Does Princess put a daily HOLD on your ship account credit card?

[sonnenschein]

It is a matching system. The cruise line puts through an authorization for what you spent that day and when a matching charge comes through the credit card applies it to your bill - otherwise it is just listed as pending.

It is very easy to see how for a time double your onboard spending can eat up a credit line. There will be the initial hold, plus holds place each night for whatever you spent onboard that day. Then when the onboard account is closed out the cruise line get one authorization for the full amount of charges on your onboard account. Assuming an initial hold of $100 and a hold each night for $100 spent that day and you have $700 in pending holds. Then the cruise line puts through the actual bill for $700.00. So for a time up to $1400 could be held. The smaller holds will drop off one by one since no matching charges show up. How long it takes depends on your bank's policies. The cruise line has no control over that. Some banks let the holds expire after 2 or 3 days, but others will keep them there as long a 10 days to 2 weeks. Some credit cards do not show the pending holds when you log onto your account, so people don't know they are there. In that case look at your available credit number and you can figure it out.

Everyone is right about HAL - $60.00 per person per day is held as soon as you set up the onboard account. We had a $1200 authorization on our last HAL cruise. Actual onboard spending was only $400 because we had lots of OBC.

 

For those who have low credit limits or don't carry a large checking account balance and use a debit card it can be a very big deal. They should probably set up an onboard cash account.

 

I use one specific card for all travel expenses and pay it off in full every month. If I book last minute I will pay it off as soon as the charge is posted so that I have the full amount of credit available for my trip. This card also has no international transaction fees which saves 2-3% when used ashore in foreign ports.

 

No way would I ever use the credit card or checking account that we have all our household bills set up to be sucked out automatically. We don't mingle our travel expenses with daily living expenses.

I agree 100%,especially with your last sentence. We also have one designated Credit card with a very high limit that we use for our travels and fun expenses only. Never had any problems with holds. This subject comes up often which I can understand with first time cruisers , but people who cruise more often should understand by now that the possibility of holds on their credit cards AND debit cards exist.

[Loonbeam]

It's not lazy. Can you imagine having to call in to clear possibly several hundred holds per ship, per cruise, individually?

 

That's what I said, they're too lazy to do it because it would take too much time.

[Cruise Junky]

It's not lazy. Can you imagine having to call in to clear possibly several hundred holds per ship, per cruise, individually?

 

Call it whatever you want. They don't want to spend the time doing it

[TwoCruisers]

Please note what some of the people are saying.

 

If you use a credit card, the hold is on your credit.

If you use a debit card, the hold is on your cash in the account.

 

Besides credit cards offer more protections for you than debit cards.

[luvs2travl]

I agree 100%,especially with your last sentence. We also have one designated Credit card with a very high limit that we use for our travels and fun expenses only. Never had any problems with holds. This subject comes up often which I can understand with first time cruisers , but people who cruise more often should understand by now that the possibility of holds on their credit cards AND debit cards exist.

 

And I agree with you 100% as well. :D We have a cc dedicated JUST to travel, cruises, etc and the expenses incurred with them. I would never mix the one we use on a monthly basis with one used for travel.

 

We've known for years about the holds put on our cc by the cruise lines, and have never had the tiniest problem with it. This idea of getting a separate card was suggested to us years ago when we started cruising and it has proved to be a great piece of advice.

 

Smooth Sailing!! :)

[Pam in CA]

This subject comes up often which I can understand with first time cruisers...

True. Also, with cruise fares fairly low, more people with less disposable income are cruising. So many times, people have posted that after paying for their cruise, they can't afford to tip or even get a passport nor do they have any financial flexibility. Also, many book directly without using a TA so they are shocked and upset by something a little research or a good TA would have warned them about. Thank goodness for sites like CC where people can get the information they need.

[Loonbeam]

No, it's not call it what I want. It's being smart business operators.

 

But lets game it out....

 

If they hire someone at $10 per hour, JUST to do this,and you assume 15-20 mins per call (having dealt directly with Visa I'm being optimistic - and vendors cannot do this online, you have to call directly with all the CC number, one transaction per call, hang up, repeat), it would cost Princess about $3 per transaction for every single one. That doesn't count overhead like benefits, phone service, PC access, security audits (since CC information is involved).

 

This is all to save most people approximately one WEEK of holds on their credit cards (and its also safe to assume that a good number of people don't need to worry about the holds).

 

It's not being lazy when choosing not to do something makes very clear and good business sense.

 

And I didn't even factor in the possibility that Princess may get charged by the credit card companies for each vendor desk transaction, since I don't know their merchant contract terms.

 

Oh, and if they use a third party processor and don't have a direct contract with Visa/MC/Etc? Then it gets worse, because they have to have the third party processor handle it, and they WILL charge Princess for each request.

 

Call it whatever you want. They don't want to spend the time doing it

[Loonbeam]

One other point of note.. Why should it be the Merchant's problem if you don't have a sufficient limit on your CC or money in your account to handle expected charges plus some spare.

 

If your credit is up to it, you can always call the bank yourself and ask them to temporarily up your credit limit to cover the additional holds. Assuming your are credit-worthy they often will.

[caribill]

But lets game it out....

 

If they hire someone at $10 per hour, JUST to do this,and you assume 15-20 mins per call (having dealt directly with Visa I'm being optimistic - and vendors cannot do this online, you have to call directly with all the CC number, one transaction per call, hang up, repeat), it would cost Princess about $3 per transaction for every single one. That doesn't count overhead like benefits, phone service, PC access, security audits (since CC information is involved).

 

 

I am fairly certain that the holds are requested automatically by Princess computer to credit card computers and do not involve individuals making lots of entries.

 

I do not know if merchants can request a hold be removed or if it is strictly bank policy.

 

I did see the note on a gasoline pump today saying a hold for the max possible charge ($150 credit, $100 debit) would be placed when a card was swiped and it would be bank policy how many days it would take to remove the hold.

[compozer]

 

I did see the note on a gasoline pump today saying a hold for the max possible charge ($150 credit, $100 debit) would be placed when a card was swiped and it would be bank policy how many days it would take to remove the hold.

 

I also fueled up last night and the first thing I noticed on the pump was a note about holds on debit cards. Never have noticed one before

[framer]

This is the reason I use my AMX chargecard and not a credit card for cruises. No preset spending limit.

 

framer

[westcoastguy]

Princess Cruises check your credit card if there is enough room for $300pp when signing for your cabin card. NOthing gets charged and no holds.

 

everyday a automatic tip charge (approx $10.50 to $12.50) gets sent to your credit card between 11pm -3am. if it comes back , they will send a letter to your mailbox that youll need to go to the Purser desk to deposit $300 or add a different credit card onto the profolio.

 

When you get to the desk, they will allow you to put down $100 cash plus pre-paid gratuities (daily tips) for the remaining days . Don't be embarrass, because by day 5 there will be over 50 people who will line up to update their profolio. no need to give them $300us.

 

so dont stress about the hold. i get a laugh at those people here bragging how much credit over $10,000 they have on their credit card..lol Those are the people that the banks own everything they own including their lease cars.

 

Don't feel intimidated by some of the post. Hope this post helps many out there on a tight budget .

 

 

 

FYI on American Express Card holders. Amex does have a preset amount. Amex system follows your spending habits and where you spend.

 

 

 

if you have excursions pre-booked on your cruise, they may charge those on the day of boarding and only refund you when you cancel 24hr before the excursion date.

[jb008]

I think we're beating a dead horse. Looks like they cruised with Princess in 11/2012.

 

Since he dragged it up though...

 

so dont stress about the hold. i get a laugh at those people here bragging how much credit over $10,000 they have on their credit card..lol Those are the people that the banks own everything they own including their lease cars.

 

Don't feel intimidated by some of the post. Hope this post helps many out there on a tight budget

 

I agree with wcg that you shouldn't feel intimidated by some of the posts about traveling if you're on a tight budget. However I do disagree with his previous paragraph about the bank owning everything when people have credit >$10,000. Your credit line has nothing to do with how much of your credit line you use, just a solid past credit history. In fact you don't want to use more than 25% of your available credit, so having a high credit limit that goes unused is actually positive to your score. But I digress.

 

When I checked my credit card pending transactions when I got off a 7-day cruise on Ruby about a week ago, I had a $548 pending charge, plus a number of smaller <$100 pending charges lingering for ~5 days plus my actual payment had already been posted. So it was around $2,000 worth of credit needed to cover Princess actual and holds. In addition, I had a $350 (which is still lingering) to cover my rental car. Some car companies will hold even more depending on the total cost of the rental - my rental was estimated at $104 but they held $350. On a couple weekly rentals that were estimated >$250 they held something like $400 or so.

 

Some cc companies will temporary extend you an additional amount of credit on your account for situations like this. It doesn't hurt to ask if they can add another 15-20% (or more) of credit for a single billing statement to cover travel charge holds if you think you'll be that close to your ceiling. However, you also may want to see if you can up your credit line if you're close to maxing out a card. Your credit score is being hurt if you're near hitting the limit.

[dmwnc1959]

For anyone who may also have a similar question regarding Debit Cards with a Visa logo...

 

Just off Ruby Princess on Dec. 16th, used a Debit Visa card (don't own a credit card) and had $300 OBC ($200 of which I pre-purchased and $100 from their military program) and they never put a hold on my debit card. I advised the guest relations desk as soon as I boarded of my OBC, checked my account in St. Thomas via the Chase bank mobile phone app, then checked my account as soon as I got off the ship in Fort Lauderdale, and no 'hold' was ever placed on my account.

[icat2000]

Just off the Dawn Princess on 28 December. Princess put a hold on my debit account for $120. Then I slapped $500 on the account in cash and no more holds were placed. Even when they account got down to the last 100 they didn't put any further holds. The hold of the original $120 came off after about 10 days.

[pablo222]

Understand now! I've never heard of it .

 

Thanks caribill - you always come thru.

 

If you use american express, and review your account online

-- you can see the hold in "Pending Transactions"

 

I have an SMS alert triggered by any large charge to my card,

so I get a text message whenever anything, including a hold

hits the card.

[BratDet]

On my summer Ruby Grand Med cruise, beause I have free internet minutes- I checked my credit card app. It tells me current balance, pending charges, etc..

 

I had never checked my account during a cruise before, and was quite upset to see daily charges (labeled Ruby Princess) to my account. The NUMBERS did not match any combination of charges/purchses incurred, no matter how you combined stuff to add it. . The dates of charges started AFTER I gave my CC info in writing

for my FCC..so I was afraid someone stole my info...and was using it on board...

 

We paid cash for everything in Europe, but I tried to keep my Princess Visa just for cruise charges and as a back up credit card and was afraid those unusual charges were going to make me cancel the card- but it did work out as he holds were valid, just odd amounts.

 

I did tell customer service if they were actual amounts and not percentage of purchases, I would have never questioned it.

 

Customer services explained a PERCENTAGE of actual charges get added temorarily until the final bill is posted and then clears... she assured me the charges would drop off...and they did...in about a week....

 

When I booked and paid for a cruise for 6, I added 5 thousand dollars to my account a few days before I booked and paid up, so I got the bonus points on my the entire purchase and did not have to ask my credit limit raised.

My daughter was on our Hurricane Sandy Evacuation cruise with us , and they were giving her a hard time because of the mandatory holds...it might have been her debit card...so I simply changed the billing to my credit card since I had no bill to worry about on my current CC limit.

 

Bernadette

[dmwnc1959]

Just off the Dawn Princess on 28 December. Princess put a hold on my debit account for $120. Then I slapped $500 on the account in cash and no more holds were placed. Even when they account got down to the last 100 they didn't put any further holds. The hold of the original $120 came off after about 10 days.

 

I wonder if Princess has a different set of policies based on origin of or itinerary the ship is sailing? They placed no holds on my debit card for the Caribbean cruise.