Cashing in purchased OBC?

[Bluebury]

I know that some of you will find this an odd question but I still hope to get an answer to my query if possible.

 

I am not from the USA, I am from the UK and am considering purchasing some OBC in advance of a Celebrity Cruise later in the year. Then I will not face a surprise bill at the end. My question is - if I put too much in the account and do not spend it - how can I withdraw that in dollars and not have it returned to my card? Is it possible to do that?

 

Thanks for the help

[emairs]

Our TA always gives us OBCs which are refundable. Celebrity’s OBCs are non refundable, and they are used first. Due to Celebrity’s generous OBCs, we often have some refundable OBCs left. We go to Guest Services on the last evening and they give us the balance in cash.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Miaminice]

Withdrawel of the remaining balance at Guest Relations on the last evening is possible.

[Bluebury]

Thank you very much for the replies, that is great.

[Yorkshire-Pudding]

I know that some of you will find this an odd question but I still hope to get an answer to my query if possible.

 

I am not from the USA, I am from the UK and am considering purchasing some OBC in advance of a Celebrity Cruise later in the year. Then I will not face a surprise bill at the end. My question is - if I put too much in the account and do not spend it - how can I withdraw that in dollars and not have it returned to my card? Is it possible to do that?

 

Thanks for the help

 

I would shop around and compare currency rates especially online brokers as well as that offered by Celebrity, . If you feel that Celebrity offers the best rate then it can work very well. We purchased OBC from Celebrity when the exchange rate was more favourable to Brits. Once on board, we cashed it in over the course of the cruise for use in the casino, tips, on board purchases etc. At the end of the cruise, we withdrew the balance as cash to take home as we always keep some US currency. As I have a US$ bank account here in the UK, I was able to pay the remainder in. When I sail again in 11 days, I will withdraw some of the cash to take with me.

[Yorkshire-Pudding]

Bluebury,

 

Caveat emptor. When we withdrew the cash we did so in the casino where I believe there is a charge. This was waivered because we were in a suite.Whether this is also the case at Guest Services, I do not know.

[Miaminice]

Bluebury,

 

Caveat emptor. When we withdrew the cash we did so in the casino where I believe there is a charge. This was waivered because we were in a suite.Whether this is also the case at Guest Services, I do not know.

 

Guest services has no fee. Casino does (5%).

[mafig]

Our last cruise on Reflection they told us they no longer give cash at Guest Services the last day. It was refunded to our CC in about 5 days.

[keep on cruisin]

Guest services has no fee. Casino does (5%).

We turned our non refundable OBC into casino chips with no fee. They did however give us non cashable chips. But we do play the tables. Over the course of the cruise even if we do well we will still lose the OBC amount. Just have to remember if you are increasing your bet to use the non cashable and when you win pull out the regular chips.

[Project_gal]

I know that some of you will find this an odd question but I still hope to get an answer to my query if possible.

 

I am not from the USA, I am from the UK and am considering purchasing some OBC in advance of a Celebrity Cruise later in the year. Then I will not face a surprise bill at the end. My question is - if I put too much in the account and do not spend it - how can I withdraw that in dollars and not have it returned to my card? Is it possible to do that?

 

Thanks for the help

 

Not a strange question at all. We do it all the time, purchasing OBC when the rate offered by Celebrity is particularly good (and sometimes it is an extremely good deal).

 

We usually have credit left at the end of the cruise. You just need to go down to Guest Relations once you have charged your last item to your account and say that you want to withdrawn the credit in cash. Obviously, this does not happen very often and Guest Relations crew are not always aware of it. If you are told that it cannot be done, politely insist that it is purchase (and, therefore, refundable) OBC and that they should check.

 

I usually set up a cash account, rather than registering a credit card with Celebrity, to ensure that they cannot finalise my account before I reach Guest Relations but that is not really necessary.

 

Have a great cruise

[Project_gal]

Bluebury,

 

Caveat emptor. When we withdrew the cash we did so in the casino where I believe there is a charge. This was waivered because we were in a suite.Whether this is also the case at Guest Services, I do not know.

 

I believe that it is no longer possible to withdraw cash at the casino and I was not aware that you could withdraw cash at Guest Relations before the end of the cruise.

 

Hopefully, someone will correct me if I am wrong. We have taken a 2 year gap from cruising and things always change.

[Project_gal]

Our last cruise on Reflection they told us they no longer give cash at Guest Services the last day. It was refunded to our CC in about 5 days.

 

Did you ask the person who told you this to double check? I have been told this in the past but, on checking with accounts, they realised that they were wrong.

[Miaminice]

We turned our non refundable OBC into casino chips with no fee. They did however give us non cashable chips. But we do play the tables. Over the course of the cruise even if we do well we will still lose the OBC amount. Just have to remember if you are increasing your bet to use the non cashable and when you win pull out the regular chips.

 

Sure, but that is another topic again. We are neither talking about non-refundable OBC here nor getting chips for it.

 

The OPs question was where refundable OBC can be cashed out. And if you do that at the casino, there is a 5% fee.

[Miaminice]

I believe that it is no longer possible to withdraw cash at the casino and I was not aware that you could withdraw cash at Guest Relations before the end of the cruise.

 

Hopefully, someone will correct me if I am wrong. We have taken a 2 year gap from cruising and things always change.

 

It is still possible as long as it is refundable OBC... and that´s the kind the OP is asking about.

Casino at any time with a charge, Guest relations on the last evening with no charge.