Credit card holds when paying at the end of cruise

[Jeanies_Knees]

I'm just a little confused about the credit card holds. So I understand they put holds on the credit card depending on how much you end up spending on board, and they will reduce the credit limit. What I'm wondering is. Let's say I have a 1000$ available on my credit card. If I end up spending around 600 on the cruise resulting in a hold of 600-700. Which would reduce my available credit to around 300. What happens when we get off the ship and need to make our final payment. If the holds are on my card leaving me with only 300$ available credit, would I be able to actually pay for the balance at the end of the cruise ? The holds might take a few days to fall off.  Its going to be royal Caribbean if that matters. Thank you for all the help. 

[CruiserBruce]

The money owed will be taken out of the "hold" money.

[sparks1093]

For credit cards it's not that big of a deal and it all seems to work out. I got off of one cruise and it took several days for the final charges to appear on my credit card. 

[fruitmachine]

13 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

The money owed will be taken out of the "hold" money.

... and the hold released.

[klfrodo]

11 minutes ago, fruitmachine said:

... and the hold released.

the “holds” are released by the financial institution that issued the card, NOT the merchant who placed the “holds”.

When those holds are released is up to the financial institution..

[GeezerCouple]

7 hours ago, klfrodo said:

the “holds” are released by the financial institution that issued the card, NOT the merchant who placed the “holds”.

When those holds are released is up to the financial institution..

 

This is important, and catches some people by surprise, and unpleasantly.

 

IF one is leaving a credit card on file, with a set limit, first, if you hit that limit, the ship will cut you off from any other "extras" that would cost money, until/unless you replenish.  (Same thing with a cash account, of course.)

 

But with the charge card, if there is extra money left, and some people plan it so that there is a considerable amount left (the extra was "just in case they wanted to spend more on something"), then it can take up to a month for that money to be "released" back to your own charge account limit.

There are occasional reports of someone not being able to pay with their card for something important soon after they return home, because the money is still "pending".

For those with plenty of "extra money" waiting in their credit limit, this can be almost unnoticeable, and wouldn't cause any inconvenience.

 

Note:  For those using a DEBIT card, the same process is used, except now it's *your* bank account that has been debited, and it might not be replenished for up to a month.  Thus, any recurring charges could bounce...  Just be aware of the differences when using a debit card (something we never use and don't recommend, but to each its own, etc.!).

 

GC

[sanger727]

You may not be able to pay your final bill in this situation. The holds don't come off right away. It's unwise to use a credit card with a low limit like that unless you plan on doing minimal spending. if it's an issue you could always pre-purchase cruise cash or load cash onto your account. 

[SbbquilterUT]

Perhaps I misunderstand the question - we have only had a $100 hold on our card which essentially lets them verify validity of the card, never a specific amount based on anticipated spend.  On our card it appears as a "pending" charge which disappears without ever being an actual charge.

[klfrodo]

I’m currently on Anthem of the Seas doing a 12 or 13 night Canary Island cruise from Southampton.

I have a CSR (Chase Sapphire Reserve) card on file for my on board charges. So far, every single charge on board is also hitting my CSR card and showing as “pending”. The “pendings” fall off after 7 days.

I only provide this information to give a live example of how some cards and some cruise lines work “holds” or “ pendings”.

If one has a low limit card, expect the holds to reduce your available credit. Plan on only using half of the available credit amount and expect the other half to be used for “Pending”.

Edited October 13, 2023 by klfrodo

[runner15km]

Would a second CC help? 

[ldubs]

2 hours ago, runner15km said:

Would a second CC help? 

 

If your card on record was insufficient, I suppose producing a second valid credit card would be useful.

 

I'm not really seeing this as being a big issue for the vast majority of credit card using cruise ship passengers.  Perhaps so if someone had an extremely low credit limit on the card.  But otherwise any worries about a relatively small hold causing a card to max out is easily managed.