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Coffee cards no longer good for gelato

Jadedwon

By Jadedwon,
in Princess Cruises

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Optotronics

Optotronics

Posted
Posted
I hope you're successful with your argument. I fully agree with your thinking but somehow I don't believe you're going to win in this case.

It's not something to go to court over, but if I am denied the usage of my coffee card at gelato's, then I will ask them to get their supervisor. If they can't honor the card I bought on a previous cruise, they will all get bad reviews... unless of course they want to void the card and give me back 14/15ths of the cards value in obc; I'm easy:) the thing is when you buy a gift card or other instrument, the seller cannot change the terms or value of that card without the card holders permission, if they do they have offer a refund for the unused portion.

It was princess who made the coffee card and at the time they did, they didn't have to make them good for future cruises or for gelato....but they did and they marketed it that way to sell more cards; now they have to honor their promise to the card holder for 15 specialty coffees or ice creams.

I'm. Business owner and I wouldn't sell someone a gift certificate to our store and then before the value on the card is used up, change the terms to something like "only good on non-sale items or items over $50 o some other silly term the buyer didn't expect.

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Optotronics

Optotronics

Posted
Posted
Not so sure a coffee card is a gift card.

You know what I mean and there is no difference except perhaps the coffee card is paper and the gift card is plastic. They are both bought to be used for future purchase, changing what can be bought needs to be defined at the time of sale and offered same at the time of redemption.

It'll be ok, they may or may not even do it on the royal right now, but this squeaky coffee card holder will get his gelato in exchange for a card punch or someone above them will hear about it and get a bad comment card.

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floridalover5623

floridalover5623

Posted
Posted
who is going to get the bad comment? - The server that is following the new policy?

I'll be joining in on complaining on my comment card as well as on the ship to the supervisor in charge with one of those problem cards that seem to get immediate attention.

The server is not involved in any way. He works for the company & obviously doesn't have a thing to say about the price.

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Optotronics

Optotronics

Posted
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Does matter what the policy is now. I bought my card when it was to have ice cream included period. As far as policy, who knows what the policy really is??? Offered on some ships, but not on others or by certain servers. If they can't live up to the bargain they offered when they were sold, then that is wrong period.

I think that maybe they are just trying the waters to see what happens and how many really care.

If they cared about I their customers they would do business by the golden rule (and no I'm not religious); treat your customers the way you would want to be treated if you were the customer.

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tothemall&beyond

tothemall&beyond

Posted
Posted

Originally posted by Optotronics
I think princess should be in control of what a coffee card can purchase across all ships and not let individual ships decide policy.

If they want to change their policy then they need to make an announcement that coffee cards are changed as well as changing the design of the cards so that those of use that were sold cards on previous cruises where we could get our ice cream. They were marketed to us at the time as being good for specialty coffee and ice cream from gelato's.

To change the terms of the card after the sale of coffee card borders on fraud when they are promoted as being for ice cream as well. I will be on the royal next week and if they give me any hassle, I'll be asking for a supervisor. If they want to change their rules after the card is purchased they should be will to either let the cards from previous cruises use them as in the past or offer to buy back cards and give OBC credit for all unused punches on the card

Memoak responded: "Unfortunately this is not a fight you are going to win. The cruise line can change rules whenever they want as has been shown with all the people who had AIBP beverage plans (unlimited) have been moved to the new Premier plan (15 alcohol drink limit per day and no cans of soda just fountain and small bottles of water only not large."

 

 

You are both correct. It smacks of misrepresentation (and it's not nice), but they also have the right to do it. We, as passengers, can try to obtain satisfaction on board, and/or we can write to Customer Relations post-cruise. If enough of us do it, they may reverse policy. That's what happened when they experimented with charges for Alfredos on Regal and Royal, and with service charges for room service. Neither went over well, and they had to back off and reverse back to prior policies.

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cloveygrl

cloveygrl

Posted
Posted

They definitely need to do something - inconsistence service/policies are a sign of bad management and lead to bad customer service experiences and unhappy customers. They need to define policies at the company level and properly and clearly communicate them down the line.

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Optotronics

Optotronics

Posted
Posted

Originally posted by Optotronics I think princess should be in control of what a coffee card can purchase across all ships and not let individual ships decide policy.

If they want to change their policy then they need to make an announcement that coffee cards are changed as well as changing the design of the cards so that those of use that were sold cards on previous cruises where we could get our ice cream. They were marketed to us at the time as being good for specialty coffee and ice cream from gelato's.

To change the terms of the card after the sale of coffee card borders on fraud when they are promoted as being for ice cream as well. I will be on the royal next week and if they give me any hassle, I'll be asking for a supervisor. If they want to change their rules after the card is purchased they should be will to either let the cards from previous cruises use them as in the past or offer to buy back cards and give OBC credit for all unused punches on the card

Memoak responded: "Unfortunately this is not a fight you are going to win. The cruise line can change rules whenever they want as has been shown with all the people who had AIBP beverage plans (unlimited) have been moved to the new Premier plan (15 alcohol drink limit per day and no cans of soda just fountain and small bottles of water only not large."

 

 

You are both correct. It smacks of misrepresentation (and it's not nice), but they also have the right to do it. We, as passengers, can try to obtain satisfaction on board, and/or we can write to Customer Relations post-cruise. If enough of us do it, they may reverse policy. That's what happened when they experimented with charges for Alfredos on Regal and Royal, and with service charges for room service. Neither went over well, and they had to back off and reverse back to prior policies.

Exactly, I think they may be testing the waters to remove it and see if anyone complains much.
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Iamcruzin

Iamcruzin

Posted
Posted

I fear that the next step will be a use it or lose it policy on the coffee cards. No carry over to the next cruise. Over the years many saved the last punch so that they could still get the unlimited regular coffee. Princess caught on to that and started punching the old cards. Now the gelato is eliminated. Are these coffee cards really a good value if all you drink is specialty coffee?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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Sirgym

Sirgym

Posted
Posted

There is no “gelato” on the Regal. We used our punches for a few scoops of pretty basic flavorless “American” style ice cream. Yuck...very disappointing, but the coffee at the IC was quite good! Yum!

 

 

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floridalover5623

floridalover5623

Posted
Posted
There is no “gelato” on the Regal. We used our punches for a few scoops of pretty basic flavorless “American” style ice cream. Yuck...very disappointing, but the coffee at the IC was quite good! Yum!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Yea, there is what they call gelato and as you found out it's actually just smooth ice cream.

They like to use that term to get people to spend extra for it otherwise they'd just order it with lunch & dinner. :D

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riclop

riclop

Posted
Posted
My brother just emailed me telling me the coffee cards are no longer good for gelato. He’s on the Regal. I bought them specifically for that feature. I called Princess, the support person said her info says they’re good, BUT they can change it anytime they choose. Does any one have any info?

Thank you!

Trust your brother.

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tothemall&beyond

tothemall&beyond

Posted
Posted
The Emerald for some time now has been charging 1 punch per scoop even when the other ships were giving 3 scoops. :confused:

 

The Crown, Ruby and Emerald have been charging one punch per scoop for a long time, but on the Regal and Royal, it has always been one punch for 3 scoops (till now).

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caribbeanboy

caribbeanboy

Posted
Posted
We were on the Royal in April/May and they were giving 3 scoops for 1 punch. We're heading back to the Royal in a few weeks...I hope it's still the same.

 

Could you please report back? I'm going on the Royal for 15 days on the 25th, and was going to order a coffee card especially for gelato.

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