Payment Card Declined

[himan]

Been trying all night to complete online check-in for our upcoming Iona cruise on 9 October. Everything completed except registering my credit card. It keeps on popping a message up stating card declined, I have tried different browsers, clearing cookies and all to no avail. I phoned my bank to check with them and they have no record of any declined transactions and they have not blocked the card so my only guess is there is some sort of glitch at P&O end. Has anyone else had this problem and if so how did they get it resolved, as I think I would be quicker completing astronaut training than it would be getting through to P&O at the present time? Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Stokie33]

Worst case scenario they will sort it at the docks, I've had this happen before and just registered the card on board ship 

[himan]

1 hour ago, Stokie33 said:

Worst case scenario they will sort it at the docks, I've had this happen before and just registered the card on board ship 

Thanks for that info Andrea. That's what I'll do, only thing is I may need to try and register a debit card to enable me to complete online check-in and print boarding cards out. I can then hopefully change this card to my Mastercard at Southampton.

[crusingdan]

I had this and thought it was a glitch on P&O website cause it was declined when trying to book our drinks packages as well.

 

However I called my bank and initially they couldn’t see anything but put me through to Fraud Team who I guess have more access and they said ‘oh yeah it’s flagged up for security as it’s come through as Carnival and the pre authorisation is in USD’.

 

They cleared it straight away and she stayed on the phone whilst I tried it again and it went straight through.

 

I would contact your card issuer and double check it again as the ‘front line’ staff couldn’t see anything initially, it was only when I was put through to the fraud team that they could see it had been declined a few times and that it was flagged.

[zap99]

17 hours ago, himan said:

Thanks for that info Andrea. That's what I'll do, only thing is I may need to try and register a debit card to enable me to complete online check-in and print boarding cards out. I can then hopefully change this card to my Mastercard at Southampton.

The site wouldn't take my MasterCard on 2 recent staycation cruises. I used a debit card with the intention of changing it at Guest services once on board. Once we got on the ship, I couldn't be bothered.

[davecttr]

Took mine OK on my Iona cruise.

[himan]

Just had to register debit card to get online check-in completed. Will change to Mastercard when we get on board. I phoned P&O today and after twice waiting for over half an hour with no luck \i tried a third time and selected make a payment option and got through within a couple of minutes. Lady I spoke with said it is not P&O that are at fault for declined cards and the fault is with the bank who in turn blame P&O. She did say I could complete check-in without card details but that isn't the case. Still all sorted now and everything printed off. 

 

[Son of Anarchy]

Good to hear that you got things sorted.  Also good to hear that you eventually got through on the phone.

[himan]

 Thanks, I just thought if I mentioned how I got through on the phone it may help others who encounter problems, not that they were able to help me but better than having the London Philharmonic playing to you for half an hour. 🤣 

[majortom10]

1 hour ago, himan said:

Just had to register debit card to get online check-in completed. Will change to Mastercard when we get on board. I phoned P&O today and after twice waiting for over half an hour with no luck \i tried a third time and selected make a payment option and got through within a couple of minutes. Lady I spoke with said it is not P&O that are at fault for declined cards and the fault is with the bank who in turn blame P&O. She did say I could complete check-in without card details but that isn't the case. Still all sorted now and everything printed off. 

 

Glad to hear you got sorted but be aware P&O are very good at blaming everyone else and it is never their fault. I would take her statement that it is the banks fault with a very large pinch of salt especially has their website has had glitches for months and even years.

[himan]

15 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Glad to hear you got sorted but be aware P&O are very good at blaming everyone else and it is never their fault. I would take her statement that it is the banks fault with a very large pinch of salt especially has their website has had glitches for months and even years.

Yes that is what I was thinking. I tend to believe the bank before P&O. I feel that since the pandemic companies standards have slipped drastically as far as customer service is concerned and I don't see any improvement in this as there must be numerous problems with staff working from home.

For instance we have had to take a second travel insurance policy out due to changes in medical conditions (2 changes and very minor, nothing serious) of which I emailed the company in great detail as it's better to be honest. I got an email back wanting contact number as they needed to speak to me, I gave them the number and then sent another email when they failed to contact me. They eventually phoned at 4:10 pm on Saturday afternoon but we went for a walk for 20 minutes and I didn't take my phone so missed the call. I emailed as soon as I got home and am still waiting for them to phone me. I would cancel policy by email but I want to see how long they actually take to contact me and then I can tell them exactly why I am cancelling. I had no faith in the company should a claim situation have arisen.

[Dahlia501]

This is still happening. My credit card was declined  last week.  I phoned P and O and they said it's happening  a lot.  In the end I tried my debit card and it went straight through.  I'll  just have to make sure I have enough money in my account.

[jeanlyon]

What do people do who don't check in online I wonder?  Check in at the port I suppose.

[Stokie33]

I used a debit card on both Princess and Iona both put a hold each day for the new amount and the previous days disappeared, all until the last one, where they put a hold on the last night then charged an amount on the day we got off but didn’t clear the hold amount, in both instances it took 10 working days for the hold to be removed. I checked with the bank who blamed the cruise lines so something to be aware of is to have double the money you spend available.

[2BACRUISER]

The best thing to do is ring your credit card provider prior to using it on p&o ( carnival) to alert them thre may be some $ transactions going thro. I always do this with barclaycard prior to going abroad and have had no problems. Its due diligence on their part to stop scammers and money laundering so a quick call saves a lot of hassle imo. Hth 

[majortom10]

It is a lot easier to use, if possible, a credit card instead of a debit card and then you dont seem to have these problems.

[Cruise_Rookie_2010]

I had exactly the same issue (Mastercard declined during on-line check-in), just register with a debit card and then change the card when on-board (at reception), took approx 1 min.

[bobstheboy]

Banks are getting more fraud aware when it comes to credit/debit cards. I had a debit card declined today when paying a balance with TA. Had a text from fraud dept of my bank shortly after asking me to confirm it was legit. Had to text back Y and was then able to complete payment.

[GOQ]

Are credit cards being declined only when used for online check-in or are you all generally having problems paying balances etc ?

 

I have had no problems paying either deposits or balances.

[dave2]

On 9/22/2021 at 8:27 AM, crusingdan said:

I had this and thought it was a glitch on P&O website cause it was declined when trying to book our drinks packages as well.

 

However I called my bank and initially they couldn’t see anything but put me through to Fraud Team who I guess have more access and they said ‘oh yeah it’s flagged up for security as it’s come through as Carnival and the pre authorisation is in USD’.

 

They cleared it straight away and she stayed on the phone whilst I tried it again and it went straight through.

 

I would contact your card issuer and double check it again as the ‘front line’ staff couldn’t see anything initially, it was only when I was put through to the fraud team that they could see it had been declined a few times and that it was flagged.

We had this problem resolved by following the above advice. Many thanks for your excellent post!!

[ovccruiser]

Did a recent cruise on Cunard and my card details were given at the pursers desk onboard. They too had problems with my card when I registered it from home, so it may well be a Carnival UK problem.