OBC Question

[SpoonerCruizer]

Has anybody purchased OBC to be used on you upcoming cruise? I thought this would be a good idea, since it gives you a set amount to spend, and not overspend on the ship.

Please let me know what you think.

 

Thanks

[Disney10]

I just did. I am not sure if it will help me any but it does set an amount that I don't want to go over. I also prepaid for excursions and tips so that I won't (crosses fingers) have anything to pay at the end. I just like to have it all paid for before I go. :rolleyes: I leave on 2/12 I will check back in after to let you know how it goes!

[justkiya]

How do you buy OBC ahead of time?

[SpoonerCruizer]

Its listed in the Bon Voyage gifts....

[Dayenu]

I'm curious, how do you keep a track of your spendings?

 

Let's say, I have a limit of $300 to spend, and I got a tour for $65 and $25 drinks and they put tips of $12 on my account - do you add and subtract every day?

 

In this case, how does it different from just knowing how much more you can spend, how pre-paying keeps you from over-spending versus just knowing how much you've spent?

 

Pre-paying may help you not to get a large credit card bill, I agree with that, but I don't understand how it will help you not to over-spend.

 

Can you put a cap on your cabin card? Will the ship do it for you? Or you must tolly up daily spendings?

[SpoonerCruizer]

I keep track bythe reciepts I get... tally them up everyday. Also prepay for all excursions we do, so its the ship spending that I keep track of.

[Dayenu]

So you add the receipts every day. Exactly my point: you still have to keep an eye on spendings, doesn't matter if they are pre-paid or not.

[xenagurl]

Great idea!

I ought to do this.

I don't.

I'll cry later.

:D

[SpoonerCruizer]

Dayenu-

I would rather bring down a OBC than be surprised at the end... sorry if it doesn't make sense to you. Different strokes for different folks.:o

[NMLady]

So you add the receipts every day. Exactly my point: you still have to keep an eye on spendings, doesn't matter if they are pre-paid or not.

 

You can also ask the Front Desk for a print out of your expenditures so far.

You can do that at any time. But yes, YOU have to keep an eye on your own spending.

 

What I like about buying OBC ahead of time and prepaying the DSC ahead of time is that it's spread out through several credit card billings which for my budgeting makes it easier to pay the credit card bills.

 

Each person has to decide for themselves what the best way is for them for paying the onboard expenses. Some prefer to make a cash deposit onboard instead of credit card since then Front Desk will cut off charges until more cash (or travelers checks) are deposited.

 

I prefer to use credit card since ours pays 1% on all charges to it and we are self-disciplined enough not to charge more than we can pay in full each month.

[TEACRUISER]

I always purchase OBC. It makes the cruise more relaxing not wondering how large the bill will be at the end. I try to estimate about how many drink I may generally drink per day, specialty restaurants, etc. I add a little extra for misc. purchases. I used to allow for the $12 per day but this time I pre paid for that plus 2 excursions I knew I wanted to do. I do try to keep my receipts from the day and check the total at night. But generally that is so I could have any corrections made, if needed, on the sooner side. Never had to though. Last cruise, without refraining from anything I wanted.., I ended up getting $4 back in the mail afterwards.

[bostongal965]

We've prepaid our on-board account both cruises - like many, we don't do credit cards, and we don't want the hassle of any holds on our debit cards. It also helps us budget as well as travel carrying less cash. It works for us, and we plan on doing it for our next cruise.

 

That being said...

 

We had minor issues both times with having access to the money the first couple days on the ship. The OBC doesn't post to your account until Monday morning (why, I don't know - I would imagine it has something to do with business hours in Miami). The first time we put up a bit of a stink on day one (after all, they had a sizable chunk of OUR money already, lol), and they adjusted it for us. The second time we were prepared and put cash down to cover the first couple days. However, there was some glitch as to whose name the money was assigned to (it was assigned to me, rather than the room) so my husband's card wouldn't work.

 

In both cases the situation was handled quickly, and I was sure to have copies of all e-mails and receipts and such. On board, we kept track of our spending, and asked for printouts everyday. In all honesty, it worked for us that way - no worries about money or a big bill at the end.

[MeHeartCruising]

On some ships, you can check your account balance on the TV in your cabin. I know you can on the Epic and I've seen it on other cruise lines as well. But I can't recall if I had it on the other NCL ships I've been on. I check it there every day to make sure things look correct if the ship has that feature.

[peg013]

On some ships, you can check your account balance on the TV in your cabin. I know you can on the Epic and I've seen it on other cruise lines as well. But I can't recall if I had it on the other NCL ships I've been on. I check it there every day to make sure things look correct if the ship has that feature.

 

You can check it on the TV on the Gem too.

[bostongal965]

It wasn't available yet on the Sun as of Dec 31 - however, the Sun still has those old-style, little TVs. Still, it was really no big deal to check at the desk - they gave us a printout in about a minute.

[zzee10]

It wasn't available yet on the Sun as of Dec 31 - however, the Sun still has those old-style, little TVs. Still, it was really no big deal to check at the desk - they gave us a printout in about a minute.

Wasn't available on the Jewel last year either........we did the print outs too and it was very helpful to know how much we had spent and to make sure everyday that there were not mistakes.