Using Onboard Credit

[sigsky]

We are on the Rotterdam in July and want to make sure we don't leave money on the table.  We tend to book our shore excursions early before boarding which means we can't use our onboard account to pay for them.  We actually forfeited money on one cruise because we were comped tips, internet and a drink package.  We don't do spa or specialty dining.  We don't have any of that this time so I assume we can use our onboard account for gratuities and internet.  We don't drink enough to make the drink package pay.  I guess we will postpone booking as many shore excursions as possible so we can use our shipboard account and hope none of the tours we postpone are sold out.

 

Is this essentially correct or am I missing something?

[Vict0riann]

How about a wine package or two?  Or just add any leftover amount to your onboard gratuities.  I'm sure the staff would be grateful.

[Turtles06]

I appreciate the info above, being relatively new to HAL.  Just to confirm -- we can use OBC for the daily service charge?  If so, are there any categories/types of OBC that can't be used for the daily service charge?

 

Thanks in advance.

[CruiserBruce]

1 minute ago, Turtles06 said:

I appreciate the info above, being relatively new to HAL.  Just to confirm -- we can use OBC for the daily service charge?  If so, are there any categories/types of OBC that can't be used for the daily service charge?

 

Thanks in advance.

Yes. Discussed here  very regularly.  Any charge against your shipboard account except casino money will go against OBC, non-refundable first.

[Crew News]

I had enough OBC last cruise on the last night that I just bought a GoPro Hero 7 from the Photo Gallery rather than leave any on the table.  You can always your OBC in the shops, Exploration Cafe (books). and souvenir bar glass at any bar.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Since you don't drink a lot, you can always buy the regular Beverage Card(s) once on the ship and use that for drinks.

[sigsky]

1 hour ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

Since you don't drink a lot, you can always buy the regular Beverage Card(s) once on the ship and use that for drinks.

Am I right that this doesn't save you any money, just means you don't have to sign every time?

[kazu]

21 minutes ago, sigsky said:

Am I right that this doesn't save you any money, just means you don't have to sign every time?

 

Yes, you are correct.  It also saves you from checking a bunch of charges on your on board account.  

[Krazy Kruizers]

You will have just 1 receipt showing up on your shipboard account.  Correct -- no savings.  The thing we like about the Beverage Cards is you get a receipt, I check to make certain the amount is correct and then throw away the old one.  Thus you have fewer receipts to check at the end of the cruise -- this is great for longer cruises.

[sigsky]

OK, I'm convinced on beverage card and donating any overage to the crew.

[OVgirl]

Rather than adding extra to hotel service charge, you can also donate to crew fund. I think they use this for special social events for the crew.

[Alberta Quilter]

You can also use your OBC for laundry service, Bingo, bar events (classes, wine tasting, bar crawls), cooking class (someone just posted that they cost $65!), and spa treatments.  I'm sure there is more but that's what I can think of off the top of my head.

[DaveOKC]

13 hours ago, sigsky said:

We are on the Rotterdam in July and want to make sure we don't leave money on the table.  We tend to book our shore excursions early before boarding which means we can't use our onboard account to pay for them.  We actually forfeited money on one cruise because we were comped tips, internet and a drink package.  We don't do spa or specialty dining.  We don't have any of that this time so I assume we can use our onboard account for gratuities and internet.  We don't drink enough to make the drink package pay.  I guess we will postpone booking as many shore excursions as possible so we can use our shipboard account and hope none of the tours we postpone are sold out.

 

Is this essentially correct or am I missing something?

 

ONE THING THAT I WOULD LIKE ALL OF US TO DO - on your HAL surveys, recommend that HAL allows us to use OBC toward tours booked prior to boarding.  I understand that some cruise lines already allow this and it would be such a HUGE help in our planning.  HAL does listen (at times) to their cruises, so please tell them to allow this.

[Cruising-along]

12 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

 

ONE THING THAT I WOULD LIKE ALL OF US TO DO - on your HAL surveys, recommend that HAL allows us to use OBC toward tours booked prior to boarding.  I understand that some cruise lines already allow this and it would be such a HUGE help in our planning.  HAL does listen (at times) to their cruises, so please tell them to allow this.

Great idea, Dave.  Celebrity does that and I wish HAL would too.

[lcand1923]

17 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

 

ONE THING THAT I WOULD LIKE ALL OF US TO DO - on your HAL surveys, recommend that HAL allows us to use OBC toward tours booked prior to boarding.  I understand that some cruise lines already allow this and it would be such a HUGE help in our planning.  HAL does listen (at times) to their cruises, so please tell them to allow this.

 

I took a Princess Cruise last year and I was able to use OBC for pre-booked shore excursions and specialty dining booked about 90 days prior to the cruise.  When I got to the page where you paid, I was asked if I wanted to use OBC or a Charge Card.  Since Princess is part of the Carnival Family just like HAL is, the precedent exists.

[canadianbear]

22 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

 

ONE THING THAT I WOULD LIKE ALL OF US TO DO - on your HAL surveys, recommend that HAL allows us to use OBC toward tours booked prior to boarding.  I understand that some cruise lines already allow this and it would be such a HUGE help in our planning.  HAL does listen (at times) to their cruises, so please tell them to allow this.

 

It’s funny you say this-we are going on a Celebrity cruise in March in a Sky suite with all 4 perks included.  I didn’t know how we would spend the OBC I had.  Joined the roll call and was told I could book excursions ahead of time instead of waiting until on board and risking no space available.  So for this 7 day cruise I booked 2 excursions so far and still have OBC leftover to decide on board.

 

OP-we had a lot of OBC on one of our recent HAL cruises and didn’t think we’d spend it all.  Soon as we could on board we had our list of excursions we wanted to do (with a 2nd choice) and all were available.  Hope it works out for you.  

 

 

[sigsky]

Uh, I don't know if I'm supposed to disclose this, but a HAL rep told me today that if you book a ships tour in advance using a credit card that when you get on board, before the tour occurs, you can have the excursions desk reverse the credit card charge and put the charge on your onboard account.  I never knew this.  Please don't blame me if this turns out not to be true, I'm just relaying what I was told.

[utahtea]

On 2/5/2019 at 1:53 PM, sigsky said:

Uh, I don't know if I'm supposed to disclose this, but a HAL rep told me today that if you book a ships tour in advance using a credit card that when you get on board, before the tour occurs, you can have the excursions desk reverse the credit card charge and put the charge on your onboard account.  I never knew this.  Please don't blame me if this turns out not to be true, I'm just relaying what I was told.

 

I was told that if there is a waiting list for an excursion, then you get put at the bottom of the list, so make sure there isn't a waiting list before cancelling & rebooking!  

 

Utahtea

[Queeniecruiser]

If your OBC is from another source, other than Holland, you can get the amount refunded to you.  We always use our Holland OBC first, then if we have any left, it gets refunded to our Credit Card on file.

[canadianbear]

51 minutes ago, Queeniecruiser said:

If your OBC is from another source, other than Holland, you can get the amount refunded to you.  We always use our Holland OBC first, then if we have any left, it gets refunded to our Credit Card on file.

Would the front desk be able to tell us do you know?  We have some from HAL; some from TA and also our CCL stocks.  We’ve always spent it before but this time would prefer helping our kids out as they’re on a tighter budget.  I’m sure it will all work out and if we can buy them an excursion and drinks that will be great.  

[richwmn]

26 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

Would the front desk be able to tell us do you know?  We have some from HAL; some from TA and also our CCL stocks.  We’ve always spent it before but this time would prefer helping our kids out as they’re on a tighter budget.  I’m sure it will all work out and if we can buy them an excursion and drinks that will be great.  

When you board and look at your on board account you will see entries like these:

The first is for any on board credits purchased for or by you and are fully refundable. This will generally include any credit given by a TA.

The Promo Credits line is where your Future Cruise, Stockholder, and quick booking credits are combined into one credit. These will be used first and are not refundable.

 

[canadianbear]

17 minutes ago, richwmn said:

When you board and look at your on board account you will see entries like these:

The first is for any on board credits purchased for or by you and are fully refundable. This will generally include any credit given by a TA.

The Promo Credits line is where your Future Cruise, Stockholder, and quick booking credits are combined into one credit. These will be used first and are not refundable.

 

Thanks!  I don’t think we’ve paid attention before (obviously not!) appreciate the info.

[Fouremco]

On 2/10/2019 at 2:00 PM, Queeniecruiser said:

If your OBC is from another source, other than Holland, you can get the amount refunded to you.  We always use our Holland OBC first, then if we have any left, it gets refunded to our Credit Card on file.

In our case, we always take the refund in cash to avoid losses due to currency conversion.

[richwmn]

10 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

In our case, we always take the refund in cash to avoid losses due to currency conversion.

I take the cash as well. Not so much for currency conversion but because it is a done deal. I don't have to hope that they credit it to the right place. It also gives me spending money on the way home!

 

[kazu]

On 2/10/2019 at 4:25 PM, richwmn said:

When you board and look at your on board account you will see entries like these:

The first is for any on board credits purchased for or by you and are fully refundable. This will generally include any credit given by a TA.

The Promo Credits line is where your Future Cruise, Stockholder, and quick booking credits are combined into one credit. These will be used first and are not refundable.

 

So now that they are not letting you use the non refundable in the casino, and since they use the non refundable OBC first, I wonder if this means that we can't charge to our account in the casino until the non refundable is used up when you have both non refundable and refundable OBC?