3% surcharge
 

Has anyone else inccured a surcharge on credit card charge when paying for a cruise. We are sailing with Oceania on Oct 6th. No problem with our deposit. Using the same credit card, we paid for the balance of the tripand some shore excursions. When the bill arrived there was a $130 surcharge. They had used a bank in Ireland. No notice of this was given, no response from the cruise line and of course the bank says it is a "good" charge. Would be intersted to hear if anyone else has had this happen.

I would contact my CC company and ask for an explanation. Who, exactly is charging you a surcharge; something somes "fishy" and I would want an explanation or have the CC company remove the un-authorized charge.

Regards...Bob

I would check to see if this was part of the Dynamic Currency Conversion. If it was, you should have been given a choice to have your credit card charged in the local currency or converted to USD, thus avoiding this DCC surcharge. Seems like you were not given a choice. ((b))

The bank claims it was a good charge--good for them. Oceania has copies of all of our paperwork. It was faxed to them by our TA. Two weeks have gone by with no response. Of course we no longer have a credit card from Juniper bank in Delaware. As I said we embark on this cruise with reservation. There were one or two more of their cruises that looked interesting,but not if their customer service doesn't noticeably change. Pat

"The bank claims it was a good charge--good for them"

Yes, but if it was part of the DCC and you we not offered a choice, I would dispute the charges with M/C or VISA.

Check with the vendor and ask them if they charged you in Euros and converted to $$$.

I would tell the bank that you only authorized a certain amount of money to be charged to your account, and didn't authorize any surcharges. Ask for a supervisor if you are not getting the answer you want. ((b))

We tried all of the above----it was dollars. It is a mess that is leaving a very bad aftertaste. There will probably be no resolution. We have tried reaching a Mr. Frank Del Rio on the Oceania board, but no luck there either. Also have noticed some very disgruntled passengers---port changes. That has not happened on our cruise from Istanbul to Athens. Thanks to all for your suggestions. Pat

Could it be a surcharge for the fuel? I expect an additional charge on our cruise and absolutely one for our land vacation in February.

Unless the credit card company neede d to charge us a fuel tax, don't think this is the reason, It was in our credit card bill, not cruise bill. Thanks Pat

I think you need to argue with the bank saying that it was not a "good" charge, since you never authorized it. You have the "right" to dispute charges to your credit card. ((b))

We agrued to no avail--tried "we never authorized a foreign transaction" to no avail. My computer guru son says they probably have a contract with a paypal type company---someone's charge came thru the Marshall Islands. If you go to cruise critic message boards, there is a 4 page thread on this subject. Needless to say we are not happy campers. There have also been itinerary changes on two up.coming cruiese(not ours). If you have access to their message board on yahoo, it makes for very interesting reading. Pat

Gee, that's surprising. Usually credit card companies will send you forms to fill out/sign and explain the circumstances concerning the unauthorized charge before they make a determination concerning a charge you did not make, instead of making a determination over the telephone. What CC company do you have? They're supposed to protect you. Anybody can get your # and make illegal/"good" charges, but you're not responsible (maybe for the first $50) You might want to consider switching CC companies.

I guess you'll just have to chalk it up as a lesson learned. ((b))

Thanks, Budman. The card was from Juniper bank in Delaware. We are no longer one of their customers. Pat

We also use Juniper Bank Master card and what you were charged is a foreign currency conversion fee. Same thing happened to us on all our trips out of the country. Your consumer disclosure pamphlet spells out that they will make this charge but most people don't read that or understand it. Juniper Bank told us that other CC companies just wrap that fee into the charge that is posted to your account, when you use your CC overseas. The amount usually is 3% of the charge and since you don't know what the conversion rate is that is used for each charge, you didn't know this was being done. Juniper happens to list this independently of other charges.
We objected to this charge by writing to the chairman of Juniper and a few days later, one of their VP's called me and reversed all the charges. They also did this again on a later foreign trip without any request by us. However, we spend about $ 60,000 a year on this card and they are making plenty of $$ on this account, which may be their reason for relenting.
Bottom line: when you use any CC overseas or have a charge generated by a foreign vendor (perhaps your tour provider?) you will be charged for currency conversion and a service fee for the convenience.
So you have to now decide if you want to use your CC overseas. It will cost you about 3-4% more than if you pay cash. The downside is you have to convert your US dollars to the local currency, which will also cost you money. Travellers checks have been a problem for us in the past, so we tend not to use them--a lot of places don't want them, since they will then have to bear the cost of the conversion charge when the travellers check is banked.

Considering this is(was) my primary cc, more than $6000 per year goes on it. This cruise alone is over $7000. We used a cruise company that is based in Miami. There was no reason at all for our charge to be funneled thru a foreign country. We only use Capital One for out of country charges just because they eat that charge. Can understand all the clauses especially the 1-3% surcharge, if foreign currency is involved. US dollars to a US-based company logically should go to a US bank. As I have mentioned in another reply, Oceania may have a contract with a Paypal type company, so the next one up may be halfway round the world. Will try going higher on the management chain. Thanks for the suggestion. Do you have the name and number handy?

momc,

I just ran into the same problem as you on my cruise deposit of $1000 for an Oceania cruise in 2008. There was a $20 Foreign Country Transaction Fee added to my bill. My statement from Juniper Bank noted that the charge was to Oceania Cruises, Inc., IR (Ireland). Juniper Bank told me that based on the fact that the charge came from Ireland, it was a transaction with a foreign company even though Oceania is in Florida and the charge was in USD. I believe this interpretation is a violation of Juniper's terms and conditions and will contact the chairman of Juniper.

My TA contacted Oceania and was told that they use an Irish bank to process all their credit card transactions. Oceania said that they didn't believe there should be a foreign transaction fee since transactions with them are transactions with an American company in USD.

Most importantly, momc, Oceania told my TA that if Juniper would not delete the Foreign Transaction Fee, Oceania would issue a shipboard credit equal to the amount of the Juniper fee. Since your cruise is so close, I suggest having your TA contact Oceania immediately and request a shipboard credit of $130.

Hope this helps.

Dave