OBC - Gratuity

[fleckle]

It depends on how you set up your onboard account/s, whether you use one onboard account for both (or all) of you,

or set up a separate account for each person.

 

The person who accepts the responsibility for each account is the one who gets to decide which other passengers to include on it.

 

It has nothing to do with a "spousal unit" or any other familial relationship.

You can include passengers who are not even related to you and you can exclude your spouse if you wish, (although that probably would not be a smart thing to do). ;)

 

 

In our case, since two of us share the same onboard account, it makes absolutely no difference whether they split the onboard credits between us, or give them all to the same person. They end up in the same place either way.

 

It is like sharing a credit card account where each person gets his/her own card to use, but all debits and credits go to the same account.

 

[chamima]

It depends on how you set up your onboard account/s, whether you use one onboard account for both (or all) of you,

or set up a separate account for each person.

 

The person who accepts the responsibility for each account is the one who gets to decide which other passengers to include on it.

 

It has nothing to do with a "spousal unit" or any other familial relationship.

You can include passengers who are not even related to you and you can exclude your spouse if you wish, (although that probably would not be a smart thing to do). ;)

 

 

In our case, since two of us share the same onboard account, it makes absolutely no difference whether they split the onboard credits between us, or give them all to the same person. They end up in the same place either way.

 

It is like sharing a credit card account where each person gets his/her own card to use, but all debits and credits go to the same account.

 

 

 

And your explanation for what happened to us last year would be....... ?????

 

We use ONE credit card to sign in.

We have always shared one account.

The people at Guest Relations had no explanation for how we got two accounts and initially told me they had no power to change anything.

 

I'm just telling people to check their accounts VERY carefully because you can't count on things to be as you expect them to be. (We won't even talk about my expected OBC or my Classic drink package on that same cruise,, which were also messed up. And don't blame my TA - they called her and she was just as frustrated as I was.)

[fleckle]

And your explanation for what happened to us last year would be....... ?????

Since you quoted my post, it appears that this remark is addressed to me.

 

Not having access to your account, and not having a crystal ball, naturally I would have no explanation for what happened to you last year, or any other year. ;)

 

If I had to guess, I would guess that the account info from your first cruise simply did not get transferred to your second cruise on the B2B.

 

That has happened to us on B2Bs.

Sometimes the onboard account info from the preceding cruise gets transferred to the next one, and sometimes it doesn't.

 

It doesn't surprise us at all, having lots of prior encounters with Celebrity's wonderful computer system. :D

 

For us, the matter has been easily resolved each time just by contacting Guest Relations.

Sometimes they asked us to bring the credit card we wanted to use down to them when they combined the two accounts back into one, and other times it was not necessary, as they apparently eventually recaptured the information from the previous cruise.

 

The last time it happened, they were unable to make the change immediately and asked us to wait a day or two, which was no problem for us at all.

 

They can also switch your account to a different credit card, if you wish, or to a cash account, or add or subtract a passenger from the account -- as long as it is done at a time when their system is working properly.

 

It is the famous Celebrity computer system, after all.

 

[gopro63]

Can On Board Credit from Go Big promotion be used against automatic Gratuity?

 

On Princess OBC and Automatic Gratuity are applied to your account so one washes away the other.

 

However X is offering $155pp OBC or Prepaid Tips for 2. OBC is a better deal on 7 day cruise if it can be applied against gratuity.

 

go to the casino cash it in 5% fees then pay whatever you want t oanyone

[ChucktownSteve]

go to the casino cash it in 5% fees then pay whatever you want t oanyone

 

That makes no sense. Besides the fact many threads have mentioned that X no longer allows you to take OBC out at the casino, why would anyone want to pay the 5% fee when if left in the account, it will automatically be applied to the gratuities?

 

Especially since the original post asked

Can On Board Credit from Go Big promotion be used against automatic Gratuity?

Edited December 28, 2015 by ChucktownSteve

[gopro63]

That makes no sense. Besides the fact many threads have mentioned that X no longer allows you to take OBC out at the casino, why would anyone want to pay the 5% fee when if left in the account, it will automatically be applied to the gratuities?

 

Especially since the original post asked

 

X still allows it you need to see the personel there and it takes 45 seconds tops!

 

Why use it, or lose it

Edited December 28, 2015 by gopro63

[az_tchr]

I had a big box TA tell me the same thing about RCCL. I ignored that little comment, but it's inexcusable that a Celebrity employee would be misleading. Maybe they're instructed to say that so people choose the gratuities which saves Corporate money.

 

We also have lots of people who do not understand what they are told. Tell them one thing and they pass it on as something else. Would say the poster possibly did not understand of was confused.

[az_tchr]

Since you quoted my post, it appears that this remark is addressed to me.

 

Not having access to your account, and not having a crystal ball, naturally I would have no explanation for what happened to you last year, or any other year. ;)

 

If I had to guess, I would guess that the account info from your first cruise simply did not get transferred to your second cruise on the B2B.

 

That has happened to us on B2Bs.

Sometimes the onboard account info from the preceding cruise gets transferred to the next one, and sometimes it doesn't.

 

It doesn't surprise us at all, having lots of prior encounters with Celebrity's wonderful computer system. :D

 

For us, the matter has been easily resolved each time just by contacting Guest Relations.

Sometimes they asked us to bring the credit card we wanted to use down to them when they combined the two accounts back into one, and other times it was not necessary, as they apparently eventually recaptured the information from the previous cruise.

 

The last time it happened, they were unable to make the change immediately and asked us to wait a day or two, which was no problem for us at all.

 

They can also switch your account to a different credit card, if you wish, or to a cash account, or add or subtract a passenger from the account -- as long as it is done at a time when their system is working properly.

 

It is the famous Celebrity computer system, after all.

 

 

interesting. Disagree with accounts on a B2B being transferred together. Celebrity runs each cruise separately and any OBC from one cruise cannot be posted over to the second leg of a B2B. RCL did do this 3 years ago and others as well, but X as of May 2015 did not and we were could it was a corporate decision not one made at ship level.

[MicCanberra]

Just to note that we got off the Solstice today and refundable OBC was not allowed to be cashed out at guest services and was only allowed to be taken from the Casino with the 5% fee.

[chamima]

Just to note that we got off the Solstice today and refundable OBC was not allowed to be cashed out at guest services and was only allowed to be taken from the Casino with the 5% fee.

 

Mic

Did you mean non-refundable?

:confused::confused::confused:

[MicCanberra]

Mic

Did you mean non-refundable?

:confused::confused::confused:

 

No OBC at all could be cashed out at Guest services. The Casino takes the 5% fee to cash out (I only had refundable OBC so cannot answer for the Non refundable OBC).

[dutchclogs]

No OBC at all could be cashed out at Guest services. The Casino takes the 5% fee to cash out (I only had refundable OBC so cannot answer for the Non refundable OBC).

 

Just curious -- would it not have been better to have refundable obc transferred to your CC? I know there are transaction costs but this would be less than 5% (or not :(?)

[dutchclogs]

interesting. Disagree with accounts on a B2B being transferred together. Celebrity runs each cruise separately and any OBC from one cruise cannot be posted over to the second leg of a B2B. RCL did do this 3 years ago and others as well, but X as of May 2015 did not and we were could it was a corporate decision not one made at ship level.

 

Can confirm this was our experience on B2B on Equinox in July last year. There was a hitch getting our TA obc for the first leg and it was not possible to transfer to the second. We were told that the account must close at the end of cruise period.

Edited January 6, 2016 by dutchclogs

[fleckle]

interesting. Disagree with accounts on a B2B being transferred together. Celebrity runs each cruise separately and any OBC from one cruise cannot be posted over to the second leg of a B2B. RCL did do this 3 years ago and others as well, but X as of May 2015 did not and we were could it was a corporate decision not one made at ship level.

This appears to be either a case of mixing apples and oranges, or else merely a simple misunderstanding. :D

 

I never said anything about transferring OBC from one cruise to the next, because Celebrity does not do that.

 

I was talking about setting up the onboard account information for the next cruise.

On B2B cruises, that information (the credit card to use and passenger names for the new account) is generally routinely transferred from the previous onboard account to the next without our needing to do anything, unless we want to make changes.

 

But the transfer does not always go smoothly, which is the reason I mentioned that sometimes they need us to bring them the credit card again to set up our next account from scratch and put both names back into the same account.

 

I am not talking about 3 years ago, but as recently as the past few months.

 

[MicCanberra]

Just curious -- would it not have been better to have refundable obc transferred to your CC? I know there are transaction costs but this would be less than 5% (or not :(?)

 

Probably or Possibly correct, but I wanted the USD as cash for a future trip.:D

[varoo]

Probably or Possibly correct, but I wanted the USD as cash for a future trip.:D

We sometimes do that too, using OBC differently on different trips.

 

As for transferring the onboard account information to the next cruise, we just got off B2B2B cruises and it was seamlessly transferred from one cruise to the next each time, even when we changed cabins. We did not need to do a thing.

 

[MicCanberra]

We sometimes do that too, using OBC differently on different trips.

 

As for transferring the onboard account information to the next cruise, we just got off B2B2B cruises and it was seamlessly transferred from one cruise to the next each time, even when we changed cabins. We did not need to do a thing.

 

 

I have never had an issue either when staying in the same cabin or moving on B2Bs. Our account is always linked to either myself or my wife, so never any issues.

[elena7seas]

Just to note that we got off the Solstice today and refundable OBC was not allowed to be cashed out at guest services and was only allowed to be taken from the Casino with the 5% fee.

 

That seems borderline unethical. Celebrity is charging a 5% SERVICE CHARGE for you to get your own money back? If it is OBC that you purchased for yourself, or OBC that was given to you by your TA or your Aunt Hilda, Celebrity has no right to it unless they are letting you know that they will charge a very hefty 5% to facilitate the access to your own money. Did they make it very clear that the 5% they were charging you was a service charge?

 

That seems to be a significant policy change, and one that should be made perfectly clear, i.e. if they return the balance of OBC-R to your credit card you will receive all of our funds, but if you take it out of the Casino, they will take 5% of your money as a service charge for the privilege of allowing you to obtain your cash. Did you object out loud to them taking the 5%?

 

That is way beyond nickel-and-diming and IMHO, shouldn't be accepted meekly. The next thing they will be taking 5% for the labour involved in crediting your OBC-R back to your credit card. I see it as a shameless money-grab.

[MicCanberra]

That seems borderline unethical. Celebrity is charging a 5% SERVICE CHARGE for you to get your own money back? If it is OBC that you purchased for yourself, or OBC that was given to you by your TA or your Aunt Hilda, Celebrity has no right to it unless they are letting you know that they will charge a very hefty 5% to facilitate the access to your own money. Did they make it very clear that the 5% they were charging you was a service charge?

 

That seems to be a significant policy change, and one that should be made perfectly clear, i.e. if they return the balance of OBC-R to your credit card you will receive all of our funds, but if you take it out of the Casino, they will take 5% of your money as a service charge for the privilege of allowing you to obtain your cash. Did you object out loud to them taking the 5%?

 

That is way beyond nickel-and-diming and IMHO, shouldn't be accepted meekly. The next thing they will be taking 5% for the labour involved in crediting your OBC-R back to your credit card. I see it as a shameless money-grab.

 

Yes they do tell you, there are signs at the casino service desk and it is clear on the website as well, it has also been their policy for over 5 years. No, I didn't rant and rave as I expected the charge but sometimes you can get around it by going to the guest services instead.

The policy is there so people spend their OBC (on Board Credit) on the ship.