Ways to spend OBC

We are (happily) receiving more onboard credit for our Silhouette cruise in March. I'll take free money whenever I can get it, thanks.

But it's a lot. (Thanks again.)

So how will we spend $475? Is it possible to get it back if we haven't spent it all?

• We've already booked our shore excursions (non-Celeb)
  
• Drinks included
  
• We'll book speciality dining onboard, hopefully at a discount, but can live without it
  
• How is the spa? Don't really need it, need the treat at home more than on a cruise
  
• We can use it for gratuities, correct?
  
• We'll buy one wifi package, and potentially take a few fee-based classes at the gym
  

All in all I doubt we'll spend that much, though.

Thank you!

Well, congrats on having to spend money! We are facing the same challenge on our upcoming cruise. We decided to sign up for the Reidel wine tasting workshop. I always thought it was very pricey, and it is, but you get to take 4 glasses home with you. I also prebooked Tuscan Grill since we are celebrating DH birthday. After that we will check out the liquor on board, maybe take some iPhone classes, and shop! Yay. We always upgrade the Beverage Package but this time the Premium Package was included. And there is always a few spins on the roulette wheel. ;)

Yes you can pay your daily tips with your OBC. You can purchase a dining package for speciality restaurants if you plan to dine several nights in various spots. You could purchase photos or a photo package. You could do some shopping in the ship stores. You could gamble in the casino. Rent an Alcove if available on your ship. Upgrade your drink package if necessary. There are plenty of ways to spend your OBC!

Debbie

My suggestions are gratuities (automatically on your account plus they also allow additional gratuities out of you OBC), a couple of one liter bottles of Scotch and if you have any left there's always the casino!

Once you board you should have no problem spending your OBC. We managed to spend $950 in 7 days and we already had the premium beverage package, paid gratuities, unlimited internet and unlimited specialty dining. We used it for extra gratuities and good bottles of wine with dinner. Just did a little bit of shopping. We were on a B2B so we had to do this twice. At the end of each week we owed just over $1.

It can go very quick. Gratutues for 2 on 7 day cruise are $189. Upgrade to the Premium beverage package $165 A dinner in Murano with 25% discount is $75 add on a tip $15-20 . Leaves you about $ 30 for wine tastings. fitness classes, spa, shopping, etc.

Oops forgot tge wifi package so you'll spend most of it on wifi & gratuties.

If the $475 is from Celebrity it is normally not refundable -use it or lose it.

I'm going to enjoy this problem.

Last cruise we had beverage package and gratuities, so we used the OBC for dining, spa, shore excursions and lots of shopping:D We also left additional gratuities for several more than deserving crew members and since some of the OBC was refundable, got money back at the end of the cruise.

We are (happily) receiving more onboard credit for our Silhouette cruise in March. I'll take free money whenever I can get it, thanks.

But it's a lot. (Thanks again.)

 

So how will we spend $475? Is it possible to get it back if we haven't spent it all?

 

• We've already booked our shore excursions (non-Celeb)
  
• Drinks included
  
• We'll book speciality dining onboard, hopefully at a discount, but can live without it
  
• How is the spa? Don't really need it, need the treat at home more than on a cruise
  
• We can use it for gratuities, correct?
  
• We'll buy one wifi package, and potentially take a few fee-based classes at the gym
  

All in all I doubt we'll spend that much, though.

 

 

Thank you!

You can shop in the shops, you can play bingo. $475 is nice, but if you use it for gratuities and a few other things, it will be gone before you know it! Lol

Helaine

Trust me, I used to think the same thing! We have been getting $xxxx amounts of OBC for our recent longer cruises in suites. Each time I think, "we will never spend it all!" Each time....I do and then some. I don't get it, but it happens! LOL ;p

ENJOY!

We spent the last of our OBC on our last two cruises at the ship's liquor store. There was a sale (until 1:00 pm) on the sea day the eve of our arrival at home port on last two cruises, so we got great deals. Thankfully, we had room in our luggage to carry the bottles home. Or we were already home.

Love the upgraded bottle of wine idea, too.

Here's a list I compiled a while ago. Perhaps it can be helpful:

Acupuncture

Airport transfers

Alcove rental (S Class ships)

Apple products and Ilounge classes

Art Auctions

Beverages -- Alcoholic, soft drinks, specialty coffees and teas, bottled water

Bingo

Bottles of wine

Casino

Dining room uncharge items

Duty free liquor and cigarettes

Fitness classes

Flowers

Gelato

Gift shops

Gratuities

Hair and nail salon

Internet

Laundry/pressing/drycleaning

Luggage Valet

Medical Center

Mini bar

Shore Excursions

Pay-per-view movies

Photos & cameras

Room service up charge items

Shore Excursions

Shuttle to town (some ports)

Spa -- massages and treatments

Specialty restaurants

Teeth Whitening

Voyage in Review DVD

Wine and liquor tastings

Zumba

if you have any left there's always the casino!

Does Celebrity still allow you to use OBC at the casino? I thought they stopped that. Even if they didn't, you'll pay a fee (forget if it was 3 or 5%}. Also, if the OBC is from your travel agent, it is most likely refundable if you don't spend it all (listed as OBR on your account as opposed to OBN for non-refundable). So unless you really want to spend it, check to see how much is refundable before going out of your way to use it.

Personally, I'm happy to get some money back at the end of the cruise if my OBC is refundable.

PS If you have a refundable credit make sure you don't have a rewards credit card on file or your refund will cost you. Change it to a debit card before the end of the cruise so you keep 100% of it.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Forums mobile app

You can use the OBC in the casino to place bets. You can no longer withdraw it as cash from the casino cashier like in former times.

You can use the OBC in the casino to place bets. You can no longer withdraw it as cash from the casino cashier like in former times.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Forums mobile app

OBC used in the casino -- two ways. One way is to have the amount loaded onto your slot machine, the other way is to "buy" marked chips for table games. The chips cannot be cashed, they can only be gambled. If you win, you get the regular chips which can be cashed. Similarly, the credit placed on the slot machine can only be gambled. Winnings can then be cashed.

OBC used in the casino -- two ways. One way is to have the amount loaded onto your slot machine, the other way is to "buy" marked chips for table games. The chips cannot be cashed, they can only be gambled. If you win, you get the regular chips which can be cashed. Similarly, the credit placed on the slot machine can only be gambled. Winnings can then be cashed.

And if you decide to play roulette to convert the "marked" chips into cash winnings, on average $100 of "marked" chips will yield only $90 of regular chips that can be cashed in.

OBC used in the casino -- two ways. One way is to have the amount loaded onto your slot machine, the other way is to "buy" marked chips for table games. The chips cannot be cashed, they can only be gambled. If you win, you get the regular chips which can be cashed. Similarly, the credit placed on the slot machine can only be gambled. Winnings can then be cashed.

Bottom line, I don't think it's worth doing if you have refundable OBC.

One way to determine up front if the OBC is refundable or not is to login to your Cruise Planner. They now let you spend Celebrity (non-refundable) OBC in advance, so it will tell you how much you've got. It's probably not 100% fool-proof, but its better than not knowing.

In my case, for my 2 Edge cruises in 2019, I ended up with $450 of Celebrity OBC and $300 on TA OBC on each leg. Since I got the drink package and free tips (and the premium drink package isn't worth it to me and we never go to the spa), I WILL have to figure out how to spend the $450. I'm sure that Celebrity will have plenty of specialty restaurants to help me with that, and I may buy the Internet package if the price is more reasonable than the $224 for 7 nights that the planner currently shows. I don't expect to spend any of the TA OBC and will hopefully get most of that refunded at the end of each leg.

On the other hand, my Panama Canal on Infinity has $450 OBC that is all from the TA, so I don't need to worry about spending any of that.

OBC used in the casino -- two ways. One way is to have the amount loaded onto your slot machine, the other way is to "buy" marked chips for table games. The chips cannot be cashed, they can only be gambled. If you win, you get the regular chips which can be cashed. Similarly, the credit placed on the slot machine can only be gambled. Winnings can then be cashed.

Wrong......On Equinox presently and doing b2b....Had 425 OBC each leg.....go to table (not cage) and ask for draw on your OBC. They will say a 5% charge. Accept that and that gave us 425 in REAL chips(-5%).Just walk away then.

Did it each leg. Took the approx. $800 and put in pocket for down payment for next cruise.

.....go to table (not cage) and ask for draw on your OBC. They will say a 5% charge.

Thanks so much for this info.

Do you specifically ask them to drawn "from your OBC" or is it just drawn on your shipboard account to which OBC is automatically applied?

Wow == that's new. I wonder if it is fleetwide? Or perhaps you just got lucky and the person at the table didn't follow the instructions to give you marked chips? Either way, you got lucky and it worked out for you and I hope it will work for others in the future.

Here's a list I compiled a while ago. Perhaps it can be helpful:

 

Acupuncture

Airport transfers

Alcove rental (S Class ships)

Apple products and Ilounge classes

Art Auctions

Beverages -- Alcoholic, soft drinks, specialty coffees and teas, bottled water

Bingo

Bottles of wine

Casino

Dining room uncharge items

Duty free liquor and cigarettes

Fitness classes

Flowers

Gelato

Gift shops

Gratuities

Hair and nail salon

Internet

Laundry/pressing/drycleaning

Luggage Valet

Medical Center

Mini bar

Shore Excursions

Pay-per-view movies

Photos & cameras

Room service up charge items

Shore Excursions

Shuttle to town (some ports)

Spa -- massages and treatments

Specialty restaurants

Teeth Whitening

Voyage in Review DVD

Wine and liquor tastings

Zumba

Thanks cruisestitch. I <3 list people!

whoops -- that's up charge, not uncharge in the dining room. :D

We usually have in excess of $900 to $1000 OBC. Much of it goes back on our card at the end (the refundable part).

I did get a Michael Kors black bag which I might have bought anyway, and same price as on land but no tax. I use it constantly.

Your OBC will be on your account which is debited your charges daily, so much of it will automatically go towards your gratuities. If you buy some fee classes and one internet package, you probably won't have much left. You can also designate at Guest Relations some of it to go to certain individuals as extra tips. We do that.

While it is certainly a nice problem to have, I personally would much rather have a cheaper cruise to begin with. I know, I know, it won't happen because due to mark-ups they still make out financially on the deal. But despite all the various options to spend, I often end up trolling the gift shops last minute trying to find something to buy. We have more watches than we need by now! I take a little out for gambling but as a machine player their odds are so very awful that I can't justify much for that. Much prefer doing my own shore excursions if any. At my age, don't need all those pretty pics anymore. Used to do massages each cruise but get so tired of all the pressure selling at the end that I stick to land based ones now. Book AQ so very rarely do specialty restaurants as I like Blu so much. Only book when I can get decent perks so don't need much (if at all) for that.

Yes, first world problems for sure. Thank goodness some of our OBC is refundable from our TA, but I do feel the pain of trying to find a way to spend it all. If they can't lower the price instead, I wish they would offer some better shopping in their stores so I could spend it that way.