Cash or Credit for Onboard Expense Account??

[white.sand]

Have you ever heard of anyone having issues with credit card accounts? I would much rather use this method bit I am a little leary of who all will have access to my credit card number.

[paul929207]

I always use my credit card and have never had a problem. If use cash, the ship will want a deposit to cover anticipated chargs. I believe Princess requires $300/person.

[Aplmac]

I use cash every time. Don't like credit cards.

Don't even have one I could use for that.

 

Being I'm the last of the big time spenders

I find that plunking down $150 for starters and seeing how that goes..

works wonders! :)

 

No we don't drink -that makes a huge difference!

 

 

.

[white.sand]

I kind of froze while filling out my fun pass when it asked cash or credit! Being a recent victim of a stolen credit card number makes me cringe every time I use a credit card! I realized that they only needed the last four digits on the card for now. I opted for credit and will make sure that I check my charges daily. ;)

Thanks for the quick response.

[trish1c]

Why are you anxious about who will have access to your credit card account? If you paid for your cruise by credit card, they already have your info. I can see being leery about using the card in a foreign country but the cruise lines are big business who have their own profit motives to keep your info safe.

We sock away some cash before the trip & then try to pay the cc balance in full when we get home. To us that is so much safer than carrying cash.

[ATL2LAS]

I always set my account up with a credit card to begin with. Throughout the cruise I will stop by the pursers desk and check my balance. If I have a good session in the casino, I will pay it off in cash.

[cb at sea]

It's no different from using your credit card anywhere else. You won't have a problem.

[thinfool]

I am a little leary of who all will have access to my credit card number.

 

Who do you think will have access? Certainly no one other than the purser's department.

 

NONE of the departments onboard will have access...all that they will see is your "sign and sail" card. It is linked to your onboard account, whether you use cash or a CC, but they will not know that and they would most certainly have no access to your CC information.

 

If you use cash to cover your expenses, the pursers desk will let you know if/when you are close to your limit so that you can add more cash or stop using your "sign and sail" card.

 

Be sure to call your CC company before you travel so you don't fall victim to a Fraud Alert and have a frozen CC account that you have to deal with.

[smoothdancer]

Over the years of all the cruises I have taken I have never had a problem with a credit card, meaning fradulent charges. I would guess the cruise lines are much more careful with security.

 

But on a cruise last year my first charge was denied, The pursers left a message and told us that the credit card company wanted to speak with us. We called and they told us there had been some fraud with this particular line and wanted to be sure I was charging. I am not sure and dont think this was entirely true just the CC company being extra careful. It was a pain though to call from the ship, was expensive not to mention prior to speaking with them it put me into a panic, something one does not like while on vacation. I had to tell the CC company the length of my vacatioin and what stops I would be making. I have learned a lesson that now I do notify the CC company prior to traveling.

[rjm1cc]

I have not had problems on a ship. I have had problems with restruarants on land vacations. Part of the risk of using a card. I have not had a problem getting the charges removed. I do worry about someone getting computer access to my account at a merchant I used. Thus I try and use one time credit card numbers or numbers that a good for a period of time. Check your credit card site to see if they have this.

Remember some places may require you to show your credit card if you are picking up purchases that you made on line. I do not think you will have this problem on the ship. They just want a valid account.

We have had problems with our card being flagged for a fraud alert even though we told the credit card company we would be in that part of the world. Better carry two or three cards.

[white.sand]

[quote=thinfool

Be sure to call your CC company before you travel so you don't fall victim to a Fraud Alert and have a frozen CC account that you have to deal with.

 

 

 

Great idea! I will do that.

[trish1c]

A friend did have a problem w/ a cc aboard ship. He took a $3,000 cash advance at the casino but it was really late/early & somebody keyed in $30,000. :eek: He used up all his internet time & racked up a $100 phone bill trying to fix it. When he couldn't fix it on his own, the purser's desk was great. They gave him an open office line to the cc company; they comp'd his phone bill; they restored his internet & they comp'd his substantial bar bill all to make it right.

Seriously, the cruise industry wants to maintain security. It's in their best interests. Think about how bad the cruise line would suffer if all the cruise critic members were bad mouthing their cc security.

[cruiserbryce]

have never had any issues

[RaleighNC]

Call your credit card company and tell them you are going on a cruise and to NOT freeze your account due to suspicious activities...especially if you have been the victim of recent ID theft.

[5521544]

I'm a little curious about this myself. My husband and I do not use actual credit cards if we can't afford it we don't buy it. That is just our prefrence. So we were going to use our visa debit card or cash for our onboard account. My question is if we use a visa debit card will they put a "hold" on our card for a certain amount kinda like hotels do or will they just charge our actual charges to it?

Thanks for the help.

[paul929207]

I believe they put a hold on the first day. At the end they charge the actual account balance.

[5521544]

I believe they put a hold on the first day. At the end they charge the actual account balance.

 

Do you know how much this hold typically is? Is it per person, etc. It will just be my husband and myself on RCCL.

 

Thanks for the help!

[RayJacki]

I believe that when a debit card is used, the cruise line puts a hold on each day for the cumulative amount up to that point. For example:

Day 1 - you spend $100.00 - cruise line submits for $100 hold.

Day 2 - you spend $250.00 - cruise line submits for an additional $350 hold (total of day 1 hold + day 2 charges).

Day 3 - you spend $150.00 - cruise line submits for an additional $600 hold (total of day 1 hold + day 2 hold + day 3 charges) etc..

 

So, by the end of day 3, there is a total of $1050.00 held on your card! (Although you've actually only charged $600). Since it takes some time for these holds to drop off, this can end up causing a BIG problem.

[patseacruiser]

I don't know what the policy is for the hold but let me tell you that I went on Carnival in June. Had a $400 bill. I used my debit. Got home and the $400 was deducted but there was a hold on it for the $400. I had to call Carnival and give them the # of my card and bank info and they had to call to have the hold removed. Maybe that is my bank or Carnival's fault but it took a few days to get removed.