Sign and Sail Account Question

[calisilent]

We have not sailed Carnival before. Im looking for opinions on the benefits of either pre-listing a credit card for the cabin account or paying cash at guest services. In your past Carnival experience, is there an advantage of one over the other?

[HenanSan]

When you pay with cash you can only spend what you actually have on hand. If you go a bit over they will call you to add more cash to your account. When you use a card, you complete all the information prior to getting to the port and the only limit you have is the limit you set or have set on your card. We usually us a credit card and usually set a specific amount to spend prior to getting on the ship. But I am good at setting limits and sticking to them. The benefit is if you see something you really want you have access to your funds via the cc and you can keep your hard cash in your pocket.

[icemanoneaatl]

I have completed my online check in with a credit card- used same at port check in. Once on the ship, have gone to guest services like on day 2 or 3 and put cash down - to cover some of the charges and have less billed to the credit card. I recd the comment from guest srvc a, but you have a credit on file- I say yes, but don't want to charge too much on it. Best of both worlds- I hate hearing my name announced to go add more cash if only using cash. I also don't like charging a large amount. Personal choice in the end.

[stargate fan]

We have not sailed Carnival before. Im looking for opinions on the benefits of either pre-listing a credit card for the cabin account or paying cash at guest services. In your past Carnival experience, is there an advantage of one over the other?

 

The benefit to using a credit for us that we earn points for dollars spent. We pay our credit card off every month. Using the TV, we check our folio account a couple of times a day to make sure all charges are ours.

 

Do people really get so caught up that they spend beyond their means if they use a credit card? I don't get that.

[KatPem]

I don't like to carry tons of cash but it will be needed at most ports so we use a credit card for our sign and sail so we don't have to carry as much cash.

 

 

Kathy

Mom of four (girls 16 & 13) (boys 13 & 11)

Central Indiana

Carnival Conquest (11/13) Repositioning

Carnival Liberty (4/13) Eastern

Carnival Destiny (6/04) Southern

[k2excursion]

Some people don't like using a credit card, and there are various reasons. Some people are afraid they'll spend too much money. Some people just like the warm fuzzies of not having to owe the credit card company later. None of the reasons apply to me. I will always use a credit card. I get cash back or points that I can use for free hotel rooms. Between the 2, I earn at least a couple hundred dollars in cash or in free hotel rooms every single year. None of that I would've gotten by using cash or debit cards. And I pay $0.00 in interest every year, since I pay it off in full every month. Some people don't think they could be that disciplined or they think they'll forget to pay it off. But it comes as easy as breathing to me, so I don't stress or worry about it, while some people will drive themselves crazy over it.

 

All that is my reason to use a credit card on the cruise. I know what I've spent, and I'm not the type that overdoes things just because there's not a limit like you have with a cash account. I do bring cash for the ports, since I don't want to get international fees charged on my credit card. If it weren't for that, I would carry around a very minimal amount of cash.

[092306]

We always use a credit card for onboard charges and earn points as well. If We didn't use a credit card I would use cash rather than a debit card.

[bigdog1958]

We have not sailed Carnival before. Im looking for opinions on the benefits of either pre-listing a credit card for the cabin account or paying cash at guest services. In your past Carnival experience, is there an advantage of one over the other?

 

The biggest advantage to using a credit card is you don't have to waste your vacation standing in line at guest services giving them cash. Just use card like discover, get back 1% of your purchases from them and pay off the balance at the end of the month. You keep your money in your account longer, and the credit card company reduces your expenses by 1%, and no standing in line on your vacation. win, win, win..

[riffatsea]

I always pay hotel bills with my credit card!

The ship is just another hotel at sea so I'd never deal in cash for something like that. We also pay our bill every month and never worry about having enough money on hand for that purpose. I do get points with the card but that is not the only reason I use it. I just don't see the point of dealing with cash at all?? Even my husband, who always carries cash at home and pays with it everywhere, understands that hotel bills and vacations are places where credit cards are more practical.

You just pay one time and then your done instead of little by little.

[karessamom]

A debit/credit card?? Does that work?? It's a visa attached to our checking and can be used either way are there fees attached with this??

[riffatsea]

Hmm? A debit card and a credit card are usually 2 different things. A credit card is not attached to a bank account. You pay the bill at the end of the month.

A debit card takes money directly out of the account to which it is attached.

There is not a "fee" but hotels(and cruise lines) will put a hold on money in the account in case of damages or problems. If it is a debit card then you need to make sure you have enough money in the account to cover your expenses + the hold. After 1 week or 10 days or so(depending on your bank) the hold will go away and you'll still have that money but during the cruise it won't be available to you.

Generally speaking using a credit card gives you more protection when you travel.

[ryansmith18]

A debit/credit card?? Does that work?? It's a visa attached to our checking and can be used either way are there fees attached with this??

 

I wouldn't use a debit card. Had a bad experience with Carnival on my first cruise when I set up a debit card with my S&S. After the cruise they're supposed to make one charge to your card that is the sum of all your onboard purchases. Instead, they made 3 separate charges that totalled up to more than twice what it should've been. Thankfully it was sorted out relatively easy with a phone call as soon as I noticed it, and I just happened to have enough money in the checking account to cover it. If I hadn't, God that would have been awful.

 

After browsing Cruise Critic for a while I've seen numerous other people share nerve wracking experiences with using their debit card, so apparently I'm not the only one. Haven't heard of any such issues with folks using credit cards, which is what I've done since then.

[just4steven]

Hello,

 

I read a lot about this topic before my first cruise so I decided to put it to the test. My other half used a credit card and I used cash. We noticed no difference at all. I hear the stories about guest services and how long it is, but maybe I'm lucky but I never had that issue. We got on board, dropped off our bags, I went down to guest services to set up the cash account and was the only one in line. Done in a couple minutes. On the last day I went down to check out and as I wasn't sure if I owed $1.57 or they owed me. They said they owed me, oh and again, no one else in line, I told them to keep if for the charity and that was that.

 

There was literally no difference between the two. I do see the point of getting the points on the CC though. Other than that we experienced no difference whatsoever.

[ncovert]

We have not sailed Carnival before. Im looking for opinions on the benefits of either pre-listing a credit card for the cabin account or paying cash at guest services. In your past Carnival experience, is there an advantage of one over the other?

 

We have always done the credit card route. Works best for us... but not necessarily for everyone.

 

I think that it is more a personal preference thing than an advantage thing. Obviously there are the advantages listed if your credit card offers the benefits, but it is most what are you comfortable with. Also note that just because you do your pre-registration with a credit card you can switch when you check in or even further into the cruise to cash. You can flip flop it the other way as well, I mean start with cash and decide to put down a credit/debit card. In these cases all you are doing is spending a little bit of your time...

 

Actually on our first cruise we had done no research into cruising (it was given to us as a gift and had been given very little details other than pack for somewhere warm and for about a week with a few nice pieces of clothes) and after boarding we were under the impress you could only use a credit card which was a small bummer because we had come straight from our wedding reception where more than one generous family and friend had given us cash and we thought (misunderstanding) that we could not use it.

 

I think that the Carnival gives us the option because they want to make it very easy for the consumer to spend. Oh you have cash... we take that. Oh you have a credit card... we take that. Oh you have a debit card... we take that. I am not calling Carnival money hungry more... accommodating to benefit themselves.

 

Happy sailing :D (Your cruise is going to be AWESOME!)