Buying on board credit before you sail

[Sparkle 123]

Hi

I have just purchased $200 worth of shipboard credit certificates from the celebrity website. The only proof I have of this is my credit card statement.Has anybody else had any experience of this and will the on board credit show on my account straight away when we get onboard or will there be confirmation in the cabin?

Thanks

[sweep]

What is the advantage of buying on board credit before you sail? Also how do you go about this? I looked on the celebrity site and couldn't find that facility.

 

Sweep

[Char]

What is the advantage of buying on board credit before you sail? Also how do you go about this? I looked on the celebrity site and couldn't find that facility.

 

Sweep

If you go to the Celebrity web site and run your curser over the menu choices on the right side of the page you will see that under the "Prepare to Sail" options is "Bon Voyage Gifts". Click on that and it will have all the items that can be purchased, inclulding onboard credit in $25 increments. :)

 

The advantage is that you can have the bill paid off before you cruise. I have never done this, so don't know exactly how/when it would show up on your onboard account. Why not call Celebrity to find out?

[buffett010]

I, too, purchased onboard credits for our cruise. My TA said that since it's really considered a "gift" by Celebrity, I will not see anything online about it. However, when I arrive onboard, I will have a card in my room showing that I have a credit and it's value. Since I only have proof of purchase from an email from Celebrity, I will be bringing that with me (as well as my receipt from my TA) on my cruise just in case there is a discrepancy.

[teedee]

Hi - I have purchased onboard credits for my upcoming Century cruise. You can call Celebrity and have them fax you a confirmation. The number is 1-800-242-6374 ( at least I think that's the number, if that doesn't work the last number may be 9, I'm having trouble reading my crappy handwriting!) The person I talked to was Mandy, but anyone there can probably send you the fax.

 

Terri

[Hilary]

I'm going to buy credits prior to sailing since I think it's a great idea! Of course from a financial analyst standpoint (which I'm not), it's allowing Celebrity to use your money for a few months prior to sailing instead of using it yourself. Yeah, it would be smarter to put the money into an interest bearing account, but I'm just not that disciplined. Also since we're cruising at Christmas, it'll sure be nice to prepay our on-board account now instead of at a time of year when bills run high anyway.

[teedee]

Someone on our rollcall thread also pre-paid their tips. I didn't know you could do this on Celebrity, but I asked my TA and she said yes. I like to have as much paid in advance as possible. I also have a discipline problem and probably wouldn't put the money aside.

Terri

[marco]

Hilary, your're right. Why let them use "your" money? If you must, put that money away (or in a bank) then charge on board, and then pay that bill with the money you've squirrelled away. I know we're not talking mega bucks here, but if you watch the pennies, the dollars take care of themselves!!!! And if a lot of folks start doing this, they've got a tidy little sum of cash to play with. I'm annoyed enough having to plunk down a $500 deposit 9 months before the cruise! I think it 's a great idea for a bon voyage gift for someone, however.

[themommy]

Do you know if you can register your on board credit card before you sail?

I have filled in the registration on the web site but I am unsure as to whether we will still have to register again on board.

 

Incidently I think that the option to buy on board credit is a good idea for those it suits. The likelihood of saving before is slim when you consider that we plan to use a credit card facility.

[Cruise Junky]

I love putting down a chunk of money on the account before we leave. It's peace of mind that it's already paid, it makes the bill at the end of the cruise not such a shock and it's a great way to budget. Don't let a couple of pennies of interest stop you, cause that's all these days you'd see...a couple of pennies.

[ROMPAR98]

Related to this... we have received an on board credit due to our original cruise being cancelled. We have no documentation for this. Do we just have faith that it will be there when we board?

[tuggers]

Wish I could get my friends to buy me some of these before I cruise! Some how they stopped giving me Bon Voyage gifts when Im started cruising 5 and 6 times a year! LOL! Go figure! :)

[Boo's Mom]

One advantage of giving yourself some onboard credit is that you may not have to use your credit card. Let's face it, folks....the cc thieves are out in full force. It happens...especially on the islands.

 

You can withdrawl the credit from the casino...... then have the cash for the ports, etc...

 

Call Celebrity a few days prior to leaving town...and confirm that your credit is there. ;)

 

Yes, there is a form you can fill out on the website...and even in the brochure. Or...you can call celebrity and handle it over the phone. No credit card?......use the written form and mail in a check.

[Sparkle 123]

The main reason I decided to buy on board credit before we sail is being from the UK we are getting a good exchange rate for the dollar at the moment plus AMEX was offering me 0% for 6 months on all foreign transactions in addition to 1% cashback so I had to do it really!! Just hope the relevant documents are in our cabin when we board.

[themommy]

I think its a great idea

Thanks for the tip

[Sparkle 123]

Hi Gail

Nice to see a fellow Brit on the boards!

If you are thinking of buying shipboard credit before you cruise you may be better to do it direct with Celebrity in Miami. I rang Celebrity here in the UK and the girl I spoke to didn't have much idea what i was talking about even though I told her the UK brochure advertised the on board gifts, so I E mailed Celebrity wia their website and asked if I could fax the order through. They replied very quickly and said that would be fine. If you go to their site and click on "prepare to sail" then "bon- voyage gifts"you can download a printable order form and fax it through to them.

Hope this helps, by the way, which cruise are you going on?

[Oppgaard]

I have placed money on our shipboard account the past several sailings and it has always been there on our statement. It sure is nice knowing that you are starting off the cruise ahead of the game. It sure makes the final billing a lot easier to handle. This is especially true on the longer cruises.

[themommy]

Hi Abbafan

We are on the Zenith to Southern Caribbean on 21.11.04. It is our first with Celebrity having cruised with Priness, NCL and last year with P&O which we were not happy with. Celebrity was recommended to us so here goes.

We are a party of 10 friends from the UK. It is nice to meet another from the UK on the boards.

I have already downloaded the forms from the web site because one of our party is celebrating an anniversary whilst we are away so I will check into the credit facility. Thanks for the help.

Gail

[Spender Nui]

I see no reason to pay in advance for shipboard purchases. You lose whatever interest the $$$ could provide. Also, I've had shipboard credits from Celebrity because of booking on board on a prior cruise, TA booking reward and shareholder's credit. Your documents do not show any of these credits. Check with the front desk after you check in. I try to have documentation with me to be sure I get the credit.

[clopaw]

Unless you have a great place to invest a few hundred dollars for just several months, the amount of lost interet is miniscule. My bank is paying less than 1% on savings accounts right now. Five hundred dollars in the bank at 1% for six months earns about $2.50. If buying credit makes that final bill less of a shock, go for it!

[CINDON]

Just a word of caution, on our last two cruises on Celebrity money was not posted in our shipboard account until the 2nd or 3rd day.

[Kathleen P.]

Just a word of caution, on our last two cruises on Celebrity money was not posted in our shipboard account until the 2nd or 3rd day.

 

 

This is true.....I purchased casino credits as a surpirse for my husband...they did not post for a few days--quite frustrating and not really a surprise as it was just printed on a piece of paper, not like they were advertised. It also took a few phone calls to find out where they were - we even had our butler on it.

 

Also the flowers I had ordered for our suite did not show up until the next day.

 

These things were purchased well in advance and I had fax confirmations too. Does not seem to make a difference.

 

I would never give anyone interest free money to use - why would you need ship board credit?? Just keep the money in YOUR bank until the bill comes due!

[Boo's Mom]

The cabin credit we ordered for our Summit Voyage was not there on the first day. I simply called the Guest Relations Desk and they confirmed that I have it....but it will take about one day to post.

 

It was no biggie, really.

[Offtune Angel]

I successfully purchased on board credits for our Constellation Transatlantic last year. Originally I did this to benefit from the favourable exchange rate U$D vs CAD. It was posted on Day Two of the cruise. Withdrawing cash from the Casino was a breeze. Later, we realized other benefits:

1. We did not have to carry large sums of money or travellers' cheques through crowded airports, hotels and piers.
   
2. We did not have to figure out which denominations of travellers' cheques (and in which currency) each of us was going to need and then have to stand in line for the 'privilege' of purchasing said travellers' cheques and then stand at the counter 'autographing' them in front of the seller -- all so that I could have 'safe' money (which has taken longer than 48 hours to replace if it is stolen--despite advertised claims for same day service).
   
3. We did not have to limit our shopping to stores that would accept travellers' cheques or credit cards;
   
4. We purchased the 'Casino Credits' using our Credit card and they were treated as purchases - NOT cash advances so interest being charged to us was non-existent.
   
5. Since these pre-purchased credits were purchases as opposed to cash advances they qualified for points for our affiliate program - which converts to purchase-ability at one of our favourite stores for Christmas shopping.
   
6. Our shipboard charges were less than what we charged to the account so we ended up taking cash off the ship with us.
   

As far as Celebrity 'using my money' and collecting interest on it. I made the purchase the week before we sailed. I paid the bill before it acquired an interest penalty. Had I saved that same amount for three weeks in an interest bearing account I would have earned the grand sum of $.43 CAD (less than $.33 U$D).

 

Having safe money and great convenience (on top of the bonus from our credit card affiliate store) more than made up for Celebrity using my money.:)

[TourDeCruise]

I purchased shipboard credits (the $25 gift increments) from Celebrity as a birthday gift for my husband. The credits were on our shipboard account when we arrived. It's still not a bad idea to take the credit card statement or a copy of it with you as proof. We usually sign up for a future cruise while on board and get the shipboard credit too and have not had any problems. On that future cruise we take a copy of the transaction from the Future Cruises consultant and the receipt from the TA as proof, just in case.