jrm116 Posted July 9, 2014 #1 Share Posted July 9, 2014 What exactly is on board credit? I'm looking at a cruise date and it says that I will receive $50 in on board credit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrobstad Posted July 9, 2014 #2 Share Posted July 9, 2014 It's like cruise dollars credited to your sea pass account. It can be spent on spa treatments, speciality restaurants, drinks.....enjoy ! Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garycarla Posted July 9, 2014 #3 Share Posted July 9, 2014 What exactly is on board credit? I'm looking at a cruise date and it says that I will receive $50 in on board credit. It is like your Uncle giving you $50 that you can spend on stuff on the ship. Like drinks, photos, excursions, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demonyte Posted July 9, 2014 #4 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Just be aware that pretty much only thing you can not use most NCL given OBC for is the daily service charge. (This gets asked a lot after receiving answers like above.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brikee Posted July 9, 2014 #5 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Can they be used on excursions? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sverigecruiser Posted July 9, 2014 #6 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Can they be used on excursions? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunlite2u Posted July 9, 2014 #7 Share Posted July 9, 2014 sorry to hijack, but really they won't allow you to use the onboard credit to pay for gratuities? That sucks, we just got a $300 on board credit and were hoping to use it for just that. Any way around it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demonyte Posted July 9, 2014 #8 Share Posted July 9, 2014 sorry to hijack, but really they won't allow you to use the onboard credit to pay for gratuities? That sucks, we just got a $300 on board credit and were hoping to use it for just that. Any way around it? I haven't tried (we never have had trouble getting all OBC spent) but apparently one could cash them out at casino paying 3% convience fee and then depositing remaining cash to onboard account in Guest Services. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pieshops Posted July 9, 2014 #9 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Basically the reasoning behind not being able to us for tips is when NCl pays out the tips it is "real money being paid to someone" basically for the full value of the money. If the money is used for things like drinks, cloths, excursions etc while it is real money a 50 dollar ship board credit in reality costs NCL 10 dollars as you are paying the markup not the cost. Does this make sense, not sure if I explained it good. If everyone on the ship had 400 dollars ship credit and everyone used it only to pay tips, NCL would have a huge chunk out of their pocket to chip in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mack704 Posted July 9, 2014 #10 Share Posted July 9, 2014 I'm a little confused. Is there a separate sea pass account for tips to be assessed? Or is there just one sea pass account with debits and credits? Wouldn't OBC just be a credit and gratuities just be a debit? Can anyone explain the ins and outs of how this works? Thanks! Harvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demonyte Posted July 9, 2014 #11 Share Posted July 9, 2014 (edited) I'm a little confused. Is there a separate sea pass account for tips to be assessed? Or is there just one sea pass account with debits and credits? Wouldn't OBC just be a credit and gratuities just be a debit? Can anyone explain the ins and outs of how this works? Thanks! OBC comes in two flavours, refundable and non-refundable. Refundable OBC is the kind that you can buy yourself (or anyone else can buy to you), meaning that if there is left over OBC on the account at the end of the cruise, you can get a refund. This type of OBC can be used to pay anything onboard, including DSC. Non-refundable OBC is the kind that usually comes from the cruise line from booking promotions etc. Non-refundable OBC can not be used for daily service charges - even if the account balance during the cruise showed that the OBC would have been used and there is nothing to pay, things can be different after the account has closed and the unused non-refundable OBC has been removed from the account. Until about a year ago NCL had no technical ability to differentiate between refundable and non-refundable OBC, so back then things worked like you described (even though they have always stated that non-refundable can not be used for DSC) but now that they got their systems upgraded, the limitation is actually enforced. How ever, the system is not completely foolproof as I described, because if not careful, one could be mistaken that non-refundable OBC has also been used to DSC. Edited July 9, 2014 by Demonyte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triptolemus Posted July 9, 2014 #12 Share Posted July 9, 2014 I'm a little confused. Is there a separate sea pass account for tips to be assessed? Or is there just one sea pass account with debits and credits? Wouldn't OBC just be a credit and gratuities just be a debit? Can anyone explain the ins and outs of how this works? Thanks! You're over-thinking it a little bit. There is one account. Shipboard charges are a debit, and OBC is just a credit, yes...but the system will NOT use OBC to credit ineligible debits. It's automatic. There are no ins-and-outs for you to know. Just understand what the OBC cannot be used for; mostly the DSC and casino cash. Also understand there are a couple different kinds of OBC. A good example is OBC which you purchase (as a gift, for example). Cash-value OBC can be used for any shipboard charges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare BermudaBound2014 Posted July 9, 2014 #13 Share Posted July 9, 2014 I started a thread on the topic of using OBC for gratuity (daily service charge) a few weeks ago and got lots of great information. I also verified with my TA and NCL. I kept getting confused about refundable vs non-refundable. The thing that made the most sense to me was understanding that OBC given directly from NCL (in my case a $50.00 promo) can only be used on things that NCL profits from. This results in far less 'out of pocket' expenses to NCL. My TA also gave me $175 as an incentive to book with her. While that $175 is non-refundable (in other words, if I don't cruise, I don't get the $175.00); it can be used toward tips because NCL has nothing to do with the money/incentive. Hope that helps :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeHeartCruising Posted July 9, 2014 #14 Share Posted July 9, 2014 (edited) My TA also gave me $175 as an incentive to book with her. While that $175 is non-refundable (in other words, if I don't cruise, I don't get the $175.00); it can be used toward tips because NCL has nothing to do with the money/incentive. I'm wondering if your TA's OBC gift would be refundable to you if you DID sail, but never bought enough things on the ship to use the OBC. Would NCL give you the $175 at the end of the cruise? Edited July 9, 2014 by MeHeartCruising Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare BermudaBound2014 Posted July 9, 2014 #15 Share Posted July 9, 2014 I'm wondering if your TA's OBC gift would be refundable to you if you DID sail, but never bought enough things on the ship to use the OBC. Would NCL give you the $175 at the end of the cruise? Good question! I did not ask that since we can use the $175 toward gratuity I consider it money already spent. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njmomof2 Posted July 9, 2014 #16 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Good question! I did not ask that since we can use the $175 toward gratuity I consider it money already spent. :) Yes, TA purchased OBC is refundable to you. The OBC comes from the TA charging their credit card for the amount of the OBC and it being placed on your account. Just like if your parents wanted to give you a gift of $50 to spend, same thing. It comes out of their pocket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeybone Posted July 9, 2014 #17 Share Posted July 9, 2014 I haven't tried (we never have had trouble getting all OBC spent) but apparently one could cash them out at casino paying 3% convience fee and then depositing remaining cash to onboard account in Guest Services. Wow thats great....I didn't know that :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mack704 Posted July 9, 2014 #18 Share Posted July 9, 2014 You're over-thinking it a little bit. There is one account. Shipboard charges are a debit, and OBC is just a credit, yes...but the system will NOT use OBC to credit ineligible debits. It's automatic. There are no ins-and-outs for you to know. Just understand what the OBC cannot be used for; mostly the DSC and casino cash. Also understand there are a couple different kinds of OBC. A good example is OBC which you purchase (as a gift, for example). Cash-value OBC can be used for any shipboard charges. I started a thread on the topic of using OBC for gratuity (daily service charge) a few weeks ago and got lots of great information. I also verified with my TA and NCL. I kept getting confused about refundable vs non-refundable. The thing that made the most sense to me was understanding that OBC given directly from NCL (in my case a $50.00 promo) can only be used on things that NCL profits from. This results in far less 'out of pocket' expenses to NCL. My TA also gave me $175 as an incentive to book with her. While that $175 is non-refundable (in other words, if I don't cruise, I don't get the $175.00); it can be used toward tips because NCL has nothing to do with the money/incentive. Hope that helps :) Thanks for the comprehensive explanations. I believe I've got it now. NCL only gave me $70.00 OBC. I'm sure I'll have enough other debits besides DSC and the casino to suck it up. Thanks again! Harvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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