Holds on account for S&S -- variations?

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

I am well aware of the fact that, when using a debit card for securing your S&S account that they will typically make some holds(pending) on your checking account. I have always used one, and typically Bank of America shows the pending amount, but it does not reduce the available balance. Such is the case now - no issues with that anyway.

 

What I noticed on both of our recent CCL sailings (6/30/12 Liberty and 8/9/12 Sensation) was that there was a $75 hold each morning before embarkation already on my account. I suppose that's because now, when setting up the S&S account during the online check in, you give them the entire CC # as opposed to the last four digits. Again, no problems with that.

 

For our Liberty sailing, over the course of 7 days, I only saw 3-4 holds during the sailing when checking my online accounts - and those holds disappeared the day that they actually applied the (real) final charge amount to my account.

 

For the Sensation (debarked Sunday) the final charge came out of my checking account last night, but the holds still show. Again, I have no problem with that - they are not impacting my available balance and even if they were - a non-issue.

 

What confuses me a bit is that the 3-4 holds during the week of our Liberty cruise totaled perhaps 2 grand (some casino fun), even though our charges were well beyond that amount at some points. On the Sensation there are SIXTEEN current holds showing, many for what was obviously a charge here and there for drinks -- stupid amounts like $12 or $17.

 

Are things handled differently on the "weekend party" cruises such as the Sensation, where they obviously sweat every buck? Are people considered more "trustworthy" on longer sailings? Or is this just a ship specific approach dependent upon the chief purser or something?? It is obvious that the account and charges are not being treated the same of those two ships.

 

Just curious... has anyone else noticed differences such as these?

 

Tom

[happy cruzin]

Nobody..... :confused:

[H82seaUgo]

I am well aware of the fact that, when using a debit card for securing your S&S account that they will typically make some holds(pending) on your checking account. I have always used one, and typically Bank of America shows the pending amount, but it does not reduce the available balance. Such is the case now - no issues with that anyway.

 

What I noticed on both of our recent CCL sailings (6/30/12 Liberty and 8/9/12 Sensation) was that there was a $75 hold each morning before embarkation already on my account. I suppose that's because now, when setting up the S&S account during the online check in, you give them the entire CC # as opposed to the last four digits. Again, no problems with that.

 

For our Liberty sailing, over the course of 7 days, I only saw 3-4 holds during the sailing when checking my online accounts - and those holds disappeared the day that they actually applied the (real) final charge amount to my account.

 

For the Sensation (debarked Sunday) the final charge came out of my checking account last night, but the holds still show. Again, I have no problem with that - they are not impacting my available balance and even if they were - a non-issue.

 

What confuses me a bit is that the 3-4 holds during the week of our Liberty cruise totaled perhaps 2 grand (some casino fun), even though our charges were well beyond that amount at some points. On the Sensation there are SIXTEEN current holds showing, many for what was obviously a charge here and there for drinks -- stupid amounts like $12 or $17.

 

Are things handled differently on the "weekend party" cruises such as the Sensation, where they obviously sweat every buck? Are people considered more "trustworthy" on longer sailings? Or is this just a ship specific approach dependent upon the chief purser or something?? It is obvious that the account and charges are not being treated the same of those two ships.

 

Just curious... has anyone else noticed differences such as these?

 

Tom

 

somebody posted the same question the other day. let me see if i can find that thread.

[jonbgd]

Thank You for posting this. Im not worried about an amount on my CC, but others that may use a debit card, this will affect them big time.

 

There is no rhyme or reason to their pattern. I dont check but my GF checks everyday and she questions them at guest services. They say it is corporate not them:rolleyes:

[H82seaUgo]

found it, but nothing valuable.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1683945&highlight=in+the+dark

[parrothead74]

When I sailed on the Sensation in November I had about $1,000 available on my credit card before I boarded, after the rental car and hotel pre cruise holds. A thousand bucks should be more than enough for a 4 day cruise. By the second day I received a note that my charging privileges were suspended. I had only accumulated about $500 in charges, but it seemed for every charge I made on the ship there was a hold in addition to the hold placed before embarkation. It seemed like they anticipated my rate of spending and placed holds accordingly. I had to pay a few hundred in cash in order to re-activate my account, that was a bummer because that was my personal gambling money for the remainder of the cruise. Also when I returned home it took over a week for those holds to drop off.

 

Both times that I was on the Liberty I had no problems at all, and in a few weeks I do not anticipate any at all when I sail her again.

[RuthlessBoss]

My first holds were larger than on another sailing because on one, I made fast charges on boarding due to excursions. My next cruise on the same ship had minimal holds because I didn't do the more expensive charging at cruise onset.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

When I sailed on the Sensation in November I had about $1,000 available on my credit card before I boarded, after the rental car and hotel pre cruise holds. A thousand bucks should be more than enough for a 4 day cruise. By the second day I received a note that my charging privileges were suspended. I had only accumulated about $500 in charges, but it seemed for every charge I made on the ship there was a hold in addition to the hold placed before embarkation. It seemed like they anticipated my rate of spending and placed holds accordingly. I had to pay a few hundred in cash in order to re-activate my account, that was a bummer because that was my personal gambling money for the remainder of the cruise. Also when I returned home it took over a week for those holds to drop off.

 

Both times that I was on the Liberty I had no problems at all, and in a few weeks I do not anticipate any at all when I sail her again.

 

Interesting, perhaps it does vary by ship - as opposed to what Guest Services will tell you onboard (always saying their hands are tied because of "Miami", "Corporate", or "Policy"... regardless of the situation)! :rolleyes: Rarely do I witness them making a real decision on something, it's usually either flatly denied or goes into a "research/wait" status.

 

Tom

[andrzej5914]

There is an easy solution to this issue.

 

We DON'T give them any CC or Debit card number.

 

We start out with $200 cash in our S&S account. If we get a note that our account is out of cash, we go down to the CS desk and put in another $200 into it. On the last evening of the cruise I will go there in the wee hours and square up. Either I will have to pay little more or they will return any cash that's still in the account.

 

We don't gamble very much and if we do, we bring cash for that.

 

No holds, no problems.

[parrothead74]

There is an easy solution to this issue.

 

We DON'T give them any CC or Debit card number.

 

We start out with $200 cash in our S&S account. If we get a note that our account is out of cash, we go down to the CS desk and put in another $200 into it. On the last evening of the cruise I will go there in the wee hours and square up. Either I will have to pay little more or they will return any cash that's still in the account.

 

We don't gamble very much and if we do, we bring cash for that.

 

No holds, no problems.

 

No double points on your Carnival Seamiles Mastercard by doing it that way. Those double points add up, I got $200 in OBC for this cruise, not too shabby.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

There is an easy solution to this issue.

 

We DON'T give them any CC or Debit card number.

 

We start out with $200 cash in our S&S account. If we get a note that our account is out of cash, we go down to the CS desk and put in another $200 into it. On the last evening of the cruise I will go there in the wee hours and square up. Either I will have to pay little more or they will return any cash that's still in the account.

 

We don't gamble very much and if we do, we bring cash for that.

 

No holds, no problems.

 

I suppose that works for a lot of folks. I, for one, would not appreciate a bar waiter coming back to me and letting me know that I need to go to Guest Services... that happened once or twice! :eek: It was a situation where Bank of America determined that "unusual activity" was going on with my account, and they froze it. I now make a point to let them know when/where I am travelling. Even with that, they STILL have been known to lock it down (amazing)!

 

We usually take a couple grand for gambling. There are times when that "runs out early" and I get chips on the S&S card or I find myself with my last pile of chips and all of a sudden get a hand that I have to split/double multiple times and don't want to delay the game to go to our room safe.

 

I could probably just get a line of credit with the players club, but don't want that temptation! ;)

 

Tom

[green eyed lady]

We were on Liberty at the end of July. When I got home, I checked my credit card online...they held EVERY S&S charge individually...$3.50, $12, etc. After the cruise they made 1 charge for the total of our S&S ($1300+ :eek: ) but all those small charges were still being held. It took several days for them to drop off, and they did so a few at a time, not all at once.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

We were on Liberty at the end of July. When I got home, I checked my credit card online...they held EVERY S&S charge individually...$3.50, $12, etc. After the cruise they made 1 charge for the total of our S&S ($1300+ :eek: ) but all those small charges were still being held. It took several days for them to drop off, and they did so a few at a time, not all at once.

 

Perhaps it's based on the phase of the moon, or some other important accounting benchmark... :rolleyes:

 

Tom

[rellersi]

We were on Liberty at the end of July. When I got home, I checked my credit card online...they held EVERY S&S charge individually...$3.50, $12, etc. After the cruise they made 1 charge for the total of our S&S ($1300+ :eek: ) but all those small charges were still being held. It took several days for them to drop off, and they did so a few at a time, not all at once.

 

So everyone is telling me that what I heard about Carnivals hold policy may or may not be correct? What, how, and when a hold is placed on a debit card is up to Carnival and apparently there is no rhyme or reason to it. When the hold is released from your debit card is up to the bank (mine is 2-3 days from the time it is made, so on a seven day cruise any hold placed on the 1st day is gone by the 4th) unless the actual charge is less than the hold, you will see both on your statement at the same time if the hold is still in effect, and if the charge is less than the hold, it depends on how Carnival handles it, they could take the money from the hold amount or create a brand new charge, of course for them creating a brand new charge increases the possibility they will not get paid if that new charge exceeds your limit

[chapel29]

We were on Liberty at the end of July. When I got home, I checked my credit card online...they held EVERY S&S charge individually...$3.50, $12, etc. After the cruise they made 1 charge for the total of our S&S ($1300+ :eek: ) but all those small charges were still being held. It took several days for them to drop off, and they did so a few at a time, not all at once.

 

This is to the best of my knowledge how it works, and was how I used to explain it to people when I used to work in the banking industry.

 

If you go to a department store and use your card on a Friday after processing hours a hold is placed on your account in the amount of your total purchase. That hold will then stay on your account Friday, Saturday, Sunday and almost always Monday. If that store processes that charge on Monday, you will see the actual charge hit your account and the hold fall off. They call this settling the account. This is not to say all banks are the same way. Credit Unions and smaller banks may have different rules, but with the popularity of debit cards most banks will drop that hold after a day or two, and usually only after the actual charge goes through.

 

The reason the holds end up staying on for your cruise is that the cruise line charges the final payment as a completely separate transaction. Since the cruise line charges you one lump sum, the bank has no way of knowing that all those earlier holds are not going to come through at some point, therefore they will keep those holds for the maximum time allowed by the bank (usually for debit cards it can be anywhere from 5 to 7 business days and credit cards can go up to a whopping 30 days). This by the way is not something that the cruise line has any control over, these are the banks rules and each bank is different in the amount of time they will keep a hold that has not been settled.

 

Can the cruise line adjust their business practices and settle for all of the individual holds they place instead of one lump sum? Absolutely they can. Will they? Absolutely they won’t. You see they are charged each time they “settle” a transaction through your credit card of choice’s processing system. It is more cost effective to just let those pre-authorizations sit out there and only get charged one fee when they settle the lump sum.

 

This is why someone with say a $2000 limit on their credit card can get surprised at the end of their trip when their final payment is $1500. If the cruise line placed holds equal to $1000 or more, they then no longer have enough available credit to cover that final bill, even though in reality they do.

[chapel29]

As to the original post. As a cruisin noobie, not knowing ahead of time if they are going to just place large over estimate holds or each smaller transaction holds would be very frustrating for my planning ahead!

 

This is my sole reasoning for pre-loading my S&S account and paying in cash.

[dad son team]

Ok, so here's my situation. Going on a 4 night and was planning on using a award card for my S&S. It has about $300 on it which should cover my account. I did the pre-registration with that card. Now I'm afraid that I will have these problems if they start getting small holds here and there and try to charge 1 amount at the end and its declined because of the holds. What's the best way to handle this?

 

1. Put money on the account now as OBC using this card and get a refund if I don't spend it? Do I get cash back on the ship or a credit back to my card?

 

2. Can I go to the desk on board and have them charge 1 amount upfront on day 1?

[LitchfieldParkCruisers]

Credit/debit holds can be a real pain..and there seems to be no steadfast rule on how they work..after a few cruises, we learned to use obc as a way to ensure no worries on the card.

Prior to cruising, we call carnival and apply at least half of what we expect to owe to our "on board credit".

Let's say we figure to spend 1000.00.....we apply 500.00 to obc so when we board, there is already 500.00 to absorb immediate charges as well as the auto tips. When we do this, holds are minimal and not an issue.

It has worked well for us, and we find it makes cruising much more affordable, since we can pay towards our trip and we don't have to use an entire paycheck all at once when the cruise is over.

 

LPC

[Obicat Cruiser]

Tom, I think the answer to your question is in an email I received from Carnival a couple of weeks ago regarding policy changes. It said:

 

"We may keep your credit card and passport information on file and on our servers to enable you to make purchases on board more easily, to facilitate your boarding procedure and other transactions between us, and to resolve disputes as may arise between us and you."

 

http://www.carnival.com/cms/Static_Templates/privacypolicy.aspx?icid=CC_Footer_82

 

In short to access your money anytime they want. It's never a good idea to use your own money for anything especially via a debit card.

 

We have one more cruise on the "Legend" before we part company with Carnival, and I sent them a check for final payment. Additionally, we will use cash deposit for any S&S charges. However, there will be none as I will remove the auto tips and let my service staff know I did as I hand them crisp $100 bills at the start of the cruise. I see you guys are going on the Legend just before we are so don't mess up Vista Suite 4228. Just guessing that is the one you have:)

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

...

I see you guys are going on the Legend just before we are so don't mess up Vista Suite 4228. Just guessing that is the one you have:)

 

Good guess! I was able to book it far enough out that they actually had the military rate available on the VS, which was about the same price that the JS cabins are going for now!! :D

 

I'll try to leave the cabin is good shape! :)

 

Tom

[green eyed lady]

This is to the best of my knowledge how it works, and was how I used to explain it to people when I used to work in the banking industry.

 

If you go to a department store and use your card on a Friday after processing hours a hold is placed on your account in the amount of your total purchase. That hold will then stay on your account Friday, Saturday, Sunday and almost always Monday. If that store processes that charge on Monday, you will see the actual charge hit your account and the hold fall off. They call this settling the account. This is not to say all banks are the same way. Credit Unions and smaller banks may have different rules, but with the popularity of debit cards most banks will drop that hold after a day or two, and usually only after the actual charge goes through.

 

The reason the holds end up staying on for your cruise is that the cruise line charges the final payment as a completely separate transaction. Since the cruise line charges you one lump sum, the bank has no way of knowing that all those earlier holds are not going to come through at some point, therefore they will keep those holds for the maximum time allowed by the bank (usually for debit cards it can be anywhere from 5 to 7 business days and credit cards can go up to a whopping 30 days). This by the way is not something that the cruise line has any control over, these are the banks rules and each bank is different in the amount of time they will keep a hold that has not been settled.

 

Can the cruise line adjust their business practices and settle for all of the individual holds they place instead of one lump sum? Absolutely they can. Will they? Absolutely they won’t. You see they are charged each time they “settle” a transaction through your credit card of choice’s processing system. It is more cost effective to just let those pre-authorizations sit out there and only get charged one fee when they settle the lump sum.

 

This is why someone with say a $2000 limit on their credit card can get surprised at the end of their trip when their final payment is $1500. If the cruise line placed holds equal to $1000 or more, they then no longer have enough available credit to cover that final bill, even though in reality they do.

 

This was the first time this ever happened to me. Royal just charges the total at the end. I've never seen them hold each charge individually until the end.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

This was the first time this ever happened to me. Royal just charges the total at the end. I've never seen them hold each charge individually until the end.

 

Which makes me wonder why sometimes I hear, over and over again, Guest Services calling the same person on debarkation morning. I always assumed it was to settle up an account - but not sure how Carnival could let that happen, as least the way they treat our account! I am guessing that for cash accounts they don't allow people to charge beyond their remaining cash.

 

Tom

[chapel29]

This was the first time this ever happened to me. Royal just charges the total at the end. I've never seen them hold each charge individually until the end.

 

I agree that this is pretty confusing on the part of the cruise line. It is up to the cruise line as to the amount to pre-authorize. They can pre-authorize for as little as $1 and from there the sky is the limit.

 

My guess is that they could have been using a new system on board that allows them to use point of sale pre-authorizations, similar to what they do in a retail store. I've been out of the banking industry for a long time now and when I dealt with travelers who had holds, those holds always used to be for round dollar amounts of varying sizes.

[brooklynfc]

Are you sure its not the difference between the larger amount appearing when you spent money in the casino vs just drinks and stuff. Just throwing it out there. Maybe the holds are bigger on casino money (isn't a private company and not Carnival that handles that?).

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Are you sure its not the difference between the larger amount appearing when you spent money in the casino vs just drinks and stuff. Just throwing it out there. Maybe the holds are bigger on casino money (isn't a private company and not Carnival that handles that?).

 

On the Liberty I "purchased" chips several times in the casino (probably close to ten grand all totaled). I went to Guest Relations maybe three times to pay that down (with some winnings fortunately). On the Liberty the casino was kind enough to waive the usual 3% service fee when charging chips to your S&S account - otherwise I would not have utilized the "easy sign" method quite as much!

 

On the Sensation, they never offered - but then again, I never asked to have it waived (my bad). The staff on some ships seem to act like they CAN'T waive them, but they can with the managers approval. At any rate, all three of my chip purchases showed on my BoA account - whereas only 1 or 2 did on the Liberty as I recall.

 

It just seems that the Sensation is more concerned about having their bases covered - at least when comparing my two experiences.

 

Perhaps next time I'll just plop a few grand in cash down and not even give it another thought... that is unless some art, jewelry, or too much casino fun blows my budget! :eek:

 

Tom