OBC for Tours Purchased With Credit Card

[babydrum]

My TA told me that if I purchase a tour on Seabourn with my credit card, I can switch it over to OBC when I get onboard and they will refund my credit card.  Since so many things are included on Seabourn, I don't have much to spend my $1300 OBC on and they have a couple of tours that look interesting.  Has anyone ever done this before?  

[markandjie]

Yes, they will do this at the end of the cruise. They take your total spend less your OBC and if you're owed money back they refund you. Basically your credit card payment is treated as a deposit.

[JMB56]

I had the same question earlier this autumn regarding pre-booked spa treatments: 

It seems that it may be easier to get the cost of your pre-booked excursions transferred to OBC than it is for spa treatments.

[cruiseej]

1 hour ago, markandjie said:

They take your total spend less your OBC and if you're owed money back they refund you. Basically your credit card payment is treated as a deposit.

 

I'll agree with this directionally, but not as described in practice. They will not automatically convert charges you made in advance on your credit card to debits against your OBC — but they will do so if you go to Seabourn Square and request it.

 

And don't wait until the end of the cruise; do it relatively early on. The Square staff make the request to the (unseen) night auditor. The following day or two, go back to the Square to ask for an updated account statement to verify that the change was made and matches your expectation. I've had instances where complications with canceled or partially credited excursion refunds have resulted in errors which take an additional circuit or two through the night auditor until everything is fine. I also recommend taking a paper record of what you pre-purchased, in case there are any issues between the home office file server and what gets downloaded to the ship.

 

Yes, this is a little bit of jumping through hoops, but it's usually quite straightforward, and always gets squared away.

 

You may find someone posting that it's no big deal and you can always spend your OBC at the boutique or on wine; my feeling is that $1,200 in OBC is not "play money"; I want it applied to my excursions purchased in advance! 😄 Fortunately, you can do it with a short visit to Seabourn Square.

[babydrum]

Thanks for your replies.  That is great to hear as some of their excursions are more than I would spend on the open market but I prefer to do them through the cruise line and not worry about getting back to the ship on time.

[markandjie]

11 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

but they will do so if you go to Seabourn Square and request it. 

 

Great add. And now I understand why my wife always goes to the square about midpoint of our trip! 

[whystayhome]

Also, the night before you get off the ship, I recommend going to Seabourn Square and requesting your refund in CASH.  That can avoid drama later and you keep the credit card points you got paying for the excursions up front.

 

Linda

[tjcox9]

When we did this, first no one in the Square had a clue what we were talking about which surprised us since we had read this was such a simple request that they were accustomed to receiving. Then, it took many days and trips to the Square until it occurred. Then, it was not applied to credit card at end of cruise and we had to wait several months for the refund. Next time, we will request cash at end of cruise for sure. 

[cruiseej]

For what it's worth, I have never requested cash at the end of the trip, and have never had a problem with receiving a credit card credit within days of leaving the ship. I'm not discounting others' experiences above; I just wanted to share what has been our experience. I just looked at my credit card history for our last two Seabourn cruises, one earlier this year and one last year: this year a refund posted to my credit card account one day after disembarking, and last year the refund posted two days after disembarking.

 

If you end up with a lot of refundable OBC, consider whether you want to have that much cash during your onward travels; I usually do not like to carry a lot of cash when traveling. 

[AnnieO2019]

I have just done this on Encore in the past couple of weeks . As has already been said, go and ask at the square. They convert what you have paid for your trips into “refundable” OBC.  I would also add that you don’t need to go to the square to check your account - mine was all correct on the Source App at all times during the cruise

[nancygp]

5 hours ago, cruiseej said:

For what it's worth, I have never requested cash at the end of the trip, and have never had a problem with receiving a credit card credit within days of leaving the ship. I'm not discounting others' experiences above; I just wanted to share what has been our experience. I

same here

 

Nancy