Onboard payment Deposit

[yellow-submarine]

The MSC app says that: "You can Top up your onboard account by depositing a minimum amount of €250 per cabin, €150 per person at any of the Cruise Card Activation Point"
It is not clearly explained how they calculate it? If 3 person sharing a cabin, what is the minimum: €250 or €450 or €250+450?

How is the refund process at the end of the trip? I read some stories that some people had a hard time to get their money back. Will use an international debit card, don't want to use credit card because of the high foreign currency fees.
 

[Tierun]

You will have to option to cover everyone in the cabin with the card, or just individual cabin members. So the hold will be 250 if covering everyone or the individual hold if not covering the whole cabin.

 

the hold is not a hard charge and anything that isn’t spent will go back to the account available balance after the reconciliation of the account. Usually within a week.

[yellow-submarine]

Thanks Tierun. Hold only works with credit card but not with debit cards.
They say that I have to register the cards within 48hours. What happens if I don't? Is there any repercussion other then not being able to purchase things on board.

[jame_g]

Yes, if you don't have a card registered for the cabin or a cash deposit to draw against, they will stop allowing purchase at some point. We had that happen when my card didn't properly link to my spouse as well.

 

They will place a Hold on debit cards too, and that is where people typically experience issues. Because the hold can take time to release and likely won't match up to a specific purchase, that money may be unavailable for a time until the release is processed. The hold may still be there for a while after the charges are processed and subtracted from your account. Using a debit card for onboard expenses is generally discouraged due to potential issues with a hold that can impact the availability of the cash in your account. Only you can decide what is right in your situation though.