Debit cards and cash

If you put a debit card down for charges and you also put cash down too will they use the cash first before using the debit card? I want to bring cash but also use my debit if i need more money so i want to put both down.

Thanks

Search Debit Cards. Either go with cash or get a credit card for traveling. Debit and cruises is just asking for an issue somewhere along the line.

I would not secure your onboard account with a debit card. Depending on how your bank processes holds, they could take days to fall off the account.

Instead, I would opt for a cash account. Royal will let you charge up to $500 before they ask you to pay it down. You can use your debit card to pay down the account whenever you like. That way, they won't put holds on your funds.

No idea why so many are against debit cards. Most banks will release pending charges that aren't settled within 3 business days. Regardless, RCI will only authorize against your actual balance so it's not like they are putting a large amount of funds on hold.

If you put cash down, it will post immediately. If you have nothing charged at that point or the cash you've applied exceeds the amount of charges on your folio, your account will reflect a negative balance. They won't start running your card until you cross over into a positive balance and owe them money.

For example, on the last cruise I won $5k in the casino on night 1. I went to guest services and applied part of this to my folio for incidentals. They posted this amount right away and didn't touch my card on file until I exceeded what I'd put down.

No idea why so many are against debit cards.

My personal opinion/reasons why I dislike debit and prefer credit in general: with debit cards, the money's frozen (hold) or simply gone (withdrawn). Mistakes do happen -- many can attest to this, and it can be a huge headache/waste of time to sort out.

Also, debit cards pose a greater threat than credit cards when compromised (through skimming or otherwise). This is not just a problem for people who can't balance their chequebook. Minimizing debit card usage (exposure) minimizes the risk of compromise or errant holds/charges.

Debit cards may have zero liability for fraud or incorrect charges just as credit cards do, but it may be days to weeks before you see your money returned, and there may be knock-on effects in the meantime.

With a credit card, my money isn't gone; I can refuse to pay my balance (or the disputed portion of the balance) until things get sorted out.

I have no idea how RCI processes debit cards, and I don't care to find out. Even if they have a consistent (as much as RCI can be :rolleyes:) and widely-known way of using your debit card, every financial institution differs in how they do things with debits, holds, etc. so I just wouldn't poke that bear.

Who wants to take the bet that RCI will never make a mistake and debit someone's bank account incorrectly? :D

If you put a debit card down for charges and you also put cash down too will they use the cash first before using the debit card? I want to bring cash but also use my debit if i need more money so i want to put both down.

 

Thanks

Cash will always be applied first to your onboard account before anything is put to your debit or credit card.

And no actual amount is put to your debit or credit card until the end of the cruise.

However, as other have pointed out, a "hold" may be put on some of the funds in your account to ensure they will be available when an actual debit or charge is made.

No idea why so many are against debit cards. Most banks will release pending charges that aren't settled within 3 business days. Regardless, RCI will only authorize against your actual balance so it's not like they are putting a large amount of funds on hold....

If you have an outstanding balance, the cruise line does some sort of authorization daily. Then at the end of the cruise, they charge for the total outstanding amount. Depending on the way a financial institution handles the transactions, the daily authorizations may not correlate with the final charge, so they can remain and keep funds on hold for days.

No idea why so many are against debit cards. Most banks will release pending charges that aren't settled within 3 business days.

For day to day life, I use debit cards constantly (including tap to pay for small purchases). Problems can arise anywhere that a "hold" is put on your debit card. Pending charges are different from a hold, and are processed differently by most banks (certainly in Europe, no idea about the US).

Let's say you have €1000 in your current account. The correct procedure is that an amount (say €500) is reserved on your card. That €500 is permanently unavailable to you until it is cancelled/used by the supplier. So at the end of my two week cruise, my bill comes to €400. What should happen at that point is that the supplier retrieves the original hold of €500, and processes a transaction against it which essentially says "we're now taking €400 of that". What happens far too often is that, due to poor training, or human error, a new transaction takes place, which takes the €400 from your account. However the €500 is still being held. This leaves you with only €100 to spend from your current account, rather than the expected €600 you should have.

When you call the bank to tell them this, they say they can't release the hold, the supplier has to do it. When you call the supplier, they don't know how to do that, and usually tell you the bank will release it in x days. Nether of which are any good to you immediately.

Not everywhere causes this problem, but it happens often enough to put me off using a debit card for things like car hire reserves.

I hate credit cards, but I do have one. I would just use it for the cruise and pay it off when I get home. That essentially turns it into a debit card with no holds... That has nothing to do with the OP, but if it was me I would use the cash first and then the debit card. Simply tell them that is what you'd like to do and it should be a problem.

I have used a debit card for every cruise and there as never been a problem......Never! They run your charges each night and at the end of the cruise you only have outstanding what you purchased on the last night.

I will say this however as I work for a bank and that is I have a checking account that I use just for cruises and vacations and so I have a debit card tied to that account. I do not tie in my regular checking account on the cruise so that IF any problems do occur or unusual holds are placed it does not mess up my regular account that is used to pay bills etc. If you are going to use a debit card on the cruises this is the route you should take if at all possible to avoid potential problems, but as I said though I have never had any problems on any cruise! :cool:

... I will say this however as I work for a bank and that is I have a checking account that I use just for cruises and vacations and so I have a debit card tied to that account. ...

Excellent idea to have a separate account.

If you put a debit card down for charges and you also put cash down too will they use the cash first before using the debit card? I want to bring cash but also use my debit if i need more money so i want to put both down.

 

Thanks

debit cards on board are a BAD idea. they will put a hold on the card FIRST and then at the end apply any cash you have put down. and that hold can take a while to be released.

Royal does let you charge $250 to the account before cutting you off. so open a cash account and put as much as you can/have then pay off the rest with the debit card the last night which allows you to get that last Singapore Sling it at last call.

If you put a debit card down for charges and you also put cash down too will they use the cash first before using the debit card? I want to bring cash but also use my debit if i need more money so i want to put both down.

 

Thanks

Another idea, depending on where you're going and what the bank charges are like - Give them your cash against your account first. If/when that runs out, withdraw another bunch of cash from an ATM, and give them that. After you've spent the first lot of cash, you should have an idea what your "run rate" is like to judge how much to withdraw the second time. There's usually an ATM near guest services, or in the casino, though I seem to remember there was something like a $6 charge for using it.

debit cards on board are a BAD idea. they will put a hold on the card FIRST and then at the end apply any cash you have put down. and that hold can take a while to be released.

 

Royal does let you charge $250 to the account before cutting you off. so open a cash account and put as much as you can/have then pay off the rest with the debit card the last night which allows you to get that last Singapore Sling it at last call.

As I said I have used a debit card on every cruise and have never had them put a hold on the card, but they simply debit your charges each night as it is done when you use your debit card any where else so that is not true!

If you put a debit card down for charges and you also put cash down too will they use the cash first before using the debit card? I want to bring cash but also use my debit if i need more money so i want to put both down.

 

Thanks

I have used a debit card and after a few days checked my on board account. I then have gone to guest services and put cash down. My on board account is immediately credited and my balance reduced by the amount of cash I put down. I did not put any cash down at the start of the cruise, just the debit card at check in.

Here is a post from a couple weeks ago. There were several holds put on this account and he says at one point was told by guest services they would call the police if he couldn't settle his bill at the end of the cruise. He only had his debit card with him. This may not happen all of the time but IT CAN HAPPEN. I will not take that chance but it's your choice. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2307305&highlight=debit+card

We always use our debit card. There was recently a really long post that covered a lot of the issues that can come up with that. Since that post I got a credit card for our upcoming cruises. We will pay cash for our planned spending but secure it with a credit card from now on. We don't use credit cards for everyday life but it makes a lot of sense for the sea pass.

Since both cash and debit charges come from your bank account...just bring the cash! No "holds" on cash! There's a safe in the cabin to store your stuff...including money.

Yes..they will put a hold on your funds when you give them the debit card. I would go with cash.

We always use our debit card. There was recently a really long post that covered a lot of the issues that can come up with that. Since that post I got a credit card for our upcoming cruises. We will pay cash for our planned spending but secure it with a credit card from now on. We don't use credit cards for everyday life but it makes a lot of sense for the sea pass.

A read through those post and it the OP it appears did not have a problem that was due to the Debit Card itself but running up a bill more than what was in his account. There seems to be a lot of speculating as to what happens with debit cards on board by people who have never even used debit cards on board. As one who have used a debit card on every cruise I can definitely say that they DO NOT place a hold on your card for any amount of money when you use it. In my other post I mentioned it that I work for a bank and know that there can be problems that can arise with inadvertent holds which is why I strongly suggest that if you use a debit card, that you set up at your bank another checking account that is not tied to you main account and get a debit card for that account so that if any problems arise your money in your main account that is used to pay bills and things is not affected. The one I have set up is only for cruises and vacations.

I am not pro debit card or pro credit card or pro cash. I don't really care what anybody uses but there is a lot of false information that always flies through these threads concerning debit cards.

Here is a post from a couple weeks ago. There were several holds put on this account and he says at one point was told by guest services they would call the police if he couldn't settle his bill at the end of the cruise. He only had his debit card with him. This may not happen all of the time but IT CAN HAPPEN. I will not take that chance but it's your choice. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2307305&highlight=debit+card

I was hoping someone would resurrect this thread. It was a good one and should be renamed. Lots of drama!

I will never use my debit card again onboard again! I lost my credit card the night before our sailing on Navigator last year. I didn't realize it until I got to the port. I used my debit card for the onboard account and there was more than enough money in the account to cover everything. The problem was that Royal authorized my card 3 times for entire balance, which was around $1000 since we bought 2 drink packages on the first day. Then at the end they actually charged my card for the entire weeks worth the spending. Those holds were still on my account a week later. So I was short almost $3000 from the holds. I called my bank and they needed Royal to release the charges. I called royal and they said they had already done it. I finally got a 3 way call with Royal, my bank and I and at the end both parties said there was nothing they could do. We ended up living on $200 for 10 days before the holds dropped. Thankfully I had paid all my bills before we left and I got the holds dropped before the next months bills were due. I was kicking myself for not bringing a backup credit card. Now we prepay as much as we can so even if something does happen, at least the onboard balance will be low. We've even talked about pre-purchasing OBC and using that just so we're completely covered. I never want to go through that stress again!

To clarify a bit, we had only sailed on Princess until that cruise and they do it differently. They place a hold each night for that days spending and then at the end charge the entire amount. I expected Royal to be the same. If that had been the case we would have only had 1 $900 hold and a few smaller ones for a total of $1000.

I have a separate checking acct just for our cruises, so when I book our cruise, the payments are paid with a Credit Card and credit card paid from that checking Acct so nothing ever comes from our household acct. The same applies to our on board charges, that goes to my Credit Card then that in turn is paid off immediately after we get home from my Cruise Acct. This includes any air, hotel & tours.

I have a separate checking acct just for our cruises, so when I book our cruise, the payments are paid with a Credit Card and credit card paid from that checking Acct so nothing ever comes from our household acct. The same applies to our on board charges, that goes to my Credit Card then that in turn is paid off immediately after we get home from my Cruise Acct. This includes any air, hotel & tours.

That's it! That is very smart! :cool:

I mentioned earlier I use a debit card all the time on a cruise. The card is issued by my bank, has bank and my name on it with the Visa logo. However, it is not connected to my checking account. I make separate deposits to the card account and purchases never appear on my checking account.