Sign and sail account question

[smiles32617]

Does anyone know if they charge your credit or debit card every time u use your sign and sail card? Or do they charge your credit or debit card just once at the end of the cruise?

 

Thanks in advance cruise buddies!

[shof515]

just once at the end of the end of the cruise,you might seen various pending auth. charges on your account that will disappear once the big final charge is apply

[Brian132]

holy crap, I couldn't imagine if I got a bank statement in the mail that had every single one of my charges on there! :)

 

It's bad enough they have to stick a crowbar underneath the door on that last night, just to give me my sign and sail statement.

 

But yes, to answer your question, I'll say the same thing that shof515 mentioned - it comes in as one lump sum charge on your credit card, about four days after your cruise returns.

[JEANSKI79]

We just had this happen to us. They will hold all the individual charges on your account as "pending" as you use your sail and sign throughout the cruise but it puts a hold on your funds. Than when you come back they put the whole lump sum through at one time. So it takes double the money out of what you actually spent. Once your bank okays the lump sum charge all those individual charges will fall off. So if you have 1,000 in your account and spend $500 on board the other $500 will be held up as "pending". So if you wrote a check for anything it could bounce since those funds you thought were not used are being held as "pending". But it comes of quickly....all the pending charges and the lump sum was only on for a day with our bank.

 

If it is a debit card you may want to think about just putting down cash. or just make sure whatever you spend you have double in your account for.

[smiles32617]

That's what I thought. Thanks!!!!!

[LuvCruising01]

Does anyone know if they charge your credit or debit card every time u use your sign and sail card? Or do they charge your credit or debit card just once at the end of the cruise?

 

Thanks in advance cruise buddies!

 

In my case, Carnival took ONE increasing hold through the cruise:

 

I would recommend using a credit card (or dedicated special debit card account with 2x what you budget to spend) for the hold rather than a debit card due to my experience below.

 

Note: we paid cash as we cruised for different items as we sailed to help keep or SS balance near minimum as we budget our expenses.

 

Details:

 

On my past cruises we used a special account set up for the cruise that used a debit card (faux V*SA credit card) for our SS account. :eek: We don't do this anymore.

 

 

1st the initial 2 person amount as noted on the website.

 

Later on in the cruise they adjusted the hold increasing to equal the previous amount plus the amount of onboard charges remaining unpaid and leaving about 200.00 extra room (100.00 x pp). the last night, we were close to that amount (I think < 100.00 buffer) they left a letter saying I needed to come to the desk to resolve an issue with the SScard as my bank wouldnt let the charge go through.

 

Important lesson:

I found out that the debit card is NOTHING like a credit card when it comes to processing transactions as my bank was still holding the amount (500.00?) and trying to run another credit transaction for the actual remaining charges (350.00?) = total hold of 850.00 being applied by my bank (not carnivals fault)

This meant my balance of 550.00 I had preplanned for available in my account was being overdrafted by 300.00 because of the original hold still in place and not released. I ended up using my other card account to pay the remaining 350.00. :eek: (overdraft protection would have only covered 250.00 at the time).

Now we use the (real) credit card for and all is well so far.

Also, much to say I use my debit card differently now and use a different bank that has better rules on the release of pending holds for the credit function of debit cards.

I don't blame carnival as I didnt really understand at the time that debit card (faux credit cards) don't clear transactions like a real credit card would and have done in the past.

[amchugh]

I hear you. ON one cruise we have over 20 pages of charges. We more for the bar bill then the cruise I think. IT was my DH first cruise and he liked buying rounds for people...Needless to say once I pulled the bill up on our TV that stopped.

[RICKAR]

I would either use a CC or use cash for your S&S card. On our 1st cruise I used our DB Card. To make a long story short. The total S&S charge cleared my bank on the 1st business day after our cruise, but took over a week for the charges to be release, which is the normal time from the bank. I sst money aside for our cruises and use cash when ever we sail.

[StevieG]

We just had this happen to us. They will hold all the individual charges on your account as "pending" as you use your sail and sign throughout the cruise but it puts a hold on your funds. Than when you come back they put the whole lump sum through at one time. So it takes double the money out of what you actually spent. Once your bank okays the lump sum charge all those individual charges will fall off. So if you have 1,000 in your account and spend $500 on board the other $500 will be held up as "pending". So if you wrote a check for anything it could bounce since those funds you thought were not used are being held as "pending". But it comes of quickly....all the pending charges and the lump sum was only on for a day with our bank.

 

If it is a debit card you may want to think about just putting down cash. or just make sure whatever you spend you have double in your account for.

 

These pending authorizations can create havoc on you Bank Account. We use a specific card (Our Carnival MC) for sign and sail and do not use it for anything else. The pending authorizations usually come off within a few days on a CC and carnival usually runs the pending number every few days so they tend to not multiply on your CC.

[mali06]

This is exactly why we use our American Express card (with no limit) for the S&S account. I could not stand to worry every second of my trip about doing the math to prevent an overdraft!

[salty dingo]

I would not use a debit card for a S&S account. Withdraw cash from the card at the start of the cruise and use that to secure the account if you must. A credit card is best but the cash does set a hard limit to the spending.

[firstcruiser2010]

We just sailed on the Legend two weeks ago. We used cash for our sign and sail card. We put an initial $200 down and on Thursday we put down another $200. We were on a limited budget and we had a great time, drank plenty and still got a check back on the last day for $24 and change.

 

Have fun!

 

JB:)

[zqvol]

Does anyone know if they charge your credit or debit card every time u use your sign and sail card? Or do they charge your credit or debit card just once at the end of the cruise?

 

Thanks in advance cruise buddies!

 

According to the contract they put a hold for each individual charge as it arrives and then submit a final bill for the total. According to Carnival the holds will fall off within 72 business hours (That is 9 business days) after you return. I think they meant to say 3 business days but it really depends on your bank. If you do not have a large float in your checking account be very careful using your debit card. You might be better off getting cash from ATMS and applying it instead of using a card for the deposit.

[BonnieH]

would a pre-paid credit card work the same way as a debit card?

[LuvCruising01]

would a pre-paid credit card work the same way as a debit card?

 

good question as I have never tried on a ship and hopefully someone else has and will post their experience

To me, it invites trouble as gas pumps around where I live have a problem putting holds and processing as credit....they seem to treat them no respect.

[Chief Cruiser]

Does anyone know if they charge your credit or debit card every time u use your sign and sail card? Or do they charge your credit or debit card just once at the end of the cruise?

 

Thanks in advance cruise buddies!

 

Every time I ask Guest Services how this works, I get a different answer. That's why I always use a cash account. I don't want any funny "hold", "pending" or " lump sum charge" games going on with credit or debit cards. Just too easy to screw it all up for me. Besides, with a cash account, I always come in within or below budget.

[ChefSusan]

We always use my husband's debit card for our S&S accounts, and have never run into any issues with checks bouncing. But then again, we pay our bills electronically prior to sailing, and we always make sure that there's more than enough $$ in his account for any charges we have while sailing.

[Two-Step]

If you use cash on your account, can you still get a Future Cruise Certificate?

[richstowe]

Does anyone know if they charge your credit or debit card every time u use your sign and sail card? Or do they charge your credit or debit card just once at the end of the cruise?

 

Thanks in advance cruise buddies!

A similar question - don't want to start separate thread - Do you need to actually go and settle your account. If you have checked the balance on TV and all is Ok do you need to

actually go and sign off or like in a hotel can you just leave the ship?

[Kurbanfan]

A similar question - don't want to start separate thread - Do you need to actually go and settle your account. If you have checked the balance on TV and all is Ok do you need to

actually go and sign off or like in a hotel can you just leave the ship?

 

No signing off......unless you have a dispute you are good to go......

[LuvCruising01]

A similar question - don't want to start separate thread - Do you need to actually go and settle your account. If you have checked the balance on TV and all is Ok do you need to

actually go and sign off or like in a hotel can you just leave the ship?

 

if paying by card, you dont have to do anything

[schndr]

I would not use a debit card for a S&S account. Withdraw cash from the card at the start of the cruise and use that to secure the account if you must. A credit card is best but the cash does set a hard limit to the spending.

 

Instead of this, can you have them take a lump sum (say, $500) on the debit card on the first day, then if you get close to hitting this amount, drop another "lump" against it during the cruise if need be? Would it keep them from having to authorize any charges against the card as long as you still have available "credit" on the S&S account?

[richstowe]

No signing off......unless you have a dispute you are good to go......

Thanx

[Wardenru]

My PVP told me that Carnival will put a $200.00 hold during embarkation if I use a debit card. I don't remember this being the case on previous cruises. Can someone advise me on this? Thanks

[cwagner99]

I've been considering the option of leaving cash instead of using the debit card. What happens at the end of the cruise when you have cash left on the account? Will I have to wait in long lines on the last day to settle my account?

 

Also thinking I can leave an initial amount of cash and then go leave the debit card for any extra expenses. Is this an option?