$60 hold per day on credit card

This is our first cruise (to Alaska) and they want to charge us $60 per day on our credit card towards onboard daily purchases. Relatives who cruise a lot have never had this before on any cruise line. Is this a new initiate of HAL. Can't continue with registration until done or told to bring cash equivalent.

The $60 per person per day credit card hold has been around a long time. It's like checking into a hotel; you don't realize it, but they've put a hold on your credit card for the full amount owing, but only charge it at check out, depending on what other items you might have added to the bill. It assures them that you have the funds in place to pay for your stay.

If you check out the fine print of your cruise contract on any cruise line, you will see it is a common practice.

If you don't want to pay your shipboard account by credit card, you can deposit the equivalent of $60 per person per day with the Purser's Office or Front Desk. If you exceed the amount, they will call your cabin and ask you to deposit more money. If you don't use it all, they will refund the balance at the end of the cruise before you disembark.

Smooth Sailing! :):):)

How is this refunded? In cash or to the credit card?

Thanks

Make sure you read ger77's post correctly---the $60/day is a HOLD, not a CHARGE. Big difference.

The only amount actually charged to your card at the end of the cruise is the amount of expenses you authorized, including the $11/day service charge.

How is this refunded? In cash or to the credit card?

If you leave a deposit in cash, the balance to be refunded to you is paid in cash.

If you have HAL put the hold on a credit card, the only the amount due is charged to the card. Any balance of the hold is released by the credit card company.

ruth is correct, when using a credit card their is a big difference. when using a debit card however, a 'hold' will reduce you balance immediatly.

So does that mean if you a family of four they charge $60 US per day per person, which if my calculations are correct that is US $3360 or AUS $4800 for a 14 day cruise. That is a huge amount of money to put against your credit card limit.

The other option of giving that to them in cash is also a pain, given that we don't want to convert that much money into USD as we are cruising to New Zealand.

So does that mean if you a family of four they charge $60 US per day per person, which if my calculations are correct that is US $3360 or AUS $4800 for a 14 day cruise. That is a huge amount of money to put against your credit card limit.

Your calculation in US dollars is correct. I have no idea, but figure you know what you're doing, on the US to Australian dollar conversion.

There is a reason for this. If you board with a credit card with a limit of, say, $2000 and that's the card you register, then you charge $1999 for that piece of jewelry in a port, there is not enough credit left on the card to settle your on-board charges. So, the ship gets there first, and holds enough to cover the average person's shipboard expenditures. Knowing this ahead of time, and it's been this way since my first cruise, I use one card for the ship and carry another for port spending. It's also safer to carry a second, backup card in case of theft or loss.

So does that mean if you a family of four they charge $60 US per day per person, which if my calculations are correct that is US $3360 or AUS $4800 for a 14 day cruise. That is a huge amount of money to put against your credit card limit.

 

The other option of giving that to them in cash is also a pain, given that we don't want to convert that much money into USD as we are cruising to New Zealand.

Once again, this is simply a "hold" on your credit card - not a charge. You will not be charged a single red cent until the end of your cruise.

Now, should you have a credit card with a very small limit then you need to remember that HAL has put a "hold" on a certain amount so if you wish to charge something to that credit card while ashore that charge may be denied (again depending on the credit card limit). Holland America Line is not ripping you off - they just want to make sure that at the end of your cruise you will have enough money to pay their bill.

No need to change AU dollars for US dollars -everything spent aboard ship (including the Autotip) will be charged to your account, payable when the bill comes in. For a family of four the $60.00 per day amounts to $240.00 per day which I doubt sincerely you will spend unless you are really "party animals":D.

Have a wonderful cruise..

Valerie:)

Just seems a lot of the credit to tie up, can you talk to them to adjust it, as our children are young, and we have no intention of drinking that much or buying shore excursions or spending huge amounts in the shops.

I can understand it for adults, but not for children to have that limit.

I would hate to be doing an extended cruise if they tie money up like that.

If I'm not mistaken (although I often am mistaken) the hold will correspond to the number of people with ship cards that permit them to charge to the ship account. If that is the case, then children who can't make purchases should not have the same allocation. Children do factor into the daily tips, so there will be some money involved there.

Of course, if you have a $100,000 line of credit on your charge account this does not matter. One thing you may want to do before you cruise is contact the company that issues your charge card and let them know that you are going on a cruise. At their discretion, they can increase your available credit for the duration of the cruise and you won't have the problem of insufficient available credit on that account due to holds.

If I'm not mistaken (although I often am mistaken) the hold will correspond to the number of people with ship cards that permit them to charge to the ship account. If that is the case, then children who can't make purchases should not have the same allocation. Children do factor into the daily tips, so there will be some money involved there.

 

Of course, if you have a $100,000 line of credit on your charge account this does not matter. One thing you may want to do before you cruise is contact the company that issues your charge card and let them know that you are going on a cruise. At their discretion, they can increase your available credit for the duration of the cruise and you won't have the problem of insufficient available credit on that account due to holds.

That would make it a lot less. How many people have a $100,000 line of credit. You wouldn't get too many banks here is Australia giving that sort of line of credit.

I was trying too hard to be cute. I mentioned a theoretical $100,000 line of credit to illustrate that there is a point at which the situation you described is not an issue at all. If you have enough available credit, then the hold (that portion of your available credit set aside so that you don't overextend yourself) is irrelevant. However, it is always a good idea to notify your credit card issuer when you are traveling abroad as it keeps the company from flagging unusual charges. Otherwise you may be in a situation where the credit card company asks that the merchant accepting your credit card telephone the credit card company to verify data before accepting the credit card (for security purposes) which is annoying when you are in a rush.

If you are worried about the HOLD that HAL puts on your credit card exceeding your credit limit, call your credit card company and have them increase your credit limit. Explain that you will be going on a cruise and need the extra limit because of the hold.

As others have said, this is NOT a charge, and you will not see the $60pp/per day charge on your final bill before you disembark, nor will you see a credit if you don't spend it, because it was never charged to your account. All you will see are the actual charges you made while on board.

Just seems a lot of the credit to tie up, can you talk to them to adjust it, as our children are young, and we have no intention of drinking that much or buying shore excursions or spending huge amounts in the shops.

 

For my 3 year old grandson that will be traveling with us I was told to list him as if he will pay with cash once on the ship, and then talk Purser once on board. Since he will not be making any direct charges I was told that his requirement may either be reduced or eliminated.

For my 3 year old grandson that will be traveling with us I was told to list him as if he will pay with cash once on the ship, and then talk Purser once on board. Since he will not be making any direct charges I was told that his requirement may either be reduced or eliminated.

You will still be required to pay the daily tipping charge for your grandson. After all, the room steward will still be cleaning up after him and the waiters will still be serving him in the dining room. I can see the daily hold for him being reduced, but certainly not eliminated.

This is our first cruise (to Alaska) and they want to charge us $60 per day on our credit card towards onboard daily purchases. Relatives who cruise a lot have never had this before on any cruise line. Is this a new initiate of HAL. Can't continue with registration until done or told to bring cash equivalent.

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Everyone has explained this quite well.

Please clarify for me: when do you set up your onboard account if you don't do it when you check in online? At the terminal before boarding or once onboard?

Please clarify for me: when do you set up your onboard account if you don't do it when you check in online? At the terminal before boarding or once onboard?

If you don't do it with an online check in then when you check in at the terminal, the agent will ask you for a credit card number that you would like to use for your on board expenses.

If you don't do it with an online check in then when you check in at the terminal, the agent will ask you for a credit card number that you would like to use for your on board expenses.

Which you DO NOT have to provide. You can put whatever you want toward onboard charges. They cannot force you to put $60/pp/pd onto anything. You have paid for your cruise ticket and they cannot deny you boarding if you do not wish to set up an onboard account. HOWEVER, you won't be able to purchase anything on the ship. Instead you can provide a cash equivalent based on what you want to spend. I am doing OBC for my upcoming cruise. I will not be handing over cash or a cc and will instead draw from the OBC I have paid in advance.

If you don't do it with an online check in then when you check in at the terminal, the agent will ask you for a credit card number that you would like to use for your on board expenses.

Which you DO NOT have to provide. You can put whatever you want toward onboard charges. They cannot force you to put $60/pp/pd onto anything. You have paid for your cruise ticket and they cannot deny you boarding if you do not wish to set up an onboard account. HOWEVER, you won't be able to purchase anything on the ship. Instead you can provide a cash equivalent based on what you want to spend. I am doing OBC for my upcoming cruise. I will not be handing over cash or a cc and will instead draw from the OBC I have paid in advance.

Thank you both. I want to pay for onboard charges for my adult sons who will be travelling with me. I wanted to use cash (ie, put a little bundle of bills in their hands to hold and count until HAL "takes it away"!) but I'm not thrilled with carrying $2700+ with me (3 pax * 15 days * $11). The idea of gifting them an OBC sounds good, although I lose the fun of giving them a bundle of bills...

I'll pay the full amount if required but the truth of the matter is, we've never incurred that much in onboard charges even in the "olden" days when we couldn't book shore excursions until onboard (of course Shore Exs cost more now!). We will book our Shore Exs online; none of us drink alcohol, only occasional soda or coffee drinks (mostly water, tea and juice); and we buy limited souvenirs onboard. No Bingo, etc. So with the tip/hotel service charge (additional tips would be in cash) and limited onboard purchases, we won't spend half the allocated amount.

And so would have about $500 each to carry off the ship, which is a lot more than any of us are used to. Which raises the question, where do we go to get our refund? I think I read that we would get it from the purser on the last day -- that would be another line to stand in -- avoiding that makes the OBC sound even better.

I wonder if anyone knows about the $60/day average -- do most people spend a lot on beverages, souvenirs, bingo, etc? Or do you think that includes Shore Exs? Or something else I'm not aware of?

Shore excursions, if booked from the ship, can eat up a lot of your onboard spending account. I usually book my tours independently, so I don't have that problem. I have seen many people with bar bills much larger than their "holds" before.

One side note: the credit card you register with the Online CheckIn must expire at least one month after your cruise. The cc that I want to use expires at the end of the same month, so I have temporarily had to say "cash on board" until my new card arrives.

Make sure you read ger77's post correctly---the $60/day is a HOLD, not a CHARGE. Big difference.

The only amount actually charged to your card at the end of the cruise is the amount of expenses you authorized, including the $11/day service charge.

Once again, this is simply a "hold" on your credit card - not a charge. You will not be charged a single red cent until the end of your cruise.

 

Now, should you have a credit card with a very small limit then you need to remember that HAL has put a "hold" on a certain amount so if you wish to charge something to that credit card while ashore that charge may be denied (again depending on the credit card limit). Holland America Line is not ripping you off - they just want to make sure that at the end of your cruise you will have enough money to pay their bill.

There is a reason for this. If you board with a credit card with a limit of, say, $2000 and that's the card you register, then you charge $1999 for that piece of jewelry in a port, there is not enough credit left on the card to settle your on-board charges. So, the ship gets there first, and holds enough to cover the average person's shipboard expenditures. Knowing this ahead of time, and it's been this way since my first cruise, I use one card for the ship and carry another for port spending. It's also safer to carry a second, backup card in case of theft or loss.

HAL is just making sure that you can pay them what you owe. And if you're worried about tying up your credit, the "hold" doesn't start until you actually check in, not when you do you online check in.

I like the idea of using one credit card for the ship and another for port spending.