A little dissapointed with an incident on our first cruise

[Jana White]

If this had happened to me, I would have gone once to the front office to make a statement and that would be all. I would want to get the incident in the record. I would have known it was my word against Carnival's and not expected anything as I signed the receipt. Chalk it up to a mistake and move on.

[hoop4321]

[quote name='Calico Jack Sparrow']OP: I don't know what your reasoning is for not using a credit card for your onboard account, but you just gave at least 40 reasons why next time you should. This is the 21st century. Cash is becoming an "albatross" in the world. (Extinct). You would have a few more avenues of recourse if you had used a CC.
Of course, it's already been said, but I think you're to blame here. It's a simple case of caveat emptor-let the buyer beware. Which means check your receipts. Saavy?!

That you removed your tips, that was totally unfair. Why penalize the hard working people who served you well? I didn't even know you could do that.[/quote]

In the nicest possible way, i'm sending you this fyi....The word '[B]albatross[/B]' is sometimes used metaphorically to mean a psychological burden that feels like a curse......it does not mean extinct.

I see nothing wrong with whatever means people use to vacation. It's not how I do things, but it isn't my business.

OP.....i would send a letter and expect Carnival to do nothing. At least you would not have to wonder what would happen. I think you were right to bring it to their attention, but it is now a case of he said she said. Hopefully, if the crew member is a thief, and this happens again, the next person will have better results due to your persistence. Happy 4th!

[Carnivalcruiselady]

I'm so sorry for the unfortunate situation that happened to you on your cruise. I would have never spoke to the Guest Services personnel while she was applying $200 to your sail and sign card. I would have also checked my receipt before I walked away. Now it becomes a he said /she said. Its unfortunate but I guess it became a learning lesson now.

[QLUVS2CRUZ]

I didn't read through all the posts, but I would recommend checking your bank statement, and if it says $200 withdrawn from the ATM, send that to Carnival along with an explanation of what happened, and also note the positive things on the trip. You may or may not get anything from them. If you do, great. If not, you have to just go on and try to forget it. I don't think Carnival is the only place this could happen...it could happen pretty much anywhere, so then it falls back on you to check the receipt right away (which I'm sure you've determined you will do in the future!)

$40 may or may not seem like a lot of money, but if you gave me two twenties and I just stood there and ripped them in half, I'm sure it would make you mad...to me it really has nothing to do with whether or not $40 is considered a lot of money.

[allgood2010]

Hey everyone thanks for the input.

You are right we should have checked, we didn't..our fault. We did check on every transaction after that. I usually do check receipts I was just being ignorant and for some stupid reason I thought at Guest Services we didn't need to be cautious (yes it sounds dumb looking back).

We used cash because I thought I read on a bunch of posts that sometimes there are issues with using a credit/debit card and I thought I was being smarter by using cash. Next time we will use our card. Using our card would have saved us money being that we got charged by the ATM each time and by our bank. I was under the impression from my research that using a debit card sometimes there are bigger issues that come up.

It was our first cruise and I'm sure by removing autotips (which by the way still haven't been refunded because they take 3 weeks) someone might have missed out which we feel horribly for. However we tipped MORE than autotips would have taken which means certain people got even more than if we had just left it.

All in all I appreciate everyone's input. We aren't that caught up on it and you are right, at least it was only $40. If anything maybe this post might help others like us who aren't thorough about checking receipts to do so.

Thanks again and I'm glad I made this post and at least got input/feedback from the best cruise forum on the web.

[babyblue78]

Is it possible that you dropped the $40 right there at the desk? Then, anyone could have picked it up. Unfortunately, it is hard to prove that the agent stole the money when the tapes do not show her pocketing it, and the till came up correct. Please, just file it away and not let it ruin your cruise!

[babyblue78]

[quote name='allgood2010']
It was our first cruise and I'm sure by removing autotips (which by the way still haven't been refunded because they take 3 weeks) someone might have missed out which we feel horribly for. However we tipped MORE than autotips would have taken which means certain people got even more than if we had just left it.
[/QUOTE]

The main problem with removing the auto-tip is that the staff at the purser's desk are generally not including in the autotip. However, the behind-the-scenes workers in dining & room services are, and there is no way to tip them all yourself.

[ib4cruzn]

[quote name='babyblue78']The main problem with removing the auto-tip is that the staff at the purser's desk are generally not including in the autotip. However, the behind-the-scenes workers in dining & room services are, and there is no way to tip them all yourself.[/QUOTE]

So now we're tipping all the "behind the scenes" workers?

I think Carnival needs to explain just what our "fare" includes.

I believe things are getting just slightly out of hand...

[DebJ14]

Sorry this happened to you on vacation. As a bank teller in my early years I would recommend never leaving a teller ( or Guest Services) or an ATM without verifying the amount of cash received or amount deposited.

Also, I seriously don't understand this romance that people have with cash. It is so easily lost or stolen. If you got money from your ATM you obviously have a debit card. You could have used that to put money down on the Sail and Sign account.

Why not get a credit card to be used only for travel and have enough money in the bank to pay it off in full when you get the bill? It is so much safer and you have the extra protection of the credit card. What would you do in case of an emergency? Do you have a few extra thousand lying around if you got sick? If you go to the ship doctor that goes to the sail and sign account. What if you had to go to the hospital? What if you had to buy an air ticket to fly home? Do you have enough cash or money in the checking account for that kind of stuff?
We always assume the worst could happen and plan for it. When all goes well that is great, but when you travel alot ship happens, which is something you learn with experience. As for the tips - shame on you. Your waiter and room steward and assistant waiter had nothing to do with that incident. The guest service people are not in the tip pool. Heck I often joke that I should just rip up my money and throw it overboard as I lose more than $40..00 bucks a night on the slots.
I would be mad at myself in this instance - for not checking closely enough. Lesson learned and move on.

[babyblue78]

[quote name='ib4cruzn']So now we're tipping all the "behind the scenes" workers?

I think Carnival needs to explain just what our "fare" includes.

I believe things are getting just slightly out of hand...[/QUOTE]

This is right on Carnival's website, not sure how much more explanation you can ask for:

For your convenience, we automatically charge the gratuities for dining and stateroom staff to your onboard Sail & Sign account. The total amount is $10.00 per guest, per day (our recommended guideline) as follows:

$ 3.50 Per Day Stateroom Services

$ 5.50 Per Day Dining Room Services

[B]$ 1.00 Per Day Alternative Services: distributed to other kitchen and hotel service staff[/B]

[happy cruzin]

[SIZE=3]Just to add one more thought here....check not only the receipts that you are about to sign - but also watch your S&S account in general.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Too many times to count there has been a charge to our account - that we did not make!! :eek: It usually is a beverage charge....because often the wait staff just takes the number and not the card - inputs the wrong folio number and then the one who makes the purchase signs the receipt without looking at what name is on it. :rolleyes:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]We watch closely the charges posted to our account. If there is any question we take the concern to guest services - they then "investigate", which can take a couple of days. Only once has the charge not been removed when they pull the transaction and see who signed what name to the receipt.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]But watching the amount on your receipts may not be enough.... ;)[/SIZE]

[waldocruiser1]

[quote name='golfadj']Sorry but you are in a classic he said/she said situation.

One would think the drawer at the end of the shift would have told the story.[/quote]

Only if it was an HONEST mistake. If it was a slip of the hand by the worker, they would have put it in their pocket and the drawer would balance.

I have had employees do this in the past, it is hard to catch them at it.

I always fan out the money if paying in cash, and lay it on the counter, not in their hand. I learned this in Germany years ago, they wanted you to put the money down so everyone could see what was there. The same way a casino does it.

[friedshrimp]

[quote name='allgood2010']even though a Carnival employee was responsible for us losing $40[/QUOTE]

This is the only part of the post I feel the need to respond to. OP, I'm sorry you lost your money, but in no way this the responsibility of the Carnival employee. You are responsible for verifying what you gave Guest Services and that the receipt you signed was correct. You failed to do this and therefore are 100% responsible for the "loss" of $40. consider this is a good teaching experience to remind you to always verify what you are signing, especially when it comes to money!

[Nanaimobound]

Cruise lines, (not just Carnival) don't like to admit when they are at fault for something on board. They had you here because you signed for the cash they received. They are really no different than any other vacation destination, they handle things in the quickest way possible that is beneficial to them. Sometimes when you have all your ducks in a row they will cheerfully handle / correct the situation, but most of the time they will give people the run around and try to just let it go not taken care of.
I agree with the OP who said buyer beware. especially when traveling, it is up to you to watch your own back and double check money matters in the moment. These sorts of things happen in resort hotels, ports of call, ships, wherever you are in a tourist environment.
I would definitely not have withheld tips from the staff that is taking care of you. It had nothing to do with them. Chalk it up to lesson learned and move on.

[honestguy]

This reminded me back years ago when I worked retail. Many time customers would be like I gave this, etc. drawer would be counted down and most of the time the customer was wrong. I very highly doubt the employee would risk his or her job for 40 bucks. Its no fun being fired on a cruise ship. You get thrown off in the next port, and have to find your own way home. It just isn't worth it.

The bigger thing is the tips. I don't think anyone should pull them off. To me its just part of the fare, and if u want to tip extra fine, but I always doubt when people say they tip more. Being someone who lives on tips the worst thing you can hear is I'm a good tipper or I"ll take care of you. Its the kiss of death

[CruisefromNY]

[quote name='cruiseinfoseeker']CruisefromNY---how about reading their post a little more thoroughly before commenting. . . .:eek:

As far as removing the tips affecting behind-the-scenes staff. I think that the OP did that. However, this was the op's first cruise and they probably didn't know how the tips get distributed behind the scenes. I don't agree with people removing tips either, but given the op's explanation I don't think this was a case of "show Carnival." Of course, I could be wrong, but I don't think it was an intentional "cheapskate" move.[/quote]
EH....I read the post carefully and removing your tips is SCREWING over the people who take care of you. Taking the $40 loss out on those people is cold.

[Trailhed1]

If the receipt said $240 instead of $160 would you have gone back then?

Just wondering......

Need to check when the money changes hand and the receipt enters your hand. Not in the steakhouse.

I hear ya, but its a cheap enough lesson for sure.

[allgood2010]

[quote name='CruisefromNY']EH....I read the post carefully and removing your tips is SCREWING over the people who take care of you. Taking the $40 loss out on those people is cold.[/QUOTE]

What do you consider overtipping? I have repeated the fact that we handled it the way we felt best. Was it perfect..no. At the same time this allowed us to tip extra to those we felt deserved it.

Next time we cruise we will still pre pay tips and we will not have them remove them. Also as far as we know we might not even get them back since they were pre-paid. If we were so cheap or cold why would we pre-pay them in the first place and upon meeting our steward tip him $20 off the bat and then two more times through out the cruise, both before and after this issue came up. We were told an email was sent off about it and we would know in 2-3 weeks. As it stands the tips are still there and we paid out extra.

I appreciate all the input on how to handle the situation. In writing this post I told the WHOLE story..not just parts to make Carnival look bad or us look like we were in the right.

Also someone said we demanded to have them look at it on video. Where you came up with this I have no clue as I never said that.

I know many people are Carnival line lovers. I don't feel as if I have put down the ship, food, service etc. I just figured I would ask for input and vent here.

Anyways thank you again and I once again thank Cruisecritic and all it's members for helping out!

[Trailhed1]

And I forgot to add I believe removing tips is punishing the wrong people, the ones who helped you to have such a great cruise. Do not agree with that move.

[buddylover]

[quote name='golfadj']Sorry but you are in a classic he said/she said situation.

One would think the drawer at the end of the shift would have told the story.[/quote]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=blue]Not if an unscrupulous employee "pocketed" the money.....you are assuming the employee was honest and not at fault.........who knows????[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[Silverman]

I just cant believe so many people can throw away 40 dollars. Maybe you can send me the 40 dollars that you dont need and I can go on a cruise! It just amazes me how people come up with a solution and bash the OP for not doing things right. I was really happy when I found this board but Im starting to think it wasnt so good. All the cruise snobs on here are just a little to much. And I thought the RCL forum was bad. To the OP I hope something good happens for you. You know a kind word can go a long way.

[golfadj]

The OP said she took off the auto tips and tipped in cash. Absolutely nothing wrong with doing it that way.

[ib4cruzn]

[quote name='babyblue78']This is right on Carnival's website, not sure how much more explanation you can ask for:

For your convenience, we automatically charge the gratuities for dining and stateroom staff to your onboard Sail & Sign account. The total amount is $10.00 per guest, per day (our recommended guideline) as follows:

$ 3.50 Per Day Stateroom Services

$ 5.50 Per Day Dining Room Services

[B]$ 1.00 Per Day Alternative Services: distributed to other kitchen and hotel service staff[/B][/QUOTE]

And the "behind the scenes workers" would be where?

You really should check before you copy and paste...

[trainerdude]

[quote name='bigcraig']OP, if Carnival gives you the $40 in question are you going to send them the tip money back to distribute to all the people that served you?:rolleyes:[/QUOTE]

Read what the OP said. He did in fact tip those on board throughout the cruise and at the end of the cruise. He just asked for the prepaid tips back so he could control who got the tips.

[hubofhockey]

[quote name='allgood2010']Hey everyone thanks for the input.

You are right we should have checked, we didn't..our fault. We did check on every transaction after that. I usually do check receipts I was just being ignorant and for some stupid reason I thought at Guest Services we didn't need to be cautious (yes it sounds dumb looking back).

We used cash because I thought I read on a bunch of posts that sometimes there are issues with using a credit/debit card and I thought I was being smarter by using cash. Next time we will use our card. Using our card would have saved us money being that we got charged by the ATM each time and by our bank. I was under the impression from my research that using a debit card sometimes there are bigger issues that come up.

It was our first cruise and I'm sure by removing autotips (which by the way still haven't been refunded because they take 3 weeks) someone might have missed out which we feel horribly for. However we tipped MORE than autotips would have taken which means certain people got even more than if we had just left it.

All in all I appreciate everyone's input. We aren't that caught up on it and you are right, at least it was only $40. If anything maybe this post might help others like us who aren't thorough about checking receipts to do so.

Thanks again and I'm glad I made this post and at least got input/feedback from the best cruise forum on the web.[/quote]

I lost more than that on my first cruise by not knowing that the original price that you contract for can be reduced just by calling in if prices drop. It's certainly a diferent way of losing money. Later, I learned that I can have better and cheaper excursions by NOT using cruise lines for excursions. You learned that you credit cards are the best way to do business with cruise lines. If you got contrary information before your cruise, I hope you didn't get it on Cruise Critic from some who thing credit cards are evil. Credit cards give you protection on your purchases, rewards points, warranties, and even proof, among other things. Carrying balances can be dangerous. Credit cards themselves are not.