Debit card or credit card?

retiredin2011

Does anyone know if Cruise transactions are done offline?

My wife and her sister went on a cruise together, I was left at home.

I told my wife to use her credit card, her sister said, no way, I am using my debit card.

I got a phone call from the ship to make sure there was enough money in my wife's current account as she had registered her debit card on her sister's advice as the cruise company was ripping them off by charging 2.5%.

I probably cost more than that for the phone call from the ship.

So I made sure there was enough money in my wife's current account and when I checked her account on the day the cruise ended the money had been debited from her account before she had even left the ship.

I probably shouldn't have admitted that I know my wife's internet banking details :eek:.

retiredin2011

A credit card offers a lot more protection than a debit card

I don't really thinks it would make any difference when settling a booze and fags onboard account on a cruise ship.

It is the monetary difference all the disagreement is about.

Me, it is a holiday, what does it matter if we pay a few £s extra for using a credit card whereas my wife (her sister) is saying why should we pay an extra 2.5% for using a credit card when we can use a debit card at no cost and get a couple of drinks extra.

I'm glad her sister isn't coming on holiday with us, I don't know how my wife didn't push her overboard when the 2 of them went on their cruise.

Gromitt

Since your getting interest on your £700 @ 3% for about a month, it'll cost you about £5 or so more to use the credit card. For that amount, I'd use the credit card simply so they don't have my bank account details and any fraud will be on a credit card, not the bank account I may want to pay bills with when I come back. Take the debit card just in case, but keep it somewhere safe. Chances are they'll register your CC when you get on board and you'll never need to use it again.

Bloomberg

grumbler wrote: »

I might be missing something but I don't understand this double arithmetic.

Debit card costs nothing if you deduct the lost interest from the CC cost.

CC costs 2.5%-1%-(lost interest). The lost interest is ~0.3%

Re Bloomberg's comment about 'protection' I don't see what section 75 protection can be needed even theoretically in this case on the top of the primitive chargeback, but again, I know nothing about cruises.

I was not on about section 75, it is the extra hassle of having your debit card cloned and your account emptied.

grumbler

Bloomberg wrote: »

I was not on about section 75, , it is the extra hassle of having your debit card cloned and your account emptied.

Bloomberg wrote: »

Using a credit card will be marginally more expensive but it is a small price to pay for the extra protection...

What extra protection did you mean then? Normally people don't keep big amounts in their current accounts, but the accounts can be overdrawn.
Can a CC not be cloned and your credit balance 'filled' similarly?

AFAIK debit and credit cards generally have the same level of protection against unauthorised transactions.