Paying Bill at end of cruise ?

[bendog]

How is it best to settle up at end of cruise. we are from the UK.

[Gonzo70]

On all cruise lines that I know of people generally leave a credit card or debit card number during embarkation, so there is no need to "settle up" at the end. They just bill your card. If you don't hava a card, generally you are required to leave a cash deposit at the time of embarkation to cover onboard costs. Any unused portion would be refunded to you.

[agabbymama]

I give my credit card at check in, but I do go to the Pursers Desk the last night and settle up my account either with cash or traveler's checks. I

don't usually leave it on the credit card.

 

But as Gonzo70 says, if you have given your credit card and want to leave it on that, you can.

 

It's up to you if you want it to hit your credit card or not.

[world~citizen]

That is pretty much it. We leave it on our credit card. We get our air-miles of of it at apply them to our flight out to our next cruise.:)

[bendog]

Many thanks should I get them to take the amount in $ or £. As I understand it is better one way rather than another.

[WeBeGone]

Many thanks should I get them to take the amount in $ or £. As I understand it is better one way rather than another.

 

Whichever way is better for you is the way to go.

[uk-ladies]

I'm glad this question came up, thankyou. I've registered my card to use onboard but I hope to pay my bill in cash the night before. I read somewhere in these boards (can't find it now of course) that is is better to pay in $ if your using your UK card to clear the bill and not have the ship convert it, is this correct?

[bendog]

uk_ Ladies, Yes that was the question I was wondering. I knew I had read it somewhere but like yourself coudlnt find it. Many thanks. Hope you have a great cruise.!!

[scorpiomum]

i am from Ireland so have the same issues. on my cruise last Nov on RCCL i paid by credit card but made sure that they only charged me in $US as it is usually considered better value to have your own bank concert the charges rather than the cruise line who only adjusts their currency rates a few times a year. i will be doing the same on my next cruise on 20th Oct.

[DanJ]

You can also apply some cash to the account before they charge your credit card. If you have some extra US cash that you will end up converting back to your home currency later (probably at a loss), you might as well apply it and reduce your credit card charge. Usually I just keep my US cash and throw it in the drawer for an occasion I might need it, but we are only 50 miles from the US border. And yes in most cases it is better to have them charge you in US and let your bank convert it. It wouldn't hurt to check with the cruise line what their policy and rates are though.

[NYCFOD]

I would recommend you decide where you're going to change sterling to dollars. Don't let the cruise line charge you for the conversion because they'll give you a poor exchange rate. Personally, I've found that credit cards offer the best exchange rates, followed by ATMs. Travellers' Cheques would be next.

 

I found on my last cruise that it is very useful to check the bill regularly throughout the cruise, that way if there's a mistake you're not standing in line with three hundred other people on the last night. On my last cruise somehow a $2000 for mini bar charge turned up one day. An obvious mistake that was easily corrected with a visit to the purser's desk, but on day 5 of an 8 day cruise there were only 3 people on line. At 11 p.m. on day 7 there would be a lot more.

[uk-ladies]

I think I may have confused people in what I was meaning. What I meant to say was...............

If I have a UK credit card and want to pay my ship account at the end, should I let Princess bill the card for the $ amount or should I allow them to bill the card in £ (GBP)? I hope this makes more sense :rolleyes:

[CowPrincess]

I **think** you'd be better off having the charge in US$, as your credit card would charge you a better conversion rate than Princess would. (Not sure if Princess would even be able to charge you in pounds or euros, as all onboard stuff is in US $)

[DanJ]

They'll convert to Canadian, so I think they'll convert to Pounds or Euros as well. I just wouldn't. You might try calling them and finding out what their current exchange rate is, but it usually heavily favours them, not you. Probably better as others have also said, to let them charge your card in US$ and let your bank do the conversion.

 

As I also suggested in my earlier post, if you have US dollars left at the end of the cruise that you simply plan to take home and convert back to pounds, it would be more beneficial for you to apply that to your shipboard account and reduce the amount being charged to your card, since you will end up losing on the exchange rate going back to pounds back home.

[gkrnjlr]

I'd also ask ahead of time how much authorization they will be pulling on your card. One of our cruises a while back this discussion was on these boards and I remember reading that they pull about $600 authorization. If this credit or debit card is attached to your checking account and you weren't planning on that, it could really get sticky!