cash travellers cheques or credit card?

[sassycatz]

Hi everyone:), got my blue folder yesterday and i was reading through the information. Firstly no cabin number yet. Second i have been before and we just took cash and kept it in the safety deposit box and just topped up our cruise card when needed. I see that you can fill out a form about your credit card details and then you get a statement at the end of the cruise. Do people find this a better system or do others still take cash or travellers cheques? Or can you take cash and if you run out then use your credit card to pay for the rest? :) cheers sassycatz

[CRUISING ALONG]

Hi sassycatz

Congrats on receiving you blue folder.

I think the credit card option is so much better. Just fill in the details and no need to go near the pursers desk and waste valuable cruising time in a queue..

Have a great cruise.

 

Regards

CRUISING ALONG:)

[arxcards]

Hi everyone:), got my blue folder yesterday and i was reading through the information. Firstly no cabin number yet. Second i have been before and we just took cash and kept it in the safety deposit box and just topped up our cruise card when needed. I see that you can fill out a form about your credit card details and then you get a statement at the end of the cruise. Do people find this a better system or do others still take cash or travellers cheques? Or can you take cash and if you run out then use your credit card to pay for the rest? :) cheers sassycatz

 

Love the card option. Did not have to worry about handling cash for the whole cruise. We kept all our transaction slips and visited the pursers to check our statement on the 2nd last day.

You can always preload your card with cash at the bank before you go, which is a lot more secure than travelling with it.

[Tyche]

Congrats on getting your blue folder! We got ours last week and were doing the Happy Dance :) I was also wondering about this one, thought perhaps we would use our individual cards and some extra cash for me as I have a lower limit.

 

I've got a (probably silly) add-on question to this too.... does PO put your charges onto your card as a 'purchase' or 'cash withdrawal'? My interest rates are doubled for cash withdrawal is why I ask.

I plan to take cash for the casino but everything else onboard would be on my cruisecard so I wouldn't need to withdraw money for a flutter.

 

Layni

[brisbane first cruisers]

Hi everyone,

 

We used a visa debit card on our cruise last month and it was great. we just put in the amount of spending money we intended on using on board into it and bobs your uncle!

 

The only problem that we had was i used $1400 on board, that was fine except they do an authorisation every night while you are on board to ensure that the money is on your card. that keps it aside for 14 days. once the cruise was over p&o then did another transaction for the entire amount instead of presenting the authorisations that they did. that then froze $1400 on my credit card that i couldnt touch for 14 days when the authorisations dropped off the planet. it was very inconvenient and took alot of phone calls and faxes to both my bank and p&o to get it all fixed.

 

just be careful if you are using a visa debit card. next time we would probably just use cash.

 

Cheers,

 

Kirsten

[kezza]

Love that blue folder!!

 

We've used both cash and card and have found the card to be the easiest. No running back and forth to top us your cruise card.

 

Also never had any hassles with transactions once we've got home either.

 

Kerri

[Carlz]

Credit card is the way to go...especially as you have solid records for later verification if required (cash payments are sooo difficult to trace).

 

We never had any trouble with withheld payments etc. That would be very annoying!:cool:

 

Do remember to take some small notes with you (5's, 10's, 20's) as some islands you visit do accept aussie dollars which make it easy for small purchases .....such as your coconut bra for island night! :p

 

Also some like to tip with extra Aussie dollars in envelopes so you'll need cash for that option.

 

I always prefer the plastic fantastic as I never have to worry about where to hide the cash.... and many credit cards such as VISA offer extra insurance on your purchases also (duty free here I come!).

 

C.

[sassycatz]

thanks for the replies, it is a great help to hear what others do:D

[arxcards]

 

I've got a (probably silly) add-on question to this too.... does PO put your charges onto your card as a 'purchase' or 'cash withdrawal'? My interest rates are doubled for cash withdrawal is why I ask.

I plan to take cash for the casino but everything else onboard would be on my cruisecard so I wouldn't need to withdraw money for a flutter.

 

Layni

 

Purchase, and will be finalised in one transaction. Even cash advances in the casino end up as part of the purchase.

[Megagirl]

Hi everyone,

 

We used a visa debit card on our cruise last month and it was great. we just put in the amount of spending money we intended on using on board into it and bobs your uncle!

 

The only problem that we had was i used $1400 on board, that was fine except they do an authorisation every night while you are on board to ensure that the money is on your card. that keps it aside for 14 days. once the cruise was over p&o then did another transaction for the entire amount instead of presenting the authorisations that they did. that then froze $1400 on my credit card that i couldnt touch for 14 days when the authorisations dropped off the planet. it was very inconvenient and took alot of phone calls and faxes to both my bank and p&o to get it all fixed.

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

Kirsten

 

Hi Kirsten,

 

We have used our Visa debit card for the last 3 years and have never had that problem. It's our business card and we rely on our staff banking enough cash whilst we are cruising so we can have enough cocktails in the meantime.:D :D

 

Jenny

[Skyrules]

Hi everyone,

 

We used a visa debit card on our cruise last month and it was great. we just put in the amount of spending money we intended on using on board into it and bobs your uncle!

 

The only problem that we had was i used $1400 on board, that was fine except they do an authorisation every night while you are on board to ensure that the money is on your card. that keps it aside for 14 days. once the cruise was over p&o then did another transaction for the entire amount instead of presenting the authorisations that they did. that then froze $1400 on my credit card that i couldnt touch for 14 days when the authorisations dropped off the planet. it was very inconvenient and took alot of phone calls and faxes to both my bank and p&o to get it all fixed.

 

just be careful if you are using a visa debit card. next time we would probably just use cash.

 

Cheers,

 

Kirsten

 

 

Hi Kirsten,

 

We have used our Visa debit card for the last 3 years and have never had that problem. It's our business card and we rely on our staff banking enough cash whilst we are cruising so we can have enough cocktails in the meantime.:D :D

 

Jenny

 

 

I used my Visa Debit on Pacific Star in 2006 and experienced the same problem as Kirsten. P&O are supposed to 'reverse' the authorisations when they charge the final amount at the end of the cruise, but they don't always do it. My parents used their Visa Debit card on the same cruise, and didn't have a problem.

[Skyrules]

Purchase, and will be finalised in one transaction. Even cash advances in the casino end up as part of the purchase.

 

Yes, but don't forget you get charged a 'surcharge' (5% or 10% from memory) for taking a cash advance from the Casino. Better to take some Aussie currency along with you for the Casino and for use at the ports

[thunderchaser]

Hi everyone,

 

We used a visa debit card on our cruise last month and it was great. we just put in the amount of spending money we intended on using on board into it and bobs your uncle!

 

The only problem that we had was i used $1400 on board, that was fine except they do an authorisation every night while you are on board to ensure that the money is on your card. that keps it aside for 14 days. once the cruise was over p&o then did another transaction for the entire amount instead of presenting the authorisations that they did. that then froze $1400 on my credit card that i couldnt touch for 14 days when the authorisations dropped off the planet. it was very inconvenient and took alot of phone calls and faxes to both my bank and p&o to get it all fixed.

 

just be careful if you are using a visa debit card. next time we would probably just use cash.

 

Cheers,

 

Kirsten

this is exactly what happened to us on our first cruise... which left us with lots of problems unable to access any money when we got home! (and we too had the many phone calls etc to try and fix it) We had only got the debit card for the cruise... On our recent cruise we did it differently, I gave details of our Credit card so that we could have easy check out- but as it was easier for me to pay in cash...I simply paid off each day (or couple of days) $50 off each of our cards so I could keep track of what I was spending also. When I knew I had brought photos or something I paid extra so each day I tried to start with a nil balance or was in credit... so all that was charged to my credit card were the last nights and a few other bits and pieces.

[sassycatz]

So even if you give your credit details you can still use cash and pay it on to your card, but maybe use the credit for bigger things, like duty free or tours?I dont understand how the credit thing works really.Does it just tally up and then at the end of the cruise you get one large statement that you check through and then put the total on the credit card at the end of the cruise?So then you can use a combination of both

cheers sassycatz

[arxcards]

So even if you give your credit details you can still use cash and pay it on to your card, but maybe use the credit for bigger things, like duty free or tours?I dont understand how the credit thing works really.Does it just tally up and then at the end of the cruise you get one large statement that you check through and then put the total on the credit card at the end of the cruise?So then you can use a combination of both

cheers sassycatz

Yes, and yes one big statement.

 

Rather than take a lot of cash, we used cash to zero our card balance before we left so we had more than ample funds to cover for any double authorisation pledges.

[Tyche]

I've got a (probably silly) add-on question to this too.... does PO put your charges onto your card as a 'purchase' or 'cash withdrawal'? My interest rates are doubled for cash withdrawal is why I ask.

I plan to take cash for the casino but everything else onboard would be on my cruisecard so I wouldn't need to withdraw money for a flutter.

 

Purchase, and will be finalised in one transaction. Even cash advances in the casino end up as part of the purchase.

 

Yes, but don't forget you get charged a 'surcharge' (5% or 10% from memory) for taking a cash advance from the Casino. Better to take some Aussie currency along with you for the Casino and for use at the ports

 

Thanks arxcards and Skyrules, I'll use cash for the casino/tours etc to avoid those surcharges, now thinking though that I'll have to increase my credit limit in case of doubled up authorizations, my limit is only $1k and I'll probably use most of that :D

 

Layni

[arxcards]

Thanks arxcards and Skyrules, I'll use cash for the casino/tours etc to avoid those surcharges, now thinking though that I'll have to increase my credit limit in case of doubled up authorizations, my limit is only $1k and I'll probably use most of that :D

 

Layni

Or you can put your card into credit so that you have your positive credit plus the $1K limit.

 

Wish we only spent $1000 on our cruise. Shore tours and autotips had us around $750 before we spent a cent onboard. :eek:

[thunderchaser]

depending on the credit card though, this can also be a problem, I had paid one of mine into credit (had $2000 available ) , but as it only had a $1000 limit when I was away, I had to ask the hotel to charge it in 2 lots as the limit on the card was only $1000 it wouldnt allow the transaction being over $1000. I wouldnt have known had I not thought to ring them to get them to allow OS transactions (as my friend had her card refused as she hadnt notified her bank she was going overseas ) another thing to think about...doesnt apply to all cards etc..but something else that people dont often think about.

[Tyche]

Or you can put your card into credit so that you have your positive credit plus the $1K limit.

 

Wish we only spent $1000 on our cruise. Shore tours and autotips had us around $750 before we spent a cent onboard. :eek:

 

My partner is taking his card and extra cash too, for his own spending money, so my card is only for my spending....otherwise I'd need to quadruple my limit :D

[spakman]

I want my blue folder :(

[staceymrow]

Me Too!!!!

[Skyrules]

Or you can put your card into credit so that you have your positive credit plus the $1K limit.

 

That's not always possible, or not by much anyway. We wanted to pay onto our credit card the total amount of our cruise in September, which would have given us at least $2000 above our exisitng credit limit available on the card, enough to pay for the cruise, but the bank said no, that would be too much above the credit limit.

 

So we're going to have to pay half, pay off that and then pay the other half. Not a problem, just means 2 calls to P&O to do it, and two lots of payments onto the credit card.