Does RC send a bill when final payment due? Can you pay by check?

[S.A.M.J.R.]

Before you could do online transfer for everything, obviously we wrote a bunch of checks each month.  One time we put our outgoing checks in our mail box.  Someone came through and stole the outgoing mail before the postman came through, used the account & routing numbers on our checks to get fakes printed and started going crazy.  The bank noticed there were checks written in a different state.

 

I think it took 4 months to get everything back to normal.

 

After that, any outgoing bills got dropped in the mail either at work or at official, locked mail boxes. 

Edited January 30, 2023 by S.A.M.J.R.

[BecciBoo]

16 hours ago, neverbeenhere said:

yes if you don’t make final payment on time your cruise will be canceled 

This caused great anguish for our cruise buds.  She was waiting for that final email and never got it!  about 3 weeks before boarding, she finally received an email...CANCELLATION email!  Yep, no cruise.  Fortunately, they were able to book an Oceanview but they lost their balcony.  We complained to RCCL who said they had indeed sent 3 emails on final payment date, but she could never find them in her email archives.  BE sure to watch the date.  I check my booking so often this would never occur to ours.

But I would advise, DO NOT wait for an email...watch the date!

[mattg43]

15 hours ago, ronandcarla said:

What are you talking about, every month I pay bills or receive checks by mail in the thousands, and over the past 60 plus years maybe 5 checks got lost; over a portion of this time period how many major accounts have been hacked and all of your personal information has been stolen.

 

So your solution is to send your full unencrypted bank account number, routing number, and address to a random person.  Seems secure.

[Fouremco]

2 hours ago, mattg43 said:

 

So your solution is to send your full unencrypted bank account number, routing number, and address to a random person.  Seems secure.

If the random person in receipt of the cheque is dishonest, is it really less secure than sending the same person your credit card number, expiry date and CVV code?

[Tin can]

22 hours ago, neverbeenhere said:

 

yes if you don’t make final payment on time your cruise will be canceled 

 

Not sure why but when we didn't pay our balance on a cruise we couldn't now take, booking from the UK I just accepted my deposit was gone and rather than waste an hour on the phone trying to cancel I let it ride expecting the instant cancellation.

 

We instead got reminder emails and after two weeks a call from Miami (bearing in mind we are UK based) from a very polite guy enquiring if we had forgotten to pay and would I like to do so now. I explained the situation and he wished me well and hoped to see us again on board soon.

 

Whether this has something to do with UK booking conditions somehow I don't know but it was very unexpected.

 

I won't however rely on this happening again and I always pay balances well before time!

Edited January 30, 2023 by Tin can

[GTO-Girl]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

If the random person in receipt of the cheque is dishonest, is it really less secure than sending the same person your credit card number, expiry date and CVV code?

I would rather someone be given credit card information that I can dispute or close if it is hacked rather than that person having full access to my checking account!!

[Fouremco]

11 minutes ago, GTO-Girl said:

I would rather someone be given credit card information that I can dispute or close if it is hacked rather than that person having full access to my checking account!!

I suspect that a dishonest person could do more damage more quickly with the credit card details than they could with the cheque details. Nevertheless, I probably write only one or two cheques a year and feel very comfortable with my credit card use. And it's so much easier tapping my Apple Watch on a store's point of sale terminal than writing out a cheque!

[mattg43]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

If the random person in receipt of the cheque is dishonest, is it really less secure than sending the same person your credit card number, expiry date and CVV code?

 

Absolutely.

 

First of all, if they defraud my credit card, they are using the bank's money and not mine.  

 

Secondly,  who actually calls an operator and gives them credit card numbers?  Online all those details are encrypted in any modern system.  There are also temporary one time use credit card numbers that can be used.

[Fouremco]

7 minutes ago, mattg43 said:

 

Absolutely.

 

First of all, if they defraud my credit card, they are using the bank's money and not mine.  

 

Secondly,  who actually calls an operator and gives them credit card numbers?  Online all those details are encrypted in any modern system.  There are also temporary one time use credit card numbers that can be used.

I think that you missed my point. The fact that the US Fair Credit Billing Act protects consumers from liability over $50 for authorized charges—and many issuers offer $0 liability - doesn't alter the inherent security risk, it simply shifts the financial loss from the card owner to the card issuer.

 

As for encrypted data transfer, I agree with you totally. But I think that it would be rather naive to believe that absolutely no-one at the company to whom you are making the payment has access to those details once received.

[mattg43]

57 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

I think that you missed my point. The fact that the US Fair Credit Billing Act protects consumers from liability over $50 for authorized charges—and many issuers offer $0 liability - doesn't alter the inherent security risk, it simply shifts the financial loss from the card owner to the card issuer.

 

As for encrypted data transfer, I agree with you totally. But I think that it would be rather naive to believe that absolutely no-one at the company to whom you are making the payment has access to those details once received.

 

May take a bank a couple days to restore the funds to your bank account.  There is also that period of time between the fraud and you noticing that could leave you with insufficient funds to cover other expenses.  It is always safer to use a credit card than pay by check or even debit card.

Edited January 30, 2023 by mattg43

[ONECRUISER]

 

10 hours ago, Big_G said:

Apologies ahead of time to postal workers everywhere but I wouldn't depend on the PO for any time sensitive payments. We were still getting Christmas cards a month or more after they were mailed.

Agree, gotten worse last couple yrs. Letter you to take 3-4 days now 6-8 going same place cross Country. Then local, wow, Major City and State Capital no sorting anymore. Mailing a Bday Card what use to be Town to City next to us goes to another 2 Cities and back, 5-6 Days to go what is only 10mile away and Card went 120+ miles

Edited January 31, 2023 by ONECRUISER

[ONECRUISER]

2 hours ago, Tin can said:

 

Not sure why but when we didn't pay our balance on a cruise we couldn't now take, booking from the UK I just accepted my deposit was gone and rather than waste an hour on the phone trying to cancel I let it ride expecting the instant cancellation.

 

We instead got reminder emails and after two weeks a call from Miami (bearing in mind we are UK based) from a very polite guy enquiring if we had forgotten to pay and would I like to do so now. I explained the situation and he wished me well and hoped to see us again on board soon.

 

Whether this has something to do with UK booking conditions somehow I don't know but it was very unexpected.

 

I won't however rely on this happening again and I always pay balances well before time!

Seen couple Cruises Canceled less the 12hrs after Due Date. Then 6yrs ago had one 13n Repo Due 90 days out, cant remember something happened think was a Death in Family or Family Emergency and was going Cancel but forgot call or cancel online. Surprised when 2 weeks before Sailing got reminder email that I'd loose my long desired Cabin and Cruise. Circumstances changed by then, paid Final at 13 days before Cruise and went.

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

 

 

As for encrypted data transfer, I agree with you totally. But I think that it would be rather naive to believe that absolutely no-one at the company to whom you are making the payment has access to those details once received.

I don't care who has those details once the payment is processed,. My AMEX gives "one time card numbers" for online transactions, once the charge is processed the CC number is worthless

[ronandcarla]

On 1/30/2023 at 1:54 PM, mattg43 said:

 

So your solution is to send your full unencrypted bank account number, routing number, and address to a random person.  Seems secure.

I really don't want to make this a never ending back and forth issue, but as I stated earlier every month I pay bills, either by check and one is done online, basically all of my life and I'm sure millions of other folks do too; Not so much now bc I'm retired but when I was working a few years ago thousand of dollars in checks were showing up in my mailbox and when I gave my business to a friend he tells me the same things are still happening.  So with all that said let's put this story to sleep and hope everyone has a wonderful cruise.