NCL Onboard Expense Account...Cash, Credit?

[garycarla]

Chances are low. But, anytime you do a hotel, car rental, cruise and many other transactions, sometimes another charge shows up, and then goes away. It even happens in retail.

 

Only those people that check their online statements daily even see these transactions, as they go away.

[ncklhaus]

I just got off Breakaway last week. We had purchased $2500 in OBC and had also purchased the UBP and the UDP. When we checked in at the terminal we told them that and they did not take a credit card from us. When we tried to get a drink once on board, we were told our account was locked and we needed to see guest services to set up an account. Huh? They still wanted a credited card. We gave them one and they put a $300 hold on it (for 3 of us). Long story short, no charges to our credit card, the hold released on Tuesday ( cruise ended Sunday) and we are getting a refund check mailed to us for our unused OBC.:D

[Trevor Fountain]

O.K., so some people don't like, or want, a credit card, but using a debit card has potential issues, not least the anxiety you don't need before or during a vacation. Also for non-US citizens, exchanging Euro's or Pounds into Dollars just to deposit with the cruise line, not to mention having to carry the cash, is also not ideal.

Here's a solution (at least for UK citizens).

Get a pre-paid credit card.

Here is an example.

My Travel Card (available through Moneysupermarket.com, as are many others).

 

Secure your exchange rate by loading in US Dollars, then spend and withdraw in US Dollars while you are away.

1% unlimited cashback on your purchases

No ATM fees abroad*

Accepted wherever you see the MasterCard Acceptance Mark

24/7 Customer Service support

Chip & PIN protection and Lost & Stolen assistance

Express Delivery within 1-3 working days**

If you load £700, they will even credit an extra £10 to the card.

In this way you can use the card for your on board account, and also if you are in a dollar zone, use it ashore. You can't incur credit card fees or run up a debt, and it is far safer than carrying cash.

[Hocus]

I don't like the holds on a credit card so it looks interesting for me to buy on-board credit. I've read that some of you bought on board credit. Are this the on-board credit certificates you can book in "my ncl - gifts and more" because it looks to me that this is a gift you buy for someone other than yourselve? Maybe a stupid question but it is the first cruise for us so it's all new.

[Trevor Fountain]

There are three of us travelling in same stateroom.

1. Can we have an account each?

 

2. I have read somewhere that the deposit is $450 each, as two of us don't drink alcohol, it is unlikely we will get anywhere near that spend on board, is this figure steadfast or can it be varied.

 

3. If I deposit $450, and the account runs down to say $125, will they place a further hold on funds, and what happens if I use a prepaid cards that only has $450 in to start with?

[Demonyte]

There are three of us travelling in same stateroom.

1. Can we have an account each?

 

2. I have read somewhere that the deposit is $450 each, as two of us don't drink alcohol, it is unlikely we will get anywhere near that spend on board, is this figure steadfast or can it be varied.

 

3. If I deposit $450, and the account runs down to say $125, will they place a further hold on funds, and what happens if I use a prepaid cards that only has $450 in to start with?

 

1. Yes, of course. The accounts with NCL are always personal but can have multiple people using one account if needed (and this is most common use case). In other words, the account is not tied to the cabin but to the passengers.

 

2. Since you quote $450, you are probably going on a longer cruise than 7 nights where the amount on NCL website is $300pp. But still, the amount is only a suggestion, not a requirement. As long as you have enough money on the onboard account to cover the DSC and your onboard spending, you're golden.

 

When you checkin in the terminal, just say that the three of you will have separate cash accounts and then after boarding, go to guest services and each deposit any amount you'd like - if the funds run out, your card can't be used for charging anymore and then you just deposit some more.

 

3. You don't need to have any card backing up the cash account, in fact you are better off just adding cash to the account when your initial amount runs out.

 

What comes to prepaid cards, most of them specifically state that they can not be used on cruise ships. Also if you use debit card, they will place holds on the card during the cruise (usually for every starting $300) so if you have a debit card with $450 on the account and spend most of it, you will most likely have problems.

Edited October 22, 2014 by Demonyte

[Trevor Fountain]

1. Yes, of course. The accounts with NCL are always personal but can have multiple people using one account if needed (and this is most common use case). In other words, the account is not tied to the cabin but to the passengers.

 

2. Since you quote $450, you are probably going on a longer cruise than 7 nights where the amount on NCL website is $300pp. But still, the amount is only a suggestion, not a requirement. As long as you have enough money on the onboard account to cover the DSC and your onboard spending, you're golden.

 

When you checkin in the terminal, just say that the three of you will have separate cash accounts and then after boarding, go to guest services and each deposit any amount you'd like - if the funds run out, your card can't be used for charging anymore and then you just deposit some more.

 

3. You don't need to have any card backing up the cash account, in fact you are better off just adding cash to the account when your initial amount runs out.

 

What comes to prepaid cards, most of them specifically state that they can not be used on cruise ships. Also if you use debit card, they will place holds on the card during the cruise (usually for every starting $300) so if you have a debit card with $450 on the account and spend most of it, you will most likely have problems.

 

Thanks for taking the time to answer. Looks like cash it is then.

[melsmom303]

i just got off breakaway on sunday and we had a cash account because i did not want to use my debit card well i put a large amount on because when we cruised carnival you could just charge your casino play to the room it shows up as an entertainment charge. well low and behold i go to the players club to set up my pin to charge to room. they said i can not do that because i did not have a cc linked to the account. if i knew that before we would have put less down on the account and kept more cash for the casino. thats stupid its still money but we could not play much in the casino because we didnt have much cash on us only for spending on the islands just a heads up for anyone using a cash account and wants to play in the casino :eek::eek::eek::eek:

[djny1077]

The last post on here is from 2014, so I was hoping someone has a more recent answer! We'll have a total of 3 people in our stateroom on the BA in June 2016.

 

If I chose to use my debit card, does anyone know what the hold would be? If anyone has used their debit card I'd like to hear how it worked for you. And if anyone has experience with Chase & a debit hold that would be even more useful!

 

If we chose to use cash, will they be strict about the $300 pp? $900 seems like an awful lot, especially since we have the UBP and OBC from the TA.

 

And finally, my friend has a cc but it has a low limit. So again, this goes back to how much they hold. Would be be able to give the CC info AND put cash down as well? We plan to settle the account in cash at the end so its really the hold that is concerning us. Thanks for your help!

[khaide612]

If I chose to use my debit card, does anyone know what the hold would be? If anyone has used their debit card I'd like to hear how it worked for you. And if anyone has experience with Chase & a debit hold that would be even more useful!

 

My very first NCL cruise I used a Chase debit card - I wouldn't use a debit card again unless I had a huge bankroll to support it. It took a couple of days for NCL to release the hold - even though they were paid in full - but then Chase held up the release on their side for another week. This was when I was younger and every penny mattered.

[djny1077]

My very first NCL cruise I used a Chase debit card - I wouldn't use a debit card again unless I had a huge bankroll to support it. It took a couple of days for NCL to release the hold - even though they were paid in full - but then Chase held up the release on their side for another week. This was when I was younger and every penny mattered.

 

Thank you! Good to know! :)

[amydandrea]

Just off the Breakaway today and I wanted to say that I simply told the NCL rep at checkin that I wanted to use cash for my onboard account, they has no issue whatsoever with that and told me to stop at the onboard credit desk once onboard. I did so, and left a mere $100 for the entire cruise as I had prepaid my tips and spa pass, as well as had 250 internet package and shore excursions credits. At the end of the cruise I had money coming to me which they happily returned to me on the last night of the cruise. No problems no waiting for a check in the mail, very simple and easy. Hope this helps anyone worried about not having a credit card or worrying about how much they will hold on your debit cards. Happy cruising!

[djny1077]

Just off the Breakaway today and I wanted to say that I simply told the NCL rep at checkin that I wanted to use cash for my onboard account, they has no issue whatsoever with that and told me to stop at the onboard credit desk once onboard. I did so, and left a mere $100 for the entire cruise as I had prepaid my tips and spa pass, as well as had 250 internet package and shore excursions credits. At the end of the cruise I had money coming to me which they happily returned to me on the last night of the cruise. No problems no waiting for a check in the mail, very simple and easy. Hope this helps anyone worried about not having a credit card or worrying about how much they will hold on your debit cards. Happy cruising!

 

Thank you for this info I really appreciate you taking the time to answer.

[ellieocb]

Hi , we are Irish and would have to change euro to dollars to pay cash into our account and then change it back if we have any money left over.We were going to use a debit card for our account but on reading other threads we saw that for a 12 day cruise NCL want to put a hold on $450 each, that's a lot of money as we have the dining and drinks package perks and we have prepaid our gratuities already. Can anyone advise me if this is true as our TA never mentioned this,thank you 😊

[Demonyte]

Hi , we are Irish and would have to change euro to dollars to pay cash into our account and then change it back if we have any money left over.We were going to use a debit card for our account but on reading other threads we saw that for a 12 day cruise NCL want to put a hold on $450 each, that's a lot of money as we have the dining and drinks package perks and we have prepaid our gratuities already. Can anyone advise me if this is true as our TA never mentioned this,thank you 😊

 

Yes, the holds can be several hunders of dollars and especially with debit card the hold can stay on your account for quite a while even after the cruise is completed (depends on your bank how long a hold/authorization is valid), so using a debit card at all is recommended against.

 

If you want to use cash, it's usually best that you do your research about the fees and rates and buy dollars in your home country (in Finland regular banks are more expensive than the few bigger independent currency exchange companies (Change Group and Forex Bank) that we usually use) and then if you have any extra, take the dollars back home and change them back to euros (with the original receipt you can in some places get the same rate as when buying).

 

You can also do that onboard, but you will lose at least 20 euros (or dollars, not sure which) in the process in just NCL's fees, not to mention what ever exchange rate they might be using.

[buckeyefrank]

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?

 

There are a lot of people who don't have a credit card and / or only have a debit card. I would not use a debit card specifically because of the holds that are placed on checking accounts. With that being said, we use cash primarily and put a credit card down on the final day to cover any last minute purchases. I'm sure a lot of people are like us in that we have credit cards but don't have a balance and dont like to use them.

[Demonyte]

There are...

 

You answered to over three years old post that has dozens of posts worth of discussion after it... :rolleyes:

[luddite]

See post #26 on this thread.

[gikkeroo]

I know this is an old post, but I'm hoping someone has some recent info, as I could really use some advice.

 

We're sailing on the Gem, 10 day, in 2 weeks. 2 adults, 2 little kids in 1 cabin.

Our DSC is paid in full, we have UBP and won't be doing any specialty dining. I don't anticipate much on-board spending at all, maybe just the few dollars in taxes before we leave NY.

 

We're cash / debit people. We have 1 credit card with a low limit. We certainly aren't able to leave $450 x 4 in cash.

 

WWYD? I didn't even think about this, but now we're 2 weeks out and it's too late to apply for / receive a new card in the mail. ugh!

 

Thanks

[Demonyte]

You just tell the check-in person that you want to set up a cash account and then deposit what ever you want at the guest services in cash after you get onboard the ship. No problem what so ever.

[gikkeroo]

You just tell the check-in person that you want to set up a cash account and then deposit what ever you want at the guest services in cash after you get onboard the ship. No problem what so ever.

 

And they won't require $450/pp? The paperwork regarding onboard account is very confusing.

[luddite]

I know this is an old post, but I'm hoping someone has some recent info, as I could really use some advice.

 

We're sailing on the Gem, 10 day, in 2 weeks. 2 adults, 2 little kids in 1 cabin.

Our DSC is paid in full, we have UBP and won't be doing any specialty dining. I don't anticipate much on-board spending at all, maybe just the few dollars in taxes before we leave NY.

 

We're cash / debit people. We have 1 credit card with a low limit. We certainly aren't able to leave $450 x 4 in cash.

 

WWYD? I didn't even think about this, but now we're 2 weeks out and it's too late to apply for / receive a new card in the mail. ugh!

 

Thanks

 

See post #68 on this thread.