Anyone used the internet onboard to pay bills?

[Sandy R]

Beginning of next year we'll be taking a 32 day cruise. We pay bills electronically online with our bank. While on a cruise, has anyone logged onto their credit card site, find out how much they owed, then logged onto their bank site to schedule bill paying?

[BayCalif-Ariz R Us]

I have logged on to my Credit Card site more than once to just check amounts and the same with my Bank site. Have not paid bills as I have that set up for auto pay. I do take my laptop to a public area and sit very close to a wifi hot spot as the signal is better and less chance of being interrupted.. I do not think it is a good idea to use one of the ships computers to log onto financial sites.

 

Alan

[raydon]

Yes, we have done that on a long cruise. It is quite easy. You just have to make sure you get it all done before you get to an area where there isn't service. We try to do everything else as a prepay and then just deal with amex. For amex we register our checking acct on their site so we just go there to pay the bill.

We do bring our laptop on these trips and use it.

Donna

[billet]

Yes. It is just like home (only maybe a little slower).

[paul929207]

I do it all the time. You may want to pay bills a few days earlier than usual as sometimes the interent is unavailable.

[Posaune]

I have paid a couple of bills from the ship, but try to pay everything in advance before we leave because I am a bit afraid about the security of transactions on a very public network. I had an issue with an ATM card while in London this summer (not caused by an internet transaction but by a faulty machine) and it was very difficult to deal with even though I had a British cell phone with me. I overpay utility bills to the point that we always have a huge credit after we return.

[Toto2Kansas]

I too just double up on bill paying before we leave. That way I don't have to think about them while we are gone. ;)

[Pam in CA]

I use Quicken and Quicken Bill Pay, and have for many years. I can set up payments over a month in advance so I don't have to worry about bills being paid while I'm away. My income is almost all direct-deposited so I don't have to worry about the money being there to pay the bills. This has worked well for me for years as I'm not comfortable using the Internet (other than from home) with my private financial accounts.

[ggprincess2004]

Yes, I pay my bills electronically, so on longer voyages I have paid bills using the onboard internet connections, especially the ones that vary in amount from month to month. Others I set up to automatically have paid.

[TravelnAl]

Yes, we have done that on a long cruise. It is quite easy. You just have to make sure you get it all done before you get to an area where there isn't service. We try to do everything else as a prepay and then just deal with amex. For amex we register our checking acct on their site so we just go there to pay the bill.

We do bring our laptop on these trips and use it.

Donna

 

FYI. Amex now has the ability to set up an autopay so you do not have to access the website each month to pay the bill.

[Cruise Junky]

We do it all the time and move money between accounts, usually me raiding DH's bank account :)

[Colo Cruiser]

Yes we have

[TuxedoMan]

I do it all the time. You may want to pay bills a few days earlier than usual as sometimes the interent is unavailable.

Absolutely:eek:

[johnmik1]

I email myself the links to my bank accounts,CC accounts & brokerage accounts so I can get into them without carrying around all the web addresses.

[1025cruise]

I wouldn't, but thats just me. If you must, I'd set up some form of remote into a desktop at home and go via that way.

[Putterdude]

We don't as we tend to pay a lot of things in advance when going on a extended trip and use auto pay for the others.

[PescadoAmarillo]

We pay our credit card bills online from ships whenever we're cruising over our payment dates. Most of our regular bills are either autocharged to our checking account, or to a credit card, but we like to pay the credit cards each month with a bit of human intervention. We have the payment accounts (checking accounts) all set up already...it's just a matter of signing into our credit card account and hitting Make Payment.

 

We keep our logins/passwords on a sheet in the cabin safe. Until we get to the ship, the list is in my money belt. Frankly, I know them by heart, but just in case I get hit by a bus and DH has to do something...

 

One warning, though. While I would never forget about making these payments at home, it's easy, on a ship, especially one with lots of sea days, to lose all track of time. We put a sticky with the dates I need to do something on the vanity mirror, and it helps keep my head in the game. And if you're cruising somewhere (i.e. the south pacific) where internet service is spotty, it's a good idea to make the payment 2 or 3 days early (something else I would never do at home).

 

We've never had a security issue with any of this information, and we've done it at least once every year since 2003.

[Sandy R]

Gosh... didn't think I'd get that many replies. Thank you all so much. I feel much better about using the ship's internet cafe to pay our credit cards electronically from our bank website... I totally dislike giving the credit card companies money ahead to cover whatever expenses we've run up.

 

Pescado... great suggestions! I've copied and pasted them so I'll remember them.

[Psee]

Beginning of next year we'll be taking a 32 day cruise. We pay bills electronically online with our bank. While on a cruise, has anyone logged onto their credit card site, find out how much they owed, then logged onto their bank site to schedule bill paying?

 

Have done it many times, no problem. Make sure you log out of the financial site when finished.

[paul929207]

I have all our bills either drafted from our checking account or automatically charged to our credit card. That way we only have two bills to pay most month Visa and American Express. If somehing stray comes while we are gone (like a doctor bill), it will wait until we get home.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Yes, I've paid my credit card from my checking account while onboard a ship once. I've also checked balances many times. What I do is just make sure I've deleted the History on whatever machine I've been on and completely close the browser I was using. Haven't had a problem yet.

 

I also do what someone above mentioned - I email myself all the links I usually use so all I have to do is click and it takes me to the webpage I'm used to seeing. There are some sites that Princess computers will not allow you to go to, so don't be surprised if some sites are blocked.

[Sandy R]

Oh, oh... only banking site I'll be logging onto is Bank of America (where we pay bills electronically at home). Those of you that have paid bills on Princess computers... have you been able to log onto the online Bank of America site?

[elsje]

Beginning of next year we'll be taking a 32 day cruise. We pay bills electronically online with our bank. While on a cruise, has anyone logged onto their credit card site, find out how much they owed, then logged onto their bank site to schedule bill paying?

 

Yes I have paid bills online and I always check my credit card account online. I have never had any security issues.

[BayCalif-Ariz R Us]

If you use your own laptop, the financial institution should recognize the computer you are using. If you are on the ship's computers, many of the financial sites may ask you to answer the security questions you have submitted as you are on a different computer than normal. Be sure you remember what you gave them.

 

Alan

[hillslife]

Used the internet alot on our recent World Cruise for bills; checking direct deposits; medical billing issues, etc. Couldn't afford to pay all the bills for 3 1/2 months in advance, or anticipate some of the bills for this length of time. Worked great - no problems.

 

When our kids checked the mail and there was an unexpected bill - they emailed me the amount and date due and I handled the transaction from our bill pay service. We also left a few signed checks with our kids for unexpected events.

 

I do agree with above posters about internet being unavailable in some areas of the world - so pay a couple days early. But out of 107 days, this only happened maybe 2-3 times - so rare.

 

Good luck and enjoy!!