Word of caution...

[dixiejen]

Not that this couldn't happen anywhere, BUT --- we were on the 3/22 Century cruise. (Loved the cruise, but that's another story...) When we were in the Miami airport after the cruise, I pulled out a credit card to purchase something and it was declined. Of course, I immediately called Chase to see what the problem was. Turns out someone had made several charges on my card. When Chase realized it probably wasn't me, they tried to call me but could not reach me. Thus, they declined several subsequent charges and put a block on the card. Thank goodness they did. The reason I'm stating this here is, I feel certain that my credit card number was stolen while in Grand Cayman. I only used the card one time during the entire vacation, and that was for lunch at a restaurant in Grand Cayman. It was called Breezes by the Bay. I am certain someone there took my name and credit card number, as all of the charges started taking place the day we were in Grand Cayman, AND all charges were to British companies! One of the charges was for homeowners insurance through an online company for $264.00! And this was before the card was blocked. Of course, Chase realizes they are fraudulent charges, and they are being taken care of but....

 

Just be sure to check your credit card statements very carefully when you return from abroad. It just didn't occur to me that this could happen, although I guess it should have, this day and age! In the meantime, happy sailing to you all.....

[glgolfer]

Always let your credit card company(s) know when you are going out of town, the dates you'll be gone and when you will be in each port. They will put the information in your account and if a charge is made outside those parameters, they will question it.

 

Well worth the 5 minutes it takes to do.

[cruisinelsewhere]

I have actually seen credit card info stolen by cruise ship employee...not pretty, but taken care of efficiently.

[Lemur]

Just be sure to check your credit card statements very carefully when you return from abroad. It just didn't occur to me that this could happen, although I guess it should have, this day and age! In the meantime, happy sailing to you all.....

 

Thanks for the heads-up. I have to say though, that this happened to us in Las Vegas in 2005, so being "abroad" as you say is not necessarily a requirement for this kind of thing. We were able to get the charges removed, but because we had used the card all over town, we couldn't pinpoint who had taken the number and name.

 

Cheers,

Lemur

[YOW]

being "abroad" as you say is not necessarily a requirement for this kind of thing

 

Indeed. We once booked a cruise through a travel agent in San Diego, using our US credit card which we rarely charge. A month or two later, on our statement were several charges from San Diego, mainly purchases in 'mall' shops (Gap, Limited, etc.) under $100 or so. Though the bank did not hold us responsible for these, I brought up the issue with the owner of the agency, who dodged the questions skillfully as if this weren't the first time.

 

Ironically a month later, on our Canadian card, there was fraudulent activity, a string of charges in and around Montreal after we'd been there for a day and used the card at a restaurant. Funny, isn't it, that we guard our info carefully, then give a credit card to a stranger at a restaurant to pay the bill. Anyway it can happen anywhere.

[lets talk cruising]

I think it is about time the American and Caribbean restaurants adopted the European system where the waiter comes to the table with a hand held credit card machine.

 

The card is never out of your sight.

[chessbriar]

I had a simliar problem in St Thomas. I check my statement frequently throughout the month. As soon as I returned home, I noticed my card was being used for phone calls to Russia. I stopped that quickly.

[sea-cruise]

I think it is about time the American and Caribbean restaurants adopted the European system where the waiter comes to the table with a hand held credit card machine.

 

The card is never out of your sight.

I agree with this completely! There was a show on tv last month regarding this problem with restaurant employees stealing credit card numbers. :(

[Jade13]

Not that this couldn't happen anywhere, BUT --- we were on the 3/22 Century cruise. (Loved the cruise, but that's another story...) When we were in the Miami airport after the cruise, I pulled out a credit card to purchase something and it was declined. Of course, I immediately called Chase to see what the problem was. Turns out someone had made several charges on my card. When Chase realized it probably wasn't me, they tried to call me but could not reach me. Thus, they declined several subsequent charges and put a block on the card. Thank goodness they did. The reason I'm stating this here is, I feel certain that my credit card number was stolen while in Grand Cayman. I only used the card one time during the entire vacation, and that was for lunch at a restaurant in Grand Cayman. It was called Breezes by the Bay. I am certain someone there took my name and credit card number, as all of the charges started taking place the day we were in Grand Cayman, AND all charges were to British companies! One of the charges was for homeowners insurance through an online company for $264.00! And this was before the card was blocked. Of course, Chase realizes they are fraudulent charges, and they are being taken care of but....

 

Just be sure to check your credit card statements very carefully when you return from abroad. It just didn't occur to me that this could happen, although I guess it should have, this day and age! In the meantime, happy sailing to you all.....

 

Do they have a website and/or e-mail? I would be alerting the owner...

[bubbalu]

We had a similar incident. However, we believe our card info was hijacked in the Galveston/Houston area. We only used one particular card for our hotel in Galveston (the Hotel Galvez) and for our shipboard account. Imagine our surprised when we got home and found all these additional charges. Fortunately, we had told the credit card company that we were going on a cruise so it was easy to dispute the charges and have them removed. All the charges were internet based purchases. We later found out that the Houston area is one the predominate areas for identity theft in the United States. I guess you never know.

[kitty9]

My sister was just notified that her cc was used illegally for the purchase of shoes in the UK, via the internet. The only time she's used that credit card was last November during our Summit cruise---she used it in a shop in Huatulco. The company called and they immediately canceled the card. Seems to be an epidemic of this lately, especially with cards used in the ports of call.

[Hootsie]

Happened to me in Vegas on vacation but there were not fraud charges, it was me shopping. LOL! I hardly ever use my Chase card so I guess all the shopping flagged my account. Thankfully my teens were home and got the phone call from the securities dept and I called them right away before it got blocked.

 

I'm a little worried this will happen on our European cruise and they won't have any way of getting a hold of us. Of course I will let them know the dates we'll be gone and the cities we'll be in but I wish they had a number they could contact us on in case of charges that aren't ours.

[kathy16]

We were on a cruise in early December and tried to use Mastercard cc at a jewelry shop in St Maarten's and was declined. I had called CC company before we left, and gave them our itinerary. Luckily we had a Visa cc from another bank. When I got home, I had forgotten about the attempted transaction and tried to use Mastercard again around Christmas and was declined. I called the company, and they said the jewelry store was "suspicious" and blocked our card from further use. I asked why they didn't try to notify us- e-mail, voice mail, regular mail- "they knew we were out of the country for a week, so they didn't bother" And since we were traveling and using CC for expenses- it's a really bad time to block your credit!

So, even if you tell them in advance, you can still get "messed up". Moral is -bring an additional credit card issued by another bank!!!

[Studley]

We had a similar experience in Cozumel. We made a purchase with one credit card, then tried to make a second. The 2nd was blocked and the credit card company said that the vendor was on a no charge risk list. Good thing too! When we arrived back to the states the jewlery we bought the 1st time was fake. I can't image how I'd be kicking myself if we had also made the 2nd purchase.

[dixiejen]

Unbelievable, isn't it??? I guess it goes on every single day -- everywhere! I am trying desperately to try to track the

*%#@@!* down by contacting the companies where the purchases were made. I do have an email address (probably fake!)....but no name yet. A futile effort, I'm sure, but I'm going to give it the old college try, at least! Jade13 -- i will definitely contact the restaurant, if possible!! I would like to try to get the person's name first and notify Chase -- maybe they can nab the culprit. :rolleyes: The restaurant probably already know it goes on. But besides letting the card companies know you're going out of town, I guess the only alternative is cash or traveler's checks.... But thanks for sharing your similar experiences and advice. Makes me feel a little better!

[twirlgirl]

Thanks for the tip on notifing the credit card company of your itinerary. You can't be too careful. Thanks Bev

[Oakview]

My husband and I were on a month long driving trip from N.O. to CA. and did not notify Am Ex of our plans. Upon arriving at a Monterrey, CA. hotel the desk clerk said the charge was being questioned by our credit card co. We were taken aback since we knew there were no outstanding charges but when I got on the phone I was told they were alarmed at so many charges in so

many different places and trying to prevent more thefts.

 

Now before any lengthy or distant trip I call the companies of the cards I intend to use and alert them of my travel plans. This little step saves time and hassle when traveling while adding a little security and prevention of card fraud.

[bikinibottom]

Sorry to hear about your fraud. I think it adds to the stress of a vacation when you have to deal with this - especially if you are out of the country at the time.

 

American Express is great when you call them ahead and let them know. On a recent cruise they noted all of the places I would visit and said that if a charge came from another area it would be scrutinized. No idea how that would work? They also gave me the Global Assist Hotline number that you can call if you have an emergency. My dh says after all the money they make off of us they SHOULD be doing something to keep us as customers - there is so much credit card company loyalty battling going on these days.

[ScubesDad]

Dixiejen it is best if you do not try to contact anyone and let the cc company handle it. The cc company has reversed the charges and you have not suffered a loss. In all cases the security department tracks the fraudulent transactiosn and notifies local police departments and investigations are started. Also, the security departments of major credit companies talk to each other to compare notes. With technology it is very easy to determine when the fraud happened, if it is part of multiple transactions and in some cases there is more than enought information to compile a suspect list very quickly. Let the professionals handle the problem.

[dixiejen]

hi scubesdad! i think you are absolutely right!! i do want to try to track the person down, (personal curiosity, i guess...) but i certainly plan to let Chase handle it IF i find out anything! i figure if i tried to email or call the person, i'd just be handing them my phone # and LOTS more potential trouble!!! but thanks for your concern and advice. again -- i think you are 100% correct!!

[pris993]

We always let our credit card company know about travel plans and we only use cash, except on board ship and at hotels.

[Eeyoregon]

"they knew we were out of the country for a week, so they didn't bother" And since we were traveling and using CC for expenses- it's a really bad time to block your credit!

So, even if you tell them in advance, you can still get "messed up". Moral is -bring an additional credit card issued by another bank!!!

 

Along those same lines, I tried to notify my CC company that we were taking a cruise to Alaska and Canada and that we would be making purchases. I spoke to two different people who said, "And why are you calling us?" Oy.

[jersey_boy]

I have two different credit cards from Bank of America. Their WEB site allows the abiltiy to send an alert message to my email address and a text alert message to my cell phone whenever there is activity on my cards. The email notification is almost instantaneous after a purchase. The text message takes about 2 hours to arrive at my cell. I check email frequently while cruising; however, I have not had any luck getting text cell messages while onboard. Anyhow, you might check your credit card company to see if they offer this alert option.

[BBsails]

Curious about this. Although I do contact our CC company re our itinerary, I sometimes wonder, if in handing over the information that we're going to be away from home, that we might give an unethical employee an opportunity to organize a break in. Probably it's a risk-reward situation though. Thoughts?

[jersey_boy]

Curious about this. Although I do contact our CC company re our itinerary, I sometimes wonder, if in handing over the information that we're going to be away from home, that we might give an unethical employee an opportunity to organize a break in. Probably it's a risk-reward situation though. Thoughts?

 

That's always the age-old question, i.e., do you stop the newspaper delivery, or do you notify the local police of your absence, etc., etc. ? IMHO, the less people who know of your absence outside of your family circle and/or close friends circle and of course work obligations, is best. That's why I like the credit card alert notifications option in my earlier post. It won't stop the initial thievery of course; but will allow you to mitigate the damage.