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Spending your OBC ?


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28 minutes ago, Lucky TGO said:

This is easy take my wife. All my OBC is gone while I’m filling out the health forms at the Pier. 😳

My friend said what took her so long. 😁

The Captain of The Rowboat,

Tony 

 

How many boutiques does the Rowboat have?

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I think I know the answer to this but:  Does "Casino Credit" have to be used in the casino or can it be used anywhere on ship?  (non-refundable, I assume)  DW will happily use it in casino but.... wondering.  We have the Princess Plus (as the OP has so don't need it for crew incentive, etc.)

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You can book your specialty restaurant reservations ahead of time and pay for them. When you get on the ship, the amount you paid will become refundable OBC. That way you'll be sure to get the nights and times you want. At least that is how it's worked for me in the past.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 9/3/2021 at 5:05 PM, geoherb said:

You can book your specialty restaurant reservations ahead of time and pay for them. When you get on the ship, the amount you paid will become refundable OBC. That way you'll be sure to get the nights and times you want. At least that is how it's worked for me in the past.

Good to know since booking specialty dining in the app get charged to your credit card. I want to book Share for my wife's B-day and have a good amount of OBC to use up.

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On 9/3/2021 at 5:05 PM, geoherb said:

You can book your specialty restaurant reservations ahead of time and pay for them. When you get on the ship, the amount you paid will become refundable OBC. That way you'll be sure to get the nights and times you want. At least that is how it's worked for me in the past.

 

55 minutes ago, Mike-Cruisin said:

Good to know since booking specialty dining in the app get charged to your credit card. I want to book Share for my wife's B-day and have a good amount of OBC to use up.

But that is additional OBC and not consuming OBC to pay for the SD reservation.  It was pre-paid to your credit card.  Normally, there is no issue booking SD on board.  If you have a specific day/time, I would take care of it on embarkation afternoon sometime.

 

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5 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

 

But that is additional OBC and not consuming OBC to pay for the SD reservation.  It was pre-paid to your credit card.  Normally, there is no issue booking SD on board.  If you have a specific day/time, I would take care of it on embarkation afternoon sometime.

 

Ok, thanks. Good to know the specifics. 

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On 8/27/2021 at 12:47 PM, Dar & Bob said:
On 8/27/2021 at 11:30 AM, ontheweb said:

If your tips are not included, that will take a chunk out of it.

Princess Plus includes "Crew Incentive"

And this is why my next 4 cruises are booked lowest fare: 

>Crew incentive uses $145

>2 coffee programs free

>Internet will add back 75

>Tours on mini bus' only 110 (just 1 available on 2 voyages)

So that's only 180 of my 400 - 950 used up once I board. Covers wine, slots, blackjack. Oh yeah!! 🤑 on 2 cruises it's obligated after a day / on the other one I might look and see if they still carry Chicos onboard with the new retail group. Don't wear Gucci, Chanel, Bvlgari, Effy

 

I wanted to use up a gift card so I bought FCC. On my travel summary it's listed as gift card purchase. They now check when you ask for cash back at the end to make sure how it is refundable (GC vs cash). I had cash also on my tab

20210922_084756.thumb.jpg.8eaba28821034bb30ced804de210b1db.jpg

Has anyone else seen this?? Just didn't want 1 small GC out there

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6 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 

But that is additional OBC and not consuming OBC to pay for the SD reservation.  It was pre-paid to your credit card.  Normally, there is no issue booking SD on board.  If you have a specific day/time, I would take care of it on embarkation afternoon sometime.

 

 

Yes, it is additional OBC, but it is refundable OBC. Princess will use your nonrefundable OBC first. So if you have $175 in nonrefundable OBC and prebook dinner for two at the Crown Grill and Sabatini's, you will pay $98. That will give you $273 of OBC--$175 nonrefundable and $98 refundable. When you go to the restaurants, the charges will come out of the nonrefundable portion. It works the same way if you prepay for excursions before you have enough OBC applied to your account. After the end of the cruise, you will get back the $98 (assuming you did not spend more than $175 on board). 

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13 minutes ago, Mike-Cruisin said:

We got $100 from the Princess Fall Frenzy sale, $60 from our TA and $100 for being a stockholder in CCL. 

I could spend that amount in a nano second - if you can't use it please send it over to me

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59 minutes ago, jimbo1683 said:

Where are you all getting all this OBC from?

The non-recurring biggees:

TA: 600 Goodwill OBC for 2 canceled cruises (book by 10/01/22)

Alaska: 100 Goodwill OBC for taking so long to process refunds (from customer service -> use by 12/31/21 -> gone)

 

Ongoing per cruise:

100-250 Shareholders OBC per cruise 

15-100 OBC with FCD (not FCC)

100-200 OBC depending on booking

60-100 OBC from PVP

 

Plus many get Military OBC

Its all stackable 

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On 8/28/2021 at 4:28 AM, paul929207 said:

Only shore excursions can be charged to OBC BEFORE boarding.

 

Thank you so much for this info. We have quite a bit OBC on a few upcoming cruises and this would work well. This way, we can book ahead. Even though, we usually do not book shore excursions through Princess.

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Some people get crazy OBC. I don't get the Military OBC but there are some couples where both parties qualify. I think the most we have ever had was $800 and on that cruise the gratuities and the beverage package were included in the fare. We also had private excursions booked so no Princess excursion costs.

 

Since our B2B2B in January is now toast (Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania) our next booked cruise is a 12 day Alaska cruise in May. We have $575 OBC on that one and are booked with Princess Plus so no "extra" expenses. This one has $75 Referral OBC. One of my wife's nephews wanted to take a Princess cruise so we "referred" him and his wife and his mom. we got $25 credit for each of them. It's been bouncing around and being applied to cruise after cruise and they have all been cancelled. It's good that Princess hasn't lost them somewhere by now.

 

We have never had a problem with too much OBC.

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1 hour ago, nini said:

 

Thank you so much for this info. We have quite a bit OBC on a few upcoming cruises and this would work well. This way, we can book ahead. Even though, we usually do not book shore excursions through Princess.

And once you do that you'll get 10% rebated as refundable OBC (if elite)

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37 minutes ago, Ombud said:

And once you do that you'll get 10% rebated as refundable OBC (if elite)

LOL! We are Platinum and really have no hopes to become Elite. Covid  really interfered with that, but who knows?

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On 9/3/2021 at 9:16 AM, MishelleMcc said:

I think I know the answer to this but:  Does "Casino Credit" have to be used in the casino or can it be used anywhere on ship?  (non-refundable, I assume)  DW will happily use it in casino but.... wondering.  We have the Princess Plus (as the OP has so don't need it for crew incentive, etc.)

 

I've had 'casino credit' run two different ways on Princess that was functionally identical: They gave it to me in cash, or they gave it to me in live chips... that you could just turn around and cash right back out. (Not sure what they do if you want it for machines.)

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Even though I am Elite with Princess I haven’t cruised with them since 2015.  I’ve recently booked the April 2022 Emerald transatlantic and UK with Princess Plus providing $100 on board credit. No other OBC so far.  Last night I booked a shore excursion I particularly wanted and was surprised that the $100 was automatically deducted from the cost with no option not to use it.  It really doesn’t matter when it’s used but if I decide to cancel the tour before boarding will the $100 be refunded to my onboard account? I usually pre-book excursions and will request the Elite 10% off onboard.  I’ve found the the website to be quite functional compared to others but anticipates almost too much and you have to be careful.  The Medallion App is another story!!  So far more annoying than helpful.  

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46 minutes ago, tamsno said:

Even though I am Elite with Princess I haven’t cruised with them since 2015.  I’ve recently booked the April 2022 Emerald transatlantic and UK with Princess Plus providing $100 on board credit. No other OBC so far.  Last night I booked a shore excursion I particularly wanted and was surprised that the $100 was automatically deducted from the cost with no option not to use it.  It really doesn’t matter when it’s used but if I decide to cancel the tour before boarding will the $100 be refunded to my onboard account? I usually pre-book excursions and will request the Elite 10% off onboard.  I’ve found the the website to be quite functional compared to others but anticipates almost too much and you have to be careful.  The Medallion App is another story!!  So far more annoying than helpful.  

As long as you follow the documented cancellation policy.

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18 hours ago, Mike-Cruisin said:

We got $100 from the Princess Fall Frenzy sale, $60 from our TA and $100 for being a stockholder in CCL. 

$260 is NOT a lot of OBC.  The $60 from the TA should be refundable (you get it credited to your credit card at the end of the cruise if unspent) and $200 can be gone in one shore excursion.

 

On our recent B2B cruises on Celebrity Apex, we ended up with a combined $3,375 in OBC.  Yes, unreal.  It was a product of and original deal with a nice amount of OBC, then taking advantage of some promotions along the way, being "lifted and shifted" twice and having some issues with Guest Relations awarding us with more "for our troubles", a generous TA--who gave us $375, which, at least, was refundable--and upgrading to a suite along the way--which came with additional OBC.  AND, our deal included the Premium Drink Package, unlimited streaming WiFi, and prepaid gratuities...and, because of our Elite Plus status, we got stuff like free laundry.  And, on Celebrity, suite passengers get the best specialty restaurant on the ship for EVERY meal.  Not many at sea days, so not a lot of time to waste in spa or gambling. 

 

We settled on doing ALL of our shore excursions through the cruise line and doing the very expensive ones everywhere.  Bought a few things in the gift shops.  Still fell a little short.

 

For our upcoming Majestic Princess cruise, we have the included drink package, WiFi, gratuities and one free night in a specialty restaurant...Pus some OBC.  We will agin, use it on some cruise line shore excursions.

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6 hours ago, Bruin Steve said:

$260 is NOT a lot of OBC.

Sorry, was not trying to indicate that $260 was a lot.  I agree that is a pretty small amount.  Was just responding to the question of where I was getting the OBC from. Fortunately we also received additional incentives on Princess gift cards and a cash card from our TA which ended up being more than the OBC. Nothing close to your $3375 but we are happy with what we got for the cruise in Nov.

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