Minibar charges

[Iriel]

Hi guys! I returned from Infinity on Saturday, and I found that they charged me $30.60 for the minibar, but we never touched it! I sent an email to Celebrity, but of course, they haven't replied. I can't call them because it will be expensive for me. Is there another email where I can complain? We only used the minibar to store the water bottles in the classic package and the chocolates they give us at night. We didn't consume anything, not even the Evian waters. We haven't had this issue on other cruises, I'm so mad.

 

Any advice? Thanks!

[WestLakeGirl]

Challenge it on your credit card.

[jelayne]

No reason to be mad, people make errors.  It happens sometimes, a employee mistakenly can put down in the wrong cabin number.  We have had it happen and  Celebrity quickly reversed the charge. 
Did you email the Captains Club or the Celebrity Engagement Center?   
 

Edited March 18, 2023 by jelayne

[Jim_Iain]

Two option -   One is to e-mail Engagement Center -   CelebrityEngagementCenter@celebrity.com

The other is to message them via Twitter.   They respond pretty quickly.

[Iriel]

1 hour ago, jelayne said:

No reason to be mad, people make errors.  It happens sometimes, a employee mistakenly can put down in the wrong cabin number.  We have had it happen and  Celebrity quickly reversed the charge. 
Did you email the Captains Club or the Celebrity Engagement Center?   
 

 

Well, Celebrity made a lot of mistakes on my cruise, so I have reasons to be mad. I emailed  cec@celebrity.com, I don't know if it's working. It didn't know I could get in touch with Captain's Club for this issue.

 

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

Two option -   One is to e-mail Engagement Center -   CelebrityEngagementCenter@celebrity.com

The other is to message them via Twitter.   They respond pretty quickly.

 

Thank you! I'll do both.

[jwlane]

13 hours ago, Iriel said:

Any advice?

I'm sure they will resolve this to your favor soon.  Next time, when you first meet your cabin steward, ask them to empty the fridge---you will not be using any of its contents.

[cluso]

Just returned from an 11-night sail on Connie (yesterday).  Asked the cabin attendant to remove the minibar items.  He said "don't worry about it".  I checked our account daily on the app.  It was always correct and when we left the ship, it was correct.  We only had 2 charges since we had a drink package and prepaid excursions.  When we returned home the final invoice had minibar charges added. I emailed Celebrity and will notify AMEX if Celebrity does not respond.

 

If someone could please post a picture of the card with minibar prices, that might help some of us defend our minibar case.  It was in the drawer above the refrig.  Who knows, maybe everyone should take a picture of it in case the same thing happens to you.

 

BTW--Connie had a big Noro/Covid breakout during the last half of our voyage.  They went strictly to crew serving everything, including the knife, fork, and napkin bundles.  It was never announced on what the numbers were.  We didn't catch anything, but we always steer clear of the crowds and use our balcony for outside time (no Edge class ships for us).  We had to fill out notices as we left, answering questions about if anyone in our cabin felt sick.  Reading follow-on Connie reports, they had to have a Hazmat team deep clean the ship and have a CDC health inspection.  Boarding was delayed many hours and travelers had a "not so nice" first day experience.

 

The good news, we finally made Elite Plus on this cruise.  😎

[cluso]

19 minutes ago, jwlane said:

I'm sure they will resolve this to your favor soon.  Next time, when you first meet your cabin steward, ask them to empty the fridge---you will not be using any of its contents.

 

Just returned (yesterday) from a cruise on Connie (see preceding post).  Cabin attendant said they don't do this anymore, too time consuming for the crew and more mistakes made on bills.

Edited March 18, 2023 by cluso

[redhead9]

I was also erroneously charged for the minibar last month on the Connie.
It was on the final bill after returning home.

Yes, they reversed it, but does seem like a lot of ‘accidents’. 

[ABoatNerd]

Standard cruise line scam. Had it each cruise on Celebrity.

I then had the room steward remove all items from the fridge on the next cruises, But still got the charge, so it is a regular cruise line scam.

Due a credit card dispute, that works.

 

[TeeRick]

20 minutes ago, ABoatNerd said:

Standard cruise line scam. Had it each cruise on Celebrity.

I then had the room steward remove all items from the fridge on the next cruises, But still got the charge, so it is a regular cruise line scam.

Due a credit card dispute, that works.

 

Probably a common mistake.  But I don't believe it is a scam.

[PTC DAWG]

For $30 I’m not doing anything more than going online and disputing it with my CC company, then I would forget it. 

[vkb2751]

We were charged $15 amenity charge after we left the ship. This was on Beyond returning 1/15/23. Have been told it has been corrected but still no refund on Credit Card. Was told last week that it takes 6 to 8 weeks to be processed! Mistake or scam, it is happening too often. Will see when we get the refund finally.

[Jim_Iain]

Another option for the OP is to dispute the charge on their Credit Card. 

[jelayne]

1 hour ago, ABoatNerd said:

Standard cruise line scam. Had it each cruise on Celebrity.

I then had the room steward remove all items from the fridge on the next cruises, But still got the charge, so it is a regular cruise line scam.

Due a credit card dispute, that works.

 

We have taken over 50 cruises on 4 cruise lines, 37 of which were on Celebrity.   We have had 1 erroneous mini bar charge so it doesn’t strike me as a scam.

[jwlane]

11 minutes ago, jelayne said:

doesn’t strike me as a scam.

Ditto.  BTW, never had an erroneous charge, and our attendants were more than happy to empty the fridge (they just stashed it under the bed).

[wrk2cruise]

About 15 years ago we had 3 or 4 sailings in a row where the entire contents of the minibar was charged to our card after the sailing ended.  We had our end of sailing statement.   Each time it was reversed without an issue.   It was an issue commonly reported at that time.  I do think it was something more than mistakes.

[patty1955]

2 hours ago, vkb2751 said:

We were charged $15 amenity charge after we left the ship. 

What's an amenity charge?

[Iriel]

They replied through Twitter! They said they will check it and let me know. Thank you everyone for your help. I know $30 is not a lot for some people, but it's a lot for me since it's not my own currency.

[mayleeman]

On our next cruise, if the steward refuses to empty the frig I will take a photo of the contents and then take it all to Guest Services. Absurd to refuse based on time concerns.

[mrgabriel]

6 hours ago, ABoatNerd said:

Standard cruise line scam. Had it each cruise on Celebrity.

I then had the room steward remove all items from the fridge on the next cruises, But still got the charge, so it is a regular cruise line scam.

Due a credit card dispute, that works.

 

Fifteen plus cruises on Celebrity and this has never happened to us. Never an issue adding things to the fridge or being charged incorrectly. 

[jagoffee]

2 hours ago, mayleeman said:

On our next cruise, if the steward refuses to empty the frig I will take a photo of the contents and then take it all to Guest Services. Absurd to refuse based on time concerns.

Especially since in my experience all they do it take out the entire contents, put it in a cloth laundry bag and put it under the bed.  I would just make sure that they put it back on the last night. I am fairly certain that it is the room service staff that do the inventory.  As far as I know the cabin steward never counted or inventoried anything.  

[horseymike]

8 hours ago, vkb2751 said:

We were charged $15 amenity charge after we left the ship. This was on Beyond returning 1/15/23. Have been told it has been corrected but still no refund on Credit Card. Was told last week that it takes 6 to 8 weeks to be processed! Mistake or scam, it is happening too often. Will see when we get the refund finally.

Quite interesting, 6 - 8 weeks to be processed, I returned an item at Costco last week, I had credit by the time I got back to my car in the parking lot.

[Cruising89143]

7 hours ago, jelayne said:

We have taken over 50 cruises on 4 cruise lines, 37 of which were on Celebrity.   We have had 1 erroneous mini bar charge so it doesn’t strike me as a scam.

Same here. Well over 60 cruises and never once charged for the mini bar. Far from being a cruise line scam. 

[DebInAntigua]

6 hours ago, Iriel said:

They replied through Twitter! They said they will check it and let me know. Thank you everyone for your help. I know $30 is not a lot for some people, but it's a lot for me since it's not my own currency.

 

I think any amount is "a lot" when you are paying for something you didn't use.