What to spend OBC on?

[Ilovesailaway]

What can OBC be used for? Can I purchase Cheers? I ask because after 2 canceled cruises I am back to the drawing board. I will have 600 to 800 OBC when I do finally board a ship. My latest cruise group includes 2 sons 24yoa and 21yoa. I would like to purchase Cheers so they would need to as well. I am thinking about using one of Carnival's latest promotions and booking a Cheers included cruise. Or should I look at other promotions and use my OBC for Cheers? Can I even do that? At this point I am not even thinking about ports or excursions. Aside from upcharge restaurants I am not sure where I would spend that much OBC.

[V_V]

Hopefully someone else will confirm, but I believe you can use your OBC to purchase the Cheers package. You can also use it to purchase excursions. 

 

[outdoors27]

We used our $1200.00 OBC to purchase cheers on 8/1 sailing on Horizon along with paying gratuity. Have $1900.00 for Panorama sailing next July. That should cover what I mentionex plus an excursion and steakhouse night. Have fun

[Ilovesailaway]

Ty outdoors27,

Now that I know I can use OBC to purchase Cheers I will look at all the current promotions and figure out what works best for my group.

[klfrodo]

You have no choice what to spend your OBC on.

Your on board account just starts with a negative balance representing your OBC.

As charges hit the account, your balance changes until you get into the positive where you now owe them.

[Jelly_Toast]

I typically pay gratuities in advance, but left them off my next cruise so my OBC can cover those.  After that...alcohol. 😃

[ray985]

If you're paying for the Cheers package with OBC, that mean you'll have to get it while onboard right? So you're not getting the discounted 10% price? Just want to make sure. I hate that I can't use the OBC for stuff like excursions that I pre-book online. 

[BoozinCroozin]

Daily cabin service fees, casino, specialty dining, souvenirs, excursions.

[JeanieTheMom]

34 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

You have no choice what to spend your OBC on.

Your on board account just starts with a negative balance representing your OBC.

As charges hit the account, your balance changes until you get into the positive where you now owe them.

Very good explanation!

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

1 hour ago, Ilovesailaway said:

What can OBC be used for? Can I purchase Cheers? I ask because after 2 canceled cruises I am back to the drawing board. I will have 600 to 800 OBC when I do finally board a ship. My latest cruise group includes 2 sons 24yoa and 21yoa. I would like to purchase Cheers so they would need to as well. I am thinking about using one of Carnival's latest promotions and booking a Cheers included cruise. Or should I look at other promotions and use my OBC for Cheers? Can I even do that? At this point I am not even thinking about ports or excursions. Aside from upcharge restaurants I am not sure where I would spend that much OBC.

You can purchase anything you want with it on board the ship.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

1 hour ago, Ilovesailaway said:

What can OBC be used for? Can I purchase Cheers? I ask because after 2 canceled cruises I am back to the drawing board. I will have 600 to 800 OBC when I do finally board a ship. My latest cruise group includes 2 sons 24yoa and 21yoa. I would like to purchase Cheers so they would need to as well. I am thinking about using one of Carnival's latest promotions and booking a Cheers included cruise. Or should I look at other promotions and use my OBC for Cheers? Can I even do that? At this point I am not even thinking about ports or excursions. Aside from upcharge restaurants I am not sure where I would spend that much OBC.

Your gratuities will automatically be removed from it.

[SNJCruisers]

1 hour ago, Ilovesailaway said:

What can OBC be used for? Can I purchase Cheers? I ask because after 2 canceled cruises I am back to the drawing board. I will have 600 to 800 OBC when I do finally board a ship. My latest cruise group includes 2 sons 24yoa and 21yoa. I would like to purchase Cheers so they would need to as well. I am thinking about using one of Carnival's latest promotions and booking a Cheers included cruise. Or should I look at other promotions and use my OBC for Cheers? Can I even do that? At this point I am not even thinking about ports or excursions. Aside from upcharge restaurants I am not sure where I would spend that much OBC.

If you have an offer to book a RU 1-2-3 cruise using Cheers, that is the way to do it.  With four of you, 600-800 in OBC is not much after factoring in almost 400 for gratuities.  The problem though is that the RU codes are only good for two people in a cabin, so if there are 3 of you, it won't work, but if there are four of you and you have multiple offers, you just book two cabins.  If you're going to cram the four of you into 1 cabin, then the OBC you have if you're getting Cheers on board will only cover part of it since Cheers for four on board is over 1500 with tips.

[Schoifmom]

5 hours ago, ray985 said:

If you're paying for the Cheers package with OBC, that mean you'll have to get it while onboard right? So you're not getting the discounted 10% price? Just want to make sure. I hate that I can't use the OBC for stuff like excursions that I pre-book online. 

 

That is correct.  I believe that you would save money using one of the RU codes, rather than purchasing Cheers.  Use your OBC for something else (grats, on board purchases, gambling, excursions, etc.).

[arkaine23]

Our 600 OBC went to these things.  Thankfully our balance grew a little on the roulette table, but still not enough to cover the diamond earrings that were a gift for my wife.  I left gratuity off the list, which is a good thing to spend OBC on.  We'd already pre-paid ours more than a year ago.

 

1)  Lobster rolls, Sushi, or other non-free dining options

2)  Gambling & Drinks

3)  Liquor

4)  Massage

5)  Candy

6)  iMax movie

7 )  T-shirts

8 ) Excursions

9)  Jewelry

[arkaine23]

7 hours ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

You can purchase anything you want with it on board the ship.

Pretty sure you can NOT spend OBC on Carnival gift cards in the Candy Store.

[SNJCruisers]

2 minutes ago, arkaine23 said:

Pretty sure you can NOT spend OBC on Carnival gift cards in the Candy Store.

According to JH, that loophole has been plugged.  But who knows?  Nobody has posted they were denied doing it or were successful doing it.

[ledges1]

8 hours ago, klfrodo said:

You have no choice what to spend your OBC on.

Your on board account just starts with a negative balance representing your OBC.

As charges hit the account, your balance changes until you get into the positive where you now owe them.

Good explanation. Enjoy your cruise and do not over think how to use the credit. It will be used very easily and you will still owe carnival money at the end of the cruise.

[JandPB]

So let’s say it’s the last night and I have $200 of OBC left. Could I leave a $200 tip for my favorite bar tender even though I have cheers?

[SNJCruisers]

1 hour ago, JandPB said:

So let’s say it’s the last night and I have $200 of OBC left. Could I leave a $200 tip for my favorite bar tender even though I have cheers?

Yes

[Joe817]

1 hour ago, JandPB said:

So let’s say it’s the last night and I have $200 of OBC left. Could I leave a $200 tip for my favorite bar tender even though I have cheers?

Yes, like SNJ said...or your room steward....or the person you saw constantly wiping down the bannisters when taking the stairs. Or the 1000's of other behind the scenes people who work their asses off to make every thing you do, to make sure you have a most enjoyable experience. Right down to the lowly pizza guy, not to mention the bus boys in the buffet area. 

 

A better option would be to go to Guest Services on the last night, and tell them you'd like to put that $200 towards tipping everyone, both front line, and the people behind the scenes "a little extra" for their effort.  

[JandPB]

28 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

Yes, like SNJ said...or your room steward....or the person you saw constantly wiping down the bannisters when taking the stairs. Or the 1000's of other behind the scenes people who work their asses off to make every thing you do, to make sure you have a most enjoyable experience. Right down to the lowly pizza guy, not to mention the bus boys in the buffet area. 

 

A better option would be to go to Guest Services on the last night, and tell them you'd like to put that $200 towards tipping everyone, both front line, and the people behind the scenes "a little extra" for their effort.  

I’m using the bartender as an example but thank you for clarifying. 

[Colorado Beach Bum]

Spend some in the casino and you just might get some nice casino offers in the future 

[GlobalSurfer]

Just got off the Magic this morning.

 

Here is what you can do with your non-refundable OBC.  I did this my first night.

 

Go to a old video poker slot machine in the casino (.25 per play)  and charge your room the amount of the credit.  It will use the "non-refundable" OBC which you will now have that amount in your players bank.  NOW THIS IS IMPORTANT.  If you immediately cash out your players bank, the system will catch this and block your account from charging your room for more funds. This is what happened to me.  However, when you go to the cashier cage and say you didn't know (which I didn't), they will unblock your account and you are good again.  At this point you have all your OBC in cash in hand and are good to go.

 

The other thing I learned is that the Slots now let you charge up to $1,000 to your room per day without any service charge like you would have to pay at the table games.  If you have a good credit card that give you cash back or perks and want to rack up some points, you can withdraw the $1,000 daily and cash out each day (remember to play a couple .25 spins so you don't get locked out when you cash out) and earn those rewards on your credit card.

 

 

Edited September 10, 2021 by GlobalSurfer

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

On 9/8/2021 at 6:55 PM, arkaine23 said:

Pretty sure you can NOT spend OBC on Carnival gift cards in the Candy Store.

You were able to. I do not know if it had changed.

 

48 minutes ago, GlobalSurfer said:

Just got off the Magic this morning.

 

Here is what you can do with your non-refundable OBC.  I did this my first night.

 

Go to a old video poker slot machine in the casino (.25 per play)  and charge your room the amount of the credit.  It will use the "non-refundable" OBC which you will now have that amount in your players bank.  NOW THIS IS IMPORTANT.  If you immediately cash out your players bank, the system will catch this and block your account from charging your room for more funds. This is what happened to me.  However, when you go to the cashier cage and say you didn't know (which I didn't), they will unblock your account and you are good again.  At this point you have all your OBC in cash in hand and are good to go.

 

The other thing I learned is that the Slots now let you charge up to $1,000 to your room per day without any service charge like you would have to pay at the table games.  If you have a good credit card that give you cash back or perks and want to rack up some points, you can withdraw the $1,000 daily and cash out each day (remember to play a couple .25 spins so you don't get locked out when you cash out) and earn those rewards on your credit card.

 

 

Good advise. The last time I could not get the cash. I had $8,500.00 to cash out. Called it money laundering. They said I did not paly that amount. I had to take it and pay down the bill. The casino manager walked me to the customer service desk to do that.

[GlobalSurfer]

They were totally wrong unless you had loaded up cash on your account beforehand.  The other thing which it sounds like you did is charge your room daily without withdrawing daily without playing anything or minimally.  In either case, charging your credit card daily is in no way, shape or form money laundering.  

Edited September 10, 2021 by GlobalSurfer