Old Coffee Card Expiration

[WatchHill]

I was on the phone yesterday with Princess Customer Service [another non-coffee card issue that needed resolution through accounting/corporate] and brought up the newest coffee card policy to this supervisor. Within a few minutes of the conversation, I was asking myself if I were speaking with Princess or some alien interplanetary transport company. This person insisted the new cards are all good for one year from date of issue, people only buy them for the fancy coffees [never for brewed], there's no issue with the quality of coffee on any ship, and any non-punched holes are ONLY for fancy coffee on future cruises. Did I tell her I buy the card for the unlimited brewed coffee on some ships? Yes, and I don't drink the fancy coffee beverages. She said it's against policy for any server to allow a punch for fresh brewed coffee to use up older cards.This policy was implemented by Princess due to the "black market" of coffee cards that is emerging!! Yikes, I did challenge her statements, yet she insisted this is the policy on all ships. Finally I said that Princess needs to post the entire policy on their web site [communication is seriously lacking on many levels] and convey this policy to each of the ships - it's the inconsistency from ship to ship, server to server, that is causing passengers such frustration.

 

Finally, I had to shift topics with this supervisor and it only got worse listening to her conflicting statements. DH had an open bottle of wine ready for me by the time I ended the telephone call. At least I got this supervisor to admit that Princess needs to clarify particular information on their web site - if they do it is another issue.

 

At least I can drink [tolerate] the coffee on our upcoming BI cruise - Royal Princess, but will note to pack Starbucks instant for the older ships.

[toledo]

Black market?!! Does this mean the cards I just bought on eBay might be counterfeit?

[WatchHill]

Black market?!! Does this mean the cards I just bought on eBay might be counterfeit?

e].

 

That supervisor actually said black market and eBay in the same breath. Princess is well aware of the secondary market for the real cards and wants to put an end to it. Revenue!!!!!! IMO, Princess created the problem with the inconsistent policies and needs to streamline the entire issue. The fix is easy, but the cruise line is making it far too complex. Here's my suggestion: serve good coffee throughout the fleet, sell cards for the up-priced fancy coffees/tea only, and have a Starbucks/Seattle Best kiosk in the ship.

 

If they won't honor my two remaining unpunched cards for plan old brewed coffee - then please punch for my request: I want a caramel, mochachino frappicino latte, but hold the foam, hold the caramel, hold the froth, hold the milk, hold the cream, hold the chocolate, hold the latte, etc. Do you think that will work?

 

Darcy

[skynight]

Thanks "WatchHill"

Princes HQ sure does not know what is going on. It's like no one at HQ has ever been on a cruise. They can solve this issue in many different ways, but any way they solve it requires clear and concise information to their employees and customers. Princess seems to be solving an easy problem throwing out a bomb rather than with a customer friendly, clear, easy to understand and implement solution.

Some examples of possible solutions:

-Leave purchased coffee cards as they have always been. Why any expiry? There really is no secondary market for fully paid coffee cards. If you paid for 15 espresso drinks, why can't you get all of them? Many customers only cruise once/year. By the way, my coffee card, received in Feb. 2018 has a pre-printed expiry of 12/31/2018, not even a full year as stated by the Princess rep.

-Make free coffee cards, mini bar trade in, different in appearance and expire when the passenger finally disembarks as shown by the dates on the cruise card. This will totally eliminate the secondary market. Pretty easy to do. Room Service just looks up your record on the computer and stamps the date on the card.

-Sell separate packages for those that only want brewed coffee.

[WatchHill]

Thanks "WatchHill"

Princes HQ sure does not know what is going on. It's like no one at HQ has ever been on a cruise. They can solve this issue in many different ways, but any way they solve it requires clear and concise information to their employees and customers. Princess seems to be solving an easy problem throwing out a bomb rather than with a customer friendly, clear, easy to understand and implement solution.

Some examples of possible solutions:

-Leave purchased coffee cards as they have always been. Why any expiry? There really is no secondary market for fully paid coffee cards. If you paid for 15 espresso drinks, why can't you get all of them? Many customers only cruise once/year. By the way, my coffee card, received in Feb. 2018 has a pre-printed expiry of 12/31/2018, not even a full year as stated by the Princess rep.

-Make free coffee cards, mini bar trade in, different in appearance and expire when the passenger finally disembarks as shown by the dates on the cruise card. This will totally eliminate the secondary market. Pretty easy to do. Room Service just looks up your record on the computer and stamps the date on the card.

-Sell separate packages for those that only want brewed coffee.

 

 

So many great ideas! The more Princess tries to fix a non- issue, a greater problem becomes. Corporate needs to listen to the paying passengers, not their land based employees who in many cases do not appear to have ever seen an ocean. Could be worse; tying the coffee card to the Ocean Medallion!!!

 

Darcy

[Barbs44Travels]

Thanks "WatchHill"

Princes HQ sure does not know what is going on. It's like no one at HQ has ever been on a cruise. They can solve this issue in many different ways, but any way they solve it requires clear and concise information to their employees and customers. Princess seems to be solving an easy problem throwing out a bomb rather than with a customer friendly, clear, easy to understand and implement solution.

Some examples of possible solutions:

-Leave purchased coffee cards as they have always been. Why any expiry? There really is no secondary market for fully paid coffee cards. If you paid for 15 espresso drinks, why can't you get all of them? Many customers only cruise once/year. By the way, my coffee card, received in Feb. 2018 has a pre-printed expiry of 12/31/2018, not even a full year as stated by the Princess rep.

-Make free coffee cards, mini bar trade in, different in appearance and expire when the passenger finally disembarks as shown by the dates on the cruise card. This will totally eliminate the secondary market. Pretty easy to do. Room Service just looks up your record on the computer and stamps the date on the card.

-Sell separate packages for those that only want brewed coffee.

 

You are absolutely right that many Princess employees have never been on a cruise.

 

 

When my daughter worked there, they paid very low wages, and even though they could earn a cruise a year, the cost of the port fees and taxes are still charged. She cruised because I would go with her and pay all the fees incurred for both of us and the shore excursions. Then she realized that she needed a job that paid decent wages and quit. I think that is why there is a constant flow of new employees in and out of those jobs on the telephones.

[suzyed]

Wow. I wonder what the expiration date will be on a card purchased in December. If it's only good for a week or two after purchase I won't bother with them anymore. I like to get one for to share with my wife. I drink the fresh-brewed and she uses the punches. As I am the only one who orders the fresh-brewed coffee using the card it's perfectly legitimate use of the card. However, she doesn't use up a card full of punches on a single cruise and we always take the punched card along for her to use on the next cruise.

Same here. I have several cards (without exp. dates), some of which I expect to use shortly on the Caribbean and then use the rest on the Crown in October...hope it's going to work out.

[suzyed]

Recently off the Grand -- new coffee cards had an expiration date of December 31, 2018. I still have an old card with no expiry date and a couple of punches left. I'm holding on to it -- it's still being accepted for specialty coffee, but not for specialty tea or brewed coffee.

Is there a ship name and sailing date/voyage number on the back of your card? If not, then you can continue using it for specialty coffees with a punch and free fresh brewed coffee without a punch. When you start using the card, they may write the ship name and sailing on the back.

If you still have punches after that sailing, you can typically use the card for the tea and brewed coffee (as well as specialty coffee, of course) but they will punch it for all of those.

 

At least this is how it has always worked...but maybe there are changes on the horizon.

[suzyed]

You may very well misunderstood him because of his accent or he might not have fully understood how the system works.

The unused punches on the older cards (without a printed date on the back) are good forever but not for the brewed coffee. His writing the ship & voyage on the back limited you to unlimited brewed coffee only on that ship but the punches are good forever on any ship, at any time.

 

They've created a complex system that I'm sure must confuse many people.

And from my experience you can still use the card(with no exp. date) for specialty coffee on subsequent cruises as well as fresh brewed coffee but they will punch the card for both.

[suzyed]

e].

 

That supervisor actually said black market and eBay in the same breath. Princess is well aware of the secondary market for the real cards and wants to put an end to it. Revenue!!!!!! IMO, Princess created the problem with the inconsistent policies and needs to streamline the entire issue. The fix is easy, but the cruise line is making it far too complex. Here's my suggestion: serve good coffee throughout the fleet, sell cards for the up-priced fancy coffees/tea only, and have a Starbucks/Seattle Best kiosk in the ship.

 

If they won't honor my two remaining unpunched cards for plan old brewed coffee - then please punch for my request: I want a caramel, mochachino frappicino latte, but hold the foam, hold the caramel, hold the froth, hold the milk, hold the cream, hold the chocolate, hold the latte, etc. Do you think that will work?

 

Darcy

Well it may but you won't end up with a regualer fresh brewed coffee but with end up with an espresso. LOL

[suzyed]

Thanks "WatchHill"

Princes HQ sure does not know what is going on. It's like no one at HQ has ever been on a cruise. They can solve this issue in many different ways, but any way they solve it requires clear and concise information to their employees and customers. Princess seems to be solving an easy problem throwing out a bomb rather than with a customer friendly, clear, easy to understand and implement solution.

Some examples of possible solutions:

-Leave purchased coffee cards as they have always been. Why any expiry? There really is no secondary market for fully paid coffee cards. If you paid for 15 espresso drinks, why can't you get all of them? Many customers only cruise once/year. By the way, my coffee card, received in Feb. 2018 has a pre-printed expiry of 12/31/2018, not even a full year as stated by the Princess rep.

-Make free coffee cards, mini bar trade in, different in appearance and expire when the passenger finally disembarks as shown by the dates on the cruise card. This will totally eliminate the secondary market. Pretty easy to do. Room Service just looks up your record on the computer and stamps the date on the card.

-Sell separate packages for those that only want brewed coffee.

The potential problem with your second point is that I think when folks turn in their mini bar for the coffee cards, they get 2 of them...hard to use them all if you are on a 7 day or even a 10 cruise!

The "fresh brewed coffee only card" is a good idea if they are doing away with that option on the regular card.

[moki'smommy]

It seems to me that the card worked fine as it was--fresh brew for the cruise noted on the back, punches good till they were used up. That is, until Princess started confusing the issue with the expiration dates that no one can interpret.

[skynight]

The potential problem with your second point is that I think when folks turn in their mini bar for the coffee cards, they get 2 of them...hard to use them all if you are on a 7 day or even a 10 cruise!

The "fresh brewed coffee only card" is a good idea if they are doing away with that option on the regular card.

Yes, maybe they will not be used up, but they are free so no loss. When they stay valid this is where the secondary market problem comes into play. Another suggestion might be turn in the entire mini bar for 2 cards, or turn in the 8 bottles of spirits for 1 card.

[voljeep]

It seems to me that the card worked fine as it was--fresh brew for the cruise noted on the back' date=' punches good till they were used up. That is, until Princess started confusing the issue with the expiration dates that no one can interpret.[/quote']

 

butt, that wasn't 'as it was'

 

there was no date on the back of the cards, per what has been posted here, until recently, and passengers are now PO'd that they can't have the fresh-brewed coffee on every cruise they ever take on Princess as long as they have a single punch left

 

The ***** will quickly solve this problem...while it creates 10 others...;p

Edited March 31, 2018 by voljeep

[WatchHill]

Well it may but you won't end up with a regualer fresh brewed coffee but with end up with an espresso. LOL

 

Guess I could ask for a pot of hot tea and hold the tea bag, along with my 5 Easy Pieces type request for a brewed coffee. I can then use the hot water to reduce the strength of the espresso.

 

I really didn't like hearing that second-voyage use of a coffee card will not give me plain old brewed coffee with a punch. It will be interesting to learn of experiences with these new or pre-used./purchased cards and how each is implemented on various ships. It's all the inconsistencies and lack of written policy, communication of this to crew/staff and passengers, and implementation that keeps customer service hopping.

 

Darcy

[jrzebird]

Yup. I suspect this may take months to get clarified and somewhat consistent. The free fresh brewed should be clear. As for those punches for drinks- they better be good until used up. Not sure how the line is intending to handle cards with that expiration date thing. I think that's what will cause issues.

 

I have several old cards and many have dates and cruise number or ship name on them. I really can't believe that if I buy a card with 15 punches that I'm not entitled to the 15 punches~ No matter when I use or bought or earned the card. I think I'll ask my TA to get me the real story. If it's true, then I'll order water or seltzer (if available) to trade in for my mini-bar.

[moki'smommy]

I have several old cards and many have dates and cruise number or ship name on them. I really can't believe that if I buy a card with 15 punches that I'm not entitled to the 15 punches~ No matter when I use or bought or earned the card. I think I'll ask my TA to get me the real story. If it's true, then I'll order water or seltzer (if available) to trade in for my mini-bar.

The problem is that there is no "real story." At this time corporate is "reviewing" the issue. The individual actions of crew members are all over the place. Corporate may have a policy, but it isn't being uniformly followed on any ship as far as I can tell.

[jrzebird]

Guess I could ask for a pot of hot tea and hold the tea bag, along with my 5 Easy Pieces type request for a brewed coffee. I can then use the hot water to reduce the strength of the espresso.

 

 

 

I really didn't like hearing that second-voyage use of a coffee card will not give me plain old brewed coffee with a punch. It will be interesting to learn of experiences with these new or pre-used./purchased cards and how each is implemented on various ships. It's all the inconsistencies and lack of written policy, communication of this to crew/staff and passengers, and implementation that keeps customer service hopping.

 

 

 

Darcy

 

 

 

You have NEVER been able to use a coffee card for brewed coffee on a second voyage.

[moki'smommy]

You have NEVER been able to use a coffee card for brewed coffee on a second voyage.

Many people have reported that they were able to get brewed coffee for a punch on a card from a previous voyage.

[Renmar]

I'm not a lawyer but looking at the back of my old card from 2016, purchased on the Star Princess, there should not be a problem to use this card for specialty coffee but NOT for brewed coffee or tea. The wording is pretty clear. The card does not have an expiration date on it and has 6 punches left. We will use the card in November and then also purchase a new card, hopefully that one does not expire at the end of December. If it does then our bar bill will be much lower :D because we will be drinking a lot of coffee :eek:or we will not buy the card.

 

The only problem I can see if Princess changes their policy (which they probably can do anytime according to the Passage contract).

 

Theo

 

[moki'smommy]

This seems completely straightforward...until you add an expiration date.

[chamima]

I'm not a lawyer but looking at the back of my old card from 2016, purchased on the Star Princess, there should not be a problem to use this card for specialty coffee but NOT for brewed coffee or tea. The wording is pretty clear. The card does not have an expiration date on it and has 6 punches left. We will use the card in November and then also purchase a new card, hopefully that one does not expire at the end of December. If it does then our bar bill will be much lower :D because we will be drinking a lot of coffee :eek:or we will not buy the card.

 

The only problem I can see if Princess changes their policy (which they probably can do anytime according to the Passage contract).

 

Theo

 

[ATTACH]418264[/ATTACH]

 

The wording on the card is pretty clear.

(SEE PICTURE ON POST #45)

Too bad Princess created a problem when there wasn't one.

(Although I wasn't aware that people were selling cards on Ebay - so that might have been the precipitating factor)

I foresee this as something that will go back to the old way once all of the problems with implementation are realized.

[floridalover5623]

The wording on the card is pretty clear.

(SEE PICTURE ON POST #45)

Too bad Princess created a problem when there wasn't one.

(Although I wasn't aware that people were selling cards on Ebay - so that might have been the precipitating factor)

I foresee this as something that will go back to the old way once all of the problems with implementation are realized.

This new dating system is only going to increase the amount of cards being sold on eBay.

After all, what good is keeping an old card that expires if you know for sure you'll never be on another cruise before the printed date?

[booie55]

We are cruising June 8 and I am taking 2 previous cards with me. one has a date of 31/12/18 and the other nothing, Hopefully I will be able to use both.

[suzyed]

butt, that wasn't 'as it was'

 

there was no date on the back of the cards, per what has been posted here, until recently, and passengers are now PO'd that they can't have the fresh-brewed coffee on every cruise they ever take on Princess as long as they have a single punch left

 

The ***** will quickly solve this problem...while it creates 10 others...;p

"As it Was"....If you had a left over coffee card and used it on the next cruise they would punch the card for fresh brewed coffee.