Silver Moon Deposit Question

[jmcruiser]

I emailed my reservation to Silver Moon last August and received an email confirmation. The said they would charge the deposit to our credit card roughly 1 month prior to sailing. We will be in Barbados on March 4 and our credit card still has not been charged. I emailed them last week asking about this and have yet to hear back. Does it always take them a long time to charge the deposits? Should I be worried? I have copies of all correspondence, should I try again? We really want to do this trip (Sunset Sail) but I don't want to keep bugging them. Any suggestions would be helpful.

 

Thanks,

[Sunniebgi]

Keep bugging them.. you don't want to miss out. There can be a lag time between when the card is run and when you actually see it posted.. it depends on how the transaction is done (manually or with a credit card machine.. and yes manually still exsist).

 

have a great time

[pklopp]

We booked last week for April 21 and they have already charged our account.

Peggy

[Toto2Kansas]

I booked this past Monday for April 2, 2006. Just checked my CC online and the charge has already been made to the account. I would contact them again or send them a quick fax.

[luvdasea]

I'm going next week and I booked last year. My account was not charged yet, but she did send me an email conformation again yesterday. I figured she would charge it when we get there. If you hear anything differently let me know!:)

[jmcruiser]

Thanks for the advise, I'll fax them again and keep you posted on what I find out.

[cruzobsessed]

booked the silvermoon through my travel agent last april for this past december. because my TA has my CC i "assumed" that all depositis were made. the week before i left, my TA gave me copies of all correspondences because we had other things she had booked. we get to the catamaran and imagine my surprise when they tell me that they never got our deposit!!!

1. thank goodness they still had our names down (even though i had written proof of confirmation)

2. what if we didn't have our credit card available because we were going to pay cash for the "balance".

3. be aware when you pay the balance, if you charge it, it is charged in barbados dollars (some massive scarey amount) and then your credit card company will convert the money....i think there is an additional service fee for the conversion.

amazingly, we had enough cash on us to pay the whole thing in cash. bottom line.......keep trying to reach them........if you don't, take caopies of EVERYTHING even your unresponded to e-mails. i'm SURE you are on the list.

ENJOY.....THIS WILL BE THE HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR CRUISE!!!

[jmcruiser]

Cruzobsessed, thanks for the info. I was worried that there might not be space for us. I have refaxed everything to them and I have copies of all correspondence and will take them with me just in case. I would rather pay cash at the time of sailing so I will be sure to take enough cash.

 

I will post if I hear anything from them.

 

 

Thanks again to everyone for their words of wisdom.

[Sheffie]

We will be there April 13th, and after reading this thread I checked out our CC bills and didn't see a deposit for this excursion. I have had a couple of correspondences from Emma, and have them in my cruise folder. I just e-mailed her again and hopefully we are still on the boat!!!!

[Sheffie]

A person on our cruise posted that the Silver Moon told her that they would charge her account ~1 month out. Guess I am fine!

[reteach]

We were on the Silver Moon 1 last Sunday. Our deposit as charge to our account a month ahead. There was a conversion fee charged by the credit card company. We paid the balance by the same card at the dock. You are in for a wonderul 5 hours of luxury and service. The crew of Ben and Tone are topnotch. This outing is everything Cruise Critic members have raved about. Enjoy!

[Sunniebgi]

with regards to the amount charge.. Because the operation is in Barbados, they must charge your card in Barbados Dollars. The exchange rate is then done between Barbados back to US or Canadian or British based on where you credit card is located. The US amount is not an even BBD2.00 to USD1.00. The operation will either charge 2.0388 (the official bank conversion from 1.00usd to Barbados Dollars) or 2.05, which is the accepted charge due to service fees the banks charge the operators. When the Barbados is converted back to your currency it goes the other way.. Barbados to US is generally converted (divided by) about 1.99 or 1.98 Rate of exchange. Depending on the amount you are paying the difference is not that much..

 

This has been your banking lesson for today.

[Sheffie]

Heard from Emma today. All is well, as was expected! I can hardly wait to feel like the "rich and famous"!!!

[Toto2Kansas]

with regards to the amount charge.. Because the operation is in Barbados, they must charge your card in Barbados Dollars. The exchange rate is then done between Barbados back to US or Canadian or British based on where you credit card is located. The US amount is not an even BBD2.00 to USD1.00. The operation will either charge 2.0388 (the official bank conversion from 1.00usd to Barbados Dollars) or 2.05, which is the accepted charge due to service fees the banks charge the operators. When the Barbados is converted back to your currency it goes the other way.. Barbados to US is generally converted (divided by) about 1.99 or 1.98 Rate of exchange. Depending on the amount you are paying the difference is not that much..

 

This has been your banking lesson for today.

 

The conversion, after the fees ends up being $85.39 instead of $82.50 for the deposit for two passengers. Half of the total fee for the tour is the deposit amount. Not bad at all!

[jmcruiser]

I heard from Emma on the 9th and said they had charged our account and we are set to go. Today I check our cc account on line and indeed the deposit (plus conversion charges) was charged on the 9th. Thanks again for your advice. These boards are very helpful. 11 days till Cruise 2006 (Sea Princess), not that I'm counting.