Paper Diamond voucher receipts MUST be about tips

[John&LaLa]

11 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

Absolutely not questioning you, but that’s really weird.  Our accounts are also linked with one credit card and when we check the account on our app it shows each drink purchase and which person’s sea pass it was charged to.  So we can easily count up and see how many each one of us has left…..because it lists them all….

 

Oddly enough, on our last Mariner cruise Laura could see my drinks and purchases on the app, but I could not see hers🤔

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

That isn’t always true. Many times drinks we ordered in the MDR were not added to the app until much later, so we had to keep track. 

 

Yes, it can take several hours in some cases.

[topnole]

Maybe it is more simple than that?  Maybe they just want to make sure every drink is put in the system no matter what.   In other words, internal control.  
 

There are thousands of diamond drinks served a day on every ship.  How many were being served without even being entered in the system every day?   Sure, probably a small percentage, but in volume it was probably a lot.  Now employees must put every drink in the system or they can be held accountable for not following proper process?  

 

Perhaps prior policy required it before too, but I tend to think in practice a wide range of behavior was allowed.  Maybe this is simply a way to tighten internal controls and using us as the “excuse” so as not to make the employees feel like you are blaming them?   

 

I seriously doubt this has anything to do with tipping.  It isn’t going to change tipping behavior one bit.  

[smokeybandit]

Just now, topnole said:

Maybe it is more simple than that?  Maybe they just want to make sure every drink is put in the system no matter what.   In other words, internal control.  

Voucher drinks already do go in the system.

[GTO-Girl]

19 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Oddly enough, on our last Mariner cruise Laura could see my drinks and purchases on the app, but I could not see hers🤔

our last few cruises were on the Harmony so maybe they do accounts differently….🤷‍♀️

[GTO-Girl]

1 hour ago, poocher said:

I thought it was odd on Explorer earlier this month that drink purchases often didn’t show on our account until the next day!  I kept track in my head but it certainly didn’t show in the app for a long time.

Our last few cruises were on the Harmony and they charges literally showed up immediately.  Maybe they are on a different kind of system….I have no idea…🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

[Ex-Airbalancer]

24 minutes ago, topnole said:

How is that possible for your friend?   They would need her card to charge the drink?   Right?   If she didn’t order one, why did they have her card?

A lot times they just took cabin numbers  when sat down 

a number of times I would tell them I had soda package showing them my card and still would be charge a Diamond drink 

most of the time they didn’t take the card 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

23 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Oddly enough, on our last Mariner cruise Laura could see my drinks and purchases on the app, but I could not see hers🤔

My wife never had any of the drinks post on her account  , but hers was posted on my account 

[John&LaLa]

2 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

A lot times they just took cabin numbers  when sat down 

a number of times I would tell them I had soda package showing them my card and still would be charge a Diamond drink 

most of the time they didn’t take the card 

 

That would seem to be a good use case for signed tickets😉

[robmtx]

2 hours ago, ramja96 said:

Is it really that difficult to count to 4 (or 6, or 8)??? The drinks aren't THAT strong.

Counting to 4 (or 5) is the easy part. Getting to that 4th or 5th drink and being charged $13 is the problem I have. I know exactly how many drinks I've ordered but at least twice a cruise I get charged erroneously. 

 

My problem isn't counting the drinks YOU GET, it's counting the drinks YOU DON'T GET. And checking the folio on the app before every order, scrolling and manually counting, is what I want to avoid.

[topnole]

17 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Voucher drinks already do go in the system.

Theoretically they did.  But I’ve heard and read about a lot of extras that people supposedly got?   Plus, if no signature was required,  then the employee could give out free drinks and ring up phantom drinks with no signature to offset the freebies they gave out.  Again, who knows.  But there are tons of control issues associated with the “old” system.   Just like any bar anywhere, there are surely abuses by employees that help them get more tips.  

 

So maybe this is their way of laying out a new policy requiring they most go in the system without making the employees the reason.  Wouldn’t be the first time a company created a process for one reason, and told customers it was for a different reason.  This is pure speculation and I have no idea if it is accurate.  I’m just mentioning the potential reason as an alternative because we really have no idea why they really did it (unless we accept their statement on why).  In other words, there are lots of potential reasons.  
 

Personally I don’t care why they did it or that they did it. Im fine with signing a piece of paper to get my free drinks each day.  On the scale of inconveniences in life, it is a -10 on a scale of 1 to 10.  

Anyhow, I don’t get the complaints about the new system.  If they had to ring it up anyhow, it’s just one extra step now that take but just a few seconds extra.   

 

[Tlbecker1]

31 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Oddly enough, on our last Mariner cruise Laura could see my drinks and purchases on the app, but I could not see hers🤔

That is how it always is with us.  My DH can only see his charges and I always see both of ours.  We have cruised 10+ times in the last year and that is how it has always been.  I think it is due to my CC being the one on file.

[Wineaux007]

42 minutes ago, topnole said:

How is that possible for your friend?   They would need her card to charge the drink?   Right?   If she didn’t order one, why did they have her card?

Currently on board Brilliance.  I was charged for a drink in Vintages -- I never visited that bar the day it was charged.  

[shoptom]

How about they turn the sea pass card into a punch card with the day and drink numbers printed right on there for easy accounting?

[topnole]

11 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

A lot times they just took cabin numbers  when sat down 

a number of times I would tell them I had soda package showing them my card and still would be charge a Diamond drink 

most of the time they didn’t take the card 

Gotcha.  I haven’t had a meal in the MDR in several years, but my recollection is they used to take your card if you ordered a drink.  The ability for a server to charge your account without your card or consent (via signature) is a horrible system.  Given it is auto charged to your credit card (for most people), I wonder if it violates anything with the credit card companies. I would imagine you could drink like that all week and then appeal your charges with the CC company and win every single time since they would have zero record that you ordered or charged those drinks.  

[topnole]

16 minutes ago, Wineaux007 said:

Currently on board Brilliance.  I was charged for a drink in Vintages -- I never visited that bar the day it was charged.  

This seems like the perfect example of why all drinks should have a signed ticket.  

[Starry Eyes]

15 minutes ago, topnole said:

Gotcha.  I haven’t had a meal in the MDR in several years, but my recollection is they used to take your card if you ordered a drink.  The ability for a server to charge your account without your card or consent (via signature) is a horrible system.  Given it is auto charged to your credit card (for most people), I wonder if it violates anything with the credit card companies. I would imagine you could drink like that all week and then appeal your charges with the CC company and win every single time since they would have zero record that you ordered or charged those drinks.  

Typically of late the assistant waiter takes my drink order and looks at my card, asking what floor to complete the cabin number.  As we have traditional dining, many assistant waiters may ask to see to card only once or twice early in the cruise, referring to notes.  Often a bar waiter brings the drinks.  As others have noted, the charges from the MDR are not always entered promptly (or properly).  I suspect this is an area that receipts could prevent billing issues, though the waitstaff might not enjoy it.  Also, increasing the number of bar waiters in the MDR would probably help.

Edited November 15, 2022 by Starry Eyes

[Ex-Airbalancer]

13 minutes ago, topnole said:

This seems like the perfect example of why all drinks should have a signed ticket.  

Or show up on your app after it being entered into the system 

they should put a QR or bar code in the app and the server should just scan that for you signature 

Edited November 15, 2022 by Ex-Airbalancer

[DaKahuna]

1 minute ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Or show up on your app after it being entered into the system 

 

 I noticed on Quantum that my drinks were showing up in the app within minutes of my receiving them.  This was both true for bars as well as the Coastal Kitchen.  What I could not tell was which drink the $0.00 charge was for, e.g. coffee americano vs glass of wine.  Both showed up as $0.00.  All I know is that I never ran out of vouchers. 

 

[HappyTexan44]

1 minute ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Or show up on your app after it being entered into the system 

 

Well, if they are charging drinks to random people's accounts without a signed receipt, that effects everyone.   

[smokeybandit]

12 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

 

Well, if they are charging drinks to random people's accounts without a signed receipt, that effects everyone.   

They'll charge drinks to random people's accounts even with a signed receipt. 

[Husky1987]

3 hours ago, ramja96 said:

Is it really that difficult to count to 4 (or 6, or 8)??? The drinks aren't THAT strong.

 

There are plenty of folks around here who would probably have trouble counting to one.

[goldfish65]

I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but it's common for businesses to do things the way they do without explaining their reasons to their customers. 

[pcur]

This is such a moot point to me, because I tip in cash when I order my vouchered drinks.  I start off the day with enough tip money for my 6 beverages, and when the money is gone, the vouchers have been used.  I've been doing this since they first started the vouchers.

[nelblu]

1 hour ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

A lot times they just took cabin numbers  when sat down 

a number of times I would tell them I had soda package showing them my card and still would be charge a Diamond drink 

most of the time they didn’t take the card 

On our October Oasis sail, once the asst. Waiter saw the Sea Pass initially and determined out tier status, he never asked for our card again for the rest of the cruise.