Princess Coffee Cards now have expiration dates

Recently Princess seems to be in a race to the bottom..

All the little things in the past that made Princess stand out as a special experience, are slowly drip by drip disappearing. - In the direction the trend is moving where every possible thing is being monetized to get every last possible cent, can you really see that much difference between Princess and NCL ?

 

 

Simply mind boggling that Princess would jeopardize the positive mind set of a repeat multi-thousand dollar customer over making a few extra penny's on left over coffee punches

 

Sad day...

Srpilo

Princess is not racing to the bottom.....their Royal Class ships are magnificent and to us it seems Princess is starting to offer more.....they are very generous with their OBC's and also allow you to stack them.....so some date posted on a little coffee card is not going to get us to bash Princess.....all I can say is wake up and smell the coffee!! :D

I haven't seen this question answered. Are they using new cards with an expiration date line added? This quite likely would negate the value of buying an unsigned card on ebay. Asking for a friend. lol

Personally, I never assumed that Princess meant to sell me a "Free coffee for life" card. It just didn't seem to make good business sense and I figured they made a mistake in labeling/marketing that they would eventually correct. That's not to say I haven't taken advantage of it as long as the ride has lasted but it's no surprise to me they're working to close the loopholes.

It's not free coffee for life; you get unlimited coffee on the cruise for which it was purchased. Then you used to be able to use any of the 15 punches that remain. Once they're all punched, the card is done.

In the past when we used a card without a voyage number or ship name on it, the current voyage number and ship was added when using it the first time

 

 

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The fine print on those cards also stipulates that any unused punches can be used on your next voyage, thus no expiry date unless with the new cards that have one. The same fine print that is in thread #68.

I haven't seen this question answered. Are they using new cards with an expiration date line added? This quite likely would negate the value of buying an unsigned card on ebay. Asking for a friend. lol

Thread #68 above sailed this January/18 and their card had an expiration date of Dec 31/18

I haven't seen this question answered. Are they using new cards with an expiration date line added? This quite likely would negate the value of buying an unsigned card on ebay. Asking for a friend. lol

Well, card expiration aside....

We have two, blank, coffee cards that we were going to use on our upcoming cruise that we recently had to cancel.

If we do not do the Premium Drink Package on our next cruise... (currently booked with this as a promo) I will be assuming that, since these cards do not have any date on them, Princess will have to honor them. I don't see how they can back-track on a card that is like a pre-purchased gift card. There is no expiration printed on the card. And no expiration in the information at the time the card was sold or given as a perk.

There is one thing that I can say for almost certain. The one thing that is consistent with Princess is that they can be INconsistent.

I would expect confusion and different results based on the particular barista at the time.

As far as the option of buying a card in the near future...

I am quite sure that this is EXACTLY why they have printed up new cards with the Expiration right there in the language on the back of the card. And not just an arbitrary blank line to be filled in.... The card is represented and sold with an Expiration, so the decision to buy one is then an 'informed decision'.

Recently Princess seems to be in a race to the bottom..

All the little things in the past that made Princess stand out as a special experience, are slowly drip by drip disappearing. - In the direction the trend is moving where every possible thing is being monetized to get every last possible cent, can you really see that much difference between Princess and NCL ?

 

Simply mind boggling that Princess would jeopardize the positive mind set of a repeat multi-thousand dollar customer over making a few extra penny's on left over coffee punches

 

Sad day...

Srpilo

Have you not cruised Princess in a while? They have been nickeling and diming for years. Things have been monetized for years. They just keep finding ways to squeeze a few more nickels, but this is nothing new. Been at least a decade they have been doing this.

Personally, I never assumed that Princess meant to sell me a "Free coffee for life" card. It just didn't seem to make good business sense and I figured they made a mistake in labeling/marketing that they would eventually correct. That's not to say I haven't taken advantage of it as long as the ride has lasted but it's no surprise to me they're working to close the loopholes.

Agreed.....:):):)

Bob

I suspect many will do similar, or start with one between them and get a second if they need, compared to buying one each knowing they can use it next cruise.

Exactly. That's what we'll be doing.

Thread #68 above sailed this January/18 and their card had an expiration date of Dec 31/18

Unless Princess's interpretation of expiration date is meant to imply something else I view it as the card being worthless after Dec 31, 2018.

Use it or lose it...punches can no longer be carried forward past that date. :loudcry:

People will no longer buy them for a few cups of coffee knowing it'll be worthless for future use if they know they won't be taking another cruise within the allotted period.

Have you not cruised Princess in a while? They have been nickeling and diming for years. Things have been monetized for years. They just keep finding ways to squeeze a few more nickels, but this is nothing new. Been at least a decade they have been doing this.

It won't be long now.

Drip Drip Drip, ships sale full, prices are high, why ruin a good product.

Don't know if it is mentioned or not, but another change friends of our dealt with this past week -- the coffee cards are no longer good for gelatos. You have to pay extra. I would love to see people not buy gelatos so they remove it from ships and put something else in we could really use.

I still remember our cruise on the Grand in December 2003, which was the first time we had to pay for cappuccino in the dining room. Princess started charging sometime that fall, after our cruise on the Star in August that year. I had read about it here on Cruise Critic, so it wasn't a surprise.

We traded in a minibar setup for two coffee cards last month on the Royal. DH drinks a cappuccino most nights with dessert. On this cruise, though, he did not drink as many since he had one at Sabatini's each morning.

We have plenty of unused punches between the three coffee cards we have without expiration dates. I think Princess has to honor those punches. They should last DH for our next four or five cruises. It seems like it would be an accounting nightmare to try to move unused punches over to *****.

I think Princess has to honor those punches. ..... It seems like it would be an accounting nightmare to try to move unused punches over to *****.

These are my thoughts as well.

I don't see how they can refuse to honor a previously purchased product, and completely change the terms after purchase.

The 'free regular brewed coffee' thing does seem dicey at best.

I know people have tried to use, and use, and use that feature. But, I do not think that this was supposed to be 'forever'.

If Princess begins to print Expirations on the cards, then as I said, this would be a fair and informed purchase. And, maybe the number of cards sold and the perceived revenue will decline greatly, based on that. So, they could change their minds and this could be one of those failed 'trials'.

As far as the coffee program going *****, they haven't even got the first ship fully functional...

Should be quite some time in the future before this is fleet-wide!!!! Just sayin'.

If I buy a beverage package either alcoholic or non alcoholic it's good for one sailing whether I have 1 drink or 15 drinks a day. The same should be applied to coffee. If you can't use all of the punches in one sailing why are you buying the card or trading in your bar set up? If you trade in your bar set up, then every time you sail you get new cards so I can't see the issue here. I find it ironic that the same people who are complaining about nickel and dimming are the same people who have been abusing the system for perpetual free regular coffee. Who's really nickel and dimming? Evidently Princess isn't selling enough cards because same card is being over and over again. You can't threaten to stop buying cards when you are given them as a perk or have been using the original card sailing after sailing year after year because you haven't been buying them to begin with.

Trying to think of ways around this latest bad decision by Princess.....

How about those of us who purchase a coffee card with an expiration date of 12/2018, hold a coffee card exchange at the end of the cruise? If you are not planning to cruise within the time frame on your card, then meet across from the International Cafe and "buy" the remaining punches for say $5 to $10 rather than purchasing another card at full price.

I now have 2 coffee cards, one of which has a few punches, the other has none. I'm a black coffee drinker and once the cruise is over, I use the card for daily punches [sometimes the barista punches the card, other times, not] for my plain old black coffee.

If Princess is going to go the NCL route of charging for such minor things and putting limits on a coffee card, then it's time for Princess to reduce the cost of the limited use coffee card, one for plan old coffee drinkers and an upgraded card for those who want the fancier coffee.

Darcy

If I buy a beverage package either alcoholic or non alcoholic it's good for one sailing whether I have 1 drink or 15 drinks a day. The same should be applied to coffee. If you can't use all of the punches in one sailing why are you buying the card or trading in your bar set up? If you trade in your bar set up, then every time you sail you get new cards so I can't see the issue here. I find it ironic that the same people who are complaining about nickel and dimming are the same people who have been abusing the system for perpetual free regular coffee. Who's really nickel and dimming? Evidently Princess isn't selling enough cards because same card is being over and over again. You can't threaten to stop buying cards when you are given them as a perk or have been using the original card sailing after sailing year after year because you haven't been buying them to begin with.

None of your logic seems to make much sense. I can see you don't have a grasp of how the coffee card system really works.

It is really a shame princess. You raise rates on all inclusive drink passage then you can’t get a can of coke now this really come on guys let’s pick our battles what next one roll of toilet paper per week.

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It is really a shame princess. You raise rates on all inclusive drink passage then you can’t get a can of coke now this really come on guys let’s pick our battles what next one roll of toilet paper per week.

 

 

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Pure extravagance, we might have to resort to crumpling up the art and spa flyers :D

Pure extravagance, we might have to resort to crumpling up the art and spa flyers :D

Lol so true

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Personally, I never assumed that Princess meant to sell me a "Free coffee for life" card. It just didn't seem to make good business sense and I figured they made a mistake in labeling/marketing that they would eventually correct. That's not to say I haven't taken advantage of it as long as the ride has lasted but it's no surprise to me they're working to close the loopholes.

Agree.

Cheers

I think it’s about time that Princess put an expiration date on the coffee cards. All of you who are bitching about the price of this and that have to realize that Princess Cruise line has to make a profit so if you want to call it nickel and dimeing so be it. Coffee cards is just small part of the picture. As a major stockholder in Carnival corp. I’ve seen my stock triple in price and that makes me happy.

I think it’s about time that Princess put an expiration date on the coffee cards. All of you who are bitching about the price of this and that have to realize that Princess Cruise line has to make a profit so if you want to call it nickel and dimeing so be it. Coffee cards is just small part of the picture. As a major stockholder in Carnival corp. I’ve seen my stock triple in price and that makes me happy.

I disagree. To me, the punches for specialty coffees are the equivalent of a gift card. They have been purchased and should not expire.

Brewed coffee is a completely different matter, and in order to fix the problem the two probably need to be addressed separately. I still think this would all be a lot easier with the addition of a non-alcohol beverage package that includes everything that isn’t alcohol. Having bottled water and coffee as part of a package would get me to purchase one, whereas a soda package doesn’t interest me at all.

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I think it’s about time that Princess put an expiration date on the coffee cards. All of you who are bitching about the price of this and that have to realize that Princess Cruise line has to make a profit so if you want to call it nickel and dimeing so be it. Coffee cards is just small part of the picture. As a major stockholder in Carnival corp. I’ve seen my stock triple in price and that makes me happy.

Another person who doesn't grasp the concept of a coffee card. :rolleyes:

I disagree. To me, the punches for specialty coffees are the equivalent of a gift card. They have been purchased and should not expire.

AGREED.

Brewed coffee is a completely different matter, and in order to fix the problem the two probably need to be addressed separately. I still think this would all be a lot easier with the addition of a non-alcohol beverage package that includes everything tha isn’t alcohol.

 

 

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Why would it have to be an unlimited package. There are some of us who just want 1 decent cup of coffee per day & the existing card fills the need with the advantage of getting a discounted price.

I don't need 15 cups of soda a day either.