OBC cannot be used towards gratuities!

We have recently booked a September cruise on Infinity and have been awarded some OBC which is very nice. Whilst reading the small print, it quite clearly says that the OBC cannot be used towards the gratuities.

It is the first time I have ever seen this but it is very clear in black and white. Surely it is up to the passenger how he/she would like to spend it. We used a TA, not Celebrity direct. Opinions please.

Once you are on the cruise and the OBC is credited on your stateroom statement, wouldn’t the gratuities automatically be deducted from the OBC as they show up on your statement daily? I have never seen or heard of this before. Perhaps a call to your TA is in order?

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That is not correct. I use my OBC to pay my gratuities all the time. Most recently in January. OBC is a credit on your account. Gratuities are a charge on your account. At the end of the cruise, they compile all the charges and credits to produce a final bill.

My Celebrity vacation planner suggested I take OBC as one of the perks and use it to pay the gratuities. OBC us used for anything that is charged to your OB account.

How very odd. It has never been true that OBC can’t be used for gratuities. Can you give us a link to that please?

We have recently booked a September cruise on Infinity and have been awarded some OBC which is very nice. Whilst reading the small print, it quite clearly says that the OBC cannot be used towards the gratuities.

 

It is the first time I have ever seen this but it is very clear in black and white. Surely it is up to the passenger how he/she would like to spend it. We used a TA, not Celebrity direct. Opinions please.

Maybe, just maybe for some strange reason your TA does not want you to use their OBC for gratuities?

Not sure how they can prevent it once you are on-board.

Quite possible that there is a mis-print in the information you have, please check with your TA to confirm.

bon voyage

That just doesn't sound right. Our TA/Celebrity perks include free gratuities and in the past we've gotten notification that the gratuities amount will be reflected in added OBC.

While OBC from Celebrity can generally be used for almost everything, sometimes OBC from TA's or from certain promotions do carry restrictions - such as not for gratuities or not for casino etc. OP, what is the source/reason for this OBC? What you were told may in fact be true.

We have used OBC for gratuities on many occasions and it has never been a problem. But we are sailing on NCL in May and we have OBC (from NCL) and we were told that it cannot be used for gratuities. I also found this information on the Norwegian Cruise Critic thread - so maybe (but hopefully not) Celebrity has changed their rules to follow NCL.

I would think it meant you couldn't pre-pay your gratuities ahead of time using our OBC, whereas you can use your OBC to pre-pay for the internet package and/or beverage package.

Just returned from Equinox where we used OBC for extra gratuities with no problem at all.

i would think it meant you couldn't pre-pay your gratuities ahead of time using our obc, whereas you can use your obc to pre-pay for the internet package and/or beverage package.

Bingo!

DO NOT prepay your gratuities. If you do you can no longer change them if you are not happy with the service. You are stuck. Yes, they can be used to pay and purchase anything on your cruise ship. If you want to use it for the slots. Sometimes there is a 5% charge to give you the cash to play the slots. On RCCL the parent company. If you want to use your OBC for slots. They will put it on your ships room key. The catch is. You must use all of it. You get nothing back if you do not. Not sure but, if you have a positive OBC balance after the cruise. They do not give you the cash. Carnival does. Other words, if you do not use it you lose it. I never have a problem with that. Even with my usual $375.00 OBC we always spend a bit more.

Just returned from Equinox where we used OBC for extra gratuities with no problem at all.

How did you do that? Did you take cash out and pay the crew directly?

DO NOT prepay your gratuities. If you do you can no longer change them if you are not happy with the service. You are stuck. Yes, they can be used to pay and purchase anything on your cruise ship. If you want to use it for the slots. Sometimes there is a 5% charge to give you the cash to play the slots. On RCCL the parent company. If you want to use your OBC for slots. They will put it on your ships room key. The catch is. You must use all of it. You get nothing back if you do not. Not sure but, if you have a positive OBC balance after the cruise. They do not give you the cash. Carnival does. Other words, if you do not use it you lose it. I never have a problem with that. Even with my usual $375.00 OBC we always spend a bit more.

They do not give you cash to play in the machines any more, they put credits on your card.

How did you do that? Did you take cash out and pay the crew directly?

On my last cruise you could do that at Guest Relations. There is a form you fill out designating how much extra gratuity you want to leave and who you want to designate it to (for some categories of workers you could designate it to individuals, i.e. room steward, for others only to a tip pool, i.e. for dining room - not sure if this was because I was assigned Luminae, or the same would apply to the main dining room as well when doing this). There was no cash involved; you just filled out the form, signed it and turned it in - and the rest was taken care of for you from there.

On my last cruise you could do that at Guest Relations. There is a form you fill out designating how much extra gratuity you want to leave and who you want to designate it to (for some categories of workers you could designate it to individuals, i.e. room steward, for others only to a tip pool, i.e. for dining room - not sure if this was because I was assigned Luminae, or the same would apply to the main dining room as well when doing this). There was no cash involved; you just filled out the form, signed it and turned it in - and the rest was taken care of for you from there.

I think you are describing extra gratuity. They are talking about initial gratuities I believe. And also, we tried to do this on our last cruise for the additional gratuities and were told we could not. I mentioned the form, etc.., and they said no, they could not do it. So we ended up giving cash for the extra amounts.

I would think it meant you couldn't pre-pay your gratuities ahead of time using our OBC, whereas you can use your OBC to pre-pay for the internet package and/or beverage package.

I would hazard a guess that you are correct. To the best of my knowledge, once your OBC is on your account onboard you can use it for paying for any of your charges. The only restriction is that if it is from Celebrity (and on rare occasions a special type from your TA), it is non-refundable if not used.

We have never had any issues with OBC from X or Royal being used for grats. Each day they post the daily charge and it automatically is deducted from the OBC

We have used OBC for gratuities on many occasions and it has never been a problem. But we are sailing on NCL in May and we have OBC (from NCL) and we were told that it cannot be used for gratuities. I also found this information on the Norwegian Cruise Critic thread - so maybe (but hopefully not) Celebrity has changed their rules to follow NCL.

I will be cruising on Celebrity for the first time this June, but I have sailed on NCL 30 times. The problem is the language used for what you can and cannot use non-refundable OBC. You CANNOT used non-refundable OBC for the daily service charges which are often confused with tips or gratuities. It is very confusing to use all three terms which are often used as synonyms for each other. You ARE allowed to pay additional tips (or gratuities) with any OBC, but, as I said, not the Daily Service Charges which are a fixed amount. Oh and one more twist to this is if it is refundable OBC, it can be used for anything. I hope this helps.

I will be cruising on Celebrity for the first time this June, but I have sailed on NCL 30 times. The problem is the language used for what you can and cannot use non-refundable OBC. You CANNOT used non-refundable OBC for the daily service charges which are often confused with tips or gratuities. It is very confusing to use all three terms which are often used as synonyms for each other. You ARE allowed to pay additional tips (or gratuities) with any OBC, but, as I said, not the Daily Service Charges which are a fixed amount. Oh and one more twist to this is if it is refundable OBC, it can be used for anything. I hope this helps.

Only on NCL.

Only on NCL.

Thanks for pointing that out Arzeena. I thought from what the OP said, it was most likely the same issue on Celebrity. My bad.:o Sorry everyone.

Could the OP confirm if they are on a European Booking as the rules are different. Many countries require gratuities to be pre-paid.

Like others with a US booking each day the tips are applied against the non-refundable OBC first. I have also used my remaining non-refundable OBC to pay extra tips.

I will be cruising on Celebrity for the first time this June, but I have sailed on NCL 30 times. The problem is the language used for what you can and cannot use non-refundable OBC. You CANNOT used non-refundable OBC for the daily service charges which are often confused with tips or gratuities. It is very confusing to use all three terms which are often used as synonyms for each other. You ARE allowed to pay additional tips (or gratuities) with any OBC, but, as I said, not the Daily Service Charges which are a fixed amount. Oh and one more twist to this is if it is refundable OBC, it can be used for anything. I hope this helps.

Friends who just returned from an X sailing has done the same thing.

Bon voyage

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When did this happen? We have always used the non-refundable for the daily service charges. This as late as last August.

 

Friends who just returned from an X sailing has done the same thing.

 

Bon voyage

 

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DebbieCruises was corrected and apologized for the incorrect info. Agree we just returned from a B2B cruise (24 March and 31 March) on the Equinox and nothing has changed from our past Celebrity cruises concerning the use of OBC. No matter if it's refundable or nonrefundable OBC.