Cruise cards

[CanadianMAG]

I was just reading online about the cruise cards and how they work.. It says:

Your card will be pre-authorized for USD$60 per person for each day of your cruise

Which normally won't be a problem, but is there an exception to this? We have a large line of credit, but after a fairly large wedding, and booking a honeymoon and all with ALL of our own money I am worried the Line of Credit will be quite high, what happens if we dont have the extra $900 on there? We will probably have only cash, or Travelers Cheques with us...

Like I said I will try and make sure thats there is room, but I am curious, worse case if things can be done differently.

[peaches from georgia]

Yes, things can be done differently. You can put up cash (or Travelers Checks, which are the same as cash) in that amount to be put into your ship account to cover your tip expenses in advance.

If you do not want your credit card to be used at all then you will need to keep an additional cash balance in your ship account to cover any purchases you wish to make on the ship over and above the tips.

[jhannah]

The credit/debit card you present upon check-in is what will be pre-authorized to settle your shipboard account. You can do a couple of things here. First, you can have cash and/or traveler's checks to present at check-in to cover what would normally be pre-authorized against your card. You may then settle up at the end of the cruise the same way ... or you can charge the balance to your credit/debit card.

Another possiblity is to contact your credit card company and request an increase in your credit line ... even a temporary one ... to cover you for this cruise. If the pre-auth amount goes over your line of credit, your card issuing company is likely to deny the hold on your account. So it's best to be certain of things before you leave.

Good luck!