Do you have too much OBC?

[Crew News]

1 hour ago, oaktreerb said:

The form i was given by Guest Relations on the Koningsdam was a very simple 8-1/2 form.  Our gratuities were covered as part of HIA.  The rep looked online at my account, told me what OBC was left, and I wrote the amount in, indicated that it was to be given to crew gratuity fund, and signed with my name and room #.   My statement listed it as Crew Appreciation.

 

 Maybe @Crew News will see this and offer some information on this procedure.

Other threads have reported that only "refundable" credit can be used for crew appreciation.  This thread shows that both "non-refundable and refundable" credit can be moved to the crew fund. 

 

It does pose the question, "Why transferring both "non-refundable and refundable" cannot be done on all HAL ships?"

[DaveOKC]

57 minutes ago, Crew News said:

Other threads have reported that only "refundable" credit can be used for crew appreciation.  This thread shows that both "non-refundable and refundable" credit can be moved to the crew fund. 

 

It does pose the question, "Why transferring both "non-refundable and refundable" cannot be done on all HAL ships?"

Quick answer - its the HAL way - never the same by ship!

 

[Crew News]

Just now, DaveOKC said:

Quick answer - its the HAL way - never the same by ship!

 

With HAL implementing senior officer (Captains and Hotel General Managers) rotation, some entrenched policies may disappear. On the downside, so will some of the character of the individual ships.

[oaktreerb]

1 hour ago, Crew News said:

Other threads have reported that only "refundable" credit can be used for crew appreciation.  This thread shows that both "non-refundable and refundable" credit can be moved to the crew fund. 

 

It does pose the question, "Why transferring both "non-refundable and refundable" cannot be done on all HAL ships?"

The notice from the ship that I had unspent nonrefundable OBC surprised me.  Without that notice I would  have left it on the account unspent.  Maybe the transfer paperwork was easier for me because my daily gratuities had already been paid as a perk.

 

In the past HAL has automatically assessed my nonrefundable OBC for the daily gratuity.  No form needed.  

 

Maybe the answer to your question is that all non-refundable OBC is not equal (depending on the source).

Every HAL ship should have the same accounting system.

[canadianbear]

8 hours ago, oaktreerb said:

The notice from the ship that I had unspent nonrefundable OBC surprised me.  Without that notice I would  have left it on the account unspent.  Maybe the transfer paperwork was easier for me because my daily gratuities had already been paid as a perk.

 

In the past HAL has automatically assessed my nonrefundable OBC for the daily gratuity.  No form needed.  

 

Maybe the answer to your question is that all non-refundable OBC is not equal (depending on the source).

Every HAL ship should have the same accounting system.

We got a phone call as well telling us about our non refundable amount & use it or lose it.  We had the HIA but a lot of OBC.  
 

The form should be changed  as it shouldn’t have to be so hard trying to figure out the daily amount but exactly how much in total you want to give extra. 

[albingirl]

Funny, I  never had the hassle of too much obc. It is such an enjoyable chore.

[canadianbear]

24 minutes ago, albingirl said:

Funny, I  never had the hassle of too much obc. It is such an enjoyable chore.

I think it’s more if you get the HIA.  The cruise we just completed was our first time with the HIA.  I’m not sure it is worth it for us but wanted to try it plus we have it for our cruise in February.  After that I doubt we’d go that route.   We’ve never had issues prior using all our OBC. 

[MISTER 67]

IMHO you can never have enough or too much OBC.

Edited November 20, 2023 by MISTER 67