Prickly Pear Island...Deposit

[crazylarry]

I'm attempting to secure the Prickly Pear Island tour and they are asking me to pay online by credit card. They say that its a secure server but they are in Antigua. It would be extremely difficult if not impossible to track, trace or prosecute if my credit card information was misused. They also seem resistant to the idea of my sending a money order.

 

Has anyone out there taken this tour before? If so, how did you reserve it/pay the downpayment?

 

Thanks.

 

Crazy Larry

[candydane]

I understand your concern with today's credit card fraud, etc.

 

Check if you have one of the credit cards that has a program that provides you with a one-time "fake" credit card number for a one-time-only transaction. These programs are perfect for this situation or any on-line credit card purchases from less-than-stellar vendors.

 

I use "ShopSafe", which is for my MBNA cards. I just click on the ShopSafe logo on my computer, select which MBNA card I want to use, enter the payee's name, the maximum amount that person can charge, and when the fake card number should expire (minimum 2 months). When the payee charges something to the fake card number, MBNA & ShopSafe know which of my cards to actually charge for the transaction. The payee only knows the fake card number. Only the payee can charge against the fake card number and only up to the maximum I specified.

 

I know of a couple other credit cards that have the same type of service -- they just call it something else.

 

Another option would be to use one of your credit cards, watch for the Antigua transaction to hit your account, then cancel that credit card number.

 

This reads much more complicated than it really is, but I don't know how else to explain. You can call your card to see what they offer for your situation.