My MIL has just returned from a cruise on Golden Princess and discovered that the company has charged her credit card (in addition to the cruise fee) of 3 different amounts totalling close to $1500! The are in a roundabout way saying that they did this to make sure she had enough money on her credit card for any purchases on board. When she rang them they are saying it takes 3 weeks for them to get the money back on her credit card! Has anyone heard of them doing this before? She doesn't understand what is going on and is unhappy to say the least!
I had the same experience on my last Princess cruise. They put a hold on a certain amount to make sure there is enough to cover the "extras". This was the first time they've done this to us and I was more than a little upset too. But the charges were removed in just a couple of days.
Posts: 3394 | Location: Costa Mesa, California | Registered: November 16, 2006
Is any part of the $1500 her onboard charges? This is a temporary authorization. The final bill should be submitted within the 3 weeks they mentioned and the temporary authorizations will be cleared. She won't be billed for all of it, but it does reduce the amount of available credit in the interim.
Thanks for your replies! MIL kept saying they said they had put a hold on her credit card which I couldn't understand. None of the $1500 were any onboard purchases. The weird thing is that the amounts were like $212.84, $415.73 & then $818.54. It would not have been a problem if they took these amounts from the total charge for the cruise but they have been charged in addition. She is annoyed because she still has 3 weeks left of her holiday and is now down $1500 until they see fit to refund her money. This just seems crazy to me. When we went to a Club Med resort they did a pre-authorization on our credit card to make sure we had enough available for any purchases but the money did not actually come off our account and we had to sign the credit slip. She did not sign any credit slips for this money - they just took it! I think she will definitely take the matter further as it seems very bad business practice. Thanks again for your replies.
That's not how cruise lines do it. You signed for it when you checked in and gave them the credit card to activate the onboard account. They provide a print out of charges on the last day of the cruise. If you agree then you do nothing and they charge that amount to the credit card.
She did not sign a credit slip, but I'm sure she signed an authorization when she registered the card prior to boarding, But it would have been nice to know ahead of time that they were going to do this. As I said, it took us by surprise also.
Posts: 3394 | Location: Costa Mesa, California | Registered: November 16, 2006
They will place a hold on your credit card, for some specified amount to make sure you can cover your bill. I don't understand the amounts you listed, unless they were on board purchases. I think there's a little more than to the story than your MIL is telling you.
Penny, the amounts they put on hold on our card were uneven too; we went nuts at first trying to reconcile them with our shipboard account. They must use a percentage, or some other formula to determine the hold amount.
Posts: 3394 | Location: Costa Mesa, California | Registered: November 16, 2006
the amounts they put on hold on our card were uneven too
That is indeed very strange. I check my credit cards frequently on-line, especially after a cruise or other travel, and I've never seen uneven holds like those the OP and you have encountered. But I haven't cruised with Princess for a while, with all of our cruises over the past 5 years being Carnival and RCI. They don't do it, at least not that I can tell.
The amounts are not for any onboard purchases! They have told her that the charges are for the 'credit hold' so she hasn't secretly been sneaking off to the casino and spending the money They have agreed that she did not spend this money, they were just making sure she had available credit on her card. She is annoyed because they then told her it would be 3 weeks to get the money credited back to her account. Anyway, thanks for the replies. I guess if nothing else they should warn people that this is their routine business practice so people don't get a nasty surprise when they see the charges on their card!
We've been using our AMEX, which has no limit, so I guess that's why we've never seen the wierd amounts. It must be some kind of percentage. I'll see if there's anything on the cruise contract that states what it is. Maybe it's like Delta's charges. Some type of catch all phrase, I'll look on one of my old contracts.
The only thing I could find is if you are paying with traveler's checks, you are required to leave a $300/pp deposit with the purser. I sent an email asking how they figure out the amounts to be held against a credit card. I'll post the reply if I receive one.
RCL did this to us on our cruise in April. Those were weird amounts also but never exceeded what my final bill was. I don't know how they come up with the figures but once they charge your card with the final $ amount then the pending amounts were wiped out. That happens with alot of transactions. When I stop at Hess for gas there is a $1 pending transaction on my account and when the final amount is entered it gets wiped out. It is just a preauthorization that there is enough credit on your charge.
They have told her that the charges are for the 'credit hold'
They are not charges. These are holds against a credit amount. They don't actually charge anything. They place a hold on an amount against the credit balance of the card. This way a guest can't go buy a diamond ring at port and charge their card to the limit and leave no way for the cruiseline to collect at the end for actual charges. It is done by virtually every cruiseline and any other business that is allowing a credit limit for a period of time before actually running your bill. Most lines hold approx $60. per day from your limit. The only reason for odd amounts is if the limit they are holding is red flagged by their system for actual charges that are nearing or exceding these limits. If they hold $60. a day and you book $500. worth of shore excursions against your onboard account, they'll hold more to be sure you're still able to cover the charges at the end. Same if you're getting $200. a day in casino chips on your onboard account. Their hold is not enough in these cases so they'll increase it. Nothing to worry about with the billing, they are not making any charges to your card without your signature authorizing the exact amount. A credit hold does not require a transaction signature, you did that when you agreed to their terms and conditions to board.
