Just curious...what do you spend your OBC on?

[Misplaced Texan]

Thanks for all the great ideas! Can I use it for ice cream at B & J's or at Johnny Rockets? Either one worth it?

I saw several people mention specialty dining. I was thinking about doing FNDR, but that would eat up $40 of the $100 right off the bat. Is it worth it?

 

If you only have $100, probably best to consider it just gone and a partial-payment on gratuities and then budget other spending however you would normally budget.

 

But yes, you could use it for Johnny Rockets or for for paid ice cream (Ben and Jerry's) or coffee (Starbucks).

 

Basically the OBC just becomes a pre-payment on your shipboard accounts as soon as you get onboard. So anything you could pay for and sign to your account on the ship, your OBC will cover up to the point where you run out of OBC.

 

But since your gratuities are definitely hitting your account (unless your TA pre-pays them as an incentive or you pre-pay them), you might as well just consider your OBC as a partial payment toward those.

[GUT2407]

Mrs Gut can always find something, make up etc, bags, presents

[Pstreet12]

Be sure and check (usually not possible until day 2, or even 3) to see if it is refundable. If it is, you can just take the cash at the end of the cruise. We've been pleasantly surprised at how often our OBC has been refundable when we didn't think it would be. : )

[acetray]

you can use it for anything that would go on your sail and sign account, we use it for pictures, dining, arcade for the kids, babysitting, anything and everything you can think of, never enough free money.

[Turtle05]

I used mine on excursions, but if they were already paid for a second yours are, I would use it for a couples massage, one maybe two specialty restaurants, and/or gratuities.

[Sportstalker]

Tips

[dwayneb236]

We already had everything paid for and had about a hundred bucks we had to spend as it was non refundable. Was not easy to find something to buy as there was just nothing we needed. I finally got a new snorkel mask at the dive shop for 95 bucks which I found I did need as my old one was leaking. Seems to be an excellent mask and the price is lower than anywhere I've found on Amazon or anywhere else.

[buddylover]

Coach bag ;p

 

LOL......have done the same....when I was on Allure last year!! But this year we had a lot of OBC and have booked Izumi (on Harmony OTS), will use balance in shops, casino etc. Was going to apply it to Gratuities until they raised the price, so we pre-paid to be 'grandfathered' in to lower grats! Oh well, now we have to spend it on board :eek:

[depplep]

Specialty dining at this point, we buy the drink package so don't need it there. Don't need anymore t-shirts at this point. I haven't seen an OBC in years unfortunately.

[vacationlover_mn]

Since we tend to prebook our excursions, specialty dining, and drink packages... our OBC usually goes to gratuities and a couple of the nice photos in a display binder :)

[Ladysilver]

Chops! 😁💜😁💙😁💚😁💛😁

[Grandma Petania]

GRATUITIES & BASIC INTERNET. We are truly budget cruisers. Once the cruise is paid for, we don’t spend more for extras except tips and Internet. We could have used the OBC pre-cruise to buy drink packages, specialty restaurants, or excursions - but not to prepay gratuities. I know we will be charged the new gratuities charge, but that’s only $14 more for the two of us. Better to have that extra $14 paid for by OBC than to spend $200+ OBC on things we don’t need. Will wait till onboard to use 15% platinum discount on basic Internet. (Couldn’t book the cheaper level or use the discount online before we sail.)

[LuCruise]

DH got the soda package. I think there is also one other non-alcoholic package with fancy coffees. For us we did character breakfast, game at arcade and a few cocktails and glasses of wine (I know you said you don't drink).

Like others said, I'd go for a specialty restaurant or spa package or gratuities if you haven't pre-paid. We don't get internet ourselves but that is an option too is you want to stay connected.

 

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[travelinmoma]

Thank you all for the responses. Great ideas! I prepaid gratuities, so that's already taken care of. I ended up buying a coffee card and the FNDR. I still have $23 left for a few extras. Woohoo!