New Cruiser - extra charges?

[arbanks51504]

My husband and I are brand new to cruising. We are going to Alaska via HAL in May. My question is: 

 

When checking in on board, does HAL immediately charge you for gratuities (using debit card and not pre-paying)? If so are there any other charges that need to be paid upfront? Just wanted to make sure we plan accordingly.

[Scrapnana]

Gratuities are added to your onboard account each day and are charged to your credit card/debit card at the end of the cruise.  Please note if you are using a debit card there will be a hold put on your account and some of your funds may take a few days to clear after the cruise.

[freestyling]

HAL will charge $16.00 per day, per person for guests in suites and $14.50 for all others. Of course the ship is “cashless” so you will use your stateroom card/key for all chargeable drinks. And a 15% gratuty is added to each drink. Coffee, tea and juice is free. There would be a charge for any specialty restuarant where you decide to dine. You dont mention which ship but if it one that offers the Tamarind fusion/Asian restaurant it is well worth the additional charge. A quick search on this board will show all reviews. Have a great cruise

 

[Mary229]

You can bring a cash payment to be applied to your account.

[OlsSalt]

You can leave the ship with nothing more than the hotel service per day charge added to your total onboard bill.

 

Assuming you have already paid for your cruise in full by the time you depart, this would be the one charge you still need to add to your budget. (Or take off this extra charge off, if this is your choice - not recommended, but some do)  

 

You will know if something else is added, because you will have personally requested it and will then  have given your cruise card and signed for it.

 

 No surprises.  No one tries to trick you or hard-sell into getting something with a charge. If you want a specialty coffee instead of the regular coffee at the end of dinner, the charges are on the menu up front. Special drinks at sailaway party on deck might come around on a tray, but you will have to give them your cruise card before you take one.  If the sailaway drink has a glass with flashing lights, well you know. That will be charged.

 

The "Chocolate Surprise" and the Captains Toasts come around on a tray but there are no charges for those, nor the hot appetizers during happy hour. Nor the lemonade and cool towels when you come back on the ship after a port day.  Those are free too.  So some small things are handed out for free - while others like anything else with alcohol will have a charge noticed upfront.

 

Lots of things you can spend money on during a cruise, and you may want to explore those more before you board. But one hears all the time about cruisers leaving the ship with zero on their account, after the hotel services charges. And you can have a perfectly fine cruise doing absolutely nothing extra. 

 

Edited February 18, 2019 by OlsSalt

[towhee]

Other expenses you may incur are HAL sponsored tours, purchases in the ship's stores, internet charges, laundry.

Again, you'll know that your folio will be charged because you will have to show your cruise card.

You can get a copy of your folio at any time by going to the customer service desk and asking for it.  You will get a final copy in your cabin on the last morning of your cruise.

[Roz]

Be aware that HAL will put a $60 per day hold on your card.  For this reason, a lot of us prefer to use a credit card rather than a debit card.

 

Roz

[sevenseasnomad]

Welcome to cruise critic arbanks51504.  Everyone else has given good advice.  The only thing I'll add is beware of the prices in the onboard shops.  A recent article from cruise critic warned that a passenger should never buy alcohol (from the ship's store that sells it, as the same brand is probably cheaper in your home city), toiletries, over-the-counter meds, or snacks (some ships sell candies/chips).  All of these items are expensive, probably 2-3 times what you'd pay in a land-based chain, like Wal Mart.  

 

My son collects Citizen watches and found one he liked the first night on our Christmas cruise.  I tried to talk him out of it, or at least wait to see if he could get a better deal in one of the ports, but he didn't listen and bought the watch.  He found the same watch in St. Thomas for half the price.  HA does have a match-their-price policy, but a passenger has to take a picture of the price tag with the item.  The store in St. Thomas wouldn't allow him to do that, so he wasted $300.  I hope it taught him a lesson.

 

Something else to consider, since you are new to cruising.  The seas are generally mild going to Alaska; however, if the ship does rock, you may feel nauseous.  Pack Bonine (or its cheaper alternative from Wal Mart which works just as well).  Take the first dose before sailing because if you wait until you start to feel sick, it's generally too late.  Should you forget to pack it, the Front Desk gives it out.  Just ask.

 

Have a lovely cruise, which I'm sure you will.  You're sailing with the cruise line that put Alaska on the map.  HA has been in Alaska for decades and knows their "stuff."  Enjoy.     

[VennDiagram]

23 hours ago, arbanks51504 said:

My husband and I are brand new to cruising. We are going to Alaska via HAL in May. My question is: 

 

When checking in on board, does HAL immediately charge you for gratuities (using debit card and not pre-paying)? If so are there any other charges that need to be paid upfront? Just wanted to make sure we plan accordingly.

 

If you are so inclined, you can buy yourself onboard credit (OBC) in advance of your cruise through the HAL website to cover the approximate cost of the grats. 

[DeltaBreeze]

 

Be careful of using your cell phone on the cruise ship, roaming charges can be very high. 

[OlsSalt]

28 minutes ago, DeltaBreeze said:

 

Be careful of using your cell phone on the cruise ship, roaming charges can be very high. 

 

I don't use a cell phone so I don't really know about these things, but I recall someone said there might be a big difference when calling after one docks, or even in the cruise port. if it connects to the ship's wireless or the land-based system (????) - probably describing this wrong, and maybe it is no longer a problem. But it did lead to some extra high surprise charges as I recall. 

 

Remedy would be to wait until well inside the terminal to make the calls?  (?????)

[Cruise4food]

4 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

 

I don't use a cell phone so I don't really know about these things, but I recall someone said there might be a big difference when calling after one docks, or even in the cruise port. if it connects to the ship's wireless or the land-based system (????) - probably describing this wrong, and maybe it is no longer a problem. But it did lead to some extra high surprise charges as I recall. 

 

Remedy would be to wait until well inside the terminal to make the calls?  (?????)

The ships are only licensed to operate cell services when located well off- shore. Just think of people living along the shoreline whose phones might connect to the ship. As you said, while in a port, it is no longer a problem. Your description is accurate and the licensing is meant to keep the ship cell service off when shore based phones might be able to connect.

 

[drowelf]

On 2/17/2019 at 8:43 PM, arbanks51504 said:

My husband and I are brand new to cruising. We are going to Alaska via HAL in May. My question is: 

 

When checking in on board, does HAL immediately charge you for gratuities (using debit card and not pre-paying)? If so are there any other charges that need to be paid upfront? Just wanted to make sure we plan accordingly.

HAL will generally place a charge against your registered form of payment (Debit/CC) for the total cost of your HSC + some extra for the cruise shortly after check-in. If your charge stuff to your account, they will start to place additional charges against your account. For my CC these are 'pending' charges, the actually amount charged to the card does not happen until the end of your cruise, when the true balance is known. At that point all the 'pending' charges placed drop off your account. 

 

When you do On-line check in. The account section will detail how much will be charged. Here is the text from my upcoming cruise. 

 

"There will be initial authorization holds of $60 per person, per day (for guests 18 and over) on your registered credit card for the duration of your cruise, regardless of your actual expenses. Please note that there may be multiple authorizations throughout your cruise, depending upon how much is spent, and some banks may keep the hold(s) in place for up to 30 days. If you prefer, you may bring cash in this amount and pay at the Guest Services desk the day of boarding. Please have the credit or debit card(s) you registered with you and available for the duration of the cruise in case our shipboard staff needs additional information."

 

We are in a Suite (SS) so our HSC is $16ppd, it looks like they are adding $44ppd for any incidental charges. So for our 12 day cruise, I expect to see an initial pending charge of about 1440 (60x2x12). 

 

As I've never used a Debit Card, not sure how the 'pending' vs actual stuff works out at the end, but I suspect you need to have the actual $$ in your account to cover it, which is why I prefer to use a CC since it does not convert into real $$ until after the cruise and final accounting. 

 

[RuthC]

1 hour ago, drowelf said:

HAL will generally place a charge against your registered form of payment (Debit/CC) for the total cost of your HSC + some extra for the cruise shortly after check-in.

(underlining mine). Correction: HAL puts a hold on you credit card. This is not the same as a charge. The amount charged is whatever your bill is at the end of the cruise.
On cruises greater than 25 days, the hold is $30 per person, per day.

[Hawaiidan]

On 2/17/2019 at 5:43 PM, arbanks51504 said:

My husband and I are brand new to cruising. We are going to Alaska via HAL in May. My question is: 

 

When checking in on board, does HAL immediately charge you for gratuities (using debit card and not pre-paying)? If so are there any other charges that need to be paid upfront? Just wanted to make sure we plan accordingly.

 Dont use a Debit card...use a credit card because HAL  will  reserve a whole lot more money than what you might spend.. and put a lock on your card.   The same rental cars and hotels also do.   You could end up being locked out of your account before the cruise even starts !! 

   HAL will not charge you just for the gratuities  but something like $ 30 a day in advance pp for the duration of the cruise.   They will submit this ,as I said, a gross total sum that they presume you might charge... and put a lock on that amount.!!!   

Worse this lock may take 30 days  to get lifted

Using a Debit card you pay BEFORE the charges.  

  Use a credit card and pay 30 days AFTER the cruise. 

Edited February 19, 2019 by Hawaiidan

[arbanks51504]

Thanks everyone.  I had read somewhere about the $60 a day but then saw the $14.50 per day so wasn't sure what to believe. Now my only question is: Is it $60 per day/per person (so $120 per day) or $ $30 per day/per person ($60 per day)?

 

[drowelf]

1 hour ago, RuthC said:

(underlining mine). Correction: HAL puts a hold on you credit card. This is not the same as a charge. The amount charged is whatever your bill is at the end of the cruise.
On cruises greater than 25 days, the hold is $30 per person, per day.

Technically correct, which is why I said that it goes into your 'pending charges', which is exactly how my CC presents the information when I view it via online banking, the word hold is nowhere to be found. There is no way to differentiate those charges which are holds versus the ones that have actually will post to my account at a single glance. The only way is to view the CC over several days and see which transactions move out of the pending category and on the posted one.  Regardless of which bucket it goes in, its still reduces your available credit. 

[drowelf]

50 minutes ago, arbanks51504 said:

Thanks everyone.  I had read somewhere about the $60 a day but then saw the $14.50 per day so wasn't sure what to believe. Now my only question is: Is it $60 per day/per person (so $120 per day) or $ $30 per day/per person ($60 per day)?

 

 

As I posted above, mine for an upcoming 12 day cruise is $60 per person, per day. You can find out for sure, when you complete Online Check In, on the Account Step it will detail the information. See back to my post, where I copied the exact text from my Online Check Account Page. 

 

The $14.50 pp/pd is the Hotel Service Charge, the remainder is some number they have concocted that represents what they expect you to spend while on-board each day for incidentals (drinks, stuff, bingo, spa, cabanas, room service extras, etc.)  

 

Cheers, 

[RuthC]

1 hour ago, arbanks51504 said:

Thanks everyone.  I had read somewhere about the $60 a day but then saw the $14.50 per day so wasn't sure what to believe. Now my only question is: Is it $60 per day/per person (so $120 per day) or $ $30 per day/per person ($60 per day)?

 

Already answered two posts up.

[catl331]

1 hour ago, drowelf said:

the remainder is some number they have concocted that represents what they expect you to spend while on-board each day for incidentals (drinks, stuff, bingo, spa, cabanas, room service extras, etc.)  

Just one excursion per day would take the whole $60, or most likely more.

Edited February 19, 2019 by catl331

[drowelf]

32 minutes ago, catl331 said:

Just one excursion per day would take the whole $60, or most likely more.

I'm sure if they could figure out how many and which Shorex everyone would take, they would up the initial amount. But instead as your account balance goes over the initial amount, they just plop another transaction on your card.  

[raesive]

If you have a beverage package, do they charge a separate gratuity to your account for each drink? Or does the initial service fee cover those things? 

[RuthC]

12 hours ago, raesive said:

If you have a beverage package, do they charge a separate gratuity to your account for each drink? Or does the initial service fee cover those things? 

The service charge was paid when you purchased the beverage package.

[rucrazy]

On 2/17/2019 at 8:47 PM, Scrapnana said:

  Please note if you are using a debit card there will be a hold put on your account and some of your funds may take a few days to clear after the cruise.

It may take a week or longer just so you know...Even when we use a Credit Card Authorizations may last for 10 days or so..

So if that could be a concern you may want to see about pre paying all you can...and supply a cash deposit on embarkation for any day to day purchases ...

[TAD2005]

Ruth is, as always, right about this.  The "Authorization Hold" of $60 per day, per person, ($30 per day for cruises 26 days and over) will hit your debit AND credit card on the first night of sailing.   That "Authorization Hold" is to determine that you have not provided a maxed-out credit or debit card to HAL for the cruise.  The hold will usually drop off your card in 7 to 10 days.  Only what you actually spend onboard, minus any onboard credit, will be charged to your card a day or two after you leave the ship.  But your available funds on either a debit or credit card will be locked out for the duration of the hold.   One thing to note, if you have the initial hold on your card, and then go to the casino and buy $5000 in chips for the craps table, you will have another additional hold placed on your card, just to be sure you are good for the initial hold, plus the additional onboard spending.