OBC not used

[Thechamp555]

What happened if you are not using all your OBC ? Is it being reimbursed or you loose it ?

 

Thanks

Thechamp555

[leaveitallbehind]

If it is a cruise line sponsored OBC, it is not refundable and any unused portion remains with the cruise line.  If it is a third party OBC - such as from a TA - any unused portion is refundable to you at the end of the cruise.  OBC's are also applied indiscriminately as a credit against any and all on board purchases as they are charged, meaning you cannot select how they are used as they are a dollar amount of credit against your total charged amounts. They also typically cannot be used for future cruise deposits or on board medical use.

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, leaveitallbehind said:

If it is a cruise line sponsored OBC, it is not refundable and any unused portion remains with the cruise line.  If it is a third party OBC - such as from a TA - any unused portion is refundable to you at the end of the cruise.  OBC's are also applied indiscriminately as a credit against any and all on board purchases as they are charged, meaning you cannot select how they are used as they are a dollar amount of credit against your total charged amounts. They also typically cannot be used for future cruise deposits or on board medical use.

A tad too overgeneralized.

If the TA's OBC is commission sharing (as opposed to "pass through" incentives from the cruise line), it is refundable.

As for onboard charges, some cruise lines (e.g., Oceania) will exhaust all of your non-refundable OBC before tapping the refundable dollars.

[MicCanberra]

Refundable OBC not used, would be credited back ether onto your card (Credit card against the  seapass account) or as a cheque which can take up to 6 weeks from the end of the cruise. Non refundable OBC is lost if not used.

[paul929207]

On Princess (and others??) each OBC award is noted a refundable or non-refundable. The latter is used first.

[CruiserBruce]

10 hours ago, Thechamp555 said:

What happened if you are not using all your OBC ? Is it being reimbursed or you loose it ?

 

Thanks

Thechamp555

 

This may vary by cruise line, which you don't share with us. Might be better to ask on the board for the cruised line involved.

[SRF]

9 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

A tad too overgeneralized.

If the TA's OBC is commission sharing (as opposed to "pass through" incentives from the cruise line), it is refundable.

As for onboard charges, some cruise lines (e.g., Oceania) will exhaust all of your non-refundable OBC before tapping the refundable dollars.

 

Royal Caribbean also uses non-refundable OBC first.

[Schoifmom]

It seems as though OP is going on Royal Caribbean.  I can't help there, but perhaps this information will help someone else help him 🙂 

[Nebr.cruiser]

We had both nonrefundable and refundable OBC on Celebrity last November.  The nonrefundable was used first and the refundable that we did not use was refunded to our credit card; it took about a month. 

 

On Princess the extra was returned in a check.  It took a while to arrive and was in a plain white envelope with no Princess logo.  It would be easy to mistake it for junk mail and throw away without opening, so be careful.

[Flatbush Flyer]

45 minutes ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

We had both nonrefundable and refundable OBC on Celebrity last November.  The nonrefundable was used first and the refundable that we did not use was refunded to our credit card; it took about a month. 

 

On Princess the extra was returned in a check.  It took a while to arrive and was in a plain white envelope with no Princess logo.  It would be easy to mistake it for junk mail and throw away without opening, so be careful.

Oceania gives you the option of taking cash on the morning of disembarkation. 

[Thechamp555]

Sorry , I met Royal Carribean.

 

Sailing Feb 17th for a 7th day Western Caribbean.

[Hlitner]

As a general answer, the policy varies depending on the cruise line and the terms of each OBC.  On many lines some OBCs are refundable and others are not.  We were recently on MSC and realized, towards the end of the cruise that we had nearly $700 of unused OBC.  A quickly chat with our concierge got us the answer that our OBC was NOT refundable.   So, we decided that DW needed some new jewelry :).  We still have a couple of hundred left so I spent some time in the casino using that remaining credit (and increased it by about  150%) and then cashed out :).  Many cruisers do use excess non-refundable OBC in the casino. but policies do vary (between cruise lines) as to how to do this and "cash out" thus turning OBC into cash.

 

Hank

[Ashland]

We've had problems spending non-refundable credit a few times on RCI...but a bit of jewelry shopping or extra tip for our favorite server's at the onboard bar's works well for us....No reason to let OBC be wasted.

[donaldsc]

8 hours ago, Ashland said:

We've had problems spending non-refundable credit a few times on RCI...but a bit of jewelry shopping or extra tip for our favorite server's at the onboard bar's works well for us....No reason to let OBC be wasted.

 

That is the reason that I have more watches than I really need.

 

DON

[Nebr.cruiser]

13 hours ago, Ashland said:

We've had problems spending non-refundable credit a few times on RCI...but a bit of jewelry shopping or extra tip for our favorite server's at the onboard bar's works well for us....No reason to let OBC be wasted.

Yes--last year on Norwegian we had over $100 in nonrefundable credit; had to spend it the last night.  I bought a costume jewelry ring--I still wear it and like it, but the back of it has broken; pretty sad for $80, and my husband bought a shirt--much more than he ever pays for a shirt--that promptly shrank after the first washing.  His $20 shirts don't do this!

 

Since we don't drink and had already had a bunch of specialty meals, didn't want any pictures and don't gamble, plus think most of the stuff to buy is way over-priced, and not usually something we want, not too fond of the nonrefundable OBC.  On this cruise we already had pre-paid grats and some other perks, beside the OBC.

 

I guess we could have used it for tours, but don't really like ship tours.

[geoherb]

We had a chunk of refundable OBC on our last cruise after the itinerary changed mid-cruise and every passenger got $200 in it. I already had a little bit of refundable OBC from another source. I received a check a couple of months after the cruise ended.

[GUT2407]

11 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

That is the reason that I have more watches than I really need.

 

DON

And Mrs Gut has more handbags than she could use in 20 lifetimes.

[Ashland]

15 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

That is the reason that I have more watches than I really need.

 

DON

There's always Bingo too.

[brillohead]

If you've prepaid your gratuities/daily service charge, you can ask to remove that and get that refunded now, before you cruise, and then use your OBC to pay that.

If your OBC is from Royal, you can use it in the Cruise Planner to purchase dining, drink packages, wifi, excursions, etc., before you even board.  Most OBC from RCI is not refundable, but is applied first to your on-board purchases so it gets used before your refundable OBC is touched.  

If your OBC is from your travel agent, it will show up as a credit in your on-board account (you can view it on the tv in your room) and anything left over will be refunded to the credit card you have on file with your on-board account.  

Happy cruising!