Sign and Sail activation

[cruisinonmymind]

I cannot remember, when you are at the port checking in, is it at that time that your sign and sail is activated? I know they take your credit card to scan it, (I think at least, its been sooo long). Is it at that time, you are activated and ready to buy foo-foo drinks? I thought you only went to the pursers desk to activate it if you used cash? Do I need to go to the pursers desk to make sure? \

Please help, I leave Wed. morning for Tampa:D

[Cotton]

Hmmm. I uses a debit card to pay for my cruises, and I've never gone to the purser's desk at all.

[wwakla]

Cotton

When you used your debit card did they (CC) put a hold on it? How much?

Will they allow you to pay cash at the end?

 

Thanks

Kris

[Cruising89143]

If you are using a credit or debit card then it is handled at check-in. You only have to go to the pursers office if you are going to open your account with cash or travlers checks.

[Cotton]

wwakla - This may sound silly, but I don't know if they put a hold on it or not. I was never asked, and never thought to ask. I just gave my card number and never thought about it again.:)

And yes, you can go to the purser's desk at the end of your cruise and pay your account off in cash if you wish.

[judithdh1]

It must be activated at the time of check in because the first thing I did when we got on the boat was go right to the bar and buy rounds for the family and they used my S&S card.

 

Judi Hensley

[cruisinonmymind]

Thank you so much for the info.

 

I can't wait until Saturday when I am on the Sensation with our friends! I am going to get some drinks as soon as I get there, it may be early in FL, but somewhere it is 5 o'clock!:D :D

[serene56]

When using a debit card-- do you have a daiy limit?? If so call the bank a month ahead of time to de-activate the daily limit. I have $400.00 on mine and our card would have been denied.

If you use a credit card on your cruise you do not need to activate at the pursers deck--it is activated when you checked in. Now if you are using cash--you do need to see the purser sometimes within the first 24 hours. The best time is --dinner times...less crowded. (very crowded in the afternoon when one first gets onboard.

[elvisillusions]

We used our debit card to activate our S&S card. Since we were paying for internet access to email the kids while we were gone, we checked our bank account online a couple of times while we were online. There was no hold put on our account and the debit did not clear or even show up until 3 days after we were home from the cruise. I'm not sure if it's different with different banks... hope this helps

 

Kim

[wwakla]

I have a $500 daily limit. I read somewhere that they put a hold daily on what you purchase. Problem is that the hold lasts three days even if the purchase goes though.

[GoinCruisin]

They put a hold on your card, but it won't show as a cleared transaction... it will be a "pending transaction", they just do that so they know you have enough money to cover your S&S... but check your bank when you get home, I have heard of some people having trouble because the hold was not actually released for a couple of days...

[Cruise_More_Often]

Our first RCI cruise is in January. I thought I read somewhere on this Board that you need to fill out some paperwork for the Sign and Sail card prior to check-in. Is this in addition to pre-registering online?

[GoinCruisin]

You will receive your S&S application within your documents... you will just fill it in when completing your docs...

[Cruise_More_Often]

Sorry, everyone, my post was meant for the RCI Board. I searched for the term "sign and sail," not realizing that the results encompassed ALL Boards. I found a post where I could enter my question, did so and then realized when I navigated back to the RCI main Board that the thread was a Carnival thread!!! Ooooo Nooooo.

[HOSKI]

We had a problem with Carnival in June and the hold on our debit card. Carnival does not actively release the hold but lets it expire. We overdrew our account because of the hold and the actual sail and sign bill. The bank was nice enough to release the hold for us and it was taken care of.

[kapcruiser]

I am thinking of not putting any money on my children's sign and sail card in case they loose it, when do I do that? If they want anything we will be with them most of the time.

[Cruising89143]

quote:

 

I am thinking of not putting any money on my children's sign and sail card in case they loose it, when do I do that? If they want anything we will be with them most of the time.

When you receive your documents, there is one page to fill out for your sail n sign activation. Just write down the names of the persons that you wish to be able to charge with the account that you set up. If you would not like your children to be able to charge, you can leave their names off of the list.

[kapcruiser]

Thank you that sounds easy enough for me to do.

[serene56]

You will still need to go to the pursers desk to remove the kids buying power on their cards.

On our first cruise we did not put any names of the kids on out sign and sail page but my niece was able to buy sodas that first day. _she thought they were free.

 

But they willneed to keep their sign and sail card as this is the card that allows them to get on and off the ship while in ports. (I dont know if its the room key on the inspiration)