OBC Usage

[LAKingsFan]

Hello everyone,

 

I have a decent amount of onboard credit for a cruise I have booked in January.

 

I intend on purchasing the Cheers! Package with some of it and likely a couple of excursions. My question is, can I pre-purchase these things with my obc or do I need to wait until I'm actually on the ship?

 

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[firefly333]

Unfortunately onboard credit on carnival cannot be used until you are onboard.

 

I'm a little worried with so much obc floating around about getting that special excursion or pay dining.

[LAKingsFan]

4 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Unfortunately onboard credit on carnival cannot be used until you are onboard.

 

I'm a little worried with so much obc floating around about getting that special excursion or pay dining.

I was afraid of that. Thank you for the response. I guess I should just pay the higher price for Cheers when we board.

[Lee Cruiser]

48 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Unfortunately onboard credit on carnival cannot be used until you are onboard.

 

I'm a little worried with so much obc floating around about getting that special excursion or pay dining.

That's a concern I have as well.  For this  September I  will probably go ahead and do steakhouse reservations in advance.  Probably not many excursions we want to do this time.  But in April, we have a lot more credit and will definitely want to do some excursions.

[wemjam]

One trick I can offer if you have more than one cruise a few months apart, and simply can't use all the OBC in a manner you want on your first cruise is - use it to buy Carnival Gift Cards in Cherry on Top that you can then use for your next cruise.  Best of all, once you have the gift cards you CAN buy the things you want before you cruise the next time and pay for it with gift cards - such as steak house or specialty restaurants, excursions, cheers, etc.

 

 

[cruisingguy007]

22 minutes ago, wemjam said:

One trick I can offer if you have more than one cruise a few months apart, and simply can't use all the OBC in a manner you want on your first cruise is - use it to buy Carnival Gift Cards in Cherry on Top that you can then use for your next cruise.  Best of all, once you have the gift cards you CAN buy the things you want before you cruise the next time and pay for it with gift cards - such as steak house or specialty restaurants, excursions, cheers, etc.

 

 

 

Keep telling everyone this and there is a good chance they will nip this in the bud. Same with the casino bank conversion. These methods allow people to convert credits to cash or salable gift cards (also convert to cash essentially). Won't last long if folks keep promoting it.  

Edited July 2, 2021 by cruisingguy007

[cruizinisthebest]

2 hours ago, wemjam said:

One trick I can offer if you have more than one cruise a few months apart, and simply can't use all the OBC in a manner you want on your first cruise is - use it to buy Carnival Gift Cards in Cherry on Top that you can then use for your next cruise.  Best of all, once you have the gift cards you CAN buy the things you want before you cruise the next time and pay for it with gift cards - such as steak house or specialty restaurants, excursions, cheers, etc.

 

 

Someone asked John Heald about this and the person posted a screenshot of his response in my roll call. Cashing out at the casino and/or buying gift cards with the OBC granted from rebooking cancelled cruises will not be allowed. I don't know how they will do it, but they will be according to John.  Not surprised. 

[cruisingguy007]

5 minutes ago, cruizinisthebest said:

Someone asked John Heald about this and the person posted a screenshot of his response in my roll call. Cashing out at the casino and/or buying gift cards with the OBC granted from rebooking cancelled cruises will not be allowed. I don't know how they will do it, but they will be according to John.  Not surprised. 

 

They can do it by converting the OBC's from the regular conversion table to a different category and prevent conversion.Treating OBC as a special category essentially and making it not universally usable and limiting categories altogether. They could simply remove the ability to debit casino bank or buy gift cards.     

[Wanna_Cruize]

Hmmm, I wonder if they will allow that OBC to be used if you purchase chips by charging them to your S&S card at the blackjack tables. They charge 3% for the privilege, so it's different than pulling money from your account to a slot machine and then taking the card to the cashier and getting the cash off it. 

[SNJCruisers]

6 hours ago, LAKingsFan said:

Hello everyone,

 

I have a decent amount of onboard credit for a cruise I have booked in January.

 

I intend on purchasing the Cheers! Package with some of it and likely a couple of excursions. My question is, can I pre-purchase these things with my obc or do I need to wait until I'm actually on the ship?

 

Thanks in advance for any replies.

What do you consider a decent amount of OBC?  Gratuities for two eats up 200.  Then you have specialty dining, and the couple of excursions you mentioned.  If at all possible, I would purchase Cheers beforehand to save the 10%.

[LAKingsFan]

35 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

What do you consider a decent amount of OBC?  Gratuities for two eats up 200.  Then you have specialty dining, and the couple of excursions you mentioned.  If at all possible, I would purchase Cheers beforehand to save the 10%.

$1100.

 

I think in order to use it all I will have to use it for Cheers. Such are the rules. Didn't know if it was possible to use in advance for these things.

[Wanna_Cruize]

Since you can bring one bottle of wine on per adult when boarding you could purchase Cheers starting on the 2nd day. That would bring the cost to be similar to purchasing it in advance. We're considering that approach, and then buy it at breakfast on Day 2 in order to start off with a couple of mimosas!

[BoozinCroozin]

There are 3 of us on an 8-night cruise. We have $1,000 in OBC. ~$320 will go to the daily service rate. We will book the steakhouse when onboard. I figure from other a la carte places we will spend another $100 or so (Red Frog Pub, Seafood Shack, etc). We will gamble a bit, but I am not sure how they will figure the $600 OBC from canceled cruise vs the other OBC we have. We may book a CCL excursion which will chew up another $300 give or take. Normal vacation souvenirs should eat up the rest of it.

[SNJCruisers]

42 minutes ago, LAKingsFan said:

$1100.

 

I think in order to use it all I will have to use it for Cheers. Such are the rules. Didn't know if it was possible to use in advance for these things.

How did you get that much?  Obviously 600 is from a past cancelled cruise.  Maybe 100 from stock, leaving 400?

[firefly333]

23 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

How did you get that much?  Obviously 600 is from a past cancelled cruise.  Maybe 100 from stock, leaving 400?

Some had a fcc more than the new cruise and got the rest as obc. 

 

Some casino rates had $400 obc

 

Personally idk how they can say what obc can be used for what. Of course john says cant cash it out. I'd wait and read what others say after their cruises.

 

I've got a lot on only one cruise and little to nothing on the other two. ..but I've never had trouble spending money before.

[LAKingsFan]

1 hour ago, SNJCruisers said:

How did you get that much?  Obviously 600 is from a past cancelled cruise.  Maybe 100 from stock, leaving 400?

600 from past cancelled cruise combined with 500 from a casino offer

[wemjam]

8 hours ago, cruizinisthebest said:

Someone asked John Heald about this and the person posted a screenshot of his response in my roll call. Cashing out at the casino and/or buying gift cards with the OBC granted from rebooking cancelled cruises will not be allowed. I don't know how they will do it, but they will be according to John.  Not surprised. 

Well the way I see it, I can TOTALLY understand not allowing people to just cash it out at the casino and take home the money, not allowing the buying of CARNIVAL gift cards seems silly and should not be an issue for them.  I am still spending it with Carnival just in a manner that is more suited to how I want to spend it - they are still getting the money one way or another.

 

I cruise 4-5 times a year at least and some cruises I spend way more than others,  the money it is still going back into their pockets either way.

[firefly333]

I cant see them making carnival gift certificates so obc doesnt cover them, but wouldnt that be a surprise to buy them have to pay hard cold cash for them. I'm betting by sept I'll know. I dont have tons of obc, but I have almost 0 on my other two.

 

So it's not true I'd spend the same either way as tips and everything else will be cash on the other two, so of course carnival will get more overall from me if they dont allow gift certificate sales. These first few cruises will be interesting. Bring on the real cruises. In the past obc could be used for anything you charged to your account. The faqs actually used to say not to tips. Havent read them for a while. Ss what they said and what they do has varied in the past as well.

[mgasaway]

I have $1600 OBC for my cruise in Oct.  $1000 was a casino offer and $600 from a cancelled cruise.  I also have the OBC of $1000 on 3 other cruises I have booked next year (my offer was good for up to 8 cruises).  If I can't turn that into chips or my SS bank in the casino and (hopefully)have some some left to) cash out at the end of the cruise it will be the very last time Carnival ever gets a dime of the $$$$ I spend in their casinos.

[d12j28]

7 hours ago, LAKingsFan said:

$1100.

 

I think in order to use it all I will have to use it for Cheers. Such are the rules. Didn't know if it was possible to use in advance for these things.

How long is your cruise? 

[cruizinisthebest]

2 hours ago, wemjam said:

Well the way I see it, I can TOTALLY understand not allowing people to just cash it out at the casino and take home the money, not allowing the buying of CARNIVAL gift cards seems silly and should not be an issue for them.  I am still spending it with Carnival just in a manner that is more suited to how I want to spend it - they are still getting the money one way or another.

 

I cruise 4-5 times a year at least and some cruises I spend way more than others,  the money it is still going back into their pockets either way.

I agree 100%. I don't think people should be able to cash out either. I don't mind finding ways to spend all we have. But I do not get restricting the buying of gift cards. Especially since there is virtually no way to convert a gift card into cash. The money belongs to them forever. They should reconsider that restriction IMO. 

[lobster1313]

7 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Personally idk how they can say what obc can be used for what. Of course john says cant cash it out. I'd wait and read what others say after their cruises.

I asked this last year to my PVP before my December cruise canceled, he said that it's similar to cruise cash bar which is coded to only allow for drinks.

[firefly333]

1 hour ago, cruizinisthebest said:

Especially since there is virtually no way to convert a gift card into cash. The money belongs to them forever. They should reconsider that restriction IMO. 

We dont know you cant buy gift cards. Someone asked john who gave the policy but who knows in practice but if too many are buying gift cards I sure can see the practice being stopped.

 

They can be used to buy a future cruise, or as someone said book pay venues ahead of time others have to pay for in cash. Let's see where this goes before deciding we know. 

[Acheavacci]

One of the reasons I choose to cancel with full refund rather than take the OBC was their ability to add stipulations for the OBC.  The unknowns were too risky for me.  

[Ohio Bucki]

On the last day of the cruise if you still have OBC left over, can you subtract the amount of the gratuities and then give the rest at the Groove for St. Jude event?