Back to back shipboard credit

[caribill]

2 hours ago, geoherb said:

 

Before the cruise, I partially prepaid $74.95 for an excursion on my credit card before I had received my shareholder credit. The amount I paid showed up a refundable OBC. Other refundable OBC on the first leg was $20.10 from a change in the port fees and taxes. At the end of the first segment, I had $24.26 in my favor. On the second leg, the $24.26 had transferred over plus it looked like the nonrefundable OBC from the second leg had gone against the charges on the first leg and that my refundable OBC ended up at $90.09. I was expecting that as a refund. It's hard to understand without seeing the printouts from the ship, which I discarded after finally getting a resolution in the form of a goodwill credit. 

 

Although you had pre-paid using the credit card, the way the accounting system computer works is as follows:

a) It pretends that you had not pre-paid and your credit card payment is treated as refundable OBC.

b) It then charges the excursion to your onboard account, using non-refundable first.

 

So once your non-refundable is used up with this and other shipboard charges, any refundable OBC is yours again even if used pre-cruise to book an excursion.

[caribill]

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

Here's the sad truth: although it was 'promised' that they would last forever if one remembered to leave just one punch on them, I couldn't find it in the passenger contract.

 

 

Princess did take this into account and ended up putting  a voyage number on the cards. On that voyage, the purchased coffee was still "free" even if there were no more punches. If one or more punches remained at the end of the cruise, they could be used on a future cruise, but on that future cruise there would not be the free "purchased" coffee unless you got it with a punch.

 

So, as indicated, all those purchased and unused punches disappeared after a certain date. I (as did many others) had totally unused cards which became worthless.

[voljeep]

3 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Princess did take this into account and ended up putting  a voyage number on the cards. On that voyage, the purchased coffee was still "free" even if there were no more punches. If one or more punches remained at the end of the cruise, they could be used on a future cruise, but on that future cruise there would not be the free "purchased" coffee unless you got it with a punch.

 

So, as indicated, all those purchased and unused punches disappeared after a certain date. I (as did many others) had totally unused cards which became worthless.

multiple, multiple multiple posters have stated they kept a single punch on a card to continue to receive the "free" brewed coffee on multiple cruises after the original voyage. That "abuse" contributed to the change ... that and the OM

[caribill]

2 hours ago, skynight said:

Don't agree. When I book b2b's I think of that as a single vacation.  If one is onboard for 30 days then one would expect to be able to spend anytime during those 30 days and net against all of the credit balances granted. It has always been this way.

 

To quote the Princess web site where your OBC is listed:

 

"At the end of your cruise, these credits are applied to your final balance due."

 

Do the question is, when is the end of your cruise?

 

If you booked the two segments as a single booking, it is obviously at the end of the second segment. And that is the way Princess has traditionally treated B2Bs if booked as individual segments.

 

By the way, not all cruise lines will carry over the account from one segment to the next. RCI, for one, closes out the account each segment and bills your credit card. So depending on your billing cycle and the length of your next segment(s), your credit card statement could reach your home before you have completed the cruise.

[Ombud]

2 minutes ago, voljeep said:

multiple, multiple multiple posters have stated they kept a single punch on a card to continue to receive the "free" brewed coffee on multiple cruises after the original voyage. That "abuse" contributed to the change ... that and the OM

Guilty as well. I had a card with 7 punches left. I used to trade my minibar for water or wine depending on whether I was walking a lot off ship. Now I trade for coffee.  Yes I was part of the group that manipulated the program for better tea and cocoa. Sorry

[caribill]

10 minutes ago, voljeep said:

multiple, multiple multiple posters have stated they kept a single punch on a card to continue to receive the "free" brewed coffee on multiple cruises after the original voyage.

 

Right. And that is why Princess added the voyage number to the card. It stopped that abuse.

 

The main reason that the unused punches no longer can be used on a subsequent voyage is that there is no longer a physical card and the computer system on a voyage keeps track of how many "punches" remain. It would be a big programming change to keep track of unused "punches" for every passenger to keep in a database for use on future voyages.

[voljeep]

9 minutes ago, caribill said:

Right. And that is why Princess added the voyage number to the card. It stopped that abuse.

in theory ... but not in reality, again according to multiple, multiple posters - the barista didn't want to cause any problems by rejecting the card and getting a 'bad review' ...

[caribill]

5 minutes ago, voljeep said:

in theory ... but not in reality, again according to multiple, multiple posters - the barista didn't want to cause any problems by rejecting the card and getting a 'bad review' ...

 

Princess should not "punish" the passengers if their staff cannot follow the Princess rules.

[Cruise Raider]

Princess has indeed implemented the cut off for the OBC at the end of each leg of the cruise.  I don't remember that happening in Sept / Oct (maybe I didn't have leftover OBC?) but it was in place by last April when we asked.  I was allowed to book and pay for a massage or two or three during the first leg of the cruise and actually schedule the appointments for the second leg.  I don't really think anybody is being ripped off here, either.  They simply changed the policy and it is what it is!  

 

In terms of the coffee cards, before the pandemic, I was full well expecting that my coffee cards were invalid (never was going to argue or even plead my case) but I asked onboard, they took my card and said I would need to leave it with them but they used it for my specialty coffees during the entire cruise.  I had a couple punches left over so used those last two punches for a couple of our guest services staff.  They were so happy!!  

 

[geoherb]

On my 2019 b2b cruises, the internet manager tried to explain that I should only receive 250 free internet minutes. Since I booked the cruises as separate bookings, I told him I should get 150 minutes each segment. After all, I was getting the shareholder credit for the two separate bookings and not for a 14-day cruise. I won that battle after a conversation with passenger services. 

The old coffee cards expired in August 2019. I took the cards that had punches left and tried to use them up but was not successful. I ended up mailing them to a woman who was going on a cruise before they expired. We were also on one of the first cruises in 2018 after they stopped allowing passengers to use a punch to get gelato. We found a sympathetic employee who still honored them.

[Lucky TGO]

7 hours ago, geoherb said:

 We were also on one of the first cruises in 2018 after they stopped allowing passengers to use a punch to get gelato. We found a sympathetic employee who still honored them.

 Nice 👍  😁 and they call me lucky.

The Captain of The Rowboat,

Tony