Credit card or debit card??

[ChattyKathy]

For the onboard accounts.....can a debit card be used the same as a credit card like they are in stores and etc....??

 

[gonna go cruising]

Yes, but make sure they give you details of the hold they will put on your account. Instead of using my debit card and holding funds, I prepaid cash which to me was the same and did not tie up funds that I had in my account.

 

[musicgirl]

I've used my debit both times with no problems. I really never use my credit card unless its for something big-let's say the down payment for the next cruise (I wish!). I just make sure the money is there for the trip. They will charge the card when your account hits a certain amount. I believe it was around $250.

One thing to remember is that if you have a daily limit per day (ie. $1000/day), you might want to call your bank if you want a higher limit. The reason at our bank is to make sure that if your card is stolen and used, they could not exceed that limit. We have had it happen that we were over our limit for the day. This was because even though we did not charge it all on one day, (it just happened that one day was a Sunday) all the charges from the Sun and Mon hit on the same day.

 

[MarceRN]

Personally I like a credit card because you will not have alot of activity in your bank account and I believe most credit cards cover a bigger loss than debit cards if the number is stolen

 

[LAMPSKIES]

Using a debit card only "holds" a 1 dollar amount on DCL. Your card will be billed on the day you exceed 400.00. Most debit cards have a max limit per day for your security. You can call your bank and have it temporarily raised.

 

[xABearx]

Also keep in mind that you do not have the same charge back rights on a debit card that you do on a credit card.....this means if you have a problem with a merchant and cannot get the issue resolved between the two of you, you are not guranteed to get a credit back to your debit card from your bank where as you can dispute the item with your credit card issuer and they can step in and help you get the problem resolved....therefore, we always use our credit card and just put enough $$$$ to pay it off when the bill comes in.....Andy

 

[Bev J]

We have had no problem using our Debit cards while on a cruise. Something else we do is alert the bank that we will be out of the country for a certain period of time. We have had friends had their accounts frozen because the bank thought their card had been stolen so they froze it for the persons protection. they of course were stuck without the card for their trip. I also take along the 800 number for the bank incase of a problem.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Another reason to use Credit Cards...

It cost you the same if you use a Credit Card or a Debit Card, but there are lots of Credit Cards out there that give you as much as 1% back in some sort of credit (for example, there is a Disney Visa that you can get where 1% of all your charges no matter where they are is given back to you as a credit that can be spent at WDW or DCL.

So far, I haven't heard of any Debit Cards offering any kind of deal like this.

 

[tweetsie]

This past October we used our debit card with no problem. The amount that we spent did not post to our account until we were home from the cruise and we stayed an additional two days in Florida after the cruise.