Confused with Coffee Card use

Fast question....I see you can purchase the coffee card prior to the cruise...and also the water package.,can you use your onboard free credits to pay for it, or do you have to "pay" for it, without your on board credit.......is the price different on the cruise? or the same?

My understanding and experience--the water package is not offered on board. If you want it, you need to purchase it in advance. Coffee cards are the same price whether purchased on board or in advance. If you buy it in advance, you pay with your credit card. If you buy it on the ship, you will make a crew member very happy (they get credit for selling it to you) and you can pay for it with your OBC.

Fast question....I see you can purchase the coffee card prior to the cruise...and also the water package.,can you use your onboard free credits to pay for it, or do you have to "pay" for it, without your on board credit.......is the price different on the cruise? or the same?

Water package is only available prior to cruise but coffee card can be purchased on board and most likely you can use your onboard credits.

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Hello Roxie,

 

May I suggest this? Just get two coffee cards. It amounts to a buck and a quarter a day on a 28 day cruise. You both can have a latte every other day and all of the fresh brewed, really good teas and hot chocolates that you want. It truly is a good deal for for those that enjoy a better cup of coffee, tea hot chocolate and the occasional specialty coffee. I was able to gift several cruisers with coffee that would otherwise go on their charge with the extra punches on my older card. I got the idea from someone else on the board. Getting the two cards really removes the guess work out of the equation.

As an Aussie, I always have a smile at the term "specialty coffee". To us, Cappuccino's, Latte's, Flat White's, etc are just normal coffee. That's all you will find in any cafe or restaurant here. When doing a tour of Canada and the US a few months ago, the Aussies in the group were always harrassing the poor tour guide as to where we could get "proper" coffee. In the end she was telling us before we had to ask! :D Then I had to giggle when in New York, I was walking down 8th Avenue and came across a cafe with a sign in the window "Yes we do have proper coffee". What really amazed me though was that when I could actually find a Flat White, it usually cost more than the Latte! Not sure how that works!

I found the coffee (both that stuff in the buffet and the brewed variety) on Diamond Princess to be undrinkable, and it would have been a coffee-free cruise for me if not for the Coffee Card. HAL and Celebrity I find to be a little better. At least it's drinkable, but to call it coffee is criminal!! ;p

Is the brewed coffee at the espresso stand far superior to what is offered at the buffet? I love dark roast coffee in the morning.

Do they do a punch for iced coffee or is that considered regular coffee?

I only drink ice coffee and never received a punch for it...:):):)

Tony

I only drink ice coffee and never received a punch for it...:):):)

Tony

I was "lessoned" on the difference between ice coffee and ice coffee.

One is brewed coffee over ice (no punches)...that is...if you are on the current voyage and have unlimited free brewed coffee.

The other one is expresso coffee with ice (one punch).

I was "lessoned" on the difference between ice coffee and ice coffee.

 

One is brewed coffee over ice (no punches)...that is...if you are on the current voyage and have unlimited free brewed coffee.

 

The other one is expresso coffee with ice (one punch).

Thanks for the info. I never had espresso coffee with ice. On my next cruise I will give it a try thanks.

I have coffee cards to use up. Everyone is saying Princess is going to make the old cards expire :mad:.

Tony

Lets clarify something. There is free coffee/tea available in the lido buffet area (24 hours a day) which is completely free. The coffee card is only for use at the International Cafe and Amuleto Cafe. When you purchase a coffee card it will be marked (on the back) with your ship and voyage number/date. You can use that card for unlimited coffee and tea at those two venues. Unlike the Lido and Main Dining Rooms where coffee is brewed in very large machines, the cafes brew small batches of coffee...so theoretically it is higher quality. The cards also have 15 punch areas which are used for specialty coffee/teas purchased at only the International Cafe (or Amuleto Cafe on ships that have that venue).

What is confusing some new folks is likely all the discussion about end dates. Up until recently, Princess had a policy that a coffee card could only be used for unlimited coffee and tea...on the same voyage where you obtained the card. But if you did not use all the punches, you could simply keep the card and use the punches on future cruises. But now, there are some reports that Princess is putting a time limit (perhaps a year) on how long those punches remain valid. The problem is that most folks actually pay for the cards...so what Princess is doing is essentially end-dating money (similar to the controversy on end dating gift cards).

And to clarify (for new cruisers)...Princess does have various levels in their Captain's Circle (this is a club for those who have cruised on Princess). Once a cruiser reaches the Elite Level, they are entitled to one free stocking (per cruise_ of their cabin mini-bar...which has some beer, soft drinks, and hard booze. Elite folks can opt to trade-in their mini-bar items for either 2 coffee cards....or perhaps a bottle of wine.

Hank

I added the coffee card to my onboard reservations under name but my husband will be the one drinking the coffee. Will he able to use the card?

I added the coffee card to my onboard reservations under name but my husband will be the one drinking the coffee. Will he able to use the card?

yes. There is no name on the card. He will be able to get the free coffee or tea, one cup at a time. And he will be able to get as many lattes at a time as he wishes (charged at a punch for each)

thank you to everyone who responded to my questions.

We are going to wait until we are on board and use our OBC to purchase one card. We will gone 28 days, so we may need to purchase a second card, but I will respond back after our trip.

side note: I was planning to purchase water bottles, but it disappeared from the website, after a day or two it came back on, so I purchased 3 cases - I am bringing powdered lemonade to mix in my own water container. We do not have a drink package. We are also planning to bring one 36 can case of soda with us when we board..

I will report back at the end of the trip whether all of this effort was worth it.

I would like to thank everyone for their responses too. I didn't know there were two types of ice coffee either.

roxievegas......have fun on your trip. I'm assuming you are doing the one this month. I'm doing the 28 day in October. My sister just did the same cruise this past October and had a ball.

Tammy

I added the coffee card to my onboard reservations under name but my husband will be the one drinking the coffee. Will he able to use the card?

We will take it one step further. Most of the time we have used a single coffee card to get both coffee and tea (at the same time) at the International Cafe. On one cruise (a few years ago) the staff at the IC told us we had to use two cards for coffee and tea (at the same time). So DW (who is a tea drinker) simply grabbed a big handful of tea bags from the Lido and carried some with her all the time. At the IC I would get my coffee and she would just ask for a cup of Hot Water :). Although the IC uses a "better name" tea bag....DW claims it tastes no better then the tea available in the Lido. But I do think that the IC coffee is a lot better then the hot dishwater called coffee in the Lido.

Hank

We will take it one step further. Most of the time we have used a single coffee card to get both coffee and tea (at the same time) at the International Cafe. On one cruise (a few years ago) the staff at the IC told us we had to use two cards for coffee and tea (at the same time). So DW (who is a tea drinker) simply grabbed a big handful of tea bags from the Lido and carried some with her all the time. At the IC I would get my coffee and she would just ask for a cup of Hot Water :). Although the IC uses a "better name" tea bag....DW claims it tastes no better then the tea available in the Lido. But I do think that the IC coffee is a lot better then the hot dishwater called coffee in the Lido.

 

Hank

Easy to do...and I'm a heavy duty tea drinker. The tea available in the buffet beverage stations is good tea. They have Lipton plain tea, but also a decent variety of nice teas. And hot water is always available in the IC at no charge.

yes. There is no name on the card. He will be able to get the free coffee or tea' date=' one cup at a time. And he will be able to get as many lattes at a time as he wishes (charged at a punch for each)[/quote']

 

Thank you

I think the brewed coffee is terrible. Buy one card and take your own coffee with a French Press. Put your own coffee in the press and ask the staff to fill with boiling water and give you an extra cup. Works for me !!

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our first princess cruise is coming up and considering getting one coffee card. confused with the wording of "unlimited brewed coffee". My husband likes brewed and I like latte's. If he goes to get me a latte, can he get himself a brewed coffee at the same time, and is he just charged (or one punch) for the latte.

 

we are on a 28 day cruise, and would prefer not to have daily charges for one or two coffees a day on our acct - we are not getting a drink package.

 

if hubby goes to get a coffee for himself, gets a brewed, do they punch the card ?

 

 

 

thank you for any explaination

I just got off the Star. Almost every time I ordered a brewed coffee and hot chocolate they gave me both without punching my card. The only time they punched my card is when I ordered a specialty drink.

I asked them if I can use the card on another cruise and they said yes for the specialty coffees only. The unlimited brewed coffee would not be good. I would have to buy another card for that. Honestly I didn’t think the brewed coffee was that great.

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Lets clarify something. There is free coffee/tea available in the lido buffet area (24 hours a day) which is completely free. The coffee card is only for use at the International Cafe and Amuleto Cafe. ......

Hank

Nope. Those are NOT the only places to use the card. I have used my card for specialty coffee in the main dining room far more often than IC. Only some ships have "Amuleto Cafe. I have also used it for gelato on Royal and Regal.

Nope. Those are NOT the only places to use the card. I have used my card for specialty coffee in the main dining room far more often than IC. Only some ships have "Amuleto Cafe. I have also used it for gelato on Royal and Regal.

The use of a coffee card for gelato has been stopped. You now have to purchase it with your cruise card.

Times are changing. :(

I just got off the Star. Almost every time I ordered a brewed coffee and hot chocolate they gave me both without punching my card. The only time they punched my card is when I ordered a specialty drink.

 

I asked them if I can use the card on another cruise and they said yes for the specialty coffees only. The unlimited brewed coffee would not be good. I would have to buy another card for that. Honestly I didn’t think the brewed coffee was that great.

 

 

 

 

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Just off the Royal and some staff serving you at the IC will tell you your card is good for specialty coffees on future cruises but fail to realize that in fine print on the back of your coffee card there is an expiry date of Dec 31/18. Went to the front desk and they confirmed the expiry date. You need to use all 15 punches in 2018 or you lose them. Many people on our cruise did not realize this.

Just off the Royal and some staff serving you at the IC will tell you your card is good for specialty coffees on future cruises but fail to realize that in fine print on the back of your coffee card there is an expiry date of Dec 31/18. Went to the front desk and they confirmed the expiry date. You need to use all 15 punches in 2018 or you lose them. Many people on our cruise did not realize this.

I noticed the same thing. Possibly they just didn't want to get into the details of explaining that the cards do terminate at a point in time or

perhaps they just wanted to get the sale over with & get to the next passenger since their getting an incentive for each sale. ;);)

Either way they just didn't mention anything about the expiration date.

I consider this unfair to the purchaser not knowing that small but important detail.

Do they have hot chocolate mix in the buffet? I am not a real coffee drinker, but like to use the hot chocolate mix to blend with the hot coffee and make my own mochas.

Do they have hot chocolate mix in the buffet? I am not a real coffee drinker, but like to use the hot chocolate mix to blend with the hot coffee and make my own mochas.

On the Regal & Royal they have free hot chocolate at the buffet & at the IC also free but you have to have a current coffee card.

I did notice that the hot chocolate machines were cleaned out late at night.