Can You Use OBC for.......

[chrismakris]

Hello.

 

85 days and counting til our next cruise and I was hoping the CC'ers could help me out.

 

We are thinking about choosing our next cruise while onboard. We have $500 of OBC($250 from Celebrity and $250 as a gift from a family member).

 

Can we using any of that to put as a deposit towards our next cruise? I would think yes with the gifted one and no from the OBC from Celebrity.

 

Thanks for all your help.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Lsimon]

No. The on board booking requires a credit card and it is not charged to your onboard account.

 

If you can't use all of your onboard credit there are some threads in this forum that discuss getting the money from the casino and other ideas. We've never had the issue of not spending enough on board so I'm not experienced in any of that.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Lsimon

[Andy]

Hello.

 

85 days and counting til our next cruise and I was hoping the CC'ers could help me out.

 

We are thinking about choosing our next cruise while onboard. We have $500 of OBC($250 from Celebrity and $250 as a gift from a family member).

 

Can we using any of that to put as a deposit towards our next cruise? I would think yes with the gifted one and no from the OBC from Celebrity.

 

Thanks for all your help.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Hi Chrismakris,

 

Unless something has changed recently, the answer is no. Celebrity expects you to make the onboard booking deposit with a credit card. Hope this helps, and have a wonderful cruise !

[chrismakris]

Thank you for your responses. I thought maybe because the Seapass card is tied in with a credit card you give at the time of boarding that they could work around it but I guess not.

 

Guess we'll just have to use the OBC on dining and spa.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[cruisehome]

can you use the obc to pay for the room tips that are charged to your room

 

thanks c

[ptcellen]

Yes, you can use the obc for the gratuities. It will be deducted daily.

 

Ellen:)

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

OBC is a credit on your account. You can use it to offset anything that is charged to your account.

[cb at sea]

It's not a "cash gift",...it's for use ONBOARD, hence, the onboard credit. Your account is tied to a credit card, but the credit card is not charged until the cruise is over...the OBC eats up as much of your charges as it can.

Edited October 17, 2014 by cb at sea

[twoflyers]

Yes, you can use the obc for the gratuities. It will be deducted daily.

 

Ellen:)

 

Don't forget about shore excursions too. You'll just need to wait to book them when onboard. Don't pre-book.

[keishashadow]

I'm happy to have pre-paid gratuities, drink pkg and an OBC for upcoming cruise but now wondering how to use it lol.

 

didn't realize I'd have to wait to book on board for excursions usage.:o

 

specialty dining is possibility for us, wondering if can it be used in casino or for retail purchases while onboard.

[WestLakeGirl]

Use OBC For

 

Casino

Gift shop

Internet

Shorex

Wine tastings

Bingo

Hair salon

Massages, facials

Zumba classes & other exercise classes

Town shuttles

Airport transfers

Bottles of wine

Liquor tastings and flights

Specialty dining

Room service up charge items

Stateroom mini bar

Infirmary (we hope not)

Manicures, pedicures

Acupuncture

art auctions (not recommended)

Free dance fundraising events

Photos

[villauk]

Use OBC For

 

Casino

Gift shop

Internet

Shorex

Wine tastings

Bingo

Hair salon

Massages, facials

Zumba classes & other exercise classes

Town shuttles

Airport transfers

Bottles of wine

Liquor tastings and flights

Specialty dining

Room service up charge items

Stateroom mini bar

Infirmary (we hope not)

Manicures, pedicures

Acupuncture

art auctions (not recommended)

Free dance fundraising events

Photos

 

Con't...

 

Kids club charges (out of hours etc.)

Arcade

Drinks not covered by classic beverage package (if you have one)

[Duanerice1]

I'm with you, we have $550 OBC but also have the drink package, tips paid and book excursions off ship. More due to crowds versus price.

 

My wife might upgrade her beverage package but we usually don't spend a lot on board. I think the $300 from our TA is refundable so if we don't use it the it will come back onto my charge card.

 

Another option for us is the casino but I really don't want to pay 5% to use my money. I am sure we will buy a shirt or something that I normally won't buy.

 

Nice to have this problem :)

Edited October 18, 2014 by Duanerice1

[cruisecriticmember]

OBC is a credit on your account. You can use it to offset anything that is charged to your account.

 

How do I find out how much OBC I have? Can I do this pre-boarding?

[keishashadow]

I'm with you, we have $550 OBC but also have the drink package, tips paid and book excursions off ship. More due to crowds versus price.

 

 

 

My wife might upgrade her beverage package but we usually don't spend a lot on board. I think the $300 from our TA is refundable so if we don't use it the it will come back onto my charge card.

 

 

 

Another option for us is the casino but I really don't want to pay 5% to use my money. I am sure we will buy a shirt or something that I normally won't buy.

 

 

 

Nice to have this problem :)

 

 

So it's 5 percent to use in casino? How does one designate it thusly?

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[jkgourmet]

So if a TA gives us OBC, we CAN apply it to our gratuities?

[stevea36]

So if a TA gives us OBC, we CAN apply it to our gratuities?

 

You can use any OBC (from any source) for gratuities, as long as they are not "prepaid".

 

Simple rule of thumb... Just about anything that you can charge to your seapass while onboard is covered by any OBC as the OBC shows up as a credit on your seapass account.

 

Steve

[stillriverpotter]

We had a lot of OBC to use on our cruise we just returned from. I was also interested in using it as deposit on next cruise, but we had to give them a credit card as others have noted here.

 

However, we had a mix of Celebrity and Travel Agent OBC. We didn't use it all and I just logged into our credit card account and noticed that the remainder (a little over $10) was credited to our credit card. A nice surprise! I suspect the Celebrity OBC is "use or lose" but the other credit that comes as a gift is really cash for you to use and they have to return to you the unused portion.

[cruisehome]

thanks for all the info

 

carol

[funNJfamily]

Use OBC For

 

Casino

Gift shop

Internet

Shorex

Wine tastings

Bingo

Hair salon

Massages, facials

Zumba classes & other exercise classes

Town shuttles

Airport transfers

Bottles of wine

Liquor tastings and flights

Specialty dining

Room service up charge items

Stateroom mini bar

Infirmary (we hope not)

Manicures, pedicures

Acupuncture

art auctions (not recommended)

Free dance fundraising events

Photos

 

This is news to me, I did not know you can use on board credit for art auctions.:)

[Tara Jane]

So it's 5 percent to use in casino? How does one designate it thusly?

 

 

 

Yes I would like to know this too. I have OBC from using a FCC and as we don't drink, do our own excursions, and not really shoppers, I would like to cash it in to pay for my off shore excursions. It would be work paying 5% fee for this as I will save many times that fee by doing my own thing in small groups. So please someone could you explain how to get the $ out through the casino.

[surebeatssailing]

While we are discussing OBC I found out that on our recent cruise if we booked another cruise while onboard we would receive $200.00 OBC to be used on the cruise we were on.

 

We never used this $200.00 because we already had OBC as a perk.

 

Did we just lose that $200.00???

[cruisestitch]

Tara Jane, Have a look at posts 26 and beyond in this thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2114721&page=2

 

surebeatssailing, yes you did lose it

Edited October 22, 2014 by cruisestitch

[GUT2407]

We had a lot of OBC to use on our cruise we just returned from. I was also interested in using it as deposit on next cruise, but we had to give them a credit card as others have noted here.

 

However, we had a mix of Celebrity and Travel Agent OBC. We didn't use it all and I just logged into our credit card account and noticed that the remainder (a little over $10) was credited to our credit card. A nice surprise! I suspect the Celebrity OBC is "use or lose" but the other credit that comes as a gift is really cash for you to use and they have to return to you the unused portion.

 

 

That's right. But some TA OBC is refundable some not, I guess it depends on ther deal with Celebrity.

[Tara Jane]

Thank you cruisestitch, much appreciated, looks pretty straight forward.