Credit card

[nese12]

Hi

We have the all inclusive drinks package and don´t expect to use any more money on board. What is minimum amount we can register on our credit card, so that we don´t end up with a handful Euros on the last day, we can´t use at home?

 

Thank you

[sebi]

You don’t register a specific amount.

 

In your first few days on the ship, you will need do register your card on one of the card terminals

 

MSC will then put a hold for an amount (I think 150€ or 250€) if your card is a credit-card (also the MasterCard/Visa Debit ones).

 

After the end of the cruise, the amount is then changed to the full amount of your bill. You do not have to spend all of the blocked amount.

 

If your onboard spendings sum up to over the originally blocked amount, MSC will do another block of 150€ or 250€

 

(be aware that due to technical limitations, the first block is mostly automatic changed to the sum of the final bill, any further blocks are normally released, but this will take some days, so for some days the amount of the final bill plus the pending holds will reduce your credit limit, so you will need to have nearly two times the amount of your spending as credit limit)

 

 

 

(Maestro is maybe accepted but does not support blocking an amount, with a maestro you will have to prepay an amount and you will get it refunded at guest services on the last day)

[nese12]

You don’t register a specific amount.

 

In your first few days on the ship, you will need do register your card on one of the card terminals

 

MSC will then put a hold for an amount (I think 150€ or 250€) if your card is a credit-card (also the MasterCard/Visa Debit ones).

 

After the end of the cruise, the amount is then changed to the full amount of your bill. You do not have to spend all of the blocked amount.

 

If your onboard spendings sum up to over the originally blocked amount, MSC will do another block of 150€ or 250€

 

(be aware that due to technical limitations, the first block is mostly automatic changed to the sum of the final bill, any further blocks are normally released, but this will take some days, so for some days the amount of the final bill plus the pending holds will reduce your credit limit, so you will need to have nearly two times the amount of your spending as credit limit)

 

 

 

(Maestro is maybe accepted but does not support blocking an amount, with a maestro you will have to prepay an amount and you will get it refunded at guest services on the last day)

 

Thank you for your answer :):):)

We only have VISA-card which is a debet card and I believe it then is the same condition as a Maestro card and then we will end up getting a refund in EURO which is what we would like to avoid.

[sebi]

Thank you for your answer :):):)

 

We only have VISA-card which is a debet card and I believe it then is the same condition as a Maestro card and then we will end up getting a refund in EURO which is what we would like to avoid.

 

 

 

I also sometimes used a MasterCard Debit due to no foreign country fee, and it just worked as above.

If your card is capable of holds, it should work the same. No need to collect a refund.

[nese12]

I also sometimes used a MasterCard Debit due to no foreign country fee, and it just worked as above.

If your card is capable of holds, it should work the same. No need to collect a refund.

 

I'm not really sure of that, maybe I should call our TA and ask for their recommendation 😊 thanks for all the info

[OneParticularHarbour 71]

When we sailed on the Seaside, we never registered a credit card for either of our two cabins. On the last night, we went to Guest Services and paid our balance in cash. We did have on board credit from MSC and our TA for each cabin so I don’t know if that is the reason we didn’t have to register a card earlier or not?

[nese12]

When we sailed on the Seaside, we never registered a credit card for either of our two cabins. On the last night, we went to Guest Services and paid our balance in cash. We did have on board credit from MSC and our TA for each cabin so I don’t know if that is the reason we didn’t have to register a card earlier or not?

 

Thanks

[sammybonny]

Thank you for your answer :):):)

We only have VISA-card which is a debet card and I believe it then is the same condition as a Maestro card and then we will end up getting a refund in EURO which is what we would like to avoid.

I have visa debit and credit cards and they both work the same way.

 

The cruiseline will do a pre-authorisation for a set amount then at the end of the cruise that will be cancelled and the full amount of the bill is charged.

As previously said it can take quite a while for the pre-authorisation to be cleared from your card account and can reduce your available credit until then.

 

Sent from my SM-T580 using Forums mobile app

[spiritkat090909]

You said you don't expect to spend more... there will be a daily service charge per person.

[Hey Tina]

You said you don't expect to spend more... there will be a daily service charge per person.

 

Maybe they prepaid, or intend to remove it.

[sebi]

Update:

As I was interested if MasterCard debit still works fine: we tested again with a MasterCard debit on a Northern Europe cruise, it worked perfectly fine and we got a yellow final bill (=credit card was accepted, no need to manually pay as it would be with a green final bill)

 

It seems they have changed the additional holds, they are no more fix 250€ increments but only the amount of the current day

 

first block 250 €

Any amount above 250€ was daily authorized and blocked

 

After the cruise the first hold (250€) was changed to the full amount of the bill, and the additional holds are NOT released but stay for some days depending on your card issuer. So the available money on the card (card limit or deposit account balance) has to be two times the money of your final bill minus 250€.

 

With maestro / VPay / Cash there is no need for additional account balance, but you will not be able to buy something after you payed the final bill on the last evening. I do not know how much one can spend until you have to deposit cash.