Coffee card

[morman11]

Purchased a coffee card on the Royal about two years ago, I was told it could be used fleet wide for specialty coffee or gelato. I have been on several Princess Cruises since I bought the card, none had gelato. Read on CC that Princess was not honoring the cards. Just called Princess and they told me I could use it for coffee but I could not use it for food items even though when I purchased it it was good for both coffee and gelato. Just not right. I am Elite and my wife wife will be Elite after this cruise. Time to change over to Viking Ocean.

[skynight]

That is correct. punches now only good for coffee drinks. Certainly not a reason to change lines. Change to Viking if you want the smaller ship and the almost all inclusive, the river cruise model, on board experience. Does Viking have gelato?

[fishywood]

Purchased a coffee card on the Royal about two years ago, I was told it could be used fleet wide for specialty coffee or gelato. I have been on several Princess Cruises since I bought the card, none had gelato. Read on CC that Princess was not honoring the cards. Just called Princess and they told me I could use it for coffee but I could not use it for food items even though when I purchased it it was good for both coffee and gelato. Just not right. I am Elite and my wife wife will be Elite after this cruise. Time to change over to Viking Ocean.

 

You were given the correct information at the time of purchase.

But terms and conditions of beverage packages change over time. Unless a contract was executed at the time of purchase stating the card was good for Gelato in perpetuity, when you next use the card the current terms and conditions apply.

 

Yes you can argue it was sneaky of Princes to also quietly remove any food items from the coffee card at the same time they removed them from the Premium Beverage Package.

 

But it is within their rights.

What would you do if Gelato was completely removed from Princess ships?

Or a daily cap put on the number of "unlimited" cups of brewed coffee and premium teas (as was done to drinks on the PBP)?

Or if Princess declared all coffee cards null and void once the cruise they were purchased on ended? (That day is probably coming--and don't say it is impossible to enforce)

 

Using the card for specialty coffees sees a lot more savings than for Gelato. If you bought the card exclusively for the latter--well, lesson learned. But if the perceived loss of however many leftover punches worth a couple dollars each that you have is enough to make you consider abandoning Princess, nothing else really to say.

 

(....other than this is the second thread of this type today. Which seem to come in bunches right after the hoildays every year :confused:)

[ar1950]

Considering the price of Gelato vs the cost of a specialty coffee it always seemed to us to be a waste of a punch if you liked to get specialty coffee. If you didn't want specialty coffee (or specialty tea) then maybe it made sense and then it was the only thing to use the punches for.

 

Edit: Sorry, just noticed that I repeated what Fishywood said.

[morman11]

That is correct. punches now only good for coffee drinks. Certainly not a reason to change lines. Change to Viking if you want the smaller ship and the almost all inclusive, the river cruise model, on board experience. Does Viking have gelato?

No Viking does not have gelato that I am aware of.

I have only been on the Viking Sky for ocean cruising and two of their river boats. Booked Viking River cruise for France in November. Cancelled three Princess cruises total 42 continuous days. Booked a 32 day Viking Cruise on the yet to be launched Orion instead. Another reason I am not happy is we booked a full suite for a 14 day cruise. When we booked the suite I printed the suite perks, it included two bottles of water delivered to the room each day. After a couple of days I ask the room steward about the water and he told me that it was not included. Had to take the paper I printed to the service desk to get it straightened out.

[Thrak]

Many people purchased the All Inclusive Beverage Package with unlimited alcoholic beverages. When Princess changed it to the Premier Beverage Package with a daily limitation (although it's a very generous amount) people squawked loudly but it didn't make any difference. They also disallowed canned soda and water bottles larger than 500 ml. Those were much bigger changes than losing gelato with the coffee card.

 

It may well rankle a bit but there's nothing you can do about it so why not just shrug it off as a minor annoyance? Life is too short to worry about such a small thing. Hope your next cruise is a great one whether it's with Princess, Viking, or another line. (Those Viking river cruises really do look great!)

[geoherb]

I thought a gelato was more than most of the specialty coffees. DH uses his coffee card for cappuccino after dinner. He's never used it for the free brewed coffee. He has used it for hot chocolate and the specialty tea. We traded in a mini bar setup last month on the Royal for two coffee cards, and I used one of the new ones for the specialty teas. Our cruise was the first where they changed the policy about gelato on the Royal--although we managed to get it twice with the coffee card.

[Steelers36]

I think there is some confusion and unstated assumptions relative to gelato comments. On the ships where gelato is served as part of the IC offerings, it has been 3 scoops for $1.50. Examples, include Grand Class ships. In this situation, it doesn't/didn't make economic sense to use a punch for $1.50 charge.

 

The other situation is when Royal/Regal came along and the separate Gelato bar was added. Here the cost of ice cream/gelato was much higher and therefore worth a punch. Recent news indicates this is no longer allowed. Whether you can use a punch or not on the other ships is moot IMO since you are losing money to spend a punch for $1.50.

[jrzebird]

Purchased a coffee card on the Royal about two years ago, I was told it could be used fleet wide for specialty coffee or gelato. I have been on several Princess Cruises since I bought the card, none had gelato. Read on CC that Princess was not honoring the cards. Just called Princess and they told me I could use it for coffee but I could not use it for food items even though when I purchased it it was good for both coffee and gelato. Just not right. I am Elite and my wife wife will be Elite after this cruise. Time to change over to Viking Ocean.

 

If that's as deep as your loyalty to a splendid cruising experience goes, it's a sad state of affairs. I've had exactly one gelato onboard and never bothered to have another because I didn't care for the gelato on the Regal. I do use my card for specialty coffees and teas. I have never had a brewed coffee from the IC, as I have no issue with the current coffee on Princess. I am also Elite, as are the vast majority of folks on this board, and to me that just means I really like the product. The percs we get are very nice.

 

Maureen

[geoherb]

I think there is some confusion and unstated assumptions relative to gelato comments. On the ships where gelato is served as part of the IC offerings, it has been 3 scoops for $1.50. Examples, include Grand Class ships. In this situation, it doesn't/didn't make economic sense to use a punch for $1.50 charge.

 

The other situation is when Royal/Regal came along and the separate Gelato bar was added. Here the cost of ice cream/gelato was much higher and therefore worth a punch. Recent news indicates this is no longer allowed. Whether you can use a punch or not on the other ships is moot IMO since you are losing money to spend a punch for $1.50.

Thanks for the clarification. It's been several years since we were on a ship that had the gelato at the International Café. On the Royal last month, it was $3.50 for three scoops.