End of Coffee Card as we know it!

[casavaha]

We are on the Golden and I was just getting a cup of coffee, when the server told me

my card would be no good after Jan, 2012.

I will be on the Golden to Hawaii for Christmas, so I hope my card will still be good

till the end of the cruise.

 

The new cards will have the name of the ship and the cruise #. So you will only be

able to use the card for that cruise.

 

We did not talk price but I am sure it will not go lower.

 

Greg

Aboard the Golden Princess off the coast of California.

[Toddy709]

I'm not surprised the way people brag about using theirs over and over, cruise after cruise. Actually, I am a little surprised ... that it took Princess this long to change it!

 

People should learn not to abuse a privilege, and if they do, they should keep their mouths shut!!

 

Next privilege revocation will be carrying on wine, mark my words!

[betterthanworking]

I wonder if they will refund me for my six unused ones?

[freetocruise]

I have been waiting for this to happen and now it has. Time to use up all of our coffee cards on our next two cruises before the end of the year. I have never kept one with one punch to use over and over again for brewed coffee as my husband and I prefer our cappacchinos in the morning. But we do have a number that we have purchased on different cruises as we keep forgetting to bring them with us on the next cruise.

[Toto2Kansas]

I figured that was going to happen soon. All of those that bought multiple coffee cards with the 2 for 1 offer to rat hole them for future use are going to be stuck on this one. I can forsee a lot of arguments at the coffee bar in the first 6 months (or more) of 2012.

It also doesn't surprise me one little bit though, way too many bragging about how their coffee cards are worn, tattered and many years old, but they have one punch left so they can continue to use it for brewed coffee. Lots of changes seem to be happening lately, I wonder what is next?

[Toto2Kansas]

I wonder if they will refund me for my six unused ones?

I wouldn't count on it. ;)

[betterthanworking]

I wouldn't count on it. ;)

 

$150 worth of totally unused cards. They had better refund my money or I will be making a lot of noise at the PSD. At the time I purchased them I was not told any of this.

[ccheng64]

Princess should refund the money. When we purchased the coffee cards, the term was that we can use the coffee cards on any cruise with no deadline. We still have 2 brand new cards and two half used ones. I will be really pissed if Princess refuses to refund the unused portion.

[trikeman]

I wonder if they will come out with a new card for the shorter cruises. My DW dosen't drink coffee of any kind and I couldn't drink 14 Lattes in 7 days.

[Potstech]

So if they do not refund our unused portions wouldn't that be false advertising? Will just have to start bringing my own coffee again. Oh well their rules will be my $30 gain. Thank you Princess for saving me money and forcing me NOT to use the IC. Just bought my card in February and have only used 2 punches on it. Someone is right their will be many problems at the PSD over this. They should grandfather the current ones in or give them one year from the next use. They could stamp a date on them then. Sounds like fraud to me.

[coops]

Well then maybe they can take both our coffee cards and give us new ones with the punches out that we used. That way we get our lattes that we paid and they can keep the old ones without expiration dates.

Princess is really changing alot. Getting to the point of escaping away from them. lol

Dawn

[1 HappyCruiser]

Not that I've heard anything about the subject but I suspect they might allow the old cards with unused punches to be used up but not for perked coffee. At least it would provide the all the people to get their money's worth.

[Kmkub]

When Disney made this change, they continued to honor all the non-expiration date entry tickets, and just started putting expiration dates on the new cards.

 

I used a Disney ticket bought in 1973, in 2002- well after they started putting expiration dates on their tickets.

 

This would be the honorable thing to do, but perhaps not honor the "brewed coffee" part, since they know many people save them for specifically this purpose.

[jefa]

I wonder if they will refund me for my six unused ones?

 

$150 worth of totally unused cards. They had better refund my money or I will be making a lot of noise at the PSD. At the time I purchased them I was not told any of this.

 

I am interested to know why someone would buy that amount up front?

[Loonbeam]

This is my understanding (they have been talking about this for a while, something I have noted in earlier posts), that older cards will be traded in for new ones for that cruise for a certain period of time, but the old cards themselves won't be honored past Jan 2012.

 

For example, if you have a card with 2 punches left, for some period of time, you will be able to turn it in for a new card with 2 punches for that cruise, probably at the PSD. Your old card will not be useable at the IC, etc. I'm not sure what they plan to do with old cards past that time for less frequent cruisers.

 

Rumor had it they were going to offer 5 and 10 punch versions (at a slightly lower cost per cup for the 10 punch) - we'll have to wait to see what happens in Jan. Also I wasn't able to find out how this affects brewed coffee. (Total Rumor - there was at one point the suggestion of eliminating brewed coffee from the specialty card, reduce the price a bit, and add an unlimited brew card for something like $3 per day a la the soda card - I have heard nothing about this since, but it would make sense)

 

 

Again, my usual disclaimer, this is based on various sources I have at Princess via my old employer, doesn't mean its correct or cannot change.

 

For those complaining that they were ripped off or lost money, understand you were taking advantage of a loophole in the rules (as regards brewed coffee). The brewed coffee was always intended to be a perk (pun intended) to persons purchasing a specialty package for that cruise, not an unlimited benefit, Princess just didn't specify that. As long as you get the specialty coffees purchased plus what will probably amount to two or more cruises with brewed (depending on how many trips they have been used on), you have gotten fair value.

 

Well then maybe they can take both our coffee cards and give us new ones with the punches out that we used. That way we get our lattes that we paid and they can keep the old ones without expiration dates.

Princess is really changing alot. Getting to the point of escaping away from them. lol

Dawn

[ccheng64]

Not that I've heard anything about the subject but I suspect they might allow the old cards with unused punches to be used up but not for perked coffee. At least it would provide the all the people to get their money's worth.

 

This will be acceptable to us since we only use the coffee cards to get specialty coffee. However, if they even refuse to let us use punches to get specialty coffee, I will definitely make a scene right there at IC.

[ccheng64]

I am interested to know why someone would buy that amount up front?

 

When we received two buy one get one free coupons (from our TA), we bought 4 cards on that trip because we did not want to waste the coupons. If a family of four received 4 coupons from TA, they can purchase 8 coffee cards easily which will worth over $200.

[Potstech]

"For those complaining that they were ripped off or lost money, understand you were taking advantage of a loophole in the rules (as regards brewed coffee)."

 

What "loophole" in the rules. Princess established the idea of one price for 15 specialty coffees and unlimited brewed coffees as long as there were punches on the card. Where is the loophole? This was the understanding when I bought the card. I even asked the person selling me the card, A Princess staff member, if it was good on other cruises. She said YES IT WAS GOOD AS LONG AS A PUNCH WAS STILL AVAILABLE. So again where is the loophole?

[betterthanworking]

I am interested to know why someone would buy that amount up front?

 

 

They were the $24 which have now increased to around $30 and besides I had the old twofer coupons.

[Astro Flyer]

I can understand changes needing to be made but they should honor the terms by which they were sold to us & for the unused punches to be valid for specialty coffees without an expiration. New coffee cards would be subject to the new rules but not those purchased with other rules. If they want to trade in old cards for new ones with the same number of specialty drinks that's OK with me. I don't keep cards with 1 punch for years of free brewed coffee but did buy bogo cards which were allowed without an expiration date. To sell them that way & to now say they're expired is not right! :eek: Eliminating unlimited brewed coffee for old cards is one thing but not for the specialty coffees we paid to receive without an expiration date.

[BridgeMates]

"For those complaining that they were ripped off or lost money, understand you were taking advantage of a loophole in the rules (as regards brewed coffee)."

 

What "loophole" in the rules. Princess established the idea of one price for 15 specialty coffees and unlimited brewed coffees as long as there were punches on the card. Where is the loophole? This was the understanding when I bought the card. I even asked the person selling me the card, A Princess staff member, if it was good on other cruises. She said YES IT WAS GOOD AS LONG AS A PUNCH WAS STILL AVAILABLE. So again where is the loophole?

 

I agree. We bought a couple extras with obc on a cruise last year. Doesn't seem fair to not honor them as we were told they were good indefinitely. We have two cruises booked next year, after Jan 2012. A suggestion that might help would be to put a "date/ship name" on my card the first time I present it, so it would be valid for the length of that cruise on a specific ship. If they did this to everyone who has purchased cards in advance, they would eventually all be outdated and not anger a lot of people. Seems only fair to me.

[azseas]

For those complaining that they were ripped off or lost money, understand you were taking advantage of a loophole in the rules (as regards brewed coffee). The brewed coffee was always intended to be a perk (pun intended) to persons purchasing a specialty package for that cruise, not an unlimited benefit, Princess just didn't specify that. As long as you get the specialty coffees purchased plus what will probably amount to two or more cruises with brewed (depending on how many trips they have been used on), you have gotten fair value.

 

 

How am I taking advantage? I bought the punches and could not use them all. I do NOT use my card for brewed coffee. I did purchase XX number of speciality coffees with no expiration timeframe.

[jefa]

They were the $24 which have now increased to around $30 and besides I had the old twofer coupons.

 

Yes, I understand that, but don't understand exactly why you would put 150€ up front for coffee!! Cocktails, yes!!!:D

[Toto2Kansas]

If someone could please scan one of their older coffee cards and show me where it says they are good forever I would appreciate it. ;) (joking) But honestly, how do you PROVE you were TOLD they didn't expire if there is no wording on the card itself stating that fact?

 

I am sure Princess will find a way to take care of these older cards, although I know that those with multiple cards will not be happy with it. But since there were so many 'two for one coupons' out there, they would not be able to refund the cost of each coffee card in your possession, think of all those that only bought one and got the second one free (that would be pushing for a refund for all of them at the same price. Do you actually think passengers would be honest about this one?). Keep in mind, they try to keep the masses of passengers happy, and if a few aren't, they really could care less. You can't make all of the people happy all of the time.;)

[Pia1913]

I just did some arithmetic. I believe an Americano double shot costs $1.75 + 15%. Total $2.00. If I purchase one every day for 15 days, that's $30.00; less than if I had purchased the coffee card.

 

I just looked at our cards; one has no punches because my husband drinks only fresh brewed or hot chocolate. The other has used only one punch. We are getting on two ships for a total of 59 days next month, so...........goodbye to these cards. What we will do for our first 2012 cruise remains to be seen.