Buying OBC Ahead of Time

[danak13]

Hey all,

 

I am pretty sure this can be done but before I do it I just want confirmation. I received a $125 Visa gift card and I would like to buy OBC with this to go towards our daily service charge for our cruise in November. I just want to be sure before I purchase this that this would be considered "refundable" OBC and therefore eligible to pay for the service charges?

 

Thank you!

[CruisinHarvey]

Hey all,

 

I am pretty sure this can be done but before I do it I just want confirmation. I received a $125 Visa gift card and I would like to buy OBC with this to go towards our daily service charge for our cruise in November. I just want to be sure before I purchase this that this would be considered "refundable" OBC and therefore eligible to pay for the service charges?

 

Thank you!

That use your gift card to pay for the charges at the end of the cruise. Why take 2 steps to pay for one charge? You're making it more complicated than need be.

[zqvol]

Any OBC that you pay for is refundable. It is your money, and if NCL did not refund what you didn't use it would be considered theft. NOTICE I said you have to pay for it, not that it came from NCL or a TA.

[RD29P5]

Why not just pay the majority of the DSC now with the gift card? Sure seems a lot easier than buying OBC to specifically cover the DSC.

[davesgirl51]

All you have to do is tell your TA, PCC that you want to pay your PPG and it will be added to your cruise but I’ll which you then pay at due date and provides grandfathering in from any increases.

[Aesop081]

Depending on the length of the cruise you can prepay up to a certain amount (450 US for >7 days) per person into you account. On the last day of the cruise when it's time to settle up with the ship, they will refund any unused portion. It's a great way to A) mitigate the cost of your cruise, and B) maybe bank a little wild money. If your cruise is far enough out then every now and again when you have a free 50 or 100 bucks drop it into your onboard account. Soon you'll have an easy relaxing cruise without worrying about the end bill.

 

Also as mentioned, pre pay the "service charge" when you finalize the cruise payment. That way, again, no nasty shock at the end of the cruise. Two people at 16 bucks a day= 32 x7 =224 for 7 day cruise. Make life easier and less worrisome by doing it upfront.

[NancyW12]

Or you could hold on to your own money, spend what you choose to spend on board, and then settle your credit card bill when you get home with your savings stash. if you OBC $500, you're going to spend $500. If you charge as you go, you might only spend $350.

[KarlChilders]

I would caution you to check your Card terms. I seem to recall that some of the prepaid cards are specifically excluded from being used on cruise ships. Not sure why or even if this has changed, but read the fine print.

[tomberly]

Hey all,

 

I am pretty sure this can be done but before I do it I just want confirmation. I received a $125 Visa gift card and I would like to buy OBC with this to go towards our daily service charge for our cruise in November. I just want to be sure before I purchase this that this would be considered "refundable" OBC and therefore eligible to pay for the service charges?

 

Thank you!

 

From experience I can tell you that any money you buy as onboard credit is refundable to you if you do not spend it all. Just use your visa gift card to pre purchase the OBC before you get on the ship. You are able to purchase up to $1,000 per cabin for a 7 day cruise. When we had a balance left at the end of our cruise we got a letter in our cabin, that said that if our balance was under a certain amount we could come to the desk and collect the money and if the balance was over that limit they would refund us a check as soon as we return home. We had enough OBC left that we collected it at the end of our cruise on the ship. I like to buy onboard credit before going with my NCL MasterCard so that I earn the points for any money spent through NCL. Even if I get a refund in cash on the ship I don’t lose the points I have earned on my credit card. So for me I have found a benefit to pre-purchase onboard credit.

[davesgirl51]

From experience I can tell you that any money you buy as onboard credit is refundable to you if you do not spend it all. Just use your visa gift card to pre purchase the OBC before you get on the ship. You are able to purchase up to $1,000 per cabin for a 7 day cruise. When we had a balance left at the end of our cruise we got a letter in our cabin, that said that if our balance was under a certain amount we could come to the desk and collect the money and if the balance was over that limit they would refund us a check as soon as we return home. We had enough OBC left that we collected it at the end of our cruise on the ship. I like to buy onboard credit before going with my NCL MasterCard so that I earn the points for any money spent through NCL. Even if I get a refund in cash on the ship I don’t lose the points I have earned on my credit card. So for me I have found a benefit to pre-purchase onboard credit.

Ditto:)