Canadian Credit Card Declined?

[bellaboom]

Very frustrated..... I called Carnival just now and we tried to put the payment thru with the exact credit card that started this mess and sure enuf.... declined! So, we changed the zip code to include two zero's as the previous poster suggested... declined! The Carnival Lady told me they all received an email yesterday regarding payments from credit cards with a Canadian Postal Code being rejected but the lady on my phone call told me she didn't read the email and couldn't find it anymore - lol

Anyway, I suggested I go online with her on the phone and try to pay in full myself. That is what I did.

ACCEPTED!!! YAYYYY!!! Finally!!!

I used my Canadian Postal Code and it did go thru, the lady refreshed her screen and confirmed I have a zero balance.

Now all I have to do is pay for the next one as we are booked back to back, I'll give it a couple days.....

Thank you all for all your replies and experiences, it was re-assuring to know I was not the only with these types of issues.

Also.... I have contacted my bank and my card has not been compromised what so ever and will not need to be cancelled or replaced. This is an isolated issue and my bank is well aware of it.

Happy Friday......

[L&J]

I have been trying to pay the final balance on my carnival cruise since yesterday. I tried serval times but kept getting an erro messagae. Today I checked my credit card online and had 11 charges from carnival total just over $22,000 Canadian. However I'm still showing a balance owing on my cruise. This is very frustrating 😡

 

Yup - same here. Been on the phone with Carnival and Mastercard trying to release all of these holds. They held the amount EACH time I tried the CC even though it was saying 'not authorized'. Getting the run around...very frustrating!

[USS Cheers]

I called Carnival and did a conference call with Visa..... Visa did in fact put a block on my card with 'Carnival' for 'unusual activity' so the block was removed and we tried the transaction once more. Declined! So now Visa is saying it is the merchant that now has a block because of several attempts..... whatever?!?!?

The lovely lady at Carnival was able to extend my due deposit payment to December 19th so I can call back in a couple days to try again after this mess settles.....

 

I hope you got it figured out. Before we visit Canada we have to make sure and call our Credit Cards to let them know that we will be making purchases in Canadian funds. They then give a rehearsed reading about the extra fees we will incur. By doing this our card does not have any problems and we are never declined. I think the cc companies need to give you their disclosure of fees before they allow out of country transactions. I even do this before I send flowers their way (Canadian family) because they will decline the transaction if I don't. I believe it's all about disclosure laws and perhaps/hopefully somewhat about protecting you from unauthorized foreign transactions.

Edited January 15, 2017 by USS Cheers

[bellaboom]

I hope you got it figured out. Before we visit Canada we have to make sure and call our Credit Cards to let them know that we will be making purchases in Canadian funds. They then give a rehearsed reading about the extra fees we will incur. By doing this our card does not have any problems and we are never declined. I think the cc companies need to give you their disclosure of fees before they allow out of country transactions. I even do this before I send flowers their way (Canadian family) because they will decline the transaction if I don't. I believe it's all about disclosure laws and perhaps/hopefully somewhat about protecting you from unauthorized foreign transactions.

 

Thank you very much for the advice, I was able to eventually (Dec. 2016) complete my transaction 'online' and pay with the visa card I spoke about, I'm not pointing fingers at anyone because now all I care about is ..... I'm paid in full and I will be on a back to back cruise in 47 days!!!

Happy Cruising Y'all!!!

[LorShepps]

I've very recently run into the same problem(2 days ago). Tried using my canadian credit card, that is in USD, and it was declined (more than enough funds, credit card company is aware I'm making this purchase, purchase is being approved on credit card company side, but declined on carnival side, credit card company manager is completely baffled as to why). I've already been through this a few months ago and the issue was supposed to be looked into....

I have made purchases on other US sites, with US companies and had absolutely no issues, one being for a larger amount then I'm trying to make on carnival. This is getting to be a huge stress and almost not worth it. Final payment is coming due soon and they are "going to look into the problem", which they said they were going to do several months ago, when I first called about the issue. We aren't rich and the money saved up for the payment has been put into this card and now we have no way to get it off the card. Any ideas? At my wits end.

[RWolver672]

We aren't rich and the money saved up for the payment has been put into this card and now we have no way to get it off the card. Any ideas? At my wits end.

 

The only thing I can think of would be to bite the bullet and take a cash advance on your card, then use the money to buy a cashier's check and mail it to them.

 

It's too late now but what we always do is save the money, use the charge card, then when the bill comes, pay off the balance with what we've saved. We never put the money on the card before the charge.

[nancydee]

Same thing happened to me last week when I tried to prepay my tips. My BMO mastercard was declined. Hung up with them and went on the carnival site and did it there.... no problem

[Wave61]

I had a similar problem a couple of years ago. It turned out that Carnival had entered my postal code incorrectly.

[DirtyDawg]

I had a similar problem a couple of years ago. It turned out that Carnival had entered my postal code incorrectly.

 

Those letters really screw them up sometimes.:D

[BNBR]

I had a similar problem a couple of years ago. It turned out that Carnival had entered my postal code incorrectly.

 

This may VERY well be the issue.

 

Why can't the Canadian cruisers just pay online and avoid dealing with the rep?

[LorShepps]

The only thing I can think of would be to bite the bullet and take a cash advance on your card, then use the money to buy a cashier's check and mail it to them.

 

It's too late now but what we always do is save the money, use the charge card, then when the bill comes, pay off the balance with what we've saved. We never put the money on the card before the charge.

 

 

Unfortunately the credit card has a cash withdrawal limit and it is well below the total amount needed. The way they work, I can't just go in each day and take out more, the limit is for the total amount allowed, until paid back, then that amount can be taken out again and then no more is allowed to be withdrawn until paid back.

[mjhouse2]

This may VERY well be the issue.

 

Why can't the Canadian cruisers just pay online and avoid dealing with the rep?

 

We pay ours online. I book either with a rep or online and pay as I want. I had this issue with my card getting declined two years ago and it was a glitch in Carnival's system. I have had where the postal code is entered wrong and when corrected it goes through. I also don't pay full cruise at one time. Just the deposit and then when I have funds charge it and pay back as soon as I know the exchanged amount. I also prepay everything I can.

 

I prepay tips, excursions, drink package, transfers and pre-load cruise cash. We also only use a cash account on the ship.

[mjhouse2]

Unfortunately the credit card has a cash withdrawal limit and it is well below the total amount needed. The way they work, I can't just go in each day and take out more, the limit is for the total amount allowed, until paid back, then that amount can be taken out again and then no more is allowed to be withdrawn until paid back.

 

That and depending on the card there is a fee to do a cash advance.

[Gin_06]

Same thing happened to me last week when I tried to prepay my tips. My BMO mastercard was declined. Hung up with them and went on the carnival site and did it there.... no problem

 

I tried to use my BMO MasterCard the other day to purchase bottled water and it was declined. Switched to CIBC VISA and it worked.

[RWolver672]

The only thing I can think of would be to bite the bullet and take a cash advance on your card, then use the money to buy a cashier's check and mail it to them.

 

It's too late now but what we always do is save the money, use the charge card, then when the bill comes, pay off the balance with what we've saved. We never put the money on the card before the charge.

 

That and depending on the card there is a fee to do a cash advance.

That was why I said "Bite the bullet".

[LorShepps]

We got it to work. Advice for anyone out there with this particular issue, call and ask to speak to accounting. Accounting has the ability to put the payment through manually and they will also add the CVV code (3-4 digit number on the back of your card), where the regular agents do not have the ability to do that. That's what it took for my card to work. :D