Gifts by Celebrity--OBC

Over a month ago I purchased OBC through the Gifts by Celebrity....trying to avoid the currency exchange. I purchased $100US and should've incurred a charge to my credit card of $103.60CDN I have yet to see the charge applied to my CC and don't see the purchase on My Celebrity under my June cruise either...anyone else have this problem?

Cathy

Over a month ago I purchased OBC through the Gifts by Celebrity....trying to avoid the currency exchange. I purchased $100US and should've incurred a charge to my credit card of $103.60CDN I have yet to see the charge applied to my CC and don't see the purchase on My Celebrity under my June cruise either...anyone else have this problem?

Cathy

Unfortunately this is an ongoing problem. If the payment does not show up on your credit card you have not bought the OBC. I have had this happen several times and had to reorder. The OBC will not show in My Celebrity but have never had a problem with it showing within a couple of days of boarding the ship but we always take a copy of the email from Celebrity and a copy of the bank statement showing when the payment was made. This just seems to be another problem with their website.

I've purchased OBC many times, it doesn't show on your my celebrity account but should have been debited from your card account. Did you receive a confirmation email? If so I would suggest you ring the gifts department and query it :)

I bought 5 bottles of bubbly thru gifts for my cabin, They did not process the charge until the 2nd day I was on board the ship. It was delivered the day I arrived.

I ordered 4 weeks prior to sailing and received the confirmation email almost immediately after booking.

This is nothing new from Celebrity. We purchased $500 in on board credit in October, in increments that way you have to do it. When I got nothing from Celebrity and the charge did not appear on my credit card I called the gifts by Celebrity number and was told that the purchase did not go through, probably because of the web site updates. I reordered over the phone and got the confirmation and charge within 2 days.

Fast forward to December, a week before the cruise. I get an email from Celebrity that my $50 on board credit was processed. I checked my credit card and sure enough there is a $50 charge from Celebrity. I called again and after some research the agent said that it appeared that the 1st purchase was finally processed but for only $50 not $500. She assured me that the additional $450 did not go through and offered to cancel the $50. Since I knew we would spend at least $550 I left it go. I was just glad that the whole amount was not processed.

Mary Lou

I've purchased OBC many times, it doesn't show on your my celebrity account but should have been debited from your card account. Did you receive a confirmation email? If so I would suggest you ring the gifts department and query it :)

That is the most annoying thing. You receive an automatic email thanking you for placing your order and saying it is confirmed unless you hear otherwise but the last time I ordered I had to do it three times before it went through properly. When the amount was not taken off my card I sent an email querying it and gave the order number quoted on the confirmation email and I was told they had no record of the order.

I thought that I ordered $300 OBC but it never went through my CC so I had my TA check with Celebrity. They had no record of it even though I gave them my order number!! So purchased it while on the phone with them and the had my TA email me the confirmation!

snow bunny

I've been thinking of buying some onboard credit if the exchange rate is favourable. According to gifts by celebrity I can buy chunks of onboard credit at £15.70 but have been unable to find out how many $ it will give me. I have emailed them to ask but received no reply. Can anyone tell me how many $ I get for 15.70 GBP please?

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I ordered gifts from gifts by celebrity for my family of 16 sailing (TODAY!) on the Silhouette.

I received all 8 gift order confirmations. All 8 charges were charged to my credit card.

I am really hoping everyone gets their in room gifts!

I didn't buy any OBC though so I'm wondering if the problem has to do with that?

I purchased OBC for our last sailing on Equinox. Got an email "confirmation" thanking me for my order....but it did not have an order number nor did it reference what I had bought. Watched my credit card. Charge never showed. Two weeks later I replied to the confirmation email saying the charge had never gone through and got a response several days later saying they were sorry they had no record of this transaction.

At that point I decided to forget it. Several more weeks later I see a charge on my credit card. I call the Gifts by Celebrity phone number to make sure this is my OBC, mysteriously appearing more than a month after I "purchased" it. The Gifts Department tells me that, no, my reservation number for the Equinox sailing has no such OBC. I ask to be transferred to another department so I can find out what the heck the charge IS for then. The nice man I get at the second department checks and says the first man was wrong....that the charge was for OBC for my Equinox sailing. He apologizes for the delay and the misinformation. He instantly sends me an official Celebrity invoice that shows my reservation number and the OBC and the transaction number. I take it with me on board if needed, but no need, the OBC shows up right away.

My take away on this is if I were to buy OBC again I would call and order it. Not order it online. That way I could request the email confirmation that actually shows a valid confirmation of my purchase.

I've been thinking of buying some onboard credit if the exchange rate is favourable. According to gifts by celebrity I can buy chunks of onboard credit at £15.70 but have been unable to find out how many $ it will give me. I have emailed them to ask but received no reply. Can anyone tell me how many $ I get for 15.70 GBP please?

 

 

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Each £15.70 will buy you $25 OBC. According to XE currency website, the bank rate for $25 will cost £15.05. I must stress that this is the bank rate and not the tourist exchange rate that you get on the High Street. It is a very convenient way to avoid using a credit card onboard or carrying cash. It also avoids paying the commission that most cc companies charge for using your card overseas.

Thank you, that is very useful advise. I think I shall try to build up some before I cruise. Shall make sure it is properly deducted from our credit card and take copies of email receipts and card statement to ensure we receive it all onboard.

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I just got off a B2B on the Millie and 5 days before the end of the first leg I went to the iLounge and bought another $200 OBC for the next leg (good exchange rate lol) Printed off the confirmation, rec'd email from X within half an hour and the OBC showed up the second day of the next cruise!

Had the same thing happen. Bought a bunch of OBC for our recent cruise and only a portion of them showed up. No rhyme nor reason, although they were all purchased at the same time.

The Guest Relations Desk was NOT helpful in the least. Instead of just making sure the OBCs were processed, they simply said they had checked and only some of the credits were accounted for.

As well, ordered some champagne and flowers as a SURPRISE gift and Gifts by Celebrity sent a pre-cruise email to the RECIPIENT. Nice surprise.

The OB casino credits are also a scam. You pay more for them and they STILL charge an additional 5%.

In a nutshell: AVOID GIFTS FROM CELEBRITY AT ALL COSTS! It is a hot mess and the crew knows it full well. They simply won't do anything about it, though.

Save yourself the aggravation. Will NEVER use it again.

Thanks everyone for the replies and helping me to not feel it's just me! I did the original order on the 25th of January and did receive a confirmation almost immediately. I did read on another thread that these purchases had to be processed manually (huh?) and that's why there was a delay but a month?? Guess I'll check with my TA and see what she can find out otherwise I'll take the advice of others and order by phone. The currency exchange is much more advantageous this way than using my credit card onboard.

Cathy

This seems to be a very common problem. I had the same problem and emailed. While it doesn't show up on the website, I do believe I have the credit. I kept the emails of course, and with a smart phone you can just show them the email without having to print it. It didn't go through on my credit card until I emailed and asked about it.

I thought that I ordered $300 OBC but it never went through my CC so I had my TA check with Celebrity. They had no record of it even though I gave them my order number!! So purchased it while on the phone with them and the had my TA email me the confirmation!

 

snow bunny

My original purchases have gone through! So instead of $300 OBC we have $600! Good news is that if we do not use it all they will refund it!:)

snow bunny

My original purchases have gone through! So instead of $300 OBC we have $600! Good news is that if we do not use it all they will refund it!:)

 

snow bunny

That was our experience too except out of the first $500 only $50 eventually went through. Yes, they will refund it but we did not want to have to put our an additional $500 right before our cruise, esp with Christmas bills.

I think I'm done with pre purchasing ship board credits.

Mary Lou

What's the logic for prebuying obc for yourself?

Each £15.70 will buy you $25 OBC. According to XE currency website, the bank rate for $25 will cost £15.05. I must stress that this is the bank rate and not the tourist exchange rate that you get on the High Street. It is a very convenient way to avoid using a credit card onboard or carrying cash. It also avoids paying the commission that most cc companies charge for using your card overseas.

When I did this last year, it was less expensive since the equivalent exchange rate being offered was better using the OBC gifting method. They must have realised and now have increased the cost for $25 of OBC. I can get a better rate using my CC than X now offer.

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When I did this last year, it was less expensive since the equivalent exchange rate being offered was better using the OBC gifting method. They must have realised and now have increased the cost for $25 of OBC. I can get a better rate using my CC than X now offer.

 

 

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Yes, I too bought a lot of OBC last year due to the generous X exchange rate. This year it is cheaper to pay as you go with a credit card. As others mentioned, we also experienced problems last year. So this issue is over a year old. I took copies of cc statements as I didn't always receive an email confirmation from Celebrity.

I bought 5 bottles of bubbly thru gifts for my cabin, They did not process the charge until the 2nd day I was on board the ship. It was delivered the day I arrived.

 

I ordered 4 weeks prior to sailing and received the confirmation email almost immediately after booking.

So......does this mean I can buy one or two bottles of liquor ahead of time and drink in my cabin? Can I buy through gifts by Celebrity on board? And finally, does obc mean on board credit?

Thanks for your help.

Linda

So......does this mean I can buy one or two bottles of liquor ahead of time and drink in my cabin? Can I buy through gifts by Celebrity on board? And finally, does obc mean on board credit?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Linda

Anything you can order at Gifts by Celebrity will be delivered to your cabin and awaiting your arrival. They have a liquor setup option and can provide to you: http://www.celebritycruises.com/bonvoyage/cruise-spirits-wines/liquorpkg

Gifts by Celebrity need purchased in advance of sailing 4 days or more prior. On board you would buy thru room service and pay prevailing rates plus gratuity, whereas there is no gratuity on gifts. A while back I found the Gifts prices did not increase when they increased the same brands on board as well. Not sure if the prices have caught up. My comparison point was Domain Chandon sparkling wine....

OBC is On Board Credit, which can not be used to pay for Gifts since they need bought in advance.