Unused On Board Credits

[Pstcrik]

Just wondering how Celebrity handles unused On Board Credits at the end of a cruise. Would they credit back to the credit card you used to cover expenses or do they refund in cash ?

[Andy]

Just wondering how Celebrity handles unused On Board Credits at the end of a cruise. Would they credit back to the credit card you used to cover expenses or do they refund in cash ?

 

Hi Pstcrik,

 

There are 2 types of Onboard Credits (OBC's), and it's important to know which type you have. The first type is refundable, which should refund to your credit card used for onboard charges, at some point after your cruise.

 

The other type, is Non-Refundable. In this case, you must use it or lose it. You may cash out any remaining amounts at the Casino, but there is a 5% surcharge.

 

I highly recommend asking your TA, or Celebrity if you've booked direct, to confirm which type of OBC you have. I hope this helps, and enjoy your cruise !

[Phxazzcruisers]

As always, Andy's answer is spot on. Enjoy your cruise

[PORT ROYAL]

Hi Pstcrik,

 

There are 2 types of Onboard Credits (OBC's), and it's important to know which type you have. The first type is refundable, which should refund to your credit card used for onboard charges, at some point after your cruise.

 

The other type, is Non-Refundable. In this case, you must use it or lose it. You may cash out any remaining amounts at the Casino, but there is a 5% surcharge.

 

I highly recommend asking your TA, or Celebrity if you've booked direct, to confirm which type of OBC you have. I hope this helps, and enjoy your cruise !

 

Hi Andy

 

Must raise an issue which still sticks in my craw.

We had two types of OBC (Cruise Line $100.00 and TA $200.00) and at the end of the cruise attempted to redeem the unused monies $80.00, only to be informed the refundable OBC was monies first by the ship, with the balance $80.00 not used being of the non-refundable type.

Please all be aware.

[EtherlyCC]

Pretty much as Andy says. Any OBC given by a TA is refundable and any OBC given by the cruise line is not. Also as other poster said, if you have both they will use the TA OBC 1st then the cruise line OBC. We had about $120 left from our last cruise (TA credit) and this was returned to my credit card after about a week.

 

Hope this helps as well.

[Pstcrik]

Hi Andy

 

Must raise an issue which still sticks in my craw.

We had two types of OBC (Cruise Line $100.00 and TA $200.00) and at the end of the cruise attempted to redeem the unused monies $80.00, only to be informed the refundable OBC was monies first by the ship, with the balance $80.00 not used being of the non-refundable type.

Please all be aware.

 

Thanks to Host Andy and Others for feedback. I will check with TA on what I have and what may or may not be refundable and if I understand you on the non refundable amount if any I can still cash it out in Casino after I pay the 5%. Is that correct ?

 

Now I wonder if Port Royal tried to cash out the non refundable amount in the Casino as it sounds like they would not do it. I question this as I was also going to send them some money to add to my on board account to cover any extra's but this concerns me that they may argue that I used my extra money I send to OBC first and that what is left is my non refundable. I am getting a little to detailed but I hope you can understand where I am going with this question. Many thanks

[AlanAllyn]

The non-refundable (from -X-) is always used first. We had some of both on our last cruise, used most of it, and the balance was credited to my charge card within a day or two.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

You can take any amount at the casino, subject to the daily limit. It is just a charge to your seapass. If I go to the casino and ask for $100, they will give me $100 in cash and charge my seapass $105. Has nothing to do with OBC, refundable or nonrefundable. Just go and ask for the cash.

[Wine-O]

Some travel agents will offer to pre-pay your gratuities as a perk to book with them. I always ask the TA to provide the OBC instead of pre-paying the gratuities. That way, if you have a lot of Celebrity use or lose OBC, that OBC is used up first to pay the gratuities, then if you have any left over, it would be TA OBC, and yes, it is refunded to your credit card.

 

On my last cruise, we had around $70 left over, and it took about 6-7 days to be credited back to my credit card.

[rjrpar]

The non-refundable (from -X-) is always used first. We had some of both on our last cruise, used most of it, and the balance was credited to my charge card within a day or two.

 

That is what my experience has been, good to hear it confirmed

[miched]

I have read that if you set up a cash account instead of using a credit card there is no charge from the casino for a cash advance using your sign and sail card. It is charged against your folio and OBC without paying the fee.

 

 

.🍸🍻🌴

[upwarduk]

I question this as I was also going to send them some money to add to my on board account to cover any extra's but this concerns me that they may argue that I used my extra money I send to OBC first and that what is left is my non refundable. I am getting a little to detailed but I hope you can understand where I am going with this question.

 

I bought 9 units of OBC at $25 per unit (from the gift section of the web site)

The reason that I did this was because the exchange rate was so favourable $- GBP (£)

Half way through the cruise I became concerned that we would have OBC remaining, so I asked at Guest Relations. I was told that the Gift OBC would be used last and if there was any remaining, it would be refunded, via my credit card.

[Pstcrik]

I bought 9 units of OBC at $25 per unit (from the gift section of the web site)

The reason that I did this was because the exchange rate was so favourable $- GBP (£)

Half way through the cruise I became concerned that we would have OBC remaining, so I asked at Guest Relations. I was told that the Gift OBC would be used last and if there was any remaining, it would be refunded, via my credit card.

 

I looked into doing this as well as the exchange rate was not that bad but then your bank then takes a fee both when you buy U.S.$ and then again when Celebrity refunds in U.S. $ . It may be better to use the Casino and pay the 5% even though its another cost which really I see as unnecessary by Celebrity other than a method of getting a few more bucks from you.

[ptrpanpens]

You can take any amount at the casino, subject to the daily limit. It is just a charge to your seapass. If I go to the casino and ask for $100, they will give me $100 in cash and charge my seapass $105. Has nothing to do with OBC, refundable or nonrefundable. Just go and ask for the cash.

 

Thanks Linda,

 

This is good to know, although so far i have never had a problem using up the OBC and then some, lol:D

 

Five percent is peanuts compared to losing alot of OBC.

 

Anne

[upwarduk]

I looked into doing this as well as the exchange rate was not that bad but then your bank then takes a fee both when you buy U.S.$ and then again when Celebrity refunds in U.S. $ . It may be better to use the Casino and pay the 5% even though its another cost which really I see as unnecessary by Celebrity other than a method of getting a few more bucks from you.

 

I have a credit card which charges % for foreign currency exchange, so I use it solely for travel transactions.

[WestLakeGirl]

PORT ROAL, that experience doesn't match ours, not the reports of others who have had both types of credit. We have always had he non refundable uses first, then the refundable. Looks like someone made an error in your account

[suncityga]

PORT ROAL, that experience doesn't match ours, not the reports of others who have had both types of credit. We have always had he non refundable uses first, then the refundable. Looks like someone made an error in your account

 

Agree... our experience is also that non-refundable OBC is used first and then the refundable OBC is used last.

[Cruise Raider]

Hi Andy

 

Must raise an issue which still sticks in my craw.

We had two types of OBC (Cruise Line $100.00 and TA $200.00) and at the end of the cruise attempted to redeem the unused monies $80.00, only to be informed the refundable OBC was monies first by the ship, with the balance $80.00 not used being of the non-refundable type.

Please all be aware.

 

When we were on the Solstice, we went to the front desk to find out how much OBC we had. The purser made a point of telling us that we had non-refundable and refundable credit and how much of each. He mentioned they always use the non-refundable first. We played in the casino so ended up having just about $20 credit left over at the end of the cruise. I didn't even think anything about it at the time but the $20 showed up as credit on our credit card a month or so after we got back home. So, just as he said, they did use our non-refundable credit first. NICE!!

[Cruise Raider]

Thanks to Host Andy and Others for feedback. I will check with TA on what I have and what may or may not be refundable and if I understand you on the non refundable amount if any I can still cash it out in Casino after I pay the 5%. Is that correct ?

 

Now I wonder if Port Royal tried to cash out the non refundable amount in the Casino as it sounds like they would not do it. I question this as I was also going to send them some money to add to my on board account to cover any extra's but this concerns me that they may argue that I used my extra money I send to OBC first and that what is left is my non refundable. I am getting a little to detailed but I hope you can understand where I am going with this question. Many thanks

 

They just charge the amount you want to take out to your onboard account in the casino. So, if you ask for $100 cash in the casino, they will give you the $100 and charge your account $105 -- so it will count against your OBC -- non-refundable first and then against the refundable. Easy as pie!! In the casino, they don't know how much OBC you have or what kind you have. They just apply the charge to your account. Your TA will know what is refundable and what is not ...but you can always just ask at the purser's desk as well.

[Andy]

Hi Andy

 

Must raise an issue which still sticks in my craw.

We had two types of OBC (Cruise Line $100.00 and TA $200.00) and at the end of the cruise attempted to redeem the unused monies $80.00, only to be informed the refundable OBC was monies first by the ship, with the balance $80.00 not used being of the non-refundable type.

Please all be aware.

 

Hi Port Royal,

 

Sorry to hear of your experience, and I have no clue why it happened.

 

From the few times I've had both Refundable and Non-Refundable OBC's, the Non-Refundable OBC was always applied first. Furthermore, I've asked Guest Relations about this on a few occasions, and was always advised that Non-Refundable OBC's are used first.

 

From my experiences, Celebrity has been extremely fair regarding how they deduct the OBC's.

[PORT ROYAL]

Thanks to Host Andy and Others for feedback. I will check with TA on what I have and what may or may not be refundable and if I understand you on the non refundable amount if any I can still cash it out in Casino after I pay the 5%. Is that correct ?

 

Now I wonder if Port Royal tried to cash out the non refundable amount in the Casino as it sounds like they would not do it. I question this as I was also going to send them some money to add to my on board account to cover any extra's but this concerns me that they may argue that I used my extra money I send to OBC first and that what is left is my non refundable. I am getting a little to detailed but I hope you can understand where I am going with this question. Many thanks

 

At the time I was not aware of the Casino method, but thought the ship would be fair and use the non-refundable monies first. Sadly they were not.

[robtulipe]

At the time I was not aware of the Casino method, but thought the ship would be fair and use the non-refundable monies first. Sadly they were not.

It may have been that even though the OBC appeared to be coming from the TA it was indeed coming from X thus was actually non-refundable. Sometimes certain high volume TAs have special deals, especially for sell off offers, with the cruise line that provide for this.

Our experience also has always been that the non-refundable has been used first followed by the refundable. We had a cash onboard account for our last X cruise and had a small amount of refundable credit left at the end of the cruise. This was refunded to us in cash on the last evening of the cruise since X didn't have our credit card information onboard to refund it to even though we had paid for the cruise with a credit card.

[PORT ROYAL]

It may have been that even though the OBC appeared to be coming from the TA it was indeed coming from X thus was actually non-refundable. Sometimes certain high volume TAs have special deals, especially for sell off offers, with the cruise line that provide for this.

Our experience also has always been that the non-refundable has been used first followed by the refundable. We had a cash onboard account for our last X cruise and had a small amount of refundable credit left at the end of the cruise. This was refunded to us in cash on the last evening of the cruise since X didn't have our credit card information onboard to refund it to even though we had paid for the cruise with a credit card.

 

May I thank all CC posters for their advice and assistance. It would appear that I fell foul of an administrative error, which was not challenged at the time, resulting in the loss of $80.00

Still there are more important things to worry about, and do appreciate the support of all CC members.

Happy cruising!:)

[MarkusToe]

how about a TA OBC on a B2B cruise - is it possible to transfer it to second part of the cruise - or will X refund it?

[WAVTAM]

Just off b2b2b.............

 

........nonrefundable was always used first.

........the refundable left over was credited back on each leg

........always use your account info on TV to follow the action of was happens with your nonrefundable/refundable.