by Beks
Friday, my husband left on a cruise to Mexico with my brother’s bachelor party. As I said earlier, he charged the entire bill to our credit card since the cruise lines won’t let you split the tab.
I was angry since we had just paid off our card – and because we’ve been burned in the past when we allowed others to use our credit.
Just as I expected, there were problems… but not the kind of problems I had guessed. Not only did the guys pay before they left, they overpaid by $20 each (we’re giving it back).
Our credit card still took a hit from my husband (I’ll talk about the REAL expenses of a cruise in a later post) but we’ll be able to pay it off before it rolls over and starts to accrue interest. We won’t be able to pay extra on the auto loan but at least we’ll be heading into October without credit card debt.
Would I loan money again on my credit card? Even though it actually worked out this time, I’m still SOLIDLY on the no side.
Beks is a full-time government employee who enjoys blogging late into the night after her four kids have gone to sleep. She’s been married to Chris, her college sweetheart, for 15 years. In 2017, after 3 long years working the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps, they paid off more than $70K and became debt free. When she’s not working or blogging, she’s exploring the great outdoors.
Beks, I can only imagine the worst news from the credit card company when the bills come in, the “real” expenses on a cruise ship escalate as the ship leaves port, it’s true. You place a lot of trust in your husband, so he must be a Good Guy!
John DeFlumeri Jr
Happy to hear the friends paid their share of the credit card charge! But, I agree, even if it worked out this time it’d be best to avoid the situation again!
Glad that it all worked out in the end!
Wow glad that it worked out well! I ALWAYS make people pay me beforehand if I’m splitting something. I would never have done what your husband did, though. Nothing that big. No way.
For reference next time, the cruise ship will let each person put their onboard charges on different cards although it might not be obvious when you’re doing the paperwork.
Some lines actually let you do it online, but most of the time you have to take care of it at the pier when checking in.
Glad it worked out!
Glad it all worked out for you. Good to hear you are sticking to guns next time.
It’s great that they did pay you completely!
I agree with you and the other commenters that I wouldn’t repeat the act though.
I bet you’re going to be glad when all of these weddings are over! It kind of feels like cheating if you have to use it for even a second, doesn’t it?
That would be my biggest fear, the friends not paying me back in this situation. So I would stay away from doing the credit card deal. But I’m glad this time you were lucky to get your money back and to have it paid off before any interest accrued. Great job!
Thanks! I always worry that I’m being too careful. Thanks for making me feel like my credit is something I SHOULD be careful with!