Using a Pre-Paid Visa?

[Tilly84]

Hey guys, my cruise is 69 days and 23 hours away, YAY!!!! Not that I'm counting or am overly excited or anything...but anyways, what I was wondering is if I can get a prepaid visa and use that for my "expenses" on the ship? I don't want to open ANOTHER credit card (just paid off 4 of the little bastards) and don't feel comfortable with my entire bank account at my disposal for "whim" spending, if that makes sense. I'd load the card with $500 or whatever and get the ones you order from Visa, with my name on it and everything so it is as legit as possible, I just want to make sure I'm doing this right and that the cruise line would still allow me to use that as my "expendable" money on the ship.

 

On another note, out of my $270 onboard credit (expedia bonus etc. etc. etc.) $168 of it is going to "service charges" and that totally bums me out ;( If everyone HAS To pay them, why not just tack them onto the total cost of the cruise :( I'm just glad this isn't out of pocket money.

[ColinIllinois]

On another note, out of my $270 onboard credit (expedia bonus etc. etc. etc.) $168 of it is going to "service charges" and that totally bums me out ;( If everyone HAS To pay them, why not just tack them onto the total cost of the cruise :( I'm just glad this isn't out of pocket money.

 

That's 12 dollars per day per person. How much would you normally tip for two people being served 3/4 meals a day, room service, maids, etc on a land based vacation? It's really not that much if you think about it.

 

Just enjoy your cruise and don't worry about it. I hear the Pearl to Alaska is a great cruise. :D

[LadyShiva]

Check with your TA to make sure the OBC can be used for the daily service charge; most can't, unless you paid for the OBC.

 

Forget the hassle of a prepaid VISA that may or may not work. Just call NCL and give them money for your account ahead of your cruise. You then sail using cash and get back what you don't use on the last day.

[gma_pat]

Hey guys, my cruise is 69 days and 23 hours away, YAY!!!! Not that I'm counting or am overly excited or anything...but anyways, what I was wondering is if I can get a prepaid visa and use that for my "expenses" on the ship? I don't want to open ANOTHER credit card (just paid off 4 of the little bastards) and don't feel comfortable with my entire bank account at my disposal for "whim" spending, if that makes sense. I'd load the card with $500 or whatever and get the ones you order from Visa, with my name on it and everything so it is as legit as possible, I just want to make sure I'm doing this right and that the cruise line would still allow me to use that as my "expendable" money on the ship.

 

On another note, out of my $270 onboard credit (expedia bonus etc. etc. etc.) $168 of it is going to "service charges" and that totally bums me out ;( If everyone HAS To pay them, why not just tack them onto the total cost of the cruise :( I'm just glad this isn't out of pocket money.

 

NCL will not allow the use of the pre-paid visa/mc for on-board expenses. You can however pre-pay your service charges via My NCL and buy more OBC to cover your expenses - anything not used will be sent back to you in the form of a check. You can also set up a cash account on embarkation instead of using a credit card.

[CruiseMan1970]

I used a "NetSpend" VISA card on our last cruise. You go and buy it for I think 9.99 at any store that sells gift cards or sign up at there website.

 

They will send you a card in a few days with your name on it. It is accepted at any place that takes VISA. Go and load the card with whatever amount you want at any load center.

 

I have had this card for like 5 years now and have had no problems at all. I even have direct deposit from my job. Witch i use to pay the monthly bills.

 

On think there it is a fee based card so every transaction will cost you 1.00. But there are also free plans. The Net Spend card is 9.99 a month or 69.00 a year and you don't get charged the per use fee.

 

So. If you only want to use the card for your cruise you can load it. pay a month fee charge so you won't rack up a buck charge every time you get a drink. Then at the end of the cruise go to the ATM and withdraw the remaining amount. Or just continue to use it.

[Tilly84]

Thanks for the help, my problem with setting up a "cash" account with NCL is that it's a minimum of $100/person/day that has to come out, so $700 which I do not intend on spending on the ship, + another $700 for my husband who is traveling with me. Thanks for the heads up about the service charge not being covered.

http://www2.ncl.com/faq#service-charge states that it's the $12/person/day, and no, I will say that on average I do not tip $24/day for hotel staff and me eating at a buffet once a day, and that's it (will be eating off the ship for our other meals while in port 5/7 days). I wasn't planning on eating at the "cover charge" restaurants, but apparently since I can't use my onboard credit to wipe off the service charge, I guess that means I'll need to eat places to justify the tip.

 

The reason I'm looking at a pre-pay visa (with my name on it) is because I don't like this: http://www2.ncl.com/faq#onboard-expenses

You can deposit cash or US Traveler's Checks into your onboard account. To start, US$100 per person per day is required, although more can be deposited depending on what you plan to spend. If you don't have enough money down to cover expenses, your account(s) will be closed and you cannot purchase anything until more money is deposited. You can deposit as much money as often as you'd like throughout the cruise, however, refunds cannot be made until the day of disembarkation for any excess.

 

My budget for this trip, total is $500 and I need to make sure no additional comes out, it'd screw up my budget for the rest of the month. I'll call NCL this week and check with them, I don't see why they can't close a visa that hits its max when they can close a cash account. My budget is tight enough that I dont' want to wait 30 days for "potential" transactions to process and have something end up bouncing.

[Tilly84]

I used a "NetSpend" VISA card on our last cruise. You go and buy it for I think 9.99 at any store that sells gift cards or sign up at there website.

 

They will send you a card in a few days with your name on it. It is accepted at any place that takes VISA. Go and load the card with whatever amount you want at any load center.

 

I have had this card for like 5 years now and have had no problems at all. I even have direct deposit from my job. Witch i use to pay the monthly bills.

 

On think there it is a fee based card so every transaction will cost you 1.00. But there are also free plans. The Net Spend card is 9.99 a month or 69.00 a year and you don't get charged the per use fee.

 

So. If you only want to use the card for your cruise you can load it. pay a month fee charge so you won't rack up a buck charge every time you get a drink. Then at the end of the cruise go to the ATM and withdraw the remaining amount. Or just continue to use it.

 

The card I was looking at was a service charge of $12.99/month but I don't think there was an extra $ charge for transactions, it was a percentage, 2.5%? It'd take 15 days to get it in the mail, but my thought was "if it has my name on it and doesn't just say "prepaid" then why can't I just use it?". I'd get it the month before, so for $25 I'd have access to funds without having to give ALL my cash up at the beginning of the cruise. I will also be bringing my own soda and a few bottles of water for the trip, rather than paying the $6/day soda fee (helps prevent drinking too much soda for me anyways).

[LaceyLooLooWho1978]

Plenty of people on this board have experience setting up onboard accounts with cash. I am doing a cash account in November on the Pearl and I have poured through this board and seen where people have put only a couple hundred dollars in their account upon check-in with no problems. You can put the $500 down for your account and just watch it everyday. If you get too close they will let you know. They are not going to turn you away for not depositing $1400 into your onboard account. I think you would probably only need $200 to open your onboard account since that is $100 for each of you for the first day. I will be honest, this freaked me out at first as well but the more I have researched, the less I am worried about it. I do know you can call NCL and ask this question 10 times and get 10 different answers though, they seem to keep it very confusing on purpose. I guess they figure if they "suggest" $100 a day then you will spend more onboard *shrugs*

[garycarla]

Card fees, transaction fees, etc etc

 

I guess some people can not get a credit card, but for those that can.

 

We use a credit card. No limits. No fees. No interest charges. No standing in line.

[Tilly84]

I will probably put the $200 down just to cover the basic service charge, I'd like to keep as much cash available to me as possible to be able to use it while we are in port (sorry I didn't clarify that earlier :o ). NCL states on their site that you can't "withdraw" any excess funds (I assume that means extra cash in your onboard account that you deposited) until Debarkation (disembarkation? I forget), and I thought that was the last day of the cruise. It'd sure suck if I dumped ALL my available funds into the ship's "bank" and then had nothing to spend while on shore. I "can" get the credit card they offer, that's not the issue, it's just that I don't want to open yet another credit card when I'm getting sooooo close to being debt free lol.

 

It makes sense that they want it to be confusing as far as the $100/person/day, they have to make money off of that some how...aha! If you don't "see" your cash going away (literally handing out the money) or keep close tabs, it'd be easy to spend up ALL your cash, thus getting more monies for the cruiseline! Aha! OK my conspiracy theory is done, time for coffee lol. Thanks again for all the tips guys, I'll make sure to let ya'll know what ends up happening post-cruise.

[bonvoyagie]

It should not matter whether you use a credit card, prepaid card, debit card, or cash - unless you have no self control when it comes to spending - you will spend what you plan on spending. I understand that if you are just getting out of Credit Card debt where you don't want to go back there - but as long as you have the cash somewhere to pay for the onboard expenses using the credit card to set up the account and then paying it off when you get back should be a reasonable solution.

[garycarla]

... I "can" get the credit card they offer, that's not the issue, it's just that I don't want to open yet another credit card when I'm getting sooooo close to being debt free lol.

..

 

Not sure why you would get an NCL credit card vs using one you have.

 

Did notice that you are not quite debt free, meaning you might have a balance on your credit card. If that is true, of course anything you add to your balance will instantly start accruing interest. (that's why we only spend what we can pay off in full each month)

[twofathoms]

Does these pre-paid credit cards charge foreign transaction fees in Bermuda, like most credit cards?

[LadyShiva]

OP, with a pre-paid card, how do you think the temporary holds will be handled?

[Tilly84]

This is the one I'm looking at:

http://www.prepaidcardlab.com/

 

Here's the FAQ: http://www.prepaidcardlab.com/faq.aspx

Where is my card accepted?

The Cardholder can use their card wherever Visa debit cards, Interlink cards, or STAR cards are accepted as long as the amount does not exceed the value available on the card.

 

If the Cardholder does not enter a PIN on a purchase, the transaction may be processed as either a Visa debit transaction or as a STAR transaction. If the Cardholder should choose to use the STAR network without a PIN, different terms may apply.

 

NOTE: Merchants may preauthorize the transaction amount for the purchase amount plus up to 20 percent or more to ensure there are sufficient funds available. The Cardholder will be unable to access these funds during the hold period (up to seven (7) days).

 

If the Cardholder uses their card number without presenting their card (such as for a mail order, telephone or Internet purchase), the legal effect will be as if they used the card themselves.

 

To return merchandise, the Cardholder must follow the return policy at the place of purchase. The card will be re-loaded with the amount of the return. This follows standard Visa return policies.

 

Here's the applicable fees:

 

Are there fees associated with the card?

The Monthly Service Fee of $9.95 (not applicable to Direct Deposit Cardholders) will be charged until the account is cancelled through PrepaidCardLab.com. However, if the Monthly Service Fee cannot be collected, the card will automatically be canceled.

 

Activation Fee: $ 5.95 (one time, at card activation)

ATM Cash Withdrawal-Domestic: $ 2.00 (per transaction)

ATM Cash Withdrawal-International: $ 3.00 (per transaction)

ATM Balance Inquiry or Decline-Domestic: $ 0.50 (per transaction)

ATM Balance Inquiry or Decline-International: $ 0.50 (per transaction)

POS Purchase-International: 2.50%

Card to Card Transfer: $ 2.00 (per transaction)

ACH Transfer to Bank Account: $ 1.50 (per transaction)

Bill Pay: $ 0.99 (per item)

[Tilly84]

Ooops, since you asked about international stuff, here's if you do a conversion with the card (spend non US money)

 

Can I make charges in a foreign currency?

If the Cardholder has made a purchase or cash access in a foreign currency, the amount deducted from their funds will be converted by Visa USA Inc., with a selected exchange rate into an amount in the currency of the card.

 

This exchange rate between the transaction currency and billing currency is a rate selected by Visa U.S.A Inc., and not determined by the Issuer.

 

Note: The Issuer may also assess a foreign currency conversion fee of 2.5% of the transaction amount.

[LadyShiva]

OP, walk into a credit union or bank and ask what deals they'll cut you for their prepaid VISA. The fine print for the card you're quoting is ridiculously high, and you're trying to get OUT of debt, not get robbed blind.

[francina]

I do understand about not getting or adding more to your credit card. Some credit cards charge interest rates as soon as you make a charge while others just if you don't pay them off at the end of the month. Also,when buying property credit cards limits are considered so you have to be carefull in that too.

 

Just to let you know, I was planning on using a prepaid debit card also until I found out there are fees associated with it. Now I am thinking about using cash and I am sure if I want to purchase a fcc they would let me use my credit card and not the money I place on my account. Also, since most my spending will be at the various ports, I am not worry about having to much cash in my accounts. I am only placing $500 in my account and planning on taking home $300. That is if I donot prepaid my service charges (which I will probably do prior to the cruise). I want all my excursion prepaid for too:)

[garycarla]

... Also,when buying property credit cards limits are considered so you have to be carefull in that too...

 

Buying property - assume you mean a house.

 

Anyway, lack of credit will hurt your more than having credit. We have many, many credit cards and are in the top 5% on credit score. Have zero credit is scary to the banks.

 

I hear often about people that REDUCE their line of credit, and their score goes down.

[Tilly84]

I wouldn't get an actual credit card, just a prepaid card that expires and disapears, and yes I know that the "Fees" would rob me blind, but no worse than if I tied this account to a credit card which then would be maxxed out, and oh wait, i spent my cash at all the ports. Yes I have horrible willpower when it comes to not spending money, so I figured this would be a way to tie my hands (so to speak) to stop me from spending money that I "dont have" (i.e. it is for bills when I get back etc.).

 

I'd rather pay $9.95 for the month of September, $5.95 for the card, and $4.95 to load it up (total $21, better than a single overdraft from my debit card later) once with $200 and tie "that" to my account on the ship. If it gets stuck "waiting" for 2 weeks and I forget about a charge, then it'll just come out of the prepaid card and not hit my bank account, and I won't care because the card will be "dead to me" as soon as I step off the ship to go home. I just want to step off the ship, get on my train, and toodle away home, back to normal boring life.

 

MY OWN DEBIT CARD:

This is from NCL and why I am "gun shy" about using my debit card tied to my bank:

However, if you choose to pay with a debit card, please be advised that Norwegian obtains pre-authorization which some banks may hold for up to 30 days.

For me, if something isn't out of my account within about 2 weeks I forget about it, and the money will be spent on something else, then when the transaction DOES come out, if it bounces, it's an extra $35 per transaction (so if 3-4 things haven't come out yet, that's an extra $100-$125ish just in fees).

 

MY OWN CREDIT CARD

I do not want to use my "standard" credit card (it has a balance and I'll have the card forever, just getting rid of all the little random cards left from an over-exuberant 18 year old) because if I use credit, that means I have the credit card, PLUS my cash (in my mind) to pay for stuff, which would double my funds, but then I'd be paying for my cruise for the next 3 months (no I don't make enough money to pay off $500 in a month).

 

NCL MASTERCARD

I won't open another credit card unless it's a life or death situation. I'll have my one "standard" card I keep and that's it.

 

CASH DEPOSIT:

I do not want to give them "all" my cash, or even part of it, because my on board credit ($270) will be enough to cover any expenses I end up with during the course of the cruise. And THIS makes me believe any cash I DO deposit, I don't get until the day the cruise is done: You can deposit as much money as often as you'd like throughout the cruise, however, refunds cannot be made until the day of disembarkation for any excess.

 

This has absolutely nothing to do with my credit score, which is fine, and everything to do with me having no willpower when it comes to "ooh I want that" when I'm out of my "controlled" environment. This is a once in a lifetime trip, and I don't want it spoiled by financial straits following me home. I know I can check my account on my iPhone during the cruise, but am concerned that I would still say "it's ok, I have my credit card, I can spend a little more". I don't want to have that kind of access (think about people going gambling and spending more than they intend, keeping going back to the ATM to get more money for that BIG WIN they know will happen. I bring cash into the casino for this reason.) to my "shouldn't be used" funds.

 

I'm on hold with NCL right now about this to see if they'll accept the prepaid card. Alright, just got off the phone after a 20 minute hold, here's what they said:

I can absolutely use the prepaid card (as long as my name is on it), but once the balance is "Less than $100/person/day ($1400) then the card cannot be used and a hold will be placed on the onboard account spending until the account meets the minimum requirements", if I use my bank debit card they'd put a hold on my personal card for $100/person/day for up to 30 days if I went THAT route. ($1400 no longer available in my bank, I get paid $2600 every 2 weeks, I'll get the $1400 back, eventually, just maybe not before bills are due). So I'll just use the onboard credit I got when I signed up ($270), use the prepaid card for the service charge ($-168) and not buy anything else on the ship. I'd rather spend my money in port and just appreciate being on the ocean when on the ship. Last case scenario is I'd give them $200 cash and say take it or leave it (again, covering the service charge) and then still have $300 available to spend while in port and $270 onboard credit as previously mentioned.

 

In my "perfect" little world, I'd give the nice man/woman $200 cash at the beginning of the cruise, tell them "please don't let me spend more than $30 of this + my $270 onboard credit, thank you very much" and when $300 was gone from my onboard credit, my card would no longer work on the ship and the nice matre Di would inform me that I need to add funds to my onboard account if I wished to dine there. I know it can't work that way, just saying it'd be ideal in my case.

[Tilly84]

I would like to point out that the man on the phone actually sounded horrified when he said "but then you couldn't buy anything on the ship!"

[dwjoe]

OP, if I understand you correctly, what you want is an onboard account that is limited to $500 + your OBC.

 

I don't think that's possible with the options that NCL offers.

 

NCL does offer a cash account, but that requires putting $1400 down up front. The prepay card idea works out to the same $1400 up front.

 

I think your best bet is to use your standard credit card, take the $500 cash you are budgeting, and pay down the card a month or two in advance. That'll make a dent in your monthly interest bill, and get the cash out of your pocket so you aren't tempted to spend it. Then, monitor your spend onboard very carefully so that you don't go over $500.

 

I wouldn't try the "here's $200 cash, take it or leave it" approach. You might be denied boarding.

[Tilly84]

OP - That's what I was afraid of. I don't have $1400 available in ANY account right now, or ever for that matter. We are paycheck to paycheck mostly and saved up almost a year just to pay for the cruise :( Now I find out that it's NOT free when you're onboard (I knew about the dining and stuff, so figured the $270 onboard credit would be enough for the week, since we'd only do a "fancy" meal probably one night).

 

I don't want to be denied boarding because I don't have that kind of money available :( I planned on ONLY spending the credits I got when booking ($270), $168 towards the service fee, and then the rest of my money I was going to spend actually IN Alaska in the ports and stuff since I doubt I'll ever get to go back up there. I wanted to be able to actually spend money somewhere other than on the cruise ship for this vacation.

 

I'm now petrified that I'll show up and hand them my credit card, which only has $500 available on it (I'd have to pay down almost $1,000 in 2 months, ain't gonna happen) and they'll say "pack your bags back up and go home" :(

I'll then hand them my remaining $500 cash that I will have saved up to spend in port (up to $1,000 now) and they'll say "alright, one of you can stay" (two of us are going).

 

I don't mean to sound petulant, but this is really freaking me out, I didn't know I needed $5,000 to pay for a $3,500 cruise :(

[LaceyLooLooWho1978]

I mean seriously! Has anyone ever been denied boarding because they didn't deposit $700 a day for each person in a stateroom? I really highly doubt that ever happens! Do a search on the Norwegian board using the keywords "onboard account" and you will see tons of examples of people depositing much less than that with no hassle at all! Additionally, just because someone does not want to use a credit card on a cruise does not mean they are not credit worthy.

[Tilly84]

I mean seriously! Has anyone ever been denied boarding because they didn't deposit $700 a day for each person in a stateroom? I really highly doubt that ever happens! Do a search on the Norwegian board using the keywords "onboard account" and you will see tons of examples of people depositing much less than that with no hassle at all! Additionally, just because someone does not want to use a credit card on a cruise does not mean they are not credit worthy.

 

:)

 

Thank you thank you thank you, I wasn't sure, and I've read multiple places it's this way vs. that way vs the other way and I just got so turned around. It sounded like as long as I gave them at least $100 for each of us ($200 total) that it'd be fine as long as we didn't spend below that. Now I'm not sure how the onboard credit stuff works that we got for booking when we did...$270 does that mean I can't use that either?