Coffee Card in Exchange for Liquor - Two Elites

[pink845]

Hi,

 

We will be sailing on the Ruby in a couple of weeks out of LA.  I have been Elite for a while and normally exchange the booze / soda for a coffee card which would give me 15 punches and unlimited brewed coffee at International Cafe.  It appears from what I am reading on the various posts, that if I elect this option, that the coffee card would be electronically loaded to my cruise card?? Is that correct??     Would I still be able to get unlimited brewed coffee at International Cafe and this not affect the number of punches on my card??

 

Second, my husband does not drink coffee and does not drink booze or soda.  Can his Elite election be a bottle of wine???  (I drink!!!)  

 

Third, we have several unused coffee cards (some with a sailing dates on them); some with no sailing date on them. What happens to those??

[neverbeenhere]

You and husband exchange the entire minibar for the wine. You use the card punches for coffee. Husband gets water, you get wine and coffee. 

 

As for cards without sailing dates written on them, you do own a pen?

 

On August 32nd, I don’t have an answer for you. 

Edited January 7, 2019 by neverbeenhere

[Belle]

Doesn't matter if one or two Elites in room. You get the normal set up. (2 of everything)

What you should do..you trade in bar set up (all of it, they don't separate) for wine, then you use your coffee card

without dates or dates that work for your coffee.  Your both happy.

[Colo Cruiser]

You get 1 setup for Elite per cabin regardless whether both of you are Elite unless you are in a suite then you get 2 setups.

You can trade the setup for either or.

You cannot split up the trade.

It would either be 2 coffee packages or 1 bottle of wine.

I would get the wine and use your old cards for coffee.

[Thrak]

Your old coffee cards are good until August 31, 2019. It doesn't matter if you get fresh-brewed coffee or a specialty coffee - everything will take a punch. It doesn't matter if the cards have a "sailing date" - they are still good. The only "date" that might matter is if they have an "expiration date" marked. Unless the cards are pretty darn new they won't have an expiration date.

Edited January 7, 2019 by Thrak

[Gwendy]

Only 1 minibar, even though 2 elites and only 1 upgraded toiletries package although 2 female elites, mother and daughter.

[skynight]

9 hours ago, pink845 said:

Hi,

 

We will be sailing on the Ruby in a couple of weeks out of LA.  I have been Elite for a while and normally exchange the booze / soda for a coffee card which would give me 15 punches and unlimited brewed coffee at International Cafe.  It appears from what I am reading on the various posts, that if I elect this option, that the coffee card would be electronically loaded to my cruise card?? Is that correct??

Yes, loaded onto your cruise card. Any unsed "punches" expire at the end of the voyage when you disembark.

Would I still be able to get unlimited brewed coffee at International Cafe and this not affect the number of punches on my card??

Yes, you can get unlimited brewed coffee at the I.C.

Second, my husband does not drink coffee and does not drink booze or soda.  Can his Elite election be a bottle of wine???  (I drink!!!) 

No. You must trade your entire mini bar and will receive two coffee packages. Normally this is loaded as one package onto each person's cruise card account, but you can have the entire 30 "punches" loaded onto your account with nothing on your husband's account.

Third, we have several unused coffee cards (some with a sailing dates on them); some with no sailing date on them. What happens to those??

Check your coffee cards for a printed expiration date, not the hand written sailing date. That printed date is normally 12/31/18. If your card(s) have an expired printed date they are no longer valid. If your cards do not have an expired printed date then any unused punches are valid until 8/31/19. You can use these punches to get your brewed coffee, one punch each cup. The unlimited option is no longer valid.

See above

[pink845]

Thank you to everyone for the fabulous responses.  I will be trading in the mini bar for a bottle of wine.  I have four coffee cards with no expiration date and three with an expiration date of Dec 31, 2018 and one other that is the OLD JOKER card (no expiration on that one either).   

 

Based on your response,  I will then use be able to get brewed coffee at the International Cafe daily in the morning using the four coffee cards that have no expiration date on them (a punch for each cup of brewed coffee, I gather) and (a punch if I want a specialty coffee or latte as well).  Sounds like these cards will be rendered useless after August 31, 2019.   

[geoherb]

Right. As long as you have enough punches on your cards and don't mind "wasting" punches for the brewed coffee, it's fine. We have cards to use up as well. On our last cruise, I used a punch to get a cup of tea. The server was apologetic when explaining that it would take a punch (even though I knew that already).

[land lover]

On 1/7/2019 at 4:41 AM, Gwendy said:

Only 1 minibar, even though 2 elites and only 1 upgraded toiletries package although 2 female elites, mother and daughter.

Your room attendant should have take care of that.....or a simple note to the hotel manager....I was surprised on a recent back to back on Sea princess in Australia...I did not get a new blue bag for my second  28 day cruise....attendant said policy on that ship was only one bag...needless to say he produced one for me....😉 

[skynight]

4 hours ago, land lover said:

Your room attendant should have take care of that.....or a simple note to the hotel manager....I was surprised on a recent back to back on Sea princess in Australia...I did not get a new blue bag for my second  28 day cruise....attendant said policy on that ship was only one bag...needless to say he produced one for me....😉 

We have always received a new bag on each turnaround day.  Most of the items are not very useful. The ship could have been short of bags and this was their way to conserve.

[Gwendy]

On 1/10/2019 at 5:04 AM, land lover said:

Your room attendant should have take care of that.....or a simple note to the hotel manager....I was surprised on a recent back to back on Sea princess in Australia...I did not get a new blue bag for my second  28 day cruise....attendant said policy on that ship was only one bag...needless to say he produced one for me....😉 

Nope Room Attendant couldn’t or wouldn’t do provide extra toiletries bag. My daughter got annoyed and saw Guest Services Manager for Elites and yes she ended up with one, not very graciously tossed onto bed during evening turn down.  

Puts a bit of a tarnish on whole experience.

[pink845]

I confirmed with Princess today that even though we will be two Elites in our cabin,  if we trade in our mini bar (please note we only get one mini bar - even though we both qualify as Elites), we have a choice of either one bottle of wine, or 8 1.5 litre bottles of water, or two coffee cards which would be electronically added to our cruise cards.  Hmmm slim pickings.   As I mentioned above, I do not need more coffee cards, as I already have which are expiring I gather at the end of August 2019.  Oh, well.  I an sure they will provide the absolute cheapest of the wines, some sugary Zinfandel!!!! 

[Red Hat Cruise Cat]

On 1/7/2019 at 4:41 AM, Gwendy said:

Only 1 minibar, even though 2 elites and only 1 upgraded toiletries package although 2 female elites, mother and daughter.

If you really use them, then ask your steward for a second upgraded toiletries package.  We are both Elite, and our Steward has always given us a second one upon request.

[Pia1913]

17 hours ago, pink845 said:

I confirmed with Princess today that even though we will be two Elites in our cabin,  if we trade in our mini bar (please note we only get one mini bar - even though we both qualify as Elites), we have a choice of either one bottle of wine, or 8 1.5 litre bottles of water, or two coffee cards which would be electronically added to our cruise cards.  Hmmm slim pickings.   As I mentioned above, I do not need more coffee cards, as I already have which are expiring I gather at the end of August 2019.  Oh, well.  I an sure they will provide the absolute cheapest of the wines, some sugary Zinfandel!!!! 

 

Ask for the type of wine you want.  White usually gets you chardonnay (YUK) unless you specifically request pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc.  

[jagoffee]

19 hours ago, pink845 said:

I confirmed with Princess today that even though we will be two Elites in our cabin,  if we trade in our mini bar (please note we only get one mini bar - even though we both qualify as Elites), we have a choice of either one bottle of wine, or 8 1.5 litre bottles of water, or two coffee cards which would be electronically added to our cruise cards.  Hmmm slim pickings.   As I mentioned above, I do not need more coffee cards, as I already have which are expiring I gather at the end of August 2019.  Oh, well.  I an sure they will provide the absolute cheapest of the wines, some sugary Zinfandel!!!! 

Really?  Obviously not very grateful for the gift.  

[pink845]

Pia1913, 

 

Good suggestion, I will see if Princess will grant my request for a wine which I like even if I have to pay a bit of a difference as I would hate to come across as "ungrateful".  

[neverbeenhere]

Enjoy your cruise. 

Edited January 12, 2019 by neverbeenhere

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, pink845 said:

Pia1913, 

 

Good suggestion, I will see if Princess will grant my request for a wine which I like even if I have to pay a bit of a difference as I would hate to come across as "ungrateful".  

 

As we are not elite I can't speak from experience but the following is taken from the Princess FAQ. Whether it is still accurate or not I can't say...

=======================================

Question: Can I exchange the items in my Elite mini-bar for wine?
Answer: You may exchange all of your mini-bar items for one bottle of wine. You can choose one of the following:
Chardonnay Kendall-Jackson
Sauvignon Blanc Nobilo
Cabernet Sauvignon Kendall-Jackson
Pinot Noir Robert Mondavi.
Unwooded Chardonnay, Kendall Jackson (Dawn Princess, Sea Princess, Sun Princess - when based in Australia)
Wyndhams, Bin 444 Cabernet Sauvignon (Dawn Princess, Sea Princess, Sun Princess - when based in Australia)
Brown Brothers, Shiraz (Dawn Princess, Sea Princess, Sun Princess - when based in Australia)

[DMRick]

I didn’t realize they are now punching for the brewed coffee!

[Pia1913]

4 hours ago, DMRick said:

I didn’t realize they are now punching for the brewed coffee!

 

Only if you're using the old coffee cards.

[TracieABD]

4 hours ago, DMRick said:

I didn’t realize they are now punching for the brewed coffee!

They also punch for every shot of espresso. Whereas, in the past I could order a triple or a quad shot- and have them take one punch- they are taking a punch per shot.

[DMRick]

9 minutes ago, Pia1913 said:

 

Only if you're using the old coffee cards.

Thanks! Is this Pia we were on the Grand with the cruise after  removal of Skywalkers? Long time no see!

[DMRick]

9 minutes ago, TracieABD said:

They also punch for every shot of espresso. Whereas, in the past I could order a triple or a quad shot- and have them take one punch- they are taking a punch per shot.

On old cards or on the New too?

[TracieABD]

6 minutes ago, DMRick said:

On old cards or on the New too?

On the old paper cards.