Explorer: Requesting no Minibar?

On our last two cruise, charges for bottles of water that we never consumed appeared on our bill at the end of the cruise. It was removed from the bill, but only after waiting in the final-day lineup at customer service. I realize now that there is a list of what they provide in the bar, so I should have noticed what was missing. However to save future mistakes, can I just ask to have no minibar put in our room? I understand our SA can probably do it, but I'd rather have it writing that I asked for it to be removed.

Catch 22: My TA doesn't know if this can be done, and past experience shows that I can't request things from RC directly becuase I went through a TA.

Yes you may ask your stateroom attendant to remove the contents from the mini fridge.

Yes you may ask your stateroom attendant to remove the contents from the mini fridge.

We do this all the time since my cabin mate is a diabetic and needs the space to store the insulin used. You would be surprised how roomy it is in the frigerator without all the "stuff" in it.

A word of caution...do not move anything around or you may be charged for the item since a daily inventory check is done. Anything out of place results in a charge.

Also, the cabin attendant will notify whoever that the contents have been moved out so you will not be charged.

MARAPRINCE

Room Steward doesn't handle that anymore, it's now someone from the bar staff. Not sure if you can leave them a note or if you have to speak with them directly.

we always ask for it to be emptied at embarkation - Stateroom attendant always happy to oblige and never had issues with charges etc

on our December 2011 Explorer cruise we asked our SA to empty the mini bar who sad he would tell the bar service that fills it to remove the contents

the next day, still not emptied, we told the bar women who was filling the mini bars and charging for used items to empty the mini bar

The next day, still not emptied, we went to guest relations to have the mini bar emptied and were rudely questioned as to why? After telling them it was none of their business and that we wanted it emptied they finally complied.

The morale of the story is be persistent and they will comply

We like to have the frig for our stuff only but the last two times we requested this it didn't happen. So on our cruise last October I removed everything and put it all in one cabinet and had the steward check it all out and then the bar lady did too so we had no extra charges. Only way we could get it to happen!

On most of our cruises we requested the cabin attendant to do it an it was taken care of. Now, we simple take a photo with our iPad, remove the items and put them in laundry bags in the floor of the closet, and PRINT a note (in large letters) "Mini bar items are in the two bags on the floor of the closet". We tape the note to the outside of the minibar door and close the cabinet door. The day before we disembark the cruise we put all the items back in using the iPad photo as our guide.

bjlaac: if guest services were to question me as they did you they would certainly get an ear full and a flaming remark on the end of the week comment card.

We always take a lot of the items out of the minibar and will leave a post-it note on the fridge door to tell the checker where the items are. We've never been charged for putting them back in the wrong order.

We also remove everything and put it in a cabinet stating which cabinet on the note that I tape to the front of the cooler.

On most of our cruises we requested the cabin attendant to do it an it was taken care of. Now, we simple take a photo with our iPad, remove the items and put them in laundry bags in the floor of the closet, and PRINT a note (in large letters) "Mini bar items are in the two bags on the floor of the closet". We tape the note to the outside of the minibar door and close the cabinet door. The day before we disembark the cruise we put all the items back in using the iPad photo as our guide.

 

bjlaac: if guest services were to question me as they did you they would certainly get an ear full and a flaming remark on the end of the week comment card.

We had a great cruise but also had a lot of problems on this voyage. I really think its just that RCL is so hell bent on making money that anything out of the norm that obviously will reduces profits meets resistants

True enough. I probably misused the term minibar. I was just thinking of the bottles of water and cans of pop they leave sitting on the desk. Not only do I not want to end up paying for them, they take up valuable real-estate. I always put them up on the top of the vanity over the desk and then return them back to where they were at the end of the cruise. However, I'd rather get the message out ahead of time. Like I said, prevent any misunderstandings about what was there to begin with.

We've been requesting the stateroom attendant remove the items for years, without a problem, but last cruise we were told that "someone else from another department" would do it. The last two cruises, we've witnessed the removal of the items and both times were enlightening:

Emptied drink cans turned upside down but made to look like they were unused....small boxes of candy treats totally emptied but made to look like they were unused. (I'd like to think it was kids doing this, but who knows.) This really did it for me! Even if I didn't want to use the contents, I'd closely check everything just to make sure I wasn't charged for them.