PIM463

Sorry, I never heard of an "unused credit".

Could you please explain?

In the credit card world, they can do an authorization hold for say $300. They in essence cuardon off hold of $300 of money, which is not available for your use. If you are conservative on the ship and only use $100, they will still hold the excess $200 (i.e., "credit") until the "real" transaction actually posts to your account. With real $, if I put down $300 in cash and if I only use $100...I get the cash back RIGHT AWAY and don't have to wait a few days. I can utilize that cash for tips, shuttle, etc. on the way back home.

I guess it's just a matter of preference....my partner tends to be of your mindset so, tomato/tomata I suppose.

ok. Don't flame me here, but I don't understand why people use cash when they have a credit card. Can someone help me out here?

For me, it's the instant gratification of having my $ back in hand...and not having to wait days for the refund of any unused credit.

The last two times I paid cash and put down a good size amount due to the fact that I knew that we would eat in the pay resturants (some times 8 of us) go to martini classes. Anyway the last morning I received a refund check of over $100 which I took down to pursers office where I cashed the check with no fee.

This is good to know....who knew they would even cash the check onboard?

We only delt in cash on previous cruises bc we didnt have credit. Once we were checking in we would set up out account, they did not require a min amount from us however we place $400-$500 to start. we dont typically pre pay service chargers either.

 

I use the spa alot and drink some we also have dinners in the specialty resturants in addition to shopping(NCL must love us) however we dont use the casino(so I guess they cant love us that much) so we keep an eye on the account, normally checking it in the am and in the evening. Hubby will go down to the lobby before dinner to put some money on when he see's it getting low.

 

We dont like to over pay because we dont like to worry about refunds. The first cruise we waitied about 2-4 weeks for our refund. our second cruise we were given back cash as we departed, very convient to get home lol. hope you had a wonderful cruise. Cant wait for mine!!! may cannot come soon enough

You waited 2-4 weeks? WOW. I would have been pissed. That's why I told my partner to be leery of using the card but, the check-in rep. said to not be worried and it worked out for us so, we'll see how it works on other cruise lines in the future.

This topic was a hot one for me before I got on the boat and it seems to be a burning question on the boards also. I traveled on the Norwegian Sky 01/11 - 01/14/13 so, I have fresh updates.

When we first arrived to check-in, I verified with the staff how I would set up the account, being that I didnt want to hassle with a credit card (and any possible authorization holds, releasing of any auth holds, etc.) and I had planned to set up this account with cash. I was told by my booking representative that they required $100 per day, per person. I didnt want to give that amount b/c I would never use that much $. I know myself and I was completely comfortable with $150 in cash. When we checked in, however, the embarkation representative told us that we could secure the onboard accounts with a credit card and there would be no transactions or holds placed on the account until the end of the cruise. Immediately, I was very skeptical of this b/c who's to say that A) this card was valid and had available credit for the charges made on the ship and B) if the card was even valid, at all. We proceeded with the check-in and settled into one stateroom, using one card.

Later, I went to guest services on the ship and I posed the same question to the representative there and he gave me a more plausible scenario. He did confirm that we could use ONE card for the two people in one stateroom and he indicated that on the first night, a $150 authorization would be requested on the card, to secure the onboard account.

At the end of the cruise, he indicated that we had the ability to pay in cash or allow the transaction to go through on the card. Unfortunately, I failed to ask about the cash situation and if in fact I was able to do less than $100/day if I had chosen to go that route. Other posts I've read indicated just that, however. Hope this helps everyone.