Sick and Tired of Tricks

I am sick and tired of RCI charging me for stuff after my cruise is over. I always pay off my account on the last night. For the last 5 cruises, anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks, a charge from RCI shows up and I can only assume it's the barman that checks the honor bar daily. I don't touch that overpriced candy, pop, and Evian. I either bring my own candy or I have a drink package. I may move it to the ledge over the sofa (in plain view) or on top of the vanity (in plain view), but when we leave the ship I put it back exactly where I found it. I have 2 cruises that are already paid off so I'm not going to cancel them (already purchased airfare that's non-refundable) but I'm done with this. I don't feel calling RCI is going to help as it's my word against theirs.

If this helps - every cruise I call my Room Steward on the first day to have him/her empty the mini-fridge completely. They do it gladly and with no fuss. I've never gotten a room charge post-cruise after that.

i can only assume it's the barman ..........i don't feel calling rci is going to help as it's my word against theirs.

ok.

I am sick and tired of RCI charging me for stuff after my cruise is over. I always pay off my account on the last night. For the last 5 cruises, anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks, a charge from RCI shows up and I can only assume it's the barman that checks the honor bar daily. I don't touch that overpriced candy, pop, and Evian. I either bring my own candy or I have a drink package. I may move it to the ledge over the sofa (in plain view) or on top of the vanity (in plain view), but when we leave the ship I put it back exactly where I found it. I have 2 cruises that are already paid off so I'm not going to cancel them (already purchased airfare that's non-refundable) but I'm done with this. I don't feel calling RCI is going to help as it's my word against theirs.

That was your mistake. Stewards and hotel chambermaids are trained to mark an item as "bought" whenever it is moved from its "for sale" spot. cruisevv sounds like he's proposed an excellent solution.

Its happened to us. Call them they will remove charge.

That was your mistake. Stewards and hotel chambermaids are trained to mark an item as "bought" whenever it is moved from its "for sale" spot. cruisevv sounds like he's proposed an excellent solution.

It was not Wolfcathorse's mistake.

Cabin attendants are no longer responsible for the mini-bar. There's a mini-bar person who does this for every cabin and having your cabin attendant, or you, remove the items doesn't make a difference.

Others have reported erroneous Mini-bar charges once they're off the ship.

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I am sick and tired of RCI charging me for stuff after my cruise is over. I always pay off my account on the last night. For the last 5 cruises, anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks, a charge from RCI shows up and I can only assume it's the barman that checks the honor bar daily. I don't touch that overpriced candy, pop, and Evian. I either bring my own candy or I have a drink package. I may move it to the ledge over the sofa (in plain view) or on top of the vanity (in plain view), but when we leave the ship I put it back exactly where I found it. I have 2 cruises that are already paid off so I'm not going to cancel them (already purchased airfare that's non-refundable) but I'm done with this. I don't feel calling RCI is going to help as it's my word against theirs.

Happens to lots of cruisers. If it's the minibar, you call and say you din't take anything and they credit you. If it's not, they'll tell you what the charge is for. Certainly would make me change future cruise plans.

Royal would remove items from the room previously and will no longer do so. I find this very arrogant and annoying from their part. They have refused to do so on my last 5 sailings.

I have informed other passengers of this 'scheme' and advised them to dispute every such charge and keep a copy of the final billing outside the door on disembarkation day.

I found a half bottle of 'other branded' water in my mini-fridge on the Liberty Nov. 1st repositioning sailing. I was not charged when I threw it away for them.

I do the exact same thing with putting the items back in their original location and it can only be fraudulent charges accessed following disembarkation in this case.

I would imagine that department is 'incentivized' for applying 'actual' charges for items missing from the mini-bar and this becomes an income source for them.

This happened to us a couple of times on prior cruises after we disembarked. They did remove it after calling and credited my card.

Since then, we set up a cash account which removes the possibility of them doing this as we never use anything from the mini-bar.

Royal would remove items from the room previously and will no longer do so. I find this very arrogant and annoying from their part. They have refused to do so on my last 5 sailings.

 

I was on Royal in April 2015, they did remove all the products in the mini-bar, set it aside in a disposal bag, and put it in the closet. Perhaps previously they removed it from the room entirely, but the solution employed was satisfactory enough for me. I'll test it again in Dec.

Clearly every ship, sailing and even bar steward can have an effect on the outcome as on all of our cruises we have removed the mini bar items ourselves, sometimes they are in plain view and sometimes in the closet depending on the ship and we have never been charged for any items either on the ship or afterwards.

As others have mentioned give Royal a call asi have only heard of positive outcomes in questioning these charges.

My own personal feeling is that it is one of the crew that helps themselves to minibar items on turnaround day prior to the bar steward doing their count. There are several people helping get the cabin ready on turnaround day and it just your cabin steward.

I would agree that the cabin attendant no longer handles the mini-bar. There was a mini-bar attendant knocking on doors in my hall with a cart full of replacement goodies calling out "mini-bar check" as he knocked.

We were not there when he knocked and I noticed if no one answers, they just go in and check the fridge.

What they've done for us on previous cruises was put all the mini bar items in a bag and put that bag under the bed -after I called guest services and told them I didn't want any of the items in the frig. We were never charged for anything. :)

Too bad they do not have locks. Although, If I recall one of the previous threads on this very subject, someone mentioned that there are mini bar locks on the Q (?) class.

We have never been charged after a cruise or even overcharged while on one. I hear this reported and some people have had it happen more than once.

A bar person maintains the mini-bar and has for a couple of years. We don't usually use anything from it, but once or twice I've grabbed a soda and have been charge appropriately.

As noted cabin stewards no longer touch the mini bar. I no longer unload it either - act like it is not there. Call rccl post cruise they will reverse the charge

We always advise our cabin steward that we will not be needing any of the mini-bar products and will be removing them to provide space for our own stuff. I advise them on where these will be in the cabin which is usually in a bag placed in a corner or under the bed and ask that they advise the mini-bar staff of this. The above has worked well for us for quite a few years at least.

Also we now always set up our onboard account as a cash one as we typically have lots of OBC and will use US cash to pay off our onboard account if needed. Typically the latter is not needed or if is a very small amount thus RCI doesn't have an authorized for your cruise (on Set Sail Pass or else where) credit card number to charge any such mistakes to. ;)

Just call and have them remove the charge....they don't question your word. They will remove it.

I have been charged several times a few days after various cruises for small amounts that they tell me were for the mini bar. Soda, water...etc. Was a simple call to CS to have them cheerfully delete that charge. No problem at all. We never even open that door, leaving everything as it was.

Your cabin door stands wide open after you leave, while they are in and out cleaning it. Pretty much anyone can go in there and help themselves to a soda, etc. Anyone.... including other departing guests that leave later than you.

I agree with previous poster that I wish there was an option for a lock, or at the very least....put a seal on the door. No broken seal? No need to check.

If this helps - every cruise I call my Room Steward on the first day to have him/her empty the mini-fridge completely. They do it gladly and with no fuss. I've never gotten a room charge post-cruise after that.

We do that, too -- although it was getting harder and harder to convince RC to clean out our minibar. On our last cruise (2011), we actually had to call Guest Relations, and they sent the bar employee (who maintains the fridges) to remove the contents. On X, we just ask our room steward (or butler, if we're in a suite) and it's taken care of. Often (but not always) on X, they remove your personal contents on the last evening, when they restock and LOCK the minibar.

But, even having the ships' employees empty the bar on day one, we have come home to misc. mini-bar charges on our credit card. :eek: This happened once on X and once on RC. Seems that, no matter who's responsible for the fridge's contents, if anything goes missing at any time -- you get the bill.:mad: The only way around this would be to maintain your shipboard account in cash. But, that can turn out to be more hassle than making a call after the cruise to have a bogus charge removed.

I remove the items and put them on the shelf above the tv, then leave a sticky note for the bar attendant to let him/her know where the items have been placed, and also that we will NOT be using the mini-bar items and they do NOT need to check our room every day.

No problem with erroneous charges after the fact, and one less possible interruption to a potential nap each day! :D

That was your mistake. Stewards and hotel chambermaids are trained to mark an item as "bought" whenever it is moved from its "for sale" spot. cruisevv sounds like he's proposed an excellent solution.

Totally incorrect. The Cabin Attendants on board "ships" are not supposed to touch anything in the mini-bar as that is completely controlled by the Bar Staff and is the Bar Staff that does an inventory daily not the cabin attendant. Moving it from Point A to Point B has nothing to do with being charged for it.

Moving it from Point A to Point B has nothing to do with being charged for it.

I would not bet on that as the op has taken it upon himself to do just this and even though its there if it isn't in the cooler, yes you can be charged. Better to get bar service to do it so they know

We were on Mariner a few years ago and our cabin steward put all the mini bar items under the bed. No problem.

Last year on Navigator I don't think I even opened the fridge door.

They use to empty out the fridge but then we ran into a couple of cruises where the attendants suggested they couldn't and if we wanted it empty, we could do it ourselves. Now we just leave it. We've never been charged and if we need something chilled, we just ask for ice. I don't subscribe to any trickery or conspiracy theories. Ship happens.