Sign & Sail Questions

[Snicket]

Hi y'all. Online check-in finally opened for me and my SO and this is our first cruise (and also first vacay that's just the two of us we've ever had! woo!) and I'm trying to wrap my head around some things.

 

1. Holds. Essentially if we put down a credit card since it's a 5 day cruise it'll put a 100 USD hold on the account. Any purchases made while on board go against this hold. So say we spend 75 on board the 25 dollars left that was put on hold is released? Want to make sure I got this right.

 

2. Cash deposits. Read that you can put cash on S&S account too? If we put a credit card on file does the 100 USD hold still get put in place? Will it hit the cash first then the hold?

 

 

[Garth2]

If you spend less than the hold amount it will be released.  We've never used cash deposits but I think you have to choose either cash or credit.  If you use up the cash you can add more or add a credit card.

[FTLCruiseGal]

If you put down cash and use credit card as a back-up, they will not put a hold on your card unless you use up the cash.  Just did this last month.  

[Snicket]

Thank you both so much! ❤️

[RWolver672]

You can also use your credit card on the account, then before you get off of the ship, go to Guest Services and put cash down on it or pay it off.  Lot of people do that.

[Anyislandwilldo]

We figure out a budget before hand and then put that much in our cash account.  It helps to keep the spending down too.  It works for us.

[Schoifmom]

Just remember that if you didn't prepay your gratuities, they also hit your S&S account (some people forget about this).

 

The other posters are correct.  You can put just cash on your account or cash and a credit card.  Carnival will use the cash first.  If you use up the cash, they will then place a hold on your credit card of $100.  That hold will increase each day, as you make charges to your account (example, $100 hold day 1 $100 in charges day 1, additional $100 hold placed).  Basically, at the end of the cruise you end up with a charge equal to your purchases and a hold equal to your purchased (or close to that amount).  When that hold is released depends on your bank's policies, it is normally not immediate.

[Green Boy]

I attach a credit card to my S&S account,  and then when on board I apply a Carnival gift card I had purchased

and when the amount on the gift card is used up then my credit card will kick in....  that way my gift card amount is pretty much my budget..

 

[Joe817]

10 minutes ago, Green Boy said:

I attach a credit card to my S&S account,  and then when on board I apply a Carnival gift card I had purchased

and when the amount on the gift card is used up then my credit card will kick in....  that way my gift card amount is pretty much my budget..

 

We did exactly the same thing. We received a $150 OBC when we booked it through a big box TA(which I later found out was classified as Cruise Cash by Carnival). We then went to G.S. to apply our 2 gift cards($100 ea) to our S&S acct. So we had a total of $350 to play around with. The Cruise Cash was used up first. Then they started using the gift cards. At the end of the cruise at settlement time, our statement read we had a $71.37 credit coming back to us. We received a Carnival gift card for that amount 10 days later in the mail. We were very pleased that our credit card that they had on file was not even touched.

[Bookworm1985]

I always do a cash account with a credit card back up. They do not even touch the credit card unless we happen to run out of cash credit (which is rare). We prepurchase most everything so have very little on board expenses. 

[geoffrywillhardt]

We never put a credit card on file because we don't want a hold placed on it. We just hate how inconsistent our bank and whoever is placing the hold on the cards are. We have had hotels place a hold on a card and it has taken up to a month before the hold gets released. Call the bank they say its the business that put the hold, call the business and they blame the bank. So we have just gotten to the point that if possible we don't put a card on file anywhere. We have had the amount of cash we put on our S&S cards run out and when we went to use them (such as in a slot machine) they get "declined" and it tells us to go to guest services. We just add more cash and go on with our lives. Its a little inconvenient but rarely happens because we usually have a pretty decent idea of how much we are going to spend and put enough on in the beginning to cover it. 

[Chervil]

Also, you can change cards before the end of the cruise as well, if you need to.

We started with one card, and then had an unexpected expense that would have caused it to decline, so I went to Guest Services on the last day and had them switch it to a different one. No problems at all!

[ParrotRob]

On 8/31/2019 at 7:42 AM, geoffrywillhardt said:

We never put a credit card on file because we don't want a hold placed on it. We just hate how inconsistent our bank and whoever is placing the hold on the cards are. We have had hotels place a hold on a card and it has taken up to a month before the hold gets released. Call the bank they say its the business that put the hold, call the business and they blame the bank. So we have just gotten to the point that if possible we don't put a card on file anywhere. We have had the amount of cash we put on our S&S cards run out and when we went to use them (such as in a slot machine) they get "declined" and it tells us to go to guest services. We just add more cash and go on with our lives. Its a little inconvenient but rarely happens because we usually have a pretty decent idea of how much we are going to spend and put enough on in the beginning to cover it. 

Geoffrey, the merchant is correct - how long an authorization hold lasts is entirely up to your issuing bank.

 

[Elaine5715]

On 8/31/2019 at 7:42 AM, geoffrywillhardt said:

We never put a credit card on file because we don't want a hold placed on it. We just hate how inconsistent our bank and whoever is placing the hold on the cards are. We have had hotels place a hold on a card and it has taken up to a month before the hold gets released. Call the bank they say its the business that put the hold, call the business and they blame the bank. So we have just gotten to the point that if possible we don't put a card on file anywhere. We have had the amount of cash we put on our S&S cards run out and when we went to use them (such as in a slot machine) they get "declined" and it tells us to go to guest services. We just add more cash and go on with our lives. Its a little inconvenient but rarely happens because we usually have a pretty decent idea of how much we are going to spend and put enough on in the beginning to cover it. 

Get a different credit card that is not tied to a local bank.

[coevan]

sounds more like a debit card, a month hold? unheard of. We exclusively use Capital One 2 miles per dollar on everything. We never had a hold for more than a few days of $200, NBD.

[ParrotRob]

41 minutes ago, coevan said:

sounds more like a debit card, a month hold? unheard of. We exclusively use Capital One 2 miles per dollar on everything. We never had a hold for more than a few days of $200, NBD.

 

Major banks like CapOne, yeah, unheard of.  But 30 day holds ARE allowed and common in predatory banks (think 29.99% APR).  Can't be a debit card because those are restricted by law to 8 business days.

[Lottacruises]

OP, they will put a hold on your card the morning of the cruise.

 

When you get to the terminal you can put cash on the account, but the hold is already there. If this is a concern set yourself up as a cash account beforehand, put the cash and card on file at the terminal. OBC is used first, then gift cards, then cash, then credit cards.

[ishap]

Your other option is to pre-purchse cruise cash which will then be added to your sign and sail account.  We are doing this for our European cruise to spread the cost out ahead of time and then have a credit card as a backup in case we use up the cruise cash too fast.  However, I believe that unlike cash, and unused cruise cash is lost so you don't want to leave any left.

[ray98]

On 8/31/2019 at 7:42 AM, geoffrywillhardt said:

We never put a credit card on file because we don't want a hold placed on it. 

....but why does it matter.  It isn't costing you anything other than a temporary reduction in limit.  It is all a numbers game until it actually posts.

[coevan]

The only time it would have any impact is if they had an extremely low line of credit

[silversneakers]

On 8/19/2019 at 5:25 PM, Snicket said:

Hi y'all. Online check-in finally opened for me and my SO and this is our first cruise (and also first vacay that's just the two of us we've ever had! woo!) and I'm trying to wrap my head around some things.

 

1. Holds. Essentially if we put down a credit card since it's a 5 day cruise it'll put a 100 USD hold on the account. Any purchases made while on board go against this hold. So say we spend 75 on board the 25 dollars left that was put on hold is released? Want to make sure I got this right.

 

2. Cash deposits. Read that you can put cash on S&S account too? If we put a credit card on file does the 100 USD hold still get put in place? Will it hit the cash first then the hold?

 

 

If you put your cc on at the Port it's only a $10 hold.

 

[Bookworm1985]

On 9/3/2019 at 9:33 AM, ray98 said:

....but why does it matter.  It isn't costing you anything other than a temporary reduction in limit.  It is all a numbers game until it actually posts.

Not every has huge limits on their cards. It can cause valid purchases to be declined.

[ParrotRob]

3 hours ago, silversneakers said:

If you put your cc on at the Port it's only a $10 hold.

 

Entirely false.  It's $100 for a 2-6 day cruise and $200 for 7+ days.

[coevan]

I agree $10 sounded fishy

[silversneakers]

4 hours ago, ParrotRob said:

Entirely false.  It's $100 for a 2-6 day cruise and $200 for 7+ days.

What you are quoting is the suggested cash deposit.  The credit card amount is a "hold" and not an actual charge and it is absolutely true that it is only a $10 hold (not a charge)  when you place your credit card on your account when you check in at the terminal.  I think you are confusing the cash vs credit card.