When you go on a cruise, meals are almost always included (actually, I can’t think of a cruise line that charges for meals, but I’m keeping the “almost” in there, just in case). However, depending on the cruise line, there will be some things that could cost an upcharge:
- Upgrading to a “better” or “specialty” restaurant and paying a premium for the same (this isn’t the case on Virgin Voyages. There are many things Virgin doesn’t tell you before your ship launches, but they’re very upfront that all of their restaurants are available to everyone without having to pay extra to eat there).
- If you buy a “special” meal, such as a tomahawk steak.
- If you buy alcohol with your meal (unless you have a special drink package…which is, again, its own separate cost).
Different cruise lines also handle gratuities differently. Some, like Virgin, include gratuities as part of your initial cruise costs, so no tipping of cruise employees is needed; it’s already taken care of (of course, you can always add extra if you’d like, but that’s a YMMV situation). Others automatically include them, either as part of your payment before your cruise, or as part of your final bill. Before Covid, some cruise lines gave you envelopes for you to give cash gratuities to everyone before you disembark; some still do, although others have upgraded to electronic methods.
However, a handful of cruises allow passengers to tip at restaurants as they go along. A Florida couple learned a while back that a mistake with that sort of gratuity could end up being super expensive.
Alex and Alicia (no last name given) were on Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas cruise ship. During their 7-day cruise of the Eastern Caribbean, they decided to splurge and eat at Jamie’s Italian, one of the ship’s “special” restaurants that require an upcharge.
From Cruise Critic (updated Feb, 2020):
Eclectic doesn’t do Jamie’s Italian Restaurant decor justice. A little bit rustic Italian trattoria, a little bit highway-side diner and school cafeteria, Jamie’s is decked out in a head-scratching assortment of plush blue booths, wooden and steel tables, armchairs, green and yellow metal cafeteria chairs, dried peppers and sausages hanging on the wall, industrial lighting and chandeliers. You don’t need to get all gussied up to dine here; jeans and tees are just fine.
The two reportedly enjoyed a great meal. They had multiple courses, including crispy calamari, ultimate garlic bread, penne pomodoro, arugula and parmesan salad. This was followed by a lemon meringue cheesecake and hot chocolate with vanilla ice cream (that last bit sounds delicious!).
Symphony of The Seas offers an “Unlimited Dining Package” which includes multiple entrees and multiple specialty restaurants every night of a sailing. That could save them up to 40%, depending on the venues.
I couldn’t find current prices for Jamie’s Italian, but according to Freestyle Travelers, you could expect to pay about $55 per person for dinner in late 2023. So imagine Alex and Alicia’s surprise when they got the bill and the total amount was $98,638.93!
Of course, they didn’t eat THAT much. It turned out that someone entered an ID number into the gratuity box instead of the correct tip amount. Human error could happen to anyone and is easily fixed, right?
Unfortunately, not really.
Royal Caribbean quickly reversed the erroneous charge, but the charge still appeared on their credit card because of financial holds. That resulted in a hold on their American Express card for the rest of their cruise.
The couple tried to work with Guest Services so the authorization could be dropped, but they were told there wasn’t anything they (Royal Caribbean) could do—because the charge had been removed, the authorization would simply eventually drop on its own. That process can take as long as 5-7 days after the cruise is finished.
Meanwhile, their card was consistently denied for the rest of their cruise because the authorization locked up their available credit on the card.
The authorization was eventually dropped, just as the ship’s Customer Service rep had said it would. But it didn’t happen until after they got home.
Lessons Learned
Obviously, you should never, ever travel with just one credit card. If something happens to it – like what happened to Alex and Alicia above- or if it’s lost or stolen- what will you do?
You shouldn’t even travel with just multiple cards from the same bank. That way, if your American Express card isn’t working for some reason, you don’t have to worry that another one of your Amex cards might be denied as well (it happened to me with my Chase cards when they thought my purchases in Texas were fraudulent. Good times!). That way, you can still use your Capital One, Barclays, or other bank card.
Most importantly – if you use a debit card, be very careful about situations like this. A hold like that on your debit card could mess up non-cruise auto-payments or other financial transactions you typically put on that card.
*** Thanks to Norman J. for giving us a heads-up about this topic!
H/T: Cruise Hive
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
