How do you pay the RCI SeaPass with cash?

[Cour10ay]

Hi all, great board here. Already picked up a few tips that will help with our cruise.

 

Taking a Turkey Day (Lobster Day??) cruise with all the kids and their girlfriends on Royal Caribbean.

 

We have all cruised before but have always set up the SeaPass with a CC. This time one son wants to do his cash only.

 

How does he do this?? Does he "front-load" his account with actual dollar bills at check-in? Can he use a personal check to front-load? Can he add to it throughout the week? I know you can check the charges made to your card on the TV thingy, so he could add if he needs to do that, but does he actually have to add cash? If so, where does he get US dollars during the cruise since the ship ATMs are very unreliable and rarely worked when we wanted to use them?

 

I guess to sum up, what type of payment can be used for a cash account?

Personal check?

Cash cash?

Travellers checks?

Bank Debit card?

Does it all have to be front-loaded or can he start with a few hundred and add as the week goes by?

 

Thanks a bunch. RCI is not too quick answering questions by e-mail.

 

Cour10ay

[cruise crazy mick]

hi there i have just retuned 10/09/06 from legend of the seas i took all cash english and euros even though i told check in i was paying in cash they still wanted a credit card before they would issue a sea pass so we used my wifes as guarantee i was only allowed £300 credit when that was gone my seapass was deactivated luckily i checked when i had only about £10 left so i got£500 and took it to the pursers desk and i was £800infront again i would reccomend you take your dollars with you and lock them in your room safe using a credit card instead of the seapass also any cash you have left over on the account goes onto your credit card so my wife was happy about that and i am£80 out of pocket hope this helps

mick

[CaptData]

Here is what I do. I take traveller's Checks (in $100.00 (US)). I put $250.00 on right away by going to the Front Desk?purser's Office. Then I check the TV every day before bed. If I need to add because I know I had 2-3 drinks ect I go and top up $200.00. On the last night after 11pm I go and pay off or get back whatever I need (I do not spend any more money whatsoever).

 

The minimum down I have found to be $250.00 (US). I am from Canada and the states may get treated with a little less up front. Do not forget the tips are in there too.

[Cour10ay]

Thanks for the help, Capt and Mick! I will tell my son how to do this and I'm sure all will be well. Really appreciate the advice!

 

Mick - How was the Legend? We are sailing her in Nov. Been on the Sovereign twice in the Med (one out of Venice, one out of Barcelona) and though it is an older RCI ship, we thought is was quite nice for its age. Hope the Legend has held up as well. :)

 

Cour10ay

[serene56]

I dont have a credit card to secure my sea account. As I am sure some people dont have credit cards.

With that being said== once onbaord go to the pursers desk.

When checking in--tell that person cash for your card only. If they tell you you need a credit card-- you dont have one what are they gonna do.

 

Only thing is== if this son is a minor then you will have to pay up on his account.

[cruise crazy mick]

yes i would say it has held up very well for its age,nice and clean it was also been painted by the crew in two of our ports of call.i never heard any complaints about the ship itself,it is very easy to find your way around.

i wonder if you can help me i see you have sailed from venice, and barcelona, how do you find it with a mix of europeans. as i am wanting to do the carnival liberty in may 06. when we went on the legend in august ,it was about 98% british ,but i like to meet and have a drink with other nationalities, does evryone mix or stay in there own language speaking groups. we are doing the caribbean again in february, which i love the party atmosphere looking forward to hearing from you

many thanks mick

[Cour10ay]

Hi Mick,

 

I said we went on the Soveriegn...I meant the Splendour. Sorry 'bout that!

 

Both cruises in the Med were quite international. If I had to make a guess, I would say there were about 25% Germans, about 25% Brits, Scots, and Irish, about 10% Americans, Italians, and Spaniards, Russians, and the other 10% everyone else.

 

We met the most people in the Schooner Bar the first night of each cruise (Germans, 2 Brit couples, 2 Irish couples, and 2 Scots.) We made great friends from all over the place and still keep in touch. Funny enough, the Americans were the least partying group of all, perhaps because nearly all of them had brought young children. The Europeans still think of a cruise as more of an adult thing, at least continental Europeans do. They also DRESS. The Americans really stood out on formal night because they usually were the ones not wearing ball gowns and tuxedoes.

 

The cruise from Venice was a bit more of a party cruise simply because the ports were not as intense as the Barcelona ports. Actually, we and our new-found friends closed the bars every morning at 4AM. We slept til 10 or so and then went ashore. From Venice we went to the Greek Isles and Ephesus in Turkey. We did 5 days in Venice before the cruise, but if I had it to do over, I would do it the other way around. We needed a rest after all the late nights onboard the ship.

 

The Barcelona cruise was really wonderful from a port perspective. If you love art and history, this one's for you. Florence, Rome, Naples, Malta...even Nice and Monte Carlo.

We found that since we all had such busy days planned, we all seemed to crash out about midnight. If you do this trip you should consider LATE dinner. We never would have made it back in time for an early seating. This time we did stay in Barcelona AFTER the cruise for a few days.

 

As for dinner seating, we always checked our table right after we boarded. The maitre d' asked if we had a language preference both times. We ended up sitting with Americans simply because my foreign language skills stop with "Ou est la bibliotheque?"

 

I'll be happy to answer anything else about Med cruises out of those ports. Can't help much on the northern Europe ones, though. It's on my list of things yet to do!

 

Courtenay