Beware Conquest Guests

[NCTribeFan]

Perhaps I've missed something, but for the past, oh, 3 or 4 cruises, I no longer get a receipt. You're given ONE slip to sign and that's that.

 

So now I check my bill occasionally.

 

I don't buy the soda card and will never purchase the Cheers package. But I do actually look at the slip before I sign it.

 

When I receive the casino drink card, I do add a tip to the *free* drinks. Have never had any problem with erroneous charges and I'm going on Carnival cruise #19 in a couple of months.

 

Sorry this happened, OP. I had a fantastic repositioning cruise on Conquest in November. But good thing you caught it!

[winddawn]

I have just returned from a week on the Carnival Conquest with a group of friends. After 7 spectacular days and one of the best vacations ever spent, we had a major incident occur our last night onboard that left us completely disappointed, or perhaps more accurately, angry and dismayed by Carnival. After looking over my charge account I realized there were 3 charges for $11 at the Red Frog. My husband and I both purchased the Cheers program, so there should have been no charges other than the extra tip amount we added. Even though an automatic gratuity is added when you purchase the Cheers card, we always tip a little extra when we get a good server, usually one or two dollars. So I went to guest services to find out what the charges were. What I found was unsettling. A printout showed that our server (name known but will not disclose here) had taken the liberty of tipping himself $11, 3 times. One was for a Coke that I didn't even order. I rarely drink soda and certainly didn't on that trip. So I asked for the charges to be taken off as we clearly were not tipping $11. But was it just an honest mistake? Did he accidentally hit the 1 key twice? Or was it intentional? I didn't know and was willing to give him the benefit of doubt.

 

I explained the situation to our friends, who then decided to check their charges. I was shocked to hear they were hit with four $11 charges from the same server! At this point we realize it's no mistake and decide that all tips to this server need to be deleted. So we make another trip to guest services. The guy we talked to was totally unconcerned about what had happened. His name was Krystof or something similar. My husband pointed out that something needs to be done when a crew member is stealing from guests. His only response was, "You can't assume that". Are you kidding me? It didn't just happen 1 time to 1 guest, it happened 7 times to 2 different groups that we knew of. How many more people had this crew member ripped off? We were all obviously extremely upset and this guy could not care less. He said he'd have the bar manager look into it. That's all he could do. I was furious, but we kept our cool and hoped they would make it right.

 

My fury turned to complete and utter dismay when I got my printout the next morning and the only charges they reversed were the 3 $11 tips. This guy attempted to steal at least $77 in a matter of an hour's time that we spent at the Red Frog. How much more would he have taken had we spent more time there and how much more did he steal from others? I'm just thankful we spent the rest of our time around the Sky Pool Bar where Sebastian and Antonio took great care of us and were rewarded with an extra tip not only after each drink, but a special "Thank You!" at the end of our cruise.

 

The fact that Carnival chose not to remove the tips as we requested and decided this obvious thief still deserved them indicates they don't care that 4 guests feel they have been robbed and have no intention of addressing the issue. Beware future Carnival Conquest guests; the thief still lurks. Avoid the Red Frog and check your charge account daily. My friends and I, and there were 12 of us total, are now reconsidering whether or not we'll even take another Carnival cruise. Extremely disappointing.

Thank you for sharing your story with us. It's a good lesson for all of us. If it were me, I would be writing a letter to Carnival and would include copies of everything I have to support my statements. There is no way that I would let it go unaddressed once I got home. If that server cheated 2 of you, there's no telling how many times he did that and got away with it and probably continues to do it. It also signals that he is dishonest and is likely capable of other dishonest actions. Carnival needs to kick his backside off the ship for good.

 

In all of my Carnival cruises, I've never had that happen. Addressing it will help protect other passengers from becoming victims. There is no excuse for dishonesty. It's hard to believe this guy would risk his job for that. It could be that he is close to the end of his contract and isn't planning on coming back so he may feel he has little to lose.

[SadieN]

Perhaps I've missed something, but for the past, oh, 3 or 4 cruises, I no longer get a receipt. You're given ONE slip to sign and that's that.

 

 

 

So now I check my bill occasionally.

 

 

 

I don't buy the soda card and will never purchase the Cheers package. But I do actually look at the slip before I sign it.

 

 

 

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

 

 

We ask for a duplicate receipt.

[Midwestgal]

I am Plantinum cruiser and don't ever recall seeing a line on the reciept where you can add an extra tip. 15% of the bill is automatically added to your Sail & Sign charge for beverages.

Really? You can't miss it, it's there

[agc291]

We just got back saturday and have $272 of charges in my bank acct currently. We had our final bill slipped under our door from midnight of $114. I now have 4 separate charges for $272- the highest at $171 and some change seems legit as it is our original bill total along with another charge of $26. I know we had a couple drinks around the time the bill was printed so maybe they were missed but there is no way that the other three charges at about $135 or so are right. We had a cash account all week until thursday night and still had cash on our account. no way its right. of course guest services is closed now but i will call first thing tomorrow and have them produce what the charges are for.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

This is why we NEVER add anything to the receipt. I always bring a wad of ones and fives on our cruises to tip bartenders and waiters in cash. It saves you a whole lot of headaches. We always prepay our tips then tip additional cash here and there. Even at steakhouse I leave cash and always put an x in additional tip space.

[MarineMom923]

Just out of curiosity if you had not been on the Cheers program what would the cost have been for what you were drinking? Any chance that it might have totaled $11 dollars? Could it have been an issue with data entry or the system not catching that it was a purchase under Cheers?

 

I was shown a printout of the receipts for all 3 $11 charges. Two charges were for drinks that we indeed had ordered and the 3rd charge was for a Coke. I never ordered a Coke the entire cruise. The way it works when you have the Cheers card is you're charged the amount of the drink then credited the same amount on that ticket. The total comes out to be $0. Then you have a line option to add a tip, which I always added in the amount of 1.00 or 2.00. The $11 charges were shown to be tips on all 3. My guess is that this server took the liberty of adding a 1 before my 1.00, making it process as an $11 tip.

[MarineMom923]

Thank you for sharing your story with us. It's a good lesson for all of us. If it were me, I would be writing a letter to Carnival and would include copies of everything I have to support my statements. There is no way that I would let it go unaddressed once I got home. If that server cheated 2 of you, there's no telling how many times he did that and got away with it and probably continues to do it. It also signals that he is dishonest and is likely capable of other dishonest actions. Carnival needs to kick his backside off the ship for good.

 

In all of my Carnival cruises, I've never had that happen. Addressing it will help protect other passengers from becoming victims. There is no excuse for dishonesty. It's hard to believe this guy would risk his job for that. It could be that he is close to the end of his contract and isn't planning on coming back so he may feel he has little to lose.

 

I have contacted Carnival directly and I'm hopeful they'll respond. More important than getting my tip money back, which honestly is only like $11 and that only bothers me because this guy doesn't deserve even a penny of my money, but my main concern is for future guests. If this guy did it to us he'll do it again. And probably already has. With crew members upward of 1,000 it's not unimaginable that once in a while you'll run across a dishonest person or two. That in itself won't keep me from cruising with Carnival. If they continue to allow this person to remain on staff, I will definitely reconsider.

[MarineMom923]

Perhaps I've missed something, but for the past, oh, 3 or 4 cruises, I no longer get a receipt. You're given ONE slip to sign and that's that.

 

So now I check my bill occasionally.

 

I don't buy the soda card and will never purchase the Cheers package. But I do actually look at the slip before I sign it.

 

When I receive the casino drink card, I do add a tip to the *free* drinks. Have never had any problem with erroneous charges and I'm going on Carnival cruise #19 in a couple of months.

 

Sorry this happened, OP. I had a fantastic repositioning cruise on Conquest in November. But good thing you caught it!

 

You're right, most of the time you don't get a copy of your receipt like you used to. You have to ask for one, which I will do from now on.

[MarineMom923]

I understand your frustration, however you do realize some of the crew does move to different ships? The same people you dealt with on the Conquest could be on your future cruise.

 

Yes, the crewmembers do often move to another ship after 6 or 9 months, which is why it's imperative for Carnival to deal with this sort of situation immediately.

[chasinraynbowz]

We watch out bill closely too. While on the Conquest, we had several drinks charged to my hubby's card during a show the night before. We were in the casino and not at the show. They pulled the receipt and saw that it wasn't my husbands signature and immediately reversed the charges. That is the only problem we have ever had.

 

Thanks for sharing your story!!

[bigmama9224]

Sometimes when I read things like this I feel like we are at the mercy of all employees on a cruise. If and when we have some kind of complain about another employee I feel that whomever we approche seems to take an attitude I guess maybe because it is their co worker. Maybe I am wrong but that is how I feel when I read such things.

[stewpapa]

I am Plantinum cruiser and don't ever recall seeing a line on the reciept where you can add an extra tip. 15% of the bill is automatically added to your Sail & Sign charge for beverages.

 

Huh? Also Platinum and I can assure you its there. We add at least a dollar on almost every drink.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[funinthesun1964]

I was just thinking, isn't the Cheers program only for drinks up to $10? Did you order some type of special drinks that were $11 and they weren't covered under the program, and were added to your bill? Just wondering

[winddawn]

I have contacted Carnival directly and I'm hopeful they'll respond. More important than getting my tip money back, which honestly is only like $11 and that only bothers me because this guy doesn't deserve even a penny of my money, but my main concern is for future guests. If this guy did it to us he'll do it again. And probably already has. With crew members upward of 1,000 it's not unimaginable that once in a while you'll run across a dishonest person or two. That in itself won't keep me from cruising with Carnival. If they continue to allow this person to remain on staff, I will definitely reconsider.

Thanks for the reply. Let us know if you hear back from Carnival. I think if I were in your shoes I would write a letter. And if that doesn't provide satisfaction that this guy has been canned, I'd post it on JH's FB page. I hope you get it resolved and get your money back and can prevent it from happening to others. It is too bad there are bad apples out there. What a stinky way to end an otherwise great vacation. I'm really sorry this happened to you.

[Almost Packed]

I hope for future cruisers sake that the bar manager started looking at the tips that particular server had on that cruise very closely. I would hope if there were a lot of discrepancies that the person was taken off of bar service and put on a behind the scenes type job.

 

Did your other friends get the amounts removed from their bills as well?

 

Give him a job behind the scenes? heck no! he's a thief. fire him! why should he still be rewarded with employment if he cannot be trusted? Would you want to room with him? :eek:

 

Stealing should not be tolerated. If he's willing to steal cash, he's willing to steal anything from anyone.

 

 

OP,

Thanks for sharing your info. We'll be on the Conquest next month. I'll certainly pay close attention to my bill...as always. but thanks for the reminder.

Edited February 12, 2014 by Almost Packed

[fireman935]

I understand your frustration, however you do realize some of the crew does move to different ships? The same people you dealt with on the Conquest could be on your future cruise.

 

I do!! If I run into her again I would just move lines!!! By the way enjoy your cruise.

[JustCruiseMe]

I am sorry that happened to you, but wondering what you expected them to do right then and there? He did say the bar manager would look into it. What else did you want him to do? You got the money back on your account and possibly learned a lesson to tip them in cash when you have Cheers if you want to tip extra. Did you expect the guy at the desk to haul the bartender up front and fire him right there? I am just curious as to what exactly you wanted done right then.

 

Remember to not judge a whole cruiseline because of one person. It could have happened on any line.

I think it was the lack of concern shown to this cruiser probably more than what they wanted to happen. I get that, have had that happen where you get the feeling they think "so what?" no big deal, when it is a big deal to YOU.

 

I personally believe the server should be reprimanded and his charges looked into and if he has done it before, fired.

[sprint180]

Thanks for the heads up. I need to be better at checking.

[Mikel1733]

What's upsetting about this problem is Carnivals weak response. A situation

Like this needs to be addressed head on. An employee stealing from customers should be put off at the next port.

[BenjiRodney]

I check mine everyday and I also look at the bar receipts before I sign them.

[pokergirl34]

Hope you have an awesome cruise. Say hello to Antonio and Sebastian. Sebastian's laugh is contagious! They're a great team and a huge asset to Carnival.

 

Thanks! We will look for Sebastian and Antonio.

 

We received receipts with each drink last year on the Freedom so we were able to confirm our Cheers charges against the bill. Bummer they dont do that anymore.

[Almost Packed]

what's upsetting about this problem is carnivals weak response. A situation

like this needs to be addressed head on. An employee stealing from customers should be put off at the next port.

 

100% agree!!

[RDC1]

Keep in mind that once you reported it, especially if you talked directly with his supervisor, then it became a personnel matter.

 

All they should do is acknowledge your report, credit the improper tips, and then conduct an internal investigation. No information beyond that should flow out of the company. At no point should they communicate what action they are going to take. If the investigation finds something and action is taken that is a matter that, like all personnel actions, should remain between the company and the individual.

 

At this point the only issue that you have is that they did not credit other tips which you wanted withdrawn, but were valid charges at the time you made them. The company really cannot and should not provide any more information about their actions concerning a personnel matter.

Edited February 12, 2014 by RDC1

[xeroxme]

We did in fact ask to speak with the bar manager, but were told that wasn't possible. We were trying to be reasonable; not make a scene. We trusted they would handle it and had every reason to think the bar manager would take this as seriously as we did and just remove the gratuities as we requested. After all, they weren't obligatory, the extra tips were given out of our graciousness. We of course had no idea we would be scammed by the guy.

 

I agree Marine mom those extra tips should have been able to be removed as dishonesty was proved by you and your guests. They had opinion and you had facts.

Yes I agree check your account often for mistakes. However, I think we should not have to worry daily about being scammed by the people that are to provides us with a great vacation. Hopefully this was handled behind the scenes and appropriate action was taken by management to make sure no one else experiences the same from the individual. I'm not saying be fired everyone. Lol, but who knows this could be happening to lots of people and maybe firing needs done or maybe they don't know how to use the register.

All of us who cruise provide tremendous amounts of personal information to the cruise lines not just a credit card. Honesty of employees is essential and how Carnival handles it is important.