Credit card hold

[Joanportia]

Does anyone know how much the dollar amount hold is for a platinum master card is?

 

Thanks

 

Joan

 

Sail on...........

[BrendaB1]

Doesn't matter what kind of card.....depends on length of your cruise. Only the amount spent will be charged on the card.

[serene56]

a deposit hold of 250 pp for a 7 day cruise is what they will hold in the begining of the week.

 

I dont know how long you are going for but the holds range from 100. for a 2 day cruise up to 300 for a 9 day cruise.

 

here is the link

http://www.carnival.com/CMS/Static_Templates/EMB_sail_and_sign_boardingcard.aspx

[Joanportia]

Thank You

[cmez]

What if you have a shipboard credit?? Is the amount they hold on your card reduced?

[CruiseMark]

Don't forget too that they immediately charge your tips on there. The person checking us in at the dock swore up and down that they didn't put ANY hold on there (obviously wrong). For the four of us the tips were $50 per person ($10 PP per day) on our 5 day Sensation cruise and it was on our bill the first day.

[NewCruzer1]

The person checking us in at the dock swore up and down that they didn't put ANY hold on there (obviously wrong).

 

I don't have any policy statement agreeing that they DON'T place a hold on the card, but I DO have a personal experience indicating that might be true.

We were on the Holiday last week, and -- through a banking snafu with another account -- I had to use my checking account debit card to 'guarantee' my S&S account. I only had about $240 in the account at the time. If Carnival had placed a 'hold' on $200 of it for the 5-day cruise, the two erroneous $60 hotel charges placed on the account two days after the cruise began would have been rejected by my bank, because the $200 'hold' plus $120 in charges would have been more than my account had in it.

As it was, my S&S was under $100 at cruise's end, and I managed to get the erroneous charges reversed. But, despite the charges and a presumed 'hold' on the account, it was never overdrawn nor any debit attempt declined.

[serene56]

new cruiser: DO you have a daily limit on your debit card?

[NewCruzer1]

new cruiser: DO you have a daily limit on your debit card?

 

Not quite sure why this matters, but...: I have a limit for cash withdrawals (which I didn't make during the trip), and a much higher limit for total purchases, which never comes into play since this is not my primary checking account and I never have that much money in it.

[serene56]

I have a 200 maximum daily withdrawal. If I go over the limit then it maxes out and will hold my card a few days AFTER the cruise until it all clears.

 

THe daily withdrawal is what does people in with using a debit card. THats why I asked if you had that. (I had mine lifted for my vacation next week-- just to be safe)

[NewCruzer1]

THe daily withdrawal is what does people in with using a debit card.

 

That supports my belief that Carnival DID NOT place a hold on my funds -- although Carnival's final charge was as for a purchase, anyway, not for cash. But, had they placed any kind of hold on the $200 for which I requested they confirm the availablility on Oct. 4 (which they did confirm to me while I was standing at the Purser's Desk), then the $120 erroneous charge (from another source) that was processed Oct. 6 either would have been rejected by my bank, or caused an overdraft -- neither of which occurred -- because I only had $240 or so in that account at the beginning of the cruise. Had I reached either a $0 balance or a spending limit, either my bank or Carnival (or, likely, both) would have contacted me. But, everybody got paid, I got the mistaken charges reversed, and the account was never overdrawn.

[NewCruzer1]

Current Cruise Travel (Dec. 2004) has an article about credit/debit card holds, featuring Carnival rep.

Carnival's Stuart Hall, VP of of operations accounting, says they start a cruise with just a $50 hold -- then request holds on actual amounts above previous holds as your balance grows.

In other words, if you never pass $50 on your account, they never request an additional hold. If your account reaches $75 on, say, your third day, they then request an additional $25 (first $50 hold plus the new $25 over that).

For whatever it's worth, that matches my recent experience, when my 5-night Holiday cruise ended with a S&S balance just under $100, and my debit/check card was never charged/held for more than that.

Hall does caution that how long holds remain on debit accounts is between you and your bank, whose policies vary.

NCL reports requesting an initial $300 hold.

The article also details how much, if any, of S&S credit can be used in the casino.

[Cruising89143]

I just read that article in Cruise Travel and it also states that in some cases Carnival will get approvals up to three times a day on ones debit or credit card account if there is a lot of activity with the sail n sign card. They stated that they like to stay at least $50.00 a head of the balance. Very interesting article especially with the amount allowed for casinos. If you are using cash as your deposit then it is more upfront. Anywhere from a $100.00 and up depending on the length of the cruise.

[Bucky3]

What issue of CRUISE TRAVEL has the article?

[GoinCruisin]

From Carnival...

 

For your convenience, charges for most of your onboard purchases are made to your Sail & Sign® account. A required application form will be included with your documents. Registration for this program will occur at the time of embarkation. Carnival accepts American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Discover Card and cash for deposit on your account. A deposit (ranging from $100 to $350 depending on cruise duration) will be required for cash accounts.

If you are using a credit card or debit/check cashing card please be advised that there will be a hold placed on your account as a deposit for your onboard purchases. During your cruise additional holds will be added if your Sail & Sign® account exceeds the amount of deposit Carnival has on file. If you presented a credit card, this will reduce the amount available on your credit card for other purchases. If you presented a debit/check cashing card, the hold will restrict the available cash in your checking account. All charges will be billed to the credit card or debit/check cashing card at the end of the cruise.

[City_Woman]

When I used my platinum Amex on the last trip I specifically asked how much for the hold. I was told $1 because it was a platinum card.

 

I pre-pay my tips before I leave home.

 

Cheers,

[Earthworm Jim]

A dumb question here: Why does it matter when they put the charges or holds on your credit card?:confused:

 

The only possible reason I can think of off hand is that you were close to your card's credit limit. But if that's the case, I doubt you'll be paying off any of the balance due during the time you are on the cruise ship, so even if they didn't put the charge on your card until the end of the week you'd still exceed your limit then.

 

I'm sure there must be some other reason I'm not thinking of.

[GoinCruisin]

I think the question is the "hold", not the charges... there is a hold placed against your funds... so if you have a $250 hold, and you don't have much more than that available, you may run into trouble in ports, etc. The charges are put through at the end of the cruise, but the hold is placed at the beginning...

[cruiserNC]

Kinda off subject but I wonder what Carnival does if you can't pay your balance in full at the end of the cruises? I remember a lady arguing at the purser's desk that she didn't have the money to pay her S&S charges and I always wondered how they worked things out?

[Earthworm Jim]

... so if you have a $250 hold, and you don't have much more than that available, you may run into trouble in ports, etc.

If they put a $250 hold on your card, and by the end of the week you've spent $250 on board, it didn't hurt you at all. In fact it helped you by preventing you from overspending in those ports.

 

If you had a $250 hold, and you spent nothing at all on board, it would indeed reduce the amount of available credit you have by $250. But $250 is small potatoes compared to the thousands of dollars available on a typical credit line. If that amount matters, you were cutting it awfully close. Too close for my comfort, were it me.

 

Most likely though, you'll spend within $100 or so at most of whatever holds they put on your cards, so that would matter even less than having your available credit reduced by $250.

 

But I'm probably missing some impostant factor that didn't occur to me.

[Riviera Deck Randy]

The lady at carnival was correct they do not place holds they only ask for autorizations usually enough to cover tips. They dont ask for the money until the last day. all they are doing is asking the credit card company how much they will accept. and the credit card company will send them back an authorization number and a dollar amount they can achieve, if you go over that amount they will broadcast your name all over the ship to come to the pursers desk on the last day so they can get another card from you or cash.

[GoinCruisin]

CruiserNC, hence the reason for the "hold"... this is how they try to insure that you have the money and don't go blowing everything in port.

 

Jim, for most it is not a big deal. If you are using a debit card it can be if you have a daily limit that is low. My daily limit is $1000, I would be hard pressed to spend that in a day... some people have lower daily limits. The hold from a debit card can also take a few days AFTER the cruise to be released... which can create problems as well. There are people that have encountered problems with the "hold" placed on their cards, it seems to be more with debit cards than anything else.

[cruiserNC]

GoinCruisin: I dont think the hold will stop you from going over. If they hold amount of 250.00 and you go to the gift shop and purchase something that puts you over I am sure that they don't authorize your credit card again at that moment to insure you have available funds.

My DW and I normally use cash and we have gone over our deposit amount by 100 bucks before and nothing stopped us from spending, or course we just go down to the purser's desk and added more.

[Earthworm Jim]

If you are using a debit card it can be if you have a daily limit that is low. My daily limit is $1000, I would be hard pressed to spend that in a day.

See, I knew I didn't think of something. I could imagine easily exceeding a $1000 daily limit if you were buying something expensive like jewelry in a port. If that was the case the hold would matter, if there is one, which seems to be still open to debate.

[GoinCruisin]

Cruiser, I will post this again... I know they will acquire an additional authorization... they did on our first cruise.

 

For your convenience, charges for most of your onboard purchases are made to your Sail & Sign® account. A required application form will be included with your documents. Registration for this program will occur at the time of embarkation. Carnival accepts American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Discover Card and cash for deposit on your account. A deposit (ranging from $100 to $350 depending on cruise duration) will be required for cash accounts.

If you are using a credit card or debit/check cashing card please be advised that there will be a hold placed on your account as a deposit for your onboard purchases. During your cruise additional holds will be added if your Sail & Sign® account exceeds the amount of deposit Carnival has on file. If you presented a credit card, this will reduce the amount available on your credit card for other purchases. If you presented a debit/check cashing card, the hold will restrict the available cash in your checking account. All charges will be billed to the credit card or debit/check cashing card at the end of the cruise.