OBC + Purchase of carnival cash

[barriechris]

We have a $200 OBC and was looking at purchasing carnival cash also to use for whatever we choose.   Looking online it looks like the maximum carnival cash that can be applied per room is $500.  Does this mean we could buy a maximum of $300 or is the OBC classified differently than the cruise cash?  Thanks for any help.

[sparks1093]

Cruise cash is different than OBC, so you can buy up to $500 if you wish (keeping in mind that the terms say it is not refundable). (Each type of cruise cash has the same limit so you could have $500 Cruise Cash and $500 Cruise Cash Bar if you wished.)

Edited October 3, 2023 by sparks1093

[starstruck05]

There is honestly no point in buying Carnival Cash with OBC. You can use OBC for anything on board including the Casino and excursions. Cruise cash limits you.

[Riles34]

16 minutes ago, starstruck05 said:

There is honestly no point in buying Carnival Cash with OBC. You can use OBC for anything on board including the Casino and excursions. Cruise cash limits you.

I like to buy cruise cash in advance. It allows me to pre buy and "payoff" my bill months before. $100 here and $100 instead of a larger sail and sign bill come the last day hitting the credit card. So there is a point. And anything you have left over, you go to a slot machine and put it all in. Cash out and collect your cash. Easy!

[starstruck05]

5 minutes ago, Riles34 said:

I like to buy cruise cash in advance. It allows me to pre buy and "payoff" my bill months before. $100 here and $100 instead of a larger sail and sign bill come the last day hitting the credit card. So there is a point. And anything you have left over, you go to a slot machine and put it all in. Cash out and collect your cash. Easy!

You do that exact thing with OBC.......

[Riles34]

15 minutes ago, starstruck05 said:

You do that exact thing with OBC.......

They only have $200 of OBC, sounds like they want more. It is just a way to prepay things. Trust me, lost of people buy it and there is nothing about it that limits you. 

[sydney dog]

Is there an advantage to Cruise Cash instead of buying a CCL Gift Card, as far as buying each with cash/credit card?

[starstruck05]

1 hour ago, barriechris said:

We have a $200 OBC and was looking at purchasing carnival cash also to use for whatever we choose.   Looking online it looks like the maximum carnival cash that can be applied per room is $500.  Does this mean we could buy a maximum of $300 or is the OBC classified differently than the cruise cash?  Thanks for any help.

I think your original question. Is hard to understand.  Cruise cash and OBC is separate. It sounded like you wanted to buy cruise cash with OBC but you want to buy cruise cash in ADDITION to your OBC. You can buy up to the max on cruise cash as they aren't the same.

[Earthworm Jim]

39 minutes ago, Riles34 said:

I like to buy cruise cash in advance. It allows me to pre buy and "payoff" my bill months before. $100 here and $100 instead of a larger sail and sign bill come the last day hitting the credit card. So there is a point. And anything you have left over, you go to a slot machine and put it all in. Cash out and collect your cash. Easy!

 

That $100 here and $100 there can just sit in your bank account and pay your bill just as easily after the cruise. Though given today's paltry savings and checking interest rates, you're not losing much by paying in advance either. Though you avoid the step of cashing out the remainder with a slot machine if you leave it in the bank..

Edited October 3, 2023 by Earthworm Jim

[xyzcruiser]

If you cruise carnival often, I suggest carnival gift cards instead. If you buy them on a rewards card or aarp (and some other outlets), you can get at least 10% off. If you don't use the full amount, just save the card for the next cruise without having to maneuver to get your cruise cash back through the casino. I also like to buy cards at different times in the months preceding a cruise because then I can relax on the cruise, knowing that my vacation is already paid for, and at a discount.

[thesmiths]

1 hour ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

That $100 here and $100 there can just sit in your bank account and pay your bill just as easily after the cruise. Though given today's paltry savings and checking interest rates, you're not losing much by paying in advance either. Though you avoid the step of cashing out the remainder with a slot machine if you leave it in the bank..

Few banks are giving 5+% interest.

[ARcruisin2]

1 hour ago, xyzcruiser said:

If you cruise carnival often, I suggest carnival gift cards instead. If you buy them on a rewards card or aarp (and some other outlets), you can get at least 10% off. If you don't use the full amount, just save the card for the next cruise without having to maneuver to get your cruise cash back through the casino. I also like to buy cards at different times in the months preceding a cruise because then I can relax on the cruise, knowing that my vacation is already paid for, and at a discount.

so then do you just apply the money from the cart at a kiosk, throughout the cruise, as you spend?

[n6uqqq]

5 minutes ago, ARcruisin2 said:

so then do you just apply the money from the cart at a kiosk, throughout the cruise, as you spend?

That is what I do except I load a bunch all at once. The good thing about gift cards on sail and sign is they will refund any excess balance over 10 dollars at the end of the cruise to a new gift card. 

[xyzcruiser]

 in order to make a partial payment you need to go to guest services, if you go to the kiosk it applies the whole card.  if I'm not sure how much I'm going to spend on board, I buy several $100 cards rather than one card of a large denomination. Once when there were no small denomination cards available at a discount, I bought a big one, and since I my bill wasn't as much as the card, I had to have guest services apply the partial payment ( which they did with no issue) and then had a card with a partial balance which I used on the next cruise. So I don't have to stand in line at guest services, I now buy $100 cards if possible because this also allows me to spread my purchases out over several months whenever I have a few extra bucks.

[ngrund]

1 hour ago, xyzcruiser said:

 in order to make a partial payment you need to go to guest services, if you go to the kiosk it applies the whole card.  if I'm not sure how much I'm going to spend on board, I buy several $100 cards rather than one card of a large denomination. Once when there were no small denomination cards available at a discount, I bought a big one, and since I my bill wasn't as much as the card, I had to have guest services apply the partial payment ( which they did with no issue) and then had a card with a partial balance which I used on the next cruise. So I don't have to stand in line at guest services, I now buy $100 cards if possible because this also allows me to spread my purchases out over several months whenever I have a few extra bucks.

Do you know if there is an issue applying a partially used card at the kiosk? After paying for Cheers I may have a small balance left on one

[xyzcruiser]

In my experience that should be fine at kiosks . But if  you have issues just go to desk services and they will apply it for you.

[ngrund]

4 minutes ago, xyzcruiser said:

In my experience that should be fine at kiosks . But if  you have issues just go to desk services and they will apply it for you.

Thanks, all I loaded in the past were full cards

[sparks1093]

7 hours ago, ngrund said:

Thanks, all I loaded in the past were full cards

Whatever the balance is the kiosk probably has no way of knowing whether that's the original balance or not, so to the kiosk the card is "full".

[ruready]

I just had issues loading a $500 egift card (I received as a present) into Cruise Cash.  Read the limit per cruise is $500, but the system kept saying I was over my limit although I had not “purchased” any Cruise Cash.  So called Fun Shops and they could not figure it out, so they are sending me over to some other department to try and resolve. So, I thought maybe it is because we are getting $150 credit from TA.  So, I just was able to process only up to $350 and any incremental more shows I am over the limit.  Maybe this next department can help, but the online system does seem to aggregate the OBC and Cruise Cash as one.  To avoid any hassles, I may just use the remaining $150 for steak house dinner and cruise bar cash.  I’m on a 15 day cruise, so we will definitely be able to use the funds. Our gratuities alone will total about $480, so the $500 in cruise cash and obc should cover that, assuming the OBC can be used for gratuities.  

[sparks1093]

11 hours ago, ruready said:

I just had issues loading a $500 egift card (I received as a present) into Cruise Cash.  Read the limit per cruise is $500, but the system kept saying I was over my limit although I had not “purchased” any Cruise Cash.  So called Fun Shops and they could not figure it out, so they are sending me over to some other department to try and resolve. So, I thought maybe it is because we are getting $150 credit from TA.  So, I just was able to process only up to $350 and any incremental more shows I am over the limit.  Maybe this next department can help, but the online system does seem to aggregate the OBC and Cruise Cash as one.  To avoid any hassles, I may just use the remaining $150 for steak house dinner and cruise bar cash.  I’m on a 15 day cruise, so we will definitely be able to use the funds. Our gratuities alone will total about $480, so the $500 in cruise cash and obc should cover that, assuming the OBC can be used for gratuities.  

OBC is king and may be used for anything (although you can't designate what it is used for onboard, it just reduces your folio balance by that amount. I'm not sure if it may be applied to gratuities before the cruise.).

[ngrund]

19 hours ago, ruready said:

I just had issues loading a $500 egift card (I received as a present) into Cruise Cash.  Read the limit per cruise is $500, but the system kept saying I was over my limit although I had not “purchased” any Cruise Cash.  So called Fun Shops and they could not figure it out, so they are sending me over to some other department to try and resolve. So, I thought maybe it is because we are getting $150 credit from TA.  So, I just was able to process only up to $350 and any incremental more shows I am over the limit.  Maybe this next department can help, but the online system does seem to aggregate the OBC and Cruise Cash as one.  To avoid any hassles, I may just use the remaining $150 for steak house dinner and cruise bar cash.  I’m on a 15 day cruise, so we will definitely be able to use the funds. Our gratuities alone will total about $480, so the $500 in cruise cash and obc should cover that, assuming the OBC can be used for gratuities.  

No need to buy cruise cash, just wait until you are onboard and have the gift card applied, all you will need is the # and pin. You can save a pdf of the card to your phone, or add it to google or apple wallet

[LinRon3]

Just a comment...I used to argue to wife why don't the cruise lines [here Carnival] offer partial cruise drink packages in some way.  We've always thought the premium drink packages were totally overpriced given one has to buy for 'all' passengers all cruise.  Seems to me, this 'cash' up front program acts similar to some sort of 'partial' drink package.  I like they are doing this but as some of the arguments this thread, we still can't see any real reason to not just let one's tab ride on the credit card to pay later?  Convenience I see is one argument I guess.  We just did two Celebrity cruises end of 2023, and they weren't even checking in alcohol we bought for family back home when re-embarking at ports.  Some MSC cruises we've done have been relaxed like that too?  Royal Caribbean still did the check in's however on a December cruise. Not sure what it all means, but seems some relaxation with rigid alcohol polices of the past taking place?   I see one can even purchase bottles of liquor for stateroom use pre-cruise, albeit for pretty hefty prices [I don't think we ever saw these options pre pandemic]?   

[Purvis1231]

If you have $200 OBC that should cover your first-day purchases so I would skip the Cruise Cash and just put down additional cash once on board. 

Edited January 7 by Purvis1231
typo

[sparks1093]

7 hours ago, LinRon3 said:

Just a comment...I used to argue to wife why don't the cruise lines [here Carnival] offer partial cruise drink packages in some way.  We've always thought the premium drink packages were totally overpriced given one has to buy for 'all' passengers all cruise.  Seems to me, this 'cash' up front program acts similar to some sort of 'partial' drink package.  I like they are doing this but as some of the arguments this thread, we still can't see any real reason to not just let one's tab ride on the credit card to pay later?  Convenience I see is one argument I guess.  We just did two Celebrity cruises end of 2023, and they weren't even checking in alcohol we bought for family back home when re-embarking at ports.  Some MSC cruises we've done have been relaxed like that too?  Royal Caribbean still did the check in's however on a December cruise. Not sure what it all means, but seems some relaxation with rigid alcohol polices of the past taking place?   I see one can even purchase bottles of liquor for stateroom use pre-cruise, albeit for pretty hefty prices [I don't think we ever saw these options pre pandemic]?   

The option for pre-purchasing a bottle for the cabin has been around for a while, certainly before the pandemic. Each cruise line is a bit different, but Carnival still checks alcohol brought back ashore. There are two reasons for Cruise Cash- to give it as a gift to a cruiser (probably how it started) and for the convenience of the passenger. We used to purchase it before every cruise as a budgeting technique, but now we are empty nesters, so we don't need to. As for the drink packages, remember first and foremost they are designed to make the cruise line money, period. That they save some passengers money is how it is marketed, but just like with gambling the odds are always with the house. For every person that fully gets their money's worth there are likely two that don't. If selling some sort of partial drink package would make more money than they would be doing it. They have people on the payroll whose only job is to figure out new and innovative ways to part the passengers from their cash while they are onboard.