Pending Charge on Credit Card

Good morning. Just got back from being on the Breakaway yesterday. Had a great cruise. Weather and seas were perfect. Staff were all overboard polite and courteous.

My question is we have a total charge of expenses that already went through on our charge card but then a "pending charge" of $159 and some change. Would anyone happen to know why? The only thing I could come up with is a hold until they check the refrigerator. We had our room steward remove it the first day.

Thank you.

Oh could someone please give me the telephone number in case I have to call. Thanks again

Good morning. Just got back from being on the Breakaway yesterday. Had a great cruise. Weather and seas were perfect. Staff were all overboard polite and courteous.

 

My question is we have a total charge of expenses that already went through on our charge card but then a "pending charge" of $159 and some change. Would anyone happen to know why? The only thing I could come up with is a hold until they check the refrigerator. We had our room steward remove it the first day.

 

Thank you.

 

Oh could someone please give me the telephone number in case I have to call. Thanks again

Squirty,

Various charges can be pending on your credit card for a few days. In my case, 100% of the time, the resulting charge is exactly what my receipt said on the morning of debarkation. Just watch it every morning and when the authorizations are complete, that is the moment of reckoning. If they don't balance out (and you didn't do anything like take something back out of the bar or buy last minute photos, or get a specialty coffee or a drink to calm your nerves ...) then you call your bank and place a hold on the disputed charges. There is no reason to call NCL. Let the bank handle it. If it is legit, you will see it reversed. If not, you will hear back from your bank. :)

Hope this answers your question and glad you had a great time.

My first NCL cruise they put the initial hold on the account and then charged me in full on the last day. NCL released the hold but it took my bank almost a week to reconcile & remove the hold on their side. First and last time I used a debit card but I was young and didn't know better!

It's a hold and will go away. It takes a bit of time.

This is one reason to never, ever use a debit card for this.

I would give the credit card company or NCL a call to find out what exactly are the charges. Last year, they put a $300 hold on my Credit Card even though I had OBC that cover everything and it took about less than 2 weeks for the hold to go.

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Good morning. Just got back from being on the Breakaway yesterday. Had a great cruise. Weather and seas were perfect. Staff were all overboard polite and courteous.

 

My question is we have a total charge of expenses that already went through on our charge card but then a "pending charge" of $159 and some change. Would anyone happen to know why? The only thing I could come up with is a hold until they check the refrigerator. We had our room steward remove it the first day.

 

Thank you.

 

Oh could someone please give me the telephone number in case I have to call. Thanks again

Wait and see if the Pending charge actually gets charged. It might just be a temporary hold that was not yet removed. We had a charge from NCL that was pending but was eventually dropped without being charged.

Last year, they put a $300 hold on my Credit Card even though I had OBC that cover everything ...

Completely normal. The initial hold is placed upon creation of the onboard account and your OBC doesn't register there usually until the second day of the cruise.

Best bet is to call NCL and see what the charge is for. Banks want their cardmembers to work with the merchant first to attempt to resolve the issue/error. If you do not get satisfaction from NCL, THEN you can call your bank and dispute the charge.

Thanks all - will let you know how it works out. We used a credit card and not a debit card (had read beforehand not to use a debit card). We will check in the morning to see if it is gone. If not - I will make a couple of calls.

:-)

Thanks all - will let you know how it works out. We used a credit card and not a debit card (had read beforehand not to use a debit card). We will check in the morning to see if it is gone. If not - I will make a couple of calls.

You need to make any calls only if that pending charge ends up posted as an actual charge - until that it's completely normal.

Let us know what happens with the charge.

Just wanted to let you know that the pending amount disappeared this morning. Could have been a hold for the refrig or any damages, etc.

Be very careful, we have been on 3 cruise in 2 years and on one of the trips we had $3286 taken out in pending and did not get it back till 1 month later. When you arrive in Singapore and have to pay accommodation and you see that amount missing from your travel account, you panic.

I still believe it is a fraudulent trick by the cruise companies. No one will tell me why but I think this could be the reason.

Everyday they take out the charges from the previous day, and put it into pending. So on a 25 day cruise that would be 25 transactions, but on the final day they add it all together and charge you on 1 transaction (hence only 1 fee the the banks and not 25 charges if they did it daily). So let just say it is 25cents per transaction by 1600 cabins = $10000. But if only 1 transaction per cabin $400 of charges.

There has to be a better way.

Be very careful, we have been on 3 cruise in 2 years and on one of the trips we had $3286 taken out in pending and did not get it back till 1 month later. When you arrive in Singapore and have to pay accommodation and you see that amount missing from your travel account, you panic.

I still believe it is a fraudulent trick by the cruise companies. No one will tell me why but I think this could be the reason.

Everyday they take out the charges from the previous day, and put it into pending. So on a 25 day cruise that would be 25 transactions, but on the final day they add it all together and charge you on 1 transaction (hence only 1 fee the the banks and not 25 charges if they did it daily). So let just say it is 25cents per transaction by 1600 cabins = $10000. But if only 1 transaction per cabin $400 of charges.

There has to be a better way.

There are some serious flaws in your though process. No money has been "taken out" by the pending charges, that amount have just been reserved so that the merchant can be sure that IF there is a charge, it is covered. This is by no means restricted to cruise companies like you accused, instead it is a planned feature of the payment card system globally and happens every time holds are placed (yes, there is also a mechanism to update an existing hold later but it is very rarely used anywhere). The time a hold exists and how it affects the available balance depends on the bank and card, what happens to you does not happen to everyone else.

What's more, holds are designed specifically for use cases like these - even if there is a charge to your onboard account today, it does not necessarily mean that the charge couldn't be refunded tomorrow and therefore it would mean even longer waits for people to wait for actual refunds of what you describe as daily charges (those aren't even done every day, new holds are made only after the previous holds do not cover the balance on onboard account anymore), instead of only getting one (more correctly) balanced charge at the end of the cruise.

Since you mentioned "travel account", it seems that you used a debit card which is clearly discouraged by the cruise lines for this exact reason - this is what happens when you use a debit card on a cruise ship (or in a hotel or or or).

P.S. Welcome to Cruise Critic, hopefully next time you find a bit newer thread to comment to instead of two years old one. :)

still believe it is a fraudulent trick by the cruise companies. No one will tell me why but I think this could be the reason.

Everyday they take out the charges from the previous day, and put it into pending. So on a 25 day cruise that would be 25 transactions, but on the final day they add it all together and charge you on 1 transaction (hence only 1 fee the the banks and not 25 charges if they did it daily). So let just say it is 25cents per transaction by 1600 cabins = $10000. But if only 1 transaction per cabin $400 of charges.

There has to be a better way.

The reason why the cruise company put it through as just one transaction rather than many is simple.

If your credit card suddenly started getting hit for multiple transactions all from the same company then it is very likely that this would be flagged up as a potential security issue. People would be finding they are unable to get served onboard because of credit card issues.

Instead, the cruise lines, like many others in similar situations (hotels etc) set up an account and just charge your account once at the end of the cruise. However, they can't let you build up a large balance and then find that you are unable to pay it, so they just increase the hold (which is effectively checking with the credit card company that they are going to accept the charge).

Usually that hold only stays on your account for a few days, but occasionally it does appear to stay for longer. From what i understand the biggest delays are often when a debit card is used, which is why they recommend you don't use such a card for your onboard account.

It is standard practice, and in absolutely no way fraudulent.

Having said that, if NCL did do it in order to save money, as you suggest, then I'd be all for it anyway. Saves me having all those charges on my credit card statement (which would make it much harder to review) and they would be crazy to be wasting that sort of money on bank fees if it is easily avoided.

As mentioned, the first part of this thread is two years old, and the poster came back and said the pending went away.

And, it does go away in almost all cases.

It is not worth calling anyone about.

It is not worth building conspiracy theories about.

If you are using a debit card -don't. Really, DO NOT USE A DEBIT CARD.

Credit cards are free. I know since we have 20-30 of them and do not pay annual fees except in a few cases where it makes financial sense. (that's another long story)

... However, they can't let you build up a large balance and then find that you are unable to pay it, so they just increase the hold (which is effectively checking with the credit card company that they are going to accept the charge).

 

Usually that hold only stays on your account for a few days, but occasionally it does appear to stay for longer.

Actually merchants in these cases do several separate holds (reservations) and that is the problem because when done correctly (updating the existing hold/reservation) the hold would vanish immediately as the final charge is posted (you can provide only one hold to cancel with the charge). Holds staying on the account after the charge is not meant to be by design, and that is why the time in which holds expire varies between financial institutions - it is merely a fail safe mechanism against holds that are not converted to charges as they should be.

Good morning. Just got back from being on the Breakaway yesterday. Had a great cruise. Weather and seas were perfect. Staff were all overboard polite and courteous.

 

My question is we have a total charge of expenses that already went through on our charge card but then a "pending charge" of $159 and some change. Would anyone happen to know why? The only thing I could come up with is a hold until they check the refrigerator. We had our room steward remove it the first day.

 

Thank you.

 

Oh could someone please give me the telephone number in case I have to call. Thanks again

It is a hold that was put on. Your bank will automatically remove it after a certain period of time. The time could be up to 30 days, but you do not pay interest on it, and it is not included in the balance you owe. The only thing it does is reduce the amount of credit you have available. There is no one to call or write. Just be patient.

"Pending charges" are nothing to be concerned with. Now, if an ACTUAL charge appears that you don't recognize, THEN you call. Give it a couple days to "drop off".

There are some serious flaws in your though process. No money has been "taken out" by the pending charges, that amount have just been reserved so that the merchant can be sure that IF there is a charge, it is covered. This is by no means restricted to cruise companies like you accused, instead it is a planned feature of the payment card system globally and happens every time holds are placed (yes, there is also a mechanism to update an existing hold later but it is very rarely used anywhere). The time a hold exists and how it affects the available balance depends on the bank and card, what happens to you does not happen to everyone else.

 

What's more, holds are designed specifically for use cases like these - even if there is a charge to your on-board account today, it does not necessarily mean that the charge couldn't be refunded tomorrow and therefore it would mean even longer waits for people to wait for actual refunds of what you describe as daily charges (those aren't even done every day, new holds are made only after the previous holds do not cover the balance on on-board account anymore), instead of only getting one (more correctly) balanced charge at the end of the cruise.

 

Since you mentioned "travel account", it seems that you used a debit card which is clearly discouraged by the cruise lines for this exact reason - this is what happens when you use a debit card on a cruise ship (or in a hotel or or or).

 

:)

I had a total of $3286.20 put in pending on my Debit card in 24 actions, those actions exactly mirrored my on board invoice. When I spent $200 on Monday my Debit card would show $200 Pending on Tuesday and the same thing happened every day for the whole trip until the last day they charged my debit card for the total also. I did not get any of the pending back until 31 days later. So my account when I arrived in Singapore was $3286.20 short. So that is not a FLAW that is a FACT. You say it has not been taken out, that might be so, but I cannot use it as it is missing from my balance.

I thank you for your info on Debit Card as I have not been told that before, But my only card is a Debit Card.

The reason why the cruise company put it through as just one transaction rather than many is simple.

 

If your credit card suddenly started getting hit for multiple transactions all from the same company then it is very likely that this would be flagged up as a potential security issue. People would be finding they are unable to get served on-board because of credit card issues.

 

Instead, the cruise lines, like many others in similar situations (hotels etc) set up an account and just charge your account once at the end of the cruise. However, they can't let you build up a large balance and then find that you are unable to pay it, so they just increase the hold (which is effectively checking with the credit card company that they are going to accept the charge).

 

Usually that hold only stays on your account for a few days, but occasionally it does appear to stay for longer. From what i understand the biggest delays are often when a debit card is used, which is why they recommend you don't use such a card for your on-board account.

 

It is standard practice, and in absolutely no way fraudulent.

 

Having said that, if NCL did do it in order to save money, as you suggest, then I'd be all for it anyway. Saves me having all those charges on my credit card statement (which would make it much harder to review) and they would be crazy to be wasting that sort of money on bank fees if it is easily avoided.

My complaint is not that it is done this way, but once I paid the full balance my pending should be cleared immediately. Not 31 days later. All travel cards I know of (Cash Passport, MasterCard Qantas Cash etc.) are Debit cards, there is no credit facility. You purchase in advance the country $ you are going to pay in.

I have just completed 140,000 klms of travel in the last 2 1/2 years. I have had many 100's of instances of pending transactions, but it is returned as I book out of the hotel or a couple of days later, not 31 days later.

There are NO FLAWS in my statement. I have Factual evidence...

I wasn't denying the existence of the holds. I just pointed out flaws in your misguided beliefs about how debit cards and holds work - unlike you suggested, practices that resulted to those holds are in no way limited to cruise lines or any "fraudulent tricks" they use.

It is unfortunate that this happened to you and that you only found this forum after your cruise (your troubles could have been avoided with a bit of research in advance).

My complaint is not that it is done this way, but once I paid the full balance my pending should be cleared immediately. Not 31 days later. All travel cards I know of (Cash Passport, MasterCard Qantas Cash etc.) are Debit cards, there is no credit facility. You purchase in advance the country $ you are going to pay in.

I have just completed 140,000 klms of travel in the last 2 1/2 years. I have had many 100's of instances of pending transactions, but it is returned as I book out of the hotel or a couple of days later,

not 31 days later.

If your complaint isn't that it is done this way then it's a bit odd that the majority of your post consisted of complaining that it is done this way.

Anyway, that aside, I can't comment on the time that it took your pending charge to disappear, other than to say that in all of our cruises, my charge on my credit card has always disappeared immediately when the real charge arises. There are known issues with debit cards apparently, so hopefully you now know for the future.

Coincidently, I was emailed today by a provider of one of these currency cards. This is what it said in the details:

"It’s important to remember that there are a few things that your card’s not built for.

To get the most out of your card, we recommend that you don’t use it for: reserving a hire car, a hotel room, or on a cruise."

It's one of the main reasons why I don't bother with them, and just stick to my credit card and pay a small foreign currency fee.

As others have said....my pending or processing as Bank of America calls it, drops off with 24 of when the real charge is processed. So I check into a hotel and the hold $800. I check out and my bill is $600. Next business day the $800 is gone and the $600 is there.

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