Fun Ship Dollars vs. bar/soda/pic vouchers

[firstcruiseoct11]

My husband and I are taking our first cruise in October and I have been doing alot of reading. Is it better to buy Fun Ship Dollars to be credited to our OBC or buy the bar/soda/pic vouchers?

[jdcml]

Well, since the dollars can be used for anything but you can't buy a picture with a drink voucher dollars seem to make more sense to me. I dont know (sure it is searchable) but I doubt you get a refund on unused drink vouchers.

 

I just bought $150 in dollars today and had it applied to our account. We got our Chefs Table confirmation and I wanted to set the money aside for it. Sure I could have left it in savings but mentally if is already paid for this way :).

[firstcruiseoct11]

Well, since the dollars can be used for anything but you can't buy a picture with a drink voucher dollars seem to make more sense to me. I dont know (sure it is searchable) but I doubt you get a refund on unused drink vouchers.

 

I just bought $150 in dollars today and had it applied to our account. We got our Chefs Table confirmation and I wanted to set the money aside for it. Sure I could have left it in savings but mentally if is already paid for this way :).

 

Thanks! I will probably do the ship dollars. Does seem to make more sense :).

[julescruisin]

How do you purchase fun ship dollars, stupid question but I am cruising in June on the Glory and I thought it was a great idea to put some extra money on our OBC. Thanks for your help:D

[jdcml]

I did it by calling 1-800-522-7648. There is a push X for Fun Ship Dollars (I think it was 3). She took my cc# and booking number and got it all squared away in just a couple of minutes. Some people like to have them mailed to them so that they can see the balance grow but I didn't want to hassle with mailing them back in or doing it once we got on board. From what I understand you need to mail them back certified or trackable to ensure they get there which of course costs you to do. I didn't think I needed the certificate to look at for any reason.

 

There are a few other threads out here about dollars which finally gave me enough info to do it. You get a check on the last night for any unused balance. You can buy them online if you want and put your booking number in for the address (I preferred to call for some reason though.) Apparently it won't "show" online until closer to sailing but I asked them to send me an email confirmation and got one within a few hours. I'll just file that away in my emails and bring it with me just in case.

 

Like I said before, there are threads that say just bring cash or put it in a savings account and pay the credit card with that. There are many ways to do it, just whatever works best for you. Someone did the interest calculations and figured you might make something like an extra dollar by leaving at the bank. Others have said that they don't want to give Carnival their money to use until sailing with no compensation. All in all I don't care, I just know that I have the Chef's Table reserved and already have $150 in my account to cover it and life is good for me :D

[jdoc2010]

You can purchase Fun Ship Dollars online and have them applied to your booking directly. Put "Apply as On Board Credit" in the note field and put in your booking and cabin number in the address field.

 

To the OP, I personally purchase drink coupons and fun ship dollars.

The drink coupons are easy to use. Just hand it over to the bar tender and get your drink.

[firstcruiseoct11]

You can purchase Fun Ship Dollars online and have them applied to your booking directly. Put "Apply as On Board Credit" in the note field and put in your booking and cabin number in the address field.

 

To the OP, I personally purchase drink coupons and fun ship dollars.

The drink coupons are easy to use. Just hand it over to the bar tender and get your drink.

 

 

Thanks!! That's kinda what I was thinking. Do some fun ship dollars and some drink coupons.

[serene56]

I buy 1 $25.00 each pay. (cruising in February 2012)

 

I get paid bi-weekly so one week I call and order a certificate-- then next week I receive it- it does take 7 days to get it. Its an awesome way for me to have a countdown calender and watch my onboard account grow on piece of paper at a time.

 

 

THe coupons-- eh- too much math to do while I am on vacation. Dont feel like signing my name for every 50 cents I want to spend using a drink coupon. With the certificate I can use it for anything-- tips, casino, steak house etc.etc.

[Casey9]

Where on Carnival's website will it show that you have the OBC when you purchase Fun Dollars? I purchased some yesterday and asked that they be applied to my account, but I am unable to find a credit anywhere in my documents this morning. We sail in 9 days.

[serene56]

Where on Carnival's website will it show that you have the OBC when you purchase Fun Dollars? I purchased some yesterday and asked that they be applied to my account, but I am unable to find a credit anywhere in my documents this morning. We sail in 9 days.

 

 

Maybe they have not applied the credit= but in your documents- under the general tab-- there will be an invoice of what you paid etc -- OBC will belisted there

[Casey9]

Maybe they have not applied the credit= but in your documents- under the general tab-- there will be an invoice of what you paid etc -- OBC will belisted there

 

I see the invoice for the cruise fare and for an excursion that we booked through Carnival, but no OBC. Maybe they just haven't applied it yet. I'll keep checking. Thanks!

[firstcruiseoct11]

I see the invoice for the cruise fare and for an excursion that we booked through Carnival, but no OBC. Maybe they just haven't applied it yet. I'll keep checking. Thanks!

 

I purchased a $25 fun ship dollar online on Saturday and I got an email that it would be applied to our cruise, but I still can't see it either :( I plan on putting a little bit towards our On borad acct. every pay day and I would rather do it online than have them mailed to me. So I hope this works out.

[firstcruiseoct11]

I purchased a $25 fun ship dollar online on Saturday and I got an email that it would be applied to our cruise, but I still can't see it either :( I plan on putting a little bit towards our On borad acct. every pay day and I would rather do it online than have them mailed to me. So I hope this works out.

 

I just called Carnival. She said it takes a while for it to show up. She said once it's applied you can see it under "view documents". She did inform me that no matter how much you have in your OBC you still have to give them a minimum of $50 pp before boarding the ship. She told me something about the OBC is not good until you get on the ship and so they need that money prior to boarding. Which makes no sense to me.:confused: I told her that we did not want to use CC or DC. She said we can you a pre-paid visa card. Has anyone done this??

[serene56]

I just called Carnival. She said it takes a while for it to show up. She said once it's applied you can see it under "view documents". She did inform me that no matter how much you have in your OBC you still have to give them a minimum of $50 pp before boarding the ship. She told me something about the OBC is not good until you get on the ship and so they need that money prior to boarding. Which makes no sense to me.:confused: I told her that we did not want to use CC or DC. She said we can you a pre-paid visa card. Has anyone done this??

 

 

she doesnt know what she is talking about. Not every one uses credit cards. In our past cruises I never used a credit card-- nor did I place cash down.

 

Youhave 24 hours to place cash or the funship dollars. Which is what I have always used.

[jdoc2010]

I just called Carnival. She said it takes a while for it to show up. She said once it's applied you can see it under "view documents". She did inform me that no matter how much you have in your OBC you still have to give them a minimum of $50 pp before boarding the ship. She told me something about the OBC is not good until you get on the ship and so they need that money prior to boarding. Which makes no sense to me.:confused: I told her that we did not want to use CC or DC. She said we can you a pre-paid visa card. Has anyone done this??

Nope, this is not right. You can advise the boarding reps that you are using cash only. They will advise you to go to the pursers desk when you get on the ship to apply the cash deposits. You should always take a copy of your OBC/Funship Dollars with you to make sure that they know its there.

[firstcruiseoct11]

she doesnt know what she is talking about. Not every one uses credit cards. In our past cruises I never used a credit card-- nor did I place cash down.

 

Youhave 24 hours to place cash or the funship dollars. Which is what I have always used.

 

Nope, this is not right. You can advise the boarding reps that you are using cash only. They will advise you to go to the pursers desk when you get on the ship to apply the cash deposits. You should always take a copy of your OBC/Funship Dollars with you to make sure that they know its there.

 

 

Thanks! I didn't think that sounded right. This is our first cruise so I just want to be prepared. I thought I had it all figured out until I talked to her!! She also said the fun ship dollars cannot be used towards gratuity. How do I pre-pay our gratuities?

[bigdaddyvoges]

I plan on loading up with OBC because it is good for anything....Cucina del Capitano, Steakhouse, Chef's Table, Bingo, Casino, Booze.....

[ladyd11933]

Thanks! I didn't think that sounded right. This is our first cruise so I just want to be prepared. I thought I had it all figured out until I talked to her!! She also said the fun ship dollars cannot be used towards gratuity. How do I pre-pay our gratuities?

 

 

Even though it says on the certificates that you cannot use towards gratuities, I have used mine without any problem towards ours. If you would like to prepay them ahead of time, just call Carnival and pay for them now.

[espritkennels]

Even though it says on the certificates that you cannot use towards gratuities, I have used mine without any problem towards ours. If you would like to prepay them ahead of time, just call Carnival and pay for them now.

 

Thanks for the info because I was looking at them but I noticed it said could not be used for gambling (one of my favorite things to do on a ship), have you had any problem with them paying for all on board stuff? Also what happens if you don't use all the money? Thanks

[dainew]

i have brought funships dollars and this past sept. i brought pic vouchers and i loved it..i will keep doing both of them....

[serene56]

Thanks for the info because I was looking at them but I noticed it said could not be used for gambling (one of my favorite things to do on a ship), have you had any problem with them paying for all on board stuff? Also what happens if you don't use all the money? Thanks

 

 

Pay no attention to the wording on the certificate.

 

I have used them multiple times for casino, tips, ssteakhouse==gratuity there too. I NEVER mailed them in==take them to the pursers desk.

 

If we do not use it all--I get a check the last night which you can cash at the pursers desk for free.

 

They can not be used to purchase a Future Cruise Certificate

[milton333]

We bought drink vouchers and onboard credit. I thought the drink vouchers were useful for the MDR, just pulled one out for my drink with meal. I think you save money with them, or did at the time - there's no extra gratuity, but I don't think you pay the full 15% on the vouchers, I think there's a discount off the drinks that way. I may be wrong. But I found it convenient to have the vouchers prepaid, that way DH and I didn't know how much we were spending on drinks (soda or booze) :D

[cruzin4our10th]

I had drink vouchers given to me on our cruise in January . . .as nice as it was to get them they are a hassle to carry around. I prefer the OBC.

 

I have been buying $25 every pay check for our cruise in July. I do this online and make the message apply as obc as others have stated. I usually get a confirmation of order right away, and in a few days another saying its been processed BUT it still takes a few days after that before it shows on my online papers on carnival.com. It always gets done but one time it did take almost 14 days to actually show up.

[espritkennels]

Pay no attention to the wording on the certificate.

 

I have used them multiple times for casino, tips, ssteakhouse==gratuity there too. I NEVER mailed them in==take them to the pursers desk.

 

If we do not use it all--I get a check the last night which you can cash at the pursers desk for free.

 

They can not be used to purchase a Future Cruise Certificate

 

Thanks so very much for the info. I may start doing that as a way to have some money to spend on the cruise!!

[firstcruiseoct11]

I had drink vouchers given to me on our cruise in January . . .as nice as it was to get them they are a hassle to carry around. I prefer the OBC.

 

I have been buying $25 every pay check for our cruise in July. I do this online and make the message apply as obc as others have stated. I usually get a confirmation of order right away, and in a few days another saying its been processed BUT it still takes a few days after that before it shows on my online papers on carnival.com. It always gets done but one time it did take almost 14 days to actually show up.

 

I purchased mine on Saturday and have gotten 2 emails. I am just waiting for them to show up. I'm glad to know that it takes a couple of days. I will keep checking. Thanks :)