How to pay on board?

[rtmm53]

Good day.

 

I have read a few reviews on NCL that persons have stated their debt/credit

cards were charged incorrectly for whatever reason. Should I avoid this all together by paying my balances on the ship with cash?

 

Thanks

[Cruising Golfer]

I wouldn't, but that's me... I also would not use a debit card as they put holds on it. We have never been charged for things we did not get... We always keep a copy of our sales slips and match them up at the end of our cruise.

Enjoy:cool:

[sparks1093]

Good day.

 

I have read a few reviews on NCL that persons have stated their debt/credit

cards were charged incorrectly for whatever reason. Should I avoid this all together by paying my balances on the ship with cash?

 

Thanks

 

You could, and mistakes do happen, but using your credit card doesn't mean that mistakes are going to happen on your account.

[ColinIllinois]

Never use a debit card. Even NCL advises against this.

 

I've never had a problem using a credit card. I have no desire to lug a ton of cash around on vacation.

[johnql]

A credit card works for me. Never had a problem.

[cb at sea]

If there is a mistake on your bill, you only need to call them! Mistakes do happen...not just on ships, but hotels, too! A phone call resolves the issue.

 

A credit card is fine...and it gives you some protections that debits do NOT! Don't use a debit card!

[luddite]

Good day.

 

I have read a few reviews on NCL that persons have stated their debt/credit

cards were charged incorrectly for whatever reason. Should I avoid this all together by paying my balances on the ship with cash?

 

Thanks

 

Never, ever use a debit card for this.

Use a credit card.

[LrgPizza]

For every 1 person who had an issue with a credit card, you can probably find 1000 who didn't.

[kgymn]

Wondering if anyone can clarify for me how they deal with charges on a credit card versus a debit. My husband is talking about basically doing a cash dump onto our credit card so we don't have to use cash for our account. Do they not do holds? Or are the holds lifted immediately? I'm wondering how much available credit we would need on the card in comparison with how much our total bill would come to.

 

~Katy

[sparks1093]

Wondering if anyone can clarify for me how they deal with charges on a credit card versus a debit. My husband is talking about basically doing a cash dump onto our credit card so we don't have to use cash for our account. Do they not do holds? Or are the holds lifted immediately? I'm wondering how much available credit we would need on the card in comparison with how much our total bill would come to.

 

~Katy

 

They put an initial pre-authorization for $300 on our card for our party of four. I presume that during the cruise they will do further pre-authorizations as your shipboard spending exceeds the previous one. Holds on debit cards can take longer to be released and multiple holds can cause one's account to become overdrawn.

[garycarla]

Wondering if anyone can clarify for me how they deal with charges on a credit card versus a debit. My husband is talking about basically doing a cash dump onto our credit card so we don't have to use cash for our account. Do they not do holds? Or are the holds lifted immediately? I'm wondering how much available credit we would need on the card in comparison with how much our total bill would come to.

 

~Katy

 

For the vast majority of people, this makes no sense. First off, by "dumping cash", I assume you really mean he would make a payment via check, etc.

 

But, if you have lets say a $3,000 credit limit on your card and no current balance, you would have zero problem. Unless of course you somehow spend $4,000 onboard - LOL!

 

If you had a credit card with a very low limit, you could have an issue. Or, very limited credit still available because you have a balance.

 

Personally, we ALWAYS use credit cards. We carry 4 different ones on a cruise. Actually everyday. They are free for most people.

[KeithJenner]

Good day.

 

I have read a few reviews on NCL that persons have stated their debt/credit

cards were charged incorrectly for whatever reason. Should I avoid this all together by paying my balances on the ship with cash?

 

Thanks

 

Ignoring for the moment the very valid point made by others that errors are very rare, when you consider the number of people who cruise, I'm not sure how your solution would help anyway.

 

If you want to pay by cash then you have two options, either you put down some cash at the beginning of your cruise (or buy OBC). To avoid having to use a credit card you will need to keep your account in credit, which means that you will have to try to get a refund at the end. If there are any incorrect charges on your account you will have the same arguments to try to get them removed as you would if you use a card.

 

Alternatively, if you just want to pay off your account with cash at the end of the cruise, you will need to give them a credit card when you board, so you haven't avoided the risk of incorrect charges.

 

Every single time you use your credit card you are exposing yourself to a very small risk of error, and with NCL there is no difference there. To be honest, from what I have seen on here, the problems tend to arise when people are doing unusual things. Those of us who just hand over their card details on boarding and let that card get charged are keeping it nice and simple, which gives less chance of errors creeping in.

 

If an error does happen then, if you've used a credit card, you have the option of disputing the charge with the CC company. You don't have that option if you use cash, and probably haven't with a debit card.

[KeithJenner]

Wondering if anyone can clarify for me how they deal with charges on a credit card versus a debit. My husband is talking about basically doing a cash dump onto our credit card so we don't have to use cash for our account. Do they not do holds? Or are the holds lifted immediately? I'm wondering how much available credit we would need on the card in comparison with how much our total bill would come to.

 

~Katy

 

There doesn't seem to be any fixed way that it is done.

 

I have an app on my phone which notifies me every time a charge is made on my card. On one cruise last year, I got a number of authorisation charges throughout the cruise, at fairly random times. Some were for round sum amounts (i.e. $200), but on occasion I would get smaller ones as well, including on one occasion where I got a bucket of beer and when I sat down I got a notification that an amount equal to the cost of that bucket had been authorised.

 

By the time I got home on disembarkation day, all the authorisations had disappeared and the proper charge had hit my account.

 

On another cruise, a couple of months later, with the same card, I just got a couple of larger authorisation amounts which stayed on my account for a couple of days, until being replaced by the final charge.

 

In my experience, the total amount authorised has never been a lot more than the final charge.

[kgymn]

There doesn't seem to be any fixed way that it is done.

 

I have an app on my phone which notifies me every time a charge is made on my card. On one cruise last year, I got a number of authorisation charges throughout the cruise, at fairly random times. Some were for round sum amounts (i.e. $200), but on occasion I would get smaller ones as well, including on one occasion where I got a bucket of beer and when I sat down I got a notification that an amount equal to the cost of that bucket had been authorised.

 

By the time I got home on disembarkation day, all the authorisations had disappeared and the proper charge had hit my account.

 

On another cruise, a couple of months later, with the same card, I just got a couple of larger authorisation amounts which stayed on my account for a couple of days, until being replaced by the final charge.

 

In my experience, the total amount authorised has never been a lot more than the final charge.

 

Thank you! So it sounds like the temporary authorizations are removed at the time that the final charge is put through then, they aren't all on the card at the same time (the temporary and final that is.) Just sometimes the last temporary authorization "lump sum" is an overestimate of how much more you may spend onboard. Am I understanding that correct?

 

~Katy

[KeithJenner]

Thank you! So it sounds like the temporary authorizations are removed at the time that the final charge is put through then, they aren't all on the card at the same time (the temporary and final that is.) Just sometimes the last temporary authorization "lump sum" is an overestimate of how much more you may spend onboard. Am I understanding that correct?

 

 

 

~Katy

 

 

In my experience that has always been the case, but I'm sure others have reported differently, so I wouldn't rely on it.