Phantom credit card charge by Carnival

[mhlcanada]

Just received my credit card statement and found a suspect charge made by Carnival on the disembarkation date (Aug 8). To our knowledge, our charges were all covered by our shipboard credits. Unfortunately we discarded the sail account statement before we received our credit card statement. It is frustrating that for post cruise inquiries, you can only fill out their inquiry form online and someone will get back to you in due time. There is no agent you can contact by phone to resolve the matter.

Has anyone encountered similar issue?

[shof515]

This is why you need to keep checking your onboard account daily by using the hub app. random charges has appear on onboard account that was quickly solved by going to guest services onboard the ship

[mhlcanada]

10 minutes ago, shof515 said:

This is why you need to keep checking your onboard account daily by using the hub app. random charges has appear on onboard account that was quickly solved by going to guest services onboard the ship

We did, up to night before disembarkation and all was fine. Hopefully it will not be too long before they get back to me. This is definitely a lesson learned moment. 

[kdr69]

Did you buy anything prior to disembarking like specialty coffees at Java Blue?  Anything after midnight would be billed directly to your credit card as your onboard account is settled/closed before then.

[TravelE]

You can request a copy of your Sign and Sail statement here: https://www.carnival.com/request-forms/sail-sign-statement

 

And yes I have encountered similar issues but it turned out to be employee fraud where my credit card was used to pay for another guests charges on a cruise after mine. 
 

Start with the statement and an inquiry with guest admin. 

[Mike45LC]

I’ve had a few erroneous charges on my Sail n Sign account (beverage charges) that were easily corrected at Guest Services (formerly known as Pursers), but I’ve never had a phantom credit card charge.

[Are.we.there.yet?]

Hi,

 

I am currently dealing with something similar.  Our room steward charged us for the 2 large bottles of water that we 100% left in the room.  It's only $10.62 but it's the principle.  I always check our bills on the regular and double checked our statement that was waiting for us at debarkation.  

 

I asked for an updated statement through the Post cruise link and I just submitted my request for a refund.  This is not the first time this has happened to us and it probably won't be the last.

 

GOOD LUCK!

[mhlcanada]

4 hours ago, kdr69 said:

Did you buy anything prior to disembarking like specialty coffees at Java Blue?  Anything after midnight would be billed directly to your credit card as your onboard account is settled/closed before then.

No, nothing was purchased.

[sfaaa]

Could it be missing or unreturned pool towel?

[dctravel]

We were charged for an unreturned pool towel on disembarkation day at the pool towel pickup/drop off place on Lido (which wasn't possible, since we didn't have any pool towels that day and never went to Lido). I contacted them through the online form and they got back to me about 48 hours later by phone, so make sure you pick up any south Florida numbers that might call. I had my sign and sail statement, and a screen shot of the total charge from my credit card company, and they quickly refunded me the difference. Not sure what the game is with that, but it was quite annoying when I thought we were all square when we got off the ship.

 

The way Carnival does towel is ripe for this type of charge, as it isn't ever clear how many towels anyone has, especially when you drop them off upon re-boarding at a port if there aren't clean ones available. We have started just keeping our wet towels if there aren't any clean ones to be had and just having our cabin steward replace them so there is no chance we ended up with fewer towels than when we started.

 

[tonit964]

This is the exact reason why I do a cash account. I go to GS the night before debarkation and cash out my account, if there is an issue, it gets resolved then.

Never a problem this way.

[mfs2k]

As someone who has worked in finance and accounting for upscale hotels for most of my long career, I can tell you this problem isn't unique to cruise ships.

Here's what I know.

Whenever there are minibar charges or other possible incidental charges, there will always be possibe mistakes made by housekeeping attendants, waiters, and front desk agents. These are not malicious attempts to rip anyone off. These agents of the hotel have nothing to gain by charging you for incidentals they thought should be charged to your room.  They are usually just mistakes.  Perhaps there was a coke which they thought was missing from the minibar; or perhaps a server wasn't closely paying attention to the name which appeared on their screen when they charged the drinks to room 609 instead of 906.  Mistakes do happen. Hopefully not often, but when there are 5,000 guests on a ship posting charges 18 hours a day, it probably seems like it happens a lot.

 

What I have seen unfortunately are guests who call to say the charges weren't theirs. We always give the guest the benefit of the doubt but I suspect the ones who do this repeatedly have read the same articles and travel blogs I have about how you can get minibar charges taken off your bill if you complain because it's your word against the employee who posted it and the guest will always win in a reputable hotel..But know we have notes in our computers of repeat guests who make a habit of saying "I didn't eat the candy bar or take the water bottle."  I wouldn't want to be in their system saying this often.  These electronic notes are there for a long long time.  Guests have more to gain by saying "it wasn't me" than the people who posted the charges who have nothing to gain when a mistake is made. 

 

The one thing I've never seen is a hotel agent (or cruiseline) intentionally try to rip off a guest by posting made up charges. If they're going to steal, this isn't the way.   Don't assume the worst. Try to give hardworking people the benefit of the doubt.  If the water bottle was reported missing from the room on the day of departure there's likely some sort of logical explanation but it's usually not worth assigning a detective to the case to solve it.. 

 

The moral of my story is check your folio on your last day or have them send you a final copy if theres a post departure charge. If you have a discrepancy, call guest services and get it resolved.  It may be a pain, but you can usually resolve most issues with a little effort.. 

Edited August 15 by mfs2k

[Elaine5715]

17 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

As someone who has worked in finance and accounting for upscale hotels for most of my long career, I can tell you this problem isn't unique to cruise ships.

Here's what I know.

Whenever there are minibar charges or other possible incidental charges, there will always be possibe mistakes made by housekeeping attendants, waiters, and front desk agents. These are not malicious attempts to rip anyone off. These agents of the hotel have nothing to gain by charging you for incidentals they thought should be charged to your room.  They are usually just mistakes.  Perhaps there was a coke which they thought was missing from the minibar; or perhaps a server wasn't closely paying attention to the name which appeared on their screen when they charged the drinks to room 609 instead of 906.  Mistakes do happen. Hopefully not often, but when there are 5,000 guests on a ship posting charges 18 hours a day, it probably seems like it happens a lot.

 

What I have seen unfortunately are guests who call to say the charges weren't theirs. We always give the guest the benefit of the doubt but I suspect the ones who do this repeatedly have read the same articles and travel blogs I have about how you can get minibar charges taken off your bill if you complain because it's your word against the employee who posted it and the guest will always win in a reputable hotel..But know we have notes in our computers of repeat guests who make a habit of saying "I didn't eat the candy bar or take the water bottle."  I wouldn't want to be in their system saying this often.  These electronic notes are there for a long long time.  Guests have more to gain by saying "it wasn't me" than the people who posted the charges who have nothing to gain when a mistake is made. 

 

The one thing I've never seen is a hotel agent (or cruiseline) intentionally try to rip off a guest by posting made up charges. If they're going to steal, this isn't the way.   Don't assume the worst. Try to give hardworking people the benefit of the doubt.  If the water bottle was reported missing from the room on the day of departure there's likely some sort of logical explanation but it's usually not worth assigning a detective to the case to solve it.. 

 

The moral of my story is check your folio on your last day or have them send you a final copy if theres a post departure charge. If you have a discrepancy, call guest services and get it resolved.  It may be a pain, but you can usually resolve most issues with a little effort.. 

People are unaware that these notes are kept, that the nicer the hotel, the more notes kept in order to provide a higher level of service but the sword cuts both ways.  I had sent a note to a major theme park CEO and the call back from his very well trained assistant referenced previous emails.   

 

[Mike45LC]

2 hours ago, mfs2k said:

What I have seen unfortunately are guests who call to say the charges weren't theirs. We always give the guest the benefit of the doubt but I suspect the ones who do this repeatedly have read the same articles and travel blogs I have about how you can get minibar charges taken off your bill if you complain because it's your word against the employee who posted it and the guest will always win in a reputable hotel..But know we have notes in our computers of repeat guests gent (or cruiseline)  

Fortunately for me, I think my only disputed charges were beverages that were covered under a beverage plan and that should not have generated a charge.  And since I don't drink, the erroneous charges for soda, premium water and juices were very low.  There is no possible claim that I was trying to rip off the cruise line by pointing out that my Gossling's Ginger Beer charge was an error. 

 

All of my Cherry on Top and Blue Iguana charges were legitimate and undisputed!!  

[dctravel]

3 hours ago, mfs2k said:

As someone who has worked in finance and accounting for upscale hotels for most of my long career, I can tell you this problem isn't unique to cruise ships.

Here's what I know.

Whenever there are minibar charges or other possible incidental charges, there will always be possible mistakes made by housekeeping attendants, waiters, and front desk agents.

I hope I didn't indicate that I thought it was malicious. I think that most of the time, and certainly in my case with a towel charged on Lido, it probably was a mistake. Likely a wrong room number or just a mistake. It is just a reminder to be vigilant (and that I dislike, but understand Carnival's towel policy).

[mfs2k]

13 hours ago, dctravel said:

I hope I didn't indicate that I thought it was malicious.

No.

I wasn't responding to any one person's comments. 

[kdr69]

On 8/14/2024 at 10:03 PM, mhlcanada said:

No, nothing was purchased.

ok was all i could think off.  

[mhlcanada]

On 8/15/2024 at 7:14 AM, sfaaa said:

Could it be missing or unreturned pool towel?

Got Carnival to send me copy of account statement, which is different from the one we received the night before. New charge for ‘towels’ was posted at 8:55am on disembarkation day. We already left the ship so was not aware of the charge nor able to dispute it. We had returned the towels at the pool after use.  Requested Carnival to refund $42+ charge but have not heard back.

[tonit964]

1 hour ago, mhlcanada said:

Got Carnival to send me copy of account statement, which is different from the one we received the night before. New charge for ‘towels’ was posted at 8:55am on disembarkation day. We already left the ship so was not aware of the charge nor able to dispute it. We had returned the towels at the pool after use.  Requested Carnival to refund $42+ charge but have not heard back.

They should not be able to just willy nilly charge you for something without a signature, especially when the charge showed up once you were off the ship. There should be a cut - off time.

I wonder how much they get on each sailing by doing this.

[babygrljaz]

50 minutes ago, tonit964 said:

They should not be able to just willy nilly charge you for something without a signature, especially when the charge showed up once you were off the ship. There should be a cut - off time.

I wonder how much they get on each sailing by doing this.

If towels aren't accounted for yes they will charge you.  They don't know if you left them behind when you got off the ship or somewhere on the ship. It's posted somewhere, just don't remember where. When my kids have turned them in at the towel hut or when when get back onboard let our cabin steward know asap so I don't get charged

[mhlcanada]

48 minutes ago, tonit964 said:

They should not be able to just willy nilly charge you for something without a signature, especially when the charge showed up once you were off the ship. There should be a cut - off time.

I wonder how much they get on each sailing by doing this.

Unfortunately some people will not challenge and just pay, thinking that not all charges came through on last night.  What I don't like is that all post cruise inquiries need to go through the form submission online.  You cannot speak to an agent on post cruise issues but if you want to book another cruise 'post cruise', then there is a customer service phone # to call for those inquiries. For the online submission, they say reply can take up to 30 business days.

[mhlcanada]

2 minutes ago, babygrljaz said:

If towels aren't accounted for yes they will charge you.  They don't know if you left them behind when you got off the ship or somewhere on the ship. It's posted somewhere, just don't remember where. When my kids have turned them in at the towel hut or when when get back onboard let our cabin steward know asap so I don't get charged

Didn't know you have to let cabin steward know about towels you took from the pool and returned at the pool.  Do you have to sign towels in and out?  There is not enough signage to make passengers aware of this.  

[n6uqqq]

2 hours ago, mhlcanada said:

Got Carnival to send me copy of account statement, which is different from the one we received the night before. New charge for ‘towels’ was posted at 8:55am on disembarkation day. We already left the ship so was not aware of the charge nor able to dispute it. We had returned the towels at the pool after use.  Requested Carnival to refund $42+ charge but have not heard back.

I have had this happen also. They removed the charge for me. I don't touch the towels and most of them are quite beat up. I don't know who would want to take them. I think pool towels should be at request like the robes. I bet a fair amount of people don't use them but they have to be laundered after every cruise.

Edited August 20 by n6uqqq

[Badfinger]

If you are 100% sure it is a bogus charge, call your cc company and dispute it.  If not, and since you lost your statement (which might not help per the other post about charges after midnight) then you will have to play the game. 

[tonit964]

25 minutes ago, babygrljaz said:

If towels aren't accounted for yes they will charge you.  They don't know if you left them behind when you got off the ship or somewhere on the ship. It's posted somewhere, just don't remember where. When my kids have turned them in at the towel hut or when when get back onboard let our cabin steward know asap so I don't get charged

I understand that,

I realize they will charge you for the towel and rightfully so, but do it before you're off the ship so you have a chance to explain or dispute it. The paper sign in sheet at the towel hut is archaic. If they can swipe your card for everything else, why can't they for checking out and turning in towels?