Refundable / Non-refundable Shipboard Credit

[Mary&Jim]

Hi,

I have a b2b coming up beginning next week with lots of s/b credit. How do I determine how much, if any, is refundable? I called Royal and my TA. Both said none of it is refundable. However, I seem to remember reading here that some of it is. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Mary  

[Clarea]

4 minutes ago, Mary&Jim said:

Hi,

I have a b2b coming up beginning next week with lots of s/b credit. How do I determine how much, if any, is refundable? I called Royal and my TA. Both said none of it is refundable. However, I seem to remember reading here that some of it is. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Mary  

Virtually all OBC from Royal is non-refundable.  OBC from a TA is normally refundable, but if the TA is just taking advantage of a perk from Royal (like a group amenity), that that is non-refundable too. 

Once you get onboard, you can ask for a printout of your onboard account and that will detail the type of OBC you have.  Wait until at least day 2 so that any OBC from the TA shows up.

[Mary&Jim]

Thanks Bob

[stevea36]

1 hour ago, Host Clarea said:

Virtually all OBC from Royal is non-refundable.  OBC from a TA is normally refundable, but if the TA is just taking advantage of a perk from Royal (like a group amenity), that that is non-refundable too. 

Once you get onboard, you can ask for a printout of your onboard account and that will detail the type of OBC you have.  Wait until at least day 2 so that any OBC from the TA shows up.

When you look at your statement (either on paper or on the interactive TV), the coding for non-refundable is OBN, and for refundable it is OBR.   RCI will use up your OBN before it touches any OBR.

Steve

[nelblu]

As Stevea36 nicely illustrated, examine your account(s) on your cabin I/A TV, and it will identify the non/refundable obc's.  Also, Guest Services (GS) can help distinguishing. The refundable amounts if not used can be converted into cash by simply going to GS.

[MA cruisers]

Last week on Freedom, when you checked your account on your TV the credits had refundable or nonrefundable next to them. 

[Mary&Jim]

Thanks everyone,  I'll be sure to watch our account each week.

Mary

Edited October 17, 2018 by Mary&Jim
Typo

[drise]

Will they automatically use your non refundable OBC first or do you have to designate that somehow?

 

[uksimonusa]

28 minutes ago, drise said:

Will they automatically use your non refundable OBC first or do you have to designate that somehow?

 

It's automatic

 

[toohip4u]

Because we've done/doing Viking River Cruises, and go through Pavlus Travel, who offers "$150/pp onboard credit" as a loyalty reward, I wanted to respond as to my experience.  On Viking (one cruise under our belts, two booked), the only things you can apply onboard credit to are drinks, souvenirs, services? and what we want to use them for. . "optional day tours."  However Pavlus informed us they don't deposit the onboard credit until day of departure.  This is classic travel industry policy to "hold on to funds" for earning interest whether it getting you to pay early (deposits or in full) or rewarding you with funds (often $credit or cash) "after" the booking is finished.  

So we realized we couldn't purchase any optional tours on Viking using this Pavuls onboard credit, because Pavlus won't deposit until after we board, when most of the optional tours spots are sold out.  Pavlus claimed this was Viking's policy.  I contacted Viking and though it "was" a policy it is no more, so I'm asking Pavlus to make an exception and/or change their policy for their customers.  

And on a side note, Viking told me you must use your onboard credit or it will go away at the end of the cruise.  No refunds or application to future booking.  So the lesson here, is if the travel agency "reward" of "onboard credit" is important to you, know your cruises policy so there are no surprises later.

[frank808]

Your post would help more people in the Viking cruise forum.  

[toohip4u]

Thanks Frank, but is this more of a Pavlus Travel issue or Viking?  

A follow-up, I wrote to Pavlus about what I found out and why this is important (purchasing optional tours) and the President wrote back a representative would be contacting Viking and myself.  I'm assuming they're crediting the account as requested, but I also asked to change their policy so they can market that they implement these "travel awards" on a timely matter as a marketing issue.

[katiel53]

When we were on Allure in June, the TV onboard account did show refundable and non-refundable credits.  For some reason, the credit we got from our TA was  shown as part non-refundable ($25) and the balance was refundable.  I went to guest services for some other matter and asked why it was done that way and the agent couldn't answer.

 

I wasn't overly concerned as I thought I would use all the non-refundable credit.  The last day of the cruise I still had about $6 left and decided I didn't care about it, so I didn't spend it.

 

A couple of weeks later I received a check from Royal Caribbean for the $6.  I thought that was strange, but I am guessing they realized it should have been refundable and sent me a check as I didn't use any of the refundable credit and cashed it in the last day.