Can a ship keep you on board until you pay the bill?

[CDNPolar]

2 hours ago, Gwendy said:

Yes please, make me stay on onboard. Lol

 

If it were this easy to "stay on board" I would refuse to pay my bill on the last day!

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, Gwendy said:

Yes please, make me stay on onboard. Lol

HA! HA! In 1997, we did a land vacation at an AI in Jamaica for our 20th anniversary. There was a small tax to depart. The lady at the airport in front of us said she had spent all her money and could not pay the tax. She also said please make me stay. They did not.

[ontheweb]

Just now, ontheweb said:

HA! HA! In 1997, we did a land vacation at an AI in Jamaica for our 20th anniversary. There was a small tax to depart. The lady at the airport in front of us said she had spent all her money and could not pay the tax. She also said please make me stay. They did not.

Laughing again, I just looked at the reactions to my posts and see I posted basically the same thing back in July of 2022.

[Markanddonna]

MSC uses a strange policy where the passengers must register their credit cards at the terminal to pay for OB expenses. Most cruise lines do that before you board the terminal upon check-in.

 

You hear the reminder to register your CC many times before the end of the sailing. I saw someone detained when they tried to debark for this reason. I imagine, as others have said, that you are escorted to the bursars' office to work out the details.

[horseymike]

Hopefully they don’t make you walk the plank 🤣

[wcook]

Ship: You have an outstanding balance of $23.47 and can’t leave until it’s paid. 
Me: Oh, gosh darn, I’m completely tapped out. I am stuck on this ship. Woe is me. 
Ship: And your drink package is cut off

Me: Wait! I just remembered I have another credit card. I guess I can leave. 

Edited April 18 by wcook

[horseymike]

All kidding aside, every cruise I have taken 20 in 25 years, has been linked to a credit card to assure payment of the bill. There have been times where I paid the bill or part of it in cash before disembarking just to avoid the cc charge but that was always just an option.

[BeasleysMom66]

4 hours ago, horseymike said:

There have been times where I paid the bill or part of it in cash before disembarking

 

I made that mistake on my first cruise ever.  I was on the Equinox with Celebrity and I knew I was reaching my limit on my credit card so I went down on the last night and paid in cash and got a zero balance receipt.  Next morning I go to disembark and get the loud warning bell that I am denied leaving because I have a balance.  WHAT????  It was SO humiliating.  I had to go back to the "front desk" and asked them to explain why I was denied leaving.  They told me I had a balance and I asked for the folio.  When she printed it it was identical to the zero balance sheet from the night before.  I asked how much cash was needed to pay zero?  The purser looked at me sheepishly and offered no apology.  I was finally cleared to leave.  

 

That said on the next cruise with 2 friends from the first (all in separate cabins/reservations) one of us always had a money problem.  After Friend 1 and I left the ship we passed Friend 2 leaning on a pillar with a cruise employee standing there.  We didn't pay much attention at first but asked if she wanted to share a cab to the airport with us.  She said no she had some "business" to take care of.  As we waited to get our luggage we were talking about what could be wrong and another passenger said they had heard her talking to the employees and she had a balance she couldn't pay.  We lost touch with her and I don't know how it was handled but she was off the ship but an employee was standing there next to her for what purpose I don't know.  My guess is they had her sign a promissory note before she could claim her luggage and go home.

[horseymike]

3 hours ago, BeasleysMom66 said:

 

I made that mistake on my first cruise ever.  I was on the Equinox with Celebrity and I knew I was reaching my limit on my credit card so I went down on the last night and paid in cash and got a zero balance receipt.  Next morning I go to disembark and get the loud warning bell that I am denied leaving because I have a balance.  WHAT????  It was SO humiliating.  I had to go back to the "front desk" and asked them to explain why I was denied leaving.  They told me I had a balance and I asked for the folio.  When she printed it it was identical to the zero balance sheet from the night before.  I asked how much cash was needed to pay zero?  The purser looked at me sheepishly and offered no apology.  I was finally cleared to leave.  

 

That said on the next cruise with 2 friends from the first (all in separate cabins/reservations) one of us always had a money problem.  After Friend 1 and I left the ship we passed Friend 2 leaning on a pillar with a cruise employee standing there.  We didn't pay much attention at first but asked if she wanted to share a cab to the airport with us.  She said no she had some "business" to take care of.  As we waited to get our luggage we were talking about what could be wrong and another passenger said they had heard her talking to the employees and she had a balance she couldn't pay.  We lost touch with her and I don't know how it was handled but she was off the ship but an employee was standing there next to her for what purpose I don't know.  My guess is they had her sign a promissory note before she could claim her luggage and go home.

That really stinks. I would hope they would have provided you with an FCC for your inconvenience.

[BeasleysMom66]

1 hour ago, horseymike said:

That really stinks. I would hope they would have provided you with an FCC for your inconvenience.

 

You would think but no and as it was my first time cruising I didn't have the knowledge to push for it.  

[Abe3689]

4 hours ago, BeasleysMom66 said:

 

I made that mistake on my first cruise ever.  I was on the Equinox with Celebrity and I knew I was reaching my limit on my credit card so I went down on the last night and paid in cash and got a zero balance receipt.  Next morning I go to disembark and get the loud warning bell that I am denied leaving because I have a balance.  WHAT????  It was SO humiliating.  I had to go back to the "front desk" and asked them to explain why I was denied leaving.  They told me I had a balance and I asked for the folio.  When she printed it it was identical to the zero balance sheet from the night before.  I asked how much cash was needed to pay zero?  The purser looked at me sheepishly and offered no apology.  I was finally cleared to leave.  

 

That said on the next cruise with 2 friends from the first (all in separate cabins/reservations) one of us always had a money problem.  After Friend 1 and I left the ship we passed Friend 2 leaning on a pillar with a cruise employee standing there.  We didn't pay much attention at first but asked if she wanted to share a cab to the airport with us.  She said no she had some "business" to take care of.  As we waited to get our luggage we were talking about what could be wrong and another passenger said they had heard her talking to the employees and she had a balance she couldn't pay.  We lost touch with her and I don't know how it was handled but she was off the ship but an employee was standing there next to her for what purpose I don't know.  My guess is they had her sign a promissory note before she could claim her luggage and go home.

Interesting. I had a casino comp cruise also on Celebrity recently where they never got a credit card on file because it was booked through a casino host. They did not ask for a card at check-in and I thought for sure they weren’t gonna let us disembark because I had a balance.

 

I also did not get to play because the casino would not let me (long story). So I  had no points to take care of the bill and was positive they wouldn’t let us disembark as I had about a $300 balance but was not stopped.
 

 

[BruceMuzz]

On 4/20/2024 at 12:39 AM, BeasleysMom66 said:

 

I made that mistake on my first cruise ever.  I was on the Equinox with Celebrity and I knew I was reaching my limit on my credit card so I went down on the last night and paid in cash and got a zero balance receipt.  Next morning I go to disembark and get the loud warning bell that I am denied leaving because I have a balance.  WHAT????  It was SO humiliating.  I had to go back to the "front desk" and asked them to explain why I was denied leaving.  They told me I had a balance and I asked for the folio.  When she printed it it was identical to the zero balance sheet from the night before.  I asked how much cash was needed to pay zero?  The purser looked at me sheepishly and offered no apology.  I was finally cleared to leave.  

 

That said on the next cruise with 2 friends from the first (all in separate cabins/reservations) one of us always had a money problem.  After Friend 1 and I left the ship we passed Friend 2 leaning on a pillar with a cruise employee standing there.  We didn't pay much attention at first but asked if she wanted to share a cab to the airport with us.  She said no she had some "business" to take care of.  As we waited to get our luggage we were talking about what could be wrong and another passenger said they had heard her talking to the employees and she had a balance she couldn't pay.  We lost touch with her and I don't know how it was handled but she was off the ship but an employee was standing there next to her for what purpose I don't know.  My guess is they had her sign a promissory note before she could claim her luggage and go home.

Your credit card issue happened because the ship transmits the credit card charges in a “batch” at the end of the cruise. The bank that issued the card initially approved the charge as standard procedure. Then they realized the card was overdrawn and sent a message to the cruise line that the charge was not approved. This happens quite often on the mass market cruise lines.

On mass market ships, an average of 10% of passengers cannot pay their bill at the end of the cruise. That is why the cruise lines want a card imprint at the beginning. They place a credit hold on your card so that they can be sure to receive at least the bulk of what you owe.

[BeasleysMom66]

1 hour ago, BruceMuzz said:

Your credit card issue happened because the ship transmits the credit card charges in a “batch” at the end of the cruise. The bank that issued the card initially approved the charge as standard procedure. Then they realized the card was overdrawn and sent a message to the cruise line that the charge was not approved. This happens quite often on the mass market cruise lines.

 I follow that part.  What I don't agree with is once I went to the hotel desk and paid the bill there was no charges to put through.  I had a zero balance.  They should have only released the hold not tried to bill me again then blocked me from leaving in a humiliating fashion.  If I had actually owed money that would be one thing but when I upheld my responsibility and paid in full my credit card was no longer needed.  

 

1 hour ago, BruceMuzz said:

They place a credit hold on your card so that they can be sure to receive at least the bulk of what you owe.

 

Which they tried to put through after being paid in cash.  Shame on them.  You don't get to double dip and humiliate the passenger while trying.  PERIOD.

[K32682]

It's a bad practice to travel with credit cards at or near the limit. Credit isn't hard to get and I always travel with at least two high-limit cards to cover most eventualities.

[BeasleysMom66]

5 hours ago, K32682 said:

It's a bad practice to travel with credit cards at or near the limit.

 

I don't.  I simply didn't want to pay interest on the balance and preferred to pay in cash not credit.  Apparently Celebrity can't handle that.  I don't carry balances on my cards.

5 hours ago, K32682 said:

Credit isn't hard to get

 

😂😂😂 depends on who you sre.  Especially these days.  Try telling that to my useless brother who can't do Sesame Street level money management.