Visa Check Cards?

[cruiser-be-me]

Ok - this may be a stupid question but I don't know the answer and can't find it on the Princess website sooo.....:rolleyes:

Does Princess let you use your Visa Check Card as a Visa Credit card? If not we will want to bring alot more Traveler's Checks and I want to make sure we do not get any surprizes...our TA couldn't answer this question for us.

Thanks!

Joni

Panama Canal 2/12/06

[cherylandtk]

Is this just like a Debit Card? If so, then yes, you can use it. BUT be aware that you need to have a chunck of change on the card because a hold is placed on it for the total amount of your onboard account each night.

[jbrambach]

Do you mean your bank card with the visa logo? If this is what you mean then the answer is yes...I have used it for my on board purchases.

[Momj47]

Our information stated that all precruise billing had to be done on a credit card, not a debit/check card. Once on board you could change your card of record to a debit/check card, but they will put a hold on it to cover your expected expenses during the cruise, so you'll need a good balance to cover that hold and allow you to use the check card while you are onshore. You can use it for onboard purchases if you don't want to charge them to your account. You can settle your account with the purser the night before the cruise ends if you don't want the charges to show up on your credit card.

[cruiser-be-me]

Yes - I am referring to the card that takes the $$ straight out of our Checking Account but has a Visa logo on it. We have this silly aversion to paying interest on $$ spent on vacations and know we will likely want to spend more than the balances open on our cards anyway... Thanks for the information. It is our first cruise with Princess and want to avoid as many unpleasant surprizes as possible!

 

Joni

[Bookworm77]

Thanks all for answering this question as just today I mentioned it to DH that I wondered if we'd be able to use ours on our cruise. My question, however, is not if we can use it for our shipboard account, but if it will be accepted in St. Thomas & St. Marten?

[ltprn]

I just returned from a 7 day sailing on the CB. I gave them my VISA Check Card upon embarkation. I checked my bank account several times on the internet during the cruise and there was NEVER a hold on my account by Princess, in fact, we were home 4 days before Princess ever debited my account for our cruise total! I have read several posts about Princess putting a large "hold" on your account, but this was NOT true in my case. I will not hesitate to use it again on my next cruise.

[cruiser-be-me]

We took a Hawaiian Cruise with NCL 3 years ago and this was the case there as well. We were home almost a week before the charges hit our Checking Account. It was very nice to be able to use a card that does not charge interest! Thanks for sharing your experience with us!

 

Joni

[KaC-Cruiser]

I just returned from a 7 day sailing on the CB. I gave them my VISA Check Card upon embarkation. I checked my bank account several times on the internet during the cruise and there was NEVER a hold on my account by Princess, in fact, we were home 4 days before Princess ever debited my account for our cruise total! I have read several posts about Princess putting a large "hold" on your account, but this was NOT true in my case. I will not hesitate to use it again on my next cruise.

In general, a hold will not be visable when viewing your account by on-line banking. Your actual account balance will not be affected. what will be affected is if something tries to clear your account (a check, debit, etc.) and the cruiseline has placed a hold in anticipation of their charges. The item trying to clear will be rejected due to the hold. That's why some cruisers use a separate acount for their cruising expenses. That way any debit holds will not cause any checks to possibly bounce .....

[FamilyGuy1010]

Any debit card with a MasterCard or Visa logo can be run as a credit transaction (i.e. used just like a credit card).

 

That said, I like to recommend that you use a credit card, preferably one with a grace period, to make transactions such as this. One reason, as mentioned by others, is the pre-authorization placed on your card could potentially cause you to bounce checks or have automatic bill payments rejected. The other is that you have more rights to dispute a transaction on a credit card then you do on a debit card. As long as you still have your money, you have the upper hand! Third, you should be using a card that has rewards (cashback, miles, etc).

 

Just my two cents!