Cash From Onboard Account?

The only problem using prepaid debit cards to get cash is you will be charged a fee by the bank ATM you use to get the cash.:(

I have a similar problem with travellers cheques.

It is quite a while since I have been to or cruised out of US. I always used to get American Express $US travellers cheques before I left home (bear in mind I live in Spain).

I don't think I can get TCs here any more and pre-paid cards would be in Euros.

I do not want to carry large amounts of cash. Can anyone suggest how I get around this problem?Any other European cruisers to US can help me?

I have a similar problem with travellers cheques.

 

It is quite a while since I have been to or cruised out of US. I always used to get American Express $US travellers cheques before I left home (bear in mind I live in Spain).

 

I don't think I can get TCs here any more and pre-paid cards would be in Euros.

 

I do not want to carry large amounts of cash. Can anyone suggest how I get around this problem?Any other European cruisers to US can help me?

If you are coming to the U.S. Carol, what about ATM's?

They will give you currency of the country you are in - just as ATM's give us euros when we go to Europe.

If you are staying in Europe and need USD for the ship and tips, then you can also use the casino. Charge to your onboard account at the slots, spin a couple of times and cash out later. You can even buy OBC to credit your account in advance so you do not incur charges on board.

Traveller's Checks may be fine if the ship will cash at par with no service charge.

Once you get off the ship many places will not accept them OR accept them with an unreasonable charge. The issue is straightforward. Travelers Checks are paper and paper is expensive to process and handle.

Traveller's Checks may be fine if the ship will cash at par with no service charge.

 

Once you get off the ship many places will not accept them OR accept them with an unreasonable charge. The issue is straightforward. Travelers Checks are paper and paper is expensive to process and handle.

The ship cashes US $ T/C's are no charge. the problem is, there aren't many places left that sell them.

Traveller's Checks may be fine if the ship will cash at par with no service charge.

 

Once you get off the ship many places will not accept them OR accept them with an unreasonable charge. The issue is straightforward. Travelers Checks are paper and paper is expensive to process and handle.

not sure where you get that idea - maybe from Master Card / Visa, but to the (small) business a check is the least expensive payment to process next to cash. Typically, a check costs .10 to .25 per item regardless of the amount of the check. Credit cards, again mostly to smaller businesses, charge a swipe fee in the same range as the check fees as well as a percentage of the total amount of the charge, typically 1.5 to 2.5 percent. Larger businesses may not have as high of a "discount" and may not have a swipe fee.

For the same reason that many places charge to cash them...paper is expensive to handle, manage, etc.

If I managed a financial institution I would not bother with them either. If I did I would charge a hefty service fee for my trouble to discourage them The custodial and labor charges associated with them, plus the fact that so few people want/use them would be the deciding factor for me.

If you are coming to the U.S. Carol, what about ATM's?

 

They will give you currency of the country you are in - just as ATM's give us euros when we go to Europe.

 

If you are staying in Europe and need USD for the ship and tips, then you can also use the casino. Charge to your onboard account at the slots, spin a couple of times and cash out later. You can even buy OBC to credit your account in advance so you do not incur charges on board.

We will be spending a couple of days in Fort Lauderdale before the cruise. We will need USD for on the ship (casino, tipping etc) and then we need money for Caribbean ports of call.

In the past I have experienced some problems with ATMs not accepting my Spanish debit cards.

We will be spending a couple of days in Fort Lauderdale before the cruise. We will need USD for on the ship (casino, tipping etc) and then we need money for Caribbean ports of call.

 

In the past I have experienced some problems with ATMs not accepting my Spanish debit cards.

If you are in FLL Carol, there are a number of ATM's with the CIRRUS system which I think is what you need? You probably know this stuff, but, just in case it helps - a 4 digit pin is a must and many US ATM's can't handle foreign debit cards with savings as their account of choice. It needs to be chequing on your debit card. (easy to do at your bank to just change what it is called).

Have you tried to use your card in stores in FLL? If it works in stores you could also take advantage of the cash back option if the ATM's let you down.

That seems unfair that you have issues with your ATM card in the U.S. Our card works beautifully in Spain's ATM's. Seems only right the reverse should be true ;)

Buying some OBC a bit ahead of time (if you don't want a bill at the end of the cruise) and then charging to your on board account in the slots at the casino may be a good alternative for you in case.

If you want to avoid the 3% charge at the front desk, go to the casino and visit a slot machine. Put the amount you want onto your card which will be charged to your stateroom. Play once on the machine then cash out. Your balance will be transferred back to your card. Go the casino cashier and request the remaining balance in cash.

Can any one confirm that cash advance on slot machines still free on Holland America, specifically on the Amsterdam?  Has the Amsterdam slots been converted to the cashless slot system?  On the Zaandam back in 2016, it wasn't converted yet.

Thanks

bump, anyone?

On 12/20/2018 at 3:08 AM, andydates said:

Can any one confirm that cash advance on slot machines still free on Holland America, specifically on the Amsterdam?  Has the Amsterdam slots been converted to the cashless slot system?  On the Zaandam back in 2016, it wasn't converted yet.

 

Thanks

I will be on her in a few weeks, so if no answers, please repost at the end of Jan.

However, I am about 95% certain that they have been converted to be like all the other ships.  You can still put cash into the machines, just not get it back out (sort of funny of course!).  You have to put your winnings onto your cabin card and then take the card to the cashier to get it out (or use the winnings on another machine).

You can charge your cabin for an initial amount when you sit down at the machine and then dump the credits onto your cabin card (even without playing),  then take to the cashier.  Of course, the cashier might look up your play and ask about this, but you can always say that you made a mistake or something.  Since we do play in the casino, I have been known to charge more than I expect to play/lose that session and when I am done playing, cash out the remaining amount at the cashier.

You can insert your cabin card into a slot machine, and request money from your cabin account to be loaded into the machine.  After playing a while, you "cash out", which means you take what's left on that machine and put it into your casino bank.   To cash out of your casino bank, you take your cabin card to the casino cage and cash out.  You will receive cash at that point.   They have no way to put those funds back onto your cabin account.

I have heard recently that HAL now has a way to distinguish OBC on your cabin account that is purchased by your TA, or purchased by you, and which funds are free OBC from HAL.   The current thought is that you cannot use the free HAL OBC to load up a slot machine.   That must come from purchased OBC or placed as a debit on your account to be settled by your credit card at cruise end.   It is true that HAL can distinguish which funds are free OBC from HAL?

9 minutes ago, TAD2005 said:

You can insert your cabin card into a slot machine, and request money from your cabin account to be loaded into the machine.  After playing a while, you "cash out", which means you take what's left on that machine and put it into your casino bank.   To cash out of your casino bank, you take your cabin card to the casino cage and cash out.  You will receive cash at that point.   They have no way to put those funds back onto your cabin account.

I have heard recently that HAL now has a way to distinguish OBC on your cabin account that is purchased by your TA, or purchased by you, and which funds are free OBC from HAL.   The current thought is that you cannot use the free HAL OBC to load up a slot machine.   That must come from purchased OBC or placed as a debit on your account to be settled by your credit card at cruise end.   It is true that HAL can distinguish which funds are free OBC from HAL?

This was one of the first few lines of my on-board statement on the Koningsdam -

That amount was the total of Stock holder,  booking within 60 days and another HAL credit.

On 12/22/2018 at 1:03 PM, richwmn said:

This was one of the first few lines of my on-board statement on the Koningsdam -

That amount was the total of Stock holder,  booking within 60 days and another HAL credit.

 

To add to this, I just found a Preliminary statement from the Zaandam in 2006. It also has the promo credits listed first and noted as being non refundable.

34 minutes ago, richwmn said:

To add to this, I just found a Preliminary statement from the Zaandam in 2006. It also has the promo credits listed first and noted as being non refundable.

Interesting.  I found my Rotterdam bill from 2017 and all it says is Promo Credit - nothing else.

And, my OBC that I bought appears first on the statement as "Preliminary Manifest".

Just goes to show that things vary from ship to ship 😉 

11 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Interesting.  I found my Rotterdam bill from 2017 and all it says is Promo Credit - nothing else.

 

And, my OBC that I bought appears first on the statement as "Preliminary Manifest".

 

Just goes to show that things vary from ship to ship 😉 

And I guess year to year. My Voyage of the Vikings from Rotterdam this year says Promo Credit - not valid for Casino or Cash.

17 hours ago, kazu said:

 

Interesting.  I found my Rotterdam bill from 2017 and all it says is Promo Credit - nothing else.

 

And, my OBC that I bought appears first on the statement as "Preliminary Manifest".

 

Just goes to show that things vary from ship to ship 😉 

This was the case for a 2017 cruise. However rules have now changed all over the fleet and starting last spring ALL ships have the same note on the on board statement : promo credits - not valid for casino or cash.  We were on Volendam, Eurodam, Zuiderdam and Veendam since March and they all had this note. No more cashing at the casino. This is uniform on all ship as confirmed by guest relations. Spend it or lose it.    

1 minute ago, happyglobetrotter said:

This was the case for a 2017 cruise. However rules have now changed all over the fleet and starting last spring ALL ships have the same note on the on board statement : promo credits - not valid for casino or cash.  We were on Volendam, Eurodam, Zuiderdam and Veendam since March and they all had this note. No more cashing at the casino. This is uniform on all ship as confirmed by guest relations. Spend it or lose it.    

I honestly don't remember seeing it on our Prinsendam cruise in 2018 (April). 

It's never been an issue for me to spend the non refundable OBC 😉 

4 hours ago, happyglobetrotter said:

This was the case for a 2017 cruise. However rules have now changed all over the fleet and starting last spring ALL ships have the same note on the on board statement : promo credits - not valid for casino or cash.  We were on Volendam, Eurodam, Zuiderdam and Veendam since March and they all had this note. No more cashing at the casino. This is uniform on all ship as confirmed by guest relations. Spend it or lose it.    

👍👍👍  Thanks, happyglobetrotter, for the updated info.

6 hours ago, happyglobetrotter said:

This was the case for a 2017 cruise. However rules have now changed all over the fleet and starting last spring ALL ships have the same note on the on board statement : promo credits - not valid for casino or cash.  We were on Volendam, Eurodam, Zuiderdam and Veendam since March and they all had this note. No more cashing at the casino. This is uniform on all ship as confirmed by guest relations. Spend it or lose it.    

Just off the Konigsdam and the same note was on my account.  Cashed $200 at the Casino and it was NOT added back to the final billing to my credit card.  It appears that if you OWE on your final statement, the bottom line of your bill is what is charged to your account.  Others may have different experiences.

3 hours ago, avian777 said:

 

👍👍👍  Thanks, happyglobetrotter, for the updated info.

wa

1 hour ago, Crew News said:

 

Just off the Konigsdam and the same note was on my account.  Cashed $200 at the Casino and it was NOT added back to the final billing to my credit card.  It appears that if you OWE on your final statement, the bottom line of your bill is what is charged to your account.  Others may have different experiences.

Yes I had a different experience. The amount charged at the casino was added back to my credit card.

8 hours ago, kazu said:

 

I honestly don't remember seeing it on our Prinsendam cruise in 2018 (April). 

 

It's never been an issue for me to spend the non refundable OBC 😉 

You may have been on a transition cruise, the OBC promo credits cannot be cashed or used at the casino anymore. The changes occured at the end of March and  in April. 

5 minutes ago, happyglobetrotter said:

You may have been on a transition cruise, the OBC promo credits cannot be cashed or used at the casino anymore. The changes occured at the end of March and  in April. 

Might have although the cruise ended in May.  You would think on a B2B it would have shown by the second segment.

No biggie -  as I said, it's a non issue for me. When I said I have no problem using the non refundable OBC, I didn't mean in the casino 😉 I do use the casino but not to use up OBC 😉.