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Most shocking cruise charge.....


mbhobbs09
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I have heard horror stories of people being shocked/devastated at the end of their cruise by the charges they have accrued during the cruise....

 

Would the majority of this come from onboard drinks?

I'm curious to hear anyone else's experience .... and also a little worried we will rack up a huge tab before we know it on things I didn't budget for.

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You can go to or call Guest Services and ask for a daily accounting of ANY charges on your account. My recent trip .... I had a total of $16.75 to pay. Small keepsakes from the ship's store. But there was potential for a mix up on my cabin key so I called/asked every day. No mysterious charges showed up.

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RCI, as example, will show you a daily running total of all charges on your room TV and every purchase you make has to be signed for and has a receipt presented. I don't understand how anyone can be surprised by their bill at the end of the cruise unless they didn't bother to pay attention to what they were purchasing.

 

As to what charges add up, drinks certainly pay a large part of that, but with the drink packages available, those costs can be fixed as well. Sometimes people may forget that gratuities that were not prepaid will appear each day on your account and do not require your signature or issue a receipt. But these are known charges which are limited in their amount, and they do appear each day on your account for your review.

 

But there are no surprise or hidden charges that appear at the end of your bill. The only charges that are there are the ones you made and signed for. Sorry, but given that, again I don't understand horror stories about being shocked or devastated with an end of cruise bill.

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For many first timers the most shocking cruise charge isn't from the ship - it's from their cell phone company.

 

Naive to maritime satellite data charges, these people use their cell phone on the ship as they would on shore, send out vacation videos, maybe even track the ship's GPS. Then comes the $2400 cell phone bill for all the data use.

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Many years ago you were not able to check your balance on the tv and your bill was left outside your door on the last morning. I got up early and grabbed our bill and it was pages long and over 1,000. I almost had a heart attack. We did not have much money back then and my kids were middle school age. My first thought was that I needed to kill my son because he probably did it and then worried about how we would get off the ship because I could not pay it. As my eyes focused I realized that they had placed a different room's bill at my door.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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On every cruise we have been on you are well aware of what you are spending for each extra charge. We find it no different from any vacation - decide before you go what your budget is and keep an eye on your charges as the week progresses. Fortunately we have not experienced any of those not so good surprises.

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Other than at the security checkpoints or to open your cabin door that little card is just like a debit/credit card. Use it now and pay later. Check with guest services (or on Princess they have kiosks) for your daily balance. No reason to be surprised.

 

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Forums mobile app

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Only once some time ago did I have a wrong charge. Checking daily, I noticed a charge for coffee I didn't have. Charge was reversed after guest services found the receipt not for my folio. No other wrong charge that shocked me.

 

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Forums mobile app

Edited by easyboy
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I have heard horror stories of people being shocked/devastated at the end of their cruise by the charges they have accrued during the cruise....

 

Would the majority of this come from onboard drinks?

I'm curious to hear anyone else's experience .... and also a little worried we will rack up a huge tab before we know it on things I didn't budget for.

 

Our biggest charges are not drink charges but casino tournaments on sea days of transatlantic cruises.

But we always ask for a printout of charges after the first week so there are no shocks and if necessary we cut back on tournaments the rest of the sea days.

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Many years ago you were not able to check your balance on the tv and your bill was left outside your door on the last morning. I got up early and grabbed our bill and it was pages long and over 1,000. I almost had a heart attack. We did not have much money back then and my kids were middle school age. My first thought was that I needed to kill my son because he probably did it and then worried about how we would get off the ship because I could not pay it. As my eyes focused I realized that they had placed a different room's bill at my door.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

:eek: I would have lost it!

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We had a huge charge for 10 people eating sushi on the last night of our cruise on Allure. I went to guest services. Luckily, we had had dinner in the steakhouse that night and I pointed that out to them, and that there were only 2 of us on the cruise and we certainly were not paying for strangers to eat dinner in the sushi restaurant. They removed the charges. Since disembarkation had already begun, I don't know if they ever sorted out who it was who charged the sushi to our suite.

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If they're not from North America those folk are probably referring to the daily "tips" / service charge / call-it-what-you-will - something which newbies don't know about & which cruise lines and (Brit) T/A's are rather coy about mentioning before booking - yes, it's somewhere on the websites but pretty obscure for a cost which adds around 10% of the ticket price and which unsurprisingly comes as a shock to them..

Typically the daily charge is around $14 per person per day on US ships, the equivalent in euros on Italian ships, and about half of that or no charge at all on cruise lines like P&O or Fred or Thomson / TUI which major on Brit cruisers.

 

Depending on which country / state the cruiser is from, drinks prices are high and on US / Italian ships there's a service charge of 15% to 188%* That might be a lot more than the cruiser was expecting, but bar & wine prices are shown on menus & the service charge on the chit for every order so it shouldn't come as a shock after the first round, and if it's too heavy for the cruiser's pocket they can modify their drinking to suit their pocket.

 

Ditto other prices on pretty-well all cruise ships for spa, speciality dining, excursions, etc etc. but these are all optional extras and the prices clearly shown before ordering.

 

As the pirate has mentioned, sometimes a member of the family will over-spend & that can come as a bit of a shock.

Married men will know that this doesn't just happen on cruise ships (MCP joke ;p)

 

Other posters have mentioned errors, but these are rare - you sign for everything (except that daily charge), you get a copy, and you can reconcile them with the itemised account.

 

JB :)

* 188% was a typo, should have been 18%. But I haven't corrected it cos it'll probably be accurate in a few years time :D

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Well, I tend not to be shocked by charges at the END of the cruise, but rather by the charges posted for some services. Especially souvenir photos (99% tacky) and spa charges. Hundreds of $ for a few hours of massage and a facial? I am accustomed to prices in Asia and I could not relax thinking of the cost of the service.

Not even double happy ending in certain establishments in Bangkok would cost that much (from hear say) ;-)

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there's a service charge of 15% to 188%* That might be a lot more than the cruiser was expecting, but bar & wine prices are shown on menus & the service charge on the chit for every order so it shouldn't come as a shock after the first round, and if it's too heavy for the cruiser's pocket they can modify their drinking to suit their pocket.

 

.......................................

 

JB :)

* 188% was a typo, should have been 18%. But I haven't corrected it cos it'll probably be accurate in a few years time :D[/quote

 

JB, We think your 188% was in reference to the future tip percentage here in US restaurants :).

 

Hank

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For many first timers the most shocking cruise charge isn't from the ship - it's from their cell phone company.

 

Naive to maritime satellite data charges, these people use their cell phone on the ship as they would on shore, send out vacation videos, maybe even track the ship's GPS. Then comes the $2400 cell phone bill for all the data use.

 

This is what immediately came to my mind

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In my experience the shocker is usually when your account has been mistakenly charged; it does happen so it is something to be aware of.

 

My experience: Recently on a cruise with the UBP as a perk the account was charged for a bottle of wine from the bar that had been visited the past evening. No bottle of wine was bought and it wasn't even the kind of wine that was ordered by the glass. On this cruise line if you have the drink package you do not sign a slip.

 

Called guest services; it took 2 days but they removed it from the account.

 

Safe sailing all!! :)

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This wasn't my own experience but something I overheard. On my cruise in 2013, I overheard 2 teenagers talking about one of their companions being in trouble with their parents. Seems he had been playing on the arcade games in the teen room a lot and the parents had received a call from Guest Services when the charges reached $400! I can't imagine the conversation went over too well. This was, I believe, day 2 of a two week cruise. :eek:

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My most shocking cruise charge was one that turned out, to my vast embarrassment, to be valid. Checking the charges toward the end of the cruise, I found a charge on there from Vines. I hadn't gone near Vines, so I went to guest services to tell them that and ask that it be removed. Turned out it was bottled water that we bought from the employees at the gangway on one of the port stops.

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The very first thing I do once the ship leaves the dock is to turn off EVERYTHING on my phone. Everything but the ability to take photos. It would be too easy to have your WiFi searching or your cell phone roaming.

And when I see people lined up at the "purser's desk" the night before disembarkation, you'll constantly hear " I can't believe we drank that much!". I have heard of people with bar tabs bigger than the cost of the cruise!

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On our Princess cruise this spring, I was grateful for the opportunity to check our daily tab.

We had been debating back and forth whether DH should get the AIBP, decided not to pre-purchase it. By day 2 after looking over our spending, I sent him to purchase the package for himself. (Princess lets one have it without the other having to buy it). If we had not done that, I can only imagine our bill after an 8 day cruise with 4 sea days.

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