Credit card refused for prepayment of gratuities

Actually it's NOT an ATM card. Those were back in the day when ATM's were relatively new. They ONLY worked in bank ATM's with your PIN number.

 

 

These are actual VISA/MASTERCARDS that function and are accepted the same way as the equivalent Credit Cards, BUT are only tied to your bank balance. AND, they also happen work in bank ATM machines with the PIN number.........................;)

 

 

SM

Thanks for the added details....but still it is not a Visa credit card with all of the associated privileges and protections that are accorded to credit cards.

Hello,

 

My boyfriend and I are sailing on the Caribbean princess in October (our first Princess cruise!). Yesterday I wanted to prepay the gratuities on the princess website with my credit card (visa) but when I submitted the payment an error occurred saying or my name and address information are incorrect or there aren't enough funds. I checked my name and address which were correct and called our bank to make sure I had enough funds, funds were certainly ok and the bank also didn't find anything why I would not be able to pay with my credit card. Did anyone else had this issue before? Maybe interesting to know I am from Belgium (could this has something to do with it?) and I booked with a Belgian travel agent.

Thank you very much in advance (and sorry for possible English writing mistakes).

 

Lindsay

Yes, I have experienced this problem and ended up just asking my travel agent to do it for me. I'm in Canada so maybe that had something to do with it. When my agent did it she didn't have a problem but she spoken with a Princess Rep. Don't worry, it isn't you. It is Princess' system.

Thanks for the added details....but still it is not a Visa credit card with all of the associated privileges and protections that are accorded to credit cards.

Exactly as I had said previously!!

Hello,

 

My boyfriend and I are sailing on the Caribbean princess in October (our first Princess cruise!). Yesterday I wanted to prepay the gratuities on the princess website with my credit card (visa) but when I submitted the payment an error occurred saying or my name and address information are incorrect or there aren't enough funds. I checked my name and address which were correct and called our bank to make sure I had enough funds, funds were certainly ok and the bank also didn't find anything why I would not be able to pay with my credit card. Did anyone else had this issue before? Maybe interesting to know I am from Belgium (could this has something to do with it?) and I booked with a Belgian travel agent.

Thank you very much in advance (and sorry for possible English writing mistakes).

 

Lindsay

Does your credit card (date ) expire before your cruise?

The card expires in 2019 so that can't be the problem.

:confused:

 

Which card is "both" Debit & Credit? Debit cards Look like credit cards, but have no credit line (other than overdraft protection perhaps) and will always fund from checking/savings accounts....................

 

Just saying..............

 

And to the OP...............Why pre-pay so far in advance or at all? Just do it on the ship. I don't know of any benefit to pre-paying those, although the cruise line would love to hold your money for a while................:-)

Steve

I like to pay in advance, it makes me more relax to know everything is taken care of and I don't need to worry about it anymore :cool:

Hi, I had this happen once, the first time I tried to pre-purchase the photo package for an upcoming cruise. My card was denied. I had to call and have them help me through the process and I used that same "denied" card.

It was a glitch, as I've used my debit card for all pre-purchases and have never in the past had an issue, nor since that one time. No idea what caused it.

 

 

Hopefully it's a temporary issue. Try again? Maybe from another computer?

Hope you get this resolved, as I understand it can be frustrating.

Jennifer

Thank you for your reply Jennifer. Good to hear I am not the only one. I tried different computers and always had the same issue. I am waiting for a response of my TA now and I am hoping they know what is going wrong. If they don't I will make a call to princess.

By any chance do you have a credit limit, per day, on your credit card? I know on mine if I use debit with a pin I only can take out $1000 but if I use it as a credit card it can be for any amount as long as funds are in the account.

There is a limit of 2000 euro's a day but the gratuities are only around 340 euro's and I didn't buy anything else that day with my credit card (not even new shoes :D)

Yes, I have experienced this problem and ended up just asking my travel agent to do it for me. I'm in Canada so maybe that had something to do with it. When my agent did it she didn't have a problem but she spoken with a Princess Rep. Don't worry, it isn't you. It is Princess' system.

Thank you for your reply! "Happy" to hear someone had the same issue before!

Just had a thought.

 

If you are seeing Euro prices in Cruise Personaliser, and the message you are getting is relating to an address error, could it be something as simple as your Travel Agent putting their address on the booking?

 

As I said, talk to your Travel Agent, you can't be the first person in continental Europe who has wanted to pre-pay their gratuities.

 

One work around might be to get your TA to process the transaction and you pay them using your Visa card.

I'm from Australia and do not pay gratuities-higher fare-but I did make On Board Purchases using a Debit/Credit card before my cruise last November. I would put the amount I intended to spend into my bank, then go to the Travel Agent to make a cash payment for my Cruise Fare, then get her to do the On Board Purchases using my card. I never had a problem-well only the 1st time because I didn't understand that I couldn't pay cash to the TA for On Board Purchases!

Watch your currency conversion rate-last year mine was USD$4 for AUD$5, this cruise it's USD$100 for AUD$130, rather worse. Oh well, at least I now know of several Cruise souvenirs my cousins would like-lanyards, ship mugs and water bottles so can concentrate on pre-paying On Board Credit and have a lovely time shopping aboard. HTH.

Do enjoy your cruise!

I got an email back from my TA saying they can do this for us. No further explanation :mad: So I asked them if this was the only way to do it.

Does your credit card (date ) expire before your cruise?

That was exactly my problem recently. Had to call the credit card company and have them issue new cards earlier than usual (I want to use a specific card for the points.) So, I just entered a made-up expiration and when I get the new cards, I'll go back into the Personalizer and enter the correct expiration date.

There was a recent thread about a similar problem http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2446762

Could it be that the destination of the payment is in the USA? In that case maybe the credit card company blocked the transaction because they thought it was fraudulent?

I know Belgian debit cards are by default disabled from use outside Europe.

I'm not sure about credit cards though.

We never have a problem since we pay with Amex and the destination of our payment is a local TA specialized in cruises. They pay the cruise line.

PS: We will on the same Reflection sailing.

I got an email back from my TA saying they can do this for us. No further explanation :mad: So I asked them if this was the only way to do it.

Did they do it?

This simply may be that you can not pre-pay gratuities this far in advance. I believe I read somewhere that it has to be within a certain time period prior to the sailing. Just call Princess. Let us all know what you find out if you could be so kind. THANKS

Our TA made the payment for us so no problem there still I find it weird we cant do it on our own.

Our TA made the payment for us so no problem there still I find it weird we cant do it on our own.

At least it's done! :D

I had/am having the same problem with my MC. The VISA works fine though and if I call Princess they can put through the MC no problem, just not on the site.

They said that they are working on fixing this glitch, but it has been a few months and it still does it. My theory is that my MC is through a private financing firm and my VISA is through a national bank. They probably don't recognize the Private Firm.

It has saved me some $ though, lol.