Refundable vs Nonrefundable Onboard Credit ?

[SAKay]

My husband and I will be going on the Ruby Princess soon. For the first time, we have a substantial amount of onboard credit, both refundable & non. We each both have the same

amount of total onboard credit, but different amounts of refundable vs non. I’ve heard you can get your refundable credit back, which for us would be $300, with part of that in each of our accounts. We will be going on some excursions, doing Crown Grill, sanctuary, etc.  We have enough credit to do all those things & still get the $300 back. Can someone please tell me how that works ?  As we spend onboard which part does it take first, refundable or non or both ? Do you have to designate which one ?  Thanks for any help !! 😋

[Rick&Jeannie]

I have seen others post that it uses non-refundable first...but hopefully others will step up with first-hand knowledge.

[Steelers36]

28 minutes ago, SAKay said:

My husband and I will be going on the Ruby Princess soon. For the first time, we have a substantial amount of onboard credit, both refundable & non. We each both have the same

amount of total onboard credit, but different amounts of refundable vs non. I’ve heard you can get your refundable credit back, which for us would be $300, with part of that in each of our accounts. We will be going on some excursions, doing Crown Grill, sanctuary, etc.  We have enough credit to do all those things & still get the $300 back. Can someone please tell me how that works ?  As we spend onboard which part does it take first, refundable or non or both ? Do you have to designate which one ?  Thanks for any help !! 😋

Princess consumes your non-ref OBC first.  If you have a small balance of ref credit left over (say around $25 or less, you can collect it from Pursor's at Guest Services.  Otherwise, they send a check post-cruise in the mail.  There is another opportunity to collect your funds before leaving the ship.  Ask some friends on board who might like gaming.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Every time I walk past the casino it just automatically sucks up whatever OBC I have...

[skynight]

Each of your accounts will start out with a net credit balance. As you spend money on board those charges will net against the credit balance. The system first deducts from the non-refundable credit then the refundable. Whatever refundable credit remains when you disembark will be refunded to you. Refunds are normally by check in a plain envelope, looks like junk mail, and arrives maybe 6 weeks after disembarkation. Check your accounts each day to be sure all is well. It is way easier to correct errors when on board than after you disembark.

[Loritd]

We had both nonrefundable and refundable OBC in September. The nonrefundable was used first. We had a little less than $200 refundable two days before the end of our cruise. We each charged $100 on  slot machines played for a few minutes and cashed out.  That way we didn't have to wait for a check.

[HaveDogWillTravel]

4 hours ago, SAKay said:

 Do you have to designate which one ?  Thanks for any help !! 

As has been stated your non refundable gets used first. If you book excursions prior to boarding the OBC will be taken from the persons’ account for whom the excursion is made 

 

Once you are on board you can designate which account to charge. Let’s say you have more non refundable OBC than your partner……you can ask the sanctuary or Sabatini’s to bill both reservations to your account. 
 

Check your folio daily on the ap and use Crew Chat to settle any errors instead of standing in line at Guest Services. 

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, skynight said:

Each of your accounts will start out with a net credit balance. As you spend money on board those charges will net against the credit balance. The system first deducts from the non-refundable credit then the refundable. Whatever refundable credit remains when you disembark will be refunded to you. Refunds are normally by check in a plain envelope, looks like junk mail, and arrives maybe 6 weeks after disembarkation. Check your accounts each day to be sure all is well. It is way easier to correct errors when on board than after you disembark.

Folks have been saying at least for past year that the envelopes now have Princess Cruises printed on them even though coming from an outside provider.

[SAKay]

Got it !  Thanks very much for the info !  😃

[rhblake]

On our last Princess cruise, we had a lot of on-board credit, both refundable and nonrefundable. Since we knew that we would never use all the nonrefundable credit we went down to guest services and transferred most of it to the crew appreciation account.

[billco]

19 hours ago, Loritd said:

We had both nonrefundable and refundable OBC in September. The nonrefundable was used first. We had a little less than $200 refundable two days before the end of our cruise. We each charged $100 on  slot machines played for a few minutes and cashed out.  That way we didn't have to wait for a check.

Been doing that for quite a while in the comfort of my cabin by playing a few hands of blackjack on the TV. However, I noticed the details of my next cruise say "Credit must be used on the single voyage that it was awarded in connection with, is not redeemable for cash, cannot be used in the casino, is not applicable during the land portion of cruisetours, and expires at the end of that voyage." I don't know if that is new or it has always had that caveat in the fine print.

[PescadoAmarillo]

We don’t do the casino cash out any longer. Seems like cheating to us when it’s clearly stated it’s not allowed. But we also refuse to leave the ship being owed anything from Princess. Between purchasing items I use anyway from the cosmetics shop on board, doing some purposeful gambling and transferring it the crew appreciation fund, we manage to use it all up. 

[LACruiser88]

We also never leave any OBC unused.  For us vinophiles, it can be used to buy some very good bottles of vino! 🍷

[Loritd]

I don't want people to think I was promoting scamming the cruise line. The refundable onboard credit was from a prepurchased cancelled shore excursion at a missed port.  I simply did not want to wait 3 to 6 weeks to get my money back.