Question about being charged because we did NOT eat at specialty dining

[Abercrombie2019]

9 minutes ago, SargassoPirate said:

I don't recall these sorts of issues with the old sea pass cards.

 

Not all whiz bang technology is beneficial.  

The technology can only be as good as the people that are using it.

[MacMadame]

4 hours ago, MickeyandLV said:

We wondered if there is a charge if someone books a specialty and does not show up

That was going to be my guess but it looks like now we will never know.

[Knickearth]

7 hours ago, TxChick51 said:

$11 sounds like an additional entree in MDR (steak, lobster etc), but if you never ate in MDR, that doesn't make sense either.  Stick with it. $11 isn't a lot, but it's the principle of the thing. If 3,000 passengers each had an $11 charge they didn't challenge, that's a $33,000 bonus for the cruise line.

I agree with you.  Don’t forget, it is 11.00$ today imagine what it could be tomorrow.

[Cruise Raider]

2 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

I don't recall these sorts of issues with the old sea pass cards.

 

Not all whiz bang technology is beneficial.  

I have over charges occasionally now but had many more with the sea pass cards back in the day.  

[SargassoPirate]

24 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

I have over charges occasionally now but had many more with the sea pass cards back in the day.  

It would be interesting to devise a scientific study of "problems" with Medallions versus cruise cards.

 

Since cruising with the Medallion the only issue we have encountered was when SWMBO ordered a hot chocolate and the next day her charges showed two whiskeys.  Either she's a closet drinker or the "system" picked up her Medallion and someone drinking whiskeys got charged for a hot chocolate.

 

I check our shipboard account every day and for good reason.

[Cruise Raider]

2 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

It would be interesting to devise a scientific study of "problems" with Medallions versus cruise cards.

 

Since cruising with the Medallion the only issue we have encountered was when SWMBO ordered a hot chocolate and the next day her charges showed two whiskeys.  Either she's a closet drinker or the "system" picked up her Medallion and someone drinking whiskeys got charged for a hot chocolate.

 

I check our shipboard account every day and for good reason.

I think before the medallion and now with the medallion, the extra charges are due to human error.  

[capriccio]

6 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

I don't recall these sorts of issues with the old sea pass cards.

 

Not all whiz bang technology is beneficial.  

I remember on more than one occasion going to guest services to dispute a drink charge and having to watch the staff go through the signed paper receipts.  It could be excruciating.

Edited December 9, 2023 by capriccio

[coo359a2]

14 minutes ago, capriccio said:

I remember on more than one occasion going to guest services to dispute a drink charge and having to watch the staff go through the signed paper receipts.  It could be excruciating.

This happened to us too - a $67 charge that wasn't mine.  Turned out that the handwritten room number wasn't clear enough and the night clerk typed it in wrong.  GS had a lot of tickets to go through before finding mine.

[Thrak]

22 hours ago, dog said:

Thanks for taking the time to post this.  Very helpful!

 

You are quite welcome. I sincerely hope that all folks with "real" issues find an equitable resolution. (Yes, there are a few who post with "issues" that boggle the mind. I am not making any judgements in this thread. It is only a comment on some of the "problems" I have seen posted.

[MissP22]

Ever since the introduction of the "packages" we've been getting many more erroneous charges applied to our account every cruise. It appears to be linked to the medallion technology and other than checking you account religiously every day, especially before you disembark, it's a way of life on Princess ships. 

[kywildcatfanone]

Sitting at airport now after disembarking Sky.  Went and got 2 specialty coffee's this morning.  I watched the find my medallion on her screen, told her that was me and left.

Was checking my account 30 minutes later as we were about to walk off the ship, and they never charged me for them.

What was weird to me also was she put in my room number and it popped up 3 people on the screen, my wife, myself and some other face/name I didn't know, but was standing behind me.  I had assumed if they enter a room number it would only show them those people, but I guess it still picks up surrounding Medallions.

 

Anyway, if you got charged for my 2 mocha's sorry.  I tried to pay.

[dog]

On 12/8/2023 at 10:17 AM, Cruise Raider said:

I have made several specialty dining reservations with the premier package and have not been charged, even on the same reservation don’t know why this was charged and they can’t even find where I was charged but there was a charge on my credit card for $78.  The screen clearly shows that I had a dining credit.  My CVP had to send it to their IT team.  

 

When I book Specialty dining on app- no package, the only place I see charges   are on my credit card. I never see it on my travel summary, so if I cancel the reservation it disappears from the app and I hope for a refund.

Is there anywhere else others are seeing their proof of payment- a receipt from Princess?

[Cruise Raider]

3 hours ago, dog said:

When I book Specialty dining on app- no package, the only place I see charges   are on my credit card. I never see it on my travel summary, so if I cancel the reservation it disappears from the app and I hope for a refund.

Is there anywhere else others are seeing their proof of payment- a receipt from Princess?

Only on my credit card as far as I can tell.  

[dreaminofcruisin]

On 12/8/2023 at 2:41 PM, Abercrombie2019 said:

The technology can only be as good as the people that are using it.

 

Exactly.

On our last cruise we had a large bar charge and we had the Plus package.

I went to GS and they looked it up. It was a charge for 4 LARGE bottles of water which are not included in Plus. Nope....we had gotten 4 small bottles. Someone pushed the wrong button.

[ChutChut]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

Only on my credit card as far as I can tell.  

I know it's a small amount, but I would dispute the $11 on my credit card. You are able to dispute an amount smaller that the total charged to your card. I did that with Princess once and Princess couldn't substantiate the incorrect change and the credit card company credited me for the amount. After that headache, I always check my onboard totals every day. 

[MissP22]

1 hour ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

 

Exactly.

On our last cruise we had a large bar charge and we had the Plus package.

I went to GS and they looked it up. It was a charge for 4 LARGE bottles of water which are not included in Plus. Nope....we had gotten 4 small bottles. Someone pushed the wrong button.

You've got to watch them like a hawk. I seen so many erroneous charges ever since the introduction of the medallions, it's made me check on them constantly every day. 

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, ChutChut said:

I know it's a small amount, but I would dispute the $11 on my credit card. You are able to dispute an amount smaller that the total charged to your card. I did that with Princess once and Princess couldn't substantiate the incorrect change and the credit card company credited me for the amount. After that headache, I always check my onboard totals every day. 

My charge is before my cruise and for $78.  I’ve had decent luck contesting extra charges on the post cruise concerns online.  But, with this pre-cruise charge, I’m having a devil of a time with them figuring it out.  I’ve contacted Princess through their online issues, then via their chat line and then took it to my CVP and nobody can find that they actually charged me.  However, it’s on my credit card as a charge.  My CVP is going to turn it over to their IT dept.  If I don’t hear anything back within a couple of weeks, I will then dispute the charge via my credit card.  I’m sure it was for a specialty dining reservation for which dining credits should have applied.  
 

[jagoffee]

49 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

My charge is before my cruise and for $78.  I’ve had decent luck contesting extra charges on the post cruise concerns online.  But, with this pre-cruise charge, I’m having a devil of a time with them figuring it out.  I’ve contacted Princess through their online issues, then via their chat line and then took it to my CVP and nobody can find that they actually charged me.  However, it’s on my credit card as a charge.  My CVP is going to turn it over to their IT dept.  If I don’t hear anything back within a couple of weeks, I will then dispute the charge via my credit card.  I’m sure it was for a specialty dining reservation for which dining credits should have applied.  
 

From my experience that can happen if you first make a SD reservation, cancel the reservation, and then immediately make a different reservation.  If you look at the payment page, it is clear if a credit is not being used. It takes some time before the credit is returned to your account.  Also, I could not apply a credit to the first night SD reservation that is included with a suite booking.

Just my experience.

 

if you have the Premier package, you might want to ask them if you any credits left in your account.  That might be a clue.

Edited December 10, 2023 by jagoffee

[Cruise Raider]

1 minute ago, jagoffee said:

From my experience that can happen if you first make a SD reservation, cancel the reservation, and then immediately make a different reservation.  If you look at the payment page, it is clear if a credit is not being used. It takes some time before the credit is returned to your account.  Also, I could not apply a credit to the first night SD reservation that is included with a suite booking.

Just my experience.

Come to think of it, that’s exactly what happened!  It did show that I had a dining credit so I thought it was all good.  But, now they are having a hard time finding the charge.  Thank you for explaining that, though.  

 

[Catchum]

4 hours ago, MissP22 said:

You've got to watch them like a hawk. I seen so many erroneous charges ever since the introduction of the medallions, it's made me check on them constantly every day. 

My observation is that the technology makes the process much more difficult for the staff. Order a can of soda and watch how many times they have to poke the screen to put it in the system. When a bar is busy they scribble the room number and order down to input later so you are not kept waiting. 

[MacMadame]

On 12/9/2023 at 5:52 AM, MissP22 said:

Ever since the introduction of the "packages" we've been getting many more erroneous charges applied to our account every cruise. It appears to be linked to the medallion technology and other than checking you account religiously every day, especially before you disembark, it's a way of life on Princess ships. 

I think that it's the packages more than the medallion. With 75-80% of passengers on a package, most of the time, it doesn't matter. Say I am on Plus and I drink 1 alcoholic drink a day but get "charged" for 2. Am I going to go to GS to get the 2nd drink off my folio when it doesn't actually cost me anything? No. I have better things to do than dispute charges that don't impact me in any way. Now for the 20-25% not on a package, it's much more serious because we're talking about real money.

[jagoffee]

28 minutes ago, MacMadame said:

I think that it's the packages more than the medallion. With 75-80% of passengers on a package, most of the time, it doesn't matter. Say I am on Plus and I drink 1 alcoholic drink a day but get "charged" for 2. Am I going to go to GS to get the 2nd drink off my folio when it doesn't actually cost me anything? No. I have better things to do than dispute charges that don't impact me in any way. Now for the 20-25% not on a package, it's much more serious because we're talking about real money.

There may be a misunderstand as this also happened to me a few times in January on the Emerald.  It is a case of being charged for the drink even is you have a package.  It is not just a question of the drink count within the package, but an additional charge on your account. So it does impact the person being charged.