Note of caution to UK Barclaycard Visa Users

[Yorkshire-Pudding]

Just a quick note to those travelling using a UK issued Barclaycard credit card. I just completed a cruise on board Independence of the Seas ex Southampton. I created my on-board account with a Barclaycard for everyone in my cabin against my card. However about 3 or 4 days into the cruise, my seapass was declined when 'purchasing' a drink despite having the Deluxe beverage package. I went to Guest Services to understand what the issue was as it seems that the problem relates solely to Barclaycard users. It is my understanding that RCI pre-authorise a payment against the registered card everyday (I guess they want to make sure they get paid) but there is a problem with Barclaycard which rejects them. Puzzled I checked my Barclaycard balance and had a zero balance, however Guest Services would not allow us to use our seapass even for items already pre-purchased unless we either placed cash on account, used another credit card or manually signed everyday for our charges. To resolve the issue, I used an American Express for the remainder of the cruise and swopped back to the Barclaycard for the final bill.

 

The explanation I was given by Guest Services is that it is known to be a problem with Barclaycards. However, if this is the case, why are they accepted when setting up the on-board account and RCI report the issue back to Barclaycard?

 

I quick conversation with Barclaycard on my return and it seems there is no issue with my account but may have be caused by the repeated daily pre-authorisations by the same vendor (RCI) which appears to triggers fraud flags at Barclaycard which then decline the transactions. I do not know if this happens with all Barclaycards and/or Barclays debit card but it is embarrassing to find yourself locked out. If possible, I would advise travelling with an additional credit card other than Barclaycard if possible or cash.  

 

Regards

[Sancho_proudfoot]

This is why you need to let your bank/card issuers know where and how you will be using your plastic, well in advance of boarding.

[Yorkshire-Pudding]

55 minutes ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

This is why you need to let your bank/card issuers know where and how you will be using your plastic, well in advance of boarding.

 

This was a Barclaycard travel credit card. My husband also has one and uses globally as he travels for work, without this problem ever occurred. He struggles to tell me where he is flying to next, so there is no chance of him telling Barclaycard his movements. I have never had a problem using it anywhere I have travelled in the world before, nor did I have a problem with American Express I replaced it with and I did not notify Amex that I was travelling. The problem is the repeated pre-authorisation.

[hapster85]

A known issue, but the first time they tell you about it is in the middle of your cruise. Great customer service there.

[minikiss]

Interesting, between us we only have 1 credit card and it's a Barclaycard.

never had a problem on other cruise lines except last year when they blocked the card due to real fraud activity. Had to cancel it and pay on the last day with a debit card. Found out a day and half before we got off, 

All our bank accounts are Barclays bar 1, an old one of mine. 

I've just told hubby about what you have written and as the Credit card is his he said he'd make sure to tell them our travel plans ahead of our cruise in a couple of months, 

 

Jules

 

 

[Lpppsp]

Always used our barclaycard for onboard account and never had a problem, have never pre-notified them before travel.  I know that the authorisations on the card are generally higher than actual spending but it drops off a few days after cruise ends.

 

I would be very annoyed if I had pre-paid for the drinks package before the cruise and I wasn’t able to order a drink!

[Thorben-Hendrik]

On 7/16/2019 at 7:06 PM, Yorkshire-Pudding said:

Just a quick note to those travelling using a UK issued Barclaycard credit card. I just completed a cruise on board Independence of the Seas ex Southampton. I created my on-board account with a Barclaycard for everyone in my cabin against my card. However about 3 or 4 days into the cruise, my seapass was declined when 'purchasing' a drink despite having the Deluxe beverage package. I went to Guest Services to understand what the issue was as it seems that the problem relates solely to Barclaycard users. It is my understanding that RCI pre-authorise a payment against the registered card everyday (I guess they want to make sure they get paid) but there is a problem with Barclaycard which rejects them. Puzzled I checked my Barclaycard balance and had a zero balance, however Guest Services would not allow us to use our seapass even for items already pre-purchased unless we either placed cash on account, used another credit card or manually signed everyday for our charges. To resolve the issue, I used an American Express for the remainder of the cruise and swopped back to the Barclaycard for the final bill.

 

The explanation I was given by Guest Services is that it is known to be a problem with Barclaycards. However, if this is the case, why are they accepted when setting up the on-board account and RCI report the issue back to Barclaycard?

 

I quick conversation with Barclaycard on my return and it seems there is no issue with my account but may have be caused by the repeated daily pre-authorisations by the same vendor (RCI) which appears to triggers fraud flags at Barclaycard which then decline the transactions. I do not know if this happens with all Barclaycards and/or Barclays debit card but it is embarrassing to find yourself locked out. If possible, I would advise travelling with an additional credit card other than Barclaycard if possible or cash.  

 

Regards

Two words: CASH ACCOUNT!👍

Never give RCI a CC!👎🙄

[jenf22]

This is why we switched to Capital One Venture.  We used to always use a Barclay card, but they locked our account on a cruise as well (Princess, not RCI).  They first locked it after we used a taxi in New York.  So we called them, cleared it up, said we were traveling, and then it was declined again 2 days later on the ship.  They actually were harsh with us on the phone insisting we must tell them when we travel... even though we just did!  So once we got home, we cancelled that card.  It's a TRAVEL card.  I will never recommend that card to anyone!  Like the OP,  we finished out the cruise on our AMEX card.

[little britain]

I’ve just got a Monzo. No charges, uses market fx rates and you get instant notification when it is used.

I had the alert on my phone app even before the waiter had torn the receipt off the machine! Impressed. 

[cruisegus]

Barclaycard must have a more active Fraud dept than they have in other departments.  It one of the cards on my list to drop, because it take them 3 days to send me a notification of a charge I make.  Most of my other cards, ie Capital One, Chase, Citi, etc I get the notification before I even leave the store or can pull away from the gas station.  That's what I currently expect from these services.  My rule is always carry at least 2 credit cards, just in case one has some form of problem, like the one described by the OP.  Glad the OP had another card on hand to use.

[Yorkshire-Pudding]

12 hours ago, minikiss said:

Interesting, between us we only have 1 credit card and it's a Barclaycard.

never had a problem on other cruise lines except last year when they blocked the card due to real fraud activity. Had to cancel it and pay on the last day with a debit card. Found out a day and half before we got off, 

All our bank accounts are Barclays bar 1, an old one of mine. 

I've just told hubby about what you have written and as the Credit card is his he said he'd make sure to tell them our travel plans ahead of our cruise in a couple of months, 

 

Jules

 

 

 

Like yourself, most of my bank accounts are with Barclays, I have 3 different Barclaycards, but also MBNA and Amex but I usually use a different purse for holiday so only take 3 cards, Barclays debit, Barclaycard and Amex, leaving all the others at home. I don't know if the problem is all Barclaycards but the one I had is marketed for travellers because it doesn't charge foreign transactions fees. It could be that your card is ok. I just would hate other Barclaycard users to be caught out and suffer the embarrassment of having your seapass declined.

 

There does increasingly seem to be the wider issue that Barclays does seem to be cracking down on anything it deems to possibly be fraudulent even when there is no evidence of it. I recently made an electronic transfer from a non-Barclays account to my Barclays current account using the Sort Code and Account Number, it was rejected even though both accounts are solely in my name. The bank I sent the money from said it was transferred and I had electronic documents which clearly showed the transaction, but when I checked my Barclays said it was not there. As Barclays did not receive the money and couldn't help recover the money. I spent days trying to track the money down to finally discover that in fact Barclays had rejected transfer and funds would now sit in 'banking abeyance' for a further 10 days until it returned back to the originating bank as a failed transaction and whilst it sits there, it is not accessible by anyone. This was more than £20k. Let's just say I was not happy. The originating bank said that this was a known problem and had happened to other Barclays customers and to guarantee this does not happen again, I must to use the IBAN code (international bank account number) even though the transaction was between my UK sterling bank accounts. When I recovered the money I did the same transaction again for the same amount using the IBAN for the Barclays account and it went through without issue. You couldn't make it up.

Edited July 18, 2019 by Yorkshire-Pudding
Semantics

[sxphil]

This has been an issue with Barclaycard for sometime we were pre warned last year about this when we embarked

 

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[little britain]

38 minutes ago, sxphil said:

This has been an issue with Barclaycard for sometime we were pre warned last year about this when we embarked

 

Get a Halifax Clarity Card No foreign charges and a great rate conversion rate

Used to use those but got fed up with them charging me interest on my ATM withdraws abroad!  I tried preloading the card with cash to avoid this but they told me this was not allowed. 

[sxphil]

You will always get charged for taking cash out on a credit card

[Charles4515]

16 hours ago, cruisegus said:

Barclaycard must have a more active Fraud dept than they have in other departments.  It one of the cards on my list to drop, because it take them 3 days to send me a notification of a charge I make.  Most of my other cards, ie Capital One, Chase, Citi, etc I get the notification before I even leave the store or can pull away from the gas station.  That's what I currently expect from these services.  My rule is always carry at least 2 credit cards, just in case one has some form of problem, like the one described by the OP.  Glad the OP had another card on hand to use.

 

That is why I don't use my Barclaycard anymore. All the other cards send alert notifications whithin a few minutes. With Barcley it takes a couple of days. Also I gave them a travel notification for a UK visit and they still declined my card and I had to call them from the UK. Yes, always carry more than one card for backup. 

[Joseph2017China]

Many credit cards have computer programs to detect fraud.  Some are better than others.  For example, the cruise line is dinging your credit card, and the address is in Miami.  You are on a ship in Europe.  You purchase something in port, have the ship ding in Miami and next day your use it again in port.....program picks it up as fraud.  You put in you are on vacation, and list places, than it over rides the program to allow it. 

 

It's not really up to RCCL to guess which customer will be ok, and which will not be ok.  Rule of thumb, is always let credit card company know.  Than make sure you can get text alerts.  Finally, always have a back-up credit card.

[ONECRUISER]

On 7/16/2019 at 2:18 PM, Sancho_proudfoot said:

This is why you need to let your bank/card issuers know where and how you will be using your plastic, well in advance of boarding.

Agree. Years ago, one of first cruises didn't let them know. Ship was out of Country, couldnt use card. Now this is before Cell Phones and ATM's working Nationwide/Worldwide, but I always let my Credit Union and Card Co know when traveling. But I still usually use only my prepaid card for most charges when traveling.

Edited July 18, 2019 by ONECRUISER

[123funcruiser]

6 hours ago, sxphil said:

You will always get charged for taking cash out on a credit Card

 

I can get cash at ATM´s worldwide without being charged any fees for this. Oh yeah and this is on my Barclayscards. Also no foreign Transaction fee.

 

I also get instant notifications via text and email when using the Cards. 

 

I´ve never let them know I´m travelling and never had a Problem. The one Thing I noticed though on my last cruise was the daily notifications About the charges, so yes they have submitted frequently. In some cases I even got an instant notification when paying with my seapass.

 

 

[Yorkshire-Pudding]

Just a note on clarity. The Barclaycard I used to set up my on board account did work on the last day of sailing and my final payment went through without problem. I did not contact Barclaycard until after I returned home. It was the daily pre-authorisation that RC does that seemed to cause problems. My Amex was not used for any payment.