onboard account questions

[melika091900]

hi everyone

we have cruised 7 times so i know how the accounts work, but i noticed when i did our online check in for holland america it says :

use a credit card( or debit) for your onboard account, that it will automatically be authorizing 1200$ once you check in .

is this correct?

today i logged on holland americas website , and it says 60$ per day ,

and our cruise is 10 days ,

so it should be 600$ per person, but i guess my question is ,

do they do that amount all at once, or just daily ?

im just curious, i know each cruiseline is different, but my mom who has no credit cards is wondering since she will be using her debit card, she rarely has a bill over 200$ on all our cruises, so i wanted to see if it was better for her just to put cash down, or make sure she has 600$ in her account..

and how much cash do you put if you use cash?

we never have

thank you all in advance, sorry my question is sooo long

[pms4104]

I cannot speak to your cash deposit upon boarding question, and I do not know if debit cards are acceptable. As to the hold on your credit card ... when I did our online checkin, I provided one card number and indicated that it was to cover the hold for both of us. There is a place to do that on the online form, but I don't recall the wording. Hence, $60/day x 2 people x 10 days = $1200 credit card hold. The hold is placed on your credit card on embarkation day.

[hammybee]

The Hotel Service charge is $11 p/p, per day. That leaves $49 for drinks, shore excursions onboard purchases, dinner in a surcharge restuarant and on and on.

 

I am sorry I do not know how the hold feature works as we always use Amex.

[Pam in CA]

The hotel service charge alone would be $110 and I'm assuming your Mom rarely has a drink, wine, order specialty coffee, take a tour, etc. if the highest onboard account she's ever had was $200. It's reasonable to expect that most passengers do have a soda or order a drink as well as buy T-shirts, etc.

 

Whatever credit, cash or debit card you use for your onboard account will have a hold put it on it for $600/per person when you board so you should plan on having the cash in your debit account. The final amount of the onboard account at the end of the cruise is what will be actually charged, not the hold.

[Sunshine91]

Melika - This is a topic that has been discussed, a lot, with a variety of answers. You could do a search here on CC, but to get the absolute correct info, your best bet is to contact ship services directly.

 

If I remember correctly, the "hold" is placed on your account, whether debit or credit, at the beginning of the cruise, for the full amount, since HAL doesn't have any clue as to how much anyone might actually run up. I have read on these boards that "holds" are re-run every 3-4 days, because they expire. However, sometimes a bank might not release the initial "hold" right away especially if its a weekend or holiday. You could wind up w/2 "holds" at the same time! :eek: This could really cause a problem for people with lower credit limits or those using a debit card.

 

For those paying cash, you simply let the check-in staff know that. Then you go to the Front Office & make a cash deposit. That's how much you have in your on-board "bank" to spend. When that's getting low, the Front Office will ask you to make another deposit, etc. If you have any $$ leftover at the end of the cruise, the Front Office will refund that balance to you on the last morning.

 

Regarding the specifics of the holds & debit cards, please contact your own bank & HAL. You really should get the answers from the source. :)

[djhsolara]

She may want to consider putting down the cash deposit rather than using a debit card. I can go into further explanation if you want (just let me know on here), but often the amount that is held on the card remains held for a bit of time after the cruise, even after the actual charge goes through. If she has plenty of funds in the account and the hold does not matter, then this is a non-issue...however if she runs it close then this may make a difference to her.

 

If you have any other questions about this, I will be glad to try to answer for you.

[melika091900]

thank u all so much for responding

so if you use cash y ou can put any amount? im just wodering since i dont want to have them hold 1200 for me and my husband on the same card '

 

cash seems easier and it will make me want to spend less..

[agabbymama]

No, you cannot just put any amount you want. The cruiseline will tell you the minimum amount they will accept. I think others have posted it's like $30 per day so for your 10 day cruise that would be $300 pp.

[djhsolara]

We've had two different experiences with cash...

 

When we boarded our first Westerdam sailing, the lady at the front desk told us that we needed to put down a few hundred dollars and then could just put more down when needed.

 

When we boarded our second Westerdam sailing, the gentleman at the front desk told us that we needed to put down $60 pp/pd...which is what we did.

 

We were prepared with enough cash for the larger amounts on each sailing (as there are no ATMs on HAL ships...unless that has changed). On the first sailing, we ended up putting more cash down. On the second sailing we got cash back at the end of the sailing.

 

We just do not like to have amounts held on our debit cards...especially after the bill has been paid...that is why we prefer cash (as we do not use credit cards). We take the cash out specifically for the shipboard account and then we use our debit cards to make land purchases on the islands.

 

I hope this helps...

 

:) :)

[richwmn]

For those using cash, another thing you can do is "Gift" yourself with OBC before you leave for your cruise. This will become part of your on board account, so you do not have to take cash or travelers checks. This can be done online with at debit card, or if time permits, by sending a check or money order to Seattle. Others can do this as well as (birthday, anniversary etc) presents if they wish. On my last cruise I did this and the last day got enough cash back to pay my expenses home.

 

Rich

[Alexat2]

If I remember correctly, the "hold" is placed on your account, whether debit or credit, at the beginning of the cruise, for the full amount, since HAL doesn't have any clue as to how much anyone might actually run up. I have read on these boards that "holds" are re-run every 3-4 days, because they expire. However, sometimes a bank might not release the initial "hold" right away especially if its a weekend or holiday. You could wind up w/2 "holds" at the same time! :eek: This could really cause a problem for people with lower credit limits or those using a debit card.

 

They do it ONCE unless you go over that amount or request a cash advance at the Pursers desk - then they authorize the additional amount, and will authorize each ADDITIONAL amount over the initial amount. They do NOT keep re-authorizing the initial amount. I use a debit card - and have done 2 cruises with them in the last 6 months - so I keep track of EXACTLY what they do. I use WAMU and the hold expires in 48 hours.

 

:mad: sidenote: their minimum really pisses me off - I don't do shore excursions, I drink very little, and I don't purchase "goodies" onboard - even with my internet time I spend about 1/3 of what they initially block off - and that initial block off is a lot when my average cruise is a month long and I have to have it sitting in my checking account. They should do it like almost everyone esle does - an initial $200 hold, and then reauthorize as people charge on the account. Not everyone has a platinum credit card.

 

Lydia

[cruisequeen10]

You can sign up with cash. Then when you board they will ask you for a small deposit. A couple of years ago, they said I only had to put down $25, then at the end of the cruise, paid for the rest of my account with cash.

[the4ofusandallourfriends]

Seems like there is no "official cash deposit" amount.

 

Is it pretty much left to the person who happens to be behind the desk to reduce the amount?

 

At the $60 per person per day, for 7 days, that would be $1680 for a family of 4. Yikes! I always wonder how many people show up at the pier without that much cash or credit, as we did on our first cruise, 15 years ago.

We've even done a couple cruises, pre-automated tipping, without ever bothering opening an account....just got a note at the door every day 'encouraging' us to open an account to activate our spending privileges, which we didn't need and ignored.

 

Now we usually spend about $30 total on a few drinks, on top of tips, when we cruise. So for our upcoming cruise that would be $330 for 4 people.

 

For our trip to europe we finally got a decent credit card, but I'd like to know what the policy is for our friends who are cruising with us and don't use credit cards.