Friend won’t give her credit card until port

[cruzebunny]

I am going on Queen Mary

my friend is not comfortable finalizing the cruise contract because she would need to provide her credit card to Cunard or our travel agent 

she wants to wait until she gets to the port 

I am worried it will be delayed to get on board 

also she can’t sign up for excursions ahead of time 

we are not rooming together 

is it a good idea to sign cruise contract and wait to provide credit card on date of departure at the pier

thanks for any advice that could change her mind 

[Bell Boy]

Think you might need to change your travel companion , what's going to be the next drama once she/he is onboard 😉

[Pushpit]

I inadvertently found myself in this position when I destroyed my USD credit card just before boarding through an act of personal stupidity. I did get a replacement on the day of sailing, so presented this card at Southampton. It did cause some issues later on so I would say to your friend - "look, your credit card company will reverse any non legitimate expenses, and you can easily and immediately check expenditure via the onboard app / website. It's not logical to trust Cunard with your body but not your card".

 

But yeah, some people are just a bit odd about this. It will given them some hassle, but that is their look-out. It won't delay boarding by more than a few minutes.

[cruzebunny]

Thanks for your advice 

[NE John]

2 hours ago, cruzebunny said:

is it a good idea to sign cruise contract and wait to provide credit card on date of departure at the pier

I believe every passenger has to sign the cruise contact quite a few days before departure. Cunard will get on your friend’s case if she doesn’t sign that contract and she won’t sail if not completed. 

[LibertyBella]

Well, I never wait until I get on the ship to buy excursions--I purchase them all in advance, and I use different credit cards as needed/desired to do so.

 

This Summer I did not provide a CC # in advance of my Princess cruise as almost all was prepaid--I was very surprised when I was checking in that nobody asked me for a CC# anyway.  Well, it turns out they cancelled one of my expensive prepaid shore excursions, so I ended up with a lot of OBC.

 

I do not think waiting until she boards will cause any major delays, so do not worry. 

[Underwatr]

You can provide a different credit card for excursion pre-booking than you plan to provide at embarkation. Perhaps you can spend an evening with your friend helping her book excursions you plan to do together and provide your credit card and she pays you cash or a check or whatever.

Given a choice I'd stick my card number into a Cunard web form rather than having a cruise port employee swipe it at embarkation. The risk of a skim is much higher there then on the website (and the info ends up in the same database anyway).

[david,Mississauga]

According to the passage contract guests do not have to produce a credit card until boarding the vessel.  A quote from section 2:

 

"(B) Upon boarding the vessel, You must register a valid credit card or other acceptable payment method at the Guest Services/Purser’s Desk to cover any charges to Your stateroom account." 

 

Although it doesn't specifically say so in the passage contract - unless I missed it whilst quickly scanning the 18 pages - guests do not need a credit card. Cash can be deposited. I suppose this meets the definition of "other acceptable payment method" in the contract.  The wording below is the same on the UK site. A while back I was checking into this for an eccentric friend who refuses on principle to have a credit card.  I don't know if it is the same now, but in order to activate the cruise card for on-board charges a deposit of US$300 had to be made at the purser's office. Further deposits would be required if spending exceeds $300.

 

https://my.cunard.com/en-us/mycruise//articles/money-service

 

An excerpt:

"You may choose to settle your account with cash. However, a payment card should still be registered. If a payment card is not registered the account must be kept in credit at all times. If the account is not in credit you will be unable to make charges to your account. You may add credit to your account at any time by visiting the Purser’s Office and making an additional cash deposit.

You may credit your account with any major currency, which will then be converted at the ship’s current exchange rates into USD; this will then be applied to your account in USD. We are unable to accept either personal cheques or traveller’s cheques. We are also unable to accept €500 notes at any time, this includes the Casino."

 

 

 

 

[cruzebunny]

Thanks for your info folks

She was able to get help from our travel agent 

we are set

 

[MrsPeel55]

On 8/17/2023 at 3:16 AM, david,Mississauga said:

According to the passage contract guests do not have to produce a credit card until boarding the vessel.  A quote from section 2:

 

"(B) Upon boarding the vessel, You must register a valid credit card or other acceptable payment method at the Guest Services/Purser’s Desk to cover any charges to Your stateroom account." 

 

Although it doesn't specifically say so in the passage contract - unless I missed it whilst quickly scanning the 18 pages - guests do not need a credit card. Cash can be deposited. I suppose this meets the definition of "other acceptable payment method" in the contract.  The wording below is the same on the UK site. A while back I was checking into this for an eccentric friend who refuses on principle to have a credit card.  I don't know if it is the same now, but in order to activate the cruise card for on-board charges a deposit of US$300 had to be made at the purser's office. Further deposits would be required if spending exceeds $300.

 

https://my.cunard.com/en-us/mycruise//articles/money-service

 

An excerpt:

"You may choose to settle your account with cash. However, a payment card should still be registered. If a payment card is not registered the account must be kept in credit at all times. If the account is not in credit you will be unable to make charges to your account. You may add credit to your account at any time by visiting the Purser’s Office and making an additional cash deposit.

You may credit your account with any major currency, which will then be converted at the ship’s current exchange rates into USD; this will then be applied to your account in USD. We are unable to accept either personal cheques or traveller’s cheques. We are also unable to accept €500 notes at any time, this includes the Casino."

 

 

 

 

 

you may find that now they do.

Thedy sent us the online checking for our upcoming sail, asked to put a credit card details for both of us, I thought was weird as we booked online with my booking so I assume they did have my cards detail... we had to fill in,

 

it reads this

Please fill your details to complete online check in and download boarding passes. You can fill this information in parts until 10pm GMT the day before your cruise sails.

 

here is a screen shot

 

[Pushpit]

4 hours ago, MrsPeel55 said:

 

you may find that now they do.

Thedy sent us the online checking for our upcoming sail, asked to put a credit card details for both of us, I thought was weird as we booked online with my booking so I assume they did have my cards detail... we had to fill in,

Not quite. The online check-in requires the card or you can't complete the process. But online check-in isn't compulsory, they want you to do this rather have to photograph thousands of passengers. Indeed the port process would be quite unmanageable, partly because most of the agents now use an app on their phone to complete the process, so that only about 1 agent in 5 has a full computer/laptop. Anyone who does the online process can be managed by an agent with an app. Those who haven't checked in (and you can imagine some people have been travelling for many weeks before boarding) can do so, but it take a bit longer. 

 

That incidentally is interesting: a skilled agent can with through the passport, credit card and photo far faster than any of us at home. But anyway Cunard prefers us to do this work - but doesn't compel us to do so.