THEY PLAY HIDE THE BALL TO DUPE PEOPLE FOR MONEY
REGARDING AN 8-DAY SHIP CRUISE: CRUISES.COM never informed me that I was automatically "opted in" to a gratuity pool which requires I pay a gratuity fee of $20 per day/per person that I'm on ship as an overall onboard tip that is MYSTERIOUSLY referred to as a "SERVICE CHARGE." The only extra I was informed about was dining gratuity which is an automatic 20% tip for meals and drink purchases. I haven't cruised in 17 years, things have changed, I needed help planning. I was on the phone with reps at Cruises.com 6 times over the course of 6 months to get clarifying information from them so I could get organized and properly plan my trip. Each and every time I was on the phone, I asked what I'll be charged or what I can expect to pay, and the only thing they ever mentioned to me was the 20% gratuity for dinners and drinks. Now, as my cruise embarkation day approaches, the cruise line sent me information in a packet that caused me pause, something about a "service charge." Therefore, I called Cruises.com and asked them what that was and NO ONE COULD EXPLAIN IT. I called the cruise line and IT TOOK GOING THROUGH THREE DIFFERENT REPS to get the answer! I asked for a supervisor at the cruise line itself and that person was EXTREMELY resistant to help, blamed Cruises.com, and told me to call Cruises.com. I called Cruises.com and got a rep who first blamed the cruise line and when that didn't work, TRIED TO FIND WAYS TO WRONG ME AS OPPOSED TO ACTUALLY HELP ME. I asked for a supervisor and I got Kimberly. When Kimbery got on the phone, she immediately spoke to me with an attitude and was defensive and condescending. Kimberly never helped me. I asked her to show me where it says I will be charged a gratuity fee of $20 per day/per person, and she could not show me where it says that, told me this is my fault because I should've magically known, and then she said things like "I'm sorry YOU FEEL THAT WAY" as opposed to "I'm sorry. We screwed up and you should've been told about this." CRUISES.COM PLAYS HIDE THE BALL. Had I known about the HIDDEN FEES at the beginning, I would have been fine with it. IT'S THE GAME-PLAYING OF HIDE THE BALL TO DUPE PEOPLE THAT REALLY ANGERS ME TO NO END and to add insult to injury, CRUISES.COM reps dig their heels in and defends the BS. I DO NOT RECOMMENED CRUISES.COM.