Credit cards and port shuttle buses

[longton]

Next month we are sailing from Hong Kong to Cape Town on Queen Victoria.

 

A couple of questions for seasoned Cunarders:

 

I assume the ship will take a copy of my credit card prior to embarkation. Will this show Cunard or Carnival, Hong Kong or UK etc? I want to alert my bank in advance so they don't have suspicions about the transaction.

 

We are entitled to "Complimentary in port shuttle buses". Do these buses take us to a place in town and are they available in all ports?

 

Many thanks for taking the time to read and reply.

[Host Hattie]

My 2 credit card transactions last year both show Queen Victoria, Cunard.

 

Port shuttles are usually available in ports where the docking location isn't within a reasonable walking distance of the town or where you are not allowed to walk off.

There used to be a list on the Cunard website but it seems to have disappeared.

[newjoisey]

iirc the card you present at check-in will show cunard /ship. One of us always has extra credit cards just in case ,i have only notified my credit card once that i was out of my usual area,i have not done it in quite a while . The daily programmer delivered to your room usually informs about buses etc on port days  

[Bigmike911]

By all means notify your credit card company of your travel plans including large charges you expect to make and the cities and countries you will be traveling to. Cunard will take your credit card and enter it into their system when you check in, They will run an automatic authorization to validate the card. Then as your on board account reaches various thresholds they will send transactions to your issuer. They will do a final one after you depart. BE SURE to check your final bill, which whey will put in your mail slot, to make sure there are no wrong charges. It is wise about mid voyage to go to the Pursers office and get a copy of the charges about mid voyage as well. Make sure you deal with any issues on the statement before you leave the ship. 

 

Cunard will issue you an ID one for each passenger, Your Cunard ID will serve as the room door key, identification for departing and re boarding the ship and for all purchases you make aboard. 

 

The location for the charge will be Cunard, Miami and it will be in US Dollars converted to your issuer currency. If you don't have a card that does not charge you for international transactions you might want to look into one. The charges usually run 3% of the transaction amount, and it is your bank charging the amount not Cunard. AMEX for example does not charge the conversion fee. 

 

I have not been in most of the port you will visit during your trip, but it is my experience in Europe and North America that Cunard usually has shuttles to city centers. You will need you Cunard Identification to re-board the shuttle to return to your ship. 

Bon Voyage

[Underwatr]

On 2/22/2019 at 10:17 AM, Bigmike911 said:

The location for the charge will be Cunard, Miami and it will be in US Dollars converted to your issuer currency.

 

That's been my experience, but is it true for all embarkation ports and all passenger nationalities?

Edited February 23, 2019 by Underwatr

[bluemarble]

On 2/22/2019 at 9:17 AM, Bigmike911 said:

... The location for the charge will be Cunard, Miami and it will be in US Dollars converted to your issuer currency. ...

 

51 minutes ago, Underwatr said:

That's been my experience, but is it true for all embarkation ports and all passenger nationalities?

 

Last June, during three consecutive QM2 voyages (eastbound crossing, Norway, westbound crossing) our onboard purchases for each segment were listed on our US credit card statement as charges from "QUEEN MARY 2 CUNARD LINE GBR". In the details for those transactions, the "Merchant Country" was listed as "United Kingdom".

[Bigmike911]

3 hours ago, bluemarble said:

 

 

Last June, during three consecutive QM2 voyages (eastbound crossing, Norway, westbound crossing) our onboard purchases for each segment were listed on our US credit card statement as charges from "QUEEN MARY 2 CUNARD LINE GBR". In the details for those transactions, the "Merchant Country" was listed as "United Kingdom".

Were the charges in UKP or USD? Did you get charged for 'international' transactions even if the charges were in USD?

[Underwatr]

Most of my cards don't charge a foreign transaction fee, but the ones that do base it on the charge being run through a non-US bank even though it may have been in dollars.

[bluemarble]

6 minutes ago, Bigmike911 said:

Were the charges in UKP or USD? Did you get charged for 'international' transactions even if the charges were in USD?

 

The charges were in US dollars. My credit card does not charge foreign transaction fees any more. But up until a few years ago it did charge a 3% foreign transaction fee and those charges from Cunard would have been subject to that fee even though they were already in US dollars since those charges were treated as having originated in the UK.

 

Here's some additional history on how past Cunard onboard charges have appeared on our US credit card statements.

 

From an eastbound crossing in 2005 - "CUNARD QM2 MIAMI FL"

From a QV short break cruise in 2009 - "QUEEN VICTORIA VALENCIA CA"

From an eastbound crossing in 2010 - "CUNARD QM2 MIAMI FL"

From a QE Mediterranean cruise in 2012 - "CUNARD QE MIAMI FL"

From the QM2 Christmas cruise in 2013 - "CUNARD QM2 MIAMI FL"

From an eastbound crossing in 2014 - "CUNARD QM2 MIAMI FL"

From an eastbound crossing in 2015 - "CUNARD QM2 VALENCIA CA"

From a roundtrip crossing in 2016 - "CUNARD QM2 VALENCIA CA"

And then the charges from 2018 that I reported above - "QUEEN MARY 2 CUNARD LINE GBR".

 

So, there seems have been a fair amount of variation between Miami, Florida and Valencia, California, but at least up until a couple years ago, our onboard charges from Cunard were all recorded as coming from the US. Looks like having the charges originate from the UK may be something relatively new.

 

[Bigmike911]

23 hours ago, bluemarble said:

 

The charges were in US dollars. My credit card does not charge foreign transaction fees any more. But up until a few years ago it did charge a 3% foreign transaction fee and those charges from Cunard would have been subject to that fee even though they were already in US dollars since those charges were treated as having originated in the UK.

 

Here's some additional history on how past Cunard onboard charges have appeared on our US credit card statements.

 

From an eastbound crossing in 2005 - "CUNARD QM2 MIAMI FL"

From a QV short break cruise in 2009 - "QUEEN VICTORIA VALENCIA CA"

From an eastbound crossing in 2010 - "CUNARD QM2 MIAMI FL"

From a QE Mediterranean cruise in 2012 - "CUNARD QE MIAMI FL"

From the QM2 Christmas cruise in 2013 - "CUNARD QM2 MIAMI FL"

From an eastbound crossing in 2014 - "CUNARD QM2 MIAMI FL"

From an eastbound crossing in 2015 - "CUNARD QM2 VALENCIA CA"

From a roundtrip crossing in 2016 - "CUNARD QM2 VALENCIA CA"

And then the charges from 2018 that I reported above - "QUEEN MARY 2 CUNARD LINE GBR".

 

So, there seems have been a fair amount of variation between Miami, Florida and Valencia, California, but at least up until a couple years ago, our onboard charges from Cunard were all recorded as coming from the US. Looks like having the charges originate from the UK may be something relatively new.

 

Thanks for the information John, It is very helpful. 

[longton]

Many thanks to all who replied. I always carry two credit cards in case one doesn't work.

I'll let you know what appears on my credit card statement later.