Miami Equinox possible skimming theft of CC info during check-in

Never had that problem.

Me neither but I have of a number of people with the same problem while traveling.

 

They told us they often send charges through mid-cruise. Maybe it varies by ship and is at the whim of whoever is running that department onboard. This was also quite a few years ago so perhaps things have changed.

Actually they do not put a charge on the card during the cruise, they put a hold on an amount that covers your shipboard charges. This reserves the money for Celebrity so that your credit will not be all used up by other charges when the actual charge is made at the end of the cruise.

You may not be aware of it, but this type of a "hold" occurs with many other charges you may make. For example, when you use your card at a gas station before pumping the gas, a hold of up to $150 may be put on your account. Only the cost of the actual amount of gas you pumped will become the actual charge, but the difference between that and the hold amount may linger on the account for a couple of days.

Another example is when you use a charge card at a restaurant. When they run the cost for the meal itself, a hold for that plus 20% (or maybe 25%) more is made to be sure that your final charge will be able to go through with the tip added.

Actually they do not put a charge on the card during the cruise, they put a hold on an amount that covers your shipboard charges. This reserves the money for Celebrity so that your credit will not be all used up by other charges when the actual charge is made at the end of the cruise.

 

You may not be aware of it, but this type of a "hold" occurs with many other charges you may make. For example, when you use your card at a gas station before pumping the gas, a hold of up to $150 may be put on your account. Only the cost of the actual amount of gas you pumped will become the actual charge, but the difference between that and the hold amount may linger on the account for a couple of days. Those holds are then replaced by the actual pump amount in pending until batched out.

 

Another example is when you use a charge card at a restaurant. When they run the cost for the meal itself, a hold for that plus 20% (or maybe 25%) more is made to be sure that your final charge will be able to go through with the tip added.

A lot of that is true but not necessarily done each time by all cards. As an example, I've seen the pending charge of $1 at a gas station and then the actual charge shows up as pending also. Sometimes I've seen the $150 pending at a gas station but that was on the interstate.

In restaurants, the two cards I predominately use for those will have a pending on the bill amount only but when they batch out, the actual charge including tip replaces that to the online transactions.

On my last cruise I ate dinner at a specialty restaurant the final night. After calculating the dinner in my OBC, I had less than a dollar to remain on my ship account. Late at nigh, the ship charged my credit card for that mini overage. Overnight the additional tip which was not included in the initial charge showed up the morning of disembarkation so I had two amounts pending. However only one transferred to transactions and the first one remained in pending for a week before dropping off.

Thus I believe it's not any unified way every merchant or credit card company applies those pending charges. I suspect most of the pending actually convert to transactions when the merchant batches out their machines/accounts. Debit cards are treated completely differently and pending holds remain much longer. Those are my observations and YMMV.

When will Celebrity upgrade their system to the new chip credit card system? That is the question & issues?

Do you really want to have to go to guest relations during your cruise to have the chip read?

Ok. I'm not an expert on Florida laws or police procedure but I am in Ohio. I don't imagine Florida is that different. I'm hearing a lot of very vague words that mean nothing to the police "fraud alert", "hack", etc. You need to be much more specific if you want to file a police report. As in, according to American Express, a transaction occurred at UDF store number 855 on 9/1/17 at 0130 in the amount of $275. Or according to American express my credit card number was used in a transaction at delta.com on 9/1/17 at 0130 in the amount of $275. The transaction was either declined or approved. That is a crime either way, but that's how you would have to report it if you want the police to make a report. If a transaction was attempted, the credit card company can give you all of that information.

How we handle that, is if the transaction was made online, you report it where you live. There is absolutely no way to prove, at least at the time you are making the report, who used your number, where they used it, and how they got it. This information can be gotten eventually by getting the IP address for who made the transaction and subpoenaing where that IP address comes back to. But it still doesn't get you back to who stole the number. You cannot file a report like this in Miami based simply on the suspicion that the number was "stolen" by the check in clerk. I understand you "know" she did it. To quote "law abiding citizen" because it's accurate: It doesn't matter what you know, it matters what you can prove in court.

If the transaction was made in a physical store, you can file the report in the jurisdiction where the store is. Many agencies will also let you file that report where you live if you still have the card in your possession.

Will the crime ever be solved - no. Will it realistically be investigated - probably not. But a report can be filed and many times the credit card companies do insist you file the report.

I also had my credit card hacked soon after a July 30th sailing from Miami.