No exchanges anymore for mini bar to coffee?

[startedwithamouse]

3 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

You can bring water, but it has to be canned or in a box. No more bottles carried on but they will sell you a case of bottled water.  
 

You’re correct about it being their sandbox.  We need to be careful and not shoot ourself in the foot while we show them.  

But canned or boxed waters are expensive and not readily available. Cheaper to pay the $14 and buy a case of bottled water or $7 for half a case on the cruise personalizer.

Edited March 11, 2023 by startedwithamouse

[MsSoCalCruiser]

12 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

But canned or boxed waters are expensive and not readily available. Cheaper to pay the $14 and buy a case of bottled water or $7 for half a case on the cruise personalizer.

I could find the water, but I don’t want to deal with carrying it on. I will carry on a 12 pack of non-caffeinated soda though, but that is in addition to my plus package. They don’t have a great choice of decaffeinated sodas.  

[MissP22]

2 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

You can bring water, but it has to be canned or in a box. No more bottles carried on but they will sell you a case of bottled water.  

You don't really believe that hype, do you?

[gottagocit]

I can’t understand why more people don’t bring along a refillable bottle like those used when hiking and fill them with water onboard vs lugging a case of single use ones and contributing to the plastic waste onboard. Or buying them from the ship even. Water is free onboard at stations in the buffet and any lounge etc. The wide mouth bottles can easily be washed inside.

 

I’m no serious green eco tree hugger but this one is pretty easy for us to utilize when cruising. 

 

[Sea Hag]

11 minutes ago, gottagocit said:

I can’t understand why more people don’t bring along a refillable bottle like those used when hiking and fill them with water onboard vs lugging a case of single use ones and contributing to the plastic waste onboard. Or buying them from the ship even. Water is free onboard at stations in the buffet and any lounge etc. The wide mouth bottles can easily be washed inside.

 

I’m no serious green eco tree hugger but this one is pretty easy for us to utilize when cruising. 

 

My stainless steel "sippy cup" goes everywhere with me. Much better than buying water in single-use bottles.

[jagoffee]

On 3/9/2023 at 11:17 AM, kywildcatfanone said:

After thinking about this a bit, they should offer the non alcoholic drink package with the wifi and  tips for $40, would make it more tolerable.  They should have a plus package for non drinkers.

IMO that is an excellent idea.  I think that is exactly what Princess has in mind.  Purchasing any beverage package (except the fountain drink one) makes no sense without the Plus or Premier bundle.  Might as well buy the bundle and offer a non alcoholic bundle option as well.
 

I wonder how many cruisers actually purchased the Coffee and Grounds package?  Princess would have those numbers.  I suspect a significant  majority of the packages were mini  bar trade in and/or part of the Plus or Premier bundles.
 

Princess might want to determine the cost of a mini bar set up (they know) and offer a small/equivalent OBC amount as a trade in option.  Or perhaps just eliminate the mini bar set up benefit and apply the equivalent extra  OBC.

 

Those of us that  have the Plus package are not getting a lot of real value from  the mini bar set ups.  (Except for can soda - marginally)   Those of you that traded for two Coffee packages were receiving a much better deal.  Of course since Princess has eliminated the Coffee and Grounds package, it cannot be offered as a trade in.  
 

Which is the real issue.

 

 

Edited March 11, 2023 by jagoffee

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, jagoffee said:

Those of us that  have the Plus package are not getting a lot of real value from  the mini bar set ups.  (Except for can soda - marginally)   Those of you that traded for two Coffee packages were receiving a much better deal.  Of course since Princess has eliminated the Coffee and Grounds package, it cannot be offered as a trade in.

Don't understand the argument since guests who booked with the Plus Fare got the beverages included with the New Grounds Coffee package.  Seems to me it was redundant - unless the guest was designating a non-Plus guest to be the recipient/beneficiary of the coffees.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

4 hours ago, gottagocit said:

I can’t understand why more people don’t bring along a refillable bottle like those used when hiking and fill them with water onboard vs lugging a case of single use ones and contributing to the plastic waste onboard. Or buying them from the ship even. Water is free onboard at stations in the buffet and any lounge etc. The wide mouth bottles can easily be washed inside.

 

I’m no serious green eco tree hugger but this one is pretty easy for us to utilize when cruising. 

 

I can tell you why I don’t.  Remember the refillable cups that they used to give us with the soda package? I would forget mine somewhere each and every time.  Poof, gone.  That’s why.  😂 

[jagoffee]

14 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Don't understand the argument since guests who booked with the Plus Fare got the beverages included with the New Grounds Coffee package.  Seems to me it was redundant - unless the guest was designating a non-Plus guest to be the recipient/beneficiary of the coffees.

My point was that for those with the Plus package get little value from the Elite free mini bar set up as they already have everything included.  Yes, it is redundant for many of us.  
Those without a package can get the full value from the mini bar set up and/or from the previously trading option of the Coffee and Grounds package. 

[roadster08]

25 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I can tell you why I don’t.  Remember the refillable cups that they used to give us with the soda package? I would forget mine somewhere each and every time.  Poof, gone.  That’s why.  😂 

I used to have the same problem with my kids. 

[coo359a2]

On the Regal now., I was able to swap alcohol for alcohol and any of the waters and sodas for what I wanted - 10 diet cokes.  Didn't get the swap out till Monday.   Not everyone  (Elite) received the same alcohol.  Friends received 4 bottles of a brandy along with vodka and gin.  DH received 4 Dewars, vodka and gin. 

 

Coffee and hot chocolate in the buffet is free as it always has been. DH says the coffee in the buffet is good or it is to him.  Self serve if you want to and hot chocolate also available. 

 

Asked the Loyalty and Events Manager about swapping for the coffee "card" and she said it is no longer available.  Friends also called room service and was also told the coffee card swap is no more.

[Happiest when cruising]

11 minutes ago, coo359a2 said:

On the Regal now., I was able to swap alcohol for alcohol and any of the waters and sodas for what I wanted - 10 diet cokes.  Didn't get the swap out till Monday.   Not everyone  (Elite) received the same alcohol.  Friends received 4 bottles of a brandy along with vodka and gin.  DH received 4 Dewars, vodka and gin. 

 

Coffee and hot chocolate in the buffet is free as it always has been. DH says the coffee in the buffet is good or it is to him.  Self serve if you want to and hot chocolate also available. 

 

Asked the Loyalty and Events Manager about swapping for the coffee "card" and she said it is no longer available.  Friends also called room service and was also told the coffee card swap is no more.

I love that people keep trying to get the coffee card swap back.
I do feel bad for the staff that have to deal with the question, over and over. Maybe it will be asked enough times that Princess will change it back, just in time for my cruise next month. 😉

[MissP22]

6 hours ago, Happiest when cruising said:

I love that people keep trying to get the coffee card swap back.
I do feel bad for the staff that have to deal with the question, over and over. Maybe it will be asked enough times that Princess will change it back, just in time for my cruise next month. 😉

Maybe not in a months time but if enough people keep complaining it might reverse some time in the future.

[pilot]

12 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Maybe not in a months time but if enough people keep complaining it might reverse some time in the future.

I agree. Let them know if you are not happy with the change. 

[jagoffee]

20 hours ago, Happiest when cruising said:

I love that people keep trying to get the coffee card swap back.
I do feel bad for the staff that have to deal with the question, over and over. Maybe it will be asked enough times that Princess will change it back, just in time for my cruise next month. 😉

Perhaps Princess could do a better job of communicating their changes.  Also might help to remove references  on their Website to the Coffee and Grounds package that has been eliminated.  Can swap for something that is not available.  

[gottagocit]

1 hour ago, jagoffee said:

Perhaps Princess could do a better job of communicating their changes…

I don’t think there’s any question about that!

[Princess Chatterer]

On 3/9/2023 at 3:31 PM, Steelers36 said:

 

 

 

voljeep is quite right here. Keeping a punch was not supposed to give a guest free coffee for every cruise forward.  Each coffee card - when they had the physical cards - was supposed to have ship and voyage written on it and then staff should be checking the card and only allowing its use for the specialty punches.  So, anyone getting free regular coffee was gaming the system.

 

I also don't understand your complaint, yogamom, because the physical cards have been gone from the ships for a long time now and the New Grounds package was virtual (tied to cabin account via cruise card and medallion).  With that newer system, there was no way for abuse of getting free coffee on next voyage.

 

 

I can certainly empathize with guests lamenting the loss of a coffee package and having to buy a costly zero-alcohol package - or, in effect, go with the Plus cruise fare if really want a package deal.

 

If you traded your mini-bar for physical coffee cards more often than not the physical card came to you unsigned and undated on the back.  Those could be gifted or sold on eBay or held forever for future free brewed coffee or hot chocolate.  That’s partially why Princess ended the physical coffee card program.

[gottagocit]

1 hour ago, Princess Chatterer said:

…That’s partially why Princess ended the physical coffee card program.

But why did they end the digital version that completely eliminated that issue did it not? It’s pretty clear it was to sell more the beverage packages. Problem is they didn’t adequately consider the fallout from that terrible decision. And don’t get me started on how it was done…

[startedwithamouse]

1 hour ago, Princess Chatterer said:

If you traded your mini-bar for physical coffee cards more often than not the physical card came to you unsigned and undated on the back.  Those could be gifted or sold on eBay or held forever for future free brewed coffee or hot chocolate.  That’s partially why Princess ended the physical coffee card program.

People were printing them and selling online also. 

[Guest ldtr]

16 minutes ago, gottagocit said:

But why did they end the digital version that completely eliminated that issue did it not? It’s pretty clear it was to sell more the beverage packages. Problem is they didn’t adequately consider the fallout from that terrible decision. And don’t get me started on how it was done…

There were some issues with how the coffee card showed up on the waiters system. Waiters in the bars would confuse it with drink package. Ran into that issue on several cruises after the restart. Also on recent cruises, with drinks packages becoming more common the IC staff often did not record the coffees ordered. So Princess may have decided easier to get rid of than fix the issues of how it fit into medallion system. It was the only package for X drinks instead of per day.

[Steelers36]

17 minutes ago, ldtr said:

It was the only package for X drinks instead of per day.

And that was a dumb and unfair way (for both PCL and guest) to do it.  Having the same number of coffees for a 5-night voyage versus an 18-night voyage doesn't make sense.

[cr8tiv1]

Princess threw out the baby with the bathwater.  The coffee card was a very successful no nonsense package.  The could have modified it.  They could have changed the amount.  They could have.....but they didn't.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

7 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Princess threw out the baby with the bathwater.  The coffee card was a very successful no nonsense package.  The could have modified it.  They could have changed the amount.  They could have.....but they didn't.

I agree with you.  They could have raised the price a few dollars.  I know I will not purchase the non-alcohol package for $40 a day.  That’s crazy high for fountain soda and specialty coffee. They lost my money on that one.

[MissP22]

6 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I agree with you.  They could have raised the price a few dollars.  I know I will not purchase the non-alcohol package for $40 a day.  That’s crazy high for fountain soda and specialty coffee. They lost my money on that one.

So true. Now they've raised the prices on all packages so high that we don't consider any of them any more. 

I realize that I'm probably along with my thinking but they've gotten past what I consider reasonable and are forcing people to overindulge just to break even.

[datone]

4 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

I realize that I'm probably along with my thinking but they've gotten past what I consider reasonable and are forcing people to overindulge just to break even.

No - you are not alone.   Not going to buy any packages either.   Don't drink a lot of alcohol, only drink the odd diet soda which they don't have on board so just not worth it for me.