How does a cruise card work??

Question

Is it like a credit card while you are on the ship and then you pay it off once the cruise is over?

Answer 1

When I went on Carnival, they had a ship card that you could attach to a credit card.

If you did that, then it's paid off after you leave.  

You can, and I did, pay it off with cash at the end of the ship stay, but you still need to put a credit card on the card in the first place.

At least, I did.

Answer 2

As Cruise Lines do not deal with cash, they issue you a "cruise ship card" that you use for all purchases you make on board. This card must be matched to your credit card. At the end of the cruise you can leave the balance on your personal credit card or elect to pay it off in cash.

Answer 3

You are exactly right.  Your cruise card is the same as your room key.  It identifies you.  All of your shipboard expenses such as drinks, bingo, shop purchases, excursions are paid by showing your cruise card.  Just sign your name and the amount automatically goes onto your bill.  At the end of the cruise, you will be given a paper accounting of all the charges.  Go over them carefully in case there are errors.  The total will be automatically charged to your credit card.  The cruiseline gets their money from your credit card company - and you have to pay your credit card company.

On board the ship, it is a cashless society.

Answer 4

When you register at the port to get on the ship, you have the option to set up your ship card account in two ways: Have all ship card purchases charged to a credit card or pay an amount to be put as credit to the ship card account like a debt card.

With the credit card method, the purchases you make on the ship card is charged to the credit card you chose to use. At anytime during the cruise you may pay cash against the bill that is on the ship card to reduce the charges on the bill. At the end of the cruise, the remaining balance (or all the balance if you didn't reduce it with cash - most common way it is done), is then charged to the credit card. The last day is basically the time you "pay" your bill. Purchases aren't itemized on your credit card bill, but are shown as a total bill (ie. on the ship you buy a shirt for $20, drinks for $30, a picture for $10, the bill on your credit card statement would show $60 charged to say Carnival if that is the cruise line). The itemized bill is what they give you on the ship showing what you bought, minus any amount you paid cash down on for the total bill amount. You can actually charge to your credit card during the cruise and then at the end of the cruise you can go to the Pursers Desk and pay off the amount completely with cash and then there would not be any charge to your credit card since you don't have a balance.

With the cash down method, you give them say $300 cash at registration. Your ship card will have $300 credit that you can charge against. Each time you make a purchase on the ship, that amount is debted from that $300. If you try to purchase something once you reach that $300, it won't let you until you go to the Pursors desk and add, with cash, additional credit to your card. At the end of the cruise, if you have a credit amount not spent, you will get a check back for that amount.

Also for your information, the ship card is lso used for such things as your room key, the ID to get back on the ship, the ID at the Port to show you are on a ship within the Port and are allowed entry to the Port, etc. It can't be used for any purchases off of the ship, like at shops in the Port or anything like that. Shore excursions are purchased on the ship as an on-ship purchase.