Back to the "old" OBC leftover policy

[Nancyquilts]

I seem to remember that Princess had the folio charges taking up the non- refundable obcs first, then the refundable. I'm just grateful Princess lets you combine obcs, unlike X, where we haven't been able to use our stock credit for ages because there was another obc that overrode it.

[Times Prince]

My cruise is in less than 3 weeks. The credits portion on my personalizer looks like this (below, copied from my personalizer) It does not copy visually exactly, but the letters & numbers are all there and that is all there is. I see No clue about refundable or non-refundable. How are you all able to tell? I highly anticipate I will only know once I am able to ask at passenger services onboard. I do not expect Princess to do anything on my personalizer at this late date. With OBC not all being refundable or all non-refundable, who chooses what OBC is used towards what items? A computer program, the passenger, a ship employee, a headquarters employee??? With the folio system I have been used to I do not see how that can be done anyway. That part will be a real mess.

My personalizer shows what is not refundable. See photo.

[hpeabody]

My personalizer shows what is not refundable. See photo.

 

Thank you so much for the visual, It really helps. I get it now. In my personalizer I do not see all the words you have in yours saying enjoy these as they are not refundable along with the * next to onboard sales promotion. There are no * or other notices in mine. This is likely because my booking is over a year old. I will just have to ask when I get onboard to find out, although it would be nice to know before I board. I wonder if TA promotions (aka gifts) are now non-refundable too. It will be interesting to see how one can use their non-refundable OBC up first.

 

Again, my real issue is with Princess, and how they deal (more like not deal) with their customers regarding stuff like this.

Edited September 29, 2014 by hpeabody

[gotta cruise again]

We always buy FCC's when on-board, which have been 'covered' by our OBC. We use up our OBC but don't overspend it by much due to budgeting our expenses.

 

Can we still buy FCC's and apply OBC to those on-board purchases??

[Pam in CA]

FCCs are never charged to your onboard account. They are always charged to the credit card on file. Absolutely no relationship between OBC and purchasing FCCs. They're two different accounting systems.

 

However, OBC you get for booking a cruise using an FCC can be used for any charge to your folio.

Edited September 29, 2014 by Pam in CA

[gotta cruise again]

Thanks for clarifying the OBC, Pam. I guess I never really paid enough attention to how it was charged as it always seemed my credit card never had much of a charge after a cruise...hmmm, now it's piqued my curiousity and I'm heading back to the last cruise time period to look at the corresponding credit card bill!

[bhopal21]

FCCs are never charged to your onboard account. They are always charged to the credit card on file.

 

 

I agree.

 

And they are charged to your cc as soon as you purchase them rather than at the end of the cruise.

 

Mike:)

[Putterdude]

I return as I have not posted on this thread since very early to express in greater detail where my head is on this topic. Princess over the past 5 or 6 years has made some changes that really have got my ire up and I have been most vocal about the changes, however, this is not one of them.

 

An OBC is exactly that, it is not a rebate, it is a credit that they expect you to spend while aboard their ship and if I don't spend it then I see no reason why they should give it to me as I leave the ship. Frankly, I don't really care what the OBC stems from, sales promotion, FCC, stock holders, military or whatever IMO that the OBC is there to incent you to take a Princess cruise not to leave with their money in your jeans.

 

I would hope that any unused OBC might follow to the second leg of a B/B but beyond that I have not issue with the change.

[Pam in CA]

Thanks for clarifying the OBC, Pam. I guess I never really paid enough attention to how it was charged as it always seemed my credit card never had much of a charge after a cruise...hmmm, now it's piqued my curiousity and I'm heading back to the last cruise time period to look at the corresponding credit card bill!

FCCs are actual bookings and are charged to your credit card through the Princess booking system. They are not considered an onboard expense and thus are not charged to your folio. Completely separate accounting systems. :)

 

The FCC I purchased on the Royal T/A (I disembarked yesterday) was charged to my credit card 9/16/14, the day after I dropped off the form. They don't waste any time.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

This is what shows in the personalizer now for upcoming cruises as well.

 

The real question -- can both flavors still be used in the casino slot bank?

 

My next cruise will have over $500 OBC, most labeled 'non refundable'.

 

I see some liquor to be resold to colleagues at work, or a deck of coffee cards.

 

I can confirm this is the case on the Caribbean Princess today. Last week many I have spoken with were able to go down and get their OBC a refunded. And with the deals on here, they were cashing $400 out. Everyone has been told that that can lo longer be done. The OBC given is Non refundable.

Since I spent it all prio to leaving port, it didn't matter to me!

 

On the CB we had both types of OB credit & on the first night opened a casino account & transferred it all to that account on 9/25 as soon as the casino opened. I decided not to use it for gambling & cashed out on 9/27 and here I sit with cash in hand tonight ready to continue on for the second leg of the trip. All gratitude's will be billed to my credit card as expected along with all our purchases.

[Thrak]

Like many others I don't have a problem with the OBC being non-refundable. At first I felt that the Shareholder OBC should be refundable but I guess I can see it from the Princess side as well.

 

However, I would be extremely unhappy if all OBC was restricted from going to the auto-tips. I count on the shareholder OBC to cover part of that expense and it is a factor in whether we cruise or not. Unlike a number of people who post here I have limited means and have to budget for money to use for cruising.

 

Up until now all OBC seems to have gone into a big "pot" and all expenses - including the auto-tip - have been deducted until it was gone and all additional expenses have been charged to my credit card. If the OBC restriction on being used for tips is enforced it will have a negative effect on a large number of people. Some can afford the change much better than others.

 

Some, I feel certain, would recoup the loss by cancelling the auto-tip. This will in turn affect the wages of the crew and that could impact their attitude toward the passengers. I can't imagine anything good coming from such a practice.

 

Princess should tread softly with this type of change. They have a very large and loyal passenger base that they should be careful not to alienate. There are a lot of cruise lines around and only so many "new" cruisers to attract. Without the loyal customers Princess could find that they won't be able to fill their ships. Making all OBC non-refundable is acceptable and, other than a bit of grumbling, won't have much effect on anybody or anything. Making all OBC unavailable to pay the auto-tip might have a much greater impact.

 

So far, I haven't seen or heard anything "official" from Princess regarding the auto-tip and OBC. I know that the Shareholder info always contained verbiage regarding this issue but it would be a poor idea to implement it. Hopefully this is nothing but some "the sky is falling" being tacked onto the apparent reality regarding all OBC being non-refundable.

Edited September 29, 2014 by Thrak

[DMRick]

Of course you can talk to several Princess reps and get different answers lol!

That said, my shareholder obc does not have the asterisk next to it as the $400 obc from Princess does. It does not say it is not refundable.

 

I spoke with Princess today - the SH OBC is no longer refundable as of this weekend!

[Putterdude]

OK, so one has some so called refundable OBCs and some non-refundable ones. Question....which get charged first, refundable or non-refundable?

[Iamcruzin]

While I agree with the new policy I disagree with how it's being rolled out. Any OBC that was given by Princess as a promotion should have clearly stated that it was a non refundable credit. Personally I never understood the business model they were using for promotions. If on board spending is the prime source of income for the cruise line then why would you refund money that was given to promote spending? We should be happy with the fact that they allow us to use many sources of OBC at one time. Some lines don't allow this.

[Pam in CA]

OK, so one has some so called refundable OBCs and some non-refundable ones. Question....which get charged first, refundable or non-refundable?

Good question but since the new policy was just implemented yesterday, we can only guess or conjecture until people disembark cruises where this has been applied.

[pablo222]

On the CB we had both types of OB credit & on the first night opened a casino account & transferred it all to that account on 9/25 as soon as the casino opened. I decided not to use it for gambling & cashed out on 9/27 and here I sit with cash in hand tonight ready to continue on for the second leg of the trip. All gratitude's will be billed to my credit card as expected along with all our purchases.

 

Thank you. I appreciate the reply!

[dorisis]

Has Princess published the OFFICIAL policy on OBCs and what they can and can not be used for and exactly which are refundable?

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Thank you. I appreciate the reply!

 

How would you like that? In $10's, 20's, 50's or 100's. :D

Oh btw, no enforcement of any king of dress code what-so-ever in the AT DR. Anything goes on any night BUT the number of shorts is at a minimum (maybe only 10 or 12 each night since the island DR is pretty cold in the evening any most people have at least long pants just to keep warm. My wife wears her sweat shirt & has still been cold. On the dress to impress night there may have been 10 or 15 guys with jackets.

The food and service have been great. The top "20 affair" was not held & instead we received 2 vouchers to Sabatini's or Crown grill. The cutoff was somewhere around 397 I recall. It will be interesting to see what occurs on the next leg.

[billco]

Has Princess published the OFFICIAL policy on OBCs and what they can and can not be used for and exactly which are refundable?

A clear easy to understand policy on OBC would be nice. Don't recall ever seeing one. I am wondering how the running tally would look on the folio. Would the nonrefundable be deducted on the final statement?

[canadarocks]

A couple of questions from a relatively new Princess customer. We don't have Shareholder or Military OBCs, but we do have a decent amount of OBC for our 20 day B2B cruise next March.

 

(1) Has there been any mention of not allowing our OBC (not Shareholders) to be used to cover the service charge of $11.50 each day?

 

(2) If our cruise is a "Logical" one and booked as a 20 day cruise (although technically a B2B), can I assume that we will have no issue with "carrying over" our OBCs from one leg to the next?

[Pam in CA]

Has Princess published the OFFICIAL policy on OBCs and what they can and can not be used for and exactly which are refundable?

The only thing "official" right now are the line item abbreviations on the folios of current onboard passengers. These abbreviations were very clearly marked on my just-disembarked Royal cruise.

[bigenna]

So, trying to get this straight - what my personalizer says right now, prior to sailing, (in regards to which items are asterisked as non refundable) may change once I am on board in three weeks?

[DMRick]

That's what I'm wondering. I wonder also, why some of us have shareholders obc posted as refundable and some do not. I did print out the page that shows that mine says nothing about refundable, unlike the obc given by Princess.

 

So, trying to get this straight - what my personalizer says right now, prior to sailing, (in regards to which items are asterisked as non refundable) may change once I am on board in three weeks?

[Mary Ellen1]

Pam, thanks for posting this. Good to have the heads-up. And thanks to the many others who have posted recent, ship-specific, experiences.

 

We're boarding the CB in 4 weeks for a 10-day B2B. Based on our past experience, I thought the promotional OBC we got would be refundable, but now I don't know what to expect. There's absolutely nothing in the confirmation docs I received upon booking that indicates either way. But when I now log on to my Cruise Personalizer, and search out the previously-unknown (to me, anyway), tab labeled "Payments & Credits," I see the asterisk saying it's non-refundable. Hmmph. News to me. :mad:

 

Again, many thanks for the heads-up. Gotta love CruiseCritic. DH & I don't gamble, don't drink alcohol, and are now perusing the shore excursion options in case we need to find ways to spend the OBC.

[Astro Flyer]

As it was explained to me on the Royal cruise that I also was on with Pam, the shareholder obc is not refundable. I was given a list of non refundable credit and refundable credit. The only refundable credit listed was the military obc and "goodwill" credit given by Princess foe various reasons. This new policy was due to start on the Royal with the cruise right after ours.

 

The asterisks on the cruise personalizer are not the final word and will likely catch up soon with the new policy. The shareholder obc on our folio of charges was clearly listed as non refundable as well as the various promo obc and the obc from our FCC. The folio appears to be the official word and the one used by the purser's office as to what obc an be refunded. Sorry to confirm the bad news

 

Has Princess published the OFFICIAL policy on OBCs and what they can and can not be used for and exactly which are refundable?

I am not aware of anything in writing beyond the * in the Cruise Personalizer's credit section showing which are not refundable & nothing "yet" for my OBC for a cruise in less than 4 weeks. This passenger's firsthand experience posted earlier in this thread was "given a list of non refundable credit and refundable credit" starting with the current Royal Princess cruise. Whether this is fleetwide or another of the many trial runs of proposed fleetwide changes is still to be learned. I'll have a better idea in less than 4 weeks but since it's on the Royal then I expect to have these changes but I don't think anyone knows for sure if this is a test or if it's fleetwide.

 

I haven't read anything about what they can be used for or if they are now enforcing their already stated policy that some types of OBC are not useable for gratuities. That would be a major change for me because the majority on my OBC goes to auto tips & if enforced I may reconsider keeping my CCL shares.

 

Until then it's understandable to me that "complimentary onboard credits" be spent "onboard" & not cashed out to subsidize the cruise fare. There was no official announcement last year about allowing OBC to be refundable so there may not be an announcement about going back to their original procedure.

Edited September 29, 2014 by Astro Flyer