Credit/Debit Card Form

[The Tsar]

Yesterday my TA passed on my HAL Ticket Packet for my Oct cruise to the Panama Canal. Although I have sailed many times with HAL, I never have had the opportunity/time (OK - Inclination;) )to read all the documentation and have foolishly just signed all the forms.

In the standard Credit/Debit Card Form it states "...I understand HAL may seek multiple authorizations on my credit debt card(s) for the amount of charges made onboard plus US$60.00 per person per day for each remaining day(s) of my cruise for all staterooms (and guestsbooked therein) listed above...."

I have never had any problems with billing, but am curious as to what the "plus US$60.00" is about.

[hammybee]

I am not sure why HAL chose $60 but the reason for the multiple authorizations is that HAL , like most cruiselines, wants to manage the risk that its passengers mayexceed his/her credit card cap, come the final bill.

Given use of the card in ports or even on line shopping or automatic debits, while cruising could easily leave a cruiseline in a position of not being funded at the point of depature.

If I am mistaken, no doubt, we will both hear of it on this thread.

[MercedMike]

HAL may seek multiple authorizations on my credit debt card(s) for the amount of charges made onboard plus US$60.00 per person per day for each remaining day(s) of my cruise ... I have never had any problems with billing, but am curious as to what the "plus US$60.00" is about.

Notice that it is only an "authorization", not a charge. It simply means that they will always be authorized for $60 per day ahead and protects them from having charges declined. Of course if your charges do not amount to the $60 per day, they do not charge it.

But the significance is -- if you have, say $600 available on your card, and plan to only spend $200 on the ship, you should think you have $400 available. BUT -- HAL will authorize $420 on your card, and if you try to buy something in port, or rent a car, and they go for a $300 authorization your card will decline it because of the pre-authorization! Did you follow that math?

The point is to be sure you have an adequately high limit on the credit card you give HAL, even if you don't plan to spend that much on board.

[Grumpy1]

Another way to look at it. Two of you board for a 7 day cruise. Hal puts a preauthorization of $60 x 2 x 7, or $840. On the second night you walk by the shops on board and there's that little trinket that really needs a new home... only $1500. Now you have just wiped out your preauthorization amount, so HAL will preauthorize for the amount on your account, minus the original preauth, plus $60 x 2 x 5 to give them a cushion for the remaining days.

My credit card company does not hold preauthorizations open very long. Shortly after the start of the cruise, I see "pending charges" in the amount of the expected preauthorization. Within a week there are no more pending charges. I have my full credit amount back at my disposal. On our last cruise, HAL did not process the charges through until a week after the cruise. I thought it was quite nice of them to give me an interest free loan from the time we stepped on board until a week after we left the ship:)

[RevNeal]

My credit card company does not hold preauthorizations open very long. Shortly after the start of the cruise, I see "pending charges" in the amount of the expected preauthorization. Within a week there are no more pending charges.

Sigh ... and mine holds them for 15 days. :( They pile up.
If they pre-authorize every 3 days (and that's standard) on a 15 day cruise the pre-authorizations would come to (hold your breath):

$60x15 = $900
$60x12 = $720
$60x9 = $540
$60x6 = $360
$60x3 = $180

TOTAL Pre-authorizations over 15 days: $2700.
Add to that what I actually spend ... about $650 ... and you see that I'll need to have about $3350 in available funds to meet the actual expenses PLUS the cumulative effect of the pre-authorizations. Granted, the pre-authorzations will start rolling off after 15 days, but to not have my account zeroed out and useless for paying the onboard expense, I need to have $3350 available.

And people wonder why I make a cash deposit in order to secure my account. If I deposit $900 in my account, and spend $650, I get $250 back at the end of the cruise any my account remains otherwise untouched.

[dakrewser]

This is the same thing all major hotels (and all cruise lines) do. Usually you aren't in the hotel for a week, though.

[Grumpy1]

Sigh ... and mine holds them for 15 days. :( They pile up.
If they pre-authorize every 3 days (and that's standard) on a 15 day cruise the pre-authorizations would come to (hold your breath):

$60x15 = $900
$60x12 = $720
$60x9 = $540
$60x6 = $360
$60x3 = $180

TOTAL Pre-authorizations over 15 days: $2700.
Add to that what I actually spend ... about $650 ... and you see that I'll need to have about $3350 in available funds to meet the actual expenses PLUS the cumulative effect of the pre-authorizations. Granted, the pre-authorzations will start rolling off after 15 days, but to not have my account zeroed out and useless for paying the onboard expense, I need to have $3350 available.

And people wonder why I make a cash deposit in order to secure my account. If I deposit $900 in my account, and spend $650, I get $250 back at the end of the cruise any my account remains otherwise untouched.I'm not sure that you are correct on the preauth, unless you are spending above the preauth amount. If they do a preauth for $900 and three days later your account total is less than $180, you are still within the original parameters and no additional preauth is needed. I check my card balance almost daily and have never seen the preauthorizations stacked like that.

I use to travel with a construction crew and would often stay in a motel for several weeks at a time, with 3 or 4 rooms on my personal card. (Great for building reward points:) ) The normal practice was to do a preauthorization to cover a week plus about 25%. At the end of the week the charge for the first week would be put through. Usually a new preauthorization would show up, sometimes not.

[ekerr19]

Grumpy -

I agree with your assessment as well. I check my account almost daily too (and we always go over the pre-authorized amounts), but rarely do we see more even pre-authorized.

On the cruise we just returned from - 4 persons x 60 per day = $240.00 x 10 days, = $2400.00 and that was all that was held until the 2nd to the last day of the voyage, then the total due at that time was pending - even though I spent $2250 on a piece of jewelry on the 3rd day of the cruise, the pre-authorized amount never changed.

[The Tsar]

Thank you all that responded - Makes perfect sense (once someone explains it :o ).

So if I understand correctly - For my wife and I, HAL will pre-authorize $2160.00 for the Panama crusie. Since way under limit, no wonder I never even was aware of it or saw it on any billing.

[RevNeal]

I'm not sure that you are correct on the preauth, unless you are spending above the preauth amount. If they do a preauth for $900 and three days later your account total is less than $180, you are still within the original parameters and no additional preauth is needed. I check my card balance almost daily and have never seen the preauthorizations stacked like that.

This happened on the Volendam in 2002. I was using a Visa Check Card to secure my onboard expenses. My onboard account only had a couple of hundred dollars charged to it, but they kept running pre-authorizations through my checking account about ever third day under the assumption that the pre-authorization holds would go OFF the account after 72 hours.

Perhaps that was an error on their part? I would hope so. But that experience put me off using check/debit cards to secure my onboard account.

[Atomica]

So here's a question - I put a credit on our onboard account for our upcoming Alaska cruise. Any idea if they take that into consideration when doing the preauth since I already have some $$$ sitting there, or is it still $60pp/per day?

[RevNeal]

So here's a question - I put a credit on our onboard account for our upcoming Alaska cruise. Any idea if they take that into consideration when doing the preauth since I already have some $$$ sitting there, or is it still $60pp/per day?

You can deposit an amount into your onboard account. Until that zeros out don't offer them a card. Once you've spent it all, they'll ask you to come down and make arrangements to fund your account. I would make those arrangements ahead of time ... the day I board. I would let them know that I've deposited X number of dollars into my account. If/when that amount is gone, I'll come down and arrange for funding my account otherwise. If you use a card at that later time they will preauthorize you for the number of days remaining in the cruise. All prior expenses have already been paid for.

[Atomica]

Awesome - thanks for the info!