Buying onboard credit

[Duquesmom]

I am trying to buy onboard credit for myself & can’t find a place to do it.  Am I missing something?

[merlin5353]

You certainly are. You don't buy credit. You GET it.

[Jim_Iain]

With due respect  to the previous post,  You actually you can buy OBC - Click on Gifts and Gear

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/cruise-gifts/items-results?category=ONBDCR&collection=ONBDCR

 

They can be purchased in increments of $25.00 

 

Please note that a 5% handling fee will be assessed if the credit is redeemed in the casino.   This is stated on the gift website but I've never seen it actually charged.   

 

Unless this is a gift, I would recommend that you just charge to your room and it will be charged to your Debit or Credit Card for any overage of existing Credits.    It would be a good idea otherwise to call Celebrity and make sure the gift is a Refundable OBC.

[wrk2cruise]

I have done it by calling a couple of times.   I had an offer on my Amex card for a Celebrity purchase and I charge my sailings on my CSR card for it's travel benefits.  Buying OBC allowed me to take advantage of the offer.   You can cash out any remaining refundable OBC from these purchases at the Guest Relations desk on the last day of the cruise (without fee).

 

Jim, suites and Zenith have the 5% fee in the casino waived.  Not sure what happens otherwise.

[Jim_Iain]

28 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

I have done it by calling a couple of times.   I had an offer on my Amex card for a Celebrity purchase and I charge my sailings on my CSR card for it's travel benefits.  Buying OBC allowed me to take advantage of the offer.   You can cash out any remaining refundable OBC from these purchases at the Guest Relations desk on the last day of the cruise (without fee).

 

Jim, suites and Zenith have the 5% fee in the casino waived.  Not sure what happens otherwise.

 

I've never purchased any OBC but have pulled off OBC at the slot machines.   There are some limitations on requirement  to gamble x% or you get locked out from additional charges to the slot.  

 

I didn't know that the the 5% fee waiver for Zenith's.    I learn something new all the time.

[Duquesmom]

45 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

With due respect  to the previous post,  You actually you can buy OBC - Click on Gifts and Gear

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/cruise-gifts/items-results?category=ONBDCR&collection=ONBDCR

 

They can be purchased in increments of $25.00 

 

Thank you for your response.  I’ve looked there & OBC isn’t listed.  My cruise is February, 2024, so maybe CEL thinks it’s too early. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[LaCal]

27 minutes ago, Duquesmom said:

Thank you for your response.  I’ve looked there & OBC isn’t listed.  My cruise is February, 2024, so maybe CEL thinks it’s too early. 🤷🏼‍♀️

call 800-242-6374.  you can purchase OBC 

[wrk2cruise]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

I didn't know that the the 5% fee waiver for Zenith's.    I learn something new all the time.

 

Used to be but never know now.....

[the penguins]

5 hours ago, Duquesmom said:

Thank you for your response.  I’ve looked there & OBC isn’t listed.  My cruise is February, 2024, so maybe CEL thinks it’s too early. 🤷🏼‍♀️

My question is why? Keep your money and spend it where you like during your trip.

[emmas gran]

1 hour ago, the penguins said:

My question is why? Keep your money and spend it where you like during your trip.

We have done this when the $ to £ rate was good, then again I married a Yorkshireman! 

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, emmas gran said:

We have done this when the $ to £ rate was good, then again I married a Yorkshireman! 

Our onboard spend after we have used up any OBC from X, OBC from our travel agent and our Shareholder benefit is always zero. Indeed our main focus is to convert our extra OBC to cash which we do by investing it wisely on the Roulette Table.

 

[cruisestitch]

One reason to buy OBC ahead of time is to take advantage of a favorable exchange rate.

 

Another is to move ones spending onto an earlier credit card statement, rather than waiting until the end of the cruise and seeing their charges then.  
 

This might be especially true if using the Celebrity branded credit card and approaching a points redemption amount.  Let’s say you have 14,000 points and you need 15,000 to redeem for $150 off the price of a cruise.  You anticipate spending $1000 on board on spa, shore excursions, etc. so by buying $1000 OBC ahead of the cruise, you achieve the 15,000 points and can redeem them.

[WestLakeGirl]

5 hours ago, the penguins said:

My question is why? Keep your money and spend it where you like during your trip.

We do it when we know that there will be a large expenditure coming up after the cruise and we are trying to spread our payments out a little; so by purchasing onboard credit ahead of the cruise our on-board spending doesn’t add to the next month’s burden when we get home

[Duquesmom]

I have a gift card credit card that I want to use to buy OBC.  Much easier to do in advance, if possible, than have to stand in line at Guest services while on the cruise.

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, WestLakeGirl said:

We do it when we know that there will be a large expenditure coming up after the cruise and we are trying to spread our payments out a little; so by purchasing onboard credit ahead of the cruise our on-board spending doesn’t add to the next month’s burden when we get home

Thanks, great idea if you know you will spend on the ship. We always have the other issue of getting our non refundable OBC converted to cash.