Payment info

[Ana Sweet]

Can I use my debit card instead of a credit card on board?

[AshleyDillo]

You can, but remember that they will place temporary holds while you are cruising which may affect the amount of funds you have access to in your bank account.

[Templecruiser]

I would use CC to be safe, then just pay it off once you get the bill. No interest to be paid.

[jbrinkm]

17 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

You can, but remember that they will place temporary holds while you are cruising which may affect the amount of funds you have access to in your bank account.

Do you know how much? I was thinking about doing this for my teens, who each have a debit card where they get their allowance. I was thinking about linking their debit cards to their SeaPasses and putting an extra amount on for "cruise expenses" - then they can just keep what they don't spend. Then if they go over, it is coming out of their own allowance money (i.e. natural consequence...). But I guess I'd need to put on (and take off after the cruise) whatever the amount of the hold is, as well, for this to work.

[Atlantix2000]

In general, the holds are the same amount as each charge.  Royal doesn't want to pay the behind-the-scenes transaction fee every time you swipe a card, so they put a hold instead.  Then, at the end of the trip, they add up the total charges and make one transaction so they only pay one transaction fee.  It's up to your bank/credit card company how quickly the holds fall off.  But until they do, you are effectively using twice as much money.  For a credit card, this doesn't matter as long as the total is below your credit limit.  You will only ever actually get one charge.

For a debit card, the money in your account is actually inaccessible to you until the hold falls off.  That could create real problems if you have automatic payments coming from the same account or you need to withdraw cash and your balance doesn't cover the holds and real charges.

[Momof4crazytocruise]

 

3 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

Do you know how much? I was thinking about doing this for my teens, who each have a debit card where they get their allowance. I was thinking about linking their debit cards to their SeaPasses and putting an extra amount on for "cruise expenses" - then they can just keep what they don't spend. Then if they go over, it is coming out of their own allowance money (i.e. natural consequence...). But I guess I'd need to put on (and take off after the cruise) whatever the amount of the hold is, as well, for this to work.

 

For your teens, I recommend just going to guest services and adding 'cash' to the teens accounts. That way you can control how much they have on there, and you don't have to worry about holds on the accounts. If they go over, you can always add more.  If there is left over in the account, you can cash out at the end of the cruise.

[AshleyDillo]

20 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

Do you know how much?

I remember seeing at least $100 on here a few times. I know I had several holds but I don't know at which amounts they rerun the preauthorization holds.