credit card at check in

[tommy]

Do you have to give a credit card when checking in or can I wait till I get on the ship?

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 minutes ago, tommy said:

Do you have to give a credit card when checking in or can I wait till I get on the ship?

 

IDK yet wanted to point out you can CHANGE credit cards once aboard

[Mr. Click]

They will ask for one when you check in online but as NutsAboutGolf said, it easy to go to guest relations and change it.  I had to do it last summer when the card I used to check in got hacked and was canceled and re-issued with a new number.

[cruisestitch]

You can tell the staff at check-in that you are setting up a cash account, and then, when you get on the ship, go to guest relations and give them your credit card.
 

A number of years ago, some credit cards were compromised by a rogue staff member in Fort Lauderdale. At that point I began waiting until I got on the ship to present my credit card.

[Ferry_Watcher]

If you don't have a credit card registered at embarkation you will be sent to a counter agent.  They can see when pulling up your boarding info, that you don't have a credit card on file and they will ask you if you want to add one now.

 

Depending on how much you value your time, the easiest option is to add the credit card with the counter agent.  If you don't, expect a letter from Guest Services a couple days into your cruise asking you to come to Guest Services (where you can stand in a line with everyone else).  If you don't add a credit card or put a cash deposit down, your usage of your SeaPass card will become restricted.

[cruisestitch]

6 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

If you don't have a credit card registered at embarkation you will be sent to a counter agent.  They can see when pulling up your boarding info, that you don't have a credit card on file and they will ask you if you want to add one now.

 

Depending on how much you value your time, the easiest option is to add the credit card with the counter agent.  If you don't, expect a letter from Guest Services a couple days into your cruise asking you to come to Guest Services (where you can stand in a line with everyone else).  If you don't add a credit card or put a cash deposit down, your usage of your SeaPass card will become restricted.

That all depends on if you have OBC to offset any on board charges.

[Arizona Wildcat]

1 hour ago, tommy said:

Do you have to give a credit card when checking in or can I wait till I get on the ship?

Yes.

[Mark_K]

12 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

A number of years ago, some credit cards were compromised by a rogue staff member in Fort Lauderdale. At that point I began waiting until I got on the ship to present my credit card.

Wouldn’t doing it online before getting to the port have served as well to thwart the miscreant? 

[PTC DAWG]

46 minutes ago, Mark_K said:

Wouldn’t doing it online before getting to the port have served as well to thwart the miscreant? 

Thats my take also…

[cruisestitch]

Might have but at the time nobody knew what records he or she had access to

[Ferry_Watcher]

Just a FYI re credit cards and checking in.  Only counter agents have the needed equipment to  swipe your credit card to enter it into the system, or to change the card a passengers wants to use.  Any time an agent is on a passenger's folio page on their check-in lap top, only the registered credit card's last four digits are shown.  If a passengers asks about what credit card is registered, we say 'you registered your Visa card ending in 2387' because that is all we see.

[NutsAboutGolf]

19 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

You can tell the staff at check-in that you are setting up a cash account, and then, when you get on the ship, go to guest relations and give them your credit card.
 

A number of years ago, some credit cards were compromised by a rogue staff member in Fort Lauderdale. At that point I began waiting until I got on the ship to present my credit card.

 

That can happen literally anywhere.  In the US, more and more restaurants now have a mobile credit card reader where they charge your card at the table (so your card never leaves your sight) but many restaurants still take your card away and charge it at the register.  I've seen it multiple times where foreigners from Europe and Australia are shocked when they take the card away to the back.