rostbp Posted September 23, 2014 #1 Share Posted September 23, 2014 We always use our shipboard credits towards excursions. I understand you need to pre-pay for excursions so this would not be an option. We already have free dinner in the specialty restaurants and free alcohol. Can you use it towards gratuities and I guess photos?? :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Ellen Posted September 23, 2014 #2 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Yes, your OBC can be used for the hotel service charge, photos, gift shop, spa... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilvertoGold Posted September 23, 2014 #3 Share Posted September 23, 2014 (edited) You do not have to prepay shorex: you can buy them on the ship (with your OBC). Edited September 23, 2014 by SilvertoGold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the2ofus Posted September 23, 2014 #4 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Excursions need to be pre-paid only if you book them on-line on the HAL website before boarding. Excursions booked onboard are charged to your onboard account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PathfinderEss Posted September 23, 2014 #5 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Ship board credits are great. Just wait till your on board to book your shore excursions and the OBC will pay for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rostbp Posted September 23, 2014 Author #6 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Afraid to wait to get on board to book excursions that the good ones would be full already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Hlitner Posted September 23, 2014 #7 Share Posted September 23, 2014 (edited) Afraid to wait to get on board to book excursions that the good ones would be full already. Some folks might say that a "good cruise line excursion" is an oxymoron :) Must admit that we like the Princess approach to onboard credits. They simply refund any remaining credit. On our last Princess cruise we had nearly $2000 in OBCs and were welcomed home by a check from Princess for a few hundred dollars of unused credit. It was the first time in an awful lot of cruising when we got paid by the cruise line at the end of the cruise :). On our next HAL cruise (38 days) we originally booked with the drink package and were wondering if we could spend all of our onboard credit. But when HAL dropped the price of our cruise by about $10,000....but we had to give up the drink package to save that money,....our problem was solved :) Hank Edited September 23, 2014 by Hlitner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruz chic Posted September 23, 2014 #8 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Then there are people that book shorex privately that mirror the cruise line. If I wanted something the cruiseline offers I'd book thru them and save possibly missing the ship. OP, your be surprised how quickly that OBC goes. If not, give it to me ;):D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazey1 Posted September 23, 2014 #9 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Afraid to wait to get on board to book excursions that the good ones would be full already. You are right to worry, the good shore excursions frequently fill up quickly so you are taking a chance by not pre-ordering and paying by credit card. Any OBC balance remaining after the hotel charges are taken care of will be refunded to your credit card, usually within 2 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruz chic Posted September 23, 2014 #10 Share Posted September 23, 2014 You are right to worry, the good shore excursions frequently fill up quickly so you are taking a chance by not pre-ordering and paying by credit card. Any OBC balance remaining after the hotel charges are taken care of will be refunded to your credit card, usually within 2 weeks. Maybe, but maybe not. If the OP buys the credits then they will be. If they came from HAL it's not likely. I had some OBC on my cruise last year (Oct). They took a look on line and told me that if I didn't use it I would lose it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare 3rdGenCunarder Posted September 23, 2014 #11 Share Posted September 23, 2014 You are right to worry, the good shore excursions frequently fill up quickly so you are taking a chance by not pre-ordering and paying by credit card. Any OBC balance remaining after the hotel charges are taken care of will be refunded to your credit card, usually within 2 weeks. Doesn't it depend on how you got the OBC? I thought they would refund OBC you bought for yourself, but not anything you get as a HAL promotion. Cunard doesn't refund. On our last crossing on QM2, I "donated" $13.68 to Cunard. Shoulda had one more drink and bought more Fortnum's shortbread in the shop... We usually manage to consume our OBC in the bars and shops. We've got Explore 4 on our HAL next cruise, so I guess that means more time shopping or in the spa. If a tour looks limited or it's something we'd hate to miss, we book in advance. If we don't have any particular preference for a port, we'll wait until we're on board and see what appeals to us or just go off on our own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted September 23, 2014 #12 Share Posted September 23, 2014 We always pre-book our shore excursions. There have times when we noticed that some tours were sold out when we got on the ship. It is easy to use up the shipboard credit. We also pre-book specialty restaurants. But that shipboard credit can be used to pay for the Hotel Service Charge and we also use it to sometimes buy bottles of wine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rostbp Posted September 23, 2014 Author #13 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Can you use the OBC for gratuities? What kind of hotel charges are there, everyone mentions? Do you think you can use the OBC on HAL train for food and drinks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sppunk Posted September 23, 2014 #14 Share Posted September 23, 2014 (edited) Can you use the OBC for gratuities? What kind of hotel charges are there, everyone mentions? Do you think you can use the OBC on HAL train for food and drinks? Yes you can use OBC to pay gratuities. It is $11.50/per person for anything under suite level, $12/per person for any suite. I am pretty positive you cannot use OBC while on cruisetours. Edited September 23, 2014 by sppunk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Ellen Posted September 23, 2014 #15 Share Posted September 23, 2014 The hotel service charge is added daily to your shipboard account. That covers the standard gratuities for your cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windsailer Posted September 23, 2014 #16 Share Posted September 23, 2014 You can also use it to buy duty free liquor in the on-board shop. It gets delivered the last day of the cruise. We spent a bunch of our OBC that way on our recent Alaska cruise. And there is always the casino - you can use OBC there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rostbp Posted September 23, 2014 Author #17 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Ah - thanks - I do visit the casino, so my problem of OBC is solved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rostbp Posted September 23, 2014 Author #18 Share Posted September 23, 2014 What are the hotel service charges for?? I thought the hotels were included in the land/sea tours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaM Posted September 23, 2014 #19 Share Posted September 23, 2014 You can take your OBC out of the casino in the form of cash. Very easy. Do a search to find out exactly...I just did it, but I don't want to give you incorrect information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Ellen Posted September 23, 2014 #20 Share Posted September 23, 2014 What are the hotel service charges for?? I thought the hotels were included in the land/sea tours. The ship is also a 'hotel'. As I said earlier, the service charge covers the standard gratuities on board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie68 Posted September 23, 2014 #21 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Then there are people that book shorex privately that mirror the cruise line. If I wanted something the cruiseline offers I'd book thru them and save possibly missing the ship. OP, your be surprised how quickly that OBC goes. If not, give it to me ;):D. I'm one of those people - ever since my 2nd cruise. I use reputable shorex people, have never had any problems, and it is so much easier going in a van of 8 or less rather than a busload. We are often finished and back at the ship long before the HAL shorex returns.;) I must admit to doing the occasional ship excursion, it just depends on the port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruz chic Posted September 23, 2014 #22 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I'm one of those people - ever since my 2nd cruise. I use reputable shorex people, have never had any problems, and it is so much easier going in a van of 8 or less rather than a busload. We are often finished and back at the ship long before the HAL shorex returns.;) I must admit to doing the occasional ship excursion, it just depends on the port. I just don't see the point of doing the same thing as hal. Hals shorex can be boing in the Caribbean or the Panama canal. Climbing into the back of a van might be ok if you have good knees. It's not ok for me. Frankly, I don't care if people book privately. I just don't like people that choose to bully others for not doing the same. I see it way too often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruz chic Posted September 23, 2014 #23 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Just to clarify I don't really have a lot of problems exercising, walking etc. I just have issues crawling around in vans. A small bus would be ok. Also no one has ever bullied me on a roll call. It's more people on these boards that look down their nose at hal excursions. There is nothing wrong with them (except the boredom factor). I've loved many of the hal shorex I've taken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveOKC Posted September 23, 2014 #24 Share Posted September 23, 2014 We always use our shipboard credits towards excursions. I understand you need to pre-pay for excursions so this would not be an option. We already have free dinner in the specialty restaurants and free alcohol. Can you use it towards gratuities and I guess photos?? :confused: We use ours toward Spa items (such as the Thermal Pool) and dinner wine packages. Not sure about the casino - some folks say you can use it for that. DaveOKC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mahi mahi Posted September 24, 2014 #25 Share Posted September 24, 2014 We always use our shipboard credits towards excursions. I understand you need to pre-pay for excursions so this would not be an option. We already have free dinner in the specialty restaurants and free alcohol. Can you use it towards gratuities and I guess photos?? :confused: Appears you are posting on the wrong thread. Haven't done a HAL cruise. Maybe you are paying too much and don't really need any OBC. Why worry about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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