Midwifelife7 Posted April 15, 2020 #1 Share Posted April 15, 2020 My cruise is scheduled for 6/28. I expect it to be cancelled, but of course it hasn't been just yet. I'm sitting on about $700 OBC. We have a family of 7. We don't drink and aren't interested in any restaurants. The best use of the OBC is for an excursion that we typically would not purchase. So, do I go ahead and pick and excursion and use the OBC just in case it happens to sale, or is it better to just wait. I"m not entirely sure what happens to excursion funds if we have to rebook with a FCC. Obviously, i'm not in any hurry to book an excursion because I feel like this will be cancelled. On the flipside, if its not, I don't want the excursions we would be interested in to already be booked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe817 Posted April 15, 2020 #2 Share Posted April 15, 2020 3 minutes ago, Midwifelife7 said: My cruise is scheduled for 6/28. I expect it to be cancelled, but of course it hasn't been just yet. I'm sitting on about $700 OBC. We have a family of 7. We don't drink and aren't interested in any restaurants. The best use of the OBC is for an excursion that we typically would not purchase. So, do I go ahead and pick and excursion and use the OBC just in case it happens to sale, or is it better to just wait. I"m not entirely sure what happens to excursion funds if we have to rebook with a FCC. Obviously, i'm not in any hurry to book an excursion because I feel like this will be cancelled. On the flipside, if its not, I don't want the excursions we would be interested in to already be booked. If you want to book an excursion and pay for it with your On Board Credit(OBC) you will have to wait until you are on board to book it. You cannot use OBC prior to your sailing. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poz222 Posted April 15, 2020 #3 Share Posted April 15, 2020 For a family of 7 a lot of that $ will be eaten up by tips (unless you prepaid them or remove them) so I’m not sure you will have that much to work with. But they can only be used onboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizord Posted April 15, 2020 #4 Share Posted April 15, 2020 Go to the casino, take out $700 in chips/slot machine, charge it to the room, on the last day cash in your winnings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1019throw Posted April 15, 2020 #5 Share Posted April 15, 2020 19 minutes ago, lizord said: Go to the casino, take out $700 in chips/slot machine, charge it to the room, on the last day cash in your winnings. Given that carnival is giving out large sums of OBC, I wonder if they will find a way to close this loophole. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaRue1975 Posted April 15, 2020 #6 Share Posted April 15, 2020 5 minutes ago, 1019throw said: Given that carnival is giving out large sums of OBC, I wonder if they will find a way to close this loophole. I wonder about this too. We don’t sail until March 2021, someone should report back before then. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teknoge3k Posted April 15, 2020 #7 Share Posted April 15, 2020 We are in the same situation. We have $1400 OBC for our sailing coming up next year on the Fascination. It sucks because the Fascination doesn't have a steakhouse, it's a port-intensive voyage so we're not on the ship that much, our gratuities are already paid for, and we don't do our excursions through Carnival, we use locals. Looks like everyone is getting a Carnival sweatshirt, a watch and bottle of rum for Christmas next year. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
californiatripman Posted April 15, 2020 #8 Share Posted April 15, 2020 1 minute ago, teknoge3k said: We are in the same situation. We have $1400 OBC for our sailing coming up next year on the Fascination. It sucks because the Fascination doesn't have a steakhouse, it's a port-intensive voyage so we're not on the ship that much, our gratuities are already paid for, and we don't do our excursions through Carnival, we use locals. Looks like everyone is getting a Carnival sweatshirt, a watch and bottle of rum for Christmas next year. Have your gratuities removed and then they will be charged onboard 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly333 Posted April 15, 2020 #9 Share Posted April 15, 2020 2 minutes ago, teknoge3k said: Looks like everyone is getting a Carnival sweatshirt, a watch and bottle of rum for Christmas next year. Could you make mine a bottle of good scotch please. You can skip the sweatshirt if that helps. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bury me at sea Posted April 15, 2020 #10 Share Posted April 15, 2020 12 minutes ago, californiatripman said: Have your gratuities removed and then they will be charged onboard That's what I did. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1964Nova Posted April 15, 2020 #11 Share Posted April 15, 2020 1 hour ago, lizord said: Go to the casino, take out $700 in chips/slot machine, charge it to the room, on the last day cash in your winnings. Can you play Craps/Roulette and charge to OBC? Or just take out chips? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denverdonkeys Posted April 16, 2020 #12 Share Posted April 16, 2020 1 hour ago, 1964Nova said: Can you play Craps/Roulette and charge to OBC? Or just take out chips? yes, just a 3% fee to use OBC at a table. they give you chips and then you play with those chips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matymil Posted April 16, 2020 #13 Share Posted April 16, 2020 9 hours ago, LaRue1975 said: I wonder about this too. We don’t sail until March 2021, someone should report back before then. Yeah if I remember I will. We sail on July 12th (hopefully) and have $1484 in OBC. $600 that we were told is non transferrable (meaning it is use or lose) and the rest is from a rate drop so it could be refunded if we didn't use it but given that refunds are super slow right now...we would probably just do the slot machine thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matymil Posted April 16, 2020 #14 Share Posted April 16, 2020 8 hours ago, californiatripman said: Have your gratuities removed and then they will be charged onboard I thought all gratuities are charged onboard unless you prepay them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger88 Posted April 16, 2020 #15 Share Posted April 16, 2020 These things are getting way too expensive. Its not the matter of OBC and its amount you ve got but rather a question of whether you work at the moment or not. If you lost your job or currently out of work due to a crisis, you can be planning anything really. And the amount of OBC does not really help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midwifelife7 Posted April 16, 2020 Author #16 Share Posted April 16, 2020 I have already paid for gratuities. If I ask for them to refund me the gratuities, who knows when I will ever see that refund. Someone said you can use OBC to purchase excursions if you do it through the "fun shop" I haven't looked into this. That was my next step, but I wanted to see if there was any reason I should wait until closer to the cruise to book excursions, if I fully anticipate the cruise will be cancelled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schoifmom Posted April 16, 2020 #17 Share Posted April 16, 2020 5 minutes ago, Midwifelife7 said: I have already paid for gratuities. If I ask for them to refund me the gratuities, who knows when I will ever see that refund. Someone said you can use OBC to purchase excursions if you do it through the "fun shop" I haven't looked into this. That was my next step, but I wanted to see if there was any reason I should wait until closer to the cruise to book excursions, if I fully anticipate the cruise will be cancelled. Unfortunately, "someone" was wrong. Carnival does not permit OBC to be used prior to sailing. On Carnival is is strictly ON BOARD credit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railroader Posted April 16, 2020 #18 Share Posted April 16, 2020 16 hours ago, lizord said: Go to the casino, take out $700 in chips/slot machine, charge it to the room, on the last day cash in your winnings. So, you just give the cage your sign and sail card? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railroader Posted April 16, 2020 #19 Share Posted April 16, 2020 My concern is everyone is going to have so much obc that I'm not going to be able to get a reservation in the steakhouse or be able to book an excursion. Good problem to have. I want to turn that obc to cash to spend on some stuff in cozumel. And maybe use to pay for another vacation ( I'm thinking Hawaii). I want to take full advantage. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trueblueky Posted April 16, 2020 #20 Share Posted April 16, 2020 DW, two daughters and I are cruising New Years. $1200 OBC. I think spa day, jewelry, what else? Can OBC be used to book the next cruise if you book while on board? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Shoes2Go Posted April 16, 2020 #21 Share Posted April 16, 2020 We use excess OBC to buy Carnival gift cards in Cherry on Top. Then, use them on future cruises. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HxFx Posted April 16, 2020 #22 Share Posted April 16, 2020 4 minutes ago, 2Shoes2Go said: We use excess OBC to buy Carnival gift cards in Cherry on Top. Then, use them on future cruises. That seems like a pretty good idea. Why Cherry on Top? Is that the only place that sells gift cards on Carnival? You don't have to use it at that store? BTW, seems like a similar discussion to the thread "***FCC and OBC -- Questions and Issues re onboard and future cruise credit***" I posted a question there about how to use the OBC since I previously did not realize you can't use until on board. I think your suggestion could be a good option. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Shoes2Go Posted April 16, 2020 #23 Share Posted April 16, 2020 Cherry on Top is only place, I know of, on board, that sells the gift cards. It’s a minimum of $100.00, up to $1,000.00, on each. Yw 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siestakeys04 Posted April 16, 2020 #24 Share Posted April 16, 2020 1 hour ago, 2Shoes2Go said: Cherry on Top is only place, I know of, on board, that sells the gift cards. It’s a minimum of $100.00, up to $1,000.00, on each. Yw So this gift card is just a general card for anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglecat Posted April 16, 2020 #25 Share Posted April 16, 2020 I'd like to know how you all have obtained so much OBC. We only have $200 on our September 12th sailing. It was given to us only because we carry a Carnival Mastercard. It's my understanding we will also get another $50 if we keep the sailing. This is a short 5 day out of New Orleans to celebrate our DD's one year wedding anniversary. Am I missing out on something on getting those large OBC's? Thanks all, stay healthy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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