Confused about my cruise statement

[Tom O.]

I just looked at my statement for my cruise that ended Jan 13. I was shocked at how little I was charged. That is when I noticed there were no charges for the auto tip for service. But there were numerous credits for 'Marketing Promos". I was not aware I was going to receive any promotions for this cruise, I had asked my TA at booking time to just give me a bare bones booking, and not take advantage of any of the promotions available.

I am certainly not going to complain about saving money, but I was surprised and I am wondering if they made an error in my favor.

[kazu]

With the marketing promos, it sounds to me like your TA did not do the bare bones booking.

If you look at the confirmation your TA sent you when you booked or showing final payment, page 2 will show your promos if you ended up with them.

[helby]

On my recent K'dam cruise I had included gratuities as a promo and this showed up daily as "Marketing Promo".   Perhaps this was an included promo with your booking and did not show as an extra charge to you. 

[Tom O.]

I contacted my TA, and discovered that at the time of booking, her agency had a special on free gratuities. I did not realize I had this benefit. I mainly wanted to avoid the Have It All package, because it does not do us any good, since we weren't going to go on any excursions and my wife is a teetotaler, and I am a light drinker.

So, having free gratuities is great, since we never cancel our crew appreciation fees.

A true case of Serendipity.

[Loreto]

I always am in wonder when I look at the final statement!  My DH calls it "cruise math." It always seems to me very much in our favor.

[kazu]

1 hour ago, Tom O. said:

I contacted my TA, and discovered that at the time of booking, her agency had a special on free gratuities. I did not realize I had this benefit. I mainly wanted to avoid the Have It All package, because it does not do us any good, since we weren't going to go on any excursions and my wife is a teetotaler, and I am a light drinker.

So, having free gratuities is great, since we never cancel our crew appreciation fees.

A true case of Serendipity.

 

Nice benefit and glad you found the answer 👍. And it is a good one 🙂 

[cbr663]

3 hours ago, Tom O. said:

I contacted my TA, and discovered that at the time of booking, her agency had a special on free gratuities. I did not realize I had this benefit. I mainly wanted to avoid the Have It All package, because it does not do us any good, since we weren't going to go on any excursions and my wife is a teetotaler, and I am a light drinker.

So, having free gratuities is great, since we never cancel our crew appreciation fees.

A true case of Serendipity.

 

It happens.  Last year I had booked a cruise only fare for our Alaska cruise in a Neptune Suite and I saw that a TA was advertising the same cruise with HIA for thousands less than I had paid with HAL.  I contacted them to confirm that the price was correct and it was.  It was the quickest time that I cancelled and rebooked a cruise.  I was worried that I wouldn't get the cabin that I wanted as there was no guarantee that when it went back into ship's inventory that it would be made available again that I could get it, but the universe shone on me that day and we even got the cabin that we wanted.

[Toofarfromthesea]

4 hours ago, Tom O. said:

I contacted my TA, and discovered that at the time of booking, her agency had a special on free gratuities. I did not realize I had this benefit. I mainly wanted to avoid the Have It All package, because it does not do us any good, since we weren't going to go on any excursions and my wife is a teetotaler, and I am a light drinker.

So, having free gratuities is great, since we never cancel our crew appreciation fees.

A true case of Serendipity.

How nice.  The TA gave you a very nice perk without ever tooting their horn.  Sounds like a keeper.