On board credit

[Jordanyaya1]

Can anyone give first hand knowledge of what happens to any onboard credit if not used durning a cruise. Is it refunded back to your credit card?

[Georgia_Peaches]

If you have refundable OBC from your TA then it will depend on their distribution policy.  I received a check about 2-3 weeks after our cruise from our TA.  If you are talking about OBC from your TA, I would call them to get clarity on their process.  Celebrity OBC is usually not refundable so use it or lose it. 

[ghstudio]

If we have any refundable on-board credit left, we usually see it credited to our credit card within a few days.

 

You should call your TA and find out how much of your OBC is non refundable and how much, if any, is refundable.  Generally, OBC you receive from your TA (in addition to whatever Celebrity is offering) is refundable...but not always. 

 

One additional twist I've seen recently is that a TA offers a large additional OBC, but you only get it after the cruise and you only get back what you've spent on-board...not the total "up to" amount.....and you have to submit your on-board statement within x days to even get that credit.  To me that's a bit scuzzy....misleading, whatever.

 

Once on-board, you will be able to look at your statement on the second or third day and you'll see an entry for OBN (non refundable credit) or OBR (refundable credit).  Any charges are applied to the OBN credit first...that's done automatically.

Edited November 13, 2019 by ghstudio

[Georgia_Peaches]

5 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

One additional twist I've seen recently is that a TA offers a large additional OBC, but you only get it after the cruise and you only get back what you've spent on-board...not the total "up to" amount.....and you have to submit your on-board statement within x days to even get that credit.  To me that's a bit scuzzy....misleading, whatever.

Ohh, I haven't seen this one yet, but I don't like the sounds of that.  Thanks for sharing.

[Fouremco]

If it's non-refundable OBC, you use it or lose it.

 

If it's refundable, it might be returned to your credit card or you might be sent a cheque. The option we normally choose is to have it returned to us in cash by Guest Services on the final full day. While this might not be a particularly beneficial approach to US passengers, taking the refund in cash saves us from buying USD at some future point.

[Fouremco]

1 minute ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Ohh, I haven't seen this one yet, but I don't like the sounds of that.  Thanks for sharing.

Nor I. None of the TA's I've booked with have used this approach, and I wonder if it actually saves them any money. I'd think that clients would simply try to spend it all, just as those with non-refundable OBC do.

[jelayne]

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Ohh, I haven't seen this one yet, but I don't like the sounds of that.  Thanks for sharing.

 

If our  TA switched to that for OBC I would be switching TAs!  We rarely use any OBC from the TA and it all goes on our credit card.

[39august]

Yep. Goes back to the cc or I cash it out. 

[davekathy]

2 hours ago, ghstudio said:

...One additional twist I've seen recently is that a TA offers a large additional OBC, but you only get it after the cruise and you only get back what you've spent on-board...not the total "up to" amount.....and you have to submit your on-board statement within x days to even get that credit.  To me that's a bit scuzzy....misleading, whatever...

 

That's one TA that wouldn't be getting any of our business. Our refundable OBC always goes back to our credit card. 

Edited November 14, 2019 by davekathy

[Luvcrusn]

We usually take our OBC-R in cash the last night. Otherwise it goes onto the credit card.

[mickey89]

Why do TA's give refundable obc rather than a discounted price ?

We have booked numerous times with an American TA and the obc given has always been non-refundable.

[MEcruzr]

2 hours ago, mickey89 said:

Why do TA's give refundable obc rather than a discounted price ?

We have booked numerous times with an American TA and the obc given has always been non-refundable.

Because they aren't allowed to sell a cruise at a price lower than Celebrity... so they can't discount a cruise but they CAN give OBC. It's a way around the rules. 

[mickey89]

36 minutes ago, MEcruzr said:

Because they aren't allowed to sell a cruise at a price lower than Celebrity... so they can't discount a cruise but they CAN give OBC. It's a way around the rules. 

Not so, the American TA mentioned already discounts Celebrity's price by 10.5% and also includes many hundreds of dollars in non-refundable obc above the Celebrity perks.  There is another reason .....!

[Georgia_Peaches]

13 minutes ago, mickey89 said:

Not so, the American TA mentioned already discounts Celebrity's price by 10.5% and also includes many hundreds of dollars in non-refundable obc above the Celebrity perks.  There is another reason .....!

I have NEVER seen an American TA price a cruise fare at lower than a cruise line's rate.  And boy have I looked!  I didn't see a specific TA mentioned as that is not allowed.  What did I miss?

[Luvcrusn]

1 hour ago, MEcruzr said:

Because they aren't allowed to sell a cruise at a price lower than Celebrity... so they can't discount a cruise but they CAN give OBC. It's a way around the rules. 

 

28 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I have NEVER seen an American TA price a cruise fare at lower than a cruise line's rate.  And boy have I looked!  I didn't see a specific TA mentioned as that is not allowed.  What did I miss?

I have booked X cruises with an American large online TA that has rates for a specific cruise (not every cruise, cut many cruises) lower than the X rates with extra perks than the X site offers and additional OBC that's refundable. I've even called X to price match and they won't.  Keep looking. Often those rates are during special sales that occur several times per year. Perhaps they are able to do that because of the high volume business they do and willingness to cut their commissions a bit?

[MEcruzr]

I remember when the rule changed... agents have to match X's fare rates. After that, what they do to lower the overall cost to their clients, is ok. They can give free upgrades, OBC, pay gratuities, include excursions or even what some big box stores are doing, include gift cards or cash back after the cruise is completed. All of these things effectively lower the cost of the cruise below the published fare. But unless the rules have changed again, TAs must match the current published fare on the invoice.

[hiccups]

59 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I have NEVER seen an American TA price a cruise fare at lower than a cruise line's rate.  And boy have I looked!  I didn't see a specific TA mentioned as that is not allowed.  What did I miss?

A few of the large volume online TAs often have group bookings that are less expensive than X.  Our Thanksgiving cruise on Summit is a group booking and it was hundreds less PP than what was shown on the X website.  There are restrictions, like no changing promotions, though.

[Grandmaanne7]

I currently have a cruise booked that was significantly less than X was selling it for PLUS my TA included all four perks when X was only offering 2.  Even when X eventually offered all 4 perks in the recent sale, our category cabin was $300 pp less than what X was "on sale" for.  That's significant savings in my pocket.