Princess Coffee Cards now have expiration dates

[Harley0711]

I am betting the old cards will be just fine - they will eventually be 'Punched out'

 

 

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[land lover]

They know how many are printed. They would consider coffee cards, as they do anything in inventory. They would know how many are sold, and how many are issued as part of benefits (do you really think that they do not track the cost of elite benefits?). At a minimum they would track number put in inventory, number sold via point of sale system, number remaining in inventory. just track those three data items, that we know they would have, even if they do not log those given to elites (which they also probably log due to the card having monetary value) gives them the amount given away.

 

As far as mini bar items yes they would track via inventory. A minibar system usually (don't know for sure how any given cruise line would use for a system) but in many hotels they would consider items to still be in inventory when in rooms. They are subtracted from inventory when billed and replaced. A cruise line would most likely remove them plus any additional purchases at the end of the cruise. Any items remaining at end of cruise would still be in inventory.

 

Very normal systems for any well managed public company.

 

You bring up a point I did not think about, of course they would know how many they printed and how many each ship orders. To response to ur statement...I think they have a rough...on how much elite benefit cost them... I have gotten so many freebees through out the years, that I know have never been accounted for.

 

 

You have got mt curiosity up I am going to speak to the hotel manager on my up coming cruise..in March,we will have the drink package on this one..so again will have to make a decision on the mini bar.

 

Interesting discussion....

[Harley0711]

I agree that the system knows how many cards are sold and how many are given out to Elite And a smart system should also have to consider that it just sold 15 cups Per card - and budget for that - History has also shown that a certain percentage NEVER get used at all or leaves some punches and those are never used - so in the end, History shows that the 'House' again wins.... Customer has bought something they Never use...

 

Now for the Elites that have the Drink package - You could take the Coffee cards and have fun with them, look for that person that You think is deserving and just say 'Merry Christmas' and hand them a card. Super nice thing to do or if you don't want to give for free - offer up for say $10. I know I wanted a card - $10 would be a Christmas gift.... just thinking

[RDC1]

I agree that the system knows how many cards are sold and how many are given out to Elite And a smart system should also have to consider that it just sold 15 cups Per card - and budget for that - History has also shown that a certain percentage NEVER get used at all or leaves some punches and those are never used - so in the end, History shows that the 'House' again wins.... Customer has bought something they Never use...

 

Now for the Elites that have the Drink package - You could take the Coffee cards and have fun with them, look for that person that You think is deserving and just say 'Merry Christmas' and hand them a card. Super nice thing to do or if you don't want to give for free - offer up for say $10. I know I wanted a card - $10 would be a Christmas gift.... just thinking

 

 

Two totally different things. You are talking about a cash flow/profit issue, I am talk about a financial accounting issue, even if some are never redeemed, a company must still do an accrual on the amount outstanding that might be redeemed. Two totally different things.

[greenie082756]

Just a thought, why are these cards not numbered for accounting purposes?

 

Also wondering if they are going to phase out the paper cards when the ***** comes completely full force (2 -3 years from now)?? We will then have virtual cards attached to our name and therefor IMHO there should not be an expiration attached for specialty coffee's. Let's see what happens...

 

I normally don't drink *foo foo* (what my husband calls flavored coffee) coffees EXCEPT on a cruise. It is one of the pleasures that I enjoy early in the morning.

[Astro Flyer]

Also wondering if they are going to phase out the paper cards when the ***** comes completely full force (2 -3 years from now)?? We will then have virtual cards attached to our name and therefor IMHO there should not be an expiration attached for specialty coffee's. Let's see what happens...

I think the reason for adding an expiration date is to reduce the number of coffee cards which will be eventually replaced by an ***** based procedure.

 

I don’t know if they’ll add coffee punches to be valid on a future cruise but it’s doubtful to me. Maybe they’ll create a coffee package valid only on the current cruise.

 

But as you wrote, it may take years to implement ***** even on a few ships. The Royal was the 2nd ship scheduled for ***** this month & Princess has already informed me that ***** won’t be available until sometime after our May 2019 cruise.

 

So all of us have a couple of years to speculate about changes to a coffee package/card with the addition of an expiration date being the initial step to reducing the number of valid coffee cards.

 

I’d be surprised if they invalidated coffee cards without an expiration date. While invalidating such cards may be legal, I do not think that would be ethical to do.

[land lover]

I love speculation.....good point about having the cards numbered...

 

has anyone else stated on this thread that they received a card with an expiration...I have not read all posts....

 

I don't know if I mention on this thread my recent experience with coffee cards, but if not I will post it again. on an Emerald cruise at the end of November.......only being a 7 day and having a large family group, lined up in minis(so much fun walking between balconies) everyone with drink packages..... the night before we disembarked...I realized we had not touched the mini bar, not wanting to take it with me I requested the coffee cards at 1am....needless to say they came quickly.... but they were not blank they had the ship and voyage # on them...I had only received blank cards in the past but it was on different ships. I found it amusing guess if I wanted brewed coffee I could get one cup.:D

 

I have also wondered how they will do the coffee cards when *****..starts....

.

I'll speculate....first of all I am fortunate enough to be D+ on RCI so I have experienced their transition from booklet perks to all perks on our cruise card....Recently on an Anthem cruise,I chose to purchase for 4.99 USD a wrist band which allowed me to purchase anything on the ship and enter my cabin easily without a cruise card.

 

So when I hear what Princess is coming out with I am WHY...Why.....do they have to make it so difficult.....Are most cruisers creatures of habit...I certainly am not...anyway I am open to anything that will improve my experience....

 

So back to ***** and coffee cards.....IMHO...they will do away with them..and just have people pay as you go....

 

Happy cruising...L:Dri

Edited January 25, 2018 by land lover

[ckb104]

Had anyone phoned and talked to Princess yet? There’s a lot of assuming going on and we need an answer from the proverbial horses mouth. Perhaps it’s not as nefarious as we are assuming...

 

 

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The problem with that is that the answer, or somebody having a real answer at all, would vary according to which rep happens to be on the other end of the line.

 

I wonder of somebody could come up with the actual written language on the new/current policy?

 

I just got off the phone with customer service. He insisted that coffee cards have no expiration date and he confirmed with his supervisor. I have a feeling this is a case of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing,

[Cindy]

I just got off the phone with customer service. He insisted that coffee cards have no expiration date and he confirmed with his supervisor. I have a feeling this is a case of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing,

 

 

 

Why is that not a surprise?[emoji849] I noticed the official Princess FB page hasn’t addressed it yet either.

 

 

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[floridalover5623]

I just got off the phone with customer service. He insisted that coffee cards have no expiration date and he confirmed with his supervisor. I have a feeling this is a case of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing,

Call again & I'll bet you get a different answer. :D

 

While it may be true that there is no expiration date that will be applied, I sure would feel a lot happier with a card not having an expiration date at the bottom.

 

[land lover]

I just got off the phone with customer service. He insisted that coffee cards have no expiration date and he confirmed with his supervisor. I have a feeling this is a case of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing,

 

 

So did u ask them if either had seen a coffee card or cruised before...;p

[land lover]

LOL...I did not see the card until after my post......:D;p

[land lover]

With an expiration date think how many people will just toss the card...or pass it around to be used up on their present Voyage.....Recently on Majestic, a server showed me the first addition card he said he had never seen on before...

 

Which leads me back to my original comment several posts back about Princess and keeping tract of coffee cards...i still don't think so..;p

 

Enjoy...

[RDC1]

Just a thought, why are these cards not numbered for accounting purposes?

 

Also wondering if they are going to phase out the paper cards when the ***** comes completely full force (2 -3 years from now)?? We will then have virtual cards attached to our name and therefor IMHO there should not be an expiration attached for specialty coffee's. Let's see what happens...

 

I normally don't drink *foo foo* (what my husband calls flavored coffee) coffees EXCEPT on a cruise. It is one of the pleasures that I enjoy early in the morning.

 

I would suspect that the increased cost of numbering the cards would out weigh the benefits. The only reason individual serial numbers would come into play is if they were used in some kind of online system that validates the card. Since the entire use is manual, no reason to have serial numbers.

 

The primary benefit of serial number would be if there was a problem with counterfeiting of cards and there was a need to determine which were valid and which were not.

[Happy2cruise]

I just got off the phone with customer service. He insisted that coffee cards have no expiration date and he confirmed with his supervisor. I have a feeling this is a case of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing,

Spoke to customer service yesterday and rep I spoke to said the cards do have expiration dates but headquarters has not released any details to them yet. They are anticipating details hopefully in a few weeks. She did say they have received much feedback from passengers and all are forwarded to senior management for review. Her advice at this point was to continue to voice questions, concerns and comments to Princess for them to review.....it may make a difference, it may not but it certainly can't hurt.

[Astro Flyer]

I just got off the phone with customer service. He insisted that coffee cards have no expiration date and he confirmed with his supervisor. I have a feeling this is a case of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing,

 

Call again & I'll bet you get a different answer. :D

 

While it may be true that there is no expiration date that will be applied, I sure would feel a lot happier with a card not having an expiration date at the bottom.

 

I don’t necessarily blame frontline CSRs & their immediate supervisors for providing inaccurate information. It’s not only Princess who lacks effective training of their personnel who deal with customers.

 

Somewhere in the corporate chain of command they are failing to update all of their personnel so they can provide customers with accurate information. Some CSRs & their supervisors may be neglectful in reading updates but suspect it’s more often upper management failing to inform them about changes in a timely manner.

 

Sadly It’s certainly not the first time that people on CC have more hard facts than CSRs...maybe sending a screenshot of the new card with an expiration date would educate more frontline personnel about this change. ;)

[Harley0711]

I just got off the phone with customer service. He insisted that coffee cards have no expiration date and he confirmed with his supervisor. I have a feeling this is a case of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing,

I love these calls and the 'Supervisor' who confirms I AM full of Crap....

Lets make a deal,, I will send you a picture, if I am wrong,,,, I will pay Double for next cruise and if you are wrong, I get a free cruise.. I hate managers who know it all, LOL

[busterfla]

The coffee card I bought on the Royal in mid December only had the ship's name and voyage number on it. Nothing else about expiration.

[caribill]

Call again & I'll bet you get a different answer. :D

 

While it may be true that there is no expiration date that will be applied, I sure would feel a lot happier with a card not having an expiration date at the bottom.

 

 

I notice it does not indicate the card can be used for specialty coffees in the dining rooms.

[Pushka]

Just off Golden today and old coffee cards were honored.

[mali06]

Excuse me . . . BUT . . . we paid for these cards! In the US, there is a law that says prepaid cards like gift cards or gift certificates or punch cards cannot expire. I know these are foreign registered ships but I would be interested to know how this law affects the parent company. And besides that, how many cards with leftover punches are never used up and thrown away? They are not losing any money by honoring these cards. I resent the statement "free coffee for life". That coffee is anything but free!

[Knickearth]

With my expiration date cards I always get free specialty coffees for blue room key passengers on line just to make them happy. Now I can do that even more:)

[floridalover5623]

Excuse me . . . BUT . . . we paid for these cards! In the US, there is a law that says prepaid cards like gift cards or gift certificates or punch cards cannot expire. I know these are foreign registered ships but I would be interested to know how this law affects the parent company. And besides that, how many cards with leftover punches are never used up and thrown away? They are not losing any money by honoring these cards. I resent the statement "free coffee for life". That coffee is anything but free!

Once again, the comment about free coffee for life is from a long time ago when selling cards with unlimited brewed coffee forever was allowed.

This option is long gone.

[floridalover5623]

Excuse me . . . BUT . . . we paid for these cards! In the US, there is a law that says prepaid cards like gift cards or gift certificates or punch cards cannot expire. I know these are foreign registered ships but I would be interested to know how this law affects the parent company. And besides that, how many cards with leftover punches are never used up and thrown away? They are not losing any money by honoring these cards. I resent the statement "free coffee for life". That coffee is anything but free!

Once again, the comment about free coffee for life is from a long time ago when selling cards with unlimited brewed coffee forever was allowed.

This option is long gone.

[Happy2cruise]

Once again, the comment about free coffee for life is from a long time ago when selling cards with unlimited brewed coffee forever was allowed.

This option is long gone.

Wasn't that also when before if there was one punch left on a card you could use that card on future cruises for free coffee? I remember how people bragged how they beat the system getting "free coffee forever" by doing this. Look how that worked out;p