How much does NCL reserve on your Credit Card for Incidentals?

[Poppet1964]

I've seen this question on other Cruise Line's message boards, but haven't seen it on NCL...

 

Does anyone know how much is 'reserved' on your credit card per day for incidentals, etc, when you check in?

 

I use a Debit Card for travel and want to make sure I have it and other misc costs covered.

 

Thanks!

Edited December 29, 2013 by Poppet1964

[DevCruise]

NCL while they will allow you to link your debit card to your onboard account strongly discourages doing such do to the holds. There isn't just one hold that is put on your account. They do an initial hold and then based on your onboard purchasing will process another hold each day all the way through your cruise until your account is settled at the end of the cruise.

 

The problem comes when some banks don't immediate release the hold after NCL has cleared it at the end of your cruise.

[curlygirl18]

I was on the Epic a few months ago and they placed a hold for $300 initially on my debit card. I had some OBC and they didn't add any additional holds when I had spent all of my OBC. I didn't spend more than the $300 and the remaining amount fell off within a day of disembarkation.

[garycarla]

... how much is 'reserved' on your credit card per day for incidentals, etc, when you check in?

 

I use a Debit Card...

 

Word of advice. Do not use terms like credit card and debit card as if they are the same.

 

Debit cards will cause holds, sometimes not be released when you think it should.

 

Credit cards usually are not charged, other than a small amount until the end of the cruise.

 

These two things might look the same, but are handled much differently.

[Poppet1964]

Word of advice. Do not use terms like credit card and debit card as if they are the same.

 

Debit cards will cause holds, sometimes not be released when you think it should.

 

Credit cards usually are not charged, other than a small amount until the end of the cruise.

 

These two things might look the same, but are handled much differently.

 

Thank you for the advice. In this instance, I am speaking specifically of a DEBIT card. I didn't realize they had different policies depending on the type of card.

[Poppet1964]

I was on the Epic a few months ago and they placed a hold for $300 initially on my debit card. I had some OBC and they didn't add any additional holds when I had spent all of my OBC. I didn't spend more than the $300 and the remaining amount fell off within a day of disembarkation.

 

OH, and thank you for your response as well, this is very helpful!

[bobg529]

If you want to use a debit card for your vacation you might find it advisable to open a seperate checking account with a seperate card. This way you can fund it for your cruise without blocking your primary checking account. But it is really much safer all the way around to use a credit card for the purpose.

[Sparkygirl]

If you are using a debit card as my family does in situations like this we open a CASH account. I do not hand over our debit card. If you read the fine print on reimbursement and holds 10 business days upon return from your cruise is what you have agreed to in the terms and conditions. If you are at all concerned about the amount of holds don't use it!

 

I'll look up the cash amount for certain but I believe it is $300 per person for a 7 day cruise.

 

 

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Edited December 30, 2013 by Sparkygirl

[rwslv]

We were on the Breakaway suite and it was $300 all in for the seven day cruise. We had OBC so never tapped into the $300...the hold was released within a few days upon our return.

 

 

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[garycarla]

...But it is really much safer all the way around to use a credit card for the purpose.

 

Good advice.

 

If you search on DEBIT you wll find some people with problems. If you have plenty of cushion in your checking account, then go for it. If not...

 

 

Well, just be advised.

[bobg529]

Good advice.

 

If you search on DEBIT you wll find some people with problems. If you have plenty of cushion in your checking account, then go for it. If not...

 

 

Well, just be advised.

 

 

The problem is that many consumers were never taught the concept of "revolving credit". If you put things on a credit card and pay the bill at the end of the month, you are charged zero interest. You basically get to play with the banks money for free. If they give you reward points all the better. Even if you decide to use the money as a short term loan it is cheap money. But when you start using credit the same way you do a term loan, paying minimum payments, you are looking at thirty miles of bad road. Unless you're the government. Then you can just print more and send the bill to John Q Public. :rolleyes:

[cello8619]

I used to work onboard NCL in the finance department and what we did was as follows (same for both debit card and credit cards as the system doesn't distinguish between the two). Once the ship sets sail from the embark port we would run a program that would ask for $300 authorization for all credit cards that were ententered into the system while boarding. Then as you spend onboard the system would ask for additional authorization to cover all charges. For example if your account has a $500 balance the system would ask for the $200 additional authorization. We would run the system about 3 times a day to ensure we had enough authorization at all times.

[Poppet1964]

I used to work onboard NCL in the finance department and what we did was as follows (same for both debit card and credit cards as the system doesn't distinguish between the two). Once the ship sets sail from the embark port we would run a program that would ask for $300 authorization for all credit cards that were ententered into the system while boarding. Then as you spend onboard the system would ask for additional authorization to cover all charges. For example if your account has a $500 balance the system would ask for the $200 additional authorization. We would run the system about 3 times a day to ensure we had enough authorization at all times.

 

Awesome! Makes sense and sounds like a well-sourced answer! Thank you!