Onboard Account - Credit Card and Currency

I'm going to be doing my first crossing next month on QM2 from New York to Southampton and some details are coming into focus for me - finally.

I looked at some of the older threads but didn't see any exact matches on answers to the following questions:

1. How much is the pre-authorization on the credit card for the onboard account? It sounds like it is an estimated "per day" amount for the number of days on the ship?

2. If I'm going from the US to the UK, will the charge ultimately be a foreign charge? If so, I'd have to make sure to use a different card that doesn't have FOREX fees.

Any insight would be much appreciated!

I'm going to be doing my first crossing next month on QM2 from New York to Southampton and some details are coming into focus for me - finally.

 

I looked at some of the older threads but didn't see any exact matches on answers to the following questions:

 

1. How much is the pre-authorization on the credit card for the onboard account? It sounds like it is an estimated "per day" amount for the number of days on the ship?

 

2. If I'm going from the US to the UK, will the charge ultimately be a foreign charge? If so, I'd have to make sure to use a different card that doesn't have FOREX fees.

 

Any insight would be much appreciated!

Hi,

The link below will take you to a site which should answer all your questions:-

https://ask.cunard.com/help/cunard/fleet/pay_onboard

Enjoy your first crossing on QM2, we certainly did.

Best wishes,

Dave

1. How much is the pre-authorization on the credit card for the onboard account? It sounds like it is an estimated "per day" amount for the number of days on the ship?

 

2. If I'm going from the US to the UK, will the charge ultimately be a foreign charge? If so, I'd have to make sure to use a different card that doesn't have FOREX fees.

Hi there

1. I would imagine it's similar to staying in a hotel?

2. The charges are always applied as US $.

andhow

Cunard charges in US Dollars. When you checkin for your cruise with your E-Boarding Pass/Passport/Credit Card they will automatically associate the card(s) you put on file for all onboard purchases. You could do cash as well but I recommend using a Credit Card.

Hope this helps.

Cunard charges in US Dollars. When you checkin for your cruise with your E-Boarding Pass/Passport/Credit Card they will automatically associate the card(s) you put on file for all onboard purchases. You could do cash as well but I recommend using a Credit Card.

 

Hope this helps.

Hi travelplus, please excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean when you say "you could do cash"? Have you ever done that prior to boarding? What amount of cash satisfies the requirement? (I have no idea what the requirement is.)

My experience is that a credit card is required prior to boarding, although passengers may later pay their on board charges in cash. Except that not all charges incurred during the final hour on the ship are immediately reflected on your in stateroom folio account, and that is why a credit card is required. (I hope I wrote that clearly.)

At any rate, the following is quoted from the Passage Contract (US):

(B) Upon boarding the ship, You must register a valid credit card or other acceptable payment method at the Guest Services/Purser’s Desk to cover any charges to your stateroom account. http://www.cunard.com/legal-information/

Georgina's earlier reference was very informative.

Cheers,

Salacia

The credit card we use for cruises isn't used for anything but cruises so I don't check it often and have no idea if they put any holds on it during the cruise.

We always start our cruises, however, with pretty substantial OBC as we are both veterans, and stockholders, and also try to look for cruises where we get great OBC deals.

Does anybody really know, how much they would put on as a hold per day?

One thing I like about Cunard is that they charge all of the automatic gratuities right up front, which gives one a much clearer picture of their account for the whole cruise.