Cruise almost cancelled

[crusinsusan]

We cruise in three weeks. Received a call from my PVP that gratuities were added but not paid for. If not paid my cruise would automatically be canceled. She removed them and notified me. I did not add gratuities and do not know why it was added. If not for the eyes of my great PVP, I could have lost my cruise, /Check your cruise details!

[tonit964]

They don't cancel cruises for gratuities not being pre paid. There was something else going on with your booking.

[KroozFoolz]

That's just crazy!

[bUU]

They don't cancel cruises for gratuities not being pre paid. There was something else going on with your booking.

I would appreciate it if the original poster would make clear what was actually the issue with their reservation.

 

I intend to pay for the gratuities with gift cards when I check in for my cruise. I do not intend to pay them in advance (unless I could pay for them with gift cards I have in hand right now and I was told every clearly I Carnival photograph that I should wait until I check in and submit those gift cards at that time).

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

[beerman2]

They don't cancel cruises for gratuities not being pre paid. There was something else going on with your booking.

 

 

If you added gratuities when you booked it is added into your total amount due.

 

If your total amount due isn't paid in full , then I'm thinking it would be an issue.

 

 

OP said gratuities were added to booking , so it was part of total amount due by deadline.

[Shirleybird]

Totally not true. I did not prepay my gratuities as I knew I had enough on board credit to pay for them. Plus I chose to have all of my on board charges to be billed to my credit card if they went over and above my on board credit. Maybe that plays a part as well. I don't think we got the whole story from the OP.

[Schoifmom]

I would appreciate it if the original poster would make clear what was actually the issue with their reservation.

 

I intend to pay for the gratuities with gift cards when I check in for my cruise. I do not intend to pay them in advance (unless I could pay for them with gift cards I have in hand right now and I was told every clearly I Carnival photograph that I should wait until I check in and submit those gift cards at that time).

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

 

You can apply your gift cards when you board and your gratuities will be added to your account on day 2. Gift cards will be used as the form of payment prior to them using your credit card or cash (OBC is used before gift cards). If you choose, however, you can add prepaid gratuities to your cruise and use your gift cards to pay for them now. Totally up to you and it's all the same in the end.

 

I don't think that OP is telling the entire story here. It is possible that they added prepaid gratuities to their reservation without realizing it and paid off the entire cruise except that portion. If so, then their cruise would not show as paid in full.

[summersigh]

We never pre-pay our gratuities. Thus they have always been charged to our account onboard with anything over our OBC charged to our credit card at the end of the cruise.

It's my understanding that's the normal procedure with a credit card on file from online check-in. We don't do anything extra to make that happen.:confused:

[beerman2]

We never pre-pay our gratuities. Thus they have always been charged to our account onboard with anything over our OBC charged to our credit card at the end of the cruise.

It's my understanding that's the normal procedure with a credit card on file from online check-in. We don't do anything extra to make that happen.:confused:

True but there is the option of pre-paying the gratuities, which then becomes a part of your total cruise fare.

 

It then does need to be paid in full at due date.

 

It's just 1 less thing to pay off at end of cruise.

 

The OP did say gratuities were added and they were either unaware it happened or had forgotten they did it.

[frayedend]

 

I don't think that OP is telling the entire story here. It is possible that they added prepaid gratuities to their reservation without realizing it and paid off the entire cruise except that portion. If so, then their cruise would not show as paid in full.

 

For the life of me I can't understand why you folks think the OP isn't telling the entire story. What you posted above is exactly what they said happened. Gratuities were added somehow and they didn't pay them because they didn't realize they were added without the OP realizing it. Unless the OP was edited before I got to this point in the thread.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

If you added gratuities when you booked it is added into your total amount due.

 

If your total amount due isn't paid in full , then I'm thinking it would be an issue.

 

 

OP said gratuities were added to booking , so it was part of total amount due by deadline.

 

True, but who added the gratuities?

 

Bill

[tonit964]

If you added gratuities when you booked it is added into your total amount due.

 

If your total amount due isn't paid in full , then I'm thinking it would be an issue.

 

 

OP said gratuities were added to booking , so it was part of total amount due by deadline.

 

If that were the case and the gratuities were added to the cruise fare, you would pay it when final payment becomes due at 75 days out, not 3 weeks until cruise.

 

Like I said, it's something else going on.

[crewsweeper]

Correct me if I'm wrong, as DW usually handles these things, But I've seen notices on the cruise account confirmation on what all charges being listed for the cruise are and that total is carried over to future billings/invoices. So seems strange that the OP would not have seen gratuities added at least on the initial confirmation.

 

Nevertheless, glad to hear they got it straightened out and hope they enjoy their cruise without further hickups..

[seamusdad]

The only way to prepay gratuities is either when you initially book or by calling and having them added. In either case it becomes part of your total cost and due by final payment . So if was after confirmation of final payment paid in full, either someone on booking called and added them or your pvp may not have been completely honest and needed to feel useful...lol

 

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

[brepri_h]

Yea definitely something else going on here. I've done both, prepaid and had them added to my sign and sail account. Neither have ever been problem.

[jennas_mum]

If that were the case and the gratuities were added to the cruise fare, you would pay it when final payment becomes due at 75 days out, not 3 weeks until cruise.

 

Like I said, it's something else going on.

 

Not if they were added after final payment!

 

I went in and hit add gratuities last week on a cruise that leaves in 5 weeks. I was just wanting to know what the total amount would be. I forgot to delete it and when I went back on it said full payment was overdue. I had already paid everything else. So, yes, what OP was saying could easily happen. Maybe she was looking around on her page and accidentally hit to pay gratuities and didn't realize it. Why does everyone have to be so skeptical and think people are not telling the truth! It must be a conspiracy!

[Minkster1973]

I haven't had this happen with gratuities, but I have seen it happen with travel insurance. I've logged in and had the insurance added to my balance due. I've unchecked the option and updated to take it off and logged back in later to see it back on again. I finally just paid the balance due without the insurance and it didn't happen again after that.

 

I pay gratuities in advance too, so it just becomes a part of my balance due.

[jennas_mum]

The only way to prepay gratuities is either when you initially book or by calling and having them added. In either case it becomes part of your total cost and due by final payment . So if was after confirmation of final payment paid in full, either someone on booking called and added them or your pvp may not have been completely honest and needed to feel useful...lol

 

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

 

Not true! All you have to do is go into you account and you can add them at any time.

[bUU]

What you posted above is exactly what they said happened.

That's not true. The OP claimed that that they did not add prepaid gratuities to their account. The OP implies that someone else did it. All we have to go on is the claims made and our own experience using the systems. I cannot tell you how many times I inadvertently switched our November reservation from king bed to two doubles, how many times I inadvertently changed our dining selection, and how many times I inadvertently added prepaid gratuities. At least once I clicked Add to see how much it would cost, and I can readily see how someone might assume that if they don't click "Save" then it won't actually add it to the bill. (That's not the case; there is no "Save". Changes are saved immediately: The Add link does exactly what it says: It Adds prepaid gratuities, thereby requiring me to click Remove to re-remove it.) The likelihood that some unidentified person went into the OP's record and added the prepaid gratuities has to be weighed against our own experience making such mistakes, ourselves, over and over again.

 

PS: It is so easy to make such mistakes that I took this as a reminder to check my booking again to make sure that my record is correct at this time.

 

The only way to prepay gratuities is either when you initially book or by calling and having them added.

This is not true. I'm staring at the Add link in the other window of my browser. You can change that setting online, until final payment date.

 

I haven't had this happen with gratuities, but I have seen it happen with travel insurance.

That is another setting that I have found is remarkably easy to inadvertently change.

[tonit964]

Not if they were added after final payment!

 

I went in and hit add gratuities last week on a cruise that leaves in 5 weeks. I was just wanting to know what the total amount would be. I forgot to delete it and when I went back on it said full payment was overdue. I had already paid everything else. So, yes, what OP was saying could easily happen. Maybe she was looking around on her page and accidentally hit to pay gratuities and didn't realize it. Why does everyone have to be so skeptical and think people are not telling the truth! It must be a conspiracy!

 

But they won't cancel the cruise if final payment has been made. Gratuities are not mandatory, it doesn't matter when they were added.

ETA: It's not that we think the OP is lying, something else happened that the OP is not aware of.

[seamusdad]

Not true! All you have to do is go into you account and you can add them at any time.

This is a welcome change as it was not available the last time I booked a cruise 2 months ago and forgot to add them. The only thing available to add without calling was trip insurance.

 

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

[cherbear4000]

I find it plausible that OP paid off her cruise and somehow gratuities were added without her knowledge making it look like she still owed on her cruise. I had something similar happen to me except it was the insurance that was added at a later time without my knowledge.

[tea4ular]

The OP states that their PVP contacted them to finalize payment. That is the answer to "who" added the pre-paid gratuities - the PVP did.

 

The OP would not have access to make changes to their booking (just as they wouldn't if they used a TA).

 

Somehow, and at some point in time the PVP pushed the "pre-pay gratuities" link (these are the REAL issues) -

[tonit964]

Not true! All you have to do is go into you account and you can add them at any time.

 

I just went into my booking and there isn't a way to add them, you have to call.

Per the Carnival FAQ's you can add them when you make the booking otherwise you need to call them to get them added.

[tonit964]

This is a welcome change as it was not available the last time I booked a cruise 2 months ago and forgot to add them. The only thing available to add without calling was trip insurance.

 

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

 

It hasn't changed, you still have to call.