Paying for (some of) another cabin's on board costs

[JennAngel9]

My husband and I are taking our (single) mothers on a cruise on the Gem this summer (they have never visited western europe). Although our friends have told us we're crazy, we are excited to be able to this for them and want to pay all of their basic expenses, most of which are paid for in advance. However, there are other things (standard gratuitites, possibly shore excursions, etc.) that we'll want to be able to pay, and many things (casino, on board shops, etc.) that we don't, charged to the shipboard account. Also, they will probably want to track their miscellaneous spending seperately.

 

Our mom's are easygoing and grateful, so I don't anticipate this being contentious-- but I am curious how easy it is to spilt the bill between "our" expenses and "their" expenses at the end. Has anybody had experience with this sort of situation with NCL or any cruise line? Can we just transfer the charges we are responsible for to our cabin?

 

I am hoping there is some way we can do this that doesn't involve us writing our moms a check or vice versa. All suggestions welcome.

[BeachBumMama]

How wonderful! :) You'll all have a grand time!

As to your question, everyone can set up their own separate account with their own credit cards or cash, and have their own spending linked to their own account on their card. I'm assuming you and your husband would be on your own account, then your mother and his mother with their own accounts.

 

Then you can go to their Bon Voyage Gifts and purchase onboard credit for each of them in the amount you wish.

 

Hope that helped, have a great time!:D

[pboedeker]

I have gone to the purser's desk and had specific dollar amounts credited to someone else's account while being charged to my account. This wouldn't allow for you to pay for specifics, but it will allow you to estimate some charges that you might want to offset.

 

I have also been able to charge my kids (separate cabin) gratuities to my onboard account?

 

Hope this helps!

[garycarla]

Assume they have their own cabin? Assumig they do, they will have their own bills. You can just pay part of it at anytime. Just go to pursers desk and say " I want to pay $300 of the bill for cabin 3413". If they are in your cabin, they will have their own charge card, and you can still do the same thing.

 

It might be easier to give them a certain amount and let them do what they want after that. Or pick up certain things, say the auto gratuity, 2 tours, etc.

 

But, yes, you can pay for whatever you want. Hey, stop by our cabin and pick up our wine bill too!

[Desert star]

If you book the excursions it will be charged to the credit card assigned to you. As far is the auto tipping goes, you may be able to ask that they just charge that to your card as well when you board the ship.

Credit cards are assigned to each passenger not each cabin. If that makes sense.

[JennAngel9]

Wow, thanks for all of the helpful replies. :)

 

We will be in separate cabins, so it's great to know we have the option of pre-depositing OBC (which takes a lot of the hassle out of sorting things out onboard), and/or having their gratuities charged directly to our cabin, and if necessary, just walking to the purser's desk and sorting things out at the end.

 

It sounds like it would be possible, aggregating all of the information you all have provided, to have their gratuities go directly to our cabin, pay for their shore excursions & dining surcharges directly (as we'll all be going together) AND maybe give $100 of OBC or so to cover the occasional drink or game of bingo.

 

Thank you all again so much for helping me to sort this out so quickly, I have one last question-- is it possible to specifically give each mom a credit of $x amount (toward card spending) as opposed to a total credit for the room, which if I remember correctly on Princess and Celebrity, generally puts the whole credit on one person's account?

[JessLCH]

Tagging along to ask a related (but different) question. We are paying for my parents in the suite next to ours and I would like ALL of their expenses charged to us. Can i just link their cabin to our credit card when we check in or does the credit card have to match the passengers?

[Toyz711]

just check in together and hand them your card, when asked.

you will get a letter, during the cruise..stating that you agree to be responsible for thier charges.

[BeachBumMama]

I have one last question-- is it possible to specifically give each mom a credit of $x amount (toward card spending) as opposed to a total credit for the room, which if I remember correctly on Princess and Celebrity, generally puts the whole credit on one person's account?

Your mom's will each have their own separate accounts to begin with. If you were to purchase Onboard credit for them, you would simply do it separate in each of their names, in whatever amount you choose. Hope that helped.:)

[JennAngel9]

Ok, sounds like we've got it all, or at least mostly, figured out. :)

 

Thanks again!