I thought my $600 OBC was refundable, it's NOT!

[Ed342]

On 9/23/2023 at 10:28 AM, DaKahuna said:

 

Celebrity and Royal Caribbean handle OBC differently than MSC.  MSC does not refund any OBC whether from the cruise line or from your travel agency.  The only way to make it refundable is through the casino.  

 

Your source ???  TA OBC is always purchased as a "Gift" and therefore is refundable.

[luckyinpa]

for me my source was TA calling MSC and they said his gift to me was NOT refundable on the ship so he's mailing me a check after the cruise.

 

royal , princess and NCL always had put it back on my credit card so this is something new to me and ill be checking for every new cruise line in the future.

 

matter of fact i forget which line but one now demands you go to guest services to get cash or they wont let you off the ship!

[DaKahuna]

6 hours ago, Ed342 said:

Your source ???  TA OBC is always purchased as a "Gift" and therefore is refundable.

 

My source was comments posted on this board by cruisers who did not get remaining OBC returned to them.   

[capriccio]

5 hours ago, luckyinpa said:

for me my source was TA calling MSC and they said his gift to me was NOT refundable on the ship so he's mailing me a check after the cruise.

 

royal , princess and NCL always had put it back on my credit card so this is something new to me and ill be checking for every new cruise line in the future.

 

matter of fact i forget which line but one now demands you go to guest services to get cash or they wont let you off the ship!

Thank you @luckyinpafor sharing your experience.  My TA usually gives fare discounts but on our upcoming Seascape cruise in December she gave us OBC.  I emailed her this week with your experience and within an hour she changed it to a post cruise rebate for the same amount. 

[psmarkle]

As a "gaming enthusiast," I appreciate how I can use my TA's OBC towards Casino play for free on MSC (no 3% surcharge), unlike my personal experience on NCL where I would be charged 3% for charging casino credit to my room account. So, between paying for my DSC's for the cabin and my DW's penny slots time, we NEVER have unused OBC! 🤣 More like "subsidized entertainment."

Edited September 30, 2023 by psmarkle

[Georgia_Peaches]

On 9/24/2023 at 9:39 AM, lcpagejr said:

In this case why wouldn't you just reduce the  price of your cruise at payment?? 

Because TA’s are not allowed to sell cabins for less that the cruise line's advertised rate. So many build in refundable OBC, usually taken from their commission, which essentially lowers the price of the cruise…assuming it’s not spent on board. I’ve received a check for refundable sums of obc several times from my TA. On MSC I generally use the casino approach. However, in my case, it usually ends up back in the casino’s pocket. 

[MisterBill99]

On 9/23/2023 at 10:50 AM, lcpagejr said:

Thats what  I do.... I take a cash advance against room ...play a few slots and cash out.... 

 

When we were last on MSC several years ago, I had OBC to spend and loaded $100 to a slot and took it to the casino cashier. The guy refused to cash it out, I still remember his snooty response, "we are not a bank". We went back to the casino later in the day and used the credit and played a couple of spins and won a few dollars and then cashed that out.

[MisterBill99]

On 9/27/2023 at 4:53 PM, luckyinpa said:

royal , princess and NCL always had put it back on my credit card so this is something new to me and ill be checking for every new cruise line in the future.

 

Off-topic for this thread, but i you have a credit going back to your credit card on a cruise ship, you are better off changing the registered card to a debit card instead. Getting it on a credit card that pays you rebates will result in effectively losing that percentage on the refund. Putting it on your debit card (which I would normally never use when traveling) doesn't cost you anything when the credit hits.

 

The other option is getting the cash from guest services the last night of the cruise.

[MisterBill99]

On 10/10/2022 at 10:20 AM, mafig said:

I see my $600 obc is listed as non-refundable on MSC's site.  When I booked this cruise my TA said it was refundable.  I can manage to spend it, or whatever's left cash it out in the casino, but I now wonder if this obc really came from the travel agent or if it came from MSC.

Anyone know?

 

When does your OBC show up online? I just booked and am supposed to get $100 from MSC for their current promotion and $350 from my TA. I'm sure that the latter won't show up until very close to the cruise, or even not until I am on board. But should I see the $100 from MSC? I just paid the deposit today. I figured I'd ask here before asking my TA to investigate.

[Georgia_Peaches]

3 minutes ago, MisterBill99 said:

I'm sure that the latter won't show up until very close to the cruise, or even not until I am on board. But should I see the $100 from MSC? I just paid the deposit today. I figured I'd ask here before asking my TA to investigate.

None of our OBC from MSC or our TA ever showed up ahead of our cruise.  On the second day of our cruise on Seaside, I stopped by the concierge to check if the OBC had posted...it was there by at least day two.

[lcpagejr]

25 minutes ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

When we were last on MSC several years ago, I had OBC to spend and loaded $100 to a slot and took it to the casino cashier. The guy refused to cash it out, I still remember his snooty response, "we are not a bank". We went back to the casino later in the day and used the credit and played a couple of spins and won a few dollars and then cashed that out.

Yup., you just need to spin a few times.. thats the key..,then cash out … 

[MisterBill99]

21 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

None of our OBC from MSC or our TA ever showed up ahead of our cruise.  On the second day of our cruise on Seaside, I stopped by the concierge to check if the OBC had posted...it was there by at least day two.

 

Interesting, since the OP here seemed to be saying that theirs had shown up  on the website, and presumably that was before the cruise.

[Georgia_Peaches]

30 minutes ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

Interesting, since the OP here seemed to be saying that theirs had shown up  on the website, and presumably that was before the cruise.

Hmm...It's possible I just didn't know where to look in my cruise planner.  MSC's site can be glitchey...

[DaKahuna]

 I simply log into my account on the MSC  Cruise USA webbsite using my email and password, go to "Cruise Details" and it shows me OBC from MSC ..

 

[mafig]

2 hours ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

When does your OBC show up online? I just booked and am supposed to get $100 from MSC for their current promotion and $350 from my TA. I'm sure that the latter won't show up until very close to the cruise, or even not until I am on board. But should I see the $100 from MSC? I just paid the deposit today. I figured I'd ask here before asking my TA to investigate.

Sorry, I don't remember.

I'm the OP and this thread is from last year (2022).

Whatever I had left over I got back using the casino trick.

[luckyinpa]

2 hours ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

When does your OBC show up online? I just booked and am supposed to get $100 from MSC for their current promotion and $350 from my TA. I'm sure that the latter won't show up until very close to the cruise, or even not until I am on board. But should I see the $100 from MSC? I just paid the deposit today. I figured I'd ask here before asking my TA to investigate.

 

my 100 msc money showed up as soon as my TA booked my cruise. matter of fact i didnt even know i was getting any from msc

[MisterBill99]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

 I simply log into my account on the MSC  Cruise USA webbsite using my email and password, go to "Cruise Details" and it shows me OBC from MSC ..

 

 

Thanks, not showing for me, so I will ask the TA. They're giving me over 10% OBC on their own, which is very generous for MSC (who none of my regular TA's wanted to deal with because they apparently don't pay much in commissions), so even without the $100 from MSC I'm doing OK, but I would like to get it.

[DaKahuna]

2 minutes ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

Thanks, not showing for me, so I will ask the TA. They're giving me over 10% OBC on their own, which is very generous for MSC (who none of my regular TA's wanted to deal with because they apparently don't pay much in commissions), so even without the $100 from MSC I'm doing OK, but I would like to get it.

 

 This is OBC from MSC.  My OBC from my TA does not show up on the Web site.  It normally does not show up until the first or second day of a cruise. 

 

[luckyinpa]

4 minutes ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

Thanks, not showing for me, so I will ask the TA. They're giving me over 10% OBC on their own, which is very generous for MSC (who none of my regular TA's wanted to deal with because they apparently don't pay much in commissions), so even without the $100 from MSC I'm doing OK, but I would like to get it.

 

i always wondered how much commission they do get since my TA gives me 10 percent ish across most suites i've booked on a few different cruise lines. i just assumed he gets at least 20 and gives me half.

[MisterBill99]

3 minutes ago, luckyinpa said:

 

i always wondered how much commission they do get since my TA gives me 10 percent ish across most suites i've booked on a few different cruise lines. i just assumed he gets at least 20 and gives me half.

 

Never thought much about it, but I think that it's less, and I'm sure that it varies by line. This particular TA was offering much more percentage-wise for YC than they were for non, maybe they had a deal with MSC.  With Royal and Celebrity, I can routinely get 10% from a popular online agency.

 

Maybe it's like car dealers, where you pay what you think is the invoice price, but in reality there's more than they are getting on top of that.

Edited October 5, 2023 by MisterBill99

[lexxfield]

Does MSC allow the use of OBC towards the daily service charges?

[lcpagejr]

2 hours ago, lexxfield said:

Does MSC allow the use of OBC towards the daily service charges?

Yes... OBC shows as a credit on your account and your purchases/service charges will be debited against it until used up

[frank808]

Pre covid,I have had refundable(travel agent) and non refundable OBC. MSC would use the non refundable first. I got cash for the refundable portion from the concierge.  Withdrew the non refundable from the casino.

 

This past June/July all my credit from the travel agent was non refundable (same TA as used for MSC previously). Maybe different OBC rules for European sailings?