Buying OBC Online - impossible!

[sandancer]

Have spent the last hour attempting to purchase OBC online. The response is that my reservation number is not recognised. Tried numerous times to add the number (which I know is correct) without success. I ended up calling the UK office and the lady who answered was very helpful. She was almost certainly not here in the UK though by her accent. I explained what was happening and although she is not in the department that deals with this (only open weekdays) she allowed me to purchase over the phone. Only problem is that she was unable to email me proof of purchase. Is this going to be a problem? The only other time I bought OBC, I did it online and had an email confirmation right away. Hope Sue, Project Gal, is reading this. She knows everything. Thanks

[JohninDC]

Unless this is a gift for someone else, why would you buy OBC? :confused: Why not just take the cash or your credit card and use it on the ship?:confused:

[sandancer]

The £ is very weak against the US$ and Celebrity have a far better exchange rate than the banks so it makes sense to buy the anticipated spend onboard in advance.

[Dwaff85]

We are thinking of doing this too, what is the exchange rate that they gave you?

[ghstudio]

Be careful....there are threads here (call them rumors) that you won't be able to get those gratuities back in cash on the ship.....even in the casino. You will, of course, be able to use them to buy anything on the ship just like any gratuity....but if you are planning on using that as a cheap/safe way to get cash on the ship for excursions or shopping....be careful.

[FlorenceItaly]

Have spent the last hour attempting to purchase OBC online. The response is that my reservation number is not recognised. Tried numerous times to add the number (which I know is correct) without success. I ended up calling the UK office and the lady who answered was very helpful. She was almost certainly not here in the UK though by her accent. I explained what was happening and although she is not in the department that deals with this (only open weekdays) she allowed me to purchase over the phone. Only problem is that she was unable to email me proof of purchase. Is this going to be a problem? The only other time I bought OBC, I did it online and had an email confirmation right away. Hope Sue, Project Gal, is reading this. She knows everything. Thanks

 

No email proof would be a problem for me, but, what's done is done. I guess you just have to hope it shows up. I suppose you could bring a copy of your credit card statement, but, I am not even sure this would suffice. Best wishes to you.

[Bo1953]

Nothing like ringing them up when they open, unless you leave today, and purchase then.

[sandancer]

Be careful....there are threads here (call them rumors) that you won't be able to get those gratuities back in cash on the ship.....even in the casino. You will, of course, be able to use them to buy anything on the ship just like any gratuity....but if you are planning on using that as a cheap/safe way to get cash on the ship for excursions or shopping....be careful.

 

We never buy more that we think we'll need for speciality dining etc. Grats always paid in advance so don't need it for them.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Be careful....there are threads here (call them rumors) that you won't be able to get those gratuities back in cash on the ship.....even in the casino. You will, of course, be able to use them to buy anything on the ship just like any gratuity....but if you are planning on using that as a cheap/safe way to get cash on the ship for excursions or shopping....be careful.

 

We had not problem last April getting leftover OBC that we bought , it was return to the cc that was on the ship account

[Kitekat]

We are thinking of doing this too, what is the exchange rate that they gave you?

 

We did this online last week and got $1.51. I haven't checked the rate today, but it is easy to calculate as you purchase OBC in multiples of $25. There are no charges incurred when purchasing, so you get the full exchange rate. We did this last year when the rate was even better!

 

It would certainly seem to be more than unfair in not returning this form of OBC as it can be gifted from friends and family not just purchased by passengers for their own use.

[sandancer]

We are thinking of doing this too, what is the exchange rate that they gave you?

 

 

OBC is sold in units of $25 and each unit cost us £16.50. That's an exchange rate, I think, of around $1.51. If we go to a bank or currency exchange we would get $1.39 according to MoneySupermarket.

[upwarduk]

I bought x2 last year ( at the rate of £14.90 for $25)

The first time I bought 9 units, the 2nd time 6 units. I was sent an email the first time the 2 nd I wasn't, so eventually I emailed and had a phone call from Miami where the paper work is sent from. They apologised and credited the 6 units, said they had seen the purchase, but decided they had already dealt with it! My reply was the first transaction was for 9 units, the 2 nd for 6!!!!

I purchased for 2 reasons

A) Excellent exchange rate

B) I wanted to buy a iPad, and due to the excellent exchange rate it was a no brainier.

[Kitekat]

Before you pay, it is possible to add more units to the same transaction. I did this in my purchase last week and had an email with attachment confirmation from X.

[az_tchr]

Be careful....there are threads here (call them rumors) that you won't be able to get those gratuities back in cash on the ship.....even in the casino. You will, of course, be able to use them to buy anything on the ship just like any gratuity....but if you are planning on using that as a cheap/safe way to get cash on the ship for excursions or shopping....be careful.

 

There are no discussions of anyone not being able to get their purchased OBC returned to them. The casino is correct in that it seems you can only purchase promotional chips that after you bet can be turned into regular ones. Since your are purchasing the OBC one must presume that you are intending to use it and a refund if any would be small.

 

Do not worry except for the infamous web site and its issues. Again - while it is often down on Sunday am US time, be sure to completely log out each time. This solves many issues.

[ghstudio]

There are no discussions of anyone not being able to get their purchased OBC returned to them.

 

See the very first post in this thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2307618&highlight=obcn

[downsmead]

We have done it on a few sailings, and occasionally have done multiple purchases since X only offer so many in one transaction. notification is a bit hit and miss but I have always taken a screen shot of the confirmation in case, but in fact have never had a problem with the OBC being there when we board - you get a little card in the room saying about the 'gift'. I must admit that I have not had a problem buying it on-line. I cannot comment about getting unspent OBC refunded on Celebrity but from cc it seems as though it is 'automactially' refunded back to the card used for purchase (unlike Princess where we have just been informed that we have to apply to have any unspent OBC paid back to us!!!!).

The exchange rate offered by the cruise companies often makes this a better way to obtain OBC dollars than by having the bill charged to a credit card or exchanging pounds to dollars locally and then putting cash against the account.