Is OBC going to end up being part of history.

I’m wondering just how good OBC is going to be in the future of NCL.

A lot of OBC’s now are coming complete with conditions. Depending on the OBC “It may not be used toward onboard service charges”, “It may not be used cash for advances in the casino”.

Shore excursions pre-cruise booked are paid in advance and therefore OBC is of no use.

I now read the specialty restaurants pre-cruise booking has to be paid in advance as well.

So exactly what will it be able to be used for - booze? Shop purchases? Photos?

Or dont pre-book ;)

Please dont take my OBC away , its the last tool in getting a good booking price ..

The madess.

Or dont pre-book ;)

 

Please dont take my OBC away , its the last tool in getting a good booking price ..

 

The madess.

OH mpk that certainly is not my intention to this post. I'm just curious how anyone is going to be able to use it unless they are big drinkers.

I just read a post on the Epic specialty restaurants and now having to pay upfront. I can remember not that many months ago suggestion that pax treat themselves to a few pay restaurants to use up the piles of OBC they had accumulated. Now that suggest is gone.

Every week there seems to be more restrictions and less to spend it on. :(

can someone please clear up the "cannot be used for onboard service charges" clause for me?

I have had OBC in the past. It has always be used toward the onboard service charges.

This upcoming cruise I have quite a bit more than usual. Will my onboard service charge be deducted from my obc or not?:confused:

OH mpk that certainly is not my intention to this post. I'm just curious how anyone is going to be able to use it unless they are big drinkers.

 

I just read a post on the Epic specialty restaurants and now having to pay upfront. I can remember not that many months ago suggestion that pax treat themselves to a few pay restaurants to use up the piles of OBC they had accumulated. Now that suggest is gone.

 

Every week there seems to be more restrictions and less to spend it on. :(

As long as I can still book reservations/excursions while on my cruise, I just won't prebook anything so I can use my OBC. I do think NCL should come up with a way to prebook using NCL OBC as payment. I can understand why they would not allow the use of TA purchased/given OBC but should honor their own.

can someone please clear up the "cannot be used for onboard service charges" clause for me?

 

I have had OBC in the past. It has always be used toward the onboard service charges.

 

This upcoming cruise I have quite a bit more than usual. Will my onboard service charge be deducted from my obc or not?:confused:

It appears to depend on where your OBC initiated from and the terms and conditions that come with each OBC.

For example Epic/Europe OBC

"Terms and Conditions

Offer is valid for Norwegian Epic round trip Barcelona 2011 sailings only. Added to the offer on July 22 nd, 13 Day Norwegian Epic 10/23/11 Transatlantic sailing (BCN/MIA).

Offer is valid for new individual and new group bookings booked within the booking window. Offer is NOT combinable with existing group block rates.

Qualifying new individual reservations can be moved into existing group and count towards Tour Conductor Credits.

Onboard credit offer is per stateroom, in U.S. Dollars, based on category booked, and will be applied to 1st and 2nd guest on the reservation.

Onboard credit has no monetary value and is non-transferable. It may not be used toward onboard service charges. Singles paying 200% are entitled to full onboard credit value.

Offer Combinable with program codes LATITUDE, ENSEMBLE,TSAVER,TFGROUP,CHOLIDAY, VCOM, CSHOPPES,SIGNATUR,VIRTUOSO,TIFWP, TIILS, TIFGR, TIIS2,TG50C, TICEV, OBC, TIOBC

Offer Combinable with program codes PGOBC, PGAXOC, PGAARP, NICKAARP, PPSRVCHG , LATOBC1

Guests who cancel and rebook must accept this promotion's Terms and Conditions."

can someone please clear up the "cannot be used for onboard service charges" clause for me?

I have had OBC in the past. It has always be used toward the onboard service charges.

This upcoming cruise I have quite a bit more than usual. Will my onboard service charge be deducted from my obc or not?:confused:

If your OBC is from NCL with your booking it is good for anything. There are a limited number of special OBCs with restrictions.

If your OBC is from NCL with your booking it is good for anything. There are a limited number of special OBCs with restrictions.

Not quite so, look at my example above and below, taken straight from NCL website

Example #2 OBC from NCL

Latitudes Insider Offer - Onboard Credit

Offer valid from November 1 through November 30, 2011 11.59 PM EST. To take advantage of this offer and ensure receipt of Latitudes benefits on board, guest needs to provide Latitudes membership number at time of booking. Offer is valid for new individual and new group bookings and cannot be held as group block Qualifying new individual reservations can be moved into existing group. Onboard credit offer is per stateroom, based on stateroom category booked, in U.S. Dollars and will be applied to the 1st and 2nd guest on the reservation. Onboard credit has no monetary value and is non-transferable. It may not be used toward onboard service charges. Singles paying 200% are entitled to full onboard credit value. Offer excludes Casino promotions, Norwegian Cruise Line Reduced Rate programs (e.g. employee rates, interline, friends /family rates, vendor rates, or cruises taken via cruise credit certificate) and incentive & charter promo codes. Guests who cancel and rebook must accept this promotion's Terms and Conditions. Government taxes & fees, and onboard service charges are additional.

can someone please clear up the "cannot be used for onboard service charges" clause for me?

I have had OBC in the past. It has always be used toward the onboard service charges.

This upcoming cruise I have quite a bit more than usual. Will my onboard service charge be deducted from my obc or not?:confused:

We had $550 non-reimbursable OBC and $100 reimbursable OBC on our NCL Jewel cruise that just ended 10/29/11. Our DSC was reduced to $0.00 by our OBC. All non-reimbursable (must use or lose) OBC is used first and then the reimbursable OBC is used. We actually ended up with a -$94 final balance since we did not use all the reimbursable OBC. We finished off the non-reimbursable OBC buying tee shirts for the grandkids and 4 bottles of rum for various other family members.

$300 OBC was from NCL for booking a suite 9 months in advance. PGOBC

$150 OBC was from NCL Latitude for moving up to Silver. LATOBC1

$200 OBC was from TA

The reason they do not want you to use it for the service charge is simple. If you use it for that, NCL has to, in fact, pay out $100 since it goes to the crew. Whereas, giving you a $100 to buy booze does not cost them anywhere near the $100 you spend. Simple economics.

The reason they do not want you to use it for the service charge is simple. If you use it for that, NCL has to, in fact, pay out $100 since it goes to the crew. Whereas, giving you a $100 to buy booze does not cost them anywhere near the $100 you spend. Simple economics.

I understood the economics and that holds true for the cash from the casino (although, I'm very generous and appear to give it all back to them :eek: ), as well with the excursions.

And I've never said anything until I seen now that they are encouraging you to book your specialty restaurants ahead of time and pay upfront and that doesn't hold true for the above explanation. Yes the specialty restaurant booking right now is only on the Epic and probably the new sails. But NCL rep has came on this board and said that they will be implementing that system with the rest of the fleet soon.

I understood the economics and that holds true for the cash from the casino (although, I'm very generous and appear to give it all back to them :eek: ), as well with the excursions.

 

And I've never said anything until I seen now that they are encouraging you to book your specialty restaurants ahead of time and pay upfront and that doesn't hold true for the above explanation. Yes the specialty restaurant booking right now is only on the Epic and probably the new sails. But NCL rep has came on this board and said that they will be implementing that system with the rest of the fleet soon.

Just because the system is implemented does not mean that will be the only way to book. You can still book onboard on the Epic......AFAIK

Just because the system is implemented does not mean that will be the only way to book. You can still book onboard on the Epic......AFAIK

Yup I do realize that. I personally do not wish to book days in advance. I barely know what I want for dinner after lunch on a daily basis.

If it catches on though it may limit the options to what time you can reserve for.

My main point is that they keep adding more and more restrictions, clauses and places it can be used. So does anyone else think this may be an end to OBC as we know it, in the future. Sort of their way of slowly fazing it out. If you think about it, from my understanding (except for the odd bottles of wine), the only difference that is suppose to be between booking directly with NCL and a TA (not talking about group bookings) is OBC.

Yup I do realize that. I personally do not wish to book days in advance. I barely know what I want for dinner after lunch on a daily basis.

 

If it catches on though it may limit the options to what time you can reserve for.

 

My main point is that they keep adding more and more restrictions, clauses and places it can be used. So does anyone else think this may be an end to OBC as we know it, in the future. Sort of their way of slowly fazing it out. If you think about it, from my understanding (except for the odd bottles of wine), the only difference that is suppose to be between booking directly with NCL and a TA (not talking about group bookings) is OBC.

This is just back to the future. OBCs a few years ago could not be used to cover DSC but they waived that in recent promotions when OBCs and reduced deposits seemed to be the primary special sale deals. I understand that rather then drop the price give a $300 OBC that they will get back in profitable onboard spend. Using it for the DSC is the same as just cutting the price.

I have had 8 OBCs in the last 2 years that could be used for anything. Before that not.

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I’m wondering just how good OBC is going to be in the future of NCL.

 

A lot of OBC’s now are coming complete with conditions. Depending on the OBC “It may not be used toward onboard service charges”, “It may not be used cash for advances in the casino”.

 

Shore excursions pre-cruise booked are paid in advance and therefore OBC is of no use.

 

I now read the specialty restaurants pre-cruise booking has to be paid in advance as well.

 

So exactly what will it be able to be used for - booze? Shop purchases? Photos?

Ya caught me off guard with your question. Our Crystal Ball is packed for our upcoming cruise. Sorry.

I have NEVER seen anyone come here and say they could NOT use their OBC for the DSC. Yes, it has been a rule for a long time, but nobody has reported a problem.

OBC is a great marketing tool. It will be around.

I have NEVER seen anyone come here and say they could NOT use their OBC for the DSC. Yes, it has been a rule for a long time, but nobody has reported a problem.

 

OBC is a great marketing tool. It will be around.

Agreed. In all my years of reading OBC threads here on CC, I have never seen one report of it happening. And the reason is simple: the accounting system that NCL uses on its fleet does not distinguish between different types of credits. OBC is seen as a credit by the computer and it is used to offset debits (onboard charges). That's all it does. NCL would have to change its accounting system (software) in order to handle OBC differently. I don't see that happening any time soon.

So, the official policy in specific promotions may state that OBC can't be used for the DSC, but in practice that simply isn't the case. This is no different from their official policy against bringing soda onboard. If you call them, you'll be told no. But in practice, it has never been prohibited.

I have NEVER seen anyone come here and say they could NOT use their OBC for the DSC. Yes, it has been a rule for a long time, but nobody has reported a problem.

 

OBC is a great marketing tool. It will be around.

Agreed. In all my years of reading OBC threads here on CC, I have never seen one report of it happening. And the reason is simple: the accounting system that NCL uses on its fleet does not distinguish between different types of credits. OBC is seen as a credit by the computer and it is used to offset debits (onboard charges). That's all it does. NCL would have to change its accounting system (software) in order to handle OBC differently. I don't see that happening any time soon.

Good to know.

I thought NCL was starting to automatically add the DSC to new bookings anyway, so that this will be paid ahead of time at final payment.

I am glad I love the spa. Sounds like it is good there.

I am glad I love the spa. Sounds like it is good there.

Absolutely! Enjoy the spa. Don't forget - the auto-gratuity in the spa is 18% vs the 15% for bar tabs.

I am glad I love the spa. Sounds like it is good there.

I was thinking the same thing!

I thought NCL was starting to automatically add the DSC to new bookings anyway, so that this will be paid ahead of time at final payment.

I've not read or heard anything along these lines.

I've not read or heard anything along these lines.

I haven't either but I think the poster may be confusing the availability to pre-pay your DSC with automatically adding the DSC.