Purchasing onboard credit prior to cruise

[AzChar]

I am taking an 18-day cruise the end of January 2025.  I am trying to purchase onboard credit through HAL website.   I can get the credits into my shopping cart, but when I try to check out, I get an error message saying they are having trouble completing.

My question is:  How far in advance of a cruise can your purchase onboard credit?  

[FlorenceItaly]

They do updates on the weekends.  I think this is the problem.  You may want to wait until Monday.

[Cruise Suzy]

26 minutes ago, AzChar said:

How far in advance of a cruise can your purchase onboard credit?  

 

I believe all pre-cruise purchases need to be made at least 3 days prior to embarkation.

[Hlitner]

Call me a little old fashioned, but I do not see the wisdom of buying onboard credit in advance of a cruise.  There are a few reasons.  If you have remaining OBC, it can be a pain to get it refunded (HAL has more than its share of problems with its accounting and refund systems).  And, if you were to cancel the cruise (stuff sometimes happens), you might be waiting a long time (and jumping through some hoops) to get your money returned.

 

Simply put, I would rather owe HAL money then have them owing me money :).  We recently had a situation where we ended a Princess cruise with $400 of refundable OBC.  For that amount of money, Princess refunds it, via check, within a few weeks of the disembarkation.  We never got the check (apparently it was issued but lost).  It took me 3 phone calls and 5 e-mails to finally get that $400 refunded and we received the money in September of 2024 for a cruise we took in December 2023.

 

Hank

[Lido deck main]

31 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Call me a little old fashioned, but I do not see the wisdom of buying onboard credit in advance of a cruise.  There are a few reasons.  If you have remaining OBC, it can be a pain to get it refunded (HAL has more than its share of problems with its accounting and refund systems).  And, if you were to cancel the cruise (stuff sometimes happens), you might be waiting a long time (and jumping through some hoops) to get your money returned.

 

Simply put, I would rather owe HAL money then have them owing me money :).  We recently had a situation where we ended a Princess cruise with $400 of refundable OBC.  For that amount of money, Princess refunds it, via check, within a few weeks of the disembarkation.  We never got the check (apparently it was issued but lost).  It took me 3 phone calls and 5 e-mails to finally get that $400 refunded and we received the money in September of 2024 for a cruise we took in December 2023.

 

Hank

The reason to pre-purchase OBC for a cruise is that one does not have to carry hundreds or thousands with them while travelling and embarking on a cruise.  We take long cruises, our last big cruise was Grand Australia, 94 days.  I pre-purchased three thousand dollars OBC.  Used it for cash on the cruise, paid for independent excursions, used it on occasion to purchase additional Australian or New Zealand dollars.  If there is any left at the end of the cruise we cash out before we disembark.  

[Hlitner]

6 minutes ago, Lido deck main said:

The reason to pre-purchase OBC for a cruise is that one does not have to carry hundreds or thousands with them while travelling and embarking on a cruise.  We take long cruises, our last big cruise was Grand Australia, 94 days.  I pre-purchased three thousand dollars OBC.  Used it for cash on the cruise, paid for independent excursions, used it on occasion to purchase additional Australian or New Zealand dollars.  If there is any left at the end of the cruise we cash out before we disembark.  

Many cruise lines will not "cash out" OBC over a certain amount (some lines restrict to as little as $25).  And for us, we have better things to do than stand in a long queue on the last evening (or morning) of a cruise waiting to get to the Guest Relations desk.  As to carrying thousands, we carry very little cash (even though we routinely take 2 months trips) and rely on credit cards as well as ATM/Debit cards.  Since our main credit cards have decent rewards (with points) there is an advantage to using plastic (and quickly paying off the balance).

 

Hank

[regnig]

No need to stand in a long queue on the last evening to obtain remaining refundable OBC. You can use a slot machine in the Casino almost like an ATM. Set the amount to bet to equal or almost equal to the amount of OBC and indicate you want to charge it to your room account. Make on bet, small as you can, and then cash out. The Casino cashier will give you the difference in cash. As example - $500 OBC: indicated you will be betting $500 against you room account: place a .25 bet: hit the spin button. Cash out and assuming you didn't win go to the window and they will give you $475.

While I rarely have any OBC left at the end of a cruise this is the method I use during the cruise to eliminate the need to bring lots of cash with me.

Edited to add this not only works on HAL but used to also work on Princess, might still be it has been years since I've sailed Princess.

Edited October 5 by regnig
added something

[Haljo1935]

@AzChar I don’t know how far in advance you can purchase OBC, but having done it quite regularly, I think if it wasn't available to purchase, you wouldn't see it listed. It's likely a bug preventing you from buying; I would try again on a week day. I bought OBC twice (at different times) for a cruise I just took (Sept 28 - Oct 5) and had no issues either time. The first was at least 6 months in advance; the 2nd was 4 days prior to sailing, so right at the cut off.

I have called in and had an agent complete it for me when the system has been wonky, but that's been almost a year ago, so cannot confirm they still do that.

[AzChar]

Thanks for the responses.  I called HAL who also were not able to book it through their website so they did it manually for me.

All set!

 

[scooter6139]

We've pre-purchased OBC since we could use the AARP gift cards at a discount rather than pay full price.  Who doesn't want to save money?

[cruisin'mama]

1 hour ago, scooter6139 said:

We've pre-purchased OBC since we could use the AARP gift cards at a discount rather than pay full price.  Who doesn't want to save money?

I just tried to do that today and it said on the website that gift cards could not be used for the purchase of OBC. Did you go through a TA to do that?

[Wehwalt]

3 hours ago, cruisin'mama said:

I just tried to do that today and it said on the website that gift cards could not be used for the purchase of OBC. Did you go through a TA to do that?

It's possible they could eliminate what really is a loophole, since you are buying (with a credit card!) something at an eight percent discount which is redeemable for cash when you step on a ship.

Edited Wednesday at 09:39 PM by Wehwalt

[jlawrence01]

4 hours ago, scooter6139 said:

We've pre-purchased OBC since we could use the AARP gift cards at a discount rather than pay full price.  Who doesn't want to save money?

 

That is what we have been doing for years on HAL, Princess, and Carnival.  We estimate our needs for the cruise and purchase the gift certificates through AARP or Kroger.

 

Do NOT apply the gift certificates to your account until they are needed as they become non-refundable - or so I was told by the customer service on Nieuw Amsterdam last month.  That was NOT my experience on Eurodam back in January where the excess was refunded to my credit card on file.

 

I used up the excess of my "non refundable" amount with a VERY PROFITABLE stint at the casino.  Karma was wonderful.

[Haljo1935]

6 hours ago, jlawrence01 said:

...Do NOT apply the gift certificates to your account until they are needed as they become non-refundable - or so I was told by the customer service on Nieuw Amsterdam last month.  That was NOT my experience on Eurodam back in January where the excess was refunded to my credit card on file...

Purchased OBC is refundable; unused purchased OBC is refunded to the CC you registered for the cruise or you can cash it out. Just did it for a Sept 28 - Oct 5 cruise on the Eurodam. 

[richwmn]

7 hours ago, jlawrence01 said:

Do NOT apply the gift certificates to your account until they are needed as they become non-refundable - or so I was told by the customer service on Nieuw Amsterdam last month.  That was NOT my experience on Eurodam back in January where the excess was refunded to my credit card on file.

 

39 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Purchased OBC is refundable; unused purchased OBC is refunded to the CC you registered for the cruise or you can cash it out. Just did it for a Sept 28 - Oct 5 cruise on the Eurodam. 

This may be a new policy that is just getting to the ships, but I ran into the same thing on Westerdam (I'm still aboard) in early Sept. I applied gift cards to my account and they were listed as non refundable. I did, as a 'goodwill FCC' receive a satisfactory solution after several interactions with guest services.

[Haljo1935]

6 hours ago, richwmn said:

 

This may be a new policy that is just getting to the ships, but I ran into the same thing on Westerdam (I'm still aboard) in early Sept. I applied gift cards to my account and they were listed as non refundable. I did, as a 'goodwill FCC' receive a satisfactory solution after several interactions with guest services.

The 2 $100 gifts are gift cards I  applied to my account; the $275 is Shareholder and other OBC.

[richwmn]

3 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

The 2 $100 gifts are gift cards I  applied to my account; the $275 is Shareholder and other OBC.

Sorry, I didn't do a screen shot or take a picture of the TV. I assure you that my gift cards applied on board were listed as non refundable. Because of the FCC, that went away halfway thru the cruise when when the account was first cleared.

 

Also, your image shows 'Pre Booked Gifts and Amenities' which usually means that you applied the gift cards prior to the ship and someone shore side did it. Many people have commented that they have been unable to use gift cards to purchase OBC prior to the cruise, either by the website or by calling. So just another case of the inconsistency of HAL employees in applying policy.

 

[Haljo1935]

10 hours ago, richwmn said:

Sorry, I didn't do a screen shot or take a picture of the TV. I assure you that my gift cards applied on board were listed as non refundable. Because of the FCC, that went away halfway thru the cruise when when the account was first cleared.

 

Also, your image shows 'Pre Booked Gifts and Amenities' which usually means that you applied the gift cards prior to the ship and someone shore side did it. Many people have commented that they have been unable to use gift cards to purchase OBC prior to the cruise, either by the website or by calling. So just another case of the inconsistency of HAL employees in applying policy.

 

Yes - I called and a HAL agent did the transaction. 

[scooter6139]

On 10/16/2024 at 11:24 AM, cruisin'mama said:

I just tried to do that today and it said on the website that gift cards could not be used for the purchase of OBC. Did you go through a TA to do that?

No, just did it on the HAL website.