Watch your onboard account

[jtl513]

All I know was it came across as a large purchase and Have never had that happen before. If it was done in the past I was not notified of a charge on my card

A hold or pre-authorization would trigger an alert, but what happened at the end of the cruise? Were your on-board expenses also charged to your account? Or was just the actual amount charged and the pre-authorization $2500+ disappeared?

[hrhdhd]

All cruise lines, hotels, car rental agencies, etc place such holds.

 

Disney Cruise Line doesn't place a hold. They charge the card each time a certain threshold of spending has been reached.

[RJ2002]

We have had problems getting bar bills reversed. We've had our own drinks charged at, say, 5:02 pm and then some else's at 5:04 pm and we had a hard time convincing the Front Desk that this was an error. The issue dragged on for 2 days: they had to get the Bev or Bar manager to OK the reversal.

 

We don''t like the hassle and time wasted dealing with this type of thing. When HAL had pax sign, it was very clear cut and easy to deal with.

 

This exact same thing happened to us on our last cruise. Had an erroneous charge at the Ocean Bar, where we had our usual pre-dinner drinks each night. And it took 2 days for it to get resolved. I was starting to get annoyed since it wasn't removed until the night before we disembarked.

[jtl513]

Disney Cruise Line doesn't place a hold. They charge the card each time a certain threshold of spending has been reached.

Hmmm ... I thought I remembered a pre-authorization being posted on the day we boarded the Dream. Whatever ... I'm just surprised that Fargo55 never had encountered one someplace before. Edited April 8, 2014 by jtl513

[iancal]

It is not unique to HAL. We have had this occur on other cruise lines and at various hotels.

 

Inevitably it is simply an honest mistake or a system glitch. Like others, we check every few days. We always check our final statement. We also agree it to the charge that is posted on our credit card statement.

[YlangYlangF9PB3E]

Just off Nieuw Amsterdam Western Caribbean. Imagine our surprise when we opened our final statement and the OBC was not listed. We were given $170, $85 each when we booked, now nowhere to be found.

 

At 7 a.m. I had a lengthy 1/2 hour phone call that started in a VERY unpleasant way. The HAL representative asked if I had proof that we were entitled to $170 OBC, which I unfortunately did not have. She kept repeating that she saw nothing to show we were given onboard credit and if we couldn't prove it, too bad. After pleading with the woman to check a bit further, she finally discovered that we were, in fact, entitled to $170, and corrected our total.

 

When we got home the first thing I did was find our booking invoice and there it was, plain as day -- $85 each OBC. WHY didn't HAL have this info at their fingertips? Folks, bring every single piece of paper that shows what you paid for and are entitled to.

 

This all happened after they "lost" our pre-board reservations to Cannaletto. We were told that the time we'd chosen and PAID FOR was no longer available and we had to settle for dinner at 8:00 - later than we like - and I DID have proof of our reservation. This was on my birthday, lol. MORAL: BRING PROOF OF EVERYTHING!!!

[jtl513]

MORAL: BRING PROOF OF EVERYTHING!!!

... and check early in the cruise that your OBCs have been posted ...

[Windsailer]

and get a copy of your on board statement every couple of days to make sure the OBC is still there and that the charges that are there are correct.

[Ontariotrekker]

One of the few things I really like about Carnival is the ability to check your onboard account by accessing it through the television system in your cabin. . . no trooping down to the desk and getting paper printouts. It would require a major retrofit but would be great if you could do this on HAL.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Unfortunately I do not think I have had a HAL cruise in at least the last 15 that we were not charged wrong things. I now make it routine to check every other day and yes HAL does the holds. I just recently got off the NCL Jewel and for the fun of it check my credit card account daily to see if there was a hold and oddly not one time did there show a hold and the best part there was not one single mistake the whole cruise on what they charged me for :) It was actually refreshing to not have these problems.

[boards]

I totally agree that it is wise to check your account a few times before disembarking. In all fairness to Hal you have to remember it is staff who are doing the accounts and writing the bills used, not HAL per say. On our last Maasdam cruise we were wrongly charged for a large bottle of water, it was the fault of staff that did not furnish the bottle to us at the beginning of our cruise, we even have a picture to prove the bottle was not delivered (which was taken not for that specific purpose though). When the final statement went through our bank it was for the corrected amount. Mistakes do happen, so check your statement for sure.

[navybankerteacher]

I totally agree that it is wise to check your account a few times before disembarking. In all fairness to Hal you have to remember it is staff who are doing the accounts and writing the bills used, not HAL per say. On our last Maasdam cruise we were wrongly charged for a large bottle of water, it was the fault of staff that did not furnish the bottle to us at the beginning of our cruise, we even have a picture to prove the bottle was not delivered (which was taken not for that specific purpose though). When the final statement went through our bank it was for the corrected amount. Mistakes do happen, so check your statement for sure.

 

I am glad that you were able to get it straightened out; but having a picture that does not show a bottle of water is certainly not proof that no bottle had been furnished - if HAL (or any line) was known for accepting such "proof" of non delivery, don't you imagine a lot of passengers would be staging pictures?

[chrispb]

There must be something wrong with HAL's systems. Either that or they're trying it on. Even just one or two soft drinks or water added erroneously to each stateroom per cruise would bump up their profits nicely.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Until out last 2 cruises, we had a long stretch of not having problems with our shipboard account.

I always check our account about every 3 days. We have been charged for items from the mini bar. We get it removed. Last cruise, when we got home, I checked my AMEX bill and discovered that the charges were put back on after we left the ship.

I will be checking my AMEX bill in a couple of days and will be curious to see if the charges re-appear.

[boards]

I am glad that you were able to get it straightened out; but having a picture that does not show a bottle of water is certainly not proof that no bottle had been furnished - if HAL (or any line) was known for accepting such "proof" of non delivery, don't you imagine a lot of passengers would be staging pictures?

 

Yes your right, but we knew it. We did use the picture to show we didn't get the water, we just told them we didn't. They accepted our word, they may have checked with the person who replaces the drinks, I don't know, but we had the charge removed.

We had a problem on the Celebrity Infinity and they never corrected it. Thank you Hal.

[GeriatricNurse]

... and check early in the cruise that your OBCs have been posted ...

 

John, I always go to the Front Desk to check my onboard account as soon as I have boarded on the day of embarkation! ;)

[Typhoon1]

It's not unusual to find at least one charge per cruise that we didn't make. A trip to the front desk results in removal without incident. Normally it's someone else's bar charge.

 

If you contest a charge, they remove it without any argument. At least, that has been our experience.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

:confused: The weird thing I find about all this with 42 posts is HOW Many have had errors and wrong charges on their HAL bill. Yes in going over the other cruise lines CC board you hardly hear anyone stating anything about this. Personally I find it sad that is one of the many things I have to keep on the look out when I cruise HAL. :( Somehow I just do not think this is a rare occurrence and seems to becoming common on HAL sailings. I wonder how many never consider to ever look at their billing statement :confused:

[cruz chic]

:confused: The weird thing I find about all this with 42 posts is HOW Many have had errors and wrong charges on their HAL bill. Yes in going over the other cruise lines CC board you hardly hear anyone stating anything about this. Personally I find it sad that is one of the many things I have to keep on the look out when I cruise HAL. :( Somehow I just do not think this is a rare occurrence and seems to becoming common on HAL sailings. I wonder how many never consider to ever look at their billing statement :confused:

 

I think that would be a mistake not to look at it. Ive had extra charges on princess too but not as much as on hal. That said i cruise more on hal. One time I was at a bar. I had 2 different drinks and they were unusual drinks. I had 5 charged to my bill. The front desk tried to make me feel like i forgot but i had my bill with 2 on it. I really think the bartender was trying to pull a fast one. They probably count on people not noticing.

[jaspersmycat]

Then again there are those of us who have never had a wrong charge or error on a HAL cruise.

[jtl513]

Then again there are those of us who have never had a wrong charge or error on a HAL cruise.

The worst error we've ever had was not automatically getting our 3* 25% discount at the PG.

[Globaliser]

The weird thing I find about all this with 42 posts is HOW Many have had errors and wrong charges on their HAL bill. Yes in going over the other cruise lines CC board you hardly hear anyone stating anything about this.

I've done rather more NCL cruises (13) than HAL (7), and I don't think the error rate has been significantly less on NCL.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I've done rather more NCL cruises (13) than HAL (7), and I don't think the error rate has been significantly less on NCL.

 

The question is how recently have you done HAL cruises and how recently have you done NCL? Things change in time. I have had errors on the past 6 HAL cruises some extremely large charges, while granted I have only had 4 NCL cruises the last a week and a half ago and the previous November 2012 neither have had an error of any kind. As far as that goes I have not had errors on the other cruise lines I have been on either although over the past two years I have primarily only cruised on HAL and NCL. I just find it interesting that it has become a fact of cruising that one must continually keep checking on the HAL accounting where that does not seem to be a major problem with other cruise lines as it is with HAL. I have got to wonder how many charges go through that passengers do not catch additional charges.

I have the opportunity to hear from passengers from all cruise lines and truly the only cruise line that passengers claim they have to contact because of wrong charges is HAL and that is among some of the things I am hearing more frequently along with lack of entertainment on the S and R Class ships.

[Windsailer]

The largest billing error I had HAL make was on the Eurodam last fall. We had been travelling for a week before we boarded and on day two decided to take advantage of the "stuff the bag for $20" laundry special. And that bag was stuffed full! I carefully marked on the sheet it was "by the bag." I kept the pink copy as I usually do. Laundry came back fine, and I kept the white sheet, without looking at. When I got a copy of my on board statement, the laundry bill was huge! Come to find out HAL had charged my "by the piece". Fortunately I had the pink sheet to show the front desk. The wanted to keep the pink sheet, but I thought it was better that they made a copy. But it took 4 days for them to sort it out.

 

My credit card charge when I get home is almost always more than the final statement. I just call HAL, tell them I have all my receipts, and they correct the amount to what it was supposed to be.

[Globaliser]

The question is how recently have you done HAL cruises and how recently have you done NCL? Things change in time. I have had errors on the past 6 HAL cruises some extremely large charges, while granted I have only had 4 NCL cruises the last a week and a half ago and the previous November 2012 neither have had an error of any kind.

The 13 NCL cruises span from 1998 to 2010 (86 days); and the 7 HAL cruises from 1995 to 2014 (88 days). I've also occasionally had errors on other cruise lines on which I've done fewer and/or shorter cruises - and, for that matter, with charging in other hotel environments.