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Royal Caribbean Card issues threatened with arrest


lax18stx
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We don't do credit cards (Dave Ramsey followers) and we always called the bank to tell them when we'd be traveling and our route. Assured we'd be fine. Every single time we did this, they'd shut off our card! One time we were really hard up for cash, young, newly married, trying to go home for Christmas (husband was stationed 1200 miles away from home) and we were even using my husband's card to his parents' account because they gifted our gas and hotel to travel. When we stopped for the night for a hotel we found out their card had been deactivated despite letting that bank also know our plans. Our card had been shut off too. I had just enough money in a seldom used bank to get home on gas fumes. It was a terribly long trip, sleeping in the car, super cold.

 

 

 

 

Now when I don't tell the banks we're traveling we don't have issues! :confused: 3 banks have shut off our card when we've told them about traveling. And they were just minor gas, room, and food bills, nothing crazy.

 

Find some new banks.

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Hmm, the card is a Royal Caribbean card, and you are ON a ROYAL CARIBBEAN cruise, and charging things ON THE SHIP.

 

Maybe I am asking too much, but you might think that they could figure that out.

 

And funny, they can charge your cruise fare without having the physical card, so why not on board????? The can put a hold on that card for the expected amount to be charged..

 

However, I would be on the phone to the credit card company (on Royal Caribs dime, as it is their card), and get the hold lifted. Not a big deal.

 

You do realize the Royal Caribbean does not issue the credit card? It is the bank's card, and the bank's policies that determine when a card is going to be accepted , denied, cancelled. Their fraud policies that count here, not Royal Caribbean's. The RC card I had was a Bank of America card.

 

Once the card was cancelled the OP needed a valid second card. His experience was extreme. Its a good reason to have more than 1 physical card with you when travelling, and to keep your bank updated on travel plans.

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There are scams out there where one card is put down as the initial card and it has just enough money to pay for what is the needed pre-payment when the reservation is made. Then, at check-in, a second card is given to be used to pay at check-out. The "guest" doesn't come to the desk to check-out (not an uncommon occurrence). When we clear all the departures at the end of the day, surprise!, the CC is declined... I had one of those Sunday - a bill of $400 went unpaid.

 

Most hotels I stay in, put a hold on my card at check in to cover the cost of the room and a "normal" amount of additional charges.

 

That way they know up front that the card is good and has enough credit.

 

I have only had a card frozen for "fraud" without my saying that there was fraud. It was my work TRAVEL card, that I use all over the world. One time, I checked out of my hotel in one country, flew to another, and could not check in on that card. So I checked in on another card, went to my room and called the card company. They told me that my card was turned off as it had been used in two different countries on the same day. So I asked the person if they had ever heard of airplanes. He was confused. So I told him, amazingly, I checked out of my hotel, flew 3.5 hours to another country, and tried to check in. Time between uses was about 7 hours.

 

They turned my card back on. :)

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Most hotels I stay in, put a hold on my card at check in to cover the cost of the room and a "normal" amount of additional charges.
To be talking about apples-to-apples, we need to compare cruise ships to other hotels with casinos that let you buy chips on account. Even if you don't actually use that service offered, the cruise ship still must operate in a manner consistent with the fact that some guests will.
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Most hotels I stay in, put a hold on my card at check in to cover the cost of the room and a "normal" amount of additional charges.

 

That way they know up front that the card is good and has enough credit.

 

I have only had a card frozen for "fraud" without my saying that there was fraud. It was my work TRAVEL card, that I use all over the world. One time, I checked out of my hotel in one country, flew to another, and could not check in on that card. So I checked in on another card, went to my room and called the card company. They told me that my card was turned off as it had been used in two different countries on the same day. So I asked the person if they had ever heard of airplanes. He was confused. So I told him, amazingly, I checked out of my hotel, flew 3.5 hours to another country, and tried to check in. Time between uses was about 7 hours.

 

They turned my card back on. :)

 

Many places, the first night and a little for incidentals is what is taken (where I'm at now, the POS system only does a $75 incidental request - NOT my choice). The card is good and charged for that. The "guest" goes hog-wild and charges spa, big dinner. They don't stop by for checkout. The extra charges then get denied because the CC doesn't have $400 credit left. That's the scam. Or, they book for one night, the CC covers it. They then call to extend - the rooms aren't charged every night, just at check out. The CC can't cover the rest...

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Hmm, the card is a Royal Caribbean card, and you are ON a ROYAL CARIBBEAN cruise, and charging things ON THE SHIP.

 

Maybe I am asking too much, but you might think that they could figure that out.

 

And funny, they can charge your cruise fare without having the physical card, so why not on board????? The can put a hold on that card for the expected amount to be charged..

 

However, I would be on the phone to the credit card company (on Royal Caribs dime, as it is their card), and get the hold lifted. Not a big deal.

 

Common myth - the card was not a Royal Caribbean card. It was a bank card that Royal paid for the privilege of having it logo on the front of. Royal has no control at all over the card.

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I guess there is a good reason to have several credit cards. Just me but I always take several credit cards on a cruise. Usually only the one I set up for foreign purchases into ports though. Since you can leave your CC in the safe the whole cruise what are you worried about?

 

 

 

 

 

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Royal isn't the only company that does this. I was trying to buy $500+ worth of food at Sams Club and for what ever reason Discover marked my card as fraud. So because Discover did they would not take my Visa because they were worried about fraud. Luckily I could just write a check. I however was glad. I would have hated to be taken for $500 let alone more if someone had gotten my cards.

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ALWAYS call your credit card companies when leaving the States! That way, they don't put a "fraud" alert on you! We use 2 cards...one for the ship, and one we take ashore. The one linked to our shipboard account NEVER leaves the ship....and yes, we inform our CC company of our travel plans!

 

I just want to add that this doesn't always work. I contacted my CC company before a trip and then had mine suddenly frozen ... was pissed. My parents also took a road trip and let their CC company know and they were suddenly frozen somewhere along their trip a week into the drive. Regardless of contacting them they still seem to look at the type of usage and the system may still lock you out. Ridiculous but showed me that I will never rely on one CC ever ever again. I still let them all know about travel but wonder if it matters. I have even had one CC company respond telling me they don't need to be notified ... lol ... ya okay I guess that could be true since sometimes it makes no difference.

 

Not arguing in favor of what RCL did, that is a tough one.

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Your cc and lock off up for many reasons. They did that to my bf a few years ago. When something happens that triggers a fraud alert they try to call you to confirm the transaction. He worked nights and used it at a gas station in a higher crime neighborhood in the middle of the night. Then went home and went to bed and missed the calls. When he went to work the next day the cc was locked. So yes, agree, always carry two cards.

 

 

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However, I would be on the phone to the credit card company (on Royal Caribs dime, as it is their card), and get the hold lifted. Not a big deal.

 

A new card had already been dispatched so the card company would not lift the hold for the OP.

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That was the strange thing, I have never had a card sent, until I have talked to the cc company. They put a hold on it, but not cancel it until I tell them to do so.

 

And as I mentioned, at least one of my cards will put a modified hold on it, so I can use it in person (with the card in hand) but not other transactions. So I can continue the trip I am on.

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Sometimes, it could be that the "little charge, big charge" issue came up and causes the freeze. It's a common thing for scammers - they do a small charge to see that the card is OK, then do a big charge. Like, under $10 at a grocery store, then $2500 at an electronics store. Some tourists could do this accidentally and end up with the freeze - it could be an automatic trigger within the system, regardless of notification of travel.

 

Speaking of CCs, we had our authorization clearinghouse go down yesterday - we had to call in each arrivals to get a manual authorization code. Not fun when we were checking in a group of 80 guests...

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Sometimes, it could be that the "little charge, big charge" issue came up and causes the freeze. It's a common thing for scammers - they do a small charge to see that the card is OK, then do a big charge. Like, under $10 at a grocery store, then $2500 at an electronics store. Some tourists could do this accidentally and end up with the freeze - it could be an automatic trigger within the system, regardless of notification of travel.

 

Speaking of CCs, we had our authorization clearinghouse go down yesterday - we had to call in each arrivals to get a manual authorization code. Not fun when we were checking in a group of 80 guests...

 

Exactly! Unfortunately the things they have in place to protect us sometimes cause us pain.

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Yes, but all my cards freeze the account and try to contact me. I get email or text alerts. If I click the link that it is fraud, they then close the account. If I click the link that it is OK, they unfreeze the account.

 

Or in some cases I have to call.

 

But never had the account closed and a new card send without interaction with me.

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Yes, but all my cards freeze the account and try to contact me. I get email or text alerts. If I click the link that it is fraud, they then close the account. If I click the link that it is OK, they unfreeze the account.

 

Or in some cases I have to call.

 

But never had the account closed and a new card send without interaction with me.

 

 

 

Your experience definitely differs from mine.

 

 

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... But never had the account closed and a new card send without interaction with me.

We had that happen to us once about 5 years ago. Luckily we had another card with us so it was not a huge hassle. I don't think this is done as much now, since text and/or email alerts are more commonly used.

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The same thing happened to my daughter on the FOS. One phone call to the credit card company fixed the issue and the card was cleared for use. She did have to take about an hour of her time and it was a bit expensive to call from the ship but it was fixed right away. She didn't even think about notifying the credit card company that she would be out of the country.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Forums mobile app

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