Beware of Complementary Offers - Specialty Restaurant Cover Charges

[akaCruiser]

We just completed an Alaskan Cruise (Aug 22 to Aug 29) on the Island Princess, and just wanted to share our experience in trying to use the complementary offer for dinning at a specialty restaurant for two.

 

We were given a $49 Spa card credit and complementary Specialty Restaurant for Two card ($58 credit) to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Due to the availability, we were only able to book at Sabatini's on the last night (Aug 28) of the cruise for 5:30 PM. The meal was enjoyable, and when it was time to pay the cover charge, we were informed that after presenting the card that the $29 per person charge would only be taken off the next day. As Aug 29, was our day of departure from the ship, I went to the front desk to confirm that the charge would be taken off in the early morning, as the charge was included in the paper copy of folio summary of charges. When I spoke with the front desk on Aug 29, they confirmed that the credit would be applied, but it would be done later in the morning.

 

After I returned home and checked my online credit card statement on Aug 31, I was discovered that the cover charges were still on the folio and charged to my credit card. I immediately then contacted Princess via phone and also submitted an email request through the website asking that they remove the Speciality Dinning cover charge. I'm currently, still waiting for a response and confirmation of the removal of the cover charge and hope that they process the request soon.

 

Their gesture of trying to make our cruise a more memorable experience with the complementary dinner was unexpected and was appreciated, but given that the efforts to have this situation address has changed this into a very negative and unpleasant experience and thereby tainting our feelings cruising with Princess. This simple issue of crediting the cover charge should be an easy matter that should be dealt immediately at the restaurant, but for whatever reasons Princess processes in applying complementary credits require so much red-tape, that I would warn that if you receive an offer to either decline using it or use it as early as possible in order to be able to get any issues addressed onboard before you leave the ship.

 

I wondering if anyone else experienced a similar circumstances and if they had any positive results from Princess in addressing the matter?

[Coffeeluvr05]

We have had two complimentary specialty restaurant cover charges and they were pre-loaded into our personalizer at the time of booking and never had a problem. Mistakes do happen and it sucks that you have to deal with it post cruise. Humans!

 

 

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[cdngrl]

i believe princess will take care of this but they sure don't do it on our timetable.

i had a different situation where i was owed money. it took about a week for it to show up on my credit card.

[Pam in CA]

Sounds odd.

 

I’ve had quite a few complementary specialty restaurant dinners and received a card/voucher in my cabin on embarkation day. When I booked the restaurant, I let them know I had the voucher. When we got to the restaurant, we let the waitstaff know we had the voucher. At the end of the meal, presented the voucher. It’s always been accepted instead of charging the meal to my folio. Never had a problem.

[caribill]

Our experience is like Pam's.

 

When we have had a complementary specialty restaurant meal on Princess, the charge never shows up on the on-board statement because the restaurant never submits a charge.

[mickrory]

I wouldn't have signed for it, I'd have just given the card to that Maitre D when he sat us down.

Sure they'll reimburse but it may take a few weeks.

 

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[LMADAMS91]

Our group of eight all had one complimentary specialty dining as part of our booking promotion. It was on the personalizer pre-cruise and I assumed, pre-loaded on our cards. We were all charged on our accounts when we used it. There was nothing in the card nor was there a voucher of any kind. I went to guest services and the charges were immediately removed.

 

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[geoherb]

I had a similar type of incident on one cruise. We had the Ultimate Balcony Dinner on the last night. I had asked for a bottle of red wine instead of the bottle of champagne that comes with it. When I got my printout on the last morning, the bottle of wine was one of the charges. The woman at Passenger Services said she could not take it off. I followed through with Princess and got it refunded to my credit card after our cruise.

[skynight]

Same as Pam's. Our's never showed on the folio. They just accepted the card. Also, we never had difficulty booking a time we just call or visit the restaurant on boarding day. We also don't sail Alaska which has a number of late evening departures, thus concentrating prime dining times into fewer slots.

[Magellan321]

I haven't had an issue with ours. We've taken our voucher card that was in the cabin on the first day with us and the staff has had us sign the back for proper credit. We had 2 dinners last spring.... one was a gift from Princess for our anniversary and one was a perk from our travel agent.

[Debbdo]

we were informed that after presenting the card that the $29 per person charge would only be taken off the next day.

The issue may be that you presented the card AFTER the meal. The meal had already been charged to your account and therefore needed to be credited. It is a shame that it takes a while for that to happen and it was not done before you left the cruise. I hope this small glitch will not taint the positive memories of the cruise.

[akaCruiser]

we were informed that after presenting the card that the $29 per person charge would only be taken off the next day.

The issue may be that you presented the card AFTER the meal. The meal had already been charged to your account and therefore needed to be credited. It is a shame that it takes a while for that to happen and it was not done before you left the cruise. I hope this small glitch will not taint the positive memories of the cruise.

 

When we arrived at Sabatini's for our scheduled dinner time, I did present the card and I also mention that when I made the reservation a few days before. In fact, at the front desk, on the reservation sheet beside our time there was already a notation that we have the complementary dining card. Prior to be served, I once again showed the card to the Waiter, he then informed me that it would be taken off post dinner and you need to signoff the bill first. I guess lesson's learned that I should have insisted they that applied the credit prior to me signing off on the bill instead of following th4 direction of the Waiter.

[moki'smommy]

Like Pam, pre presented our vouchers and never showed our cruise card at all. No charges to our folio. I suspect Princess will get it fixed for you.

[cruisequeen4ever]

Oh I’m sorry that happened! Princess should be able to correct that for you right away. It always makes me nervous disembarking with the potential for incorrect charges.

 

 

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[Thrak]

we were informed that after presenting the card that the $29 per person charge would only be taken off the next day.

 

When we arrived at Sabatini's for our scheduled dinner time, I did present the card and I also mention that when I made the reservation a few days before. In fact, at the front desk, on the reservation sheet beside our time there was already a notation that we have the complementary dining card. Prior to be served, I once again showed the card to the Waiter, he then informed me that it would be taken off post dinner and you need to signoff the bill first. I guess lesson's learned that I should have insisted they that applied the credit prior to me signing off on the bill instead of following th4 direction of the Waiter.

 

Sounds like your waiter was a jerk or didn't know how it works. We've never had a problem as long as we present the coupon up front. I would send an email to: customerrelations@princesscruises.com Just explain the situation. Don't be angry or aggressive. The people at that address will likely give you a phone call get it sorted out for you.

[1emerald1]

I had a situation where my sister gifted me a bottle of Mondavi Chardonnay. At dinner I gave the card to my waiter but asked if I could upgrade it to Clos du Bois and pay the difference. He said he would charge me for the Clois du Bois and issue a credit for the Mondavi. Sounded fine to me. I spent the rest of the cruise chasing down that credit, but did get it just before the cruise was over. It was a pain in the rear but I knew if I didn't get it settled shipboard I'd never get it once I got home.

[pris993]

when a mistake of some sort is made it is not easy to get it resolved. I had an experience where we were over charged for a bottle of wine in Sabatini's. So a high charge on our bill, checked it out, turned out they charged us $30 more then wine list indicated for a bottle of wine plus the 15% of course. When I questioned it, the initial response was the wine list price was wrong. I told them, when I signed off for the charge the bill did not reflect the additional $30, so I felt it was their mistake. Customer Service agreed but could not adjusted it - they had to go back to the bar manager in Sabatini's... took 3 days before it was resolved. I was lucky this happened early on a 10 day cruise. They eventually corrected it but I had I did check on it daily to remind them until resolved. Told them to up date the wine list.

[famski740]

Was given a card for 2 complimentary dinners half way through the cruise for our anniversary. Called Crown Grill and set up dinner for a date and time available. When we went to dinner, showed the card while being seated and at the end was never asked for our cruise card and was never charged for the meal.

 

As stated earlier, go through customer relations at Princess and the charged should be corrected.

[riclop]

It happens sometimes.

[akaCruiser]

Update to getting my specialty dining charges credited back to me....

 

 

After initially contacting, Princess on Aug 31 about the dining charges, I then waited for an additional week before following up with them on Sep 7. I was then notified that a credit of $38 was to be given back. This is still $20 less than what the Sabatini's cover charge of $58 ($29 per person). I then submitted another email directly to Customer Relations to ask for the difference of $20.

 

 

As for today, Sep 15, I'm still waiting for a response. This whole experience, has been a huge pain-in-the-a** and makes me rethink when I will cruise with Princess again, as other cruise lines I have been on have not been this difficult in resolving a simple issue of complementary credits.

[Mapu]

we were informed that after presenting the card that the $29 per person charge would only be taken off the next day.

 

When we arrived at Sabatini's for our scheduled dinner time, I did present the card and I also mention that when I made the reservation a few days before. In fact, at the front desk, on the reservation sheet beside our time there was already a notation that we have the complementary dining card. Prior to be served, I once again showed the card to the Waiter, he then informed me that it would be taken off post dinner and you need to signoff the bill first. I guess lesson's learned that I should have insisted they that applied the credit prior to me signing off on the bill instead of following th4 direction of the Waiter.

We were on the Sapphire Princess around the same time as your Alaska cruise. We as well as another couple, who had complimentary specialty dining, showed up for our reservation forgetting our vouchers. When we mentioned that we had forgotten our cards, we were told that it was not a problem since they had the information in their computer and the vouchers were not necessary. Nothing ever showed up on our bill.

[Potstech]

Always seem strange a charge can be put on in a minute but takes forever to get it removed. We had to fight for 6months to get a refund on a cancelled excursion.

[satxdiver]

I assume maybe wrong that the OP's complimentary dinner was given by Princess and not a TA. Going to the PSD on the morning of debarkation is usually not a good thing to do as they are madly trying to clear everyone's charges particularly those who are using cash. That is a very hectic time but of course the OP had no choice.

 

Personally we have been given free speciality meals as the result of a sale where it is included with the booking. The last few times I have gone to a specialty restaurant (Sabatini's usually) on the day we boarded to get a reservation (usually first formal night). They already had it in their computer that we had the bennie and simply changed the booking date/time. We had a card in our cabin that said we had been scheduled for a certain night and speciality restaurant but no voucher.

 

I do hope the OP is able to get his money back as dealing with Princess after you leave the ship is a most difficult thing to do I am told.

[akaCruiser]

Final Update...

 

 

I just received a call yesterday (Oct 3, 2018) from Julie from Princess' Customer Relations department and was informed that the remaining amount of $20 will be credited back to my Credit Card. It seems that when they were processing the original refund request, the amount was incorrectly typed in (instead of a "5", a "3" was entered, hence the amount of $39 rather than the correct amount of $59).

 

 

In addition, they are also going to refund the gratuity amount to apologize for the refund typo.

 

 

Overall, I'm glad that this has been finally been resolved, but am disappointed on the number of times need to contact Princess to fixed the issue (starting from Aug 31, 2018).

 

 

I think for my next cruise I'll choose another cruise line before considering returning back to Princess, after this experience (as I still have a Future Cruise Credit to use).

[Griller]

I sympathise with you, I have been in that situation myself of chasing and chasing to get a refund for an overcharge or wrong charge.

 

I have been given wrong information quite often by Passenger Services, ridiculously wrong information which makes no sense.

 

Princess do usually sort it out afterwards though on the phone, and have been quite generous to me at times but I would still rather have sorted it out whilst on board.

 

Leaves a bad taste when it doesn't happen.

 

I have known frustrated passengers remove the gratuity because they couldn't get something sorted out.

 

Passenger Services don't care about that as they do not participate in it, but its a pity for the hardworking staff who do if its not their fault.