Can I buy OBC before the cruise, to pay for onboard purchases?

[trinitygirl]

On the Princess dashboard, its really easy to buy OBC to sit on my cruise dashboard, to use on board for spa treatments etc.  It's really advantageous to do this at the moment, because the Princess cost for $100 US OBC is about 10% less than the actual AUD/USD exchange rate at the moment.  I want to pay for as much of my trip up front as possible, but I can't see where, on the Celebrity cruise planner, I would do this.  Is it possible?  Do I need to phone them up to do it?   Any help would be gratefully received.

 

Emma

[DaKahuna]

@trinitygirl  yes.  Log into your account on Celebrity Cruises Web site. 

 

Click on your name in the upper right hand corner and select "Manage Reservation" 

Scroll down on the page that comes up and select Delivery Aboard and in that graphic select "Learn More"

 

in the low right as you scroll down the page you should see this:

 

 If you select View Onboard Credit It takes you to this page... 

 

 

Unfortunately it looks like you have to make multiple purchases to get anything substantial added to your account. 

 

Sorry, I've never tried to do this but that's what I found out. 

 

 

[Bo1953]

While I cannot dispute what you have found as I have only seen in perusing X's website, you may want to give your TA or X a call to determine how to purchase the amount of OBC desired.

 

Enjoy your sailing and bon voyage

[Boo's Mom]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

@trinitygirl  yes.  Log into your account on Celebrity Cruises Web site. 

 

Click on your name in the upper right hand corner and select "Manage Reservation" 

Scroll down on the page that comes up and select Delivery Aboard and in that graphic select "Learn More"

 

in the low right as you scroll down the page you should see this:

 

 If you select View Onboard Credit It takes you to this page... 

 

 

Unfortunately it looks like you have to make multiple purchases to get anything substantial added to your account. 

 

Sorry, I've never tried to do this but that's what I found out. 

 

 

I made a few of these purchases recently. 

If you bought 8 of the $25 credits (for example) - it will show up as $200.00. 

ie:  not 8 separate 25s.

 

 

[trinitygirl]

Thanks everyone - super helpful as always.  The screen is a little confusing - the first screen shows a $25 USD but when I click through to the payment, it shows the OBC in AUD with two different prices. I am assuming its a glitch, and the top OBC should be USD, with the bottom price in AUD.  I think I will need to ring and check and if it is as I suspect, I will go ahead and order via phone which looks like it will be easier than ordering multiple OBCs.   The cost is almost identical to the current currency conversion, so they obviously have not hedged to the extent that Princess does, but I am still going to do this in advance.   Thanks again!

[Kitekat]

I have done this a number of times when the exchange rate has been in our favour. It's an excellent way of getting OBC in USD. You can purchase up to 9 lots of $25 in one go - process all of those to full payment. It irritatingly requires you to put in a message and 'from' for each $25 but other than that it's not an issue. You can then go back and purchase another nine lots of $25... and go through the whole process again.

 

For those of us overseas - there is no commission charge and the cost of $25US that you see ($36.5 above) is what gets charged directly to your card. It's a complete no brainer to do this (and we did it for both of our Eclipse cruises B2B last year). If you have any left over at the end of the cruise, you can ask for your account to be converted to cash and the excess given to you in dollars - useful if you cruise regularly, need money for future tips or have a trip to the states planned.

[Longboysfan]

Reminder - once the money goes into OBC you are under their rules on how to get it out.

 

If you have extra remaining......

It's not a go to the desk and get cash back.

 

Best to talk to your TA about it.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

3 minutes ago, Longboysfan said:

Reminder - once the money goes into OBC you are under their rules on how to get it out.

 

If you have extra remaining......

It's not a go to the desk and get cash back.

 

Best to talk to your TA about it.

 

I thought pre-purchased OBC was refundable.

[LaCal]

We pre-purchased $500 OBC recently 

 

I just called 1-800-242-6374 

 

Answered right away and taken care of 

[Kitekat]

1 hour ago, Longboysfan said:

Reminder - once the money goes into OBC you are under their rules on how to get it out.

 

If you have extra remaining......

It's not a go to the desk and get cash back.

 

Best to talk to your TA about it.

This is under 'Gifts by Celebrity' and is treated similarly to OBC but not exactly the same. It can be given by any friend or family member who has your book ref etc or as in our case 'bought' by ourselves for us. It is a way of loading US dollars to your account prior to your cruise.

If there is any left at the end of the cruise it is refunded to the card used to gift it. And as it was a 'gift' you are able to do with it as you want. Including convert it to a cash account at guest relations with no penalty. This does not work with OBC directly from Celebrity, in those cases clear OBC rules apply.

 

If you live in the US you can still purchase gifts of $25 - although you do not gain any benefit of exchange rates which you would from Australia, Canada or the UK. But friends might like to buy you a drink or dinner perhaps...

Edited April 18, 2023 by Kitekat

[the penguins]

11 hours ago, trinitygirl said:

On the Princess dashboard, its really easy to buy OBC to sit on my cruise dashboard, to use on board for spa treatments etc.  It's really advantageous to do this at the moment, because the Princess cost for $100 US OBC is about 10% less than the actual AUD/USD exchange rate at the moment.  I want to pay for as much of my trip up front as possible, but I can't see where, on the Celebrity cruise planner, I would do this.  Is it possible?  Do I need to phone them up to do it?   Any help would be gratefully received.

 

Emma

Why oh why would even consider doing this?

You are paying the cruise line up front for something you may or may not use.

Keep the money in your bank account rather than in the cruise lines account.

Settle your account with a credit card that has no fees and converts at the rate on the day (there are lots to choose from - our choice is Nationwide) or one that gives you rewards - for example airmiles.

If you really want to spread the cost buy some 💲every month and take them with you and settle your bill with cash on the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

[trinitygirl]

42 minutes ago, the penguins said:

Why oh why would even consider doing this?

You are paying the cruise line up front for something you may or may not use.

Keep the money in your bank account rather than in the cruise lines account.

Settle your account with a credit card that has no fees and converts at the rate on the day (there are lots to choose from - our choice is Nationwide) or one that gives you rewards - for example airmiles.

If you really want to spread the cost buy some 💲every month and take them with you and settle your bill with cash on the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

It is almost impossible to buy foreign cash in Australia these days!  Most banks have stopped selling it at all, and those that do have tiny amounts in weird denominations and charge huge fees. By the bye, you can't bank foreign cheques in Australia anymore either.  I have two small American-bank cheques going to waste at the moment - can’t bank them anywhere.     And as for why OBC, I am off on a 6 month trip and want to prepay as much as possible before I leave home to limit the amount of banking I have to do on the road.  

[Kitekat]

56 minutes ago, the penguins said:

Why oh why would even consider doing this?

You are paying the cruise line up front for something you may or may not use.

Keep the money in your bank account rather than in the cruise lines account.

Settle your account with a credit card that has no fees and converts at the rate on the day (there are lots to choose from - our choice is Nationwide) or one that gives you rewards - for example airmiles.

If you really want to spread the cost buy some 💲every month and take them with you and settle your bill with cash on the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

It is worth checking the exchange rate that Celebrity are offering. Last year when the rate was $1.22 (bank rate was lower than this), the exchange rate through 'Gifts by Celebrity' was $1.27 with no commission charge. 

 

We bought several lots of $25 directly onto via credit card - the charge was made in sterling so there was no further charge (and we have a Natonwide card as well as Starling). We used this onboard to pay for restaurants or excursions. The cash at then end was great as we could convert to smaller bills and for additional tips for our steward, wait staff etc.

 

I would emphasise that this is not actually OBC - it is like putting cash into your account before leaving at an advantageous rate. I have seen it when it goes the other way - which is why it is always worth checking what rate you are being offered. 

 

We have done this many times - indeed, it was brought to our attention on the CC boards several years ago!

Edited April 18, 2023 by Kitekat

[the penguins]

45 minutes ago, Kitekat said:

It is worth checking the exchange rate that Celebrity are offering. Last year when the rate was $1.22 (bank rate was lower than this), the exchange rate through 'Gifts by Celebrity' was $1.27 with no commission charge. 

 

We bought several lots of $25 directly onto via credit card - the charge was made in sterling so there was no further charge (and we have a Natonwide card as well as Starling). We used this onboard to pay for restaurants or excursions. The cash at then end was great as we could convert to smaller bills and for additional tips for our steward, wait staff etc.

 

I would emphasise that this is not actually OBC - it is like putting cash into your account before leaving at an advantageous rate. I have seen it when it goes the other way - which is why it is always worth checking what rate you are being offered. 

 

We have done this many times - indeed, it was brought to our attention on the CC boards several years ago!

Just seems a very convoluted way of paying. You might or not gain on the exchange rate as it depends on the rate when you are on the ship and you won’t know that in advance. Guest Relations will always split bills so you can give small tips. 
We never book ships excursions. We prefer private guides (we share with one other couple from the Roll Call) which works out at around the same price but for a tour which is tailored to our requirements. 
Our OBC (shareholder/Ship/travel agent) is always way more than our spend so we convert it to cash in the casino.
As always no right or wrong solution just choices. 

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, trinitygirl said:

It is almost impossible to buy foreign cash in Australia these days!  Most banks have stopped selling it at all, and those that do have tiny amounts in weird denominations and charge huge fees. By the bye, you can't bank foreign cheques in Australia anymore either.  I have two small American-bank cheques going to waste at the moment - can’t bank them anywhere.     And as for why OBC, I am off on a 6 month trip and want to prepay as much as possible before I leave home to limit the amount of banking I have to do on the road.  

Thanks for the detailed response.    Enjoy your extended trip - we did 90 days which was great. Getting trip/medical insurance cover for that length of trip would be virtually impossible here. Nor would our home insurance be valid for such a long absence - 90 was the best we could get.

[Kitekat]

2 minutes ago, the penguins said:

Just seems a very convoluted way of paying. You might or not gain on the exchange rate as it depends on the rate when you are on the ship and you won’t know that in advance. Guest Relations will always split bills so you can give small tips. 
We never book ships excursions. We prefer private guides (we share with one other couple from the Roll Call) which works out at around the same price but for a tour which is tailored to our requirements. 
Our OBC (shareholder/Ship/travel agent) is always way more than our spend so we convert it to cash in the casino.
As always no right or wrong solution just choices. 

Agree there is no right or wrong way to do this. We have used it as a way of getting a better deal on USD although that does depend on the rate. We watch the trends and make the decisions.

 

We check excursions and would only book ship's tours if it is something special that we can't get elsewhere - we have had situations where we were obligated on one cruise, due to covid restrictions and there was no getting around that!

 

You do get penalised if you take cash out at the casino - and if you have put the cash into your account that would negate the benefits of buying the 'Gifts'. 

 

1 hour ago, trinitygirl said:

It is almost impossible to buy foreign cash in Australia these days!  Most banks have stopped selling it at all, and those that do have tiny amounts in weird denominations and charge huge fees. By the bye, you can't bank foreign cheques in Australia anymore either.  I have two small American-bank cheques going to waste at the moment - can’t bank them anywhere.     And as for why OBC, I am off on a 6 month trip and want to prepay as much as possible before I leave home to limit the amount of banking I have to do on the road.  

If you are on B2B cruises you need to load each cruise separately and then cash out at the end of each one else it will go back to your card.

6 months sounds like a fantastic holiday! Have fun and enjoy!

[the penguins]

40 minutes ago, Kitekat said:

Agree there is no right or wrong way to do this. We have used it as a way of getting a better deal on USD although that does depend on the rate. We watch the trends and make the decisions.

 

We check excursions and would only book ship's tours if it is something special that we can't get elsewhere - we have had situations where we were obligated on one cruise, due to covid restrictions and there was no getting around that!

 

You do get penalised if you take cash out at the casino - and if you have put the cash into your account that would negate the benefits of buying the 'Gifts'. 

 

If you are on B2B cruises you need to load each cruise separately and then cash out at the end of each one else it will go back to your card.

6 months sounds like a fantastic holiday! Have fun and enjoy!

No penalty when you take "promotional" chips and play roulette. We play corners covering 20 numbers with 5 chips giving us pretty much a  50/50 bet. All winnings are in "real" money. We have fun playing, accept we will never win a fortune and have never failed to convert all our OBC in to cash. 

[Kitekat]

3 minutes ago, the penguins said:

No penalty when you take "promotional" chips and play roulette. We play corners covering 20 numbers with 5 chips giving us pretty much a  50/50 bet. All winnings are in "real" money. We have fun playing, accept we will never win a fortune and have never failed to convert all our OBC in to cash. 

We need to be on a cruise with you and learn how to play! We have never gambled... that being said my DH prefers to spend his time at the martini bar and that is definitely a diminishing return!

[the penguins]

On 4/18/2023 at 6:10 PM, Kitekat said:

We need to be on a cruise with you and learn how to play! We have never gambled... that being said my DH prefers to spend his time at the martini bar and that is definitely a diminishing return!

Pop into the casino before it opens or gets busy (late morning or early afternoons on sea days is usually a good time) and the croupiers will happily teach you to play roulette, blackjack etc. and explain the options.

 

[LMHSRN]

On 4/18/2023 at 7:49 AM, Longboysfan said:

Reminder - once the money goes into OBC you are under their rules on how to get it out.

 

If you have extra remaining......

It's not a go to the desk and get cash back.

 

Best to talk to your TA about it.

Yes it is.  Refundable completely!

 

[kjwinston2019]

gee, I just tell my friends and family ot get my OBC by the Bon Voyage gifts. Let them pay, I will spend the money....LOL