A credit card question

[KelNottAt]

Our upcoming cruise begins during our June credit card billing cycle and ends during our July cycle. Will DCL charge to our card intermittently throughout the week, or hold all charges until the end? Could I affect how charges are applied by stopping by guest services at some point during the cruise?

TIA
Kelley

 

[jel0511]

DCL charges your card once your account is over $500. You can't affect how charges are placed on the card, unless you want them placed earlier than DCL's mandate.

 

[jgalecpa]

What you can do ( and I do) is stop by guest services periodically and pay your balance up to that point.

This way you end up with a small balance at the end.

Don't know if this accomplishes what you wanted, but it is a way to affect what is on the card at the end.

Jim

 

[barkley]

be forewarned-disney cruise line (in our experience) is not the easiest to deal with on credit card issues. on our last cruise (7 day) we took a card that had plenty of space on it, however because one division of accounting on disney (just like all of the other cruise lines) handles the processing of "preauthorizing charges" and another posts the actual charges we ended up with a nightmare on our last evening. the line will get a preauthorization from the credit card company for the first $500, then when you get close to hitting that point it will put in a second (and so on), another division posts the actual charges to the card. apparantly there is not always good communication between the 2 because once our charges we're posted the preauthorizations were not updated to reflect the postings so in effect it doubled the amount and caused our credit card to appear maxed out and declined. we were summoned to customer service where i spent the better part of the evening trying to straighten everything out (their solution was for us to surrender every item we purchased on board and find our own transportation to the airport)-ultimately i had to call a family member across the country (ship to shore at our cost) to provide another credit card. it was the only negative experience i've had with the line, and ultimatly our original credit card did not get hit with a penalty for exceeding the limit-but not an experience i would wish on anyone.

i've heard of similar problems with folks using debit/credit cards on board, so-on our last cruise (non disney) and our upcoming disney i will setting a lower per day amount that the line can authorize and get a copy of the bill each day to ensure that any problems will be caught early.

 

[bcnb103]

We are going to be doing a ship board credit before we even go on our cruise. I plan on a nice amount to hopefully hold us for the trip. Allowing ourselves a certain amount for excursions and perday. I am hoping for a credit at the end. This way I do not have to worry about it in the end and thinking "OH NO IT'S THAT MUCH". Do we still need to give them a credit card number and if we do, do they hold off putting the 500.00 amount on the card until the SBC is at the point of needing to be added. Hope someone knows.

 

[StuartMI]

(their solution was for us to surrender every item we purchased on board and find our own transportation to the airport)-ultimately i had to call a family member across the country (ship to shore at our cost) to provide another credit card.

That would royally piss me off.

 

[KelNottAt]

We are going to be doing a ship board credit before we even go on our cruise. I plan on a nice amount to hopefully hold us for the trip. Allowing ourselves a certain amount for excursions and perday.

How do I arrange this?

 

[StuartMI]

How do I arrange this?

I've pondered doing this too.

Just call DCL and they can do it for you. However, if I can remember correctly, it's better to load your credit card up at CHECK-IN rather than before you arrive. I forget the reason, and someone here might be able to help, but it had something to do with refunding the excess (if any) or whatever. If you ask the DCL rep on the phone, they can tell you the difference as that's where I learned about it.

Good luck!

 

[arlenesp]

there is no minimum amount that is charged to the card. Basically they billed me at strange intervals. One time they drew around 141, another a smaller amount. I think when they have access to the cc system they run the charges. You can load a shipboard credit to your room but it has to be done I think a few days before or is it a week. Too close they won't do it.Should check with dcl.
The charges add up really quickly, so plan ahead.That is the only way to not get into any trouble.I couldn't beleive how quickly my family ran up our first bill. I remember transferring funds thru the internet cafe as I was not prepared as well as I thought.
Those drinks add up fast.

 

[barkley]

they will use any ship board credit before they start to use your credit card. what you could do is decline to use a credit card at check in, track your account each day and then provide the credit card when you get within a few hundred of your ship board credit. there are always folks who don't want to use a credit card for on board purchases and pay up front with cash or travellers checks-but you often see the same people providing a credit card on the last few days you just don't want to get caught in the crush of people who swamp the desk the last night because they instructed the line to use a credit card as guarantee but will settle the account by paying in cash.

i'm hoping that our tab will be significantly lower thanks to the free soda policy on board now.

 

[ladytampa]

the line will get a preauthorization from the credit card company for the first $500, then when you get close to hitting that point it will put in a second (and so on), another division posts the actual charges to the card

I've also had this happen on another cruise line - Carnival. I didn't know about it until I got home and tried to charge something minor to my card. The card was declined so I called the credit card company and they told me my card was over the limit. Of course, I told them that was impossible but they read me the charges and I had three preauthorizations from Carnival as well as three charges for the same amount that had gone through. The credit card company told me I could call Carnival and have them call the bank and they would remove the preauthorizations or I could wait two weeks for the preauthorizations to fall off my record. Apparently if they don't follow through with the charge, the preauthorization is dropped after two weeks. I chose to call Carnival.

 

[tvguy]

What kind of credit card did you use?

I have a Visa Platinum and preauthorizations are immediately cleared when an actual charge comes in from the same vendor. So if they pre-authorize $500, and then they bill my account $200, $200 of the pre-authorization is deducted.

Also, Visa, at your request before a big trip, will temporarily raise our credit line for free (assuming you have decent credit).

Or the best way, pay down your credit card before you leave, so you have plenty of credit available, even if you have to juggle your finances for a month or so to pull that off. A one day airport weather delay on the way home could easily hit you with hundreds of dollars in expenses in hotel and food, and maybe rental cars. And of course, if it's a weather delay, the airline isn't going to pay for anything. Or a medical emergency....yikes, you'd really be in trouble then.