credit card foreign fees while on ship

[Laurab23]

My credit card charges a foreign fee for transactions. I read that everything charged to my credit card on the ship will be charged a foreign transaction fee by my credit card. I have never had this happen on any other cruise line. Does anyone have any experience with this? Is this true?

 

Laura

 

 

[d9704011]

Are on board charges in euros?  If so, it is not a surprise that your credit card company charges for foreign currency transactions; either through a fee or lumped in with the exchange rate.  There are cards available that don't do this, but you're going to have to search them out and they'll likely charge you an annual fee far in excess of the fees you'll have to cough up on your cruise.

[Essiesmom]

MSC charges through a bank in Paris or Switzerland so if your card charges a foreign transaction fee it won’t matter what the currency is. There are many cards out there that don’t charge this fee. If your card is through your bank chances are they offer one and there probably will not be an annual fee. I have about six cards that don’t charge a fee. EM

 

[MsTabbyKats]

I used a Citicard that doesn't waive the foreign transaction fee....but I didn't get charged a fee on the Meraviglia.

[alyssamma]

36 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

MSC charges through a bank in Paris or Switzerland so if your card charges a foreign transaction fee it won’t matter what the currency is. There are many cards out there that don’t charge this fee. If your card is through your bank chances are they offer one and there probably will not be an annual fee. I have about six cards that don’t charge a fee. EM

 

 

24 minutes ago, MsTabbyKats said:

I used a Citicard that doesn't waive the foreign transaction fee....but I didn't get charged a fee on the Meraviglia.

Yes, it seems - lol, like so many other MSC things, YMMV. Some US sailings get charged the fees and others don't. 

 

I think the best is to register a card that doesn't charge the fee, but if you don't have that, try to be lucky 🙂

 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

4 hours ago, Laurab23 said:

Does anyone have any experience with this? Is this true?

it is true, and it's the reason I made a cash deposit when we boarded Seascape 2 weeks ago, instead of registering and using a credit card to settle the account.