I am going on a cruise for the first time and I was wondering if you have to have a credit card or is cash ok?

Question

I have read where the ship will ask for a credit card for your purchases. do you have to have a credit card or is using cash on the boat ok? also what type of dresses do I need..I am a tee shirt and jeans kinda girl, so dressing up for me is asking alot...does anyone have any suggestions..Thank you

Answer 1

You do not have to have a credit card, but it will make life a whole lot easier. Most cruiselines are cashless and you use your room key to pay for virtually everything on board. The key is linked to either a credit card, debit card, or you can put down a cash deposit. Of course if you spend all the cash the card is frozen until you put more cash down. There are not a lot of things you have to pay for on the cruise but it is pretty easy to run up a huge bar tab. On Carnival you can check your bill on your room television 24/7. It's a good idea to keep tabs on what your spending.

Answer 2

I just arrived home on Sat from a Carnival Cruise, and you have the cash option. You have to put up so much and they will let you know if you are running low. I too am T-shirts and jeans but I took a nice black skirt and Black& beige top. You will have so much fun.

Answer 3

most ships have your room card act like a credit card. it makes it so much easier and if you lose it, you just go to the front desk and cancel it

they ask you to wear ball gowns (which i think is too much) but a fancier day dress will do fine. and you have to wear sandals or a fancier shoe, they usually don't allow flip flops

Answer 4

You can't use cash anywhere on the ship apart from the casino. You boarding pass, room key, charge card (one multi-card supplied by ship) is what you use to pay for anything that you purchase.

You don't have to have a credit card for your account. You can, if you wish, deposit money at the pursers desk throughout the cruise to cover any purchases made on your ship card.

It's not unusual, many people do it.

Many people don't like getting dressed up and having their photographs taken, so they avoid the formal evenings in the dining room and use the buffet instead.

Answer 5

Most cruises are cashless except for the casino.  Everything is charged to the account you establish before the cruise with a major credit card.

Answer 6

Hi there.  Cruises are generally a cashless atmosphere so you'll need to have a credit or debit card on record with them so they can automatically bill everything there.  However, I do believe that you can set it up somehow so that you can pay off your tab at the end with cash. I've never done that though so I'm not sure what you have to do to set that up with them.

As for dresses, there is usually at least one formal night on cruises that are 4 nights in length or longer.  That means like a cocktail dress for women and tuxedos or suits for men.  On other nights the suggested dress is casual meaning pants, capris, skirts for women, and like business casual wear for men. That said, this is just a "suggested" dress code and you can do whatever you want.  I've been on 4 cruises and have seen jeans in the dining room but most people wear stuff they'd wear to work.  I generally wear capris, sandals and a nice shirt to dinner and my DH wears Dockers and a polo or other nice shirt.  Bottom line is that this is your vacation and you don't HAVE to dress up if you're really against it.  

Also, check out the message boards at Cruisecritic.com for tons of really great info on cruising, clothes, what to pack, shore excursions, etc.  It's an incredible resource.