What to do with OBC?

[happy cruzer]

Reread this very interesting thread.  It is an onboard credit but they do allow you to use to buy excursions ahead of time.  Is there anything else you can use it for before the cruise?  Move up bid?  Room upgrade? Cruise insurance?  Drink Package upgrade?

[canderson]

@happy cruzer

Theres a pretty simple way of distinguishing how you can use it pre-cruise:

You can apply OBC to everything you could conceivably buy on the ship that can be pre-booked. That includes shore excursions, drink packages, specialty dining, spa ... but obviously excludes things like MoveUp charges and cruise insurance.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by canderson

[wrk2cruise]

I believe anything on Cruise Planner can be purchased using OBC.   We buy slot credits all the time.

[bigbenboys]

On 10/5/2021 at 1:00 PM, davekathy said:

Dead serious. We always have had OBC show under one or both our names (viewed on the staterooms TV) and I do request GS transfer all of mine to my wife. I hate shopping and if I don't transfer the OBC to my wife then I have to go in the ships shops and use my Seapass card for her purchase(s). My BP covers all my onboard expenses. 🍻

Our cruise in March 2019. On the last sea day we found out we had $600 OBC in my husbands account. We normally only look at mine. I went and bought a Coach double zip travel organizer for about $400 and some booze. The money was gone.

[canderson]

4 minutes ago, bigbenboys said:

Our cruise in March 2019. On the last sea day we found out we had $600 OBC in my husbands account. We normally only look at mine. I went and bought a Coach double zip travel organizer for about $400 and some booze. The money was gone.

The splitting of OBC creates confusion for a lot of pax who haven't experienced it.  We recently did a B2B where the OBC for each leg had been split.  During leg 1, we were losing track, so had them combine the OBC for leg 2 into one account to make sure our accounting was straight in the end.  Wanted to leave the balance as tips for our fantastic crew.

[Arizona Wildcat]

17 minutes ago, canderson said:

The splitting of OBC creates confusion for a lot of pax who haven't experienced it.  We recently did a B2B where the OBC for each leg had been split.  During leg 1, we were losing track, so had them combine the OBC for leg 2 into one account to make sure our accounting was straight in the end.  Wanted to leave the balance as tips for our fantastic crew.

Good for you.  We have always been refused when requesting to do exactly that.

To other posters - get a printout of your statement.  OBC that is from your TA is noted as OBCR and is refundable. 

[davekathy]

24 minutes ago, canderson said:

The splitting of OBC creates confusion for a lot of pax who haven't experienced it.  We recently did a B2B where the OBC for each leg had been split.  During leg 1, we were losing track, so had them combine the OBC for leg 2 into one account to make sure our accounting was straight in the end.  Wanted to leave the balance as tips for our fantastic crew.

Agree.  I remember having this conversation with you not to long ago that I always have had all our OBCs transferred under my wife's account. Been doing it for years. 

[davekathy]

11 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Good for you.  We have always been refused when requesting to do exactly that.

To other posters - get a printout of your statement.  OBC that is from your TA is noted as OBCR and is refundable. 

I've never had a problem and the request to have the OBC transferred was done immediately. Been doing it for years with refundable and non refundable OBC. 

[canderson]

2 hours ago, davekathy said:

Agree.  I remember having this conversation with you not to long ago that I always have had all our OBCs transferred under my wife's account. Been doing it for years. 

Indeed.  Last time we had sailed with X in 2014, there was only a single account.  They were also happy enough to combine them when asked on this last cruise.

 

I can't really understand why they do this (though the cynic in me can imagine just one) when a single card is being used as the guarantor for all pax in the cabin.  Two or more people with different credit cards for settling onboard charges ... there it could make more sense.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by canderson

[George C]

We have 800 in OBC for my beyond cruise will spend 700 or 800 on casino chips which will give us 770 or 880 in chips 😁

[candydane]

Are those restricted special chips or regular chips?

[cruisestitch]

55 minutes ago, candydane said:

Are those restricted special chips or regular chips?

They are not the regular chips and cannot be cashed out. After you use them to bet, any winnings can then be cashed out

[Harrylinden]

I bought jewelry!😀

[APFBarb]

Interesting discussion.   We too have way more OBC than we can spend on a transatlantic trip.  Quite a bit of the OBC is provided by Amex so assume it's refundable from what I learned here.

How do you identify and assign purchases, etc to the nonrefundable OBC?  Or does accounting automatically draw down the nonrefundable OBC first?  If I read a previous post correctly refundable OBC are credited back to the credit card on file.  This forum us an amazing resource.  Thank you.

[canderson]

1 hour ago, APFBarb said:

Interesting discussion.   We too have way more OBC than we can spend on a transatlantic trip.  Quite a bit of the OBC is provided by Amex so assume it's refundable from what I learned here.

How do you identify and assign purchases, etc to the nonrefundable OBC?  Or does accounting automatically draw down the nonrefundable OBC first?  If I read a previous post correctly refundable OBC are credited back to the credit card on file.  This forum us an amazing resource.  Thank you.

You don't have to worry about 'assigning' things.  It's automatic, and is done to be favorable to the passenger - non-refundable is pulled first.

 

To be clearer about how the system actually works ... it's not really two separate piles of OBC, it appears as one, and you'll notice this once you're aboard.  However, the addition of refundable OBC sets a 'trigger point' for the consequences of your spending.  It keeps the software and the accounting really simple.  You have one 'pile' of OBC which is actually more or less combined non-refundable and refundable that functions as just 'OBC' for your onboard account.

 

Let's say you have $400 in OBC from X (non-refundable) and $300 from your TA that is refundable.  In this case, your total available OBC is $700.

 

Now let's provide three examples of use:

 

a) You spend less than $400:

You have not reached the end of your non-refundable OBC.  You have lost $400 - $your spend in non-refundable OBC, but you get your full $300 refundable OBC back as credit to your card or whatever method.  Don't let this happen.  All of that $400 is house money!  If you can't find a way to spend the last $50, leave it as an extra tip for the crew (there are forms at Customer Service for this purpose).  No point in leaving money in the bank for X when you could give it to the crew.

 

b) You spend more than $400 but less than or equal to $700:

You have reached the end of your non-refundable $400, and the amount you will have credited back to you is $700 - $your spend.

 

c) You spend more than $700: 

You're already past your full amount of OBC, and what you owe on your card at the end of the cruise is $yourspend - $700.

 

 

[the penguins]

On 12/28/2021 at 12:42 AM, George C said:

We have 800 in OBC for my beyond cruise will spend 700 or 800 on casino chips which will give us 770 or 880 in chips 😁

We did this on Silhouette in August but didn't get a bonus. Did we misout or have the rules changed?

[wrk2cruise]

You only get the bonus if you buy them in your cruise planner prior to the sailing.   I know with slots they sometimes run a special onboard where you get the bonus but I've not seen that with chips.

 

Whenever there is a bonus involved you get promo chips/slot credit where the value of the promo must be bet and can't be cashed out.  Only winnings can be cashed out.

 

I've heard but don't know for sure that the entire amount price+bonus don't count towards casino play.

[wrk2cruise]

OBC is applied to your shipboard account as credits which can be identified by OBN and OBR.   If you have a balance on your shipboard account at the end of the sailing you will be refunded that amount up to the OBR amount any balance above that would be forfeited.

 

I usually let it just go back to my credit card but you can get it in cash from Guest Relations the last night of the cruise.  Some people do this to keep the credit card points from being reversed by the credit card from the credit.

[davy jones]

If it is not all spent before the last day, I envision treating myself to a bottle of fine spirits from the shop and dinner in one of the upcharge restaurants.

[APFBarb]

 

 

Interesting discussion.   We too have way more OBC than we can spend on a transatlantic trip.  Quite a bit of the OBC is provided by Amex so assume it's refundable from what I learned here.

How do you identify and assign purchases, etc to the nonrefundable OBC?  Or does accounting automatically draw down the nonrefundable OBC first?  If I read a previous post correctly refundable OBC are credited back to the credit card on file.  This forum us an amazing resource.  Thank you.

7 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

OBC is applied to your shipboard account as credits which can be identified by OBN and OBR.   If you have a balance on your shipboard account at the end of the sailing you will be refunded that amount up to the OBR amount any balance above that would be forfeited.

 

I usually let it just go back to my credit card but you can get it in cash from Guest Relations the last night of the cruise.  Some people do this to keep the credit card points from being reversed by the credit card from the credit.

Thank you for your replies.  Really helpful.   Happy new year to all.

[cruisestitch]

When you get on the ship, check your account on the TV or go to guest relations and you’ll see how much is refundable and how much is nonrefundable. Accounting will automatically use the nonrefundable first.

Edited December 29, 2021 by cruisestitch