Cruise Line Credit Card Authorization Amount?

[Sparkyboi]

Hey All,

 

Quick question....I just wanted to know....when you checkin for your cruise does anyone know how much RCI pre-authorizes for shipboard accounts?

 

or do they NOT authorize anything?

 

By choice I maintain a fairly low limit on my card....(went a lil wild way back in university days-now i am good) as i really dont "like" credit cards (makes thing too easy, lol)

 

Just wondering..

[wwinfl91]

I'm not sure what RCL does but HAL does $300 a person. I just did it a couple of days ago for my wife and I for a November cruise.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[cruisingcarpenter]

I would just contact RCI directly and ask them!

[sk8teacher]

I'm not sure what RCL does but HAL does $300 a person. I just did it a couple of days ago for my wife and I for a November cruise.

 

Have a great next cruise.

 

Actually on HAL the "hold" is $60 per day/per person. It's clearly stated in your documentation. On our last cruise of 35 days they put a hold of $4200 on our card. I would suspect that other cruise lines will be similar.

 

Cheers,

[AnnaLisaOne]

What do you mean by "pre-authorize shipboard accounts?"

 

Many thanx! :)

[TexasCPA]

What do you mean by "pre-authorize shipboard accounts?"

All the cruise lines are a bit different, but the basic deal is this: when you fill out your pre-cruise paperwork, the cruise line will ask you whether or not you plan to use a CC to pay for your shipboard purchases (which include shipboard gratuities). If you answer YES, they will take that CC number from you and ask if other members of your party can use this card (and get you to specify who).

 

When you check in at embarkation, you can change the CC if you wish (and change who can use it, etc.), but they will swipe the CC to start your account. Each cruise line has different policies on how much of a credit hold they will reserve from your CC's credit line during this initial swipe.

 

Last year when my wife and I went on a 31 day cruise on Princess, Princess initially reserved a nominal amount ($50 per person comes to mind), but ran through our REAL charges through pretty much on a daily basis. In order to make things easier on us, we ususally take enough in traveler's checks to pay for our excursions and gratuities and just let the rest of our shipboard charges ride through the CC. We then just pay the remainder off when we return back home. It can be tougher on longer cruises (those over 30 days or more) since CC statements will come to your house in the meantime, but if your cruise is less than 30 days you should be fine (otherwise you can handle your CC payments online if necessary.

 

Hope this helps.

[cruiserbryce]

this is actually similar to what most hotels do...its an auth to make sure that spending doesnt exceed $ available on the cc...I have never looked into the amount but its not enough that it has ever affected our cc during the vacation

[AnnaLisaOne]

TexasCPA: :)

 

Many thanx for taking the time to explain it. I guess that's why my NCL cruise consultant advised me to advise my cc company that I was taking a cruise. I've made sure not to use that card in the past two months so I'd start off with a zero balance. All of my excursions are already paid for and I'm not a drinker/gambler so I should be okay.

 

cruiserbryce: :)

 

Many thanx for your input. I've stayed at many hotels but they've never put a limit on what I've spent. Maybe because I never had a tab!

[simplelife]

If you don't like to use credit cards, you can arrange with the ship to post a cash deposit. Any unused portion is refunded to you on the last day.