Sign & Sail account double charges?

[ZiggyG]

Carnival's customer service is closed, not sure what to do. All of the charges on my sign and sail account have been double charged to my credit card. Has anyone had this happen? I'm pretty much freaking out, since it's a debit card & has drained my account!

[*Mach*]

It might simply be a hold. If so, the additional charges will drop off the card soon...

[tef43]

What happens is that Carnival will "authorize" the daily charges throughout the cruise, then at the end process a charge for the full amount, WITHOUT CANCELLING THE PRIOR AUTHORIZATIONS, thus charging you once but leaving a hold on the funds as well. The authoirizations will expire naturally, but will take 10-14 days without human intervention.

 

Prime example as to why one should never use a debit card to secure the onboard account.

[deena26]

This didn't happen to me way back when, on my first cruise. I had $850 to spend, spent around $700, never had any issue. These postings are implying that you have to bring double what you intend to spend? Doesn't sound right & I think we would hear alot more about this. Who knows, but that would definitely make people spend much less than they were going to...

[AWCHIEF]

Intersting thread. I have never had a hold or charges put on my card prior to the end of the cruise. It usually takes a few days after the cruise is over before any charges show on the card. I use a real credit card not a cash limited debit card.

[gadan1]

This didn't happen to me way back when, on my first cruise. I had $850 to spend, spent around $700, never had any issue. These postings are implying that you have to bring double what you intend to spend? Doesn't sound right & I think we would hear alot more about this. Who knows, but that would definitely make people spend much less than they were going to...

 

It seems to affect debit card users the most since it restricts real cash, not just the amount available on your credit card line. This is from Carnival's website:

 

If you are using a credit card or debit/check cashing card please be advised that there will be a hold placed on your account as a deposit for your onboard purchases. During your cruise additional holds will be added if your Sail & Sign® account exceeds the amount of deposit Carnival has on file. If you presented a credit card, this will reduce the amount available on your credit card for other purchases. If you presented a debit/check cashing card, the hold will restrict the available cash in your checking account. All charges will be billed to the credit card or debit/check cashing card at the end of the cruise. Please note that Carnival Cruise Lines will not be held responsible for any bank-imposed overage or insufficient funds charged on debit or credit cards.

 

[also here: http://www.carnival.com/cms/static_templates/emb_sail_and_sign_boardingcard.aspx]

[KenMo]

Carnival's customer service is closed, not sure what to do. All of the charges on my sign and sail account have been double charged to my credit card. Has anyone had this happen? I'm pretty much freaking out, since it's a debit card & has drained my account!

 

The business you need to call is your financial institution.

 

Each institution has their own policy regarding when they release holds. Tell them what the situation is and maybe they'll release the funds.

[quickrate]

What happens is that Carnival will "authorize" the daily charges throughout the cruise, then at the end process a charge for the full amount, WITHOUT CANCELLING THE PRIOR AUTHORIZATIONS, thus charging you once but leaving a hold on the funds as well. The authoirizations will expire naturally, but will take 10-14 days without human intervention.

 

Prime example as to why one should never use a debit card to secure the onboard account.

I always use a debit card and in 17 cruises, never had this happen. Maybe its the bank I use-

Pat

[deena26]

I used a debit card too. Not my 'main one' though, but I do have an exceptional bank, and they dont do weird things, so maybe thats the difference.

[deborahjo]

Carnival's customer service is closed, not sure what to do. All of the charges on my sign and sail account have been double charged to my credit card. Has anyone had this happen? I'm pretty much freaking out, since it's a debit card & has drained my account!

 

This happened to us the first and last time we used our debit card. It took 5 to 7 days for all the HOLDS to fall off. It is very frustrating. That is why we do not use our debit card anymore. So sorry this happened to you.

[zqvol]

Carnival's customer service is closed, not sure what to do. All of the charges on my sign and sail account have been double charged to my credit card. Has anyone had this happen? I'm pretty much freaking out, since it's a debit card & has drained my account!

 

You have just explained why you should never use a debit card to secure your account. Carnival places holds as each charge comes in, then the bank takes them off after a certain period of time (it varies by bank, you have to ask). Carnival has no control over when it comes off. Usually it disappears within a week or so.

[zqvol]

Intersting thread. I have never had a hold or charges put on my card prior to the end of the cruise. It usually takes a few days after the cruise is over before any charges show on the card. I use a real credit card not a cash limited debit card.

 

The OP asked about a debit card. NOT a credit card. Unless you check your online CC statements you never see the hold and with some companies you never see them even if you look because they don't post them.

 

The holds are always places by Carnival, the question is who does you CC company deal with them.

 

The real bottom lines is that the OP used a debit card not a credit card adn they are very different.

[arkerlin]

I work for a financial institution so I have a little bit of insight to this...

 

You should use a credit card, not a debit card when traveling. While a debit card provides you with the same type of convenience a credit card does (hence the little Visa logo) it is NOT a credit card! It can be subject to holds and also could be shut down if your bank suspects fraud.

 

Many businesses (not just Carnival) place holds on a debit card to insure that they will receive their money when they finally charge your card. Some banks will automatically drop a hold if they see a duplicate charge. In some cases, you may have to contact your bank and request the duplicate hold to be released. And in other cases, you just have to wait till it's released. I heard someone say the bank releases the hold, which isn't the case. It's actually the company who placed the hold. I have seen it take 21 days for a hold to fall off.

 

On a side note, also be careful using your debit card in ports, especially foreign countries. Sometimes a bank will see these transactions as "red flags" and shut down your card to try and protect you from fraud.

 

Two rules to cruising: 1) use a credit card NOT a debit card 2) Use CASH in ports!

[klfrodo]

Carnival's customer service is closed, not sure what to do. All of the charges on my sign and sail account have been double charged to my credit card. Has anyone had this happen? I'm pretty much freaking out, since it's a debit card & has drained my account!

 

Don't call Carnival.

You'll find that your financial institution is the one who controls when any pending charges will be lifted.

[buddybean11]

I was wandering if I could get one of those perpaid credit cards to use. I don't have a regular credit card only my Visa debit card. I really don't want to take that much cash on me since we have a 7 hour drive to get there and we will be coming in the night before. Can I put the cash money on a prepaid credit card and use it? That way it is not putting a hold on my dc or I don't have to worry about that much cash.

[klfrodo]

I was wandering if I could get one of those perpaid credit cards to use. I don't have a regular credit card only my Visa debit card. I really don't want to take that much cash on me since we have a 7 hour drive to get there and we will be coming in the night before. Can I put the cash money on a prepaid credit card and use it? That way it is not putting a hold on my dc or I don't have to worry about that much cash.

 

You'll get mixed answers on this one.

 

Pre-paid Visa gifts cards? not gonna work.

Pre-paid Visa card that has your name embossed on it? Probably, but could still be iffy.

 

I'd say either cash or Travellers Cheques.

 

Let's think about it though.

Why not bring cash? Afraid you'll lose it or it will get stolen?

If you had CC or debit card, how is that going to change anything if they get lost or stolen? Either way, you don't have any money.

Not everybody who flys to Vegas for a weekend has a line of credit at the casino. They're traveling with hundreds if not thousands of dollars of cash on them.

[Justsyd]

This didn't happen to me way back when, on my first cruise. I had $850 to spend, spent around $700, never had any issue. These postings are implying that you have to bring double what you intend to spend? Doesn't sound right & I think we would hear alot more about this. Who knows, but that would definitely make people spend much less than they were going to...

 

It didn't happen to us, either. There were no holds at all, only one charge 3 days after our cruise.

[buddybean11]

Let's think about it though.

Why not bring cash? Afraid you'll lose it or it will get stolen?

If you had CC or debit card, how is that going to change anything if they get lost or stolen? Either way, you don't have any money.

Not everybody who flys to Vegas for a weekend has a line of credit at the casino. They're traveling with hundreds if not thousands of dollars of cash on them.

 

If we were to have an car accident it would not be as likely that someone would use a cc or debit card in my name if someone got my wallet but what would stop them from spending the green sheets of papers with a presidents face on them?

[lillian marie]

I'd bring travellers checks that are safe and use them to put a deposit down for your sign and sail card if you are not comfortable carrying cash.

[Raven Days]

This the exact reason I use cash now when I travel. No worry about it being declined or being over draft in the end. Carnival did something similar to me on my 2nd cruise. They charged me twice for my tips. I had pre-paid them and then once I set up my onboard account using my card, they charged the tips again! No amount of fussing would get them to release the money either! They admitted that they had made an error but refused to fix it. From that point forward I never gave them a card again. Cash only. With cash at least they cant say its out of their hands and I have to wait till we dock for the charge to reverse.

[Hanna1313]

Even all expenses are put on the SS card,, can you pay the balance owed at the end of the cruse in cash?

I also am using a debit card and dont want to have this issue...

[prattmom]

Exactly what I did last summer. No problem using a Visa gift card without my name on it...

I was wandering if I could get one of those perpaid credit cards to use. I don't have a regular credit card only my Visa debit card. I really don't want to take that much cash on me since we have a 7 hour drive to get there and we will be coming in the night before. Can I put the cash money on a prepaid credit card and use it? That way it is not putting a hold on my dc or I don't have to worry about that much cash.

[gogetter]

So......if you have the cash in a debit card account......why not just go and withdraw cash before you go and put that as a deposit on your S&S account?

 

Just sayin...........

[Chigirlcruzin]

Even all expenses are put on the SS card,, can you pay the balance owed at the end of the cruse in cash?

I also am using a debit card and dont want to have this issue...

 

 

Why not just use cash then? That way you'll avoid the issue 100%. Even if you pay it off at the end, I could see the potential for the holds to still exist.

[debster11]

So......if you have the cash in a debit card account......why not just go and withdraw cash before you go and put that as a deposit on your S&S account?

 

Just sayin...........

 

Kinda what I was thinking.