How to Establish Cash Account for onboard charges?

[LMaxwell]

Thinking of setting up a cash account for my next cruise instead of credit card.  I thought a CC was required to complete your check in / documents?  

 

What are the ins and outs of setting up a cash account; do you leave a deposit at the check in desk, how do you get unused funds back (and in what form), does the company keep any as a cash handling fee, if there are any erroneous charges how is that handled?  

[Clarea]

No deposit necessary, Royal will let you charge up to $500 on a 7-night cruise before they ask you to pay down the account.

 

You can cash out any remaining balance on the last afternoon/night of the cruise.  No handling fee (yet). 

 

You must handle erroneous charges on the last day.  If you have not given them a credit card, they cannot make any "mistakes" and surprise you with a towel fee (or other such "mistake") after you leave the ship.

[LMaxwell]

3 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

No deposit necessary, Royal will let you charge up to $500 on a 7-night cruise before they ask you to pay down the account.

 

You can cash out any remaining balance on the last afternoon/night of the cruise.  No handling fee (yet). 

 

You must handle erroneous charges on the last day.  If you have not given them a credit card, they cannot make any "mistakes" and surprise you with a towel fee (or other such "mistake") after you leave the ship.

 

Thank you.  Let me run through this so I make sure I follow.  

 

Whatever CC I use on my online check in / printing docs, doesn't count.  At check in desk request to establish a cash account.  Hand over no cash at that time.  On final afternoon of cruise all charges will have been settled and I go to GS and pay directly with cash.  If we hit $500 along the way; we have to go to GS and pay down balance or have Seapass charging halted.  If I don't hit $500 they won't request anything until final payment is due on the last afternoon; therefore I am just paying them exact amount. 

 

Is this for any time day or night?  I'd like to avoid lines if possible.  

[voyager70]

2 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

 

Thank you.  Let me run through this so I make sure I follow.  

 

Whatever CC I use on my online check in / printing docs, doesn't count.  At check in desk request to establish a cash account.  Hand over no cash at that time.  On final afternoon of cruise all charges will have been settled and I go to GS and pay directly with cash.  If we hit $500 along the way; we have to go to GS and pay down balance or have Seapass charging halted.  If I don't hit $500 they won't request anything until final payment is due on the last afternoon; therefore I am just paying them exact amount. 

 

Is this for any time day or night?  I'd like to avoid lines if possible.  

 

Don't put down a CC at online check in.  Just click the box for a cash account.  You can go to GS anytime.  Late night/early morning are best to avoid crowds.

 

[Clarea]

2 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

 

Thank you.  Let me run through this so I make sure I follow.  

 

Whatever CC I use on my online check in / printing docs, doesn't count.  At check in desk request to establish a cash account.  Hand over no cash at that time.  On final afternoon of cruise all charges will have been settled and I go to GS and pay directly with cash.  If we hit $500 along the way; we have to go to GS and pay down balance or have Seapass charging halted.  If I don't hit $500 they won't request anything until final payment is due on the last afternoon; therefore I am just paying them exact amount. 

 

Is this for any time day or night?  I'd like to avoid lines if possible.  

 

Correct, except you should not have to give a credit card during online check-in, and I would keep trying until you find the right combination of browser, cookie/cache clearing, private mode, etc. 

 

Getting a refund from Guest Services is usually limited to afternoon/evening, but give morning a try, I'd like to know if that works.

[Ashland]

The option of having a cash account during your online checkin is there...look closely for it. No need to give any credit card info at all.

[Clarea]

2 minutes ago, Ashland said:

The option of having a cash account during your online checkin is there...look closely for it. No need to give any credit card info at all.

 

I agree, it should be an option, and it always has been an option for us, but there was a recent thread where the poster did not have that option until they changed browsers.

[molole]

Can you on the last day choose to pay down your cash acct with a credit card?

 

Also, I am not clear on the advantage.  Wouldn't Royal still just charge up your sea pass card with whatever amount they want and you still have to pay on your last day?  

 

When I think about that arcade thread the only advantage I can think of is the kids would hit the $500 limit much sooner. 

Edited July 3, 2019 by molole

[Clarea]

1 minute ago, molole said:

Can you, on last day, choose to pay down your cash acct with a credit card?  

 

Also, I am not clear on the advantage.  Wouldn't Royal still just charge up your sea pass card with whatever amount saying you owe them that much and you have to pay on your last day?  

 

Yes, you can use a credit or debit card to pay down the account on the last day.

 

Royal can still make a "mistake" and put an erroneous charge on the onboard account, but you wold hopefully catch that when you pay off (or get a refund) on the last day.  This is supposed to close the onboard account and not allow any more charging.  I suppose they could add something before you get off the ship, but once you are off the ship, there is no more account to charge anything. 

[brillohead]

There is no real advantage to having a cash account, IMO, unless you want to do the whole "take cash out without a fee" thing for the casino.  

With a cash account, you end up having to wait in line to pay off the total on the last day at some point, and whenever you do make your final payment, you can't charge anything else unless you want to wait in line again to make another payment.  

Any errors have to be corrected before you can leave the ship.  If you pay off your account in the afternoon and then that night they charge a towel fee, you'll get refused debarkation because your account isn't at zero, and then you have to go wait in line at Guest Relations to get it straightened out before they'll let you off the ship (hope you don't have an early flight!). 

 

If you have a credit card on your account and there are errors in the final bill, you can email or call after you get home -- no waiting in line, no delays, no frustration.  

[DancerMama25]

I’m going to give you the details of my personal experience last week on Navigator.  I wanted a cash account of board rather than credit cards, and at the time it was my understanding that either a credit card number had to be listed for charging, or cash had to be deposited for your onboard account.

 

Upon embarkation, we immediately went to Guest Services.  I had received a gift of $100 in OBC from a friend and redeemed it online, so I wanted to make sure that was there.  I also deposited $400 in cash with them.  When looking at the account statement periodically throughout the cruise charges showed up as debits from the OBC first, then when that was used up it began debiting from the cash balance.  On the last night of the cruise, before 11:00  pm, I went to Guest Services and cashed out.  At that time, I left a card number just in case of any incidental expense for the rest of the night.  I was assured that it would only be charged for actual purchases, and that no incidental fee of any amount, nor any holds for anything would be placed on the card.  This is exactly how it worked.  It was easy and fast.

 

(By the way, there was ZERO wait either time I was at guest services.  I walked right up, was waited on quickly, had questions answered, and was off...)

Edited July 3, 2019 by DancerMama25

[Clarea]

3 minutes ago, brillohead said:

 ...

If you have a credit card on your account and there are errors in the final bill, you can email or call after you get home -- no waiting in line, no delays, no frustration.  

 

Well, there is the waiting on hold on the phone part, but to some this may be better than waiting in line at GS.

[brillohead]

1 minute ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Well, there is the waiting on hold on the phone part, but to some this may be better than waiting in line at GS.

I just emailed for mine... no waiting for anything!  

You could also do your waiting on hold from the gate area at the airport, once you're safely assured that you'll make your flight on time!

[Clarea]

7 minutes ago, brillohead said:

I just emailed for mine... no waiting for anything!  

You could also do your waiting on hold from the gate area at the airport, once you're safely assured that you'll make your flight on time!

 

I didn't know that email was an option, what email address?

[lilcruiser2]

We do cash account when we cruise. If your cruise is shorter one, less than 7 nights, you will only be able to charge $300 before having to pay on your account. We have had no issues doing a cash account. Our last cruise, I ended up paying with a card on the last night. They charges my card for what was charged and I had them leave it on my account in case we decided to get specialty coffee or something along those lines the last night. I didn't have any extra holds put on my card. The cruise before that one, I just paid the bill with cash at gs on the last night. It's easy to use a cash account and it helps my husband and I stay within our budget for vacation. 

[brillohead]

45 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

I didn't know that email was an option, what email address?

At the bottom of the final invoice they emailed me was this section:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is your final statement as of 11:23 AM on March 16, 2019.
Please note, if you make a purchase after this time, it will be automatically charged in addition to this statement.
Credit card accounts will be settled automatically. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at 1-800-256-6649 or royalguestrelations@rccl.com.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I didn't feel like waiting on hold (or talking to people) so I just emailed (I included my reservation and folio numbers in the email) and had a reply within a day with a promise to follow up, and a few days later I had an answer and a refund.  (They had a "glitch" and pretty much charged EVERYONE on Symphony for towels that week, even if you had confirmed a zero balance.)

Easy peasy!

[Ashland]

57 minutes ago, brillohead said:

There is no real advantage to having a cash account, IMO, unless you want to do the whole "take cash out without a fee" thing for the casino.  

With a cash account, you end up having to wait in line to pay off the total on the last day at some point, and whenever you do make your final payment, you can't charge anything else unless you want to wait in line again to make another payment.  

Any errors have to be corrected before you can leave the ship.  If you pay off your account in the afternoon and then that night they charge a towel fee, you'll get refused debarkation because your account isn't at zero, and then you have to go wait in line at Guest Relations to get it straightened out before they'll let you off the ship (hope you don't have an early flight!). 

 

If you have a credit card on your account and there are errors in the final bill, you can email or call after you get home -- no waiting in line, no delays, no frustration.  

I have always used a credit card during the checkin online...But other's convinced me how easy it is just using the cash account works. We did for our recent Med/Greece trip last month and they were right...no holds on my credit card (which really was never a concern but might be for some) and we spent hardly any time in line that last night to pay our cruise balance off in cash....$58.00...which was just room service charges.... we had no erroneous charges and we knew we wouldn't be using our SeaPass account before leaving early the next morning. I'll do the cash account from now on....easy peasy !! And nice to have the option.

[brillohead]

Different strokes for different folks.... I have better things to do on a cruise ship than hang out at Guest Relations, and I've never had "holds" placed on my credit card or any problems with having a credit card on my account.  

[Clarea]

24 minutes ago, brillohead said:

At the bottom of the final invoice they emailed me was this section:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is your final statement as of 11:23 AM on March 16, 2019.
Please note, if you make a purchase after this time, it will be automatically charged in addition to this statement.
Credit card accounts will be settled automatically. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at 1-800-256-6649 or royalguestrelations@rccl.com.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I didn't feel like waiting on hold (or talking to people) so I just emailed (I included my reservation and folio numbers in the email) and had a reply within a day with a promise to follow up, and a few days later I had an answer and a refund.  (They had a "glitch" and pretty much charged EVERYONE on Symphony for towels that week, even if you had confirmed a zero balance.)

Easy peasy!

 

Thanks for the info. 

[sgmn]

We've had a cash account for last few cruises. Got fed up with RC using the rate of exchange to GBP to their advantage no matter which box we ticked when using card. So we tick cash account when doing on line check in. Put down a few hundred dollars first day or so at guest services and cash out around 10pm on last day. Never had to wait at guest services more than few minutes, never had any problems. Obviously can't charge anything once cashed out on last day 

[voyager70]

I like doing a cash account as I try to use credit cards as little as possible.  Goes back to my post-college days when I racked up nearly 20k in debt due to my own irresponsibility.  My credit was terrible and took years to recover.  I'm in a totally different place now but I still like to pay in cash or debit card whenever possible.

[voyager70]

18 minutes ago, sgmn said:

We've had a cash account for last few cruises. Got fed up with RC using the rate of exchange to GBP to their advantage no matter which box we ticked when using card. So we tick cash account when doing on line check in. Put down a few hundred dollars first day or so at guest services and cash out around 10pm on last day. Never had to wait at guest services more than few minutes, never had any problems. Obviously can't charge anything once cashed out on last day 

 

Another great point.  No chance of post-cruise phantom charges showing up with a cash account.

 

Edited July 3, 2019 by voyager70

[The Sunset Glow]

29 minutes ago, sgmn said:

We've had a cash account for last few cruises. Got fed up with RC using the rate of exchange to GBP to their advantage no matter which box we ticked when using card. So we tick cash account when doing on line check in. Put down a few hundred dollars first day or so at guest services and cash out around 10pm on last day. Never had to wait at guest services more than few minutes, never had any problems. Obviously can't charge anything once cashed out on last day 

 

I feel your pain. We are Canadian but have a US master Card. We tick the box to pay in US$ but two cruises in a row they decided that it would be better to convert to Canadian $ for us instead.🙄 So they converted to CDN and charged that to our US$ MC who then converted back to US$ - so 2 conversion fees and 2 cruises in a row they did this even though on the second cruise we went to GS towards the end of the cruise to ensure they did not convert anything - didn't matter. So now we only do cash accounts and have no issues at all. In fact, on our last cruise our balance was $-1.20 so we didn't even need to go settle our account.😏

[Thorben-Hendrik]

4 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

No deposit necessary, Royal will let you charge up to $500 on a 7-night cruise before they ask you to pay down the account.

 

You can cash out any remaining balance on the last afternoon/night of the cruise.  No handling fee (yet). 

 

You must handle erroneous charges on the last day.  If you have not given them a credit card, they cannot make any "mistakes" and surprise you with a towel fee (or other such "mistake") after you leave the ship.

👍

[Merion_Mom]

I do a cash account all the time.  (so that I can withdraw cash from the casino without paying a fee)

 

I just wait until the account gets very close to $500 then go to GS and give them my credit card.

 

Insanely easy.