Credit Card Pre-authorisations

[david63]

I fully understand all about credit card pre-authorisations and I am not trying to start another topic regurgitating the same old same.

 

There is a strange thing happening at the moment on QV and I don't know if it is a new procedure with Cunard/Carnival, an IT glitch or something with my CC company (Barclaycard) but there is currently a five day rolling pre-authorisation happening. By that I mean that all I see on my CC is the pre-authorisations for the last five days.

 

I cannot see the point of pre-authorising this way as there is the possibility that come the end of the cruise there could be insufficient funds available on the card (I hasten to add that will not be an issue for me)

[godfreyb]

I was informed on our last Cunard cruise that it's standard practice on Cunard to prevent potential 'losses', i.e. the card expires during the voyage or any other shenanigans.  Puzzling as to the type of passengers they think that they have on board, but when you read about all the high-level fraudulent activities that go on, not surprising.

[david63]

1 hour ago, godfreyb said:

I was informed on our last Cunard cruise that it's standard practice on Cunard to prevent potential 'losses', i.e. the card expires during the voyage or any other shenanigans.

I am well aware of the reason for doing it but only having a five day rolling pre-authorisation will not resolve that problem.

 

1 hour ago, godfreyb said:

Puzzling as to the type of passengers they think that they have on board, but when you read about all the high-level fraudulent activities that go on, not surprising

What makes you think that Cunard have any different type of passenger than any other cruise line?

[exlondoner]

9 minutes ago, david63 said:

I am well aware of the reason for doing it but only having a five day rolling pre-authorisation will not resolve that problem.

 

What makes you think that Cunard have any different type of passenger than any other cruise line?

I wouldn’t know in terms of proneness to fraud, but one can draw conclusions from some of the amenities provided on the ships. Fewer teenagers than some, more literary than others, older on average than others etc. Not sure this throws much light on whether they are likely to be crooks.

[3rdGenCunarder]

On 9/27/2024 at 10:18 AM, david63 said:

I fully understand all about credit card pre-authorisations and I am not trying to start another topic regurgitating the same old same.

 

There is a strange thing happening at the moment on QV and I don't know if it is a new procedure with Cunard/Carnival, an IT glitch or something with my CC company (Barclaycard) but there is currently a five day rolling pre-authorisation happening. By that I mean that all I see on my CC is the pre-authorisations for the last five days.

 

I cannot see the point of pre-authorising this way as there is the possibility that come the end of the cruise there could be insufficient funds available on the card (I hasten to add that will not be an issue for me)

 

I agree that this is odd. If they want to make sure the money will be available, the usual thing is to protect the whole cruise. That's what I've always seen, but I haven't done anything longer than 2 weeks in a long time. Are you on a longer cruise? Maybe that has something to do with it? By rolling, do you mean that they add one more day each day or another five days at a time? 

[Caipi]

That's strange...

In August on QM2 when I woke up in the morning the (one) pre-authorised amount was always already updated in my banking app with the amount I spent the previous day. On disemberkation day they only had to add our minibar consumption. 

Edited September 28 by Caipi

[david63]

4 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

Are you on a longer cruise?

Three weeks, but I don't think that is the problem.

4 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

By rolling, do you mean that they add one more day each day or another five days at a time? 

I mean that there is only the last five days showing, so, for example, tomorrow day one will roll off and I will have days 2-6 ect.

[david63]

Something has definitely changed with the way pre-authorisations work as when my final account was taken from my CC all outstanding pre-authorisations disappeared.

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, david63 said:

Something has definitely changed with the way pre-authorisations work as when my final account was taken from my CC all outstanding pre-authorisations disappeared.

 

My understanding, at least for US banks, is that what you saw is exactly how it works. Lots of businesses put a pre-authorization, or "hold" on credit cards. Hotels do it at check in. I can recall only one hotel (in Australia) telling me about it, but others do, too. Car rentals put a hold on the renter's card, which is why some companies don't like to rent on a debit card--I think they either can't do a hold on a debit card or it's more difficult to do so.

 

Back to Cunard. The Cunard pre-authorization doesn't move any your money from your credit card to Cunard. The money is set aside (sort of quarantined) so it can't be used for any other expenditure. When the final bill arrives, the credit card sends the final amount to Cunard and any other amount that had been pre-authorized is released for you to spend elsewhere. Because the pre-authorization isn't a "real" transaction and doesn't move any money, it does not appear on any statements.  

[david63]

@3rdGenCunarder I am more than well aware of how pre-authorisations work and don't have a problem with them but for years Carnival UK have not released them when final payment is made and they stay there until they eventually roll off. Something has changed either with Carnival UK of with my CC company.

[IB2]

23 hours ago, david63 said:

@3rdGenCunarder I am more than well aware of how pre-authorisations work and don't have a problem with them but for years Carnival UK have not released them when final payment is made and they stay there until they eventually roll off. Something has changed either with Carnival UK of with my CC company.

It took almost a whole month before I was free of the debit card authorisations after my TA in August

[3rdGenCunarder]

21 minutes ago, IB2 said:

It took almost a whole month before I was free of the debit card authorisations after my TA in August

 

I use a credit card, not a debit card, and the authorizations go away very quickly. Debit cards seem to be more complicated for authorizations, at least here in the US. Hotels and cruise lines warn that the authorization on a credit card could take a week or more to clear, but in my experience they're faster than that. 

[Megabear2]

10 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I use a credit card, not a debit card, and the authorizations go away very quickly. Debit cards seem to be more complicated for authorizations, at least here in the US. Hotels and cruise lines warn that the authorization on a credit card could take a week or more to clear, but in my experience they're faster than that. 

I actually did some research on this subject for P&O passengers who were finding themselves financially embarrassed due to the length of time some of these transactions were taking to "drop off".  The result of that turned up a document issued to banks and merchants in the US regarding the amount of time that was considered reasonable for the funds to be held once a final bill was settled.  If I recall correctly, it was issued by Visa, and the amount of time was a maximum of 72 hours after settlement. There was particular mention of cruise lines and car hire companies in the document.  This document is well over 100 pages so I won't bore you with the detail save to say there are quite stringent rules in the US

 

Despite a search and enquiries with UK banks I could not find any such document for UK customers protection and a discussion with my bank gave me to believe that no such rule exists within the UK.

Edited October 3 by Megabear2

[D&N]

I opted to switch between a debit and credit card at the Sofitel in Manhattan because their authorisation that we were not going to spend was blocking much of the USD balance that we wanted to use for daily spend.

The receptionist warned me that it would take several days to clear. A few seconds later I was able to show on the card's app that it had cleared and the full balance was available.

 

I think it's more often down to the card supplier rather than the merchant.

[Caipi]

I used a debit card from the fintech company Wise and there was not a moment when they or CUNARD owed me something; as I already wrote the amount in my Wise app was updated everyday to the correct amount I spent until the previous evening altogether. 

Edited October 4 by Caipi