Extra charge (late) yet again.

My credit card statement arrived this morning and yet again a mysterious charge of $4.96 was placed against my CC a couple of days after the main account charge. The young lady I have just spoken to insisted it was due to the mini bar, until I told her we were in QG and all in cabin beverages are included, when she got slightly huffy.

It is being refunded, but just a reminder to check as this is happening far too often now.

This is happening all too often not only with Cunard but also P&O (many complaints on their forum) so it sounds to me like a Carnival UK problem and suspiciously give signals of underhand or theft problems amongst staff. They are possibly hoping that being a small amount people will not complain but its happening all too often now across both cruise lines and can add to a decent sum of money.

Assuming they won't use them, are passengers allowed to have the contents of the fridge removed upon embarkation to avoid this problem?

Assuming they won't use them, are passengers allowed to have the contents of the fridge removed upon embarkation to avoid this problem?

I wonder if the quality of the fridge contents deteriorates when removed and replaced often ?

We never ever take from a mini-bar anywhere because of that concern.

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The one time we were in a balcony cabin, since the introduction of the mini bars, we requested the steward remove the contents. He told us he had nowhere to store them and to put them in the wardrobe - with our shoes!

We put them in a carrier bag between the sofa and the wall.

The most common item that both CUNARD and P&O claim that passengers have consumed is the large bottle of water which is left on top of the mini bar, not actually in it.

Now it’s quite possible that upon embarkation in your cabin, it’s not there, maybe the cabin steward forgot to place it, and you wouldn’t necessarily know that it was missing. When you leave, the cabin steward sees it’s not there and hey presto, you get charged.

But daily water was included, so I simply can’t think what they were suggesting we had had.

But daily water was included, so I simply can’t think what they were suggesting we had had.

I don't notice the cost of the water bottle on top of our mini bar (we didn't use it), but I can tell you we were (correctly) charged $4.31 on the occassions we took a soft drink from the mini bar ($3.75 + 15% service charge) in our Britannia cabin, so I think we can eliminate a soft drink from the mini bar as the source of your extra $4.96 charge. My maths tell me that if it were an item subject to the 15% service charge, it would need to be an item costing $4.30 (edit: actually $4.31 which is a peculiar price and interestingly the same as the total for our soft drink after the service charge was applied) for its base price. Sorry, but for all the paper work I collected from our recent QM2 voyages (including yours), I didn't think to collect the mini bar price list.

I don't notice the cost of the water bottle on top of our mini bar (we didn't use it), but I can tell you we were (correctly) charged $4.31 on the occassions we took a soft drink from the mini bar ($3.75 + 15% service charge) in our Britannia cabin, so I think we can eliminate a soft drink from the mini bar as the source of your extra $4.96 charge. My maths tell me that if it were an item subject to the 15% service charge, it would need to be an item costing $4.30 (edit: actually $4.31 which is a peculiar price and interestingly the same as the total for our soft drink after the service charge was applied) for its base price. Sorry, but for all the paper work I collected from our recent QM2 voyages (including yours), I didn't think to collect the mini bar price list.

But the thread starter as already stated they were in a QG suite so there would be no charges from the mini bar or whatever amount of water was drunk so the charge still remains a mystery and makes you wonder and I still stand by my comments made on my earlier thread.

But the thread starter as already stated they were in a QG suite so there would be no charges from the mini bar or whatever amount of water was drunk so the charge still remains a mystery and makes you wonder and I still stand by my comments made on my earlier thread.

Agreed. Just wondering since the Cunard rep the OP spoke with insisted it was a mini bar charge, perhaps it was some item incorrectly charged based on mini bar prices in effect for Britannia cabins. Just remembered I do have a Britannia mini bar price list in my receipts. Here it is with our signature blurred out. As I see it, nothing on this Britannia mini bar price list could result in a $4.96 charge. So yes, that charge still remains a mystery.

But the thread starter as already stated they were in a QG suite so there would be no charges from the mini bar or whatever amount of water was drunk so the charge still remains a mystery and makes you wonder and I still stand by my comments made on my earlier thread.

Sadly I think I agree that there is some sort of a scam going on, whether by crew members or even higher up. Whatever, I intend to be vigilant from now on.

Agreed. Just wondering since the Cunard rep the OP spoke with insisted it was a mini bar charge, perhaps it was some item incorrectly charged based on mini bar prices in effect for Britannia cabins. Just remembered I do have a Britannia mini bar price list in my receipts. Here it is with our signature blurred out. As I see it, nothing on this Britannia mini bar price list could result in a $4.96 charge. So yes, that charge still remains a mystery.

 

These prices are obscene !!

Am about to undertake my first cruise on Q.V. this Friday. Will be very vigilant about any unexpected additional charges to my credit card post cruise. But if there is, then I will be contacting the police in relation to potential fraud.

Having read the post on P&O thread about the same issues it’s obvious that this is more than just the odd mistake.

The one time we were in a balcony cabin, since the introduction of the mini bars, we requested the steward remove the contents. He told us he had nowhere to store them and to put them in the wardrobe - with our shoes!

If the steward had displayed that unhelpful attitude with me it wouldn't have stopped there.

As for additional charges from mini-bars, a friend was once attempted to be charged for an item by a hotel when they went to check out. They knew they had not used anything or even opened the mini-bar but the hotel receptionist refused to send someone to check.

So they went back to their room, emptied all the contents of the mini-bar into a bag, went back to reception and tipped the contents into the counter and asked the receptionist to say what was missing.

The charge was removed.

These prices are obscene !!

 

Am about to undertake my first cruise on Q.V. this Friday. Will be very vigilant about any unexpected additional charges to my credit card post cruise. But if there is, then I will be contacting the police in relation to potential fraud.

Having read the post on P&O thread about the same issues it’s obvious that this is more than just the odd mistake.

Have you been to a major hotel lately? The prices are very tame compared to the outright thievery of the hotels.

Oh and BTW - don't waste the police's time or your breath.

I had a very different experience last November on QE. We were also in Queens Grill and had a fair amount of OBC included as part of our booking. Nearer the end of the trip I decided to add a further $50 or so onto our account in case we went over the OBC amount. As it happens we didn't spend all our OBC, and I know once the trip is over you lose any included OBC. However as we had put cash onto our account I knew we were due for that extra amount to be credited back to us. Sure enough on our 'bill' on the last morning it showed we had a credit of $50 (not quite sure of the figure just using this as an example).

We thought nothing of it and just assumed it would be put back onto our credit card. However just as we were disembarking I was stopped by security as they read my keycard and told I had to report to the Pursars office (my hb had already left the ship and they wouldn't let him back on). Upon arrival at the Pursars office a customer service girl produced my bill and said I had an amount still outstanding on my account and proudly showed me a copy of my invoice. Upon examination I told her "I don't owe you this amount - you owe it me!" She was obviously shocked at my revelation and looked again at the bill. After a few seconds she said well we have to settle it before you can get off. I said she could put it back on my credit card, but she refused saying it was not possible. Finally the only way I could get off the ship was to accept her giving me back the amount owing to me in US dollars cash! Even though I had done nothing untoward, this experience made me feel like a crook! Cunard really do need to train their finance staff much better, both on board and in their Head Offices because this was not the first time I have had problems with them when its been their wrong calculations or understanding of basic accounting that was at fault.

Shocking that they didn't appear to know the difference between a credit and a debit!

Some years ago, my Shareholder OBC wasn’t applied to my account - in the days before it showed on the invoice - and it wasn’t possible to apply it after sailing. I got it next sailing, but it still shouldn't have happened that they would forget - which is what they told me had happened.

I returned from a QV Voyage on 3/8/18 and my account was correctly charged to my credit card. I remembered reading this thread so have kept an eye out for any additional charges......surprise! Surprise! £10.88 ($13.80) was taken from my credit card on 16/8/18. I will call Cunard tomorrow and see what I can find out.....if it’s not sorted I shall call my Bank and raise a dispute. I know it’s not a large amount but I would have thought at the very least Cunard should have emailed me a final bill or receipt if they believe there was an outstanding charge.

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What a surprise - again!

Good luck with talking to Cunard, they were rude to me and told me I had forgotten the mini bar items, despite the fact they were included!

Let us know how you get on.

The most common item that both CUNARD and P&O claim that passengers have consumed is the large bottle of water which is left on top of the mini bar, not actually in it.

Now it’s quite possible that upon embarkation in your cabin, it’s not there, maybe the cabin steward forgot to place it, and you wouldn’t necessarily know that it was missing. When you leave, the cabin steward sees it’s not there and hey presto, you get charged.

This happened to me last year on NCL. My last day of the cruise I saw my cabin steward filling out a slip and he handed it to me. It was a slip charging me $6 for a large bottle of water. I told him I didn't touch those bottles. He said the seal on the screw top was broken and I must have done that. I told him NO, I was NOT going to pay that. He grabbed the paper and huffed and harumphed and stormed off. I wasn't charged the money.

I returned from a QV Voyage on 3/8/18 and my account was correctly charged to my credit card. I remembered reading this thread so have kept an eye out for any additional charges......surprise! Surprise! £10.88 ($13.80) was taken from my credit card on 16/8/18.

Thank you and everybody for keeping my alert. I was on the same cruise and "surprise" checking my credit Card account after reading this, $ 10 were taken on the same day 16/8/18.

Could somebody please help with an email adress in the US one can address this issue to?

Thank you and everybody for keeping my alert. I was on the same cruise and "surprise" checking my credit Card account after reading this, $ 10 were taken on the same day 16/8/18.

 

Could somebody please help with an email adress in the US one can address this issue to?

Can not help re usa

The UK email is customerservices@cunard.co.uk

The German contact is shown

Germany - Cunard Line

Am Sandtorkai 38

20457 Hamburg

Germany

Tel: +49 40 41533-555

e-mail: info@cunard.de

Thank you and everybody for keeping my alert. I was on the same cruise and "surprise" checking my credit Card account after reading this, $ 10 were taken on the same day 16/8/18.

 

 

 

Could somebody please help with an email adress in the US one can address this issue to?

It’s a little disconcerting isn’t it. I posted on the Cunard Uk Facebook page as to who to contact and received this response:

“Hi ..... You can either send us a private message on here, or email our Guest Relations team at guestrelations@cunard.co.uk”

I actually called Cunard this morning and they are looking into it with a promise to call me back.......not heard anything by close of business today but hopefully tomorrow. They are going to try and track what the charge was for.

I wonder if you used the above email but end it with .com instead of co.uk and see what happens.

I will update if and when i hear more.

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Good Morning Pennbank and Tangoqueen,

Thank you for her help!

I'll try.

I returned from a QV Voyage on 3/8/18 and my account was correctly charged to my credit card. I remembered reading this thread so have kept an eye out for any additional charges......surprise! Surprise! £10.88 ($13.80) was taken from my credit card on 16/8/18. I will call Cunard tomorrow and see what I can find out.....if it’s not sorted I shall call my Bank and raise a dispute. I know it’s not a large amount but I would have thought at the very least Cunard should have emailed me a final bill or receipt if they believe there was an outstanding charge.

 

 

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UPDATE

I called Cunard and was told their systems were down so someone would call me back. After 7 days and no callback I phoned again. Nice lady looked into the matter and called me back within half an hour and advised that she had put a request in to have my account credited with the £10.88.

I asked how it could have happened and she said it was likely to be a charge from the cabin for either room service, laundry or mini bar on the day of disembarkation. She told me it doesn’t happen often but it could even be a charge made in the cabin by the next occupiers once we left and charged to the wrong account.

Fingers crossed the amount shows on my statement soon.

Definitely worth keeping a watchful eye in the future.

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Thanks for the update Tangoqueen.

But methinks she was telling fibs about it not happening often, since it is happening with monotonous regularity - and frequency - these days.

Glad you are sorted now though.