What is the $ amount of CC hold placed by NCL?

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I will be taking a 10 day cruise on he Escape later this month. What is the amount of the hold they place on your CC at check in? Their FAQs say they take a "pre-authorization" but does not specify the amount.

 

I'm used to traveling w/ Royal, Celebrity and Princess who don't place an initial hold, they just get authorizations as you spend.

[Demonyte]

$300 per account (not per person).

 

But I doubt that other cruise lines wouldn't pre-authorize the card - the connectivity even with the satellite link isn't that reliable that they could reliably make authorizations for each individual purchase. With many credit cards you don't even see the authorizations anywhere so you can't tell if there are any.

Edited October 10, 2015 by Demonyte

[AtlantaCruiser72]

So if we are all using two separate cc each will have a hold of $150 or $300?

 

Other cruise lines do not place an initial hold but batch process authorizations based on usage every day or every other day. Carnival and Holland do the hold like NCL does. Princess celebrity and royal do not.

[ighten]

Are you talking about the Debit card hold here rather than the CC hold.

[EyeSeaEwe]

CC do not have a hold per se'. DC do.

[LMaxwell]

CC do not have a hold per se'. DC do.

 

They placed a $150 charge on a single Amex that we used for both of us. I expect it to drop off shortly.

[EyeSeaEwe]

They get an authorization to verify that the card is valid and has a sufficient balance to fund your on board account. I'm not sure the frequency they use to settle your account.

[cb at sea]

They don't place a "HOLD" on credit cards....you may notice "pending charges" if you check your account the day after the cruise....but that drops when the charge is actually put thru.

 

"HOLDS" are only on DEBIT cards. Cash is a better option than a debit card.

[newmexicoNita]

Are you talking about the Debit card hold here rather than the CC hold.

 

I am guessing OP must be talking debit card. I have never heard of a hold on the CC and we have cruised on NCL 15 or more times. this is the case with all lines, as far as I know. The $300 I believe refers to debit cards. If it was CC everytime a an account goes over $300 there would have to be another hold.

[Demonyte]

They don't place a "HOLD" on credit cards....you may notice "pending charges" if you check your account the day after the cruise....but that drops when the charge is actually put thru.

 

"HOLDS" are only on DEBIT cards. Cash is a better option than a debit card.

 

 

I am guessing OP must be talking debit card. I have never heard of a hold on the CC and we have cruised on NCL 15 or more times. this is the case with all lines, as far as I know. The $300 I believe refers to debit cards.

 

 

Incorrect. Technically what people call a hold on any card is actually a pre-authorization. Anybody that is going to provide services that are not fixed priced and billed significantly later will make a pre-authorization on the card regardless of its type (credit/debit).

 

It's only the card issuer that determines how the pre-authorizations are handled - on debit cards the amount is reduced from the balance available, but on many credit cards it is not even shown anywhere, let alone affects the card limit.

 

Disclaimer: I've worked a lot with prepaid/postpaid credit/debit card payment/clearing backends.

 

If it was CC everytime a an account goes over $300 there would have to be another hold.

 

Yes they are, they do update the pre-authorization several times during the cruise if the onboard account is charged enough - that is the only way for them to ensure that the card can be charged at the end of the cruise.

 

Seen the actual effects on this too - friends' CC backing the onboard account was closed mid-cruise by the bank because of a miscommunication and before they got a hold of the bank and got the issue cleared, they could not use their onboard account.

 

If the cruise line didn't do/update pre-authorizations, the passenger could have a card with low limit that is already capped on their purchases in ports - by making the updates the cruise line won't let them spend (a lot) more than the cruise line is guaranteed to get paid.

Edited October 10, 2015 by Demonyte

[AtlantaCruiser72]

My CC will show any pre-authorization as a pending charge and reduce the available credit by that amount until the pre-authorization is removed by the merchant or settled by the merchant. This is the same process used by most banks when you use a debit card.

 

I expect very few onboard charges and want the make sure that I have enough available credit to cover any pre-authorization.

 

If I read everything correctly - for a 10 day cruise for 2 they pre-authorize $300 total for the cabin so if we each have a separate folio that would equate to $150pp?

[NMLady]

CC do not have a hold per se'. DC do.

 

We have always had a $300 hold placed on our cc by NCL on embarkation day and on other days as we add charges.

 

Whether it is called a hold or pending or preauthorization, that amount is reserved so not available for something else.

Edited October 11, 2015 by NMLady