Using OBC

This will be my first ever Viking Ocean Cruise (Viking period). Can anyone tell me if they were able to use their OBC for their tips? On previous cruise lines I was able to use my OBC. We have a generous amount and will not use it as everything is included. We are not spa or bar people and taking included excursions. We are also not shoppers. Also on other cruises I was able to take a cash advance from my onboard account. Has anyone experienced this? I was NOW just told I couldn't use my OBC and would've cancelled my trip before it was too late!!!

My understanding is that you can use OBC toward gratuities, although that may not always have been the case. My most recent cruise docs from a cruise we just got back from says: “Shipboard credits: A shipboard credit can be used toward bar, gift shop, gratuities, and/or shore excursions. These have no cash value and are nontransfersble. Other restrictions may apply.” We did use onboard credits to pay for our gratuities.

Rod-

Really?

Instead of posting and getting different answers, if this meant so much to booking the cruise, why don't you just call Viking? They will likely give you a wrong response but at least it's the official one.

We just got off the Star and we were able to use our OBC for tips.

You may want to contact them at

TellUs@vikingcruises.com

This will be my first ever Viking Ocean Cruise (Viking period). Can anyone tell me if they were able to use their OBC for their tips? On previous cruise lines I was able to use my OBC. We have a generous amount and will not use it as everything is included. We are not spa or bar people and taking included excursions. We are also not shoppers. Also on other cruises I was able to take a cash advance from my onboard account. Has anyone experienced this? I was NOW just told I couldn't use my OBC and would've cancelled my trip before it was too late!!!

Do some shopping for birthday or Christmas gifts for those you love with your OBC.

So when you are booking your excursions, do they give you the option to apply the OBC each time until it is used up? I was told to choose and pay for excursions one at a time.

So when you are booking your excursions, do they give you the option to apply the OBC each time until it is used up? I was told to choose and pay for excursions one at a time.

My account did not mention that I had OBC so I had to pay with a credit card. I was told by the reservation people on the ship that the account has to be set up a certain way for one to use OBC when booking excursions. Not sure how that happens but I will check with my TA the next time I book a cruise.

My impression is that you can only use OBC to pay for excursions booked on board since OBC only shows up in your account when you are “on board” (hence the term “on board credit”). We have only been able to use it when we add, or change, an excursion while we are on the ship. It is also my understanding that Viking will apply your non refundable OBC first to any charges you incur on the ship, including gratuities. At least that’s been my experience.

Dear Fellow Cruisers:

Last week when I ordered optional cruise tours my OBC was automatically subtracted from the total due. I only paid the remaining balance. My OBC was from Viking Ocean and not a TA.

Joel Barry

Did you order all at once and then try to pay for all the excursions at one time?

Dear Nanface:

I selected all of my optional tours plus one included and paid for the optional. I then selected the remaining included tours. The process was easy and fast since I set up a "wish list" in advance.

Joel Barry

Dear Fellow Cruisers:

 

Last week when I ordered optional cruise tours my OBC was automatically subtracted from the total due. I only paid the remaining balance. My OBC was from Viking Ocean and not a TA.

 

Joel Barry

It was mentioned in another thread that OBC from your TA may not be applied to your account until closer to sailing and thus will not be on your account to use at the time that you actually book.

Viking has recently made some changes to the functionality of the booking system. One of the changes was to finally make the wishlist usable in the actual booking process and the other was to allow us to use Viking given OBC in the pre-booking process.

My Viking given OBC was not useable booking excursions last week. Only useable onboard. Obviously there are different types of OBC.

My Viking given OBC was not useable booking excursions last week. Only useable onboard. Obviously there are different types of OBC.

Leave it to VO to make the simple complicated.

I blame Home Office. The people who do the real work on the cruises are EXCELLENT.

I blame Home Office. The people who do the real work on the cruises are EXCELLENT.

(y)

Our OBC given by our TA was applied to optional excursions at the time we booked them. We had a small OBC from Viking for booking another cruise while onboard, and that was applied to our gratuities. Both worked for us.

I'm like you - non spa person, non drinker, non shopper, non a lot of things. However, I LOVE excursions, so what I would do is pick out an expensive shore excursion or two - something you wouldn't normally want to pay for. The included excursions are usually pretty good, but often just scratch the surface of what there is to see, do, and experience in a city. So taking a nice, longer excursion would be one option. Of course, you would (perhaps) need to book the excursions once on board, but in my experience, that excursion space is usually available once you're on the ship. Or you could save the credit until close to the end of the cruise in case you get sick and need to visit the ship's doctor. No doctor visit needed? Just go to the ship store and buy a lot of toothpaste, aspirin and thumb drives/memory sticks. Then go to the spa and hair salon and buy some shampoo. Then go back to the store and buy a tote bag at the store to take it all home! Or you can do what my husband does - go buy a watch. Apparently men need more than one watch....

I blame Home Office. The people who do the real work on the cruises are EXCELLENT.

That is my impression. The home office doesn't always talk well (or perhaps just not quick enough) to the people on the ship. People on the ship are indeed excellent!

That is my impression. The home office doesn't always talk well (or perhaps just not quick enough) to the people on the ship. People on the ship are indeed excellent!

It's a trickle down thing. The people who are answering the phone don't have the answers. They don't have enough time between phone calls to keep up with all the changing information and a lot of information doesn't even trickle down that far.

My understanding is that you can use OBC toward gratuities, although that may not always have been the case. My most recent cruise docs from a cruise we just got back from says: “Shipboard credits: A shipboard credit can be used toward bar, gift shop, gratuities, and/or shore excursions. These have no cash value and are nontransfersble. Other restrictions may apply.” We did use onboard credits to pay for our gratuities.

We used onboard credit to pay for our gratuities as well which was really nice. (OBC was not always allowed for gratuities...they used to want you to use it for drinks, spa, gift shop, etc.)

It seems some of you were able to use the OBC towards gratuities but according to my travel agent as well as two calls to Viking directly that OBC cannot be used towards gratuities. No problem using OBC towards optional excursions, premium drinks, gifts on ship .... etc. Can't find specific verbiage on Viking ocean website that addresses this OBC issue. On Viking river cruises, OBC definitely cannot be used towards gratuities.

YWW, thanks for clarifying the OBC credit usage policy as I was thinking it probably wasn't going to include gratuities on our cruise later this year.

However, now I'm curious: Are any travel agents able to give on board credit, and if so, what can it be used for? Also, if so, is it possible that some of the OBC discussed above was from a travel agent, explaining why some people have experienced something different from others?

It seems some of you were able to use the OBC towards gratuities but according to my travel agent as well as two calls to Viking directly that OBC cannot be used towards gratuities. No problem using OBC towards optional excursions, premium drinks, gifts on ship .... etc. Can't find specific verbiage on Viking ocean website that addresses this OBC issue. On Viking river cruises, OBC definitely cannot be used towards gratuities.

The policy changed in 2018. We could not use OBC for gratuities in October 2017, but used it for gratuities in June 2018. However, we could not use OBC for shore ex in June, but used it for the WC shore ex a month ago. The waters are certainly muddy...