Mini Bar Charges Post Cruise

[skid10]

Then the bottles in theory should have been removed.

 

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Posting on another board indicates that this is still happening. I just sent and email to Michael Bailey:

 

Mr. Bailey,

 

After debarkation from our cruise in May of 2017, we were billed for 2 unused and unwanted bottles of water that were put on the vanity by an Adventurer of the Seas staff member. I had to call and get the charge reversed. After that I emailed your office about this apparently widespread practice, noting that the perception is that RCCL is doing this deliberately. Someone from your office called me the same day (June 6) and said that "a decision was made today that effective July 1, water will no longer be left in the staterooms" and that an order form will be be left for those that do want it.

 

It is now July 14th and from what I see on some websites, water is still being left and being billed for post-cruise. I am truly upset at RCCL for either not eliminating the practice or for an employee telling me something that may not have been true.

Although it may be an overreaction, your response to this situation may determine whether or not I cancel the cruise we have booked for May 2018.

Respectfully,

[grapau27]

Posting on another board indicates that this is still happening. I just sent and email to Michael Bailey:

 

Mr. Bailey,

 

After debarkation from our cruise in May of 2017, we were billed for 2 unused and unwanted bottles of water that were put on the vanity by an Adventurer of the Seas staff member. I had to call and get the charge reversed. After that I emailed your office about this apparently widespread practice, noting that the perception is that RCCL is doing this deliberately. Someone from your office called me the same day (June 6) and said that "a decision was made today that effective July 1, water will no longer be left in the staterooms" and that an order form will be be left for those that do want it.

 

It is now July 14th and from what I see on some websites, water is still being left and being billed for post-cruise. I am truly upset at RCCL for either not eliminating the practice or for an employee telling me something that may not have been true.

Although it may be an overreaction, your response to this situation may determine whether or not I cancel the cruise we have booked for May 2018.

Respectfully,

Well done for following this up,please let us know his response because it is shameful the bottles being charged and an untruth told to you if they don't follow through with taking the offending bottles away.

 

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[skid10]

I hope their thought process is not affected by the typo I made even after proofreading twice before sending. I actually spelled the ship's name wrong! Oops. :D

[skid10]

Well done for following this up,please let us know his response because it is shameful the bottles being charged and an untruth told to you if they don't follow through with taking the offending bottles away.

 

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Got a call from RCCL executive office within hours of sending my e-mail. She apologized profusely (and seemingly sincerely). Said that the new no bottle plan WILL be in effect fleet wide starting tomorrow July 15. Said they had originally decided to leave those bottles of water in the cabin when they eliminated the contents of the mini bar, but "obviously that did not work out well". Reiterated that there will be an order form left for those who want to order.

Because I wanted an e-mail response, I did not give my telephone number or past/future reservation numbers in my email. That means they had to do some research to find my number. So although I did not end up getting a written response, I am, in fact, impressed with the extra effort they put in to find my number and contact me so quickly.

So, fellow cruisers, please post here after next week to let us know if this issue is truly resolved. TIA

[grapau27]

Got a call from RCCL executive office within hours of sending my e-mail. She apologized profusely (and seemingly sincerely). Said that the new no bottle plan WILL be in effect fleet wide starting tomorrow July 15. Said they had originally decided to leave those bottles of water in the cabin when they eliminated the contents of the mini bar, but "obviously that did not work out well". Reiterated that there will be an order form left for those who want to order.

Because I wanted an e-mail response, I did not give my telephone number or past/future reservation numbers in my email. That means they had to do some research to find my number. So although I did not end up getting a written response, I am, in fact, impressed with the extra effort they put in to find my number and contact me so quickly.

So, fellow cruisers, please post here after next week to let us know if this issue is truly resolved. TIA

Thank you for letting us know.

Hopefully we will be hearing posts telling us the bottles have gone in the near future.

 

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[Ocean Boy]

Thank you for letting us know.

Hopefully we will be hearing posts telling us the bottles have gone in the near future.

 

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Hopefully the charges disappear with the bottles.

[Retired LEO]

The bottles were gone on the Majesty last month.

[Biker19]

. Said that the new no bottle plan WILL be in effect fleet wide starting tomorrow July 15.

I have a feeling that memo might not make it to some ships tomorrow.:rolleyes:

Edited July 15, 2017 by Biker19

[TravelerThom]

Hopefully the charges disappear with the bottles.

IMO that is overly optimistic. This has been a scam and fraud by someone from day one. They will just move on to the next fraud (my guess is towels).

 

Thom

A D+ who has not booked since this fraud screwed him.

[grapau27]

I have a feeling that memo might not make it to some ships tomorrow.:rolleyes:

Hopefully it is and enforced by all ships unlike the dress code notices.

We should all go to reception if not and tell them we want bottles taken away as per instructions from your CEO.

 

I have a feeling that memo might not make it to some ships tomorrow.:rolleyes:

 

 

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[-Sulli-]

I didn't know this was such a widespread practice. We had charges added to our bill on the last day of our Navigator of the Seas cruise back in May this year. We contacted them and they refunded the extra without to much fuss.

 

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[WeighAnchor]

Retired former Bell (AT&T) employee here. I too have been hit with these mysterious charges. The fact that this happens so much and multiple times to several customers reminds me of an industry term called "cramming." Cramming is the intentional charging for unneeded, unwanted services or services not received and is illegal. One or more of the states or federal AG's needs to investigate this. Too bad we as customers can't bring a nice class action suit against them because of the arbitration clause in the cruise contract.

 

Edit: I am very pleased overall with my experiences on Royal, but I don't think that should give anyone a license to steal. The company needs to either reprimand and stop whoever is responsible or face the music of an investigation.

 

 

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Edited July 17, 2017 by WeighAnchor

[skid10]

Retired former Bell (AT&T) employee here. I too have been hit with these mysterious charges. The fact that this happens so much and multiple times to several customers reminds me of an industry term called "cramming." Cramming is charging for unneeded, unwanted services or services not received and is illegal. One or more of the states or federal AG's needs to investigate this. Too bad we as customers can't bring a nice class action suit against them because of the arbitration clause in the cruise contract.

 

 

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Interesting. Thanks for posting.

[Ocean Boy]

Retired former Bell (AT&T) employee here. I too have been hit with these mysterious charges. The fact that this happens so much and multiple times to several customers reminds me of an industry term called "cramming." Cramming is charging for unneeded, unwanted services or services not received and is illegal. One or more of the states or federal AG's needs to investigate this. Too bad we as customers can't bring a nice class action suit against them because of the arbitration clause in the cruise contract.

 

 

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At least I am able to understand the charges from RCI. I have not yet been able to figure out how to decipher my phone bill.

[*twinkle*]

I started my own thread, not knowing this was an ongoing issue. Just thought I'd copy it here to make you aware this is still happening (on Anthem anyway)

I am a Diamond member with RC, and have noticed the last few cruises that there always seem to be small mystery charges to my SeaPass card on the final morning printout or after I return home.

 

This past cruise, we departed on Saturday morning, and noticed a charge in the MDR from previous evening had been added. Had to queue up (glad I wasn't in a hurry) to get this removed. It was for a bottle of wine (we were on the drinks package, and didn't dine in the MDR that night).

 

Arrived home, and received an emailed invoice (maybe this is a new thing). We had been charged for the minibar after departure.

 

We have had everything refunded now, so no problem really. However, the same type of thing has happened on three previous cruises, and just wondered if anyone else has noticed this happening?

[jdqtravelstheworld]

During a recent sailing on Serenade (May) to the Arctic Circle we had two problems with charges to our account. Two days before disembarkation we received a note in our stateroom that we would be charged for pool towels if not returned. They felt we had towels outstanding. Earlier in the cruise my husband had borrowed four towels on the pool deck and had returned four towels. His sea pass card was swiped both times.

 

After receiving this note he called guest services and told them we had no towels from the pool deck, that they had all been returned. He was assured we would not be charged. Our bill arrived the morning of disembarkation (the TV billing and account screens were not working), to our surprise the towel charges were listed - $50!

Again, he called and explained they had been returned and swiped in during return. Again he was told the charge would be removed and "they would tell housekeeping".

 

Upon checking our credit card after returning home we were greeted by the towel charge and what we later learned was the mini-bar charge you have all referenced. My not at all happy husband then called Crown and Anchor who quickly transferred him to someone else who arranged a credit to our card.

 

Yes, the towels will be, and are, next. Be aware!!

[WeighAnchor]

At least I am able to understand the charges from RCI. I have not yet been able to figure out how to decipher my phone bill.

 

 

I hear you. I only understand them because I spent 25 years explaining them. :) Much of the complexity of phone and cable bills is caused by federal and state disclosure regulations of taxes & fees and pass through charges that must be individually listed.

 

 

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[rvrocker]

Retired former Bell (AT&T) employee here. I too have been hit with these mysterious charges. The fact that this happens so much and multiple times to several customers reminds me of an industry term called "cramming." Cramming is the intentional charging for unneeded, unwanted services or services not received and is illegal. One or more of the states or federal AG's needs to investigate this. Too bad we as customers can't bring a nice class action suit against them because of the arbitration clause in the cruise contract.

 

Edit: I am very pleased overall with my experiences on Royal, but I don't think that should give anyone a license to steal. The company needs to either reprimand and stop whoever is responsible or face the music of an investigation.

 

 

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I did file a complaint with the state of Fl. There response it up in this post somewhere. I submitted all pages from this thread. In short the state sent royal a letter about it. Royal reply was since I had not cruised yet they did not see a problem

[WeighAnchor]

I did file a complaint with the state of Fl. There response it up in this post somewhere. I submitted all pages from this thread. In short the state sent royal a letter about it. Royal reply was since I had not cruised yet they did not see a problem

 

 

 

That is probably their way of saying you don't have standing since you aren't affected.

 

I should apologize for flying off the handle in my first post. I am not ready to say that this is a corporate conspiracy to defraud as it could simply be a member of the crew helping themselves to extra tips or charging a product from the minibar for their own use. Royal needs to figure out a way to backtrack these charges to whoever is responsible and set up a two strikes and you're gone program. It is not acceptable for pax to have to deal with having these charges removed (not to mention those who don't bother checking their statements and are stuck with them). If the crew are doing this I suspect they are not facing the consequences or it wouldn't be happening this much. I guarantee that if the crew has the threat of being fired and stranded in a foreign port would at least lessen the problem. The fact the charges are being adjusted, no questions asked, indicates Royal is aware of the problem.

 

 

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Edited July 18, 2017 by WeighAnchor

[rvrocker]

That is probably their way of saying you don't have standing since you aren't affected.

 

I am not ready to say that this is a corporate conspiracy to defraud as it could simply be a member of the crew helping themselves to extra tips or charging a product from the minibar for their own use. Royal needs to figure out a way to backtrack these charges to whoever is responsible and set up a two strikes and you're gone program. It is not acceptable for pax to have to deal with having these charges removed (not to mention those who don't bother checking their statements and are stuck with them). If the crew are doing this I suspect they are not facing the consequences or it wouldn't be happening this much. I guarantee that if it is the crew that the threat of firing and stranding them in a foreign port would at least lessen the problem.

 

 

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If it was just one ship I would agree crew but fleetwide is corporate

[*twinkle*]

On our 2016 cruise, I recall we again were charged on the final morning for drinks from the last night of our cruise in the Izumi restaurant. We did dine there, but did not drink anything outwith our package. Interestingly, the only other patrons that evening were a large group of officers.... Draw your own conclusions, but we thought this was more than a simple error.

[rvrocker]

It they sailed into Port Royal we could call them Pirates

[grapau27]

Retired former Bell (AT&T) employee here. I too have been hit with these mysterious charges. The fact that this happens so much and multiple times to several customers reminds me of an industry term called "cramming." Cramming is the intentional charging for unneeded, unwanted services or services not received and is illegal. One or more of the states or federal AG's needs to investigate this. Too bad we as customers can't bring a nice class action suit against them because of the arbitration clause in the cruise contract.

 

Edit: I am very pleased overall with my experiences on Royal, but I don't think that should give anyone a license to steal. The company needs to either reprimand and stop whoever is responsible or face the music of an investigation.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Good answer.

I blame the crew for being negligent or scamming rather than RC directly although RC must suspect something is not right but hopefully now the bottles of water have been removed these post cruise charges will stop.

This has happened to us on other cruise lines too which reinforces my opinion it is down to the crew.

 

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[grapau27]

During a recent sailing on Serenade (May) to the Arctic Circle we had two problems with charges to our account. Two days before disembarkation we received a note in our stateroom that we would be charged for pool towels if not returned. They felt we had towels outstanding. Earlier in the cruise my husband had borrowed four towels on the pool deck and had returned four towels. His sea pass card was swiped both times.

 

After receiving this note he called guest services and told them we had no towels from the pool deck, that they had all been returned. He was assured we would not be charged. Our bill arrived the morning of disembarkation (the TV billing and account screens were not working), to our surprise the towel charges were listed - $50!

Again, he called and explained they had been returned and swiped in during return. Again he was told the charge would be removed and "they would tell housekeeping".

 

Upon checking our credit card after returning home we were greeted by the towel charge and what we later learned was the mini-bar charge you have all referenced. My not at all happy husband then called Crown and Anchor who quickly transferred him to someone else who arranged a credit to our card.

 

Yes, the towels will be, and are, next. Be aware!!

Thanks for your post the towels charge is something we all need to watch out for and it is worrying that if you don't fully scrutinize your bill you could be hit with mystery charges.

 

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[rvrocker]

All this means is we better have our accountant hat on and examine our bills closely.

 

With you having to order minibar to be stocked now what are they going to do with stuff left in the refrigerator? In my case I drink Coke Zero. Normally I buy it at Sams for $.30/can. On board if I order a case after the gratuity I comes out to around $2.00 a can. So if I orderva case and only drink 18 or 20 they have extra cans to restock with again. Brilliant plan sell the same $.30 item at 7 times the cost twice. So one left over can makes them a gross profit of $4.00.