Check Your Shipboard Account

[WNT]

Our family of four recently sailed on the Caribbean Princess (7/2) and had a wonderful time, except for one aggravation. Upon arrival to our cabin, we were pleasantly surprised to see that our travel agent had arranged for a free meal at Sabatini's for our entire family. We made our reservations for the Fourth of July. The evening of the feast, we chose to treat ourselves to a conservative bottle of wine, a $22 bottle of Bolla Vapolicelli. The next day, I thought that it might be a good idea to check our bill, just to be sure that the coupons from our travel agent had been processed properly for the free evening. I'm glad that I checked. The meal was free, but the bill showed two incorrect wine charges of $28 and $75. I then got a taste of Princess' internal politics and layered bureaucracy.

 

It took four days, working through four different individuals at the Purser's Office to finally resolve their mistake. Everyone involved was very cordial and apologetic, but a simple mistake took forever for them to fix. One supervisor had to talk with another, then another, on and on. This unfortunate annoyance did impact the pleasure of our cruise, which I shared in my postcruise survey.

 

In looking at the long line at the Purser's Office on the last day of our cruise, all of could think of was, what if I hadn't checked my bill? How could such a discrepency be resolved on the last day? Check your bill carefully, and don't wait for their final summary.

[ssbeagle]

It's always a good idea to ask for a tally of your bill at least two days before the end of the cruise. This way if there are any unusual charges on your bill you can get them settled before the last day when the lines are really long.

[paul929207]

I always check mine the second or third day to see that all the OBC ws posted. Then I check it once a week or so after that.

[Comptech]

Good advice, I too have found errors, one time HAL tried to charge us for a tour we never took... :)

[RickEk]

It's always a good idea to check your folio as your cruise progresses. From what I understand, they now have kiosks that you can swipe your cruise card and get your folio printed on the spot. We intend to use them extensively next week! :D

 

And yeah, they do need to come up with a better system than they have... rummaging through stacks of receipts is a major time waster on their part and only serves to exasperate the passenger.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Princess please listen!

 

This is one area Princess really needs to address and quick! The Pursers love to pass the buck and seem to have no power whatsoever to reverse charges. There needs to be one clearly identified person working that desk that has authority to make corrections after a quick review (not 4 days).

[Colo Cruiser]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1232980&highlight=onboard+account

[caber]

Would you get anywhere if you asked to speak to the Passenger Service Director?