Frustrating Operating Procedure- final charges

[PhoenixCruiser]

I agree, Guest Services could have called your cabin and / or left a voicemail.

 

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[Sandlapper in exile]

The language about the "final charge" not going through makes me wonder if this was some issue about signing for some expense on the OP's Seapass after the accounts had been closed and run through the credit card companies?

[Paulxyz2004]

If the OP was a senior and or in a wheelchair would the responses be any kinder?

 

I can only speak for myself here, but the answer is NO! I don´t even know the age or physical ability of the OP and I don´t know why it has any bearing in the discussion.

[Aquahound]

I agree, Guest Services could have called your cabin and / or left a voicemail.

 

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I agree. I don't think a courtesy heads up is unreasonable.

 

When this happens, isn't there a message on your account if you view it on your tv? :confused:

[Ocean Boy]

"Much to do about nothing"

 

No, when you have already spent time standing in line and have the issue of getting your family home, that is not something you need as you are about to step off of the ship. Maybe it would not bother you in the least. I have had this happen to me and it was not pleasant at all.

[leisuretraveler223]

Why do you feel it is important to your story to mention your cabin type, that you paid for dinner each night, where you stayed in Miami, etc. Blowing your own trumpet a bit or trying to show us that you had no credit card issues otherwise? I don't see how it is pertinent info. They had some issue processing your card for a final charge. Not the end of the world, could happen to anyone. I can't believe it warranted a posting here

 

It's interesting how any post here expressing displeasure with an experience on board results in such blow back.

 

No, I wasn't blowing my trumpet. I was simply painting a picture of what a harsh contrast it is between the top notch experience I had on board, and the way they handle debarkation. I do not for a minute think it is necessary to treat a charge account differently because someone is in a suite or spend money in specialty restaurants. I don't think anyone should have to deal with it the way they set it up. But having the experience I did on board only made it that much more of a stark contrast.

 

As for talking about where I stayed in Miami, I was simply trying to make a land based comparison.

 

All I'm saying is that there is DEFINITELY room for improvement in the current system. And I believe it should start with a change in the thought process RCI (and other lines) use. Don't make me work my way back up to deck 5. That doesn't help anyone, and particularly doesn't help the ship that is trying to get as many people off as fast as possible. At the least, set up a counter off the ship, perhaps before customs & immigration, to get things squared away.

 

But it still doesn't make sense to me that this happens on cruises but not on land.

[leisuretraveler223]

I agree. I don't think a courtesy heads up is unreasonable.

 

When this happens, isn't there a message on your account if you view it on your tv? :confused:

 

I don't know. I never bothered to look at the account on my tv. I stopped by the night before, then I reviewed my bill in the morning and headed out.

 

Clearly, with all the voice mails I receieved from the concierge, from the excursion department, and reminding me about the art auction (!), they should have had the capability of letting me know there was an issue BEFORE I got to the gangway.

[Aquahound]

Clearly, with all the voice mails I receieved from the concierge, from the excursion department, and reminding me about the art auction (!), they should have had the capability of letting me know there was an issue BEFORE I got to the gangway.

 

Yeah, I agree...especially because I know how much of a disaster it is debarking Liberty in FLL. Been there done that a couple times. I'd go Postal if I had to do it twice.

Edited February 8, 2014 by Aquahound

[Ocean Boy]

All I'm saying is that there is DEFINITELY room for improvement in the current system.

 

OP, I understand your issue. The first time that we sailed Oasis apparently there was some sort of screw up with the transmission of credit card information from the terminal to the ship upon check-in. My info, and that of MANY others, never made it to the ship. They had all week to flag my account and notify me of the issue but I find out when I am about to step off of the ship to begin the process of getting my family home. When I get to the customer service desk there are LOADS of people there with exactly the same issue. People started talking and realizing that we all had the same problem and it was not a pretty sight. Tempers were starting to flair. I asked the rep why I was not informed of this during the week. His answer is that in the future I should just take care of my seapass account info after getting on the ship instead of doing it in the terminal in order to avoid such issues. I then asked him if they really want 3000 people doing a second check-in after they board the ship. He just stands there and looks at me. :rolleyes: Yes, I understand how this left a bit of a bad taste in your mouth. It makes for a poor final impression of the week.

Edited February 8, 2014 by Ocean Boy

[fla gang]

My credit card on file was froze because I was out of the country and forgot to contact cc company prior to sailing.

[Cruising89143]

I agree, Guest Services could have called your cabin and / or left a voicemail.

 

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No, when you have already spent time standing in line and have the issue of getting your family home, that is not something you need as you are about to step off of the ship. Maybe it would not bother you in the least. I have had this happen to me and it was not pleasant at all.

 

I agree with both statements above. I have not had this happen but would not be happy to be pulled back.

[luvscruising2007]

OP--It seems to me you should contact the credit card company and find out why your card was rejected. The blame for your inconvenience lies with them as well as the RC procedures.

[leisuretraveler223]

OP--It seems to me you should contact the credit card company and find out why your card was rejected. The blame for your inconvenience lies with them as well as the RC procedures.

 

I disagree. The card was accepted without a problem when I returned to guest services. It is fairly common for a credit card transaction to fail to get approved. This has happened to me in stores and restaurants before. They run the transaction a second time, and it goes through. American Express handled three different authorizations during my cruise, and then final transaction went through on the retry.

 

The only failure was by RCI in not having a more customer friendly approach to settling a bill.

[markeb]

I'm pretty much with you on this one. I do travel a lot for both business and pleasure, and other than sometimes at a casino in Vegas, I never do more than toss a key at the reception desk on my way out. Typically, I get my statement e-mailed to my iPhone overnight, take a quick peek to see if it looks right, and am on my way out. For business, only my room and tax is reimbursable, so even if I pay for breakfast in the morning, I don't actually need a statement (and most places I stay will have e-mailed me my final statement before I'm on the train or plane anyway). Marriott automatically checks me out at either 12:00 or 2:00 (if I did late checkout) and Starwood hotels automatically check me out at 4:00. If there's a problem with my credit card during the stay (which I don't recall ever happening), I would expect a call from the front desk long before I was ready to actually leave. And, in my experience, 90% plus of those problems are with the merchant or their equipment, not with the card issuer or card holder. And that's even more true with AMEX.

 

In the worst case scenario, having a "trouble desk" with a laptop at the debarkation point would seem better for everyone, including the cruise line!

[knittinggirl]

OF the OP was a senior or in a wheelchair, she wouldn't have been with carrying her own luggage.

 

I don't see why they couldn't rerun the cards that bounced. This gives me another thing to worry about when disembarking.

[reallyitsmema]

OF the OP was a senior or in a wheelchair, she wouldn't have been with carrying her own luggage.

 

I don't see why they couldn't rerun the cards that bounced. This gives me another thing to worry about when disembarking.

Absolutely not true at all. My 77 yr old mother does self disembark every cruise except a TA since she has to bring a larger bag for a longer cruise.

[goodycruising]

They told us when we tired to run our prepaid credit card through the day before debarking that they didn't do them individually but they do a big batch in one hit. Funny how the hold goes on your credit card account every day. Why can't they just run the charge through if you ask them. And I don't belive the ship is out of range as the c&a people are booking trips through every day. There is something very strange about their system. Also something strange about the service desk people's attitude at times. Some are lovely and some need attitude training.

[leisuretraveler223]

Absolutely not true at all. My 77 yr old mother does self disembark every cruise except a TA since she has to bring a larger bag for a longer cruise.

 

Kind of off topic. But every time I've been on board, they have stressed that in order to participate in self debarkation, one must be able to carry his or her own bags. When you talk of your mother, are you refuting the senior part, or are you saying she's in a wheelchair but has managed to self debark?

[reallyitsmema]

Kind of off topic. But every time I've been on board, they have stressed that in order to participate in self debarkation, one must be able to carry his or her own bags. When you talk of your mother, are you refuting the senior part, or are you saying she's in a wheelchair but has managed to self debark?

In her case, I was speaking of the senior part. She always does self disembark and she travels with a woman who is older than she is, 80 if I remember correctly. I have seen seniors that shouldn't do self disembark because they weren't able to manage their bags, but there certainly are others out there that have no problem.

 

As far as the topic, you should have been notified that there was an issue with your card. Since you were in a suite, I wonder if the conceirge gets a list of people who are going to have issues and would have been able to save you a headache as you were trying to disembark. That seems like an easy thing for the cruise line to do.

[Big_G]

Originally Posted by papaflamingo

Are you suggesting that Royal Caribbean should just let you go home and hope that the issue resolves?

In a word? YES! I spent two nights prior to my cruise in a suite at The Epic Hotel in Miami. I spent almost as much for those two nights as I did on my cruise. I also had additional charges (honor bar, breakfast the morning of departure) that weren't on my final bill. It's not like the hotel stops me at the door until they inventory my mini-fridge and call the restaurant. Furthermore, if they were trying to run a charge PRIOR to my departure and it didn't go through, they may very well contact me in my room. They wouldn't stand by the door and prevent me from leaving.

 

I know it's a pain in the ass but your use of a high end hotel is an apples and oranges comparison. 3000+ guests aren't all leaving the hotel by 10:00 am on one day. If your card company rejected a charge, you would rectify it at the desk when checking out.

[reney313]

I agree. I, too, have had a prior issue and it left a sour taste. They obviously know of the issue at some point in the morning prior to disembarkation starting.

 

I propose prior to deactivating the card so you get the buzzer, they should take a few steps first.

 

1. Try a manual reprocess on the card on file. The original "decline" or glitch is during a batch run. As noted, it was fine when they retried after you went back to the desk. If they did this for each one (which they will have to do anyway, right?), then that might clear a good portion of those that failed during the batch. I would dedicate one person in the morning to complete this, most likely once docked but before debarkation begins. If they can't, maybe a way to systemically reprocess the failed attempts a second time.

 

2. For those that don't approve on the second attempt, a quick phone call to the cabin should be attempted. Maybe even a call over the PA. I've had friends who were on a cash account get called the morning of disembarking to settle up. At least they got the call before they went through the line. Why don't they do that with credit card problems.

 

3. Only after the other 2 attempts are made, then they deactivate the card.

 

It seems this would cut down on the lines at GS from those being beeped at the gangway and would help resolve issues with a worse experience for their guests. I really don't understand why they don't do it...

[travelplus]

So I had a fantastic time on my Liberty 4 day out of Ft. Lauderdale the end of January. But an archaic "policy" left me with a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth at the end of the cruise.

 

Late on the final evening, I stopped by guest services, just to make sure everything was okay with my account. The gentleman at the desk said I was all set and everything would go right on my Amex.

 

As is custom, a final bill (printed at 4:30am) was left on my door. I made my way to self debarkation, which involved approximately 40 minutes of queuing through the dining room and the On Air Club, before finally descending to the gangway. As I am about to debark, I insert my card, and get the dreaded buzz of failure. So, out of line, fight my way against the crowd back UP to deck 5, where I again stand in line. When I finally get to the counter, the gentleman said something about the last charge not going through on my credit card. He takes my credit card, and after about five minutes of typing, he tells me I'm all set. Of course now I have to again make my way back down through the lines and crowds.

 

Now this isn't a knock on RCI, because I know all lines seem to do this the same way. But I just don't get it. I've stayed at five star hotels all over the world where at the end of my stay, I simply walk out the door, and they process all the charges. Why on earth has the cruise industry adopted a policy of operating as if every passenger were some deadbeat with bad credit?

 

I don't think they should treat ANYONE this way, but I have to concede that after spending a solo cruise in an owners suite, dining in specialty restaurants every night, and spending more than $3,500 a day in the casino, to suddenly be treated like I was trying to skip out on the bill at Denny's was borderline offensive.

 

In particular in light of the fact that they certainly could have notified me that there was an issue prior to my trying to step off. When did the computer reject the charge? 7am? 5am? Midnight? I'm confident it wasn't the instant before I tried to debark.

 

I don't know what the solution is, but I really feel this is just an archaic system.

 

Better yet the person who scans your SeaPass Card should say there is an outstanding balance of XXX would you like me to charge it for you? Once it goes through a final bill gets sent to your email address.

 

Another option is when the Zero Count is made any remaining outstanding balances can automatically go onto the credit cards of the passenger.

 

For those settling with Cash there could be a table setup with IPADS and you just hand over the cash amount and the Staff member then Zeros Out of your account and your good to leave.

[A&L_Ont]

No, when you have already spent time standing in line and have the issue of getting your family home, that is not something you need as you are about to step off of the ship. Maybe it would not bother you in the least. I have had this happen to me and it was not pleasant at all.

 

This happened to us on Princess, only we got a credit of $120. They gave it to us in cash. The process took 20 minutes from start to finish and was a pain. We had no idea why they gave it to us, as our finally Bill on our door looked perfect. Turns out 2 weeks later Princess charged our Amex $120, the same amount that they gave us for no reason.

 

Thankfully it didn't delay us in getting to the airport and flight. I don't know why they didn't just credit our account instead of sending us to the pursers desk, especially for a credit:confused:

[markeb]

I know it's a pain in the ass but your use of a high end hotel is an apples and oranges comparison. 3000+ guests aren't all leaving the hotel by 10:00 am on one day. If your card company rejected a charge, you would rectify it at the desk when checking out.

 

Most of us who travel frequently don't even stop at the hotel desk on the way out. I think that's part of the OP's point.

[VillaHappy]

OP, I get you. If there is an issue with the account, getting the BUZZ as you get off the ship is not the time for them to notify you. I agree - it's archaic.