When is my credit card charged?

[nutiket]

A bit of an unusual question as this is my first cruise. I get paid on the Friday of a cruise that ends on Sunday. I have plans to book a few shore excursions and buy some drinks on board, but I won't have the money to do that until I get paid.

 

So does my card get run every day and charges racked up or does the cruise just do one big charge at the end of the week? Do shore excursions get charged differently than on board purchases?

 

Thanks for your help. My new wife and I go this Sunday on the Allure for our Honeymoon and it's also her birthday so I need to do something special.

[Clarea]

A bit of an unusual question as this is my first cruise. I get paid on the Friday of a cruise that ends on Sunday. I have plans to book a few shore excursions and buy some drinks on board, but I won't have the money to do that until I get paid.

 

So does my card get run every day and charges racked up or does the cruise just do one big charge at the end of the week? Do shore excursions get charged differently than on board purchases?

 

Thanks for your help. My new wife and I go this Sunday on the Allure for our Honeymoon and it's also her birthday so I need to do something special.

Every purchase on board accumulates until the last day and gets charged on the day you disembark. This is how an account secured with a credit card works. An account secured with a debit card might have intermediate holds, depending on your financial institution.

[reallyitsmema]

It sounds like you are referring to a debit card, not a credit card. The cruiseline will put holds on your account throughout the week but charge the entire balance at the end of the week.

[stevea36]

A bit of an unusual question as this is my first cruise. I get paid on the Friday of a cruise that ends on Sunday. I have plans to book a few shore excursions and buy some drinks on board, but I won't have the money to do that until I get paid.

 

So does my card get run every day and charges racked up or does the cruise just do one big charge at the end of the week? Do shore excursions get charged differently than on board purchases?

 

Thanks for your help. My new wife and I go this Sunday on the Allure for our Honeymoon and it's also her birthday so I need to do something special.

 

For anything charged to your account onboard there is one charge at the end of the cruise but the cruise line may place a hold for any charges until that time.

 

If you buy anything online before the cruise (gifts, excursions, beverages, etc.) it gets charged immediately to the card.

 

Enjoy your cruise !!

 

Steve

[cb at sea]

That's right....NOTHING is actually CHARGED to your credit card (or debit card) until the cruise is over. However...debit cards can have large "hold" amounts that can affect you up to a week after the cruise. I would NEVER use a debit card....just take the cash from your account and pay off a credit card in cash on the last night, to avoid "hold" amounts.

There are no large "holds" on credit cards...they simply verify that the card is active.

 

If you have a credit card, use it to link to your shipboard account, and just pay it off (you could use your debit card if you want) on the last night.

[nutiket]

Ok, I think I'm understanding. So even though I use it solely as a credit card for purchases, the fact that it's a bank card and not a true credit card will get "holds" placed on it. So the better thing to do is use a credit card to set up the account with and at the end of the week use my bank card instead of the initial card I gave them to pay it off. Is that right?

[Clarea]

Ok, I think I'm understanding. So even though I use it solely as a credit card for purchases, the fact that it's a bank card and not a true credit card will get "holds" placed on it. So the better thing to do is use a credit card to set up the account with and at the end of the week use my bank card instead of the initial card I gave them to pay it off. Is that right?

That should work, but why not just let the charge go to the credit card?

[nutiket]

Because I hate credit cards and I'm not real good with them. I am better charging to a bank card because I don't spend more than I have.

[Beth C]

Depending on how much you're planning on spending you have a $500 "grace" with a cash account... (Not securing it with a CC or debit card) So theoretically if you're not planning on spending over $1000 between the 2 of you you could just use your seapass to $500 and pay it off the last night.

 

Only drawback is the lineups on the last night are usually pretty long so you could potentially waste a couple hours trying to pay off the bill :(

 

 

Sent from my Speak & Spell using Tapatalk

[Darkwolfe]

The bit with debit cards is not entirely accurate. That's all I use for my cruise, but my credit union is aware of where I'm going and what charges are likely while I'm gone. Thus far, I've never seen a hold on this card. However, I have seen a hold on a bank debit card and when the hold wouldn't go, neither did buying anything on board.

 

So take that how you will. I stick to my debit card and it works fine. YMMV :)

[caissonqueen]

I normally use debit card for purchases too. One thing I did on my last cruise in Feb is buy onboard credit through Gifts and Gear before the cruise. You can buy them and it will be applied to your account. Then you can say you want the cash account option when you check in. If you wish, take your debit card on the trip and you could always use it if needed. There is an atm on the ship. I travel solo and try to have minimum $100 per night for the length of the the trip. I make sure I have the amount paid in onboard certificates before I board. Also make sure to keep any receipt/proof you paid for the onboard credit and take it with you on the ship, just in case. I think you have to call to buy the onboard credit. Of course, this could have changed since Feb. I still have 2 months left to buy onboard credit.

[ryano]

the fact that it's a bank card and not a true credit card will get "holds" placed on it.

 

Not necessarily. I have a "cruise account" which is a seperate checking account through my Credit Union and I ALWAYS use a debit card and NEVER have "holds" put on my card. It all depends on how your financial institution handles preauthorizations. :)

 

One thing I would never do is use the debit card that is tied to my main checking account that i pay bils out of though just for the hold reasons.

[ryano]

The bit with debit cards is not entirely accurate. That's all I use for my cruise, but my credit union is aware of where I'm going and what charges are likely while I'm gone. Thus far, I've never seen a hold on this card. However, I have seen a hold on a bank debit card and when the hold wouldn't go, neither did buying anything on board.

 

So take that how you will. I stick to my debit card and it works fine. YMMV :)

 

Yes, this ^ :)

[ryano]

One thing I did on my last cruise in Feb is buy onboard credit through Gifts and Gear before the cruise. .

 

Same here! And this is the way i will do it from here on out! :) It works flawlessly and showed up as a credit on the second day. i was allowed to use my seapass immediately upon boarding without putting any money down.

 

I even cashed out on the last night for a little over 100.00 :) its the easiest way to go for those without credit cards.

[Donray]

Every purchase on board accumulates until the last day and gets charged on the day you disembark. This is how an account secured with a credit card works. An account secured with a debit card might have intermediate holds, depending on your financial institution.

 

Hold are placed on Credits Cards and the bad Visa/Mastercard debit type cards.

[Donray]

The bit with debit cards is not entirely accurate. That's all I use for my cruise, but my credit union is aware of where I'm going and what charges are likely while I'm gone. Thus far, I've never seen a hold on this card. However, I have seen a hold on a bank debit card and when the hold wouldn't go, neither did buying anything on board.

 

So take that how you will. I stick to my debit card and it works fine. YMMV :)

 

Holds are placed on Credit cards and the Debit/Credit card.

Most people never see them. ALL hotels place a hold, ALL car rentals place a hold, ALL restaurants place a hold. People that say they never had placed don't know what is going on.

[sparky-elpaso]

Holds are placed on Credit cards and the Debit/Credit card.

 

Most people never see them. ALL hotels place a hold, ALL car rentals place a hold, ALL restaurants place a hold. People that say they never had placed don't know what is going on.

 

Correct. Sometimes if you compare the balances on-line you can see it even though it's not listed as a line item.

[Clarea]

Correct. Sometimes if you compare the balances on-line you can see it even though it's not listed as a line item.

Yes, I agree, I can see the "pending" charges on my Discover and RCI Visa. Some of our other cards don't show "pending" amiounts. They are usually amounts like $1.00, which I assume are just a test to make sure the accounts are valid. They fall off after 3 days or so.

[FLACRUISER99]

On my last (10/20/12) Oasis cruise the ship placed pending charges daily on my RCI/BOA card anytime a charge appeared on my shipboard account. However these were replaced with the total amount on my final statement after I returned home.

[MauiGirl55]

On my last (10/20/12) Oasis cruise the ship placed pending charges daily on my RCI/BOA card anytime a charge appeared on my shipboard account. However these were replaced with the total amount on my final statement after I returned home.

 

On our recent Freedom of Seas cruise, our final Seapass account amount was billed to our credit card immediately after the cruise. In addition, pending charges continued to show up for approximately 5 days after our return. These were in rather odd amounts of anywhere from $7.00 to $91.00. It took 2 weeks for them to disappear off our account. Was a bit surprised to see these holds continue to appear for several days FOLLOWING our cruiIse.

[sherilyn70]

Ok, I think I'm understanding. So even though I use it solely as a credit card for purchases, the fact that it's a bank card and not a true credit card will get "holds" placed on it. So the better thing to do is use a credit card to set up the account with and at the end of the week use my bank card instead of the initial card I gave them to pay it off. Is that right?

 

That works just fine... in fact I did that on my last 2 cruises. I used a regular credit card to secure the sea pass charges and then on the last night went and charged the balance to my debit card, AAA Travel Visa card (which is a pre-paid card) or applied cash.