"Pending Charges" on credit card after cruise

[Shellbelle28]

We returned from a week's cruise on Sunday and my DH was reviewing our American Express card transactions last night. Norwegian has already billed our final statement amount to the card, but there are multiple amounts from Norwegian still showing in our pending charges. A couple over $200 and some other small amounts. I told him I thought that when you first check in they put in pending amounts to cover what might be spent on board but that they aren't real charges and will eventually drop from the pending. Am I right? The amounts just seem a little random.

 

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[Demonyte]

Yes, that is completely normal and the pending charges should eventually disappear - only if they end up as actual charges one would start to dig deeper.

Edited September 22, 2015 by Demonyte

[emcelh]

I never noticed pending charges until last April when my daughter and I returned from a Carnival cruise. I hadn't received my monthly statement but was checking charges on-line and it took a couple of weeks for all of them to drop off. I'm sure it happened after NCL cruises too but, since my husband used his credit card, I didn't notice.

[zqvol]

We returned from a week's cruise on Sunday and my DH was reviewing our American Express card transactions last night. Norwegian has already billed our final statement amount to the card, but there are multiple amounts from Norwegian still showing in our pending charges. A couple over $200 and some other small amounts. I told him I thought that when you first check in they put in pending amounts to cover what might be spent on board but that they aren't real charges and will eventually drop from the pending. Am I right? The amounts just seem a little random.

 

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Completely normal. Give it 10 - 15 BUSINESS days for them to drop off. AX will not add them to any amounts due until they have time to resolve themselves.

 

I know people like to stay on top of their bills but it is always a bad idea to check the CC that you used for your cruise so soon after the cruise is over. Always give it 10 -15 business days to allow things to wash out.

[NMLady]

We returned from a week's cruise on Sunday and my DH was reviewing our American Express card transactions last night. Norwegian has already billed our final statement amount to the card, but there are multiple amounts from Norwegian still showing in our pending charges. A couple over $200 and some other small amounts. I told him I thought that when you first check in they put in pending amounts to cover what might be spent on board but that they aren't real charges and will eventually drop from the pending. Am I right? The amounts just seem a little random.

 

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You are correct. Only if any of those pending charges get actually charged would I look into it.

[Froggitt]

Watch out for sneaky minibar charges added to your account once you've left the ship, and have no opportunity to challenge.

[NMLady]

Watch out for sneaky minibar charges added to your account once you've left the ship, and have no opportunity to challenge.

 

Actually you do have an opportunity to challenge a charge after the cruise final bill, especially a minibar charge. Just call NCL and ask for billing dept. We had a minibar charge removed.

[piper45maru]

I was recently on the Epic from 8/26 to 9/2 and had a pending charge on my AmEx in addition to the actual charge of my final shipboard bill.

 

I had been keeping a close eye on my account through the iConcierge app every day on the cruise (and did notice a duplicate charge for something I had prepaid that they removed for me onboard, so I was glad I was keeping tabs), and I noticed that the pending charge was the same as one of my final days on the ship, so I assumed that NCL had run that amount as a safeguard near the end of my cruise.

 

I signed up with AmEx to monitor the charge, and I got the email notification at the end of last week that it was dropped, so it took about 12 business days or so, but it never actually got charged. HTH!

[Shellbelle28]

I was recently on the Epic from 8/26 to 9/2 and had a pending charge on my AmEx in addition to the actual charge of my final shipboard bill.

 

I had been keeping a close eye on my account through the iConcierge app every day on the cruise (and did notice a duplicate charge for something I had prepaid that they removed for me onboard, so I was glad I was keeping tabs), and I noticed that the pending charge was the same as one of my final days on the ship, so I assumed that NCL had run that amount as a safeguard near the end of my cruise.

 

I signed up with AmEx to monitor the charge, and I got the email notification at the end of last week that it was dropped, so it took about 12 business days or so, but it never actually got charged. HTH!

Thanks for sharing your experience! I'm sure it's the same on our account, simply a buffer to make sure people don't limit out their cards before Norwegian gets all their charges processed.

[luddite]

It's a hold and it is common.

This is another reason why you should never, ever use a debit card for this.

[BirdTravels]

We returned from a week's cruise on Sunday and my DH was reviewing our American Express card transactions last night. Norwegian has already billed our final statement amount to the card, but there are multiple amounts from Norwegian still showing in our pending charges. A couple over $200 and some other small amounts. I told him I thought that when you first check in they put in pending amounts to cover what might be spent on board but that they aren't real charges and will eventually drop from the pending. Am I right? The amounts just seem a little random.

 

This is normal and the pending authorizations should clear in a couple of weeks. NCL (like other cruise lines) will run a check of the card when you check-in, then ensure that your final bill will clear (usually running authorizations for individual charges from different departments as they come in on the last day of the cruise).

 

If you have any question on the final amount actually billed, contact NCL Guest Services and they will send you a copy of your final, fully itemized, bill.