More OBC-OH MY!

[bernie5]

The market was down yesterday so I purchased Carnival Cruise stock. I am happy with HAL, I love her ships, and will continue to sail on HAL so I thought the perks would be nice. My financial adviser faxed the necessary info to HAL and I had a notice of more OBC before I got home.

What a terrible problem to have, right. How am I going to use it? I already have one Pinnacle dinner so will go at least once more. I will also do lunch a couple of times in the Pinnacle. I want the thermal suite package for the week and I know the daily service charge will be deducted. Information on casino deductions is conflicted on this board. Can you charge extra tips for the room stewards to your account? What will happen if I have money left over at the end of the cruise?

Thanks for any info. Looking forward to Alaska!

[serendipity1499]

The market was down yesterday so I purchased Carnival Cruise stock. I am happy with HAL, I love her ships, and will continue to sail on HAL so I thought the perks would be nice. My financial adviser faxed the necessary info to HAL and I had a notice of more OBC before I got home.

What a terrible problem to have, right. How am I going to use it? I already have one Pinnacle dinner so will go at least once more. I will also do lunch a couple of times in the Pinnacle. I want the thermal suite package for the week and I know the daily service charge will be deducted. Information on casino deductions is conflicted on this board. Can you charge extra tips for the room stewards to your account? What will happen if I have money left over at the end of the cruise?

Thanks for any info. Looking forward to Alaska!

 

You don't say how long your cruise is, but if it's just 7 days you will get $100 in OBC. for your CCL stock.. Your regular Hotel Service charge of $11.50 per day will use up about $80 of it.. You don't say how much OBC you already have but rest assured it's very easy to spend it On board on drinks, special coffee gifts from the gift shop etc.. Lunch & dinner in the Pinnacle will cost some too.. If you have left over at the end of your cruise you will loose any left over OBC.. We are not big spenders, but in all our cruises, we've never had any left over OBC.. We always have a final bill at the end of our cruises to be paid...

 

Yes you can add to your daily service charge if you want, but you can't designate who will get the extra $$ you leave.. In other words you can't say I want it to only go to Joe & John my room stewards..Any extra you want to leave will be put into the main pot & divided up by all those who normally get some of the Hotel service charge..

Edited August 25, 2015 by serendipity1499

[sail7seas]

Enjoy. Hope you have a great cruise.

[Krazy Kruizers]

That onboard ship credit goes very quickly.

We prefer to hand out personally extra tips to our cabin stewards and anyone else whom we fill made our cruise an enjoyable one.

Adding extra money to the Hotel Service Charge means that the money is split among a lot of people -- you can't designate who gets that extra money.

[bernie5]

Forgot to mention I already had OBC due to the terms of my initial booking and I know the new addition is just $100. I think I will watch my bill and turn extra funds over to the incredibly friendly and hard working crew before I leave. That would be perfect--even if I cannot name the recipient.

That is great info, thanks.

[cruz chic]

Yesterday was a good day to buy! I've had mine for a while and it's paid off for me. That particular obc is non refundable so use it or lose it. The other obc may or may not be refundable. They will be able to give you a better idea on board.

[kazu]

As the Canadian dollar hits an 11 year low (grrrrrr), that obc has even more value for we Canadians :)

[take us away]

The rule of thumb is that if HAL gave you the OBC, they will not refund it but they also do not keep track, they just assume any HAL-provided OBC is used 1st. Any remaining will be refunded to your credit card on file (or you can ask for a check but it takes a while as comes from Seattle). If you have a lot of OBC 'left over' you can always charge on your card in the casino using the slots, play just a bit, then cash out and use that cash for extra tips.

 

Congratulations on the stock purchase. Now you need to get to the break even point where the OBC and dividends will 'pay' for the initial stock purchase as it was a good investment.

 

Nice problem to have! Enjoy your cruise.

Edited August 26, 2015 by take us away

[GmaPajama]

One of the fun things to do with leftover OBC is to buy a favorite bartender a bottle of wine. I know they share those at some of the crew gatherings below decks - and really appreciate something they don't have to buy for themselves.

[richwmn]

The rule of thumb is that if HAL gave you the OBC, they will not refund it but they also do not keep track, they just assume any HAL-provided OBC is used 1st. Any remaining will be refunded to your credit card on file (or you can ask for a check but it takes a while as comes from Seattle). If you have a lot of OBC 'left over' you can always charge on your card in the casino using the slots, play just a bit, then cash out and use that cash for extra tips.

 

Congratulations on the stock purchase. Now you need to get to the break even point where the OBC and dividends will 'pay' for the initial stock purchase as it was a good investment.

 

Nice problem to have! Enjoy your cruise.

 

My experience (more that a few cruises), is that the remainder is refunded in cash. I have never been asked if I wanted it returned to a card or to have a check cut.

 

Rich

[DaveOKC]

..............Information on casino deductions is conflicted on this board. Can you charge extra tips for the room stewards to your account? What will happen if I have money left over at the end of the cruise?

Thanks for any info.

 

What I would do is use your cabin card in the casino on one of the slot machines. You have to set up your account the first time, but it is no big deal (mostly establishing a password). Then when you insert you cabin card it should ask you if you want to charge funds (to play on) to your cabin. You select the amount - lets say the $100 you just got - and then $100 will show up in credits on your machine.

 

Next, play a few pulls and when finished be sure the balance on your machine is deposited to your account. Now, take your cabin card to the casino teller and ask to clear out your casino account. You will be given the cash.

 

Now you can use the cash to tip whoever you want to and they get to keep all of it for themselves.

 

Now, to be perfectly frank, OBC is not supposed to be used in the casino, but from what I have experienced, HAL has no way of tracking this (others have reported this as well).

 

Any questions?

[Susie51]

Congrats on OBC. You won't have any problem spending it all. Enjoy!

[bernie5]

One of the fun things to do with leftover OBC is to buy a favorite bartender a bottle of wine. I know they share those at some of the crew gatherings below decks - and really appreciate something they don't have to buy for themselves.

 

That is such a great idea, thanks!

[sail7seas]

That onboard ship credit goes very quickly.

We prefer to hand out personally extra tips to our cabin stewards and anyone else whom we fill made our cruise an enjoyable one.

Adding extra money to the Hotel Service Charge means that the money is split among a lot of people -- you can't designate who gets that extra money.

 

I agree.

 

We always provided those who took good care of us with envelopes at the end of our cruises. That way we knew they got the money and could do with it as they chose.

 

[bernie5]

What I would do is use your cabin card in the casino on one of the slot machines. You have to set up your account the first time, but it is no big deal (mostly establishing a password). Then when you insert you cabin card it should ask you if you want to charge funds (to play on) to your cabin. You select the amount - lets say the $100 you just got - and then $100 will show up in credits on your machine.

 

Next, play a few pulls and when finished be sure the balance on your machine is deposited to your account. Now, take your cabin card to the casino teller and ask to clear out your casino account. You will be given the cash.

 

Now you can use the cash to tip whoever you want to and they get to keep all of it for themselves.

 

Now, to be perfectly frank, OBC is not supposed to be used in the casino, but from what I have experienced, HAL has no way of tracking this (others have reported this as well).

 

Any questions?

I will do this and report back if it does not work. I think I will try this on the first sea day and then have the Neptune Concierge print out my statement the next day. I might be able to see how the debit is applied and if it works. Maybe I will get lucky and win in the casino! Great plan, thanks

[ETinCA]

On our 22 night cruise this summer we got a credit back to our visa for $250. Crazy. It was due to all the OBC we had along with the explore 4.

[take us away]

One of the fun things to do with leftover OBC is to buy a favorite bartender a bottle of wine. I know they share those at some of the crew gatherings below decks - and really appreciate something they don't have to buy for themselves.

 

Might be a good idea to find out in a conversation if the bartender drinks as some do not and what they prefer or would recommend. HAL has recently changed their liquor policies for crew and for what is served in the crew bar area. Was told by a steward that they cannot drink hard liquor, even off the ship so are somewhat limited to beer. No clue where wine falls in the new rules.

 

Might be a good question for Copper!