On board credit

[Balloonguy123]

We have prepaid for excursions.  Can our on-board credit be used toward the mandatory gratuities?  

[oaktreerb]

yes

[Level six]

What can Shareholders OBC be used for?  Can that be used for gratuities? Casino?  This is our first HA cruise.  On Princess and NCL we can't use for grats, but can use in casino.  Thanks for any info. 

[Cruise Suzy]

1 hour ago, Level six said:

What can Shareholders OBC be used for?  Can that be used for gratuities? Casino?  This is our first HA cruise.  On Princess and NCL we can't use for grats, but can use in casino.  Thanks for any info. 

 

Per the Shareholder OBC form

This benefit is not transferable, cannot be exchanged for cash and, cannot be used for casino credits/charges and gratuities charged to your onboard account.

[DeeniEncinitas]

Yes!

Denise😊

[LoveHAL]

50 minutes ago, Cruise Suzy said:

 

Per the Shareholder OBC form

This benefit is not transferable, cannot be exchanged for cash and, cannot be used for casino credits/charges and gratuities charged to your onboard account.

Pertaining to gratuities, the above answer is incorrect. While I do not know about casino credits, On-Board Credits can certainly can be used for Hotel Service Charges (gratuities). 

[Cruise Suzy]

21 minutes ago, LoveHAL said:

Pertaining to gratuities, the above answer is incorrect. While I do not know about casino credits, On-Board Credits can certainly can be used for Hotel Service Charges (gratuities). 

 

On-Board Credits from TAs or pre-purchased can be used for gratuities. Shareholder On-Board Credit cannot be used for credits. As indicated, I was responding to the inquiry about Shareholder OBC.

Edited April 18, 2019 by Cruise Suzy

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, Cruise Suzy said:

 

Per the Shareholder OBC form

This benefit is not transferable, cannot be exchanged for cash and, cannot be used for casino credits/charges and gratuities charged to your onboard account.

 

16 minutes ago, LoveHAL said:

Pertaining to gratuities, the above answer is incorrect. While I do not know about casino credits, On-Board Credits can certainly can be used for Hotel Service Charges (gratuities). 

Cruise Suzy has provided a direct quotation from the form.

 

The disconnect is that the form is not referring to the daily Hotel Service Charges, but to gratuities related to the casino. Look at it this way:

 

This benefit

1. is not transferable;

2. cannot be exchanged for cash; and

3. cannot be used for casino credits/charges and gratuities charged to your onboard account.

[DaveOKC]

Just got our bill from our April cruise and it seems that they used our OBC for gratuities.  Hard to tell for certain though.  In all of our cruises we never had a problem getting OBC from HAL being used for it.

 

 

[Level six]

7 hours ago, Cruise Suzy said:

 

Per the Shareholder OBC form

This benefit is not transferable, cannot be exchanged for cash and, cannot be used for casino credits/charges and gratuities charged to your onboard account.

Thanks!  It says that on Princess form(I think it is the same company right? Carnvial?) and NCL also.  We have used shareholders OBC on several sailing on both Princess and NCL to play in the casino, but not gratuities.  I guess we will find out soon enough.  Thanks again.

[Classiccruiser777]

We were on the Eurodam this March and I received OBC for being a Carnival shareholder as well as using FCDs for booking the cruise. The OBC paid most of the gratuities, no problem.

[thinfool]

11 hours ago, Level six said:

What can Shareholders OBC be used for?  Can that be used for gratuities? Casino?  This is our first HA cruise.  On Princess and NCL we can't use for grats, but can use in casino.  Thanks for any info. 

Usage of the Shareholders OBC is controlled by CCL, not any of the individual cruise lines.

Gratuities can be paid from the Shareholders OBC....as long as the passenger has purchased a retail fare for his cruise.  Non-retail fares are not available to the public but are accessible by Travel Agents and employees of the cruise lines.

You have a retail fare even if you have purchased your cruise on the biggest, greatest sale of the year with all of the pick 4, meal deal, booze deal etc that you can find.

[Ken the cruiser]

On 4/17/2019 at 5:16 PM, Balloonguy123 said:

We have prepaid for excursions.  Can our on-board credit be used toward the mandatory gratuities?  

You can also "launder" your nonrefundable OBC into refundable OBC. Here's what you do. Go to the excursion desk and cancel then immediately rebook the number of excursions needed to use up your nonrefundable OBC. The only catch is you shouldn't convert a sold out excursion as you may wind up on the wait list when you rebook that one.

 

When you cancel your pre-booked excursions, the refund will go back onto your shipboard account as refundable OBC and when you rebook the excursion, it will use the refundable OBC in your account first before dipping into your nonrefundable OBC.

[RMLincoln]

"When you cancel your pre-booked excursions, the refund will go back onto your shipboard account as refundable OBC and when you rebook the excursion, it will use the refundable OBC in your account first before dipping into your nonrefundable OBC." by Ken the Cruiser

 

Ken, I thought the new booking of an excursion would draw first from the NON-refundable OBC, then the refundable OBC.  No? 

m--

Edited April 19, 2019 by RMLincoln

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, RMLincoln said:

"When you cancel your pre-booked excursions, the refund will go back onto your shipboard account as refundable OBC and when you rebook the excursion, it will use the refundable OBC in your account first before dipping into your nonrefundable OBC." by Ken the Cruiser

 

Ken, I thought the new booking of an excursion would draw first from the NON-refundable OBC, then the refundable OBC.  No? 

m--

Thanks! You caught my typo flip flop. You are correct. The new booking will use the nonrefundable OBC first before dipping into the refundable. 

[Petoonya]

On 4/18/2019 at 4:41 PM, Classiccruiser777 said:

We were on the Eurodam this March and I received OBC for being a Carnival shareholder as well as using FCDs for booking the cruise. The OBC paid most of the gratuities, no problem.

If it's possible would you email me at petuniafish at gmaildotcom    ???

[TAD2005]

Good idea, but watch the cancellation period of ship tours.  There is a 10% penalty for cancelling within a specific number of hours before the tour is to depart.  Some specialty tours, (like helicopter rides) have a much greater cancellation period.