Paying for onbard expenses with cash only

What is the current requirements for paying for onboard expenses with cash only. At check in do we need to put anything down before we board? Can this be done once onboard or later in the cruise?

We do not want to use a debit or cc because of the holds.

We will be paying for as much ahead of time ahead of time including the gratuities.

We are not drinkers and are not planning on buying other beverages. Right now we are not planning to going to specialty restaurants, buy photos or shopping onboard.

We are going to have Wifi activated and hope to prepay for that. If shore excursions can booked and paid for ahead of time we will do that.

We might have a cabin credit that should cover anything extra we would need. We would spend that first.

Will the cruise line allow us to charge a small amount to our account before they need cash from us? There is some confusing information here and some of it may be out of date

Any helpful information about this is welcome. Thanks!

Note: I have the same question about Carnival ships. Have not decided which cruise line yet.

You don't have to put any money down at check in. You are allowed to charge up to $300, I believe, before they require any cash. Any internet packages and shore excursions can be purchased online ahead of time.

Forgot to add gratuities can also be prepaid online.

You will be allowed to charge up to $300 for the short cruises and $500 for the longer ones (over 5days?) before being asked to pay down your account.

Thanks for the information. Still in the planning stages here. We like to budget things out ahead of time.

For our Freedom 7nighter this year we were allowed to charge $500 *beyond* our OBC before we needed to pay it down. It was actually a bit before that mark that we got a letter asking us to stop by, but we were allowed to keep charging.

They actually discouraged me from putting money down as soon as I got onboard; guess there are people with more urgent needs they want to help. Putting money on the cash account isn't a first-day priority. :)