TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A couple sailing aboard Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas was mistakenly charged nearly $100,000 after dining in one of the ship’s specialty restaurants.
According to a report from WPLG, the couple was on a seven-day eastern Caribbean trip that departed from Fort Lauderdale in early September. One night, the couple ordered a hearty meal consisting of crispy calamari, garlic bread, penne Pomodoro, arugula, and parmesan salad, followed by a lemon meringue cheesecake and hot chocolate with vanilla ice cream.
While the order alone sounds like enough to make your mouth water, the bill could easily turn your stomach upside down. That’s because the couple told Cruise Hive they were shocked when they found a $98,638.93 charge on their shipboard account.
As it turned out, the charge was an error. An ID number was mistakenly typed into the gratuity box rather than the correct tip amount.
The couple said the cruise line reversed the error but the charge still appeared on their credit card, causing a hold for the rest of their vacation.
“This has been pretty stressful to deal with while on vacation,” the couple told Cruise Hive. “We had our card decline while off the boat on an island, presumably because this authorization was locking up the available credit on the card.”
Despite the incident, the couple emphasized the error was not the fault of their server, “who was hard-working, kind, and attentive during the meal,” the couple said.
