Royal Caribbean Card issues threatened with arrest

Nonsense. I've had credit cards that I haven't used in years. I get the new ones and throw it in a drawer and shred the expired one. There is zero need to use the card.

Some cards charge an inactivity fee if you don't use it at least once in a three billing cycle period. That account has been closed.

Nonsense. I've had credit cards that I haven't used in years. I get the new ones and throw it in a drawer and shred the expired one. There is zero need to use the card.

I just finished reading a letter from Wells Fargo. The gist of it was - if you don't use the card by July 28 we'll cancel it for inactivity.

I just finished reading a letter from Wells Fargo. The gist of it was - if you don't use the card by July 28 we'll cancel it for inactivity.

I have also had cards cancelled for inactivity so I make sure the couple travel cards get used to buy gas at least every 3 months. And so I don't forget to pay the darn thing it's set to pay the balance (that tank of gas) in Full a few days before the due date. I have having to keep track of extra credit cards.

I just finished reading a letter from Wells Fargo. The gist of it was - if you don't use the card by July 28 we'll cancel it for inactivity.

I get these letters from Sears every 2 - 3 years. I don't use it much. I get the letter, I buy a few things .... household items or purse and shoes.

We have also had a couple of cards canceled for inactivity, only one card gave us a warning to use it or lose it. Another card, I haven't used in over 4 years and they haven't canceled it. They're all different.

Interesting. I have several M/C, AMex and Visa, as well as store cards. Some I rarely use, like Sears or JC Penney and some I just throw in a drawer in case I want to use it for a large purchase (like a new couch) and I have never received a letter to use it or lose it. Even my two Canadian credit cards that I use only when in Canada I've never received a notice. Now, my PIN number needs to be renewed sometimes on my Canada one but that is about it.

When my son was leaving the Oasis in 2015, they stopped him as he was leaving ship, saying his card was denied for fraud. My son had notified his bank prior to cruise so they were aware he was traveling, but he still had issues. The real kicker was he was actually an employee of the very bank that denied his card! It took awhile for them to straighten this out, after he made a call to his bank, but this was stressful as his children left ahead of him and were waiting on a tour bus alone (my son was a widower at the time of that cruise).

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I was at a gas station 45 miles from home well withing my usual spending pattern, Card got cut off. Fortunately I had a back up card and all was well. I called the bank from my cell phone to get the card turned back on and they informed me that they called my HOME # to verify if it was me using the card. Duh...I was at the gas station not at home LOL! I changed the contact # to my cell number for this CC company. I had used this same card many times between home and my destination 120 miles away without issue, why this time it triggered an unusual spending pattern I will never know.

I was at a gas station 45 miles from home well withing my usual spending pattern, Card got cut off. Fortunately I had a back up card and all was well. I called the bank from my cell phone to get the card turned back on and they informed me that they called my HOME # to verify if it was me using the card. Duh...I was at the gas station not at home LOL! I changed the contact # to my cell number for this CC company. I had used this same card many times between home and my destination 120 miles away without issue, why this time it triggered an unusual spending pattern I will never know.

My Chevron card people once told me that I had to call and let them know when I was traveling so they would know it wasn't fraud. I explained to them patiently that it was a gas card used to put gas in my CAR that I use when I drive to different places. They could clearly see my history of traveling from California through Oregon, through Washington and into Canada. I also informed them that my son living in a different state had the third card and did they really expect him to call every single time he filled his car. I told them to put a note on my account that if my card was used illegally I would pay the amount up until it was cut off for being over the limit but I was not going to call every time I drove somewhere. That was back when Chevron merged with Texaco.

My Chevron card people once told me that I had to call and let them know when I was traveling so they would know it wasn't fraud. I explained to them patiently that it was a gas card used to put gas in my CAR that I use when I drive to different places. They could clearly see my history of traveling from California through Oregon, through Washington and into Canada. I also informed them that my son living in a different state had the third card and did they really expect him to call every single time he filled his car. I told them to put a note on my account that if my card was used illegally I would pay the amount up until it was cut off for being over the limit but I was not going to call every time I drove somewhere. That was back when Chevron merged with Texaco.

Good Lord, the Texaco/Chevron merger was in 2000! :eek:

What did you call them on a brick phone?

I was at a gas station 45 miles from home well withing my usual spending pattern, Card got cut off. Fortunately I had a back up card and all was well. I called the bank from my cell phone to get the card turned back on and they informed me that they called my HOME # to verify if it was me using the card. Duh...I was at the gas station not at home LOL! I changed the contact # to my cell number for this CC company. I had used this same card many times between home and my destination 120 miles away without issue, why this time it triggered an unusual spending pattern I will never know.

My BF's card was turned off for something similar. He works night shift and filled up at a certain gas station on the way home from work, usually between 4 and 7 am. He has his phone off all day and one evening he went to use his card and it was shut off. Called the bank and the found out that the late night useage of the card at this gas station (it is in a bad neighborhood) triggered a fraud alert and when they called and he didn't answer they turned it off.

Gas stations r heavy for fraud use - not surprising if they trigger more than other stores. Self swipe, never have to present card or ID to anyone, can fill up multiple cars on one transaction, no video to track down who was using the card.... think the zip code prompt may cut down on it though.

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I've been called to the ship's guest services during the cruise a couple of times because my Discover credit card was denied, because Discover thought the card was being misused. I give a shout-out to Discover -- They are doing their job catching possible fraud. The first time I had failed to contact Discover. The 2nd time I had contacted Discover, but Disover did not recognize that a town where I bought gas on my way to the cruise was a suburb of Houston. The first time I was on Carnival, and the second time on Royal Caribbean. Both times guest services handed me a phone so I could call Discover and get this straightened out, at no charge to me. No problem. I called, Discover asked me some standard security questions, and lifted the card freeze -- less than 10 minutes both times.

I've also had my card denied while on USA land-based travel. Again, no problem to call Discover and get the freeze lifted immediately.

Some people are so dramatic.

Deleted. Already discussed in several posts.

I had a guest check in last night. He said he was going to give us a different card than what he booked with - that one had just been hacked. We chatted about card fraud a little. I talked about my experience and he talked about his. He mentioned that he also had an issue on a cruise ship with a card denied because of possible fraud. He said it was a Royal pain-in-the-ass to get it rectified onboard. Hmmmmmm.

I have some sympathy for the OP here. Nobody wants hassle on a holiday. I can understand that the ship can only accept payment by physical card or cash, but the OP at least had all the relevant information pertinent to another card. Presumably, RC accept card payments over the phone when making a cruise reservation. So in these exceptional circumstances, when rather than trying to run away from his/her responsibilities, the OP is offering alternative payment, why therefore, could customer services not allow him/her to ring RC head office and get them to take a payment to cover the outstanding amount and some extra credit for the remainder of the cruise?

We doing really know that they wouldn't have let him call his bank to straighten out the problems with his credit card if he asked for their assistance in that regard.

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RCCL was doing was they should have done. You could have been using a stolen card and they have to protect themselves against that. Otherwise they would be in all kinds of legal trouble.

How hard is that to understand? You need to take a step back and look at it from there point.

Yeah, threatening to have a guest arrested is not "doing what they should have done". RCI accepts credit cards all day long without the physical card present. It seems a staffer needlessly escalated this instead of using some critical thinking about how to resolve the issue.

Oh boy, , you were responsible to notify CC company you were going out of country, you did not have a physical card to replace it, instead using a digital copy which can be scanned and cloned. And you're PO'D at cruiseline? They offered OBC and you still are unhappy...for what was your failure. Do I have that correct?

Oh boy, , you were responsible to notify CC company you were going out of country,

This is a fairly innocent mistake. RCI clearly is capable of being much more helpful in the situation and instead chose to make it confrontational. We can not take an honest and innocent misstep by OP and use to defend the cruise lines poor response.

From my reading they issued a future credit but turned off the food and beverage packages OP had paid in full for without issuing any refund.

Not everyone is perfect and does everything 100% all the time, but a hospitality company really should be able to resolve better. Many lessons learned for OP here.

This is a fairly innocent mistake. RCI clearly is capable of being much more helpful in the situation and instead chose to make it confrontational. We can not take an honest and innocent misstep by OP and use to defend the cruise lines poor response.

 

 

 

From my reading they issued a future credit but turned off the food and beverage packages OP had paid in full for without issuing any refund.

 

 

 

Not everyone is perfect and does everything 100% all the time, but a hospitality company really should be able to resolve better. Many lessons learned for OP here.

I suspect the food and beverage package was not paid in full.

I suspect the food and beverage package was not paid in full.

Valid point I had not considered. They could have been purchased onboard and the charge not finalized.

More generally speaking:

I don't use Apple Wallet, or other such payment apps or services, but it is marketed as a way to have you information and credentials with you without having to physically have the card; a virtual wallet. Not having another physical card present, in hindsight, was a mistake. If necessary in a foreign port and you don't have the card and only Apple or Venmo etc. you could be in an even tighter bind. So for OP, lesson learned the hard way on this.

However, when presented onboard with a credit card issue it's fairly standard that the cruise line make an attempt to help you to resolve the issue and not take such a confrontational / standoff type attitude. In accepting OP's story at face value I find the cruise lines response to be insulting and poor customer service to a degree that I do not give them a pass for their behavior even though OP had unknowingly made an honest mistake by not having another card present and did try to resolve the issue promptly.

We have to give people some benefit of the doubt. Not everyone knows the mechanics of every little single thing they do. That's when customer service is supposed to help you in resolving those things.

For a consumer based and marketed forum people seem awful quick to defend most or all cruise line behavior and tend to miss subjective points that OP's make, again, generally speaking.

OP, in the future carry a physical card, and also depending on your phone carrier there may be a low cost travel plan you can take, so that if the customer service desk won't help you resolve you could reach out to your CC company direct to try to resolve.

Oh boy, , you were responsible to notify CC company you were going out of country, you did not have a physical card to replace it, instead using a digital copy which can be scanned and cloned. And you're PO'D at cruiseline? They offered OBC and you still are unhappy...for what was your failure. Do I have that correct?

Sorry. Have you read the thread before blasting away? There are CC companies now who tell us we no longer need to give notice that we are leaving the country. There are CC companies who will flag a card if you spend in another state - are you saying everyone needs to contact every CC company when we drive 2 hours into another state for dinner???

So, no, you do have that correct :rolleyes:

After talking to my guest the other night about his "Royal" pain in the ass encounter with Guest Services when his CC was hacked, I will believe more of what the OP said about how they harassed him and threatened arrest.

JMHO...

These newer posts/posters ... do you remember or realize that the OP had charged $7000+ in 2 days on the ship? That amount alone, I believe, is part of the quick escalation on RCI's part. BUT I am only hypothesizing, as we all are.

Actually wasn't blasting, was sumarizing.