Can Military OBC be used toward the crew appreciation fee?

[farjar]

We have cruised on both Carnival and Holland and were allowed to used our Military OBC toward our crew appreciation fee. The Princess website has the following statement. It mentions it can be used for "a wide variety of amenities". Is the crew appreciation fee one of them?

 

To thank the brave men and women of the American and Canadian militaries for their service, Princess Cruises® offers up to $250 free onboard spending money* for veterans as well as active, retired or disabled military personnel. This special military benefit is eligible on any cruise, any time of the year and can be used to purchase a wide variety of amenities and experiences including Lotus Spa® treatments; dining in our specialty restaurants; gifts, jewelry and clothing in our onboard boutiques; and Princess Cruises shore excursions.

[TRLD]

Officially no.

 

In actual practice yes.

 

Their accounting system just puts it against any ship board charges including crew appreciation.

[skynight]

Military OBC shows as a credit in your onboard account along with any other OBC. If you have the standard fare then a crew appreciation charge is posted daily to your account, and nets against any credit balance. So yes, military OBC as well as any other OBC is used for crew appreciation and any other on board expense. It's automatic. It's a simple credit/debit system.

[Curtzilla]

It cannot be used pre-cruise to pre-pay grats, if that's what you're getting at.  Better to just let it net out on the final bill.

[rj59]

They can always change the system, and have. So at one time, you couldn't combine military and shareholder OBC. And I believe military at one time was refundable, so I'd use mostly shareholder to cover gratuities and get a check for unspent military OBC at the end of the cruise. Having OBC to cover gratuities and a daily cocktail, and the Elite benefits of a minibar and half-off wifi, I've never felt the need to get Plus.

[Ombud]

@farjar yes. It is regarded as just regular nonrefundable OBC onboard and can be used for everything except Future Cruise Deposits. FCD will be charged against whichever method you set up to reconcile your final bill (Mastercard, Visa, AmEx)

[IrieBajan54]

10 hours ago, rj59 said:

They can always change the system, and have. So at one time, you couldn't combine military and shareholder OBC. And I believe military at one time was refundable, so I'd use mostly shareholder to cover gratuities and get a check for unspent military OBC at the end of the cruise. Having OBC to cover gratuities and a daily cocktail, and the Elite benefits of a minibar and half-off wifi, I've never felt the need to get Plus.

Ditto! Just got back from the Enchanted. My shareholder's OBC took care of the CA gratuities with $26 left over. So I got a few brewed coffees at the IC and bought a Medallion clip on to used up the balance. As a social drinker (wine/beer only), the one bottle of wine carried on and wine at two cocktail events took care of my alcohol needs. After my next cruise in October I will be Elite so the mini bar setup will push me over the limit (LOL). For me personally, a package would be unnecessary.

[mahasamatman]

41 minutes ago, IrieBajan54 said:

After my next cruise in October I will be Elite so the mini bar setup will push me over the limit (LOL).

We always swap out the whole minibar for water.