Use of Medallions from Princess in Alaska

[FrankieJayIII]

At the Alaska ports, have you noticed if any of the stores/shops allow the use of the Medallion?

[FrankieJayIII]

My understanding is that Alaska did not go with the program.  After reading some of the articles... I am going to stick to cash and card to pay for my things to help out the locals vs using the medallion

[CruiserBruce]

7 hours ago, FrankieJayIII said:

My understanding is that Alaska did not go with the program.  After reading some of the articles... I am going to stick to cash and card to pay for my things to help out the locals vs using the medallion

Sounds like the best and most appropriate decision.

[1025cruise]

I can't imagine using a cruise card to pay for things in port. I believe last year someone on Alaska made a post about being approached to accept Medallion, and when they discovered the "cut" they'd have to pay for the privilege, declined immediately.

[FrankieJayIII]

yeah it's a bit ridiculous to charge 18 percent when profit is usually 20 !!!!

 

shady

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, FrankieJayIII said:

yeah it's a bit ridiculous to charge 18 percent when profit is usually 20 !!!!

 

shady

Curious where you got the 20% figure. Profit margins vary considerably across various types of items.

[FrankieJayIII]

i own multiple businesses from retail to sales to construction.

 

in retail the markup might be 100 percent at times with food and other staples, other things have thinner margins.   but you take in overhead and you're down to 20 percent profit after all costs::;; generally speaking this is the accepted profit.  some more, some less.   18% certainly eats into that when w credit card is 3-4% 

[donaldsc]

I assume that you mean buying stuff on land w your Medallion.  Several reasons why not - why don't you use your credit card; given the Medallion track record would you trust that Princess isn't going to screw up your billing and Princess ends up screwing the local merchants with fees and why would you give the fees to Princess.  Is there any advantage to you using your Medallion to buy stuff on land?

 

DON

[FrankieJayIII]

no i don't like it anyway lol

[deelightfull]

We were talking to a waiter in Porta Vallarta in a restaurant that advertised accepting the princess medallion.  He says he's not thrilled about it, because if he rings someone up with the medallion, his tip percentage goes down. 🫤 But better a small tip than no customer at all. 🤷

 

All credit card companies take a percentage, but it seems Princess takes a bigger one.