Laundry and OBC

[Lady Arwen]

I seem to have forgotten if I can use our OBC for laundry services.  We have quite a bit on our account and looking for ways to use it up.  This will be for our TA cruise of 14 days in October plus 3 days prior in Amsterdam, so it would really help out.  
 

Also, is it less expensive to purchase the premium internet package before our cruise or is it the same price if we wait until we board and use our OBC?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Cruising-along]

Yes you can certainly use your OBC for laundry.

Unless there's a promotion before the cruise, I've always found the cost of the internet packages to be the same before and after boarding. 

[Lady Arwen]

5 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

Yes you can certainly use your OBC for laundry.

Unless there's a promotion before the cruise, I've always found the cost of the internet packages to be the same before and after boarding. 

Thank you, just what I wanted to know!

[kazu]

1 hour ago, Lady Arwen said:

I seem to have forgotten if I can use our OBC for laundry services.  We have quite a bit on our account and looking for ways to use it up.  This will be for our TA cruise of 14 days in October plus 3 days prior in Amsterdam, so it would really help out.  
 

Also, is it less expensive to purchase the premium internet package before our cruise or is it the same price if we wait until we board and use our OBC?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Your laundry question was correctly answered.

 

It seems to me recently it was reported that there was a small savings if you pre-purchased the internet.  Now, if you have oodles of OBC, it might not make any difference if you want to use it up.

 

But, assuming these are still the rates for internet purchased on board (these were the rates when the ships stopped sailing)

 

 

when I checked my price on line if I were to purchase it, there was around a $50 savings on our 15 day cruise.

[Lady Arwen]

1 minute ago, kazu said:

 

Your laundry question was correctly answered.

 

It seems to me recently it was reported that there was a small savings if you pre-purchased the internet.  Now, if you have oodles of OBC, it might not make any difference if you want to use it up.

 

But, assuming these are still the rates for internet purchased on board (these were the rates when the ships stopped sailing)

 

 

when I checked my price on line if I were to purchase it, there was around a $50 savings on our 15 day cruise.

Thank you!  We have $450 in OBC  and I’m not a spa person.  We have a speciality dining perk, so internet and laundry came to mind.  Think I’ll wait til we board.

[VMax1700]

You can only pre purchase the 'Premium' Internet package.  I have found the 'Surf' package to be more than adequate, including making wifi calls (voice, not video) from mid Atlantic.

[Lady Arwen]

44 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

You can only pre purchase the 'Premium' Internet package.  I have found the 'Surf' package to be more than adequate, including making wifi calls (voice, not video) from mid Atlantic.

Thanks, I’ll check that out!

[Cruising-along]

4 hours ago, kazu said:

It seems to me recently it was reported that there was a small savings if you pre-purchased the internet.

So it looks like HAL is still offering this promotion since you see a savings for your cruise...I didn't realize it wasn't just a one-time deal last year.  Good to know.

I do agree with VMax that the Surf plan is more than adquate.

[Lady Arwen]

1 minute ago, Cruising-along said:

So it looks like HAL is still offering this promotion since you see a savings for your cruise...I didn't realize it wasn't just a one-time deal last year.  Good to know.

I do agree with VMax that the Surf plan is more than adquate.

May I ask what the difference is between the two plans?  Thank you!

[Cruising-along]

30 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

May I ask what the difference is between the two plans?  Thank you!

This is what I could find:  Note for email you need at least surf.    

 

Social: "Access the most popular social websites and applications." Daily download limit is about 200Mb.

 

Surf: "Surf your  sites including email, news, sports and more. " Daily download limit is 300Mb.

 

Premium: "Supports audio/video calling and streaming". Daily download limit is 500Mb, probably not enough to stream one hour of HD video.

[Lady Arwen]

1 hour ago, Cruising-along said:

This is what I could find:  Note for email you need at least surf.    

 

Social: "Access the most popular social websites and applications." Daily download limit is about 200Mb.

 

Surf: "Surf your  sites including email, news, sports and more. " Daily download limit is 300Mb.

 

Premium: "Supports audio/video calling and streaming". Daily download limit is 500Mb, probably not enough to stream one hour of HD video.

Thanks so much for replying.....I really appreciate it!  Looks like Surf might be adequate.

[kazu]

1 hour ago, Cruising-along said:

This is what I could find:  Note for email you need at least surf.    

 

Social: "Access the most popular social websites and applications." Daily download limit is about 200Mb.

 

Surf: "Surf your  sites including email, news, sports and more. " Daily download limit is 300Mb.

 

Premium: "Supports audio/video calling and streaming". Daily download limit is 500Mb, probably not enough to stream one hour of HD video.

 

that sums it up quite well.  Except the 500 mb doesn’t totally apply to the Premium.  DH has been able to watch a soccer game and they are longer than one hour 😉 

Social does everything but stream.  Premium is supposed to be faster but I really didn’t see much of a difference between the two and reverted to social on one cruise due to issues.

 

[Lady Arwen]

1 minute ago, kazu said:

 

that sums it up quite well.  Except the 500 mb doesn’t totally apply to the Premium.  DH has been able to watch a soccer game and they are longer than one hour 😉 

Social does everything but stream.  Premium is supposed to be faster but I really didn’t see much of a difference between the two and reverted to social on one cruise due to issues.

 

Thanks for this info!  Something else to keep in mind.

[Cruising-along]

23 minutes ago, kazu said:

Premium is supposed to be faster but I really didn’t see much of a difference between the two and reverted to social on one cruise due to issues

Jacqui I did the exact same thing, reverted back for the same reason.

[yerdua]

On 12/22/2020 at 12:25 PM, Lady Arwen said:

Thank you!  We have $450 in OBC  and I’m not a spa person.  We have a speciality dining perk, so internet and laundry came to mind.  Think I’ll wait til we board.

 

You can also use your OBC for the hotel service charges aka daily gratuities. Currently $14.50 pp per day for non suite passengers. It adds up quickly.

[Lady Arwen]

15 minutes ago, yerdua said:

 

You can also use your OBC for the hotel service charges aka daily gratuities. Currently $14.50 pp per day for non suite passengers. It adds up quickly.

Our promo includes pre paid grats, but thanks for the info.  I love that option!  We just add a little cash gift at the end for our steward and waitstaff and anyone else who goes beyond the norm.

[yerdua]

4 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

Our promo includes pre paid grats, but thanks for the info.  I love that option!  We just add a little cash gift at the end for our steward and waitstaff and anyone else who goes beyond the norm.

OB C also could be used for excursions and airport transfers. 

[Lady Arwen]

1 hour ago, yerdua said:

OB C also could be used for excursions and airport transfers. 

  Never do the ship transfers, much rather take a cab instead of crowded bus.  We like to book our excursions either independently or if ship excursions, I would worry that the ones we wanted were already sold out, so we purchase them months prior.  Since we mostly cruise Europe,  excursions are very important. Thank you so much for trying to help, though.  I really appreciate your kindness.