$60/pp/pd deposit question

[Sea-travelers]

I understand why BruceMuzz did not wish to elaborate on how people can continue to charge throughout their cruise if their credit card does not have enough availability to cover the amount of the bill they are accumulating.

 

If HAL is running through 'holds' on the cards either in advance at the start of the cruise or periodically throughout, how do they not know there is no credit left and 'shut off' the guest from making any more charges?

 

The staff will be cheated out of hotel service charge as those daily amounts can't be sustained but certainly these 'deadbeat' guests should not be permitted to purchase more drinks, get advances to gamble in casino, have spa treatments, shop etc

 

How do these guests continue to charge?

 

 

I have been in line at the front desk when I have heard a passenger being asked for more money to be put on their account. So I think our accounts are probably watched continually to see if over spending is done. Also on the day of embarkation you may hear the paging of guest to please check in with the front desk....I have been told those are people that need to settle their account and that no one gets off the ship until that is done. Not sure if this is true or not but what I have been told.

[cruz chic]

I have been in line at the front desk when I have heard a passenger being asked for more money to be put on their account. So I think our accounts are probably watched continually to see if over spending is done. Also on the day of embarkation you may hear the paging of guest to please check in with the front desk....I have been told those are people that need to settle their account and that no one gets off the ship until that is done. Not sure if this is true or not but what I have been told.

 

I assume you mean disembarkation.

[Sea-travelers]

I assume you mean disembarkation.

 

Yes I did thanks:)

[Shmoo here]

You may have been trying to be funny but what a rude remark to make about the employees at HAL. That comment doesn't share information in a positive manner for the rest of us on CC.

 

I think it was just a little tongue-in-cheek. Not really a comment about HAL employees.

[1of4]

We had a concern on our last cruise over the $60/day/person as we are a family of 4. I was not aware we could negotiate it down to the HSG.

 

We were travelling for a week prior to boarding the ship (hence the reason for our concern) and it being the end of the month and paying for some other unexpected expenses that arose after we made final payment.

 

Anyway, what we did was mark "cash" on the online check in for both children (7 and 10 at the time) and put enough OBC to cover the HSC for all 4 of us for the entire cruise. We provided a credit card number for both DH and I and during check in we asked that the children's cards have no charging privileges. We also bought each a non-alcoholic drink card and an alcoholic drink card for us.

 

I was expecting that we would be asked to show the cash upon check in but we were not asked and we didn't have any issues.

 

We plan on doing this in December for HAL. Disney allowed us to pay the HSC along with the cost of the cruise, which we did, so we don't have to think about it again.

[srpilo]

I can say from many experiences with traveling type "credit holds" whether it be hotels, car rentals, or cruises, that most banks release the holds after a set period of time determined by each bank, but usually not more than 5 days , and with normal 7 day cruise the credit hold put at the begining of the cruise will have already expired by day 7.

 

Cruiselines can not place a time frame on their CC credit holds, only the issusing bank can. Thats why some lines like Princess continue to actually charge your CC for onboard charges every couple of days, instead of waiting til the last evening for one large lump sum.

 

The $60.00 a day on HAL, if authorized as a credit hold only on the first day of a 14 day cruise will be released by your CC issuser long before the 14 day cruise is over.

 

Srpilo

Edited September 8, 2013 by srpilo

[Typhoon1]

If you've got to worry about how much credit line is available to you on your credit card, you probably should think twice about how you're spending your money.

[pms4104]

I can say from many experiences with traveling type "credit holds" whether it be hotels, car rentals, or cruises, that most banks release the holds after a set period of time determined by each bank, but usually not more than 5 days , and with normal 7 day cruise the credit hold put at the begining of the cruise will have already expired by day 7.

 

Cruiselines can not place a time frame on their CC credit holds, only the issusing bank can. Thats why some lines like Princess continue to actually charge your CC for onboard charges every couple of days, instead of waiting til the last evening for one large lump sum.

 

The $60.00 a day on HAL, if authorized as a credit hold only on the first day of a 14 day cruise will be released by your CC issuser long before the 14 day cruise is over.

 

Srpilo

This doesn't make good business sense from HAL's standpoint, if indeed the point of the hold is to have some certainty that onboard expenses will be covered by the passengers' credit card. If the hold expires within a couple of days of boarding, the passenger can charge up a storm at one of the ports later in the cruise ... and HAL is left high and dry without monies that are owed on disembarkation day.

[kyriecat]

For both cruises that I took on HAL, the credit hold amount was placed on my card the day I boarded and stayed on my card for the entire length of the cruise plus about 5 days afterward. I have taken a 14-day and 10-day cruise with HAL. The hold amounts (shows on my online statement as a "pending transaction" not hold) were $1680 and $1200, respectively. For me, the hold amount did not disappear after 5 days.

 

On the day I disembarked, the hold amount was still showing as a pending transaction but a second pending transaction from HAL for the actual amount spent onboard was added. After about 3 days, the actual amount spent moved to the processed transactions and became a "real" charge. The "hold" amount remained in the "pending tranactions" for a couple more days then disappeared.

[jtl513]

....

Edited September 9, 2013 by jtl513

[sail7seas]

This doesn't make good business sense from HAL's standpoint, if indeed the point of the hold is to have some certainty that onboard expenses will be covered by the passengers' credit card. If the hold expires within a couple of days of boarding, the passenger can charge up a storm at one of the ports later in the cruise ... and HAL is left high and dry without monies that are owed on disembarkation day.

 

 

Maybe this is the explanation for what BruceMuzz posted. This would be how some guests are charging more than they can pay. :rolleyes: :(

 

I didn't understand how it could happen but know that he likely was factual in that post.

[whogo]

It may help you to know how and why this hold business happens.

 

In today's economy, hotels and cruise lines are more frequently encountering travelers who cannot pay their bills at the end of their stay.

Even with this program in place, my employer is seeing 10% of passengers unable to pay at the end of the cruise. I'm not going to tell you how this happens, as I don't want to give any more ideas to the growing number of deadbeats out there.

 

The cruise lines establish what they believe is an average spending amount per passenger per day. Most of the lines have established that number to be $60 per person per day.

That amount is held in reserve against your credit card limit, by your bank at the request of the cruise line. Remember that this is an average. Some people spend $0 one day and then $120 the next = average $60.

Some cruise lines apply this hold on a daily basis - others for the entire cruise in one go. In both cases, NOTHING is charged to your credit card. Only that amount of your existing credit is held in reserve.

Most cruise lines do not charge anything to your credit card until the final night of the cruise. At that point, your bank charges the actual amount spent against your total credit, and releases the remainder of the hold against your account.

Some banks release the held credit in one day. Other banks take as long as a month to release the credit hold. That is an issue between you and your bank. The cruise line has nothing to do with it.

Great information! I appreciate your expertise, BruceMuzz. Shame about the 10% that can't pay after the cruise. I would expect that that 10% do not tip. I wonder if HAL does better or worse than 10%.

[lavalcruiser]

We will be cruising with HAL for the first time in May.

 

I was not aware of the policy of ''pre-authorized 60$ per person for each day of sailing''.

 

We usually register our credit card prior to boarding, but like to pay cash at the end the cruise.

 

Will we be able to do that on our next cruise ?

 

Thank you

[CowPrincess]

We will be cruising with HAL for the first time in May.

 

I was not aware of the policy of ''pre-authorized 60$ per person for each day of sailing''.

 

We usually register our credit card prior to boarding, but like to pay cash at the end the cruise.

 

Will we be able to do that on our next cruise ?

 

Thank you

 

We register our credit card, and then towards the end of the cruise get an interim statement to see what we owe. Then we estimate what we'll spend for the rest of the time onboard, and pay cash that is somewhat LESS than what we think we will owe. We don't want to have to deal with the Front Desk the last night or the last morning. By paying slightly less than what we think we will owe, we don't end up having to go get a refund. (That happened once and it was a hassle!) Our CC charge is usually between $20 and $50.

 

So after all that, :D , yes you can settle up in cash.

[Mytime2014]

I still have a question but I think it has been answered my brain is just muddy today.

 

I have a HAL Barclay card with WAY more credit than I would ever spend, unless I decided to buy a car with it and at zero interest for a year - maybe not a bad idea....but I digress!!

 

I have assigned that card for my $60/day hold - $420 for the cruise; Currently I have $125 OBC [tips are prepaid already!!] and was thinking of adding $25 occasionally over the next 3 months. Any of my charges - drinks, shop purchases, PG dinner are going to come out of that "bank" of OBC and once that is gone, then anything else will go on my card at the very end. Is that correct?

[catl331]

Any of my charges - drinks, shop purchases, PG dinner are going to come out of that "bank" of OBC and once that is gone, then anything else will go on my card at the very end. Is that correct?

Yes! :)

[CowPrincess]

Any of my charges - drinks, shop purchases, PG dinner are going to come out of that "bank" of OBC and once that is gone, then anything else will go on my card at the very end. Is that correct?

 

Yes you can build up a "bank" of OBCs. We do that. If, however, you book PG visits or shore excursions in advance of your cruise, you will need to pay for THOSE at the time of booking. If you wait until you get on the ship to book excursions and PG, those will be charged to your onboard account/"bank" :)

[RuthC]

I still have a question but I think it has been answered my brain is just muddy today.

 

I have a HAL Barclay card with WAY more credit than I would ever spend, unless I decided to buy a car with it and at zero interest for a year - maybe not a bad idea....but I digress!!

 

I have assigned that card for my $60/day hold - $420 for the cruise; Currently I have $125 OBC [tips are prepaid already!!] and was thinking of adding $25 occasionally over the next 3 months. Any of my charges - drinks, shop purchases, PG dinner are going to come out of that "bank" of OBC and once that is gone, then anything else will go on my card at the very end. Is that correct?

 

Yes, that's correct. But you can approach it a little differently, and may come out ahead in the long run.

 

Since the Barclay card awards at the rate of $2. for every HAL dollar spent, it might be better to put as much as possible on your Barclay card, then pay that off with the money you would otherwise have put toward on board credit.

Spend enough, especially on HAL, on that card, and eventually you can get some nice rewards. If you're going to spend the same money anyway, you can double dip by charging to the card, then paying it off---later getting the benefit of the awards.

[catl331]

---later getting the benefit of the awards.

Whenever we've used 10,000 points for "OBC shore excursion credit" what they've done instead is immediately deduct $100 from balance due that month. Edited April 5, 2014 by catl331

[Mytime2014]

Yes, that's correct. But you can approach it a little differently, and may come out ahead in the long run.

 

Since the Barclay card awards at the rate of $2. for every HAL dollar spent, it might be better to put as much as possible on your Barclay card, then pay that off with the money you would otherwise have put toward on board credit.

Spend enough, especially on HAL, on that card, and eventually you can get some nice rewards. If you're going to spend the same money anyway, you can double dip by charging to the card, then paying it off---later getting the benefit of the awards.

 

Good point Ruth! I put the cruise, air and excursions on there already for that reason instead of paying cash. Told you my brain was muddy!

[RuthC]

Whenever we've used 10,000 points for "OBC shore excursion credit" what they've done instead is immediately deduct $100 from balance due that month.

 

If all of that was HAL charges, it took only $5000 to get there, for a return of 2%.

Now, let that build to 40,000 points ($20,000 in charges; yeah, ok, that does take a while) and you get $500 off the price of a cruise (awarded as $500 on the balance due). That's 2.5% back.

Not bad. :D

[kakalina]

So true Ruth. We love our HAL Barclay card. It can some time to rebuild after using all ones points.

[AlohaPride]

As far as holds for children. The following can be found under "Onboard Credit Card Terms and Conditions" on page 6 of the online check-in (the place where you do your pre-authorization).

 

I further understand that the initial authorization will be in an amount equal to US $60.00 per person, for guests 18 years of age and older, multiplied by the number of days of the cruise, and that if there are charges in excess of the initial authorization amount, HAL may seek authorizations for those amounts. If a guest turns 18 during the course of the cruise, the daily pre-authorization or cash deposit will apply beginning on his/her birthday through the remainder of the cruise.

[CGYCruisingFamily]

I posted this on another topic but it seems applicable here too.

 

You also have an opportunity to do a cash option however you must have that amount of cash available and ready to give to them. So if it is 2 adults at $600 for the cruise - you will potentially have to give them $1200 in cash when you check in at the port prior to boarding.

 

I asked about this on our last cruise because with 2 adults and 2 kids it was going to be a total hold of something like $2600 (which I didnt want against my card). I know that they kids were never going to spend $60 a day and that we likely wouldnt either. I was advices to do ours as cc and the kids as cash. We were never asked to produce the money for them as I guess they realize that young children were unlikely to charge anything. Their $11.50 a day for tips was charged to us daily.

[spcl4cs_gal]

For my up-coming Hawaii cruise my total ship board account is listed at $960 US. Since I am traveling solo and since I know that my on board spending is very low, I will only be depositing $700 US at the front desk when I board, with the understanding that if I get low on the available money that they will request more from me. I do not want to tie up my credit card availability in any way and wish to have semi-control over my funds.