CruiseNext OBC

[Captain-John]

Hi. Wonder if someone can help clear up a lot of confusion. 

 

I'll keep this as simple as I can, I see another thread on the subject but people were getting their wires crossed. 

 

In the past I have (ignoring DSC):

 

Purchased 4x $250 Cruise Next certificates and received back $500 in OBC. My account balance at this point is $500 USD. 

 

I have not charged another thing to my account (again ignore DSC for this example). I have walked away and only had $500 charged to my credit card. 

 

Now I understand that the OBC generated when purchasing a Cruise Next certificate, cannot be used to reduce the effective cost of the certificate - it must be consumed in some way onboard and cannot be offset against the $1k cost of the 4 certificates. 

 

 

When did this policy change? 

 

[KeithJenner]

When I last saw a discussion on this it wasn't clear whether:

 

a) The OBC given from the purchase can't be used against the purchase of the CruiseNext voucher, or

 

b) Non refundable OBC can now no longer be used to make the initial purchase.

 

The result of either of these can be similar and we obviously can't see the full account information of people reporting their experiences. My conclusion at the time was that it is b, but I don't know for sure.

 

[Captain-John]

Thanks. It's scenario a) I am referring to and that NCL have said is the case, but doesn't match my past experience.

 

Could it be said that the OBC given on purchase of CruiseNext was previously refundable, and is now not? That is an explanation that would make sense to me, but would be curious to know when that changed (if it's the case). 

 

 

 

 

 

[MeHeartCruising]

The first reports I recall seeing this change being discussed were about 2-3 months ago. 

[julig22]

My experience in October was that I was able to buy 3 certificates (a departure from the usual  paired options) and the net charge to my account was $375.  But I specifically asked to use the obc for the CN certificates.  I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't asked.

[MsTabbyKats]

I'm confused too, but the bottom line is that IF you cannot use the credit issued for the purchase (or it not be refundable)......many people won't bother to buy the cruisenexts.

 

It sounds like they may be phasing out the program.

[KeithJenner]

25 minutes ago, Captain-John said:

Thanks. It's scenario a) I am referring to and that NCL have said is the case, but doesn't match my past experience.

 

Could it be said that the OBC given on purchase of CruiseNext was previously refundable, and is now not? That is an explanation that would make sense to me, but would be curious to know when that changed (if it's the case). 

It sounds like you have more up to date info than I do, as I don't recall NCL saying that the credit can't be used. I thought they had just said that non refundable couldn't be.

 

I thought that maybe people who had non refundable OBC bought the vouchers and even though the credit was applied to the purchase, they still needed to pay for the other part.

 

As I say, it really wasn't clear, but some people were still saying that they did have the credit applied.

 

As above, I would guess that the discussions were about 2-3 months ago.

[Katie H]

This is our experience on a 12/11 sailing on Joy.  We purchased two certificates for a total of $500.  The $250 OBC did apply against that charge for a net of $250.  I had confirmed that this would be the case at the OBC desk prior to the purchase.  The thing that has changed is that our shareholders OBC of $100 could not be applied against the $250 and had to be spent.  In the past, we were able to apply the shareholders to the $250 thereby turning non-refundable OBC into cash.  I guess they caught on to that and put a stop to it.

[Captain-John]

Thanks all. This was a call to NCL (UK) about a different matter and I don't want to set the dogs running if this is just one agent with the with the wrong understanding.  Equally there have been sporadic mentions on these forums but nothing explicit which details the exact status of someone's onboard account to see if this is actually enforced. 

 

Julig22, your experience is reassuring and fairly recent, and even though you asked you weren't told no... 

 

Thanks Katie H too - reassuring. 

Edited January 16, 2022 by Captain-John

[dolfan1980]

I cruised the Joy Dec 4th and purchased two certificates for $500.  My ship account had gratuities for one person and about $9 of taxes for the drinks I had in Miami before departure and traveling solo, I didn't purchase anything else at all.  The $250 credit I received certainly did go towards my certificates at least in part.  I paid the balance in cash at Guest Services the night before departure. 

 

There was no word about not being able to use the OBC to offset the certificates, in fact as I recall it was promoted this way.

[Russiamomm]

I did have an issue in October.  I didn’t check my receipt close enough before I got off the ship.  They had not applied the OBC to the cost of the CNs and my invoice said I lost $193 of OBC.  I called guest services, sent them a copy of the invoice and after two escalations they insisted it was right - that the OBC could not be used to offset the cost of the CNs.  Then I went to the CN desk, which confirmed that the ship and Guest Services were wrong.  If you can’t use it to buy the certificates, what’s the point?  I then had to send that email back to Guest Services and was ultimately refunded the $193.

 

long story short - make sure in advance it can be done and check the invoice closely before you get off the ship.  Hopefully they’ve done some training on this issue.

[hallux]

One simply needs to read the T&C's of the CruiseNext program to find the answer...

https://www.ncl.com/popup/cruisenext_terms?hide_hf=true

Only refundable Onboard Credits and the Non-Refundable Onboard Credit given for purchasing CruiseNext deposits may be used towards your CruiseNext purchase.

[vacation44]

And, am I correct that you can still apply them to cruises that are booked already? 

[cybergremlin]

I had the same issue on the breakaway last October, after buying 2 I had a query with my bill, guests services said the CN OBC couldn't be used against the CN vouchers which i knew was wrong. I ended up getting a cruise next member of staff to explain it to guest services 

Maybe they are trying their luck in to get you to spend more on board to increase revenue

 

@vacation44 yes you can still apply them to cruises already booked. i did this just last week 

[vacation44]

4 minutes ago, cybergremlin said:

@vacation44 yes you can still apply them to cruises already booked. i did this just last week 

Thank you!    Did you do it while on the ship or when you got home?

[Muckyduckway]

2 hours ago, Russiamomm said:

I did have an issue in October.  I didn’t check my receipt close enough before I got off the ship.  They had not applied the OBC to the cost of the CNs and my invoice said I lost $193 of OBC.  I called guest services, sent them a copy of the invoice and after two escalations they insisted it was right - that the OBC could not be used to offset the cost of the CNs.  Then I went to the CN desk, which confirmed that the ship and Guest Services were wrong.  If you can’t use it to buy the certificates, what’s the point?  I then had to send that email back to Guest Services and was ultimately refunded the $193.

 

long story short - make sure in advance it can be done and check the invoice closely before you get off the ship.  Hopefully they’ve done some training on this issue.

Was the OBC you lost acquired by buying CruiseNexts, or was it OBC that you would have had if you hadn't purchased CruiseNexts?

[cybergremlin]

6 minutes ago, vacation44 said:

Thank you!    Did you do it while on the ship or when you got home?

 

I did it from home, however the agent i spoke to initially said I couldn't but after checking with her manager she got them applied. she said she had just started and blamed it on her training 

[Russiamomm]

2 hours ago, Muckyduckway said:

Was the OBC you lost acquired by buying CruiseNexts, or was it OBC that you would have had if you hadn't purchased CruiseNexts?

I had other OBC, but had used it all for other things.  They definitely tried to not apply the OBC I got for buying the CNs against the cost of them.  It took several phone calls and emails but ultimately they gave me the “unused” credit back to my credit card.

[The Traveling Man]

5 hours ago, hallux said:

One simply needs to read the T&C's of the CruiseNext program to find the answer...

https://www.ncl.com/popup/cruisenext_terms?hide_hf=true

Only refundable Onboard Credits and the Non-Refundable Onboard Credit given for purchasing CruiseNext deposits may be used towards your CruiseNext purchase.

That seems quite straightforward.  The OBC you receive for purchasing a CND can be used to defray the original cost of the CND.  If someone at the Guest Services Desk interprets it differently, simply refer them to the T&C on the NCL website.

[Captain-John]

2 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

That seems quite straightforward.  The OBC you receive for purchasing a CND can be used to defray the original cost of the CND.  If someone at the Guest Services Desk interprets it differently, simply refer them to the T&C on the NCL website.

 

 

7 hours ago, hallux said:

One simply needs to read the T&C's of the CruiseNext program to find the answer...

https://www.ncl.com/popup/cruisenext_terms?hide_hf=true

Only refundable Onboard Credits and the Non-Refundable Onboard Credit given for purchasing CruiseNext deposits may be used towards your CruiseNext purchase.

 

Thank you, that's definitive. An NCL agent did say otherwise but if I am in conversation with them again, I will direct them to this. 

 

Very much appreciated. 

[Muckyduckway]

5 hours ago, Russiamomm said:

I had other OBC, but had used it all for other things.  They definitely tried to not apply the OBC I got for buying the CNs against the cost of them.  It took several phone calls and emails but ultimately they gave me the “unused” credit back to my credit card.

Our situation was that I had $200 non-refundable OBC as one of my perks. In the past I had been able to use this towards the CruiseNext balance of $250 leaving me with a balance of $50 to pay. 

As we were unaware of the rule change, we deliberately didn't attempt to spend the $200, but we did buy a few coffees and thought we had a balance of $164 OBC, which should have meant we had a closing balance of $86. Instead our balance was $250, which was taken automatically.

Guest Relations were adamant that the rule change applied despite the fact that neither they nor CruiseNext staff could produce any written evidence of this at the time.  The terms and conditions have since been updated, so at least the situation is clear for those making a purchase at the moment.

Live and learn... 

[KeithJenner]

22 minutes ago, Muckyduckway said:

Our situation was that I had $200 non-refundable OBC as one of my perks. In the past I had been able to use this towards the CruiseNext balance of $250 leaving me with a balance of $50 to pay. 

As we were unaware of the rule change, we deliberately didn't attempt to spend the $200, but we did buy a few coffees and thought we had a balance of $164 OBC, which should have meant we had a closing balance of $86. Instead our balance was $250, which was taken automatically.

Guest Relations were adamant that the rule change applied despite the fact that neither they nor CruiseNext staff could produce any written evidence of this at the time.  The terms and conditions have since been updated, so at least the situation is clear for those making a purchase at the moment.

Live and learn... 

I think that situations like yours were what caused the confusion previously. People in your position assumed their non refundable OBC was used for the Cruisenext purchase but the OBC given against the purchase wasn't allocated against it, whereas as you say it was the original OBC which was the real problem.