What do you spend your OBC on?

[HawaiiFive0]

We have purchased a 3 dinner package and a premium drinks package and have just found out we have some OBC. Im interested to know what do others spend it on and how does it actually work anyway?

Cheers

Trish

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[woodyren]

You can use it towards your gratuities if you have not pre paid them.

 

If you have pre paid them you can use the OBC for spa, photos, shopping, tours and I think even the casino (where you may be able to recycle it into cash)

 

If the OBC came from your travel agent you can even get it refunded I think.

[HawaiiFive0]

Woodyren, sorry forgot to mention that we have paid our gratuities too!

 

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[mutzy]

I usually use my on board credit for a spa treatment

[shippmates]

We have used our for shore excursions and shopping. The only thing you need to remember is the excursions must be booked on board if you want to use the credit.

[Caribbean Chris]

The way it works is that it will appear as a credit on your onboard account. You should check your account to see if it is on there, and inquire at front desk if not. It's a good idea to review your account anyway every few days. We have found incorrect charges several times, and it can take a couple of days to see them removed.

 

Laundry or dry cleaning. Internet. Bottles of wine. Gift shops. Photos. Classes that have a charge, such as yoga.

 

Onboard wine or champagne tasting events. We went to two on a Hawaii cruise (lots of sea days)...really had a fun time sampling some much more expensive bottles than we would ever order. At the champagne tasting, a wine steward talked about te history and methods - then demonstrated slicing off the neck of the bottle with a saber! and poured from it for us to taste.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Caribbean Chris

[SmokeOnTheWater71]

The way I see it if you have $50.00 obc they just take $50.00 off your bill you may think your using for lets say spa it dosent just reduce your bill.

[sfpen66]

Internet and shore excursions.

[cruzsnooze]

I always use mine for gratuities and if there's leftover I cash it out at the casino.

[Sascol]

We don't do anything with it specifically - if it is a $300 OBC, whatever ends up within our first $300 worth of spending is covered by the OBC.

[Happy2cruise]

We don't do anything with it specifically - if it is a $300 OBC, whatever ends up within our first $300 worth of spending is covered by the OBC.

Same here! It's never for anything specific......whatever gets charged on our account:D

[Spartan Tartan]

I spend it on my wife...is there any other way? :D

[Orator]

There are 2 types of OBC: (1) OBCR and (2) OBCN. The "R" is refundable and any that is unused will be returned automatically to your credit card.The "N" is non refundable and any remaining amount can be withdrawn from the Casino with a 5% charge. You will lose any "N" credit if you don't use it,so cash it out. The ship will use the "N" credits first when you make a purchase. Don't feel that you must spend it. It's real money.

[fleckle]

We have purchased a 3 dinner package and a premium drinks package and have just found out we have some OBC. Im interested to know what do others spend it on and how does it actually work anyway?

You can use it to pay for just about any charge on the ship, except that you can't use it as a deposit for a future cruise.

 

As for how it actually works, whenever you make a purchase on the ship they swipe your seapass card and the charge goes to your onboard account.

 

You can check your account balance and see all your charges each day (or however often you wish) on the TV menu in your cabin, and/or you can request a printout of your account at Guest Relations.

 

At the end of the cruise, the remaining balance on your account will be charged to your credit card and should appear on your next credit card statement, unless you used a cash account, in which case you will need to go down and pay off the entire balance in cash before you leave the ship.

 

There are two types of onboard credit, refundable and non-refundable.

Generally the onboard credit you receive from your travel agent is refundable, while the onboard credit you receive from the cruise line is non-refundable.

 

Whenever you charge anything to your account, they use up the non-refundable onboard credit first.

 

 

If you end up with any refundable onboard credit remaining at the end of the cruise, it will be posted as a credit to your credit card if you are using a credit card account, and you don't need to do anything.

 

If using a cash account, will need to go down to Guest Relations to pick up the refund in cash at the end of the cruise.

 

 

If you should end up with any remaining non-refundable onboard credit, you can cash it in at the casino. They will take a cut (5% I believe) which is better than losing the whole amount. But most passengers manage to spend all their onboard credit.

We have never ended a cruise having any remaining non-refundable onboard credit. :D

 

[HawaiiFive0]

Thank you all so much for your replies! Gee I love this site!

[Cruise Raider]

We usually spend ours in the casino. It does cost you 5% to cash it in, but if it is the non-refundable type of OBC, at least you are not leaving it on the table.

Plus, the coffee shops are excellent...always get a really good cup of coffee in the morning.

[rrkman]

Cruising next week and ended up with $600 OBC. How can we tell if it us OBCR or OBCN? 'Invoice' just says ONBRDCR.

[Orator]

Cruising next week and ended up with $600 OBC. How can we tell if it us OBCR or OBCN? 'Invoice' just says ONBRDCR.

 

Check your account on the stateroom TV. You will see the codes for each OBC as it's added to your account. Usually takes a few days to show. Guest Relations can also tell you.

[cruisestitch]

Shipboard account statements now carry more information about each kind of credit than before-- a helpful upgrade to the system.

 

For instance, you might see any of the following, and other codes exist, too

 

OBN -- ONB Credit Gap Com

OBR -- ONB Credit Card Rewards Per Stateroom

OBN -- ONB Credit WAVE Offer -- 10 or more nights non-refundable

OBN -- ONB Credit Promotion Incidents and Redeployments non-refundable

OBN -- ONB Credit Promotion Shareholder Benefit one per booking non-refundable

 

The first one was a gift from a travel agent, I'm not sure what Gap Com stands for.

[bigbenboys]

Woodyren, sorry forgot to mention that we have paid our gratuities too!

 

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Just so you know. You only have to prepay your gratuities if you have Select Dining. Some think you have to prepay for Blu, you dont. Richard