WARNING - Compare on-board charges to your credit card!!!

We sailed on Galaxy from Galveston 10 March 2005 and were very conscious about retaining our receipts for all on-board transactions. The morning of disembarkation (21 March), a detailed billing was posted to our cabin door and we matched receipts to charges one-for-one without any disputes. Now my credit card is posted $67 higher than the detailed billing, so I inquired with Celebrity Customer Service and they advise that charge was for one bath robe and one beach towel removed from our cabin!

We NEVER utilized these items in our stateroom and were very careful to insure they were visible to the cabin steward when we vacated the cabin on the disembarkation morning.

During our sailing, we made several complaints about our cabin steward to Guest Relations and reflected our disappointment directly with him verbally and in our gratuity. With this charge for the robe and towel, it certainly makes me wonder if the $67 charge was our "payback" from the cabin steward or perhaps an honest mixup by Guest Relations confusing our cabin with another!! :confused: :confused:

After much discussion with Celebrity Customer Service, they decided to credit my credit card for the $67. None the less, keep all your on-board receipts, check your detail billing before leaving the ship and finalize it all with comparing the detail billing to the actual charge on your credit card!!!

On two of our five Celebrity cruises, the charge to the credit card was higher than the bill received at disembarkation. Both times it was allegedly for use of the minbar which we have never touched or even opened on any cruise. The first time the charge was for over $108 and, after considerable discussion, the charge was reversed. On the second cruise it was for $16 and cheerfully reversed without discussion.

Bruce

we had the same experience on Carnival Victory. a 426.00 overcharge which was never returned even after considerable effort, (not the money but the principal). It left a sour taste over an otherwise wonderful cruise.

G.F.

I certainly agree that pax should not be charged for things that they did not purchase.

On all three of our cruises, I view my account on the tv set in our suite almost every day to ensure that the charges are accurate. I do this so that when the account printout is slipped under our door on the last day, there will be no surprises.

From the two above posts, it would seem that Celebrity was accomodating.

that was a $26.00 overcharge, not 426.00:eek:. I would have fought like a tiger for the 426! LOL

G.F.

that was a $26.00 overcharge, not 426.00:eek:. I would have fought like a tiger for the 426! LOL

G.F.

Cruiseforfun1,

LOL, I was just taking a moment to be lost in envy - "Wow, it's the principle, not the $426!":D I'm with you, I would fight to the last gasp for my $426!

Lisa

I agree with the previous posters. I checked our account on the last night and found, despite the fact I had prepurchased a spa package, they had charged two of the treatments. I was assured this would be reversed off. Checked with my cc company when I got home and found not only did they not reverse the debit off, they also added another $62 to the bill - and like others, we had not touched our minibar, taken any robes or towels etc. X are still "investigating" No one seems able to give us an answer:mad:

Never had an overcharge on our bill in 6 cruises. Just the other side of the coin.

Does anyone think it would be better to use cash?? That way they couldn't charge anything extra that you didn't buy or use?:confused:

Does anyone think it would be better to use cash?? That way they couldn't charge anything extra that you didn't buy or use?:confused:

You still have to 'front' them a certain amount of money (I believe the amount is $500). On a trip, I would rather have the cash in hand for other situations.

FYI- if you pay by cash, money up front, and dont spend it all-you receive a refund check the final morning. :D

I wholeheartedly agree with this. We had a lackluster stateroom attendant who I actually just called Celebrity today to complain about, since most of this occurred after the comment forms.

I paid our full account in cash before we disembarked, and I kept a copy of the statement. However we did have a credit card number on file.

Just yesterday I got a bill for a charge for missing room items and minibar charges as well that we didn't use. The attendant didn't fulfill her duties and made us feel like we imposed when we did things like order room service, and this was reflected in her gratuity. My husband and I believe she did it as a sort of revenge thing.

I informed Celebrity if the charges are not reversed I will be disputing them with my credit card company.

I like the fridge to put my pop & wine in, so I always have the minibar cleared out when we check in both cruises & hotels. Some give it for FREE, so then it can stay, but if it isn't IT IS GONE!

Have not had any problem with bills to VISA or AMEX before X's VISA, since we have even paid for it all from out onboard credit so no charge, just cash to take home. One time we forgot to take the cash out of the casino & we got a credit on our credit card.

We have also had a post cruise extra charge for minibar items that were not used (we never touch the minibar and wish that it was not wasting space in the cabin). A phone call fixed the problem but still an unnecessary aggravation.

We are still trying to fix our problem; as we are not US based, phone calls are expensive and the UK office are having problems getting info from the US; however it seems the issue may relate to our minibar (which we emptied into a box on Day one - interestingly the butler said he was not allowed to do that - and refilled on Day 10) and beach towels - well our room attendant was pretty incompetent (as our feedback score would highlight) and we kept having to chase for beach towels on port days as she would take them away each night but forget to replace them.

We will be watching this carefully as of course knowing our luck by the time they pass the dollars back to me, I will also lose on the exchange rate!!!!!!

However, to still put all this in context - we had a wonderful cruise, will be cruising again in September and are eagerly waiting the 2006 dates - we would just love X to sort the minor wrinkles that stop it being 100%

I informed Celebrity if the charges are not reversed I will be disputing them with my credit card company.

I would just like to mention, from personal first hand experience, this is not always a magic bullet solution. 9 times out of 10 things come out in the consumer's favor, but there is the possibility that the disputed charge would be resolved IN FAVOR of the merchant. I certainly encourage anyone who has questionable charges to dispute them, but I think, sometimes, informing the merchant that you intend to do this can work against you. Just do it, and let them find out through the credit card company.

Hi all! Just thought I'd put this out there, I just got back from the Mercury 3/30 sailing and had a cash account. Here's what I did and why:

I had heard about "Phantom" charges that occasionally happen, so I went directly to the Bank onboard and opened a cash account. This can be done with as little as $50.00. No huge deposits required. I would keep track of what we were spending and get cash in the next port and give it to the bank about 3 times during the 11 night cruise. EVERYTIME I depsited the cash I was handed a detailed accounting of what I had been charged for to that point. This was very convenient and straightforward. On the day before the cruise ended I had made some purchases at the duty free shop and needed what cash I had on hand for airport tips etc, so I gave the Bank my debit card and they charged the remaining items to me card with no problems.:) Hope this helps! BTW I ALWAYS have the cabin steward remove all items from the minibar/fridge at the beginning of the cruise.

Happy Cuising!

You still have to 'front' them a certain amount of money (I believe the amount is $500). On a trip, I would rather have the cash in hand for other situations.

I personally never use the Minibar nor the provided robes.

I would use the fridge space.

Do I infer you can have them empty out the mini-bar?

I would do so, and likely tell them to just store their bathrobes.

For me, it would be the money, not the principle!

Jim

You need to ask your attendant to empty it FOR YOU! If you do it yourself you could be charged as they "restock" it daily and if they find it empty.........guess what?:( I also had them remove the beach towels after I heard that they charge you $35.00 each if you lose them,( and I have kids....................):o

I personally never use the Minibar nor the provided robes.

 

I would use the fridge space.

 

Do I infer you can have them empty out the mini-bar?

 

I would do so, and likely tell them to just store their bathrobes.

 

For me, it would be the money, not the principle!

 

Jim

Another alternative for the "mini-bar" refrigerator, if you don't need the space for other items, may be to ask the attendant to lock it for the duration of the cruise. The mini-bars on the ships I have been on have a small lock, similar to that you'd find on hotel mini-bars. The attendants can lock these units, as I found out on one cruise where the ship was going into dry-dock after my cruise. When I came back to my cabin after breakfast on the final day, the mini-bar was locked, the beds were made up with only sheets and blankets, and the usual stuff in/on the desk was gone. I found out later that that contractors were coming onboard to do carpet replacement and other work while enroute to Nassau and were being housed in cabins on the floor my cabin was on.

You need to ask your attendant to empty it FOR YOU! If you do it yourself you could be charged

Slight problem; when we asked the butler to empty the fridge for us on Day one (Rikki), he declined saying we had to do it in case anything went missing -we did

Now I am home I am wondering about one or two other things that Rikki said could or could not happen - dont get me wrong, he was very attentive and I would put most of it down to his less than perfect English, but for example we could not get access to a Concierge Class menu to see what was available to order from it until Day 4 as "he needed the premission of the Chief Housekeeper"

Anyway, worse still X have debited my CC another $47 yesterday - it just does not make sense and no one can tell me what to do

I would like to work cash, but we would then end up having to bring so much over with us

As I stated previouly, when we enter our stateroom & meet our steward, his first job is to clear out the mini bar & get the fridge cold, as we learned our first cruise back with X. He gets a bag to dump everything into & the fridge is all yours. Then we get off to get pop to put in it.

We use the robes & both are left hanging on the bathroom door. He gets us fresh ones each week on a 2 week cruise.

As we are CC category cruisers, so we make sure we have FRESH flowers, I like the TROPICAL fruit bowl not the reular apple, orange, grapes one. I also check out the canapes served first day & if stale tasting then we have him bring shrimp cocktails or a cheese tray with crackers & fruit.

I personally never use the Minibar nor the provided robes.

 

I would use the fridge space.

 

Do I infer you can have them empty out the mini-bar?

 

I would do so, and likely tell them to just store their bathrobes.

 

For me, it would be the money, not the principle!

 

Jim

If so the breakfast menu is the in front cover of the big black book to order from either filling it out & hanging on door, or calling room service as we do.

If after a long day of excursions, you just want to dine in on the balcony, then you call to ask for a dinner menu & they bring it, take the order & bring it all up at the same time. (Main meal covered in metal try)

No way you have to wait for anything! You should have called the concierge who services you as a CC category stateroom.

As far as extra chages go, I scan my bill & send to credit card company to charge back the difference.

Slight problem; when we asked the butler to empty the fridge for us on Day one (Rikki), he declined saying we had to do it in case anything went missing -we did

Now I am home I am wondering about one or two other things that Rikki said could or could not happen - dont get me wrong, he was very attentive and I would put most of it down to his less than perfect English, but for example we could not get access to a Concierge Class menu to see what was available to order from it until Day 4 as "he needed the premission of the Chief Housekeeper"

 

Anyway, worse still X have debited my CC another $47 yesterday - it just does not make sense and no one can tell me what to do

 

I would like to work cash, but we would then end up having to bring so much over with us

uktog mentions "butler" so I would think the issue was whether or not the CC menu could be used for a suite and this is what took the time. It shouldn't have happened and it sounds like you had a bit of a dud.

Sorry to hear that they are messing you around with your final bill, uktog. It's a pain when you are not "close" to the source. I think I would be writing a firm but polite letter to Celebrity's UK office for starters so as to put it on a more formal footing, asking them to acknowledge it and pass it on as appropriate:

Celebrity Cruises,

Royal Caribbean House,

Addlestone Road,

Weybridge, Surrey,

KT15 2UE

Good luck!

Phil

Great info for your fellow Brit.............