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Credit Card hold on princess

carloss1958

By carloss1958,
in Princess Cruises

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carloss1958

carloss1958

Posted
Posted

I booked a Cruise for this Dec  ( 10 days ) and It is paid in full, but today I get this message "Upon check in, guests who have a credit card on file for their shipboard account, an authorization hold of $300 per person is placed on the credit card to ensure validity of the account". First of all is that right?  2nd I have a my Daughter and her 2 kids going, we have 2 rooms, so are they charging a 4 year old and 8 year old $300 each? I did not see anything about this before. I knew about the gratuites, but what do you think a 4 year old is going to order? The system made me put my credit card on file to just print out our luggage tags and boarding pass. So I am going to get about $1500 in hold ( before I even leave port )?  I will appreciate any help anyone can give.

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Sillyjilly

Sillyjilly

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Posted (edited)

I have seen this many times on other lines. They are just making sure the card you have given them has sufficient available funds.

Blame the dummies who rack up charges off the ship and then can't pay their On board account.

Edited by Sillyjilly
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Redhaven

Redhaven

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We just returned from Australia, and had this (or a related) problem.  Once all the on-board credits are used up for excursions, shops, tips, etc., the system on-board the Sea Princess began to put a "hold" on each incremental day's gratuities, just to be sure that my card's credit limit was not exceeded.  Not sure what they would have done if the limit was exceeded, but that's the explanation I got.  At the end, the final balance in my amount was charged to the credit card and all the intermediate holds evaporated.

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carloss1958

carloss1958

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2 hours ago, OCruisers said:

Think it as something to do with your credit card limit. :classic_mellow:

We've never had a problem on Princess or any other cruise line with charging whatever we wish.  

I have a good limit and I can pay this with no problem. I just did not understand this charged that was not told to me until today. I have had this cruise paid off for over 3 months.

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caribill

caribill

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Putting a credit hold is a very common practice on land. When you check into a hotel, they put a credit hold on your account. When you insert your credit card at a gas station they put a credit hold (up to $150) on your account. When you pay with a credit card at a restaurant they put a credit hold on your account to be sure there will be enough credit available for any potential tip you add.

 

These holds usually drop off after a couple of days and only the actual charge(s) you make are stay on the account.

 

These holds are a good reason to use a credit card and not a debit card on the cruise. If you use a debit card and do not have an abundance of money in the account, you may find purchases on land denied until the holds are removed even though you know you have enough to cover a charge.

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caribill

caribill

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1 hour ago, Redhaven said:

We just returned from Australia, and had this (or a related) problem.  Once all the on-board credits are used up for excursions, shops, tips, etc., the system on-board the Sea Princess began to put a "hold" on each incremental day's gratuities, just to be sure that my card's credit limit was not exceeded.  Not sure what they would have done if the limit was exceeded, but that's the explanation I got.  At the end, the final balance in my amount was charged to the credit card and all the intermediate holds evaporated.

 

What happens then is you will receive a phone call to come down to the Purser's desk and make arrangements for additional credit.

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CruiseGal999

CruiseGal999

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2 hours ago, carloss1958 said:

I have a good limit and I can pay this with no problem. I just did not understand this charged that was not told to me until today. I have had this cruise paid off for over 3 months.

 

 

I have never been told this ahead of time on any of my cruises.  It is just standard operating procedures.  

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skynight

skynight

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Posted
15 hours ago, carloss1958 said:

I booked a Cruise for this Dec  ( 10 days ) and It is paid in full, but today I get this message "Upon check in, guests who have a credit card on file for their shipboard account, an authorization hold of $300 per person is placed on the credit card to ensure validity of the account". First of all is that right?  2nd I have a my Daughter and her 2 kids going, we have 2 rooms, so are they charging a 4 year old and 8 year old $300 each? I did not see anything about this before. I knew about the gratuites, but what do you think a 4 year old is going to order? The system made me put my credit card on file to just print out our luggage tags and boarding pass. So I am going to get about $1500 in hold ( before I even leave port )?  I will appreciate any help anyone can give.

I have never seen this on a Princess cruise, it's news to me. Maybe it's some unannounced change in policy.  I have seen it on other lines. They are not charging anyone anything. It's just a hold, which is removed by the bank when the credit card(s) is charged. In the past Princess has only placed holds on accounts as funds were spent. Regarding the youth, they will have at least a $135 to $155, depending on the cabin category, gratuity charge on their accounts which will be consolidated in the end onto an summary invoice of whoever is paying for their expenses.

The only advise I can offer is make sure you use a credit card and not a debit card. Holds against debit cards can take longer to clear and actually tie up funds until cleared.

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carloss1958

carloss1958

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1 minute ago, skynight said:

I have never seen this on a Princess cruise, it's news to me. Maybe it's some unannounced change in policy.  I have seen it on other lines. They are not charging anyone anything. It's just a hold, which is removed by the bank when the credit card(s) is charged. In the past Princess has only placed holds on accounts as funds were spent. Regarding the youth, they will have at least a $135 to $155, depending on the cabin category, gratuity charge on their accounts which will be consolidated in the end onto an summary invoice of whoever is paying for their expenses.

The only advise I can offer is make sure you use a credit card and not a debit card. Holds against debit cards can take longer to clear and actually tie up funds until cleared.

Thank you.

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hm9912

hm9912

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Posted

^^

1- Never use a debit card

2- A charge card is required in order to print a boarding pass for children. Princess will remove the charge card information from the children's profile after you print their boarding passes. You need to call Princess to do this.

3- Holds placed on credit cards is quite common. Hotels, gas stations and others do this all the time.

Suppose someone trashes a cabin prior to vacating or steals pillows or towels?

Princess just covers their butt. Perhaps credit score and credit limit may have something to do with holds?

 

Howard

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carloss1958

carloss1958

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3 minutes ago, hm9912 said:

^^

1- Never use a debit card

2- A charge card is required in order to print a boarding pass for children. Princess will remove the charge card information from the children's profile after you print their boarding passes. You need to call Princess to do this.

3- Holds placed on credit cards is quite common. Hotels, gas stations and others do this all the time.

Suppose someone trashes a cabin prior to vacating or steals pillows or towels?

Princess just covers their butt. Perhaps credit score and credit limit may have something to do with holds?

 

Howard

Thank you , I will call them.

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cherylandtk

cherylandtk

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Posted

Also, onboard you can set the grandchildren’s key cards to no spending, if desired.  That way they cannot rack up any charges onboard beyond the normal gratuities.  If you plan to pay all expenses onboard for your daughter/grandkids then you can set your card to do that.  Otherwise, advise her to put her own credit card on file when checking in and you will pay only your own expenses and she will pay hers.

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Sea Hag

Sea Hag

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1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

If you would look at your account, I think a hold is a "pending charge".

Yes, I know what it would look like. I've just never seen one on my onboard account or on my credit card online.

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caribill

caribill

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16 hours ago, hm9912 said:

Princess just covers their butt. Perhaps credit score and credit limit may have something to do with holds?

 

 

The purpose of the holds is to make sure the account does have enough credit available to cover reasonably expected charges by Princess. Without the hold, someone who does not have enough available credit could rack up charges that would not be accepted later by the credit card company.

 

Same as with land hold by gas stations, hotels, etc. When using a self-serve gas pump it is common for a hold of up to $150 be placed on the credit card. You cannot pump the gas until the credit card company computer has verified that you have that much credit available.

 

It has been a while, but I once had a $5 charge rejected at a store because the hotel I was staying at had put a large hold on my credit card, so much that I had no available credit left.

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