Need some answers please and quick!!

[2snorkel/cruisers]

My son and his wife are on the Fascination. Before the set sail, they had $200 put on their onboard acct. When they got onboard, they only had a little over $100 cash on them. They have had some rough times, she lost her job but the cruise was already paid for and on ES so they couldn't get a refund. Anyway, when they got onboard, at the pursers desk they were told that they had a $200 happy anniversary credit on their acct so they thought they now had a $400 credit, the two hundred that they had put on prior to sailing and now the two hundred gift from Carnival. By the time I heard from her, I told her to stop whatever she was doing and go back to the pursers desk and make sure what they told her was right. You guessed it, the pursers saw that they were celebrating their anniverary on this sailing and said happy anniversary you have a $200 credit which meant you only have a $200 credit, the money you fronted on your acct. They have used almost all of it, I can't get a straight answer from anyone at Carnival as to whether I can put $ on the acct for them now that they've sailed. I won't have $ till Wednesday which puts wiring it to them in Nassau Tuesday out of the question. What does Carnival do if you owe on your ship account and don't have the $ on you when you get back to the dock at the end of your trip????? I will be there to pick them up and can have the $ for them but I don't know if they will accept it that way. Will they bill them??? I have no idea what to do here. Any suggestions????:confused::(

[johngcruisin]

I thought everyone had to give a credit card number when boarding and the ship charges would be charged to the credit card if not settled up on the last night with cash.

[ngl116]

I'm not sure what to tell you. I would try calling carnival and tell them your situation, then when they get you to the right department ask to speak to a supervisor and see if they can either get money wired to the ship, or if they can accept your credit card number by phone for billing of the ship board account. Best of luck to you, and I hope everything works out.

[msmayor]

I have no idea how they handle things on Carnival, but on our RCL cruise they were pretty adamant about settling accounts before allowing you off the ship. There were a fair amount of folks at Guest Services in the morning to take care of stuff they charged the night before after they had already 'closed' out their bills with cash.

 

I had to go because of a charge that got messed up on my son's account which was not attached to a credit card; they told me that his sea pass would have been flagged if he had tried to disembark.

 

Now...there WAS one guy at the desk who simply had no money and apparently no credit card or had maxed it out. He was completing a promissory note, but I have no clue what the details were or whether they charge a fee for that.

 

I'd suggest calling Carnival direct to get an answer. If you are there ashore when they get in, I can't imagine it would be that hard to allow you to get their account settled.

[bobsfamily]

My son and his wife are on the Fascination. Before the set sail, they had $200 put on their onboard acct. When they got onboard, they only had a little over $100 cash on them. They have had some rough times, she lost her job but the cruise was already paid for and on ES so they couldn't get a refund. Anyway, when they got onboard, at the pursers desk they were told that they had a $200 happy anniversary credit on their acct so they thought they now had a $400 credit, the two hundred that they had put on prior to sailing and now the two hundred gift from Carnival. By the time I heard from her, I told her to stop whatever she was doing and go back to the pursers desk and make sure what they told her was right. You guessed it, the pursers saw that they were celebrating their anniverary on this sailing and said happy anniversary you have a $200 credit which meant you only have a $200 credit, the money you fronted on your acct. They have used almost all of it, I can't get a straight answer from anyone at Carnival as to whether I can put $ on the acct for them now that they've sailed. I won't have $ till Wednesday which puts wiring it to them in Nassau Tuesday out of the question. What does Carnival do if you owe on your ship account and don't have the $ on you when you get back to the dock at the end of your trip????? I will be there to pick them up and can have the $ for them but I don't know if they will accept it that way. Will they bill them??? I have no idea what to do here. Any suggestions????:confused::(

Sticky... Uh, if they go over they will not be able to use the SS card. It will be rejected. They might have gotten a few bucks over, but mostly they catch it within a couple of hours. Tell them to buy a couple of pints in nassau, put them in water bottles and carry them back on in backpack with cokes/water bought. You should be able to call Carnival Bon Voyage and purchase some OBC for them on Wednesday. If you have a CC you can call and have it put on as "back-up"... They do not normally do this but in this case might. If all else fails, depending on the amount on the SS they will have them sign a promissory note (need to go on down to the Purser's office the night before and explain what is going on) that says they will pay the balance in so many days... They do not like doing this but I've seen it happen (we had over 50 on a cruise and one couple did this). Good Luck.

[jerseygirl79]

My son and his wife are on the Fascination. Before the set sail, they had $200 put on their onboard acct. When they got onboard, they only had a little over $100 cash on them. They have had some rough times, she lost her job but the cruise was already paid for and on ES so they couldn't get a refund. Anyway, when they got onboard, at the pursers desk they were told that they had a $200 happy anniversary credit on their acct so they thought they now had a $400 credit, the two hundred that they had put on prior to sailing and now the two hundred gift from Carnival. By the time I heard from her, I told her to stop whatever she was doing and go back to the pursers desk and make sure what they told her was right. You guessed it, the pursers saw that they were celebrating their anniverary on this sailing and said happy anniversary you have a $200 credit which meant you only have a $200 credit, the money you fronted on your acct. They have used almost all of it, I can't get a straight answer from anyone at Carnival as to whether I can put $ on the acct for them now that they've sailed. I won't have $ till Wednesday which puts wiring it to them in Nassau Tuesday out of the question. What does Carnival do if you owe on your ship account and don't have the $ on you when you get back to the dock at the end of your trip????? I will be there to pick them up and can have the $ for them but I don't know if they will accept it that way. Will they bill them??? I have no idea what to do here. Any suggestions????:confused::(

 

Do they have a debit card with them? If so you could deposit cash into their checking account.

[aliceluvsbubba]

Do they have a debit card with them? If so you could deposit cash into their checking account.

 

This is probably your best idea. I know that On Board Credit has to be posted 3 days prior to sailing, so calling Promotions to have the On Board Credit won't work as they cannot post it.

 

Please let us know how it all turns out...just in case one of us or someone we know runs into a similar situation.

[Grits53]

My DD did this. She did have a debit card on her, so I deposited money into her account to cover the excess charges.

[candigirl41]

You do not need a credit card to set up an on board account. I only use cash. Don't have credit cards. If they refused to let people with only cash I would never be able to go.

I agree with above poster if they have a debit card put money in their bank account.

 

Candi

[Milaandra]

Do they have a debit card with them? If so you could deposit cash into their checking account.

 

That's what I would suggest.

 

The auto-gratuities come out first, don't they? So if they stop spending they might not even need a bail-out! Sometimes you can have more fun (and togetherness) by doing things on the cheap and off the beaten path.

[~Sharona~]

Yep I realize it's vacation, but don't spend any money--other than tips just do things that don't cost money--it's really not that hard--just relax and enjoy the atmosphere and make the best of things. I budget my money ahead of time and when I get to that point--no more--I always use a cash account so I'm not tempted.

 

They went knowing they only had X amount of dollars so encourage them to stick with that--stop worrying about them--let them figure it out and they will be fine

[alloneword]

If grats havent been pre-paid, they can always be removed from the S&S account. While this option should only be used as an emergency option, sometimes needs must and it could save them $140. I wonder would carnival let you post pay grat's in these circumstances, i.e. after you have got off the cruise. it would be intersting to find out.

 

Lodge cash to their current account if possible, that sounds like the best option. Double check the clearing time though incase it is not immediately credited to their account.

 

Alternatively see here: https://www.bookccl.com/irman/bookccl/sections/shipboard/money.html, it may be some help. DOuble check with carnival before doing this though, incase.

 

Don't worry too much, it will all sort itself out in the end. They don't have to pay for any food etc on the ship and can still have a fantastic time.

[2snorkel/cruisers]

So if you pre-pay the gratuties they can't be removed? I don't think that is right especially if you have a bad room steward or servers. You should be able to take the tips off and give to the ones that gave you good service. I never knew this.

[2snorkel/cruisers]

At any rate, I haven't been able to get any $ to them yet. I can't communicate with my kids except through emails and she is paying by the minute for the time. By the time I got the $ together it was too late to post it western union to Nassau. They said there is at least a 24hr wait for overseas transfers. If I'd sent it at 5:30 yesterday, it wouldn't have shown up till 5:30 today, too late for them to get it. I can't believe Carnival doesn't have some kind of emergency plan in place. I know we're not the only ones that this has happened to.

[bobsfamily]

So if you pre-pay the gratuties they can't be removed? I don't think that is right especially if you have a bad room steward or servers. You should be able to take the tips off and give to the ones that gave you good service. I never knew this.

Pre-paid tips would be hard to reduce/delete for bad service since it's paid prior to boarding... I guess you could go through your credit card.

One of the reasons I would never do that...

BTW do you know you CAN reduce/remove the 15% tip on drinks... they don't like, can be rude about it but it is "voluntary"....LOL

For the OP if this is a 4 day cruise they would have debited the SS card $80 for tips... almost half of $200. Not the best thing to do but they can go down to pursers office and have them removed or reduced. If for example they have already gone thru the $120 they could get more "money" by doing this.

[2snorkel/cruisers]

The tips were pre-paid so they would have more onboard spending $. They went through it pretty fast getting things like a soda card, a carton of cigarettes, things of that nature. They aren't big drinkers but they used the $200 up thinking they still had a $200 "gift" for their anniversary from Carnival. They don't have a lot of experience with cruising as this is only their second one.

[bobsfamily]

The tips were pre-paid so they would have more onboard spending $. They went through it pretty fast getting things like a soda card, a carton of cigarettes, things of that nature. They aren't big drinkers but they used the $200 up thinking they still had a $200 "gift" for their anniversary from Carnival. They don't have a lot of experience with cruising as this is only their second one.

Ah, well no I don't think they could get that back while on board although in this instance I might try it... Worse that can happen is they can't drink (liquor) anymore and since they have soda cards they at least have that... other than stuff off the ship everything else is "free" - well not the casino.

WOW - I wish I had remembered this... If they had stated the cruise was bad/not what they wanted/etc. PRIOR to first port they could have invoked the guarantee and gotten off at the first port and Carnival would have flown them home and reimbursed the unused portion of the trip.

[Jacky4]

This happened to us on our last cruise. I put $300 cash on my sign & sail card before we cruised. When we got on the ship there was a slip under our door saying "you have a $300 OBC" and then a second slip saying "you have a $300 past guest credit". I immediately went to the pursers desk thinking (hoping)Carnival gave us $300 for being a past guest. They were totally confused at the pursers desk and couldn't give me a straight answer but in the end I only had $300. Good thing I asked before spending. Remember the old saying if it sounds too good to be true...

[salty dingo]

If they are securing their account with cash, they will stop approving purchases when they run out of money. If it is secured with a credit or debit card, they will put holds on the money or withdraw money periodically.

 

I do not know if you can send money to them, but if you call Carnival you can find out for sure.

 

Don't worry - they do not need much money on the ship and they do not have to do anything expensive on shore. They will be fine. Just make sure they have money for the $140 in tips they need to pay! I hope they don't let them take that off due to financial stress!!

[bobsfamily]

This happened to us on our last cruise. I put $300 cash on my sign & sail card before we cruised. When we got on the ship there was a slip under our door saying "you have a $300 OBC" and then a second slip saying "you have a $300 past guest credit". I immediately went to the pursers desk thinking (hoping)Carnival gave us $300 for being a past guest. They were totally confused at the pursers desk and couldn't give me a straight answer but in the end I only had $300. Good thing I asked before spending. Remember the old saying if it sounds too good to be true...

What I HATE about those slip and even at the pursers desk is that "forget" to tell you that tips have been deducted already and that you really don't have the amount stated... Sad. We have some neighbors that paid the pre-paid tips, put a CC down for SS card, and the last night checked the amount to find that they had put tips on the SS card... wonder how many times that happens?

[Poomah]

This is a question for Carnival - only they can answer what they will do.

 

Bottom line - $200 they put down $100 cash with them - Don't spend any more than that.

[bobsfamily]

They will be fine. Just make sure they have money for the $140 in tips they need to pay! I hope they don't let them take that off due to financial stress!!

Uh, TIPS are just that, tips... for the record OP stated they pre-paid them.

Having said that IF I was on the ship, had $200 to spend and $140 went for tips, it would be adjusted... period. As for your comment about "hope they don't let them"... WHO are you to decide what someone else does?

[bobsfamily]

This is a question for Carnival - only they can answer what they will do.

 

Bottom line - $200 they put down $100 cash with them - Don't spend any more than that.

If you would have read, the OP stated they thought they had another $200 (mistaken) from Carnival... they knew they had $200 OBC and were "told that they had a $200 happy anniversary credit" which they thought was ontop of the $200. Found out real quick the truth...

[sistermerm]

I didn't read all posts on this thread, but you CAN do a western union quick collect and send money directly to the ship for them. Call Carnival and they will tell you how to do it.

[ronkay]

answers to two questions here, when you pre-pay your tips, they still charge them to your S&S account everyday and then credit them back at the end. At least that is how I saw it on my last cruise.

 

Also about 5 years ago, My wife charged up our Credit card when in port the last day and then when we went to get off the next day they declined the charges for the S&S account. looks like they kept trying lower amounts until it went through and then we had like a $400 balance on our S&S account that we could not cover. They made me sign an agreement at the pursers desk agreeing to pay carnival that ammount within 60 days (i believe) or we would not be able to sail or book on carnival and they would hit our credit.

 

we paid it and have sailed 4 or 5 times since without inicident.