Check your portfolio charges!

[fyrfytr80]

I recently finished a cruise on the Crown. On disembarkation day I checked the final charges in my portfolio and just happened to notice a bar charge that I knew I did not have (it was from a bar that I never went to). Went down to passenger services hoping to prove a negative. The charge was for a scotch drink in Gatsby's at midnight. I assured the service rep that I don't drink scotch, have never been to Gatsby's, and was snoring away at midnight. No problem, charge removed.

 

I think what probably happened is the waiter/bartender took a glance at the cruise card, noted the portfolio number, then either misread the number or misentered it into the computer. If that was the case, I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often.

 

I was told that there can be a charge from Gatsby's(or other bar) if you order a drink in the Princess Theater as that's the closest bar. This wasn't the case in my situation.

 

Anyway, check your portfolio charges for accuracy. I may not have noticed this charge if it had come from a bar I frequented and I've also noticed the waiters don't seem to hand out receipts unless you ask for one. It wasn't a big dollar amount but it could have been.

[pablo222]

I recently finished a cruise on the Crown. On disembarkation day I checked the final charges in my portfolio and just happened to notice a bar charge that I knew I did not have (it was from a bar that I never went to).

 

Using the princess@sea app on a phone is really handy for this.

You can check as frequently as you wish.

 

Using this on my last cruise, I caught a charge for the crab shack that was

not mine.

[Keith1010]

Good advice.

Keith

[villager13]

I recently finished a cruise on the Crown. On disembarkation day I checked the final charges in my portfolio and just happened to notice a bar charge that I knew I did not have (it was from a bar that I never went to). Went down to passenger services hoping to prove a negative. The charge was for a scotch drink in Gatsby's at midnight. I assured the service rep that I don't drink scotch, have never been to Gatsby's, and was snoring away at midnight. No problem, charge removed.

 

I think what probably happened is the waiter/bartender took a glance at the cruise card, noted the portfolio number, then either misread the number or misentered it into the computer. If that was the case, I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often.

 

I was told that there can be a charge from Gatsby's(or other bar) if you order a drink in the Princess Theater as that's the closest bar. This wasn't the case in my situation.

 

Anyway, check your portfolio charges for accuracy. I may not have noticed this charge if it had come from a bar I frequented and I've also noticed the waiters don't seem to hand out receipts unless you ask for one. It wasn't a big dollar amount but it could have been.

This happened to us three times on a recent cruise we were on. We checked our bill almost every day and had to go down to the desk each time to get drinks removed that we never had (we had the drink package). Each time it happened in the main dining room so I am assuming the waiters get the cruise cards mixed up with so many people to wait on. Pays to check your bill!

[Colo Cruiser]

We always keep close tabs on our account.

[satxdiver]

We keep close tabs on our folio. We never have had an erroneous charge...so far. Glad to hear that Princess supports the pax so well.

[LOVECRUISING100%]

I once was charged for a bottle of wine... I don't drink wine.. It was from the MDR and the couple next to us had a bottle.. Thankfully they took the charge off and told me my drink (piña colada) was on the house [emoji4]

[GUT2407]

I always check my account, on land or on sea.

 

Can't understand people who don't.

[cali-croozer]

Hi.......new to princess. So, are they taking down folio numbers by hand or do they swipe your cabin key (like Carnival, Disney, etc)? Do you get paper receipts to keep track? :confused:

[riclop]

I recently finished a cruise on the Crown. On disembarkation day I checked the final charges in my portfolio and just happened to notice a bar charge that I knew I did not have (it was from a bar that I never went to). Went down to passenger services hoping to prove a negative. The charge was for a scotch drink in Gatsby's at midnight. I assured the service rep that I don't drink scotch, have never been to Gatsby's, and was snoring away at midnight. No problem, charge removed.

 

I think what probably happened is the waiter/bartender took a glance at the cruise card, noted the portfolio number, then either misread the number or misentered it into the computer. If that was the case, I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often.

 

I was told that there can be a charge from Gatsby's(or other bar) if you order a drink in the Princess Theater as that's the closest bar. This wasn't the case in my situation.

 

Anyway, check your portfolio charges for accuracy. I may not have noticed this charge if it had come from a bar I frequented and I've also noticed the waiters don't seem to hand out receipts unless you ask for one. It wasn't a big dollar amount but it could have been.

They can make mistakes.

[joybook]

It always amazes me the number of people who do not check accounts of any sort where charges are made. I had to have a long converstaion with my father-in -law about this very subject as he never ever checked his credit card accounts. I have had at least 3 incorrect charges against my credit cards (nothing to do with cruising) over the years which fortunately were refunded but it did strengthen the argument to always check your charge accounts (and often). The sooner you get onto an error the more likely it will turn out well for you.:)

[Colo Cruiser]

Hi.......new to princess. So, are they taking down folio numbers by hand or do they swipe your cabin key (like Carnival, Disney, etc)? Do you get paper receipts to keep track? :confused:

 

 

They are setup to swipe the cruise card, but there are instances where they write it down and punch it in later for one reason or another.

 

Well at the bar they swipe it.

Edited February 28, 2016 by Colo Cruiser

[Socceric9]

I think the real issue here, is that you sleepwalk and consume scotch while you're wondering the decks. :)

Edited February 28, 2016 by Socceric9

[Gwendy]

It always amazes me the number of people who do not check accounts of any sort where charges are made. I had to have a long converstaion with my father-in -law about this very subject as he never ever checked his credit card accounts. I have had at least 3 incorrect charges against my credit cards (nothing to do with cruising) over the years which fortunately were refunded but it did strengthen the argument to always check your charge accounts (and often). The sooner you get onto an error the more likely it will turn out well for you.:)

Can use Princess at sea app to check folio or some ships have the machine where you can print your account. Check frequently, only takes a couple of minutes and easier to fix up when caught early. Happens everywhere my credit was charged (scammed) for a flight from Brazil to Iceland, now that's a flight I would have liked to take. $3000 all refunded, in fact bank rang me to query this before I had even received my statement

[fyrfytr80]

Hi.......new to princess. So, are they taking down folio numbers by hand or do they swipe your cabin key (like Carnival, Disney, etc)? Do you get paper receipts to keep track? :confused:

 

They don't swipe your card. My experience is that they either write down your folio # or remember it (when not too busy). When they bring your drink you sign a slip. Sometimes I got a copy but usually had to ask for one. In the MDR they would bring a different type of charge slip to sign with the wine or beer ordered but no price on it (I really check on this one later). The problem with this system is a charge mistakenly added to your folio by misentering numbers.

[Cruise Raider]

Of all the lines we have cruised, we've noticed erroneous charges on Princess only. I thought they were getting better as we had about 5 cruises in a row without any bogus charges, but then had some room service tips keyed in with an extra digit on our last cruise. They gladly removed the erroneous charges.

Check often, as it is much harder to get these resolved if noticed on the morning of debarkation or worse yet after you get home.

[cruisequeen4ever]

Yep, we've had this happen to us a few times. [emoji57] It's been helpful that they've kept the paper receipts to prove the charges were in error.

[critterchick]

Anyway, check your portfolio charges for accuracy. I may not have noticed this charge if it had come from a bar I frequented and I've also noticed the waiters don't seem to hand out receipts unless you ask for one. It wasn't a big dollar amount but it could have been.

 

I don't like the new custom of not giving the customer a receipt unless it's requested. On Ruby we had to ask for one every time (the shops onboard still gave us receipts, but I suppose that having to declare purchase to immigration make it necessary). I don't want to have to check my folio every day to make sure that I wasn't mis-charged for something.

[Lucky TGO]

I check my charges every night with my i-Pad. I had three charges one time that I did not make :eek: I seen them and got it takin off my bill.

Tony

[jennybenny]

Excellent advice. We are very diligent in keeping track of our charges. We also put some cash down on the last evening. We usually end up with a minor charge, but "knock on wood", we've never had a problem. Have only seen those charges that took place after we put a cash deposit down on the last evening.

I would hate to have to stand in that long purser's line to ask for a correction, but happy to hear they address them immediately.

[damiross]

On my cruise last year there was a charge that was not mine on the portfolio. It was made the last night of the cruise. I couldn't believe how much paper there was involved in order to find out that I was right and there was no overpriced, for yuppies only mineral water purchased by me or my girlfriend.

[FritzG]

It always amazes me the number of people who do not check accounts of any sort where charges are made. I had to have a long converstaion with my father-in -law about this very subject as he never ever checked his credit card accounts. I have had at least 3 incorrect charges against my credit cards (nothing to do with cruising) over the years which fortunately were refunded but it did strengthen the argument to always check your charge accounts (and often). The sooner you get onto an error the more likely it will turn out well for you.:)

 

I was going to post the same thought! I always check any bill we receive to be sure that the charges are correct.

 

On cruises we check our folio every 3 or 4 days because it's easier than trying to get a problem resolved the last night.

[Eagle_and_hawk]

It always amazes me the number of people who do not check accounts of any sort where charges are made. I had to have a long converstaion with my father-in -law about this very subject as he never ever checked his credit card accounts. I have had at least 3 incorrect charges against my credit cards (nothing to do with cruising) over the years which fortunately were refunded but it did strengthen the argument to always check your charge accounts (and often). The sooner you get onto an error the more likely it will turn out well for you.:)

 

I agree with you 100%.

 

When I am up early in the morning, I like to check the shipboard balance on my iPad. If not there, when I am down getting an extra patter & coffee, go by the kiosk and get a copy of the statement. It's easier to remember the last 24 hours of charges then days later for myself. So far, we have never had a wrong charge applied to our account.

 

It's typical of my mornings on land though, as check our bank accounts and credit cards online every morning. Takes less than 2-3 minutes to review balances, charges, and pending charges. That helps avoid "surprises" later on down the road.

[Kinkacruiser]

I notice that many are using their i-phone to check their tab. Is the regular print out statement still in place? I am used to printing one off every few days.

[Eagle_and_hawk]

I notice that many are using their i-phone to check their tab. Is the regular print out statement still in place? I am used to printing one off every few days.

 

The kiosk was still on the Coral as of the previous sailing and when we were on the Emerald in 11/2015, it was still there at that time.