No AIBP or Soda & More sith Ocean Medallion??

** With. Oops.

What the heck?? So, on Ocean Medallion sailings, the Beverage package or Soda & More package, etc is not available?? See conditions under the packages on Gifts and Services, etc. at website. "Packages not available for purchase on Ocean Medallion voyages" Just read this. This will definitely stop us from sailing on those voyages.... So they can track our movements, order food, etc - but they can't get the Beverage packages linked? No thanks.. We were looking forward to checking it out - not now... Yes, I realize I can pay as I go, but you lose the major convenience factor, set price factor, etc. No thanks.

I doubt that will be the norm.

Best guess is that they haven't tied the online purchase system to the Medallions yet. The packages make them money, do they'll figure it out.

Ocean.com will replace the current Cruise Personalizer later this year. Perhaps Princess will add the package options once Ocean.com is fully operational.

Princess is laughing all the way to the bank with the AIBP. There'll be a way to buy the packages. I wouldn't worry.

We are booked on a 14 day Circle Caribbean on CB March 18, 2018. It will be the first Medallion voyage on CB. We definitely have the AIBP as we booked under the Sip and Sail promo. Anybody who thinks Princess would dump a huge cash cow like the AIBP or the Soda and More package is crazy! I can just hear the decision makers saying something like, "Oh, no. I don't think we should continue making a bazillion dollars profit from these programs. Let's stop offering the packages." Nope, nope, nope. Not going to happen - ever.

We are booked on the first two Regal Princess Ocean Medallion cruises in November 2017 and don't have the AIBP option available to pre-purchase on the cruise personaliser for either cruise. We would normally buy this so hope there will be something similar in the new ocean-y online offerings.

We are booked on a 14 day Circle Caribbean on CB March 18, 2018. It will be the first Medallion voyage on CB. We definitely have the AIBP as we booked under the Sip and Sail promo. Anybody who thinks Princess would dump a huge cash cow like the AIBP or the Soda and More package is crazy! I can just hear the decision makers saying something like, "Oh, no. I don't think we should continue making a bazillion dollars profit from these programs. Let's stop offering the packages." Nope, nope, nope. Not going to happen - ever.

I'm booked on the same cruise and also have AIBP from Sip & Sail. I booked this cruise under the Sip & Sail promotion before Medallion was announced.

I just looked at my Cruise Personalizer for cruises on the Caribbean Princess in January (before Medallion) and in March (with Medallion). The January cruise lists options to book AIBP and Soda & More, but the March one (with Medallion) does not. It doesn't matter to me personally, since I have AIBP from Sip & Sail on both cruises. If they don't sell any AIBPs on our March cruise, then I guess Thrak and I will have to drink everything ourselves.:)

I don't know if this is just a temporary issue with Cruise Personalizer or if they are planning to change these packages with Medallion. It will be interesting to see how the process works to order drinks to be delivered to my lounge chair or theater seat works with the AIBP.

I hope someone who has sailed on a Medallion cruise will report on actual experience onboard with AIBP or Soda & More.

That would be a deal killer for us!

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I agree that Princess wouldn't want to abandon the AIBP because it's profitable for them.

However have to wonder if they could keep up with drink orders to be delivered to passengers with Medallion.. Having the AIBP could further overwhelm their staff because those passengers could order many more drinks than usual without being concerned about the cost.

I've never sailed on a ship that had the AIBP included in the S+S offer but have read posts saying it could result in long delays at the bars & less than pleasant bartenders. While Medallion could alleviate those lines not sure if they have sufficient staff to locate passengers to deliver their drinks.

Seems strange, how much they push it when you board I'd have thought it would be one of the first issues they'd get sorted.

I agree abandoning the AIBP or Soda and More makes no sense.

However, it says very clearly on their website under the AIBP and Soda and More that these are not available on Ocean Medallion voyages... Not that they're only available once onboard, or only for pre-sale - that they're not available on ***** sailings. Period. Read it for yourselves.....I am really curious how this will play out - particularly for those who have the Sip and Sail for those cruises..

It will be interesting what Princess has to say come Monday, as this verbiage was brought in over the weekend...

I agree abandoning the AIBP or Soda and More makes no sense.

However, it says very clearly on their website under the AIBP and Soda and More that these are not available on Ocean Medallion voyages... Not that they're only available once onboard, or only for pre-sale - that they're not available on ***** sailings. Period. Read it for yourselves.....I am really curious how this will play out - particularly for those who have the Sip and Sail for those cruises..

It will be interesting what Princess has to say come Monday, as this verbiage was brought in over the weekend...

I hope those who have it on medallion cruises will let us all know how it all worked out on the ship.

I hope those who have it on medallion cruises will let us all know how it all worked out on the ship.

We won't know how it works until the Regal's inaugural ***** sailing on 11/13/17 and hoping to read about shipboard experiences to compare to their marketing videos & statements. Although it undoubtedly will take a lot of time with a new system.

I agree abandoning the AIBP or Soda and More makes no sense.

However, it says very clearly on their website under the AIBP and Soda and More that these are not available on Ocean Medallion voyages... Not that they're only available once onboard, or only for pre-sale - that they're not available on ***** sailings. Period. Read it for yourselves.....I am really curious how this will play out - particularly for those who have the Sip and Sail for those cruises..

It will be interesting what Princess has to say come Monday, as this verbiage was brought in over the weekend...

The AIBP was a complimentary gift on the Sip-n-Sail Promotion for our March 18th cruise. It was one of the deciding factors that we booked this cruise! We are hoping we read this correctly from their web site....."Package is NOT available for purchase on Ocean Medallion™ voyages". Not available for "purchase", but what if it was a gift from Princess???

I agree abandoning the AIBP or Soda and More makes no sense.

However, it says very clearly on their website under the AIBP and Soda and More that these are not available on Ocean Medallion voyages... Not that they're only available once onboard, or only for pre-sale - that they're not available on ***** sailings. Period. Read it for yourselves.....I am really curious how this will play out - particularly for those who have the Sip and Sail for those cruises..

It will be interesting what Princess has to say come Monday, as this verbiage was brought in over the weekend...

I called Princess this afternoon and discussed this with the telephone representative. She seemed to be knowledgeable. She said they had just been notified of this change. She said their internal communication said the beverage packages were not being offered because of the ease of ordering drinks anywhere and anytime.

I made two comments: Medallion is supposed to make things better for the passengers and this removes options that some passengers like. Even if they were going to make the change, the communications was terrible - removing it from Cruise Personalizers on already booked cruises and adding the note without any explanation. She said she was taking notes and would forward the comments to the appropriate department.

She checked several times with someone else to verify answers to my questions. She said that anyone who already had the beverage packages (either already paid or under a promotion) would be able to use the package - including using it to order drinks to be delivered under Ocean Medallion. But no one else can purchase one.

This seems like another example like what they did with requiring payment for reserving shore excursions. First they required payment. Then they received lots of comments. They seemed to understand the comments about not being able to use OBC, so they reversed the policy until they could figure out how to allow use of OBC. Then they reintroduced the policy with OBC allowed, but they still don't allow all OBC. On my January cruise, I used my FCD and veteran OBC to book excursions, but my shareholder OBC is not yet available. Also my loyalty OBC won't be available until onboard. They didn't seem to understand the ramifications of their decision. In order to make it work with OBC, they need to figure out some way to post additional OBC earlier (at least tentatively).

This looks like a similar problem. Someone figured out that they can't have a bunch of people with beverage packages ordering drinks to be delivered every few minutes. So their response was to stop offering the packages. Personally, I think they had a better response that would take care of their customers and also prevent the problem they're trying to prevent. Drinks ordered from room service are currently not covered by AIBP or Soda & More. They could define the Medallion drink delivery options as room service and not include them in the packages. I would not mind if I had to go to a bar or dining room to order my beverages under the AIBP as I do now. I don't plan to take advantage of the new ordering flexibility and I would prefer having the option of the current drink packages working the way they do now. They certainly could program something like that if they wanted.

I suspect we will see changes in drink packages for Ocean Medallion once Princess starts receiving a lot of negative feedback. In my opinion, this one change will make Ocean Medallion a failure even if everything else works great.

I am another who really doesn't plan to have my drinks delivered. I do plan to have a drink waiting for me somewhere else. My wife goes to the morning Knitters and Natters group (which tends to be held near Crooner's) and I fart around in the cabin or whatever. A little later I go to find her there and I plan to have a nice, extra spicy, Bloody Mary (or perhaps Pernod and OJ) waiting for me there at the bar. This looks like another case of the Marketing Department (uggh...) offering things that the "real people" can't possibly deliver.

I'm booked on the same cruise and also have AIBP from Sip & Sail. I booked this cruise under the Sip & Sail promotion before Medallion was announced.

 

I just looked at my Cruise Personalizer for cruises on the Caribbean Princess in January (before Medallion) and in March (with Medallion). The January cruise lists options to book AIBP and Soda & More, but the March one (with Medallion) does not. It doesn't matter to me personally, since I have AIBP from Sip & Sail on both cruises. If they don't sell any AIBPs on our March cruise, then I guess Thrak and I will have to drink everything ourselves.:)

 

I don't know if this is just a temporary issue with Cruise Personalizer or if they are planning to change these packages with Medallion. It will be interesting to see how the process works to order drinks to be delivered to my lounge chair or theater seat works with the AIBP.

 

I hope someone who has sailed on a Medallion cruise will report on actual experience onboard with AIBP or Soda & More.

It's a tremendous responsibility to have to bear but we will hopefully be up to the challenge! :cool:

Just checked my personalizer for our March 18, 2018 cruise on CB. It definitely doesn't show the AIBP as an option to purchase. However, right under the listing of beverage packages that are available I still see this:

There is a lot of time before our cruise for them to get it figured out but there are also a lot of cruises on other ships prior to ours where the Medallion will be in play. I certainly hope they get this straightened out for others.

Wasn't there a similar issue when the Soda Package was discontinued: the Soda and More disappeared from pre-purchasing until the IT department could re-upload the latter's updated description and price without being linked with the listing for the former. Could be as simple as that--or could be that the ability to pre-pay items that will load onto the medallion is on hold until the medallion is confirmed to be working on each ship as it rolls out.

But really, I'm just guessing--and since this new issue was discovered on the weekend (because as with all customer service policy tweaks, best to sneak them in at closing time on Friday) there's no way to get a straight answer by calling Princess.

Seems pretty crazy to me. I think the reason they offer the AIBP is to be able to compete with other cruise lines... They could really lose the business they may have gained. I don't buy it unless it is a 'gift' included, but I always buy the Soda package and not having that really sets them behind other cruise lines as they all have some version of that .... :confused:

I called Princess this afternoon and discussed this with the telephone representative. She seemed to be knowledgeable. She said they had just been notified of this change. She said their internal communication said the beverage packages were not being offered because of the ease of ordering drinks anywhere and anytime.

Fail to see any correlation between ease of ordering and the value of purchasing either of the drink packages. Don't even understand the comment. Seems it would be more cumbersome, not easier, to carry around a smart device to place your order then to just call over a waiter or visit a bar. I for one like to carry as little as possible when on board. Also seems very easy to load any beverage package you purchase into your digital profile.

Fail to see any correlation between ease of ordering and the value of purchasing either of the drink packages. Don't even understand the comment. Seems it would be more cumbersome, not easier, to carry around a smart device to place your order then to just call over a waiter or visit a bar. I for one like to carry as little as possible when on board. Also seems very easy to load any beverage package you purchase into your digital profile.

The correlation is not with the value of the package - it is with Princess's perceived cost of the package. They seem to be afraid that people with the AIBP or Soda & More will frequently order drinks to be delivered all over the ship costing them a lot of staff time.

I agree that I would rather just stop by a bar to get a drink. I don't plan to carry my phone around the ship with me. I would have no problem if Princess limited AIBP and Soda & More purchases to dining rooms and bars and did not allow them to be ordered for delivery - like they currently do not allow them to be delivered by room service.

Seems really stupid, they didn't think this medallion thing through. Cruises and beverage packages go hand in hand these days, all of them have some type of restriction on what you can and can't do with a beverage package for example, no room service drinks or if a ship has wine dispensers you can't use them with a package, etc. Why can't Princess figure out how to have both by implementing some simple restriction policies rather than punishing everyone who wants a package and may or may not give a crap about the medallion? Again, seem REALLY stupid and they need to get their act together.

I really hope this is just a temporary growing pain of this new medallion system.

As everyone before has said - it will be counterproductive for Princess to stop offering this package .