True? OBC from my travel agent cannot be used in casino or cash??

[Grandma7]

I just tried to have $50 put on my key card to use on slots. I know the OBC from Holland cannot be used but I thought I read on Cruise Critic that I could use the OBC from my agent for this. Lady at the customer service said NO OBC could be used for casino or cash. Thanks for any thoughts!

[richwmn]

Some OBC provided by Travel Agents is 'pass thru', money that HAL or CCL provided as a booking bonus. OBC purchased by your TA can be used in the Casino, but if you haven't used up your non-refundable OBC yet the transaction may have been flagged incorrectly.

[Grandma7]

I just got on board today.  I have $250  from Holland and about $150 from my agent plus the Loyalty 50.00. They yold me I can't use sny of it for casino or cash.

[kazu]

8 hours ago, Grandma7 said:

I just got on board today.  I have $250  from Holland and about $150 from my agent plus the Loyalty 50.00. They yold me I can't use sny of it for casino or cash.

 

Unless something has changed dramatically I don’t think that is quite correct.  Take a look at your statement - the OBC you can’t use for the casino will say so.  I suspect (unless it’s the type that is non refundable) that your TA’s OBC can be used.  You probably have to use you non refundable up first before it will work in the casino although I’ve never had that problem before.

[Hlitner]

I am tossing out an observation based on various posts here on CC (and elsewhere).  When we started cruising on HAL (in the 80s) we thought it was one of the two best mass market lines (Celebrity was the other) that attracted an older well-traveled and somewhat sophisticated crowd.   Over the years we noticed that the demographics of shorter HAL cruises (i.e. 7-10 days out of Florida) had a somewhat different demographic then on our other more exotic HAL cruises.  But lately (last year) we have seen many more posts about HAL becoming somewhat of a budget line (with lots of nickel and diming) and also a line marketing heavily to gamblers with various casino deals (including free and very low cost deals).  At times we have wondered if HAL is becoming the cheap casino looking to attract lots of slot players (the sucker game in any casino).  It reminds me of when the Atlantic City casinos would have all kinds of free daily bus trips aimed at attracting slot players (i.e. free bus and a bonus of $10 in quarters).  

 

When I read about folks not being able to use OBC in the casino, it is not surprising.  It almost feels like HAL has separated the casino operations from the cruise line and using it to attract a different kind of cruiser (one who spends most of their spare time pushing slot buttons).   I am beginning to wonder if HAL downgraded their entertainment (no major Production Shows) to simply give folks one more reason to spend their "entertainment hours" in the casino (spending money) rather than sitting in a theater (not spending money).   What do you think?

 

Hank

[StartrainDD]

I was able to turn a sizeable amount of TA provided 'refundable' OBC into CASH at guest services on our Nieuw Statendam cruise that ended on Saturday.  We had spent the non-refundable earlier in the cruise on overpriced items from the shops.

 

• Hank, I think you are correct at least to some degree.  I just completed my post-cruise survey and the answer to the question "Will you book your next cruise with Holland America?" my response was a zero out of ten.  We were on a "Casino cruise" in March and it was troubling to find that 2/3 of our fellow guests were on complimentary cruises.
•  
• Celebrity has come back from the shutdown with a much better product.

[Florida_gal_50]

4 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I am tossing out an observation based on various posts here on CC (and elsewhere).  When we started cruising on HAL (in the 80s) we thought it was one of the two best mass market lines (Celebrity was the other) that attracted an older well-traveled and somewhat sophisticated crowd.   Over the years we noticed that the demographics of shorter HAL cruises (i.e. 7-10 days out of Florida) had a somewhat different demographic then on our other more exotic HAL cruises.  But lately (last year) we have seen many more posts about HAL becoming somewhat of a budget line (with lots of nickel and diming) and also a line marketing heavily to gamblers with various casino deals (including free and very low cost deals).  At times we have wondered if HAL is becoming the cheap casino looking to attract lots of slot players (the sucker game in any casino).  It reminds me of when the Atlantic City casinos would have all kinds of free daily bus trips aimed at attracting slot players (i.e. free bus and a bonus of $10 in quarters).  

 

When I read about folks not being able to use OBC in the casino, it is not surprising.  It almost feels like HAL has separated the casino operations from the cruise line and using it to attract a different kind of cruiser (one who spends most of their spare time pushing slot buttons).   I am beginning to wonder if HAL downgraded their entertainment (no major Production Shows) to simply give folks one more reason to spend their "entertainment hours" in the casino (spending money) rather than sitting in a theater (not spending money).   What do you think?

 

Hank

Just look at the first page of cc.  Always a thread of two of people getting free deals.  Heaven forbid that you say anything because I got ripped a new one when I did along with another poster.  Posts have since been removed.  I wonder how long they'll last without paying customers.