No Receipt / No Signing & the New Coffee Card

[robptaylor]

I just got off my recent cruise on the Regal Princess and one thing I noticed is you no longer sign for ANYTHING.  On the one hand that is good, signing for every drink gets a little old but on the other hand, I like having a receipt so I know exactly what they are charging me for.  

I agree I don't need to sign but I think they should at least give you a receipt so you can confirm you were charged correctly.  I know I could check the transaction on the Oceans web page but that honestly gets to be a pain and you can't see any of the details, just the total.  

Perhaps I'm not trusting enough but I would like to know what I'm paying for.  I would like to have a receipt but not have to sign it.

Don't get me started on that darn new coffee card either.  I have no idea if I got my 15 (or whatever the number is) specialty coffees.  There is no way to check how many are remaining in your balance.  I don't think I will do that again.  Truthfully, I don't know if it is much a money saver or not and if you don't use all the coffees on the card, you may end up losing.

[floridalover5623]

It wasn't designed for your convenience. Princess is definitely profiting more with this new system.

[geoherb]

The baristas can tell you how many punches you have left.

[floridalover5623]

Something tells me that in the future the ***** system will Have the ability to check without asking. 

[jennybenny]

25 minutes ago, robptaylor said:

I just got off my recent cruise on the Regal Princess and one thing I noticed is you no longer sign for ANYTHING.  On the one hand that is good, signing for every drink gets a little old but on the other hand, I like having a receipt so I know exactly what they are charging me for.  

I agree I don't need to sign but I think they should at least give you a receipt so you can confirm you were charged correctly.  I know I could check the transaction on the Oceans web page but that honestly gets to be a pain and you can't see any of the details, just the total.  

Perhaps I'm not trusting enough but I would like to know what I'm paying for.  I would like to have a receipt but not have to sign it.

Don't get me started on that darn new coffee card either.  I have no idea if I got my 15 (or whatever the number is) specialty coffees.  There is no way to check how many are remaining in your balance.  I don't think I will do that again.  Truthfully, I don't know if it is much a money saver or not and if you don't use all the coffees on the card, you may end up losing.

I agree.  I don't need the receipt to sign, but I'd appreciate the zero charge on my statement.  I want to know WHAT I ordered.  On Carnival, when you do the Cheers! Package your folio tells you what you ordered and at what time.  So, if you have to dispute something there is a timeline.  Princess is owned by Carnival Corporation, they have access to the software already and can provide the data, if they wanted to.    

[Hlitner]

The receipt has been discussed on other cruise boards.  So lets talk about some facts.  A receipt is essentially worthless because it does little except to tell you what you just purchased (you can just look at the drink menu or even ask the waiter).  On Princess it is an easy matter to stop near Guest Relations and quickly print off a copy of your current bill.  Some have argued that a receipt is helpful if you are charged for something you did not purchase, but the reality is that it is not very helpful.  Having a pile of receipts does not guarantee that you lost or misplaced at least one receipt.  Go to Guest Relations with a pile of receipts and argue that you did not buy something....is really proof of nothing.

On Princess, and other cruise lines, we check our onboard account about once a day (sometimes we might skip a day) when everything is fresh in our mind.  If something is is wrong, we immediately bring it to the attention of Guest Relations and get it fixed.   On our most recent Regal Princess cruise (last month) we had some complicated problems with our purchase of the Gold Wine Package.  It actually took a Guest Relations person nearly 10 minutes to unravel the billing mess (caused in the MDR and by errors in accounting).  Receipts would have been worthless.

Hank

[skynight]

On our last cruises think you could request a receipt, although we never did. Don't know if it's possible with *****. Regarding the coffee package you basically get 15 espresso drinks for the price of 12. Agree there should be some way to know how many drinks remain. Also think there should be a selection of different quantities, 7, 10, 15, 20, so the passenger can select the package that best fits their requirements or the length of the cruise. While not discussed in this thread, I also think that you should be able to link cabin mates to a single coffee package so the allowed sharing of the 15 drinks does not require the holder of the package to be present. The program can't be that difficult. And while I'm on the subject believe half of the the Elite/Suite mini bar should be tradeable for one coffee package.

[hllwdcruiser]

Agreed. Receipts prove nothing especially without a corresponding signature. That being said, whenever we've had a dispute (and we've had a few) we have never had any issue having Passenger Services remove any bogus charge without having to provide proof. 

[ehogan]

I completely agree with Skynight re the coffee package.  I don't think Princess has thought this through adequately and it will likely result in fewer package purchases. (I know I will no longer be purchasing one...time to bring along my Starbucks instant coffee tubes!)

[voljeep]

1 hour ago, hllwdcruiser said:

Agreed. Receipts prove nothing especially without a corresponding signature. That being said, whenever we've had a dispute (and we've had a few) we have never had any issue having Passenger Services remove any bogus charge without having to provide proof. 

Same with us - I've gone to CS to have a bottle of wine we didn't order and a bucket of beer - both times I had a drink package - AIPB or PBP- no problem to remove...just took a few minutes

and we to check our folio most days...

hopefully it doesn't happen on purpose, but sometimes you gotta wonder about bogus charges...and who didn't get charged...

 

[mthomp5]

The only time I can remember having a receipt helped is when we thought a charge on the folio wasn’t ours. But having a reciept jogged our memory on what it was.  Now we check our folio every day while our memory is still fresh.

Once we had a drink charged to our account which we knew we didn’t purchase. Went to Guest Services and they told us it was an order of Scotch shortly after midnight in the Casino.  We said nope, we don’t drink Scotch and we were in bed by then.  They then removed the charge. 

[Mom33]

We check our account daily to make sure we can remember our purchases. We would prefer receipts. Next cruise, we will forgo the coffee card and purchase for the seven days. I don't think I would drink enough frappes or cappuccinos to break even on a seven day cruise.🤔

[Bollycats]

I recently stayed at a Doubletree hotel and upon checkout I was charged for about $60 more than expected. It was a charge from the hotel's restaurant. I told them it wasn't mine. She pulled out all the restaurant receipts from that night and found it. The person who charged it wrote the wrong room number. Thankfully you had to print your name and sign the receipt in the restaurant and that's why the charge was removed. Otherwise, I'm not sure how or even if I could have refused it.

I would love to sign for all charges on Princess, just in case. But good to know others have easily disputed them.

[Sillyjilly]

Not a fan of the no receipt either. I was charged for someone's drink in the Wheelhouse lounge. I never even entered that place, nor have I ever drank the drink I was charged for.

It was a pain, but I did get the charge reversed. I was lucky to have noticed the charge, as I am a big drinker.

[jlp20]

From our first cruise we have checked folio every 2-3 days. Only had one wrong charge in all those cruises, but I never had to stand in that giant line at customer services that last morning trying to remember what I drank 6 days ago.

[crawford]

20 hours ago, ehogan said:

I completely agree with Skynight re the coffee package.  I don't think Princess has thought this through adequately and it will likely result in fewer package purchases. (I know I will no longer be purchasing one...time to bring along my Starbucks instant coffee tubes!)

In the future, maybe Princess could provide a coffee card link to Princess@Sea for an easy reference? 

[floridalover5623]

42 minutes ago, crawford said:

In the future, maybe Princess could provide a coffee card link to Princess@Sea for an easy reference? 

I have no doubt it will be provided at some point.

I think they're approaching each improvement with caution at this point for fear of another crash like what happened initially. 

[jagoffee]

On 10/17/2018 at 12:53 PM, robptaylor said:

I just got off my recent cruise on the Regal Princess and one thing I noticed is you no longer sign for ANYTHING.  On the one hand that is good, signing for every drink gets a little old but on the other hand, I like having a receipt so I know exactly what they are charging me for.  

I agree I don't need to sign but I think they should at least give you a receipt so you can confirm you were charged correctly.  I know I could check the transaction on the Oceans web page but that honestly gets to be a pain and you can't see any of the details, just the total.  

Perhaps I'm not trusting enough but I would like to know what I'm paying for.  I would like to have a receipt but not have to sign it.

Don't get me started on that darn new coffee card either.  I have no idea if I got my 15 (or whatever the number is) specialty coffees.  There is no way to check how many are remaining in your balance.  I don't think I will do that again.  Truthfully, I don't know if it is much a money saver or not and if you don't use all the coffees on the card, you may end up losing.

I would like confirm your statement.  I understand and appreciate not have a receipt or being required to sign when I have a package.

 

You said that you do not sign for anything?

No receipt or signature for a Speciality dining charge, a wine bottle purchase, or a purchase in the gift shop?

 

Thanks.