blowing off steam

[thmpsn]

There are several ways at looking at this issue. My opinion is that when someone gives you a gift, it should not require you to spend more money. Would your friend give you one shoe as a gift and expect you to buy the matching one?

Of course, most everyone who can afford to cruise can afford the extra money to buy a better bottle of wine, but is that what the TA intended? In the past, we have always been able to get a bottle of wine for $20. That may have changed in recent times. But as long as there is a bottle of wine available for $20, then that is what is the intended gift. If I am not happy with this particular wine, I am free to add the money to buy my choice of wine. I wouldn't complain if I had to add to the $20 to get what I preferred to drink. Let's remember that a TA doesn't make a great deal of net income from a booking and if he/she thinks enough of me to give me a $20 certificate towards a wine of my choice, I am grateful and happy. I have encountered other people on some of my cruises that have received nothing from their TA.

Again, there is more than one way to think about this issue. By the way, I have no problem discussing this or most any issue with reference to cruising. That is what these boards are for. If this issue irks you, then you are free to skip over it and go on to the next issue. Everyone should be able to discuss what concerns them about cruising without encountering hostility.

Karon

[Colo Cruiser]

There are several ways at looking at this issue. My opinion is that when someone gives you a gift, it should not require you to spend more money. Would your friend give you one shoe as a gift and expect you to buy the matching one?

Of course, most everyone who can afford to cruise can afford the extra money to buy a better bottle of wine, but is that what the TA intended? In the past, we have always been able to get a bottle of wine for $20. That may have changed in recent times. But as long as there is a bottle of wine available for $20, then that is what is the intended gift. If I am not happy with this particular wine, I am free to add the money to buy my choice of wine. I wouldn't complain if I had to add to the $20 to get what I preferred to drink. Let's remember that a TA doesn't make a great deal of net income from a booking and if he/she thinks enough of me to give me a $20 certificate towards a wine of my choice, I am grateful and happy. I have encountered other people on some of my cruises that have received nothing from their TA.

Again, there is more than one way to think about this issue. By the way, I have no problem discussing this or most any issue with reference to cruising. That is what these boards are for. If this issue irks you, then you are free to skip over it and go on to the next issue. Everyone should be able to discuss what concerns them about cruising without encountering hostility.

Karon

 

I disagree, I look it as money towards what I really want. ;)

[sun&sea]

Oh yessssssssss! Venting/blowing off steam requires listening. Preferably with the remote by your side, your eyes on the football game, and a beer in your hand. You are the ventee, so the ventor won't notice unless you try to understand what they are venting about. Taken from Marraige Survival Guid, Chapter 1-15 or years 1-15:D

 

Just a thought. When someone blows off steam (as the title indicates), it's not meant to be understood. IMOP, venting/blowing off steam only require others to look, listen and nod, when it's safe:D When in doubt but expect to say something, politely say yes dear:)

 

This is an art, few people ever perfect! Most people spend their energy rushing in to "fix" the situation or "scold" the ventee!!!! Thanks for your words of wisdom.;)

 

Janet

[jfv379]

It's kind of like someone sending you a Christmas present in the mail as C.O.D. :)

 

 

Would that be COD for the shipping charges only?:confused:

[Casey12]

It probably is a group amenity. I had a similar one last month. We put the money towards a more expensive bottle of wine.

[billie5]

Thank goodness for all the contributors who have opened my eyes to my own failings.

 

I just gave a dinner gift certificate to the gentleman who helps care for my disabled son. Oh my, it never occurred to me that if he and his wife overspend the amount, they will have to pay the difference and it will no longer be a gift.

 

Even worse, I sent $500 to my daughter to help pay for her flight home for Christmas. (She is posted abroad with the State Dept.) Of course, I was not sure exactly how much the flight will cost. Suppose it costs $504. How terrible -- I thought the money was a sort of pre-Christmas gift, but if she has to spend $4, I am afraid she will vent her frustrations at me.

 

Well, perhaps I just don't understand the Christmas spirit, but I have been thinking of getting a new laptop, so if anyone would like to send me the first $300 toward the laptop, I promise to defy convention and truly thank you for your kind gift. Even if the laptop costs me an additional $1000. Just my wild side I suppose. :)

 

Bill

[WeBeGone]

That $20 voucher came out of the TA's commission and was a GIFT. For you to grouch about it is just unbelievable. Glad I'm not your TA.

[yorky]

That $20 voucher came out of the TA's commission and was a GIFT. For you to grouch about it is just unbelievable. Glad I'm not your TA.

 

I remember when a cruise was a holiday of a lifetime. sadly all I see when I cruise now is people moaning about every little thing. The point I was trying to make in my postings was that we should just enjoy our wonderful, privileged holidays and let the little things that really don't matter go.

[spongerob]

I hear you, Yorky. Everything we have is fleeting. But that doesn't stop people looking a gift horse in the mouth.

[zguyturbo]

We have been given a wine voucher twice by our TA for two different cruises. When we went to dinner we asked our waiter how to redeem. He said they had a special label wine and would we like white or red. Have to admit that it wasn't very good wine but we made the best of it and enjoyed it. If we wanted something special or our favorite, we ordered it from the available wine selection. We have noticed that prices have increased somewhat over the past three years, including duty free and room service. The one thing we have noticed of late is the reduced pricing on cruises...:) more than likely due to the economic downturn that is affecting so many of us.

[CruisenLexie]

It is amazing how people can read a posting and come away with totally different intrepretations and people sure like to jump on and rip somebody a new one. The person talked about a situation that happened. He said it may have been a communication problem. Had the waiter came to them and explained how it works like they did to zguyturbo I doubt he would have posted anything here because he would have understood what he received and he would't have needed to blow off any steam. That was the point of the post. The OP wasn't complaining about the gift. The OP wasn't ungrateful for the gift. Lighten up and quit thinking the worst about people.

[unboringuy]

kooljamming, you always seem to be the voice of reason. I wish there were more like you.

[bhopal21]

We had a card in our cabin also for a bottle of wine. I just called room service and told them I had the voucher, she asked me the value $20 and then sent a bottle of white wine in a ice bucket and 2 wine glasses to our cabin. I never got charged any extra.

 

Our friends had one also and they used theirs at dinner but paid the extra for a better bottle of wine.

 

Our cruise was on the Star 2 wks ago.

 

We have had those before and it works as above. Simply call room service tell them that you have a $20 wine voucher and presto it will be delivered.

 

Those certificates are not for use in the dining room/bar areas but for your stateroom

 

Mike:)

[Leejnd4]

Just a thought. When someone blows off steam (as the title indicates), it's not meant to be understood. IMOP, venting/blowing off steam only require others to look, listen and nod, when it's safe:D When in doubt but expect to say something, politely say yes dear:)

 

Will you marry me? Oh cr*p - I forgot, I'm already married. Well, will you please give a lesson or two to my DH in the fine art of being a ventee???

 

Sometimes we don't want someone to FIX it - we just want them to AGREE with us about how UNFAIR life is! :o

 

(Not that I agree with the OP, who I think, along with many others in here, is making a huge deal over a few measly bucks....I sure wouldn't look a gift horse worth $20 in the mouth...but if it made him feel better to vent, then good for him, and we should just be politely listening...)

[Sea Hag]

There are several ways at looking at this issue. My opinion is that when someone gives you a gift, it should not require you to spend more money. Would your friend give you one shoe as a gift and expect you to buy the matching one?

Karon

 

I agree with Karon here.

 

Now, would you all like to hear something that I think's pretty funny? You would? Okay.

 

We'd never had a "special event" on a cruise before, but on our last one we had both our 20th anniversary and my DH's 60th birthday. I put those both in the cruise personalizer, and they both showed up.

 

The anniversary was completely forgotten. Oh well. Big deal.

 

But my husband got two "birthday gifts!" The first was a 20% discount at the spa, and the second was a 10% discount on diamonds in the gift shop. I doubt we can afford many "gifts" like those! :D

[kooljamming]

Will you marry me? Oh cr*p - I forgot, I'm already married. Well, will you please give a lesson or two to my DH in the fine art of being a ventee???

 

Sometimes we don't want someone to FIX it - we just want them to AGREE with us about how UNFAIR life is! :o

 

(Not that I agree with the OP, who I think, along with many others in here, is making a huge deal over a few measly bucks....I sure wouldn't look a gift horse worth $20 in the mouth...but if it made him feel better to vent, then good for him, and we should just be politely listening...)[/quote]

 

If the title was anything else, I would be the first in line to say, get a life. Even on line, it's nice to have someone politely listen. Most of us already know the only thing you say after or about getting a gift is "THANK YOU".:D

BTW, thank you Princess for allowing me to rebook after the price drop. I might find it necessary to 'vent' if there is another price that that you won't allow me to take advantage of.:D

[kittikat]

forgot to mention that we also had a voucher for a 6 by 7 free picture also. Now that's where it gets tricky!!! They are only good for the "goofy" pictures that they take in ports or around the ship. If you want it for anything else, they just give you a $10 credit towards the larger pictures or formal night pictures.

 

Our travel agent also presented my sister and I each a voucher for a 5 by 7 picture. When we tried to redeem them we were told they did not have 5 by 7 pictures, that we could not get any dollars off the formal night photos, because those were not photos, they were "portraits", but we could have ONE 8 by 10.

8 by 10 is the size of the sheet of paper, our picture is at the top and a pre-printed map is at the bottom. We haven't decided yet who gets to keep it.:rolleyes:

I think the OP's point is, if the Travel Agents are kind enough to gift us, the gift should not be a hassle to receive from Princess.

[caribill]

Those certificates are not for use in the dining room/bar areas but for your stateroom

 

Mike:)

 

 

We have always presented these in the dining room. No problem at all.

[JLC@SD]

I don't know if this is a matter of miscommunication, stupidity, or what. It has to do with getting an onboard gift (purchased by TA from the cruise line).

 

We entered our Ruby stateroom for the first time on 12/6. There waited a voucher made out by the ship stating that our [named] TA was giving us red/white wine in the value of $20.00.

 

We eventually called room service because my wife had her eye on a $19.95 wine package. We we told the voucher could not be used on wine packages.

 

We eventually brought the voucher to dinner and asked if we could each have a glass of wine or two. We figured the voucher would cover it. (And we didn't expect change!) The waiter told us we couldn't order one or two glasses of wine, only a bottle. But the voucher did not state "bottle."

 

But the voucher didn't say "package" or "glass" of wine either. If I got a gift certificate that said white / red wine.......I would assume it would be wine...the stuff in a bottle.

 

You should have ordered the $24 bottle and sold one of your table mates a glass for $4.....and what was left would have been a $20 bottle.....:D

[bongaree]

Oh yessssssssss! Venting/blowing off steam requires listening. Preferably with the remote by your side, your eyes on the football game, and a beer in your hand. You are the ventee, so the ventor won't notice unless you try to understand what they are venting about. Taken from Marraige Survival Guid, Chapter 1-15 or years 1-15:D

 

 

Are you sure you're not an Aussie Bloke!!!!:):):)

[NoGvmnt]

I don't know if this is a matter of miscommunication, stupidity, or what. It has to do with getting an onboard gift (purchased by TA from the cruise line).

 

We entered our Ruby stateroom for the first time on 12/6. There waited a voucher made out by the ship stating that our [named] TA was giving us red/white wine in the value of $20.00.

 

We eventually called room service because my wife had her eye on a $19.95 wine package. We we told the voucher could not be used on wine packages.

 

We eventually brought the voucher to dinner and asked if we could each have a glass of wine or two. We figured the voucher would cover it. (And we didn't expect change!) The waiter told us we couldn't order one or two glasses of wine, only a bottle. But the voucher did not state "bottle."

 

We looked at the bottles on the wine list. The cheapest was about $24-25. I was annoyed because I don't think my TA intended that we spend money in order to redeem our gift voucher.

 

This was not a department store gift card with some leftover value where you end up buying some socks to use it.

 

I called over the head waiter. He apologized and said he would take care of it. I felt relieved. Then he came back about 30 seconds later and said we had to buy something of GREATER value than the voucher.

 

I was so annoyed, but felt I would get the party line at Passenger Services. So I never went down there.

 

This is really too bad. I wish I hated Princess. Then I could just hate them even more. But I like Princess.

 

My TA has sent cruise line items to us before, that were waiting in our stateroom. I haven't sailed Princess too often. Maybe they don't know how to sell gifts to TAs without tricking passengers into spending money.

 

Or maybe this was just a miscommunication.

 

If I were you I'd immediately turn off the Auto-tip then go P in the pools.:D

 

Jim

[bhopal21]

We have always presented these in the dining room. No problem at all.

 

I think the last I remember seeing stated on the certificate to "call room service for redemption", maybe you just have been lucky.

 

Mike:)

[Ron n Jon]

Yes, we have no bananas... The point we are gathering is that Princess should be updating their list of available gifts and their prices to our travel agents. That makes sense to us. And while taking the time to print cards reflecting the gift and it's value, then perhaps a line or two could well be added to specify under what conditions the gift may be redeemed.

[kooljamming]

If I were you I'd immediately turn off the Auto-tip then go P in the pools.:D

 

Jim

 

The ONLY thing you should offer to someone venting/blowing off steam or PMSing for that case (all the same) is an ear or a bottle of beer. Well in this case they have "whine" so maybe some cheese.:D