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How do u obtain so much OBC???


Pier290
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I use a TA and an AMEX Platinum to book.  The AMEX Platinum annual fee is $550 but it gives me an extra $300 in OBC for each suite I book up to 3 per cruise, $200 for each balcony I book, up to 3 per cruise and $100 extra OBC for each inside cabin I book. It also gives me a baggage allowance up to $200 for domestic flights, and monthly Uber credits.   Our last cruise we had balcony concierge cabins and managed to snag over $700 in OBC (with a little help from my TA and AMEX).

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We use an online TA based in Florida.  I'm guessing they have a special affiliation with Celebrity bc our OBC is always quite large.  On our last cruise we received the $300 from Celebrity and an additional $1250 from our TA.  Since it was refundable, we got a good bit back when we got home.

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We are hoping to do exactly what has been described on our Reflection cruise in a week. I need to remember to tell X not to automatically transfer the booking to my current TA, since I want to shop around.

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If using a TA many give about 10 percent the cruise back in OBC.  For example, a $5000 dollar cruise gives $500 back in OBC from your TA.  Combine that with shareholder credit and the $300 OBC perk and onboard booking Bonus and it’s easy to get to $1000 or over $1000 OBC.

Edited by rimmit
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42 minutes ago, mafig said:

I still rather have a cheaper cruise fare.  Sometimes it is hard to spend all that OBC.

 

Refundable is nice though.  But I'd still like a lower price.

 

 


There are travel agents that offer OBC and some of it can be applied as a discount to the total cruise price.  Ask.

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2 hours ago, Pier290 said:

I keep reading about huge amounts of OBC people receive.....well over the $300 OBC perk....HOW? WHERE?  WHEN?  I NEED TO KNOW HOW TO OBTAIN THIS!!😜😜

I did have an agent that gave us a small additional OBC but have since found one that gives us great service and 8% OBC. I found her by asking people we have cruised with over the years. Use contacts you have cruised with, or on your next cruise ask people there. As you know, TA’s can’t be named on this site. If you use google you may find more info. 

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My TA has never given me OBC.  Maybe it’s time to change TA’s!

She has provided outstanding assistance and handled any problem that I passed to her so I have not though about looking until I see all the OBC some are getting it makes me wonder. 

 

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3 hours ago, Mike981 said:

We are hoping to do exactly what has been described on our Reflection cruise in a week. I need to remember to tell X not to automatically transfer the booking to my current TA, since I want to shop around.

Good to remember.    They will make you sign a slip of paper acknowledging it is not being automatically transferred to you agent.   I do it every cruise and when home ask 2-3 agents I deal with what they would offer for the booking.

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Many years ago, my travel agent (and others) used to discount cruises.  What they did was this:  High volume travel agents get a more generous commission than the smaller, low volume TAs...Yet, they often have much lower overhead.  So, they would generate more volume by, basically, rebating a large portion of that commission.  So, let's say you booked a $5,000 cruise.  The TA would take $500 or so off their even larger commission and just quote the price at $4,500.  Royal Caribbean and Celebrity decided that they didn't like the look of this.  They wanted it to look as though you got the same price whether you booked direct or with a TA.  So, they prohibited the TAs from discounting...on the surface, at least.  What they allowed them to do instead was to quote the cruise line price but to offer a "bonus".  Some TAs went to offering things like a pre-cruise hotel stay, a specialty restaurant dinner, a free shore excursion, a bottle of wine or a gift package to your room...or OBC...all of this was purchased through the cruise line, so they were okay with it.  The most popular seemed to be that OBC...easiest for the TA to purchase a variable amount based on the cruise price...and easily the best for the customer--because, unlike the cruise line promotion OBC, the TA OBC was REFUNDABLE if unspent at the end of the cruise.

 

Over the course of my cruising, I have received BOTH types of OBC--refundable and nonrefundable.  The ship always applies the nonrefundable OBC first, so, often (especially now when Celebrity also packages in drink packages, gratuities and wifi), I never use most of my TA OBC...and get a credit back to my card at the end of the trip.  My back-to-back cruises this past summer, I ended up with "Four perks" and more OBC than I could spend (Drinks, wifi and gratuities were thrown in--and Celebrity even gave me a free specialty restaurant meal...and, by the time I had re-worked my cruise deal to the four perks, I had already purchased the shorexes I was going to buy at a major discount).  When all was said and done, I had about $300 in nonrefundable OBC left with nothing to spend it on...but I was able to re-work some things with guest relations and filter the OBC through the system, basically making it refundable...Other people try to either cash out at the casino (but they now charge fees to do that, so you lose some)...or turn it into chips and play some "safe" game with a system where they hedge their own bets until they've "laundered" the OBC...

 

For my cruise next summer, I had $1300 in OBC...and just decided to book a bunch of Shorexes early, basically spending $1300.  If any go on sale later, I'll rebook them at a lower price and spend the restored OBC on a specialty restaurant...

Edited by Bruin Steve
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I have OBC from 4 sources on every cruise I take.

---Celebrity matches the OBC that TAs offer so that I book directly

----The perk of 300 OBC

-----Credit for booking future cruises onboard

----Points for using my Celebrity credit card 

Some or all of it may be nonrefundable , but between excursions and the casino it spent and (mostly) recovered.

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We have $1200 on one of our Equinox Cruises.  During the last sale, Celebrity was offering $600 OBC for Suites.  $300 OBC came from the Perk and another $300 OBC came from booking onboard.  

 

It could have been more if we transferred to a TA, but I haven't found one that would give me enough OBC to justify having a middle person involved with my reservations.  If we used our Amex Platinum card, we could have had more OBC too.

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5 hours ago, CaptainZ said:

I use a TA and an AMEX Platinum to book.  The AMEX Platinum annual fee is $550 but it gives me an extra $300 in OBC for each suite I book up to 3 per cruise, $200 for each balcony I book, up to 3 per cruise and $100 extra OBC for each inside cabin I book. It also gives me a baggage allowance up to $200 for domestic flights, and monthly Uber credits.   Our last cruise we had balcony concierge cabins and managed to snag over $700 in OBC (with a little help from my TA and AMEX).

By "Up to 3 per cruise" do you mean for up to 3 people? A couple in a balcony would get $400 per cruise?

Thanks in advance.

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1 hour ago, Want2Cruise 701 said:

We have $1200 on one of our Equinox Cruises.  During the last sale, Celebrity was offering $600 OBC for Suites.  $300 OBC came from the Perk and another $300 OBC came from booking onboard.  

 

It could have been more if we transferred to a TA, but I haven't found one that would give me enough OBC to justify having a middle person involved with my reservations.  If we used our Amex Platinum card, we could have had more OBC too.


That's surprising you wouldn't receive enough to make it worthwhile--we get 8-10% from our TA, and if you're booking suites, that's a fair amount of money.  On an expensive cruise where I knew we couldn't use all the OBC, the TA sent us a rebate check after the cruise. 

We've never had any issues with any booking big enough to worry about having to go through the TA, though, so I don't have a problem using one.

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28 minutes ago, hiccups said:


That's surprising you wouldn't receive enough to make it worthwhile--we get 8-10% from our TA, and if you're booking suites, that's a fair amount of money.  On an expensive cruise where I knew we couldn't use all the OBC, the TA sent us a rebate check after the cruise. 

We've never had any issues with any booking big enough to worry about having to go through the TA, though, so I don't have a problem using one.

I’ve never found the right travel agent. Plus, a lot of the time I felt like I knew more. 

 

One time I booked a guarantee and was then assigned a 1A port side deck 6. I called TA to move to a better 1A open and was told I couldn’t because a guarantee was just that. After a lengthy not so pleasant conversation with him that it’s allowed within the same category, he agreed to call X and guess what?  I had a new 1A. 

 

Another travel agent once told me all suites always come with 4 perks which is not true. 

 

I given up up on them. 

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We live in Canada and use a large internet agency with our TA located in Florida. I believe that they do a lot of business.   I reserve the cruise myself on the cruise website using my Platinum Amex.  (CRUISE PRIVILEGE PROGRAM with most cruise lines.  For suites this will include $300 OBC, bottle of champagne and sometimes another benefit.)  I shop around for a TA that will give me the most benefits....SHOW ME THE MONEY! :)  I then will release my reservation to that TA and they will discount their OBC off the top of my reservation.  I do not have to wait until after my cruise to get my rebate.  I have continued to use this TA because he offers me outstanding credit which I apply to decrease my cruise fare and purchase insurance.  For our upcoming cruise on the Reflection, I had $1650 OBC.  I used $950 for the noted above and still have $700 OBC.  Because we are in a Royal Suite and have 4 perks, plus unlimited specialty dining, I will use this towards spa treatments, paying for inlaws to dine in specialty restaurants, etc.  Cruisers really need to shop around to get the most bang for their buck.  

 

Happy and Safe Travels.

 

:)Pam

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3 hours ago, Smmessineo said:

I have OBC from 4 sources on every cruise I take.

---Celebrity matches the OBC that TAs offer so that I book directly

----The perk of 300 OBC

-----Credit for booking future cruises onboard

----Points for using my Celebrity credit card 

Some or all of it may be nonrefundable , but between excursions and the casino it spent and (mostly) recovered.

When you say Celebrity will give you an additional 8-10% OBC that some TA’s like mine offer, is it refundable?

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The OBC that Celebrity will give to match an outside travel agent is non-refundable. The amount depends on what some well-known travel agencies are offering at the time, and there are a few exceptions ( agencies that they will not match.) 

Still a good extra for those of us who like dealing directly with Celebrity. I have an excellent Celebrity Vacation Planner  that always gets quick results for me when I need to book or change cruises or ask questions.

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