booking cruise with a debit card?

[aberfiprep21]

Hey guys!!! Ive read a bit on here, and I know you should book your cruise with a credit card just in case you have to dispute charges and what not. But I was also wondering if it would be ok to book it with my debit card.

[sunshower]

I used a debit card to book my cruise for Mayb 2005, I have had no problem. I do not like to you credit cards. I have a limit on my debit card so I had to call everyday to pay $300.00 that is the limit.

[jcruise67]

Using your debit card is the best way to open your Sail & Sign account. At least then you know exactly what you can spend. I use my Debit card and its linked to my checking account. Though the cruise lines won't accept personal checks, they do accept a debit card. I like the idea of the debit card because it is linked to a checking account I use primarily for the cruise. If it is maxed out by mistake, it will decline automatically, but at least its all paid for up til that point. I do carry a regular credit card with me as well, to pay the difference. I've been doing this a long time, and its great.

 

John

[kitty9]

There is a problem with using a debit card. Most debits have a very low daily limit for charging, and I think that most cruises cost well over what that daily limit is. I believe that most debits have a limit of only $300/purchase. As for using them for your sign and sail, unless you plan on spending only a small amount on the ship, your debit card won't work because they don't post your charges to your bank daily, but on the last day of the cruise, so if your limit is only $300 and your total bill is $600, there's going to be a problem.

[kujobie]

As long as you know your limit and/or clear everything with your bank before you go, you shouldn't have a problem. Shopping in ports is a different story. I would use a credit card for those purchases if possible. Easier to dispute charges and not be responsible for fraud if it occurs.

[dst]

We only use a debit card, I refuse to take out a loan to go on vacation. We have never had a problem with charging too much while on a trip and I tend to buy a lot! We just tell our bank we will be out of the country and they take note. You will be fine....

[weezer64]

Here's MY concern regarding debit cards:

 

First let me say that I prefer to use debit cards since we don't have any credit cards. I agree with not taking out "loans" to go on vacation and whatever is in the account is mine to spend and when the well's dry, that's it! ;)

 

I've always had very good luck using my debit card and at the end of each evening (on various land-based vacations) I would tally up all the receipts for the day into a register to keep track of my spending.....tedious but needs to be done. This has worked well for ALL of my vacations but one. This vacation was one of those "scrimp and save" vacations and the money that we had in the checking account was ALL the money we had. We were at an indoor water park resort for 3 days and we paid 50% of the cost up front. The money in our checking was for the final bill, food and souveniers, etc. Well, this particular place put a HOLD on my debit card each day in the amount of $500, only slightly below the amount of the cash in my account. What did this do? It held up our entire spending money for the entire duration of our trip and we were unable to have the "vacation" we saved for. Since we have no credit cards, we were screwed and they would NOT take a personal check. I had a fit at this and asked for the hotel manager who refused to remove the hold from our account. He explained that the hold was for "possible" expenses. Fortunately there was enough money over and above that hold to be able to eat.... :rolleyes: Sure I had all that extra cash waiting for me when we got home because it was just a "hold", but our vacation was stressful and not very relaxing.....not my idea of a vacation.

 

So obviously I'm a little gun-shy about putting all my eggs in one basket. I'm thinking of opening another account with a debit card as a backup and splitting our vacation money between the two.

 

Does anyone have any experience of debit card holds on RCI ships? Maybe I'll call and ask about their policy regarding debit card holds......

 

As far as the daily limit issue - I've never had a problem in that regard. I call the bank and give them the dates of my vacation and it's a non-issue.

[aberfiprep21]

Hey guys thanks for answers, but my question is will my debit card be ok to use to PAY FOR THE CRUISE (i read that we need a credit card, just in case you get screwed)...im fine using my dc on the ship but I have to get to the ship first lol.

AF21

[kitty9]

It all goes back to how much you can charge/debit at one time on your card---how much of a limit does your bank have per purchase. It has nothing to do with how much money you have in your checking account to cover the purchase, it depends on how much the bank will let you debit at one time. I tried to purchase a laptop at Comp USA with my debit card, and it was refused because my bank only allows me to charge/debit $600 at any one time, even though I had more than enough in the checking account to cover the purchase.

 

Find out how much the cruise costs and then call your bank and see what their per purchase/debit limit is. If the cruise costs $1000 and your limit is $400, then you won't be able to use the debit card. It's just that simple.

[megr1125]

I paid for my cruise with a debit card. BUT I paid only a couple hundred at a time. I think if you pay the whole amount you would have to tell the bank. My bank says as long as there is $$ and you let them know you are traveling there isn't a problem. I don;t know what the limit is when it is used as a Visa but I think it is fairly high.

 

The downside is some banks won;t fight for you like a CC company will, but since I used an agent for the first one it wasn't a problem. I am doing the same thing for the next cruise but I booked on my own, although I am thinking of redoing the whole thing through my agent to save 200 bucks.

[Andee]

We tried to uise our debit card yesterday for a $1,000 purchase. The transaction was denied for "insufficient funds available" when we knew there was plenty of money in the checking account. We called the bank, found out the problem was the $500 limit they impose. At our request, they raised the limit to $1500 for the day, and we made our purchase.

 

Maybe you could call your bank to have your limit temporarily raised so you can pay for the cruise.

[JrMafia90]

I heard of people using a debit card.

[aberfiprep21]

Thanks guys, thats what I will do. You all are great!!!

AF21