What is the on board credit good for?

[DaveOKC]

From the current Carnival shareholder benefit form:

 

"This benefit is available to shareholders holding a minimum of 100 shares of Carnival Corporation or Carnival plc. Employees, travel agents cruising at travel agent rates, tour conductors or anyone cruising on a reduced-rate or complimentary basis are excluded from this offer. 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"

[kazu]

10 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

From the current Carnival shareholder benefit form:

 

"This benefit is available to shareholders holding a minimum of 100 shares of Carnival Corporation or Carnival plc. Employees, travel agents cruising at travel agent rates, tour conductors or anyone cruising on a reduced-rate or complimentary basis are excluded from this offer. 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"

 

completely correct - but my statement (and yes I get CCL OBC) clearly says what I quoted earlier.  No mention of gratuities at all.  

It will be interesting to see what is says next May.

[richwmn]

39 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

From the current Carnival shareholder benefit form:

 

"This benefit is available to shareholders holding a minimum of 100 shares of Carnival Corporation or Carnival plc. Employees, travel agents cruising at travel agent rates, tour conductors or anyone cruising on a reduced-rate or complimentary basis are excluded from this offer. 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"

It has actually said that for years, but HAL used it for gratuities anyway.

 

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, RuthC said:

Agreed. For years the terms of OBC have said they can't be used for the Hotel Service Charge, but for years, they have been deducted every day when the HSC was added to my portfolio. 

Right, they list the charges and the credits such as OBC, and they balance out.

[ontheweb]

21 minutes ago, richwmn said:

It has actually said that for years, but HAL used it for gratuities anyway.

 

And so did all the other Carnival Corporation lines. 

 

Actually, we would not have been able to use our shareholder OBC for gratuities on the Princess cruise we would have been on last summer if not for Covid, but only because gratuities were included in the deal we had.

[RuthC]

6 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

We all need to get this clarified IMO.  It could be that Hotel Service Charge is NOT the same as gratuities?  

Or 'Crew incentive'? 
A rose by any other name ... . 

[drowelf]

On 9/1/2021 at 2:46 PM, RuthC said:

Agreed. For years the terms of OBC have said they can't be used for the Hotel Service Charge, but for years, they have been deducted every day when the HSC was added to my portfolio. 

 

 

On 9/1/2021 at 2:50 PM, kazu said:

 

Ditto.  But until my last cruise the casino could also be deducted and that is no longer the case.

 

Frankly, HAL would be foolish not to be used for HSC/Crew Incentive. Fewer people to run to the front desk and remove it 😉 

 

And here too. Although I never could really tell if it would apply to the casino spend. All the cruises I have taken when the end of cruise folio shows up, the balance was always the straight math of Total Charges - OBC results in net owed, which even for a 7 day cruise always ended up being a positive number greater than the DW slot spend. It going to be interesting on the next cruise, as now with HIA perks, that leaves very little to actually add to the bill. 

[kazu]

13 minutes ago, drowelf said:

It going to be interesting on the next cruise, as now with HIA perks, that leaves very little to actually add to the bill. 

 

There’s always specialty dining, Cellar Master dinners, wine packages, shopping, drinks that cost more than $11, etc 😉 

[drowelf]

7 hours ago, kazu said:

 

There’s always specialty dining, Cellar Master dinners, wine packages, shopping, drinks that cost more than $11, etc 😉 

Well several of those are not really available to us. I don't drink alcohol and the DW is a very light drinker, which equates to may 2 martinis or so for each 7 cruise days. As for the specialty dining we have to deal with that pesky 4 star discount 😁. Oh poo. Our biggest shopping expenditures probably come from the pool deck sales. And of course Bingo! So it may become challenging to dispense with all the non-refundable OBC we generally end up with. And since we tend to do private excursions that another area where we can't spend it with HAL. Of the trials and tribulations we will have to deal with, whenever we can crawl onto a ship again!

Edited September 3, 2021 by drowelf

[VMax1700]

6 hours ago, drowelf said:

And of course Bingo!

Is Bingo not run by the casino, which would mean that promo OBC could not be used for Bingo?

[ontheweb]

8 hours ago, drowelf said:

Well several of those are not really available to us. I don't drink alcohol and the DW is a very light drinker, which equates to may 2 martinis or so for each 7 cruise days. As for the specialty dining we have to deal with that pesky 4 star discount 😁. Oh poo. Our biggest shopping expenditures probably come from the pool deck sales. And of course Bingo! So it may become challenging to dispense with all the non-refundable OBC we generally end up with. And since we tend to do private excursions that another area where we can't spend it with HAL. Of the trials and tribulations we will have to deal with, whenever we can crawl onto a ship again!

There sure are worse problems that one gets to deal with.😊

[RuthC]

12 hours ago, drowelf said:

Well several of those are not really available to us. I don't drink alcohol and the DW is a very light drinker, which equates to may 2 martinis or so for each 7 cruise days. As for the specialty dining we have to deal with that pesky 4 star discount 😁. Oh poo. Our biggest shopping expenditures probably come from the pool deck sales. And of course Bingo! So it may become challenging to dispense with all the non-refundable OBC we generally end up with. And since we tend to do private excursions that another area where we can't spend it with HAL. Of the trials and tribulations we will have to deal with, whenever we can crawl onto a ship again!

Then you can donate the unused non-refundable OBC to the crew fund for their gratuities. It would be a generous offer, and go to a good cause. 

There are worse problems to have. 

[Traveling Dot]

On my last cruise just this past August 2021 the OBC was used for everything except Casino or Cash.  Just looked at my statement on The Navigator and right at the top next to the first date of the cruise it says "Promo Credits (Not Valid For Casino Or Cash)"then the amount of the promo credits available.  I kept track of my credits and charges and noticed that any charges at the casino where not deducted from the Promo Credits (or OBC) but everything else was.  Hope that answers the question.

[drowelf]

57 minutes ago, RuthC said:

Then you can donate the unused non-refundable OBC to the crew fund for their gratuities. It would be a generous offer, and go to a good cause. 

There are worse problems to have. 

I did not know that and although its never happened as yet, its good to have an option for its use. 

 

And yes, its not a problem that I'll spend a great deal of time worrying about. Just something new to look forward to whenever we get to cruise next. Which is currently just a bit under 1 year away. 

[trixiee]

1 hour ago, Traveling Dot said:

On my last cruise just this past August 2021 the OBC was used for everything except Casino or Cash.  Just looked at my statement on The Navigator and right at the top next to the first date of the cruise it says "Promo Credits (Not Valid For Casino Or Cash)"then the amount of the promo credits available.  I kept track of my credits and charges and noticed that any charges at the casino where not deducted from the Promo Credits (or OBC) but everything else was.  Hope that answers the question.

Just double-checking - your OBC was deducted for the Crew Incentive (aka Hotel charges)?

[Traveling Dot]

Yes the crew incentive was taken from the obc.

 

[rucrazy]

You can also use it to buy a round of drinks for your new cruise friends! 🙂 

[Gil Benard]

Can the on board credits be used for merchandise in the gift shops, sales in the promenade, etc.  Thanks 

[VMax1700]

4 minutes ago, Gil Benard said:

Can the on board credits be used for merchandise in the gift shops, sales in the promenade, etc.  Thanks 

Yes to both

[kazu]

5 minutes ago, Gil Benard said:

Can the on board credits be used for merchandise in the gift shops, sales in the promenade, etc.  Thanks 

 

Absolutely 🙂 

 

oops - echo.  Sorry VMax1700 and I posted at the same time.

[zgscl]

On 9/3/2021 at 11:13 AM, Gil Benard said:

Can the on board credits be used for merchandise in the gift shops, sales in the promenade, etc.  Thanks 

I now have a lovely model of the Nieuw Amsterdam that was bought with OBC!

[Banditswife]

It is amusing to see the differences from brand to brand under the same ownership umbrella.  Carnival allows OBC to be used in casino or for "crew incentive."  Unless they have changed the rules, I better check Carnival cuz we have $1300 OBC for a cruise in April 2022.  I was planning on using it in casino & gratuities.  And for our HAL cruise we were denied the shareholder benefit because we booked a very discounted fare.  Differences from brand to brand are mind boggling.

[kazu]

39 minutes ago, Banditswife said:

It is amusing to see the differences from brand to brand under the same ownership umbrella.  Carnival allows OBC to be used in casino or for "crew incentive."  Unless they have changed the rules, I better check Carnival cuz we have $1300 OBC for a cruise in April 2022.  I was planning on using it in casino & gratuities. 

 

You used to be able to use it for casino on HAL but they finally caught on.

Still works for gratuities aka crew incentive.

 

39 minutes ago, Banditswife said:

 

And for our HAL cruise we were denied the shareholder benefit because we booked a very discounted fare.  Differences from brand to brand are mind boggling.

 

There is no difference in brand on this.  Those are the shareholder benefit rules.  Any ridiculous discounted cruise is eliminated like casino fares (not discount), TA discounts, etc.  Those are the rules for all cruise lines under the CCL shareholder benefit umbrella.

[VMax1700]

8 hours ago, Banditswife said:

Differences from brand to brand are mind boggling.

That is really what it is about.  If everything was the same there would be no brand differential and no need to have different brands.

[cruisemover]

Is the onboard credit from the American Express Cruise Privileges Program any different from other non-refundable onboard credit? American Express says the credit cannot be used for gratuities, but "Crew Appreciation" is no longer a "gratuity" according the Holland America...