Episode 3 Rip Off Britain

We asked you who's left you feeling ripped off when it comes to

your holidays,

and you came back with a catalogue of travel disasters.

We said, "No! We're going to stick with this

"and try to get something done about it."

When you're on holiday, you don't want to fight with people.

You just want to enjoy it.

So, whether it's a deliberate rip-off, a simple mistake

or a catch in the small print,

we'll find out why you're out of pocket and what you can do about it.

-Your stories.

-Your money.

This is Rip Off Britain.

Hello, and thank you very much for joining us once again

on Rip Off Britain, where this week,

we're investigating one of the biggest single expenses

that most of us will ever shell out on in any particular year,

and that, of course, is for sun, sea and sand -

in other words, our holidays. And we've got it.

Because we've based ourselves on the beautiful island of Gran Canaria

to do just that.

Yes, when you've budgeted carefully for a trip away,

the last thing you're going to want

is to suddenly find yourself hit with extra charges

or higher costs than you'd expected.

But that's at the heart of most of the stories

we'll be looking into today.

And unfortunately, in pretty much every case,

there wasn't really any way to avoid paying up.

No, and there's a possibility, of course,

that exactly that could happen to you.

So, throughout the programme today, we've got lots of tips

to ensure that if it does, you will know what you are paying

and exactly what you're getting for your money

before you hand over one penny of your hard-earned cash.

Coming up, the unexpected extra costs of taking a cruise -

why these holiday-makers feel all at sea thanks to charges

they don't think are always clear.

Well, I was quite surprised talking to some of the people

who cruise regularly as to how many potential extras

and hidden extras there can be.

And if you thought calling home from abroad on a mobile was expensive,

wait till you hear how much five minutes from a phone box can cost.

The amount charged was quite unexpected to me.

I was just amazed that they felt they could charge so much.

At one time, a holiday on the high seas was very much

the preserve of the well-heeled in society.

Going on a cruise was so expensive

that it was something that most of us could really only dream about.

But nowadays, well, cruising is in the mainstream,

and more and more of us are choosing every year

to have a holiday on the ocean.

Devotees tell us they go back time after time.

And the young couple that we're about to meet, well, for them,

going on a cruise was their favourite kind of holiday.

They even got married on one.

But not anymore.

They've now turned their back on cruising,

and that's because of one very big cost that makes them feel

that their young family is decidedly unwelcome.

There are many who'd say that taking a holiday on the high seas

is the only way to travel.

It still has an air of luxury as well as dozens of activities

aimed at keeping the whole family entertained

whilst destinations such as the Caribbean or the Med pass gently by.

Teacher Caroline Harris fell hook, line and sinker for cruise ships

when she was a teenager.

And in the years since, she's has been on over 20 cruises.

I just remember driving across the freeway,

and the scale of these ships is just unbelievable.

Once we got on board, it was incredible -

the facilities, the sense of luxury.

I was able to go to the sporting events, do the rock climbing wall,

go ice skating, go to the theatre, see the entertainment.

In fact, so wedded to cruises is Caroline that she even married

husband Robin on one of them, and not just any one.

The Allure of the Seas is one of the ships belonging to the second

biggest cruise company in the world - Royal Caribbean.

And with 2,700 cabins, it's the largest cruise ship afloat.

It was lovely because my husband's family

had never been cruising before,

so it was something we could share with them

and they could enjoy with us.

After such a special experience,

when she found out she was pregnant last year, there was only one

place where Caroline could imagine spending their first family holiday!

Our first port of call for looking

and researching a family holiday was, of course, Royal Caribbean.

We were pretty confident that they would be able to provide

in terms of price and activities.

So, months before the baby was due,

Caroline excitedly looked at booking her first Royal Caribbean cruise

for a family of three.

But her plans were sunk when she was quoted the price

and she realised that the cost of taking her new baby would be

the same as paying for a third adult!

What we discovered was that Royal Caribbean charge a third

or fourth person rate in the cabins as opposed to

an infant or toddler rate.

Doesn't matter whether you are zero or whether you are 60,

the price is the same.

Now the £753 Caroline was quoted for taking an extra person

included a reduction on Royal Caribbean's full fare of £1,178.

But this reduction is the same for a third or fourth person

regardless of the additional person's age.

And it's that fact which annoyed Caroline.

Now, she wasn't expecting to take her baby for free.

But she had thought that the reduction she'd get for taking

a third person on board might be greater for a baby

than it is for an adult.

After all, her baby would not be able to take advantage of even

a fraction of all the activities that the fare included,

such as unlimited entertainment and a sports facilities.

Obviously, they can't go and see the shows,

they can't take part in any of the activities,

so you would expect that a baby would have a minimal fee

in terms of doing that.

On top of that, at the time they hoped to travel,

Caroline's baby would barely even have tasted solid food,

so the all-you-can-eat restaurants seemed irrelevant

to this particular passenger.

I've also phoned Royal Caribbean and asked do they provide baby food

in terms of liquidising food from the dining room.

Due to health and safety, I've been told that that can't happen.

We then slowly discovered that our baby was going to cost us

probably even more than ourselves to go on-board.

But Royal Caribbean is by no means alone

in having this kind of policy for infants.

We asked the rest of the world's top-ten cruise companies what

they would charge in a situation like Caroline's.

Of the nine that answered, another five would do

the same as Royal Caribbean and charge the same,

albeit reduced price, for a third person, regardless of their age.

One of them, AIDA, does allow children under two

to cruise for free

and another - Disney - offer special rates for children

on some of its cruises.

But only one company we spoke to - MSC Cruises - lets all children

under 18 go absolutely free.

So how does Royal Caribbean explain its charges?

Well, the company told us

it's sorry Caroline feels let down, and stressed that its ships...

Many of which they say...

It points out that...

..as is a "bottle-warming service"

which you can get throughout the ship, and even on room service.

And additional services like nappies are available "at a cost."

Royal Caribbean went on to say that "from time to time"

it may have "special promotions that offer free child places"

and said that it's updated the information on its website to

"offer greater clarity" on its prices for infants.

But despite their initial enthusiasm,

Caroline and Robin have, for now at least, decided against

taking the newest member of their family on its first cruise.

I think that certainly, if my child was three or four,

I would be happy to bring it on a Royal Caribbean cruise.

I would expect to pay in the region of what we're paying.

But a three-year-old child and a six-month-old baby is a very,

very different thing.

Well, later in the programme, we'll be looking at some of the other

unexpected cruise costs you've been telling us about.

The excursions themselves are very expensive.

Nobody told us that you could actually opt out

of the tipping policy.

Now, mobile phone companies right across Europe have been told

to make the price we pay for calls when we're on holiday cheaper

and indeed easier to understand, but even so,

lots of you still tell us you're really worried that you'll come home

to big bills that you had no idea you were racking up.

So, you might be tempted to call home from a payphone instead,

assuming it's going to work out a lot cheaper.

But that is most definitely not going to be the case

if you find yourself picking up a phone that belongs to one

particular company. They've got them in cities, airports, resorts,

right across the world. But a warning - watch out, you could find

a call costs a lot more than you'd ever imagine you'd be asked to pay.

Many of us have learned the hard way

that when you're abroad, despite what they say,

talk isn't always cheap.

And although the cost of using your mobile phone overseas has

come down, calling home can still leave you with a hefty bill.

Research shows that a call from Europe to the UK will usually

cost around 18p a minute.

From the United States, that rises to anything

between 89p and £1.50 a minute.

And calling from Africa or Asia, can cost up to £2 a minute.

John and Wilma Dewey from Dorset

were determined to avoid such high charges

when they set off on a walking holiday in Austria last year.

As their mobile phone wasn't working,

they'd intended to stay in touch

with their son and daughter by e-mail.

But when one day they needed to call home,

they headed to the local post office to use the payphone there.

We decided to use a public phone box.

The pay phone took coins,

but there was also the option to use a credit card.

We had coins with us, but I decided to use the credit card.

I thought for a five-minute call, it might be something like £5

or a bit more. No more than that.

The phone box didn't allow them to call home direct.

Instead, the instructions stated they had to call an operator

who would place the call for them.

The operator asked me which number I wanted.

The line was very poor.

Our daughter-in-law couldn't even hear me

and I kept on saying, "It's John and Wilma, it's John and Wilma."

And eventually, she could hear, and I asked if everybody is all right.

It can't have been more than five minutes.

It wasn't until they returned home that they gave a second thought

to the cost of their short phone call back to the UK.

When I got my credit card bill and looked at it, I noticed that

I'd been charged £38 for this very short phone call.

The amount charged was quite unexpected to me.

I thought, "This must be a mistake," so I rang the credit card company.

All they could tell me about it was that the call had been made

through a company called BBG London.

BBG London is part of an international company called

BBG Communication.

So furious at how much they'd been charged,

John fired off an angry e-mail.

I got an e-mail address for their headquarters in San Diego

and I e-mailed them complaining about the amount.

There was no reply,

but I was rather comforted to find that people who had been

charged similar amounts had also complained about the same

company, and very often in language that I can't really repeat here. Ha!

According to its website,

BBG communications runs 350,000 payphones around the world -

many situated in airports,

as well as over two million hotel telephones.

BBG also manages the credit card payments

from many BT phone boxes in the UK.

But for a company who deal in communications,

John and Wilma felt they hadn't been especially upfront

when it came to making clear the cost of using their service.

In my opinion, £38 for a five-minute call

is completely outrageous.

I was just amazed that they felt they could charge so much.

I think it should say quite clearly on the phone box

how much it is going to be and one should be able to find out

how much a minute is to the country one is ringing.

To see for ourselves how well BBG's charges are explained,

at least in the UK, we headed to a payphone at Manchester Airport.

It was a BT box, but it's BBG who actually process the payments

for any calls made by credit card.

And although the costs of such calls were explained,

it was only in very small print near the bottom,

nowhere near as clearly displayed as the much lower costs

you'd pay if you were using coins.

So we asked BT why this was,

and they told us that while most of their pricing

and payment information is in the same size, it's because coins

are still the most used method of payment that the details are bigger.

Three years ago, BBG made headlines around the world

when US army troops complained about the cost of ringing home

from Europe.

After being contacted by outraged soldiers, John Mattes, a lawyer from

San Diego, took California-based BBG Communications to court

after one serviceman was charged 41 for a three-second voicemail call

from Germany.

This was a secured area for soldiers being deployed,

and there were banks of phones for them to make their call home.

Remember, this is their last call home

before they're going into combat.

Soldiers deserve our support and respect,

they don't deserve to be overcharged for a phone call.

But when the case came to court, it was thrown out.

The judge ruled that we had brought the case in the wrong jurisdiction

and this company was properly located in Switzerland.

I respect the judge's ruling, however that didn't put any money

back in the pockets of all those servicemen who had paid so much.

John now works as an investigative journalist

and is still trying to highlight the cost of phoning with BBG.

Consumers are reporting to me that they're still concerned

about the charges they're getting and they don't know the prices.

All they need to do is tell you the price up front.

When we contacted BBG, the company

described what John and Wilma told us as "misleading and incomplete,"

and said that putting signage

highlighting all the various payment types and call destinations

within the limited space of any payphone would be...

It says instead it plays "voice prompts prior to connecting a call,"

allowing users to find out the rates before going ahead.

BBG went on to say that not using this option is...

But the company regrets that John and Wilma were "not satisfied"

and that they've had difficulty getting their complaint resolved.

It says its customer care group will contact them

as "a matter of priority."

As for the case of John Mattes' in America,

BBG is confident that if it had gone further, it would "ultimately fail,"

suggesting his points are "unfounded."

But in any case, the company told us

that due to declining demand in the face of "better value"

methods of communication, it is "actively removing"

its services from Europe and North America.

But in the meantime, a sharp drop in the number of calls

"has resulted in higher costs."

So if you find yourself using a payphone abroad,

do keep in mind that paying for a call by credit card will more

often than not be the most expensive way to pay

and cost you far more than it does back home.

While a three-minute, inland call from a UK phone box would typically

cost you £1.60 if you pay by credit card,

in Germany a comparable call would cost the equivalent

of just over £13.

And in France, it could set you back almost £18!

So heading to a phone box that takes coins as well as cards

when you're abroad is likely to save you a pretty penny and,

because you can keep track of the cost as you go along,

means you'll avoid coming home to the shock of a bill much

higher than you ever, ever would have expected.

I'm not telling anybody what they should charge for a phone call.

All I'm saying is be honest.

Period. No ifs, ands or buts. No hidden agendas.

Straightforward, tell the consumer the price.

Still to come on Rip Off Britain, why a special treat bought

by her son has ended up leaving this woman feeling short-changed.

People get these as gifts

and they don't like to complain because its a gift from a loved one.

For one weekend last summer, we opened up our Rip Off Britain

Pop Up Shop in one of the biggest shopping centres

in the West Midlands.

Well, good morning, everybody. How are you? Thank you all for coming.

-The shop is open!

-In you go.

-In you go.

Over the two days, we had plenty of you coming in

to tell us about your holiday horrors.

Some of which, even after months, haven't been sorted.

I had an incident a couple years ago. It was back in February, 2012,

and it's still unresolved.

It was just absolutely horrendous.

My husband had already swapped rooms before I had even arrived.

And outside the shop, in our Gripe Corner, there was a steady stream

of people ready to tell us what's really hacked them off

about trying to get away!

I think airlines are an absolute rip-off.

They charge booking fees, card fees,

then charge extra to take baggage on the plane.

A car was pre-booked and pre-paid for some three months earlier.

When we got to the kiosk, we were told they hadn't got the vehicle

we wanted or that was suitable for us.

Back inside, it was another car-hire problem that drove Peter

and Mary Wright to come and see travel journalist Alison Rice.

They had quite a surprise when they returned the vehicle

at the end of their holiday in America

and found they'd been charged £250 more than they were expecting.

Not only that, but when they asked for an explanation,

the car-hire company told them it was because they'd hired

an entirely different car from the one they'd actually been driving!

Instead of charging me for a full-size car,

when I came back, I realised on my credit slip they've charged me

for a premium car.

Now, they'd asked me if I wanted to upgrade,

and I said, "No, thank you."

I took a full-size car out of the full-size car lot

and used a full-size car for a month.

It wasn't until I got back into the departure lounge

that I found out they charged me just short of 400

for the premium car.

I called the customer service people from the airport.

Initially, they said I signed for a premium car,

which I don't doubt that I did.

I just signed where I was asked to sign,

but you can see quite clearly that I haven't used a premium car

nor did I ask for one.

He said, "Give us your e-mail address and we'll contact you,"

and they didn't. When I got home, I rang them back, they gave me

another e-mail address, no reply.

I sent snail mail letter, no reply.

If it's any consolation, Peter, you're not alone.

And it really is buyer beware with car hire.

Most of the complaints are about when you get home

and your credit card statement comes,

and it's not what you thought.

A lot of the profit made by car-hire companies is made by the add-ons,

and a lot of those add-ons comes from the pressure you're under

when you go to the collection desk and you sign for something

without understanding you've signed to pay a lot more money.

I have a horrid feeling that you have no come-back.

We get a lot of complaints about car-hire companies.

And if you feel you're not getting anywhere,

there is an organisation that can help.

In Britain,

there is the British Vehicle Rental And Leasing Association, BVRLA.

They have many members - big companies and small companies.

They have a code of conduct and they will investigate it,

but only if there's evidence that a member has breached the contract.

So, if I were you, I'd still write a letter to the BVRLA

and just say, "This is what's happening, you know."

What about the idea of going onto social media

and at least telling your story?

I bet you'll find there's lots of other people

who've been caught the same way.

If you're fighting a company that minds about its reputation

and you do go onto social media, you might find you get some redress

that way, because a lot of companies do not want to be embarrassed.

Well, thank you for coming in and sharing it with us

cos we do deal in cautionary tales

as well as trying to solve problems.

I'll give you a call if I have troubles again with them.

Now, what could be a more generous present than a night away?

But rather than tying someone into staying at a particular place

you've chosen on their behalf,

you could decide instead to buy a gift voucher

that can be used at various hotels on any particular night.

It's a convenient and flexible way to do it,

and there's a wide range of companies offering such deals.

But does that flexibility come at a price?

There can't be many of us who haven't struggled to find

that perfect gift for someone we really care about.

And it's harder still when close at heart isn't close at hand

if, for example, the person you're buying for is 6,000 miles away,

on the other side of the globe.

I miss Sam, he's my only son.

Any mother would miss their son.

Pat Oliver's son, Sam, left to teach English in Japan 12 years ago.

And despite all the help that technology can offer,

she misses not having him closer to home.

It is special when I hear from him.

Getting in contact with Sam is not always easy

because of the difference in time between here and Japan,

but again, sometimes his commitments are such that he can't always

get back to me. Anything from Sam is quite good.

But Sam likes to make up for the distance between them.

Sam is very generous. He's a generous boy.

We went to Japan last year and he paid for all the hotel for us

and he paid for various transports, things like that, you know?

And when his mum's birthday came around,

Sam decided to treat her to a very special gift.

Using a site called Activity Superstore,

he bought a voucher for a hotel mini-break,

so she and her partner, Dave, could enjoy a night away.

Delivered in a special gift box,

the voucher stated that it could be exchanged for one night's bed

and breakfast in a choice of dozens of guesthouses around the UK,

to a maximum value of £109.

When we saw this gift, we thought, "Oh, typical Sam,"

you know, "He's sent us another lovely gift."

And when Pat and Dave were invited to a wedding in Scotland,

it seemed the perfect opportunity to use her voucher.

She found a guesthouse included in the scheme,

which was on the way to the wedding.

I thought, "Oh, that sounds all right.

"We can break up our journey going up to our wedding."

Keen to find out more about the place,

Pat went online to look it up on other sites.

But when she did, she was surprised to find she could have booked

a room there much more cheaply than by using the voucher.

To my horror and amazement,

I found that a one nights' stay there was £60,

so I thought, "Oh, how does that work?

"I've got a voucher here for 109," you know, "that's £49 difference."

Thinking her son had paid over the odds,

Pat picked up the phone and called Activity Superstore

to ask if what she had spotted was correct.

I said to him, "Well, what's happening to the other £49,

"where's that gone to? Who's having that?"

She even asked if she could spend a bit more

and stay for two nights instead of one.

She was told that wasn't possible

because the voucher was only valid for a one-night stay.

When she continued to query the difference in price,

Activity Superstore told her it was only a third party company

and £109 was the maximum amount she could spend, not the cash value,

even though Sam had paid the full £109 to buy the voucher.

I put the phone down, I was so angry at that time.

Pat then did some more research online

and found a number of other people complaining of similar experiences.

One guy complained about his voucher for £109.

He checked out every hotel that there was available,

and the highest one was £70.

Pat decided not to use the voucher to go to the wedding

in Scotland after all.

Instead, she used it to stay at a castle in Wales,

which, even then if she'd paid in cash, would have cost her only £89.

Sam works extremely hard.

I feel it's a shame, he's made a gift to me of £109,

I feel basically these people are ripping him off and me.

Of course, Pat did still get her night away for free,

but she hates the idea that to get it,

her son paid more than he needed to.

So we took a closer look at the offers

on the Activity Superstore site ourselves.

At the time we researched this,

there were 37 guesthouses for customers to choose from.

And on the day we checked,

we found that at 27 of those, you'd have got a better deal booking

direct with them rather than by cashing in a voucher for your stay.

In one case, booking direct was up to £54 cheaper

than paying with a voucher!

The concept of Activity Superstore

doing wonderful experience

for people, I think that's a good concept.

I've got no actual issue with that at all.

The issue I've got is the amount of profit they make from those.

But the company behind Activity Superstore completely rejects

any criticism, saying its vouchers are sold at "a very fair price"

and offer "fantastic flexibility and certainty of value."

They say comparing the cost of the voucher with the price

of booking direct with a hotel or indeed on other websites

is "grossly unfair," because most hotels...

The company told us they sell 250,000 vouchers each year

and that "over 99% of customers have no complaint whatsoever."

And they point out that the voucher comes "in a presentation gift box"

and includes cancellation cover and accident insurance.

They add that it's the hotels that receive most of the money

from the voucher, not them, and that their own share takes into account

running costs and tax, as well as profit.

To find out if Pat's experience was typical,

we compared five of the biggest other voucher companies to see

how their prices matched with doing it yourself.

We compared how much it would cost to stay on a Saturday night

in February, March and April using a voucher

or booking direct with the hotel.

Now, it's hardly a scientific survey,

but we found that in a third of cases

where a reservation was possible, booking with a voucher cost more.

In one case, £43 pounds more!

So although vouchers can be a great option for the ease and convenience,

be aware that sometimes you'll pay a price for that convenience.

And that's still what rankles with Pat.

People get these as gifts and they don't like to complain

because it's a gift from a loved one.

Our travel expert, Simon Calder, has flown, sailed, driven

and indeed cycled to thousands of destinations all around the world.

So we asked him to let us in on some of his top secrets.

This time it's New York.

You know the song...

# It's up to you New York, New York. #

But a big problem in the Big Apple can be that it's also up to you

to work the total cost of your hotel room!

New York is one of the most expensive cities in the world

for accommodation. And guess what,

it can be even more expensive than it initially looks.

Hello, yes, I wondered if you had a room available for tomorrow night?

'It's standard practice to not to include tax in the quoted room rate.'

My goodness me, that's nearly 100 in...in tax!"

I called the Waldorf Astoria

and was quoted 599

for a night in a superior room.

Once tax is added, it comes to over 690.

That's a whopping 15% increase,

which could come as a bit of a shock if you're not expecting it.

And remember that tax is added in all American hotels,

but it can bump up the price if you hadn't factored it in!

So, once you've checked in,

it's time to check out that famous Manhattan skyline for real.

But getting the best views of the city comes at a price,

so choose your skyscraper with care.

We all love a view,

but when it comes to New York, think twice

before you go for the obvious choice -

the observatory at the top of the Empire State Building.

The Rockefeller Centre has a unique, 360-degree panorama

that includes a monumental view of the Empire State Building.

What's more, it's 17 cheaper. That's about £10!

It can seem that everything in New York comes with a hefty price tag,

but if you plan it carefully, you can get some of New York

on the house.

New York has some of the finest museums on the planet,

and they're even better when they're free!

It's a question of timing.

Take the Guggenheim. If you visit between 5.45 and 7.45

on a Saturday evening, you get in free,

or at least pay what you wish,

and so you can decide how much

of the normal 22 admission fee

you want to hand over.

Do bear in mind that when Americans come to Britain,

we welcome them to our great National Museums for free all the time!

Earlier in the programme, we heard how the cost of taking a baby

on a cruise meant that one young couple have now turned their back on

what had previously been their favourite form of holiday.

And in fact, quite a lot of you have been telling us

about some of those extra and totally unexpected charges

that can crop up on a cruise that can really make a very large hole

in your holiday budget.

Let's face it, a cruise isn't exactly the kind of holiday

where you can nip off to another part of the resort

and find something a little bit cheaper.

So to ensure that you don't feel left all at sea

when it comes to exactly how much a cruise is going to cost you,

we've been taking a look at some of those extra costs.

Since the days when it was a glamorous choice for the super rich,

cruising has become an increasingly affordable

and popular holiday option.

Last year, 1.7 million of us took to the waves.

These days, everybody goes on cruises - kids go on cruises,

teenagers go on cruises, older people go on cruises,

honeymooners go on cruises, every age, every creed.

But unlike any other package holiday,

taking a holiday at sea makes you a truly captive audience.

So when it comes to what's included in your cruise,

it really is more important than ever

that you know what you're getting and what you're not.

The main misconception about a cruise is that everything

is included in the price. Now you could take the top layer

of the cruise lines and most of them include an awful lot,

but generally, as a rule of thumb, the mass-market cruise lines

include accommodation, they will include meals and entertainment,

but mostly, everything on top of that is an extra.

And that echoes what you've been telling us.

We've heard from viewers who feel they've ended up paying out

a lot more than expected.

So we asked some of them to meet up on board our own mini cruise.

Oh, I know it's the Manchester Ship Canal, not the Caribbean,

but use your imagination!

They're here to compare notes on the cruise costs

they hadn't bargained for.

When they put in money which you do not expect to pay,

then you feel cheated.

The excursions themselves are very expensive in relation to

what you can purchase when you disembark the ship.

We were very annoyed about the tipping policy.

Nobody told us that you could actually opt out

of the tipping policy.

They clearly want a captive audience on the boat,

if you're buying their alcohol at whatever price

-they want to charge.

-Yes.

Dr Janardan Vyas and his wife, Purnima, booked their cruise online

to celebrate his retirement as an orthopaedic surgeon.

We thought, "Let's treat ourselves with a nice holiday,"

the thing that we always wanted to do and never had time to do so.

Their cruise cost over £5,000, and when they booked it,

they assumed everything was included in the price.

But the first unexpected charge came when they had to pay 50

for the transfer from the airport to the dock.

And from then on, the costs just kept stacking up.

It was advertised as full board, all the meals and drinks included,

and when we got there, we found out

that it was the drinks were only meal times.

Any other time, we had to pay for it.

They didn't explain it properly.

But when you are on holidays, you don't want to fight with people,

you just want to enjoy.

Janardan and Purnima did enjoy their trip.

But they didn't enjoy paying the £170 bill

with which they were presented at the end for extras such as Wi-Fi

and the daily gratuity charge.

The cruise liners should be more transparent.

That's why we feel that we probably won't cruise again.

I enjoyed the cruise itself. It was the fact that they...

After his last cruise in July, 2013,

Mark Wood is another disappointed passenger.

My wife and I took some of those small tins

of pre-mixed gin and tonic which we thought,

"If the kids go to sleep, we can have a drink in the cabin."

We checked in and then the cruise staff asked me

if I'd brought any alcohol on board,

I didn't think there'd be a problem so I said, "Yes, we've got these...

"these cans of gin and tonic," and I showed them.

And they said, "I'm sorry, you can't take those on board.

"We're going to have to confiscate them."

Mark was told this was company policy,

but he wasn't given an explanation as to why.

And as it wasn't a policy he'd been aware of before setting sail,

once back home, he investigated further.

Well, when I got back and I was annoyed with what had gone on,

so I decided to try and find out what the terms and conditions were,

so I went on the website.

I have to say, it wasn't easy finding

exactly what they were,

and it turned out to be effectively 12 pages

of the stuff, with a couple of lines on the alcohol policy.

I mean, I actually work as a solicitor,

and it wasn't straightforward.

As far as Mark's concerned,

the reason for the company's policy is obvious.

What was clear when you got on was that they were quite happy

to, obviously, serve you at the bar.

They clearly wanted you to spend money at the bar

and didn't want people bringing their own drink on board.

In fact, a number of cruise ships ban passengers

from bringing their own food and drink on board.

And putting aside whether that is reasonable or not,

what you've told us is you want to know the rules up front.

So as our cruisers swap their sea stories,

they're also comparing the small print in the brochures

to see just how clearly some of these charges are explained.

It talks about gratuities and service charges

and it says they vary between different providers,

because, obviously, this brochure deals with different cruise lines.

So it doesn't actually say which provider deals with what.

I can't find anything at all in this book regarding tipping.

That should be included, shouldn't it?

Look at this, the terms and conditions.

Three pages. I can hardly read it, it's that small!

I need to get my eyes tested!

To try and sort the small print from the big prices,

cruise journalist Jane Archer is on board to offer advice.

Could you explain where the gratuities go to

and who they go to?

Yes, the gratuities go to all of the crew on the cruise ship.

They take it from you at the end of each day and they add maybe,

let's say, 12 or ten dollars to your account,

and that money is then split between all of the crew, instead

of you giving a tip to a waiter or maybe to the barman individually.

So it means it's much fairer because then everybody gets something.

What's the definition of full board?

Full board means that you get all your meals,

and all the cruise lines include all meals in the price of the cruise.

Now, some of them also include drinks - and it might be drinks

just at meal times, it might be drinks throughout the whole day.

It varies enormously.

When you are choosing a cruise,

establish exactly what you want to start with.

If you don't like the idea of getting off a ship with a big bill,

you need to book one of the high-end cruise lines,

which are more inclusive,

but, of course, the initial price will be higher.

If you don't want to pay that price, then go for one of the more

mass-market cruise lines,

but you will pay for additional things once you're on board.

So if you want your trip to be plain sailing,

make sure you've done your number crunching

and read those terms and conditions before you book.

But despite all of this, Jane, for one, is convinced that

cruising is still a great holiday choice.

A cruise is wonderful because you're on that ship

and you wake up every day in a different destination.

You haven't had to unpack and re-pack your suitcase.

You get a full day to enjoy the place you're at.

You've got some fantastic service.

It really is one of the best value holidays that you can find.

As for the guests on our own Manchester mini-cruise,

by the time they're back on dry land, they've learnt enough

to ensure that their next cruise won't be such a voyage of discovery.

Well, I was quite surprised, having only been on a mini cruise,

talking to some of the people who cruise regularly

as to how many potential extras and hidden extras there can be.

It would certainly put me off, to an extent,

if I wasn't sure how much I was going to pay.

Here at Rip Off Britain, we're always ready to investigate

more of your stories, and not just about holidays.

Confused over your bills or feel you're paying over the odds?

I begrudge having to pay that kind of money out.

Unsure what to do when you discover you've lost out

and that so-called great deal has ended up costing you money?

People are buying into this. I did, you know?

And are they awkward with them as they were with me?

You might have a cautionary tale of your own and want to share

the mistakes you made with us, so others don't do the same.

-I'm more wise now, but I was taken in.

-Yeah.

You can write to us at...

Or send us an e-mail to...

The Rip Off team is ready and waiting to investigate your stories.

Well, I'm afraid that's almost where we have to leave it for today.

But as you've heard throughout the programme, charges that,

one way or another, you just weren't expecting can really add up.

-And you know the one I'm most shocked about?

-Which?

The costs of those phone boxes.

Who would have thought they would have actually cost so much?

-I know!

-Not me, anyway. So when it comes to things like that,

it really is a case of buyer beware

or you could very easily find yourself paying out a lot more

than you bargained for.

And, of course, there are always more money-saving tips

on our website...

But do keep sending us your examples

of where perhaps you received an unexpected charge

or one that you thought was totally unfair

and we'll do our very best to feature it in a future programme.

But for now, I'm afraid that's where we have to leave you for today.

So we'll be back with you again very soon. And until then, from all of us,

-bye-bye.

-Bye.

-Bye-bye and happy holidays, hopefully!