On board credit

[jrm116]

What exactly is on board credit? I'm looking at a cruise date and it says that I will receive $50 in on board credit.

[mrobstad]

It's like cruise dollars credited to your sea pass account. It can be spent on spa treatments, speciality restaurants, drinks.....enjoy !

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[garycarla]

What exactly is on board credit? I'm looking at a cruise date and it says that I will receive $50 in on board credit.

 

It is like your Uncle giving you $50 that you can spend on stuff on the ship. Like drinks, photos, excursions, etc.

[Demonyte]

Just be aware that pretty much only thing you can not use most NCL given OBC for is the daily service charge. (This gets asked a lot after receiving answers like above.)

[brikee]

Can they be used on excursions?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[sverigecruiser]

Can they be used on excursions?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Yes.

[sunlite2u]

sorry to hijack, but really they won't allow you to use the onboard credit to pay for gratuities?

That sucks, we just got a $300 on board credit and were hoping to use it for just that.

Any way around it?

[Demonyte]

sorry to hijack, but really they won't allow you to use the onboard credit to pay for gratuities?

That sucks, we just got a $300 on board credit and were hoping to use it for just that.

Any way around it?

 

I haven't tried (we never have had trouble getting all OBC spent) but apparently one could cash them out at casino paying 3% convience fee and then depositing remaining cash to onboard account in Guest Services.

[pieshops]

Basically the reasoning behind not being able to us for tips is when NCl pays out the tips it is "real money being paid to someone" basically for the full value of the money.

 

If the money is used for things like drinks, cloths, excursions etc while it is real money a 50 dollar ship board credit in reality costs NCL 10 dollars as you are paying the markup not the cost.

 

Does this make sense, not sure if I explained it good.

 

If everyone on the ship had 400 dollars ship credit and everyone used it only to pay tips, NCL would have a huge chunk out of their pocket to chip in.

[Mack704]

I'm a little confused. Is there a separate sea pass account for tips to be assessed? Or is there just one sea pass account with debits and credits? Wouldn't OBC just be a credit and gratuities just be a debit? Can anyone explain the ins and outs of how this works? Thanks!

 

Harvey

[Demonyte]

I'm a little confused. Is there a separate sea pass account for tips to be assessed? Or is there just one sea pass account with debits and credits? Wouldn't OBC just be a credit and gratuities just be a debit? Can anyone explain the ins and outs of how this works? Thanks!

 

OBC comes in two flavours, refundable and non-refundable.

 

Refundable OBC is the kind that you can buy yourself (or anyone else can buy to you), meaning that if there is left over OBC on the account at the end of the cruise, you can get a refund. This type of OBC can be used to pay anything onboard, including DSC.

 

Non-refundable OBC is the kind that usually comes from the cruise line from booking promotions etc. Non-refundable OBC can not be used for daily service charges - even if the account balance during the cruise showed that the OBC would have been used and there is nothing to pay, things can be different after the account has closed and the unused non-refundable OBC has been removed from the account.

 

Until about a year ago NCL had no technical ability to differentiate between refundable and non-refundable OBC, so back then things worked like you described (even though they have always stated that non-refundable can not be used for DSC) but now that they got their systems upgraded, the limitation is actually enforced. How ever, the system is not completely foolproof as I described, because if not careful, one could be mistaken that non-refundable OBC has also been used to DSC.

Edited July 9, 2014 by Demonyte

[triptolemus]

I'm a little confused. Is there a separate sea pass account for tips to be assessed? Or is there just one sea pass account with debits and credits? Wouldn't OBC just be a credit and gratuities just be a debit? Can anyone explain the ins and outs of how this works? Thanks!

 

You're over-thinking it a little bit. There is one account. Shipboard charges are a debit, and OBC is just a credit, yes...but the system will NOT use OBC to credit ineligible debits. It's automatic. There are no ins-and-outs for you to know. Just understand what the OBC cannot be used for; mostly the DSC and casino cash.

 

Also understand there are a couple different kinds of OBC. A good example is OBC which you purchase (as a gift, for example). Cash-value OBC can be used for any shipboard charges.

[BermudaBound2014]

I started a thread on the topic of using OBC for gratuity (daily service charge) a few weeks ago and got lots of great information. I also verified with my TA and NCL.

 

I kept getting confused about refundable vs non-refundable. The thing that made the most sense to me was understanding that OBC given directly from NCL (in my case a $50.00 promo) can only be used on things that NCL profits from. This results in far less 'out of pocket' expenses to NCL.

 

My TA also gave me $175 as an incentive to book with her. While that $175 is non-refundable (in other words, if I don't cruise, I don't get the $175.00); it can be used toward tips because NCL has nothing to do with the money/incentive.

 

Hope that helps :)

[MeHeartCruising]

My TA also gave me $175 as an incentive to book with her. While that $175 is non-refundable (in other words, if I don't cruise, I don't get the $175.00); it can be used toward tips because NCL has nothing to do with the money/incentive.

 

I'm wondering if your TA's OBC gift would be refundable to you if you DID sail, but never bought enough things on the ship to use the OBC. Would NCL give you the $175 at the end of the cruise?

Edited July 9, 2014 by MeHeartCruising

[BermudaBound2014]

I'm wondering if your TA's OBC gift would be refundable to you if you DID sail, but never bought enough things on the ship to use the OBC. Would NCL give you the $175 at the end of the cruise?

 

Good question! I did not ask that since we can use the $175 toward gratuity I consider it money already spent. :)

[njmomof2]

Good question! I did not ask that since we can use the $175 toward gratuity I consider it money already spent. :)

 

Yes, TA purchased OBC is refundable to you. The OBC comes from the TA charging their credit card for the amount of the OBC and it being placed on your account. Just like if your parents wanted to give you a gift of $50 to spend, same thing. It comes out of their pocket.

[monkeybone]

I haven't tried (we never have had trouble getting all OBC spent) but apparently one could cash them out at casino paying 3% convience fee and then depositing remaining cash to onboard account in Guest Services.

 

Wow thats great....I didn't know that :)

[Mack704]

You're over-thinking it a little bit. There is one account. Shipboard charges are a debit, and OBC is just a credit, yes...but the system will NOT use OBC to credit ineligible debits. It's automatic. There are no ins-and-outs for you to know. Just understand what the OBC cannot be used for; mostly the DSC and casino cash.

 

Also understand there are a couple different kinds of OBC. A good example is OBC which you purchase (as a gift, for example). Cash-value OBC can be used for any shipboard charges.

 

I started a thread on the topic of using OBC for gratuity (daily service charge) a few weeks ago and got lots of great information. I also verified with my TA and NCL.

 

I kept getting confused about refundable vs non-refundable. The thing that made the most sense to me was understanding that OBC given directly from NCL (in my case a $50.00 promo) can only be used on things that NCL profits from. This results in far less 'out of pocket' expenses to NCL.

 

My TA also gave me $175 as an incentive to book with her. While that $175 is non-refundable (in other words, if I don't cruise, I don't get the $175.00); it can be used toward tips because NCL has nothing to do with the money/incentive.

 

Hope that helps :)

 

 

Thanks for the comprehensive explanations. I believe I've got it now. NCL only gave me $70.00 OBC. I'm sure I'll have enough other debits besides DSC and the casino to suck it up. Thanks again!

 

Harvey