Does Princess put a daily HOLD on your ship account credit card?

[RMLincoln]

We'll be two people on our ship account credit card for a 15 day cruise. I didn't find any mention on Princess website about them putting a daily HOLD on the account like HAL and Carnival do (to the tune of $60 per person per day).....

We have two more cruises final payments coming up while we will be on this next cruise, and I don't want them to bounce!

 

Can I change the credit card at check-in from the one I put on our Personalizer to DH's card for this Princess cruise? Or maybe I should do that now? We're sailing a week from today. Thanks. m--

[ntvsdgrl]

I know that when people use debit cards here at the hotel I work at, they put holds on the card but here it's $100/day per room. I would contact Princess directly and ask that question.

[Mom33]

We'll be two people on our ship account credit card for a 15 day cruise. I didn't find any mention on Princess website about them putting a daily HOLD on the account like HAL and Carnival do (to the tune of $60 per person per day).....

We have two more cruises final payments coming up while we will be on this next cruise, and I don't want them to bounce!

 

Can I change the credit card at check-in from the one I put on our Personalizer to DH's card for this Princess cruise? Or maybe I should do that now? We're sailing a week from today. Thanks. m--

 

You can change the card you sign in on the personalizer when you check in at embarkation. Yes, Princess does keep a daily hold on your account. have a great cruise.:D

[Gunner22aa]

I have been asked in the past how much I would like the card pre approved for. I give them a large enough amount that I know I won't be called back to authorize another. Done at check in and over with.

[satxdiver]

We'll be two people on our ship account credit card for a 15 day cruise. I didn't find any mention on Princess website about them putting a daily HOLD on the account like HAL and Carnival do (to the tune of $60 per person per day).....

We have two more cruises final payments coming up while we will be on this next cruise, and I don't want them to bounce!

 

Can I change the credit card at check-in from the one I put on our Personalizer to DH's card for this Princess cruise? Or maybe I should do that now? We're sailing a week from today. Thanks. m--

 

Princess like any business will put a hold on your cc for a certain amount which they feel will cover what you will spend. So it will depend on the tours and service you reserved before boarding, the number of days on the ship and the number of pax on that card. If you exceed the amount, they will increase the hold to cover what they think will be your final bill.

 

Like others have posted, you can go to the Purser and pay your bill at anytime with cash, debit card or another cc.

[skynight]

Believe they do check each day. However, in all my cruises with Princess I have never had any hold placed on the card before boarding and there is never any hold on my card after disembarking. Only the amount actually charged shows up as a charge dated the day of disembark. Although this is my experience Princess will act in their best interest if they believe they have a chance of not being paid.

 

You can change your credit card at check in or go to the Cust. Ser. desk once on board.

[compozer]

I have never heard of putting a hold on a cc. Can someone explain what it is? Like sknight, no one has ever put a hold on any of our cards.

[Charles4515]

I have never heard of putting a hold on a cc. Can someone explain what it is? Like sknight, no one has ever put a hold on any of our cards.

 

I am sure they have. You just don't know they have.

[RMLincoln]

Thanks for your replies. It seems Princess might not do this. HAL and Carnival are very up front with this and remind their guests that a $60 per person per day hold will be placed on the cc on file for most cruises; cruises longer than 30 days only have a $30 pp/day hold. So if you decide to try a different cruise line, be aware of this.

 

I've also reserved rental cars in each of three Hawaiian islands and their terms say they put a hold on your cc for $350 for each one day rental. So that's another thousand.

 

I think we'll pre-pay the credit card before we leave and make sure there is a positive balance to cover us so we can be sure that the new final payments for the next cruises don't hit our limit. The interest lost is so minimal and the impacts avoided so huge!

 

I would not prefer to use cash but I will carry some travelers checks with us to change at the front desk if needed. I think that's about the only place left in the world who takes traveles checks! m--

[compozer]

I am sure they have. You just don't know they have.

 

But what is it?? do they only allow you to charge so much? $60 a day?

[Pam in CA]

Thanks for your replies. It seems Princess might not do this. HAL and Carnival are very up front with this and remind their guests that a $60 per person per day hold will be placed on the cc on file for most cruises; cruises longer than 30 days only have a $30 pp/day hold. So if you decide to try a different cruise line, be aware of this.

 

I've also reserved rental cars in each of three Hawaiian islands and their terms say they put a hold on your cc for $350 for each one day rental. So that's another thousand.

 

I think we'll pre-pay the credit card before we leave and make sure there is a positive balance to cover us so we can be sure that the new final payments for the next cruises don't hit our limit. The interest lost is so minimal and the impacts avoided so huge!

 

I would not prefer to use cash but I will carry some travelers checks with us to change at the front desk if needed. I think that's about the only place left in the world who takes traveles checks! m--

I don't know about Carnival but HAL puts a $60/pp/day hold on your card as soon as you enter it into their Personalizer. It's based on average anticipated spending rather than actual spending.

 

Princess puts a hold for the amount due on your folio each night so it's based on your actual expenses. If you don't have an amount due (or a balance due), there's no hold. They do check that you have a valid credit or debit card before putting a hold on your card.

 

The one thing to be aware of is that your credit card company may not release the hold or holds in a timely manner. If you use a debit card, check to see how long they keep a hold or make sure there's enough to cover the holds.

 

IMHO, the Princess system is a lot fairer than HAL.

[caribill]

I have never heard of putting a hold on a cc. Can someone explain what it is? Like sknight, no one has ever put a hold on any of our cards.

 

Many businesses will put a hold on some $$ on your credit card so they can be sure they will be able to put a charge through. Most of the time you will not know this has occurred as most credit card web sites do not tell you of holds currently on your card.

 

For example, if you swipe your credit card at a gas pump and the limit is $75, then before you pump the gas a $75 hold is put on the card. However, the actual charge is what you will be charged with the the hold will be removed although it may take a day or two for that to happen.

 

Holds are commonly put on your card at hotels, cruise ships, and even restaurants (when your card is swiped, a hold for an estimated tip is done).

[Te Aroha]

On one cruise we did with Princess they put holds on our CC. This caused us a huge problem when they were not released in a timely manner. CC was declined.

We had to call our CC company from overseas who advised us that it was in fact Princess that had the hold on our cards, as we are good customers, the CC company extended out credit immediately to allow us to continue our holiday. I might add that this was not for small amounts.

 

Princess made the mistake of holding twice the amount that was due, but we had the problem for over 10 days before it was released. The CC company could not release the holds. For this reason I now make sure that Princess never put a hold on our CC. I give them another card and then pay the due amount to them before the end of the cruise.

 

I am not saying this is the normal, mistakes can be made, but this did happen to us and it has made me very wary of it happening again.

[compozer]

Understand now! I've never heard of it .

 

Thanks caribill - you always come thru.

[RMLincoln]

I don't know about Carnival but HAL puts a $60/pp/day hold on your card as soon as you enter it into their Personalizer. It's based on average anticipated spending rather than actual spending.

 

Princess puts a hold for the amount due on your folio each night so it's based on your actual expenses. If you don't have an amount due (or a balance due), there's no hold. They do check that you have a valid credit or debit card before putting a hold on your card.

 

The one thing to be aware of is that your credit card company may not release the hold or holds in a timely manner. If you use a debit card, check to see how long they keep a hold or make sure there's enough to cover the holds.

 

IMHO, the Princess system is a lot fairer than HAL.

 

Thank you Pam, that's a clear explantion. And I agree, Princess's system seems much fairer if they will only 'hold' what you will owe. Makes so much sense. m--

[Pam in CA]

On one cruise we did with Princess they put holds on our CC. This caused us a huge problem when they were not released in a timely manner. CC was declined.

We had to call our CC company from overseas who advised us that it was in fact Princess that had the hold on our cards, as we are good customers, the CC company extended out credit immediately to allow us to continue our holiday. I might add that this was not for small amounts.

As I said, Princess will put a hold for the balance due each night. This isn't a mistake. Your credit card company should have released the hold. You experienced a credit card company issue, not a Princess issue. This is why you should check with your card company to make sure they release the hold quickly.

[RMLincoln]

But what is it?? do they only allow you to charge so much? $60 a day?

 

A hold is like a pre-charge and it eats up your balance against your limit.

 

In my case, I have an $11,000 limit. I will have a few monthly charges coming in, then the two new cruises ($6500) then rental cars, ($1000 in holds which may take a few days to clear off) plus charges for this 15 day cruise for two of us. We always pay off our monthly balances but there are constantly charges coming in and I really, really don't want the new cruise final payments to bounce if I've miscalculated something. So I think when we pay off the balances this week before we board, we'll pay them the extra $6200 for the new cruises just to make sure we're covered. m--

[Te Aroha]

As I said, Princess will put a hold for the balance due each night. This isn't a mistake. Your credit card company should have released the hold. You experienced a credit card company issue, not a Princess issue. This is why you should check with your card company to make sure they release the hold quickly.

 

I will state this again it was not the CC company at fault, they could not release the holds that Princess had placed. When we returned to New Zealand I rang Princess and they did apologize for this happening and did admit it was their mistake.

 

Holds are made to cover expenses that the customer may have, the CC cannot remove these as it would be stopping genuine payments being made.

[compozer]

A hold is like a pre-charge and it eats up your balance against your limit.

 

In my case, I have an $11,000 limit. I will have a few monthly charges coming in, then the two new cruises ($6500) then rental cars, ($1000 in holds which may take a few days to clear off) plus charges for this 15 day cruise for two of us. We always pay off our monthly balances but there are constantly charges coming in and I really, really don't want the new cruise final payments to bounce if I've miscalculated something. So I think when we pay off the balances this week before we board, we'll pay them the extra $6200 for the new cruises just to make sure we're covered. m--

 

Thanks,

I can understand your concern.

[Eagle Eye]

In my case, I have an $11,000 limit. I will have a few monthly charges coming in, then the two new cruises ($6500) then rental cars, ($1000 in holds which may take a few days to clear off) plus charges for this 15 day cruise for two of us. We always pay off our monthly balances but there are constantly charges coming in and I really, really don't want the new cruise final payments to bounce if I've miscalculated something. So I think when we pay off the balances this week before we board, we'll pay them the extra $6200 for the new cruises just to make sure we're covered. m--

 

Check with your card company - your account might have unlimited charges, but only have a credit limit of $11,000 which you can carryover to the next billing cycle. If it does, theoretically you could have $100,000 in charges, but be okay as long as you make payments of at least $89,000.

Another thing you can do is to send the CC company a check for some amount which will make sure your unpaid balance (after all of your anticipated charges) won't exceed $11,000.

[Cruise Junky]

As I said, Princess will put a hold for the balance due each night. This isn't a mistake. Your credit card company should have released the hold. You experienced a credit card company issue, not a Princess issue. This is why you should check with your card company to make sure they release the hold quickly.

 

I don't think it's a credit card issue. The cruise lines are lazy in that they don't take it off. Once it's on there it lasts for about a week unless the cruise line takes it off. That's a lot of extra work for them.

 

OP, they basically put a hold on the card for what you've run up in charges, a way to avoid this is give them cash on a regular basis to keep the balance down

 

They definitely don't do the set amount per day that HAL does.

[Loonbeam]

Actually, there is no way for a vendor to revoke an authorization request unless they directly contact Visa/MC/etc. This is a credit card company policy to keep people from running authorizations to get a valid transaction ID, then clearing the transaction and running another one, then bulk posting the transaction ids before the system can reconcile.

 

The amount of time for the hold is set by the issuing bank.

 

(

I don't think it's a credit card issue. The cruise lines are lazy in that they don't take it off. Once it's on there it lasts for about a week unless the cruise line takes it off. That's a lot of extra work for them.

 

OP, they basically put a hold on the card for what you've run up in charges, a way to avoid this is give them cash on a regular basis to keep the balance down

 

They definitely don't do the set amount per day that HAL does.

[Cruise Junky]

Actually, there is no way for a vendor to revoke an authorization request unless they directly contact Visa/MC/etc. This is a credit card company policy to keep people from running authorizations to get a valid transaction ID, then clearing the transaction and running another one, then bulk posting the transaction ids before the system can reconcile.

 

The amount of time for the hold is set by the issuing bank.

 

(

 

That's what I said, they're too lazy to do it because it would take too much time.

[caribill]

Many businesses will put a hold on some $$ on your credit card so they can be sure they will be able to put a charge through. Most of the time you will not know this has occurred as most credit card web sites do not tell you of holds currently on your card.

 

For example, if you swipe your credit card at a gas pump and the limit is $75, then before you pump the gas a $75 hold is put on the card. However, the actual charge is what you will be charged with the the hold will be removed although it may take a day or two for that to happen.

 

Holds are commonly put on your card at hotels, cruise ships, and even restaurants (when your card is swiped, a hold for an estimated tip is done).

 

 

I forgot to mention that all this applies to debit cards also.

 

Most of the time people have more credit available on credit cards than cash available in the account their debit card is linked to.

 

Until the temporary holds are removed by the bank from the debit card, you cannot even access some of your own cash.

[DebJ14]

It is a matching system. The cruise line puts through an authorization for what you spent that day and when a matching charge comes through the credit card applies it to your bill - otherwise it is just listed as pending.

It is very easy to see how for a time double your onboard spending can eat up a credit line. There will be the initial hold, plus holds place each night for whatever you spent onboard that day. Then when the onboard account is closed out the cruise line get one authorization for the full amount of charges on your onboard account. Assuming an initial hold of $100 and a hold each night for $100 spent that day and you have $700 in pending holds. Then the cruise line puts through the actual bill for $700.00. So for a time up to $1400 could be held. The smaller holds will drop off one by one since no matching charges show up. How long it takes depends on your bank's policies. The cruise line has no control over that. Some banks let the holds expire after 2 or 3 days, but others will keep them there as long a 10 days to 2 weeks. Some credit cards do not show the pending holds when you log onto your account, so people don't know they are there. In that case look at your available credit number and you can figure it out.

Everyone is right about HAL - $60.00 per person per day is held as soon as you set up the onboard account. We had a $1200 authorization on our last HAL cruise. Actual onboard spending was only $400 because we had lots of OBC.

 

For those who have low credit limits or don't carry a large checking account balance and use a debit card it can be a very big deal. They should probably set up an onboard cash account.

 

I use one specific card for all travel expenses and pay it off in full every month. If I book last minute I will pay it off as soon as the charge is posted so that I have the full amount of credit available for my trip. This card also has no international transaction fees which saves 2-3% when used ashore in foreign ports.

 

No way would I ever use the credit card or checking account that we have all our household bills set up to be sucked out automatically. We don't mingle our travel expenses with daily living expenses.