Onboard spending account

[jbjb9300]

Quick question about the onboard account. We have a couple of gift cards that we will be applying to our onboard account, also bringing cash to put on our account. My question is, "if I also link our account to a credit card, just in case we go a little over, would they deplete the gift cards then cash then use the credit card as a final choice"? Thanks in advance for any input.

[stargate fan]

Quick question about the onboard account. We have a couple of gift cards that we will be applying to our onboard account, also bringing cash to put on our account. My question is, "if I also link our account to a credit card, just in case we go a little over, would they deplete the gift cards then cash then use the credit card as a final choice"? Thanks in advance for any input.

 

In theory, that's what is supposed to happen. It didn't for us last year on Legend to Alaska.

 

We put $500 gf plus our credit card on our S&S account. We checked our folios every day and all looked good. Upon our return home we discovered that everything we charged had been transferred to our cc. (Not a big deal as we have a $40,000 credit limit.) We received a Carnival gf via Fed Ex for some of the funds. A week later, we received a check from Carnival for the remainder of the $500. The only impact was that we had a gift card with funds that we didn't plan on having.

 

For our next cruise, we are only putting the gf on our S&S account and adding our cc, if necessary, at the end of the cruise.

[It's a Ship!!!]

Quick question about the onboard account. We have a couple of gift cards that we will be applying to our onboard account, also bringing cash to put on our account. My question is, "if I also link our account to a credit card, just in case we go a little over, would they deplete the gift cards then cash then use the credit card as a final choice"? Thanks in advance for any input.

That's how it should work, but apparently there can be glitches sometimes. I don't know about gift cards, but for cash, you can easily add that at the kiosks around the ship. I usually just put my credit card on my sign and sail account in online check in, then I pay it down with cash as I go, so I don't have a huge bill at the end. As long as you pay it down by the last night, you should be good.

[wemjam]

I have used gift cards, cash, and credit card all on same sailing. The key I have used is I don't front load up the cash and gift cards at the start. I set my account up with a credit card, then as the cruise progresses and I spend I take my gift cards down and have them applied, and get a new printout each time they are applied to show the new balance left owing. Then, after I have expended my gift cards I may go down and do the same thing with cash if I find I have extra I want to do this with (again getting a print out after it has been applied showing the reduced balance). Then whatever small balance is left after this has always just been charged to my card when I got off. Never had an issue doing it this way.

 

PS make sure you review your statement they leave you like the last night before you get off the ship and address any concerns at guest services of there is a problem.

[Bringonthesun01]

We do gift cards and our CC. We link our CC to the account when we check in online before the cruise. When on board, you can go to a kiosk and add your gift cards to your account and it will show a credit on your account if you have not spent anything yet. They should not charge your card until all your gift card money is gone. We ended up having enough gift cards the last time that we had extra money on our account and then they send you a Carnival gift card a few weeks after your cruise. They did not send us a check, which I had read multiple times on here, however that was fine because we just put it towards our next cruise. If you have any questions, make sure you go talk to someone, they should never charge your card unless you run out of cash or gift card.