How to Establish Cash Account for onboard charges?

[Clarea]

2 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

I do a cash account all the time.  (so that I can withdraw cash from the casino without paying a fee)

 

I just wait until the account gets very close to $500 then go to GS and give them my credit card.

 

Insanely easy.

 

So far no "mistake" charges showing up on that credit card after the cruise?

[Ferry_Watcher]

If you have a cash account (i.e., a true cash acc't), how does RCI 'charge' you for your daily gratuities? Is it charged to the credit card that you used to book the cruise?  Or do they expect you to pay the daily gratuity with cash before you disembark?

[The Sunset Glow]

2 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

If you have a cash account (i.e., a true cash acc't), how does RCI 'charge' you for your daily gratuities? Is it charged to the credit card that you used to book the cruise?  Or do they expect you to pay the daily gratuity with cash before you disembark?

 

It’s charged to your account daily  just like any other purchase and you pay it at the end or when you hit your limit to pay down.  

[Merion_Mom]

2 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

So far no "mistake" charges showing up on that credit card after the cruise?

 

Nope.

[Ourusualbeach]

9 hours ago, brillohead said:

At the bottom of the final invoice they emailed me was this section:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is your final statement as of 11:23 AM on March 16, 2019.
Please note, if you make a purchase after this time, it will be automatically charged in addition to this statement.
Credit card accounts will be settled automatically. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at 1-800-256-6649 or royalguestrelations@rccl.com.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I didn't feel like waiting on hold (or talking to people) so I just emailed (I included my reservation and folio numbers in the email) and had a reply within a day with a promise to follow up, and a few days later I had an answer and a refund.  (They had a "glitch" and pretty much charged EVERYONE on Symphony for towels that week, even if you had confirmed a zero balance.)

Easy peasy!

We must have been lucky, no extra charges on our card on that cruise.

[Ourusualbeach]

4 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

So far no "mistake" charges showing up on that credit card after the cruise?

My understanding is that using a card to pay down a cash account is a one time authorization and the card number is not kept on file.

[Clarea]

11 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

My understanding is that using a card to pay down a cash account is a one time authorization and the card number is not kept on file.

 

Good to hear.

[lilcruiser2]

4 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

If you have a cash account (i.e., a true cash acc't), how does RCI 'charge' you for your daily gratuities? Is it charged to the credit card that you used to book the cruise?  Or do they expect you to pay the daily gratuity with cash before you disembark?

We always opt to prepay daily gratuities when we book our cruise. They just add it to our cruise fare and it is already paid for when we go on the cruise. If you haven't done this, you can contact royal or your TA and have them add it on for you.

[banzaii]

On 7/4/2019 at 5:54 AM, The Sunset Glow said:

 

I feel your pain. We are Canadian but have a US master Card. We tick the box to pay in US$ but two cruises in a row they decided that it would be better to convert to Canadian $ for us instead.🙄 So they converted to CDN and charged that to our US$ MC who then converted back to US$ - so 2 conversion fees and 2 cruises in a row they did this even though on the second cruise we went to GS towards the end of the cruise to ensure they did not convert anything - didn't matter. So now we only do cash accounts and have no issues at all. In fact, on our last cruise our balance was $-1.20 so we didn't even need to go settle our account.😏

 

So we are in Australia and have a credit card that does not charge extra fees for foreign transactions.  For us, the biggest frustration of putting the credit card on file is that we need twice as much money as we spend.  One 'set' for the pre-athorisation holds when we make each transaction on board, then another for the total spend at the end of the cruise.

 

Setting up a cash account seems a no-brainer going forward but I was just wondering, do other countries not have these pre-authorisation holds which sometimes take about a week to disappear? 

And if they do, does settling the final account with a card still give you a hold anount and the balance or is there just one debit transaction?  

 

Surely this is a big advantage of using a cash account.

Edited July 19, 2019 by banzaii

[Clarea]

6 hours ago, banzaii said:

 

 ...

 

Setting up a cash account seems a no-brainer going forward but I was just wondering, do other countries not have these pre-authorisation holds which sometimes take about a week to disappear? 

And if they do, does settling the final account with a card still give you a hold anount and the balance or is there just one debit transaction?  

 

Surely this is a big advantage of using a cash account.

 

I'm not sure if the holds are a "country" thing or a "bank" thing.  From reading here, it seems like some banks have no problem releasing holds quickly and others take a week or more.

[forgotmyCCname]

On 7/17/2019 at 1:43 PM, pezgirlroy said:

.

 

On 7/3/2019 at 12:26 PM, Host Clarea said:

No deposit necessary, Royal will let you charge up to $500 on a 7-night cruise before they ask you to pay down the account.

 

You can cash out any remaining balance on the last afternoon/night of the cruise.  No handling fee (yet). 

 

You must handle erroneous charges on the last day.  If you have not given them a credit card, they cannot make any "mistakes" and surprise you with a towel fee (or other such "mistake") after you leave the ship.

Is this per stateroom or per guest? We have ever done this but now I am intrigued. We are traveling with adult children ( 18,20,20) and Gramma.

Thank you

[Thorben-Hendrik]

3 minutes ago, forgotmyCCname said:

 

Is this per stateroom or per guest? We have ever done this but now I am intrigued. We are traveling with adult children ( 18,20,20) and Gramma.

Thank you

per Stateroom!👍

[forgotmyCCname]

32 minutes ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

per Stateroom!👍

Thank you!

[brillohead]

16 hours ago, banzaii said:

 

So we are in Australia and have a credit card that does not charge extra fees for foreign transactions.  For us, the biggest frustration of putting the credit card on file is that we need twice as much money as we spend.  One 'set' for the pre-athorisation holds when we make each transaction on board, then another for the total spend at the end of the cruise.

I've never had a pre-authorization put through for every transaction on board, just for the total at the end of the week.  But then, I don't run up a huge bill, either -- I purchase most things in advance via Cruise Planner to get the better prices.  

[Esmerelda]

We have done a cash account for the last 6 cruises.  I go down on day 5 of 7, add my debit card for anything we go over on. I let my credit union know that I'm out of the country before we sail. Never had any holds or wonky charges from RC or the CU. It works great for us. I think the most we have ever gone over was around $50. We will continue using a cash account. 

Edited July 20, 2019 by Esmerelda

[IzznOll17]

Here's maybe a solution (for Brits only I think) that may help people who are kinda sitting on the fence so to speak!

 

There's obviously pro's n con's to both sides ... so here goes!

 

There's a new style of 'app' based bank accounts available that simply work via your bank account. You simply deposit a said amount of cash into the account via the app on your phone/tablet and then use the card to pay your bill at the end of the cruise.

For example you could simply add onto the card at the end of every day and leave the card with nothing more than the expected balance when you pay up on the last night!

 

An added benefit is not only the supposedly better rate the card issuer gets than say a travel money company, but if there's zero on the card after you've paid your bill the card cannot be cloned! Well it could be, but useless without the ability to charge anything to it until you 'top' it up!

 

I guess the downside is you need regular internet access - most do nowadays, but i understand people 'switch off' when they go away.

I've linked both accounts I use to let people have a read up and see if it suits them. It may or may not help, but it may help those that maybe don't want to take out an excessive amount of dollars, yet want the advantage of a cash account and the safety of the flexible spend that a card gives?

An added bonus of the card to us Brits is the zero charges when withdrawing cash and paying for stuff abroad if for instance you had a land based holiday or pre cruise stay or port days in different countries to the $ based ship you're on!

When you use it to withdraw cash etc, you get a notification pretty much immediately too!

 

https://www.starlingbank.com/

 

https://monzo.com/

 

hope this is of some help to somebody? I've converted several people I know to these accounts 

Edited July 20, 2019 by IzznOll17

[Ourusualbeach]

14 hours ago, forgotmyCCname said:

 

Is this per stateroom or per guest? We have ever done this but now I am intrigued. We are traveling with adult children ( 18,20,20) and Gramma.

Thank you

 

14 hours ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

per Stateroom!👍

 

Just to clarify.

 

it is per on board account.

 

If only one account is set up as would need to be done with minor children then the limit would be $500 for the stateroom.  

 

If more than one person sets up an account as in the case of multiple adults sharing a cabin then it is $500 per individual account.

 

As your kids are over 18 it would depend on where they are sailing from as to whether or not they are considered an adult.  

 

For cruises departing North America they are not considered adults while everywhere else they are considered adults.

 

[JAMESCC]

On 7/3/2019 at 12:37 PM, voyager70 said:

 

Don't put down a CC at online check in.  Just click the box for a cash account.  You can go to GS anytime.  Late night/early morning are best to avoid crowds.

 

That is how we do it. We never use a CC on board. We save all our change from the day we book to sailing and usually save up 500-600 bucks. Then we bring on a few hundred more just in case. It works out every time and usually end up with my money to take home cause we haven't spent it all.

[brillohead]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

As your kids are over 18 it would depend on where they are sailing from as to whether or not they are considered an adult.  

 

For cruises departing North America they are not considered adults while everywhere else they are considered adults.

What does a passenger's age have to do with their onboard account?  

Since when can't you set up a separate account for an 18yo?  They ARE a legal adult in North America -- they just can't drink booze until they're 21yo.  

I'm confused...

[Ourusualbeach]

17 minutes ago, brillohead said:

What does a passenger's age have to do with their onboard account?  

Since when can't you set up a separate account for an 18yo?  They ARE a legal adult in North America -- they just can't drink booze until they're 21yo.  

I'm confused...

I was referring to the fact that underage kids can’t have their own account therefore the $500 limit would be for the cabin whereas if they are an adult they can set up their own account so theoretically if there were 4 in the cabin each would have a $500 limit which would be a total of $2000.

 

royal defines adult as 21 as that is the age you need to be to sail except for a few exceptions in North America.

Edited July 20, 2019 by Ourusualbeach

[forgotmyCCname]

56 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I was referring to the fact that underage kids can’t have their own account therefore the $500 limit would be for the cabin whereas if they are an adult they can set up their own account so theoretically if there were 4 in the cabin each would have a $500 limit which would be a total of $2000.

 

royal defines adult as 21 as that is the age you need to be to sail except for a few exceptions in North America.

Thanks for all the info!

 

[brillohead]

9 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I was referring to the fact that underage kids can’t have their own account therefore the $500 limit would be for the cabin whereas if they are an adult they can set up their own account so theoretically if there were 4 in the cabin each would have a $500 limit which would be a total of $2000.

 

royal defines adult as 21 as that is the age you need to be to sail except for a few exceptions in North America.

You may need to be 21 to sail, but since when does that mean you can't have your own account on board?  That's the part that confuses me.  

 

If I cruise with my 19yo son, he can have his own account and I can have my own account.  (And I'm pretty sure that his 17yo girlfriend can even have her own account, for that matter.  I'll try that when I cruise with her again in November.)

This is the first I've ever heard that Royal doesn't allow an adult to have their own onboard spending account.

[Ourusualbeach]

1 minute ago, brillohead said:

You may need to be 21 to sail, but since when does that mean you can't have your own account on board?  That's the part that confuses me.  

 

If I cruise with my 19yo son, he can have his own account and I can have my own account.  (And I'm pretty sure that his 17yo girlfriend can even have her own account, for that matter.  I'll try that when I cruise with her again in November.)

This is the first I've ever heard that Royal doesn't allow an adult to have their own onboard spending account.

Maybe they do allow them to have their own accounts at 18.  

 

By saying that that your son has his own account are you saying that in no way did you guarantee it.  If he had a bill they would let you off the ship but not him?

 

could be possible for the 18 YO but I’m pretty sure an adult would have to guarantee the 17yo.  There’s a difference between having your own account and who is legally responsible for its payment. 

 

[brillohead]

4 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

By saying that that your son has his own account are you saying that in no way did you guarantee it.  If he had a bill they would let you off the ship but not him?

Well, he's never not paid his bill, so I'm not sure how that would go!  LOL

And likewise, the 17yo can't get off the ship without me whether there's a balance due or not...

But if they are separate accounts, then they would each have the $500 limit, so four different people could charge up to a total of $2000.  

[Hogbay]

We set up a cash account , when checking in they will ask you for a CC you say cash account then same question to next pac they say cash account, then they ask would you like to be linked , and so on, had teenagers   in other cabin linked , I sign for it . when on board the $ 500 has been reached card's stop working , go and top up and go  cut up whom ever was responsible's card 🤣 In less than 24 hours all of a suddenly the culprit finds some cash 😋 and then can go and get a new card . No $2500 surprise 🙂