You take a cruise.....

[JoeyandDavid]

Each of us that have experienced cruising all know that wait to disembark from our cruise. We all hear the announcement will miss jane doe report to the ..

My question is what if you spend more than you have … what happens if you don’t have enough cash or credit cards to pay your ship board account … does anyone know what procedure would be?

[DaCruzNut]

We had one incident, in Miami, several years ago where the Miami Police came aboard and arrested the passenger, charging her with "Defrauding and Innkeeper." It's a fairly serious thing in a resort area, especially here in Florida...

[schatje]

Wow! , I thought that they checked out every credit card to see if there are sufficient funds before you board.

[JoeyandDavid]

but see who determines what amount sufficient funds are? thats a hard call. 1000 bucks for a 2 week cruise is more than enough for anything we would want on board ..but some people bar tab is 1000 dollars for a seven day voyage

[schatje]

So true Joey! I can't imagine how much the tab ends up being for those who like to be big shots? We like to be conservative so we can do more off the ship.

[Dan]

I think the cruise lines do a cursory credit card approval for $500 or so, or maybe per person. But I've been told it's not a hold on your credit card line. So if they get $1000 cleared at the start of the trip, and we (read: my wife) spend $1000 in a port on something, if I only have a $1000 limit, the card won't approve my ship account.

I'm not really sure what they do if the card is declined. I know if I was running things at a cruise line, there would be a credit card hold placed and a credit limit assigned to sail & sign cards. But if they don't do that now, I would guess it's because it hasn't been a big problem for them.

[GottaCruz]

Maybe if you can't pay the bill, they should keep you on the ship and give you a job like a dishwasher or steward 's assistant or something of that nature until you earn and can pay the amount you owe. What do you think?

[DaCruzNut]

The reason that the cruise lines insist on a Sign and Sail/No Cash policy is that it's very easy to lose track...

With shore excursions at $80.00-$100.00 each; massages at $100+; photos from $10.00 to $35.00; fancy drinks in souvineer glasses close to $10.00; gift shop and duty free onboard purchases; things add up real fast. And, you have no idea until the last night, just how much you've spent.

[JoeyandDavid]

am i the only one that keeps books while I am on board.. at any time i can come within $6.25 of the total on our account.(David may have bought a Heineken)

:grin: how sad is that LOL

[sailingrose]

We like what RCI has on the new ships, RCTV give you access to your stateroom bill on the TV. Great for checking up on the kids bill as well as ours.

Joey I keep good track of the bill myself usually. DH waits at the end to see the damages......LOL