BrianAlt

The hold wouldnt bother me but an actual charge to the onboard account would.  I would be dreading the eventual standing in the long guest services line at the end of the cruise to get it removed if it didnt.  Props to your son for noticing- Im not sure my daughter would.

To their onboard account.  Not from the CC.  It is a credit card.

i noticed the $99.75 charge pop up as a notification from my linked CC on my iphone on day one. i thought it was maybe auto-gratuities (since i had pre-paid, i figured it would drop off) or something similar.
this makes a little more sense, but i am glad to know the actual reason for the charge now!

It's going to be a blip.  I think we may end up finding out that it wasn't actually on her onboard account, but a pending on her CC and the guest services rep explained it as a security deposit that she immediately relates to damage.  Either way, she's going to love her cruise overall and be counting the minutes until you take her later this year.

I've been on over 50 cruises with RCI and this is the first time I have ever heard of a security charge or hold.  I guess I just don't check my account for such things.  News to me, but good to know, I guess.

Ah sorry, I missed that detail.
So was it really charged to their onboard account? Or did they just get a credit card alert that said it was from Mariner? 
I've never had that kind of charge to my onboard account.
Other random thoughts. Were they using a debit card for their seapass account? Cash account?

My son and his girlfriend are on their first cruise together, and her first ever, on the Mariner of the Seas.  On the first day a charge for $99.75 appeared on their account.  They had no idea what it was, so they asked me.  I had no idea either, so I suggested they stop at guest services.  When they spoke to someone, probably the triage person on the line, and told them the problem was a charge on their account, the person asked, "is it the $99.75 charge?"  So presumably they weren't the only ones asking.  They were told it was a security deposit for damages to the room and they would get it back at the end of the cruise.  Okay, fine.  But shouldn't you be telling people about that BEFORE it happens?  I know that they do a test charge on the credit card so they know it's valid. But I never heard it going on the ACCOUNT. I thought that maybe it was due to the fact that they are under 25, or that she was a first-time cruiser, but apparently it applies to all cabins.
Has anyone encountered this?  Is this a Mariner only procedure?  Cause I've never heard of such a thing in my 33 cruises.

I am not in my 20's, or 30's or 40's and have had this temporary charge appear on a couple of cruises at least.
It is a policy. It is printed in the Cruise Compass on Day 1 at minimum:

I find business aren't really up front about those thing, my first trip caught me off guard. Interestingly I took the family to Buffalo in earlier December and on checkin to a hotel was told I had to pay a security deposit (I'm now 50). Nothing mentioned when I booked and it was a hotel chain I stay at a lot and never had that before. Definitely wasn't happy.
On a ship it's not like you can sneak off it at the end though. Looking at my last cruise contract they do mention security surcharges in the fine print, but they don't specifiy if/when they apply

If you prepaid at the time of booking, you will not be charged the daily gratuities.  
The ship is a "cashless" economy meaning anything you purchase onboard that isn't included in the cruisefare will be charged to your onboard account through your SeaPass (room key).  You will put a card down when you check in and at the end of the cruise the balance of your onboard account is charged to the card on file. 
This card will be charged a pre-authorization amount to ensure you have enough room on the card. It's a pending charge but still puts a hold on those funds until the charge is released. If you use a debit card then it locks up those funds in your bank account and makes them unavailable until the pending charge clears or drops off. When you use a credit card, it just reduces the available spending limit on the card. If you use a debit card tied to a bank account that is having bills auto-drafted, you run the risk of the held funds from the pending charges cause it to appear as though there are insufficient funds to pay your bills. These holds on funds do not fall off until after the Cruise is over.
No schedule on the "sales" but the bottom line dollar amount is what you should pay attention to over the percentage discount. Royal uses dynamic pricing and it changes a lot, so if you see a price you should buy the package. You can cancel and repurchase if the price drops later.

Never had it on any of my cruises, but then again I didn't start cruising until I was in my late 30's. I know when I was under 25 I'd get hit with those whenever I traveled, even for business. 

It's never shown as an actual charge for me; always a pending charge after boarding. Once my onboard account hits the $100 mark, each time there's a charge after I get another pre-authorization hold. Fun part is for me these holds always last a couple days beyond my final bill that actually gets charged to my account 🙄  
This is why I always use a credit card to secure my onboard account.

Yes, we were in the "parade".  We were on Captain Kate's instagram.

We were in Aqua.  As I understand it, Luminae was open on sea days. 

Me neither. It was there before. 
 
I’ll try again. 
 
 

Hello!  Anyone here joining us on this cruise?  My wife, Sheri, and I will be joined by our friend Eric.  
Hope we have some others here.  

We just got off Beyond, Capt Kate was only a passenger but she still was welcoming to meeting everyone and even did Bugnaked Trivia.  Did you win?? That was the only way to hold her on our sailing.  😄 

Definitely loved it!  Maybe we did meet?  I was Barney...

OMG yes!  Sorry I didn't see this post!  We just got back.  Did you love it???  I'm sorry I didn't see this post sooner, we could have met up! 

I'll be on the Beyond TOMORROW!!!  Is this the sailing you're referring to?

Ken Jarvis posted on his FB that it should be able to fit because it has to go under the Great Belt Bridge which has 213' of clearance and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge has a clearance of 228'.
I wouldn't take that as gospel, but it's hopeful.

I'll be on the Beyond TOMORROW!!!  Is this the sailing you're referring to?

I'll be on the Beyond TOMORROW!!!  Is this the sailing you're referring to?

I actually wouldn't until they made some minor modifications to lower the smokestacks.  They had them down to move it from the shipyard, but the intent was to lock them in the up position after that, which they did.  So they had to "unlock" them and I'm sure they added some automated system to raise and lower them.

Only during a Yeti Pub Crawl.