Sail & Sign with a debit card?

[cherylatwork]

Hi all!

We will be traveling with 3 teens ages 18, 19 &19 on the Inspiration on 4/24. This is a graduation gift for them and they understand that they must pay for their own expenses on the ship. All three have jobs and debit cards but no credit cards. I have read somewhere that it is not a good idea to put a debit card down on your sail & sign account. Anyone have any input on this? And No they will not be having signing privileges on our account.

Cheryl

[seattlejeff]

I've been told that they will freeze the funds in the account so if you have bills to pay that come out of that card, the bills will not go through.

[stim8r]

If they will be paying for their own tips ($10/Day) they will be on the Sail and Sign account so they will have to have at least that amount available on each card. If it is 7 day they will probably put a hold of about $250 at registration so they should be aware that they won't be able to access about that amount. My suggestion would be to have about $500 in total available on each card so they can get some souvenirs and go on an excursion or 2 and still have access to some money if required.

Chris and Aggie

Auburn Maine

[CrazyMums]

I've been told that they will freeze the funds in the account so if you have bills to pay that come out of that card, the bills will not go through.

 

I think it depends on the bank. I've used my debit/check card for the past four cruises and they've never frozen the funds or put a hold on it. The charges usually come out 3 to 4 days after I return home. I have read that others on this board have had their accounts frozen though. It's probably best to check with your bank.

[Kendra]

Ive personally used my debit card on all of my cruises and haven't had a problem.

 

I heard about the freezing thing too, but It hasn't happened to me...yet...

 

Good luck on your cruise =)

[basketlover]

those of you who say you didn't have accoutns frozen did you have alot of money in the bank? I don't want to know how much money you have/make, but I'll be honest we don't have alot in our checking account so if they put a 250 hold then charged our bal. at the end say it was 200 each we might not have all that money in our account.

 

So my question I guess is do you a ton of money in you account to begin with?

[VentureMan_2000]

How about doing something simple... like paying cash.

 

Not sure, but I would think you would do this at the Purser's desk. Tell the purser that you want, say $126, put on your account. That way, when they are out of money... well, they are out.:)

[cherylatwork]

Hi all!

Thanks for the quick responses. I think you have answered my question. They each have in excess of $500.00 so I will make them take their cash to apply to their Sail & Sign account. Thanks again!

Cheryl

[jw4jg1mg2eg1]

After our gratuities (for 3 people) & a few trips to the gift shop,purchasing acouple of pictures & playing BINGO a few times, our S&S account was $419. at the end of the week. I'll have to say though I really had to restrain myself.....or maybe it was the evil look my husband gave me whenever I entered one of the shops...:rolleyes: If you read all the fine print on your documents, it says how much of your account will be froze. I think it was $250. for us.

We also took about $800. cash with us....& that was down to ZILCH when we retuned.......hmmm....could've been the trips to the casino 'cause my purse was much lighter when I walked out of there...LOL! We bought alot of souviniers for ourselves & friends so, it wasn't hard to spend all the money.

Maybe if there was someway you could double up on a couple of bills, you can have a little more money when your cruise date gates here? That's what we did for a couple of months prior to our cruise & it's what I'm doing this time also.

You are in control of how expensive your trip can get.

I hope you have a wonderful cruise!!

[MeLuvDaSea]

On our last cruise I used my debit card for my wife, two daughters and me. I asked how much of a hold they would put on it in total and was told $50. We got one statement and the girls used receipts to settle up with me afterward. We will do it again this trip.

[CrazyMums]

How about doing something simple... like paying cash. Not sure, but I would think you would do this at the Purser's desk. Tell the purser that you want, say $126, put on your account. That way, when they are out of money... well, they are out.:)

 

On our cruise last week, they told me the minimum I could put down to activate my 14 year old's S&S card was $200. I believe the minimum for adults for a 7 or 8 day cruise is higher. The 18 and 19 year olds would probably be considered adults.

[cherylandtk]

If you are worried about having a low bank balance and want to use your debit card, just use it at the Pursers office as if it was the ATM machine. You are technically running a cash account, not a credit account, but you control how much cash to put on your account and when it is removed. No worries about holds or freezing accounts AND no worries about carrying around cash.