Setting up as a cash account upon boarding?

[bgregan]

My wife and I are looking into setting up a cash account once we board Odyssey this weekend?  What is the best way to go about this and how much cash do they require?  Thank you for any info.

[cruiseguy1016]

You might be able to do it at check-in at the pier. If not, go to Guest Relations once on board and set up the account. There is no deposit required and they will let you charge up to $500 before you will need to make a payment.

Edited February 8 by cruiseguy1016

[PhillyFan33579]

Keep in mind Guest Services can get very crowded on embarkation day. As the previous poster mentioned, you can charge up to $500 so you don’t need to go to Guest Services right away. I am not trying to give out financial advice, but I find it much easier to use a credit card to pay for any expenses. By doing this you never have to go to Guest Services during the cruise.  You also have the backing of your credit card company if unauthorized charges show up on your bill, especially if it happens after you are off the ship and you can’t go to Guest Services to dispute the charge(s). Unfortunately this happens more often that it should (just search this website for plenty of examples). 

[bgregan]

2 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Keep in mind Guest Services can get very crowded on embarkation day. As the previous poster mentioned, you can charge up to $500 so you don’t need to go to Guest Services right away. I am not trying to give out financial advice, but I find it much easier to use a credit card to pay for any expenses. By doing this you never have to go to Guest Services during the cruise.  You also have the backing of your credit card company if unauthorized charges show up on your bill, especially if it happens after you are off the ship and you can’t go to Guest Services to dispute the charge(s). Unfortunately this happens more often that it should (just search this website for plenty of examples). 

This is the reason we would just like to do a cash account.  We've had charges show up after we've left the ship that's been a pain to get removed.  We will just close our account the last night to make sure there are no charges and that's it. 

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, bgregan said:

This is the reason we would just like to do a cash account.  We've had charges show up after we've left the ship that's been a pain to get removed.  We will just close our account the last night to make sure there are no charges and that's it. 

That’s a good point that I never thought about. 

[HappyTexan44]

From what I've read, and what I planned on doing myself.   When you are checking in, and you are talking to the crew with the ipad, tell them that you want to switch to a Cash Account.   Someone said that they deliberately didn't upload a photo since that was a good time to switch to a cash account.  

[bgregan]

6 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

From what I've read, and what I planned on doing myself.   When you are checking in, and you are talking to the crew with the ipad, tell them that you want to switch to a Cash Account.   Someone said that they deliberately didn't upload a photo since that was a good time to switch to a cash account.  

This is exactly what we plan on doing.  If we can't do it then we'll go to guest services after we board.  I hope we can do it on check in though.

[Ashland]

We find it easier to have our credit card for our account and then we go to guest services the night before cruise ends and pay off any balance we have in cash.