cash not credit

[forrest08]

My mother in law is going on norweigen gem soon and doesn't posess a credit card. She is worried now about how much she needs to deposit at the start of her cruise. It is for 14 nights and she would rather hand cash over. Are there ATMs on board and would she be wiser to use these bearing in mind she is English (sterling) and the ship runs on dollars?

[olechka]

In US you can get a prepaid credit card with a certain amount on it, if they have it in UK, sounds like that would be an option. If she doesn't use all of the amount, it can be used as a credit card after coming back home.

[mpk218]

My mother in law is going on norweigen gem soon and doesn't posess a credit card. She is worried now about how much she needs to deposit at the start of her cruise. It is for 14 nights and she would rather hand cash over. Are there ATMs on board and would she be wiser to use these bearing in mind she is English (sterling) and the ship runs on dollars?

 

Best to call NCL , but I do recall seeing something about

$350 cash hold on the acct for a seven day cruise . So it may double for a 14 day ..

Call NCL. ;)

[BIG_Steve]

Both of the above sound like good advice.

 

Here's a twist though. Every once in awhile those gift visas aren't accepted everywhere. Might want to call and find out about a cash deposit, and ask about using a gift visa card. I can't imagine you'd be the first to ask about it. Maybe they can tell you which ones they accept, and whether it's a good or bad choice for you.

 

 

Please post back (if you call) and let us know what they said.

[time2cruise1]

Both of the above sound like good advice.

 

Here's a twist though. Every once in awhile those gift visas aren't accepted everywhere. Might want to call and find out about a cash deposit, and ask about using a gift visa card. I can't imagine you'd be the first to ask about it. Maybe they can tell you which ones they accept, and whether it's a good or bad choice for you.

 

 

Please post back (if you call) and let us know what they said.

 

In fact most if not all can not be used of an onboard account. Check the fine print on the cards websites. You can pay for a cruise but there is no way to pre-authorize onboard. You either take money out or not.

[MikeandAmy]

My mother in law is going on norweigen gem soon and doesn't posess a credit card. She is worried now about how much she needs to deposit at the start of her cruise. It is for 14 nights and she would rather hand cash over. Are there ATMs on board and would she be wiser to use these bearing in mind she is English (sterling) and the ship runs on dollars?

 

 

They have always asked me how much I want to put down. Then if your getting low, you would get a nice phone call or letter on your door asking you to please put more money on your account.

[terrymtex01]

I have heard several times that you can not use the pre-paid visas to secure your onboard charges.

 

OP, I am so sorry that I do not know the answer to this, but would you Mother be able to purchase travelers checks in US Dollars where she lives? I have never checked to see if, for instance, I wanted to travel to Paris if we could buy travelers checks in Euros. That would deff. be a safer way for your mother to travel rather than taking a bunch of cash.

 

There are ATM's onboard NCL ships and from reading the posts here they charge from between $4.50 to $6.00 US per transaction. If your Mother wanted to take with her a small amount of cash to initiate the deposit of say $400.00 and then she can add to it by using the ATM's once she gets onboard. One thing to please advise your Mother of is that IF she uses cash as the deposit, whatever cash she gives them can not be withdrawn until the last night of the cruise. So if she has, let's just say, $1,000.00 USD for her trip and she wants to use $200.00 of that for when she goes into the different ports, she needs to keep that with her rather than give to NCL. If she gives them $1000.00 it is theirs until the last night. You also can not withdraw from the casino cashier if you have a cash deposit on the account so make sure she knows to keep out what cash she may need. Also, she will probably need and be required to put down at least enough to cover the Daily Service Charge, if she has not already paid that. I know some pax from contries other than the US can pre-pay DSC.

[nyflush]

Last year on the Gem we took my son's friend with us and we used a pre-paid Visa card for him to check in with it was no problem. That was last year so it is a good idea to double check with NCL.

 

The ATM machines do not always work onboard they were on and off on our last cruise and it is a high fee.

 

Hope this helps:)