Holland American Onboard Credit?

[RocketMan275]

I am going to use my $50 OBC to pay for the tips that is $13 a day per cabin. OK right?

As Ruth pointed out, tips are per person, not per cabin.

If you want to use the OBC to partially pay for the gratuities, then don't charge any other things to your account. Charges are subtracted from your account on a first charge, first paid basis. There will be a charge every day for each person in your cabin, $50 will last two days at most. It won't last that long if you purchase drinks, etc.

[Florida_gal_50]

Good explanation! Hopefully this will clear up the issue.

 

I do like the new kiosks near the front desk for running off a copy of my bill without having to wait in line at the front desk. Hope all HAL ships will soon have this.

Personally I like to use my phone or tablet to check my account. Very handy.

[catl331]

Personally I like to use my phone or tablet to check my account. Very handy.

Yes, but do all ships have this now, or just the newest or recently refurbished?

[kazu]

Yes, but do all ships have this now, or just the newest or recently refurbished?

 

Rotterdam had it when we were on in April-May this year and it was before their drydock.

 

Worked with my ipad well when itnernet was working.

 

Called "Navigator". No charge to use it onboard.

[KrissyCruises]

Three cruises this year on pre drydock ships, and all had the “Navigator”. It was very convenient for checking our bill as well as checking daily events. However, I learned to double check it against the daily “When and Where”. Sometimes programs or events were listed on one and not the other. Also, double check times, as a lecture we wanted to attend was listed at the wrong time on the Navigator, and we missed it. Hopefully, just growing pains.

[Pia1913]

I realize this is a very old thread, but hoping it will pop up and someone in the know will respond.  My question is...….can I use some of my OBC at the PSD to exchange for euros?  I don't care about the additional service charge, just whether or not it can be applied. 

[a.madruga]

On 11/23/2016 at 3:21 PM, Krazy Kruizers said:

No matter where we have gotten Shipboard Credit from, it has always been able to be used for the gratuities (Hotel Service Charge) for the cabin stewards, dining room staff, all the behind the scenes staff.

 

When you buy cocktails, bottled water, sodas, anything from any bar, a 15% gratuity is automatically added on.

thanks for the script change my eyes especially thanks you  love reading your cruise opinions

[CruiserBruce]

11 minutes ago, a.madruga said:

thanks for the script change my eyes especially thanks you  love reading your cruise opinions

 

You realize the post you quoted is 2 years old? KK has since changed her font to the one that bothers you.

[CruiserBruce]

22 minutes ago, Pia1913 said:

I realize this is a very old thread, but hoping it will pop up and someone in the know will respond.  My question is...….can I use some of my OBC at the PSD to exchange for euros?  I don't care about the additional service charge, just whether or not it can be applied. 

 

Just charge your account for the euros. OBC will be used on all charges against your account, except, possibly, cash for gambling.

[catl331]

30 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

 

Just charge your account for the euros.

 

They wouldn't let us do that once. We had to take a cash advance in $US (with a 3% fee) and then exchange the $US for Euro, at a not-very-good exchange rate.  

[Pia1913]

14 minutes ago, catl331 said:

 

They wouldn't let us do that once. We had to take a cash advance in $US (with a 3% fee) and then exchange the $US for Euro, at a not-very-good exchange rate.  

 

So now I have two different answers.  LOL.  I suppose I'll find out when I do it.  Or try to do it. 

[TAD2005]

We were able to purchase Euros at the front desk on the Westerdam in October 2017.   The exchange rate was not great,  so any further Euros we needed were obtained from the ATM's (Bank-O-Mats) found in the towns on shore.  Much better rates.

The worse thing you can do is try to sell excess Euros back to the ship to pay down your onboard account.   We tried that, because we had about 240 excess Euros and no European cruises booked in the future.  So we figured we would use them to pay down the small balance we had.  When we saw the exchange rate we got, we said "thanks, but no thanks", and let HAL put the small balance onto our credit card.   

[CruiserBruce]

2 hours ago, Pia1913 said:

 

So now I have two different answers.  LOL.  I suppose I'll find out when I do it.  Or try to do it. 

 

No, you don't. Both of our comments result in you taking a cash advance out of your on board account- my answer was simply very short..TAD2005 gave you more details. I believe TAD2005 is correct...you take the advance in dollars, then turn around and exchange for euros. Any cash advance will go against any OBC you have in your account. We did it for Pounds once.

 

And it is frequently discussed here that the exchange rate on board will not be great.

[Pia1913]

 Nieuw Statendam maiden voyage coming soon. Will see what happens. As stated, I don’t care about exchange rates. Just want to utilize OBC without making unwanted purchases.

[denniti]

We're sailing with Holland America Koningsdam in December and hoping to use our Onboard (Shipboard) Credit for gratuities if not used up with drinks etc. has anyone done this recently with HAL?

[CruiserBruce]

Have used OBC for gratuities many, many times. As mentioned before, any charge against your account will drain OBC, with the possible exception of cash for gambling. That issue is not clear.

[Pia1913]

OBC is a certainty; always applied to gratuities.  There is no question about this.

[DaveOKC]

5 hours ago, denniti said:

We're sailing with Holland America Koningsdam in December and hoping to use our Onboard (Shipboard) Credit for gratuities if not used up with drinks etc. has anyone done this recently with HAL?

We did this two weeks ago aboard the Zuiderdam without a problem.  Our OBC was used for everything.  We even left with a 9 cent credit, so I know it worked.

Edited November 4, 2018 by DaveOKC

[denniti]

Thanks so much for replying Dave OKC! That's great to know.  Hope you had a wonderful trip!

[denniti]

Thanks you CruiserBruce!

[denniti]

So good to know Pia1913.  thank you!

[Chickadee910]

Just wondering if there is a gift card to purchase to give someone OBC or if you would need to apply it directly to there account...

[rkacruiser]

3 hours ago, Chickadee910 said:

Just wondering if there is a gift card to purchase to give someone OBC or if you would need to apply it directly to there account...

 

I have been gifted some OBC and always received (except once) a card from the Front Office notifying me of the gift and the amount.  This card has always been part of the paperwork in my stateroom on embarkation day.  The one time that I did not receive the expected notice, which was on the Prinsendam, I inquired at the Front Office and they, after a couple of days delay, did confirm that my account had been credited with the OBC and apologized that I had not been properly informed.