Royal Caribbean Card issues threatened with arrest

[AmeliaAtSea]

Alison they could of easily called Miami and dealt with it .... the "Poor RCCL" employee was obviously wrong

No, it's not their responsibility to call and get it resolved--that's your responsibility. The employee was not wrong. I wouldn't take a photo of a cc either.

[CruiseGal999]

OP: You MUST know that a photo copy and a picture of a credit card is suspicious all on it's own. You can't think that was sufficient and would be accepted. And, like most other posters have said, it is POLICY and a POOR (these people do NOT get paid a lot!), employee is not going to lose his/her job on your say so.

Yes, we ALL know how hindsight is 20/20. But notifying your CC beforehand, especially if you are out of the country, is essential. Sadly, it's a live and learn experience. And your WHOLE vacation was ruined because you couldn't get drunk? Because food and most non-alcoholic drinks are included in the price of the cruise. You had cash, I presume. You could buy trinkets and souvenirs with cash for friends/family, etc.

[lax18stx]

well I don't understand why they would not accept it then but were willing to accept it as soon as I called

[Lookingforfacts]

Manually entered credit card may result in a higher fee and reduced merchant protection from fraud.

 

Your first credit card was declined for possible fraud. In what world would you expect acceptance of an image on the phone.

 

You needed to contact your bank on the spot. Try online chat. Ask if cruise line will let you use their phone. Pay to use your phone.

 

That doesn't work see if you could apply for a rcl card on the ship. Contact your high limit card. See if they would be willing to contact the cruise line and arrange payment. See if there is a way to express a physical card to a port.

[lax18stx]

well I obviously learned a lesson.... my bad for thinking I couldn't use my digital wallet like everywhere else with a ship that has so much technology on board

[broberts]

well I don't understand why they would not accept it then but were willing to accept it as soon as I called

 

Because you called and identified yourself to the bank. Presumably they then talked with the merchant rep and provided an authorization. That authorization was the assurance that the merchant needed.

 

Being threatened with arrest is scary for most people. RCI tends to do so whenever there is a problem settling an account. Not the nicest approach to this part of customer service. But I wouldn't rate RCI anywhere near the top of a list of companies with good customer service. So the threat is not unexpected.

[champagne123]

STILL waiting for an answer. WHAT DO YOU WANT????

[eynsteinp]

Lax - you are not wrong for thinking that threatening you with arrest is extreme. Rc absolutely mishandled a very minor issue. There is no excuse as far as the threats go. As I said, I had the same issue on ncl and they called right from the ship for me and the hold was lifted in less than a minute. It's called customer service and threatening a customer with arrest over something that happens all the time and is a clear misunderstanding is absurd. Yes, lax could have called in advance but it was an oversight. Rc could have handled it a million other ways that would have been better than threatening a customer with arrest. I doubt any of the posters here would think it was okay if they or their family was being threatened with arrest.

 

 

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[lax18stx]

its paid done and over I was just pointing out the horrible customer service and lack of willingness to deal with a. customer trying to pay and continue to make purchases ... I dropped over 7 grand in the first couple days you would think they would want me to continue to spend money

[CruiseGal999]

well I don't understand why they would not accept it then but were willing to accept it as soon as I called

 

Read all of the replies. FIRST, it is RC POLICY. And employees are NOT going to risk their job.

 

They may not have been able to get REAL TIME authorization FROM the ship.

 

The due diligence is on the person who answered the phone at the 800# when you called and paid via phone.

[lax18stx]

well the policy makes no sense they had no problem accepting that card over the phone when I paid for the cruise

[VennDiagram]

well the policy makes no sense they had no problem accepting that card over the phone when I paid for the cruise

 

The difference, as I said before, and you ignored, could easily have been REAL-TIME authorization.

[lax18stx]

I tried that they called the financial team and I was told they were make a decision by the end of the cruise

[herbanrenewal]

I can well understand why someone new to travel may not have known of the repercussions of not notifying their credit card company before international travel. It can be harder for those of us well accustomed to travel to forget that what we now know isn't what we knew years ago. Also, when I first started cruising I'm pretty sure I only had one credit card. And credit card fraud wasn't the huge international problem it is today.

 

I can readily understand how this may have happened. I even understand how when told your card was denied you may have reacted strongly and inadvertently triggered a negative response from customer service.

Unfortunately you learned an important travel tip the hard way. If you really enjoy travel please put this in the Lessons Learned category, and move forward. Thank you for sharing - you may have helped someone else from making the same mistake.

[bUU]

A photo of a credit card is not a digital wallet. When you pay with a digital wallet your device transmits transaction codes via NFC to a receiving point of sale device. The transaction is accepted because the device that you're using is offering trusted certificates of its own and is certifying that you have entered the proper credentials for the encrypted identity that you're device is affirming. Digital wallets transactions are only accepted at point of sale devices that are designed and configured to accept digital wallet transactions. I'm not aware of any cruise lines that are currently offering digital wallet transactions support.

 

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[lax18stx]

A photo of a credit card is not a digital wallet.

 

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it was also in my apple wallet

[bUU]

Please read my entire message.

 

Here's a link you can use to learn about how to know where Apple pay is accepted: https://www.apple.com/apple-pay/where-to-use/

 

I hope this helps.

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

[CruiseGal999]

STILL waiting for an answer. WHAT DO YOU WANT????

 

Excellent question. Please don't hold your breath! Still not answered. :p

[lax18stx]

Excellent question. Please don't hold your breath! Still not answered. :p

I don't want anything .... lesson learned RC has horrible customer service and this is a warning to any prospective cruisers

[AmeliaAtSea]

well the policy makes no sense they had no problem accepting that card over the phone when I paid for the cruise

The person you called was not on the ship. Big difference.

[lax18stx]

The person you called was not on the ship. Big difference.

same company ... they could of easily ran the card

[AmeliaAtSea]

same company ... they could of easily ran the card

You still don't get it. I guess you never will. Better bring cash next time. Lots of it.

[bUU]

Folks did a good job earlier in the thread courteously outlining what all passengers should know about traveling abroad and paying with credit cards. That's the important take away from this thread.

 

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[sanger727]

It's the same issue as if you are in a physical business vs buying something online. I've never seen a physical store accept a photo of a credit card for payment - in fact now most of them are requiring the chips be inserted. My understanding is that the credit card companies won't cover fraudulent charges if the card had a chip and a chip scanner wasn't used to process it.

 

But all businesses accept credit card numbers just fine online. I dot know if the credit card companies done impose the same fraud regulations online since a chip scanner can't be used or if they just do it because they wouldn't be competitive without it.

 

But not sure why you think an account processing system that's set up to accept credit cards via a swipe or chip would accept a keyed in number. They probably had to have you call in to access an accounting system that would accept the numbers and security codes keyed in.

 

 

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[lax18stx]

It's the same issue as if you are in a physical business vs buying something online. I've never seen a physical store accept a photo of a credit card for payment - in fact now most of them are requiring the chips be inserted. My understanding is that the credit card companies won't cover fraudulent charges if the card had a chip and a chip scanner wasn't used to process it.

 

But all businesses accept credit card numbers just fine online. I dot know if the credit card companies done impose the same fraud regulations online since a chip scanner can't be used or if they just do it because they wouldn't be competitive without it.

 

But not sure why you think an account processing system that's set up to accept credit cards via a swipe or chip would accept a keyed in number. They probably had to have you call in to access an accounting system that would accept the numbers and security codes keyed in.

 

 

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because before we called the bank that froze the card they tried the original card again ... no swiping just typed in the numbers