Onboard Cruise Dues

[sparks1093]

1 hour ago, Rhitson88 said:

Ok so, yeah I have a debit card attached to my account. They won’t just charge it the 12th when we are getting off the ship and that’s it? Even if the money is there on that day for them to take? Lol I’m not sure why I would have to sign a promissary note, just take the money haha.

Ok, here is my story. We put a debit card on our account and I made sure that I had enough in the account for both the cruise and the drive to and from the port. After we disembarked we stopped at a gas station not too far from the port to get gas and some snacks. I checked the balance on my account and I was overdrawn. The cruise line had put a hold on the card equal to the charges on the night before disembarkation and then the final amount on the morning we left. I was beside myself with panic because I had to drive 5 kids from Miami to Vermont with what little I had available on a credit card that I had with me. Fortunately by the time we stopped for gas again the hold amount had fallen off and we had money again. Had that not been the case we would have had to drive straight through non-stop and we probably would have been eating beef jerky and chips. I've never used a debit card since then for securing the cruise account. 

[ontheweb]

11 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

Ok, here is my story. We put a debit card on our account and I made sure that I had enough in the account for both the cruise and the drive to and from the port. After we disembarked we stopped at a gas station not too far from the port to get gas and some snacks. I checked the balance on my account and I was overdrawn. The cruise line had put a hold on the card equal to the charges on the night before disembarkation and then the final amount on the morning we left. I was beside myself with panic because I had to drive 5 kids from Miami to Vermont with what little I had available on a credit card that I had with me. Fortunately by the time we stopped for gas again the hold amount had fallen off and we had money again. Had that not been the case we would have had to drive straight through non-stop and we probably would have been eating beef jerky and chips. I've never used a debit card since then for securing the cruise account. 

Good advice as to why to not use a debit card. Glad it worked out, and that you learned from the experience.

[sparks1093]

Just now, ontheweb said:

Good advice as to why to not use a debit card. Glad it worked out, and that you learned from the experience.

Yep. I do try hard to learn from that tough teacher and if I can learn from someone else's experience all the better.🙂

[ZoeyVictoria]

I use a Bank of America credit card (zero balance because it is paid in full every month) for the 3% cash rewards.  Easier to sit in my recliner, subtract the rewards, and make the payment vs. going to Guest Services.

[Joebucks]

19 hours ago, dallasdan said:

you can also see your account on the hub app

 

This is what I do too. Set it to my CC, check on the app, and go. You will never find me at guest services unless there is no other way. 

[sanger727]

2 hours ago, Rhitson88 said:

Ok so, yeah I have a debit card attached to my account. They won’t just charge it the 12th when we are getting off the ship and that’s it? Even if the money is there on that day for them to take? Lol I’m not sure why I would have to sign a promissary note, just take the money haha.

they will charge it when you get off the ship, if funds are available. What gets people stuck on debit cards is that there will be holds on your account from the cruise line, and the final charge is in addition to those. So you may board and have carnival put a hold on $300; which means your bank is promising them $300 is available so they won’t let you go below that. If you spend $250 on the cruise; carnival may hold an additional $300 to make sure your card stays active. So now they are holding $600. On the final night they will charge $250 to satisfy your balance. So all in all, while you only charged $250; carnival is holding up $850 of your dollars. This is why many people prefer to use a credit card which often has a higher available balance than  a debit card.

[britbritrawr09]

3 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

Ok, here is my story. We put a debit card on our account and I made sure that I had enough in the account for both the cruise and the drive to and from the port. After we disembarked we stopped at a gas station not too far from the port to get gas and some snacks. I checked the balance on my account and I was overdrawn. The cruise line had put a hold on the card equal to the charges on the night before disembarkation and then the final amount on the morning we left. I was beside myself with panic because I had to drive 5 kids from Miami to Vermont with what little I had available on a credit card that I had with me. Fortunately by the time we stopped for gas again the hold amount had fallen off and we had money again. Had that not been the case we would have had to drive straight through non-stop and we probably would have been eating beef jerky and chips. I've never used a debit card since then for securing the cruise account. 

I have 700 obc on my next cruise and it’s only a four day so I don’t think I need all that lol. I don’t have to put a card right?  Just make it a cash account? 

[sparks1093]

10 minutes ago, britbritrawr09 said:

I have 700 obc on my next cruise and it’s only a four day so I don’t think I need all that lol. I don’t have to put a card right?  Just make it a cash account? 

That is an option, yes. If for some reason you have OBC left you can go to the casino, add it to your player bank on a slot machine, spin a couple of times, and then cash out your player bank at the cashier cage.

[britbritrawr09]

4 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

That is an option, yes. If for some reason you have OBC left you can go to the casino, add it to your player bank on a slot machine, spin a couple of times, and then cash out your player bank at the cashier cage.

Thank you I haven’t cruised since 2016. No idea what’s changed. 

[dallasdan]

You will still need to add a credit card or some cash to your account in order to use your sail and sign card.  When I sailed on the Breeze we had $ 200 OBC. However, it didn't post to our account as a credit.  We had to use our sail and sign card and then a credit would show later for the amount of the charge.  This was done until the $ 200 was used up.  This was my experience.

 

 

[ARcruisin2]

11 hours ago, Rhitson88 said:

Ok so, yeah I have a debit card attached to my account. They won’t just charge it the 12th when we are getting off the ship and that’s it? Even if the money is there on that day for them to take? Lol I’m not sure why I would have to sign a promissary note, just take the money haha.

yes, of course. If you have enough funds in the account, you don't have to worry about it. 

[Virga]

Many years ago, when I was younger and poorer, I only had a credit card with a small limit - not enough for our bartab in the pre-Cheers days.  So I put my debit card, with 'plenty' of funds in the account.  Every couple of days, they'd put the amount of my current tab on hold - and my bank accounted for each charge separately.  Even with all my temporary charges added together, I was still (barely) solvent, so it worked out alright - but I never used a debit card to secure my cruise account again.

[ray98]

On 1/28/2022 at 6:34 AM, RWolver672 said:

 

They don't even do that anymore.  On our last cruise on the Horizon, the only way we could see our expenses was to go to a Kiosk or look on the TV.  That was before Covid when you didn't have an app on your phone.

 

Every cruise I have taken since reopening including the MG in December left us a paper invoice.

[sparks1093]

4 hours ago, ray98 said:

Every cruise I have taken since reopening including the MG in December left us a paper invoice.

The final invoice on paper is still with us, received one in November.

[Schoifmom]

On 1/28/2022 at 12:45 PM, dallasdan said:

You will still need to add a credit card or some cash to your account in order to use your sail and sign card.  When I sailed on the Breeze we had $ 200 OBC. However, it didn't post to our account as a credit.  We had to use our sail and sign card and then a credit would show later for the amount of the charge.  This was done until the $ 200 was used up.  This was my experience.

 

 

 

Nope.  Two cruises in November and never added anything to my account, just used up whatever OBC we had available.  That may be different if your OBC is from a TA or something, but ours was showing on our account before we even left home.  There was a message on our online account showing $xxx.xx of OBC available for use.  You probably should have headed directly to Guest Services to find out why your OBC wasn't showing.

Edited February 1, 2022 by Schoifmom

[ultrafighter]

On 1/27/2022 at 11:45 AM, dallasdan said:

you can also see your account on the hub app

Only the primary person on the account can see ALL charges, though.  Other authorized spenders can only see their particular charges.

 

Edit: the husband and I found that out in November when I was freaking out a little bit that one app said we owed A and the other said it was more like Ax2.  😆

Edited February 1, 2022 by ultrafighter