can use it for any coffee at their lattetudes cafe. It lists no restrictions or other limitations. Yet once we purchased it and arrived, and ordered a grande coffee, we discovered that they took two punches out of our card for the coffee. We asked why, and they explained that each size is a punch. Despite the fact that the website says nothing about only being allowed to get the smallest size. It just says any coffee.

 

The site also specifically says that you can get iced coffee. Except iced coffees are only available in a grande or larger. So when we tried to get a tall iced coffee the next day we discovered that that would also be TWO punches because they can't make it any smaller. What the....

 

This is very clear and illegal false advertising. Some things are actually more expensive if you were to use the card for a grande than if you paid!! We clarified this with the ship's coffee manager and he acknowledged this but said that's still their policy. We asked if he could show us these limitations in writing and he said that it is not in writing anywhere...

 

Has anyone had this same experience on other ships or is something wrong with this one's policies? We're on Enchantment.

 

 

[basenji56]

What ship was this?  I used my free drink benefit for Diamond status to get Grande lattes with an extra shot of espresso on Odyssey last month.  Only one drink credit charged.

 

I agree that it should only be one punch for a grande. 

 

 

[ARandomTraveler]

Yeah this is discussed on here in depth every time someone asks about the coffee card. There was a post about this exact thing around 2 weeks ago, it's unfortunate that you didn't read these boards at that time before buying the card. 

 

They should advertise that there are different punches taken for different sizes, but they aren't really false advertising. You COULD use your card for coffee, it just wasn't as good of a deal as you expected it to be. 
 

Here's the thread where this was discussed most recently (it was on page 21).

 

Edited December 3, 2022 by ARandomTraveler

[Jimbo]

• Everyone of Royal's policy needs to have one word added to it but they rarely do "But"

[LuCruise]

I've heard about the double punches, but thanks for the head's up about an iced coffee. It's something I would pick up with our coffee card on our upcoming cruise but didn't' realize it only comes in a larger size.  Wonder if it's the same with the frappuccinos?

[firefly333]

I knew but only word of mouth the coffee cards do more than one punch for large sizes. I never thought about it but they should make it clearer somewhere before you buy.

[BND]

1 hour ago, basenji56 said:

What ship was this?  I used my free drink benefit for Diamond status to get Grande lattes with an extra shot of espresso on Odyssey last month.  Only one drink credit charged.

 

I agree that it should only be one punch for a grande. 

 

 

That's different. Your Diamond free drinks cover drinks by price, not by size.  The card is a punch per size so a small is one, medium (grande) is two.  The first time we bought the card onboard several years ago, they punched one per drink.  They pretty quickly changed that.

[Biker19]

12 minutes ago, BND said:

They pretty quickly changed that.

What you may experience, like the OP, varies across the fleet and time. We have plenty of anecdotal reports that some do indeed get any coffee for one punch. The coffee card is one of the very few items in the planner which has the same cost as on board - hence the recommendation is always to wait till on board, ask the punch number question to the barista and then buy if it makes sense.

[fweegy]

Ahhhhh, the age old coffee card problem. This has been a ongoing RC problem since Noah made the ark. There isn't a established policy with RC concerning one punch vs. two. I've been on ships were a large was one punch and other ships were it was 2. I've even been on cruises where the morning dude charged one punch for a large and the afternoon guy charged two. It's a jungle out there folks, act accordingly.

[not-enough-cruising]

Old news, the coffee card issue has been talked to death nearly as much as chair hogs and daily gratuity. 

[HicksRA]

I had a long conversation with guest services and the the F&B manager on Vision one time about this showing him the printed description.  He refused to relent, so I handed him the card and had them credit back to my account. 
They are clearly aware of it on the ship but refuse to honor it. 

[Mikew0805]

Yes this has been ongoing for some time. I used to purchase this, and got around their non sense each and every sailing.

 

Pointing out the terms, conditions, and wording in the advertised item to the F&B mgr/Hotel Director worked every time for me. They would write on my card, and ask me not to say anything to other guests onboard. This was not a problem, as it is not my job to make sure other people are not being taken for a ride.

 

I do not have to worry about it anymore, since I use my loyalty vouchers for coffee now. 

[70KToM]

44 minutes ago, Mikew0805 said:

Yes this has been ongoing for some time. I used to purchase this, and got around their non sense each and every sailing.

 

Pointing out the terms, conditions, and wording in the advertised item to the F&B mgr/Hotel Director worked every time for me. They would write on my card, and ask me not to say anything to other guests onboard. This was not a problem, as it is not my job to make sure other people are not being taken for a ride.

 

I do not have to worry about it anymore, since I use my loyalty vouchers for coffee now. 

Precisely what we did, we took the terms and conditions along and pointed that out. They said it's unwritten. I asked again, is it in writing anywhere at all? They said no, but it was the policy and they would not relent.

 

That is absolutely false advertising, and it's sure sounds like enough people have run into this problem and enough people could be found for a class action suit. Not sure that's the kind of trouble I want to go through for some dumb coffee card, but it's clearly false advertising that has misled many people.

[basenji56]

3 hours ago, Biker19 said:

What you may experience, like the OP, varies across the fleet and time. We have plenty of anecdotal reports that some do indeed get any coffee for one punch. The coffee card is one of the very few items in the planner which has the same cost as on board - hence the recommendation is always to wait till on board, ask the punch number question to the barista and then buy if it makes sense.

And maybe tip $5.00 when you buy it?

 

[Sunshine3601]

5 hours ago, basenji56 said:

What ship was this?  I used my free drink benefit for Diamond status to get Grande lattes with an extra shot of espresso on Odyssey last month.  Only one drink credit charged.

 

I agree that it should only be one punch for a grande. 

 

 

I go the diamond lounge for my free specialty coffees, no iced lattes, but make your own cappuccino or lattes with as many shots of espresso without using a voucher at their self serve machines. 

[Ocean Boy]

This has been an issue since the card was invented. RCI has to be aware of it yet they don't fix the problem. Sorry, but that is pretty shady.

[basenji56]

6 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I go the diamond lounge for my free specialty coffees, no iced lattes, but make your own cappuccino or lattes with as many shots of espresso without using a voucher at their self serve machines. 

I would imagine that each ship is different but when I went to the Diamond lounge on Allure, I found the coffee to be terrible.  But, yes, that would be a good plan if they had decent coffee.

 

[Deeliteful]

52 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

I would imagine that each ship is different but when I went to the Diamond lounge on Allure, I found the coffee to be terrible.  But, yes, that would be a good plan if they had decent coffee.

 

Agree, I got coffee only once in the DL on the Jewel last month and it was undrinkable 😕

[LB_NJ]

First the coffee card is supposed to only be used for espresso-based drinks.

 

It makes sense if you buy single espresso shot Cappuccinos & Lattes. That is what I drink so I buy the card if the cruise is long enough.

[BND]

2 hours ago, basenji56 said:

And maybe tip $5.00 when you buy it?

 

Or maybe tipping each time you get a drink would be sufficient.

[basenji56]

32 minutes ago, BND said:

Or maybe tipping each time you get a drink would be sufficient.

But you have to be careful to tip before they do 2-3 punches to the card. 

[Ocean Boy]

3 hours ago, basenji56 said:

I would imagine that each ship is different but when I went to the Diamond lounge on Allure, I found the coffee to be terrible.  But, yes, that would be a good plan if they had decent coffee.

 

When a purchase is made from the RCI website the application of said purchase should be standard across the fleet or the website should specify the nuances of what you are buying according to each ship.

[BND]

1 hour ago, basenji56 said:

But you have to be careful to tip before they do 2-3 punches to the card. 

Um, why?  

[basenji56]

9 minutes ago, BND said:

Um, why?  

Because once they punch  your card, they can’t unpunch it later. 

[Jasukkie]

It's absolutely false advertising and they absolutely do not care.