Is Celebrity OBC refundable?

[NYNJCRUISER]

We are getting $300 OBC from Celebrity as part of the "Go Better" promotion and an additional $150 OBC from our travel agent. Does anyone know if any or all of these funds is refundable if not used?

[eurotraveller1]

As far as I know, it isn't.

 

 

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[ghstudio]

On board credit from Celebrity is Non-Refundable. OBC given by your TA is normally refundable. I say normally because some TA's give OBC's or other perks and claim that they are from the TA, but they are actually from Celebrity. You kind of don't want to be dealing with those TA's.

 

I suggest you call your TA and ask them if it's refundable if you don't use it.

[Fouremco]

Celebrity funds are non-refundable but TA OBC is refundable.

 

There are several current threads you may want to read dealing with if and how you can access the non-refundable OBC.

[QTBabyNurse]

Do I understand correctly that you can cash in your onboard credit at the casino for a fee?

[robcruz]

I did on the Infinity 3 weeks ago.

[az_tchr]

Celebrity is currently changing this. On some ships you can exchange for promo chips that must be played. Others still can exchange for cash with 5% fee. you will not know the policy until you board.

[ghstudio]

I would not suggest going to the casino cashier and saying "I'd like to get my OBC in cash". It would be prudent to just ask the cashier for $100 from your account...without suggesting you are just trying to cash out your OBC". If they give you $100 in cash...and charge your account $105, great. If they will only give you chips, then only take them if you gamble...they can't be turned back in.

[jsf]

Time for somebody to post a "sticky" on this subject as it comes up every day.

J.

[neverbeenhere]

Only 3.7546% ever read the icky sticky.

Edited March 14, 2016 by neverbeenhere

[floridafolks]

On board credit from Celebrity is Non-Refundable. OBC given by your TA is normally refundable. I say normally because some TA's give OBC's or other perks and claim that they are from the TA, but they are actually from Celebrity. You kind of don't want to be dealing with those TA's.

 

I suggest you call your TA and ask them if it's refundable if you don't use it.

 

To be certain, I would suggest to the OP to go to guest relations after OBC has posted. Ask what the coding is-- if it is OBN, then it is non refundable --If it is OBR, then it is refundable. They will fortunately charge against the OBN first. Any OBR will automatically go back to your credit card on record. OBN must be dealt with by (I think) 10pm the night prior to disembarkation or you lose it.

 

True story- the night before disembarkation we were chatting at Elite Happy Hour with a friend we had met on the cruise. He mentioned he had almost $1000 in OBC that he had not spent and said it would go back on his credit card. I asked him if it was OBN or OBR and he had no idea. I suggested he check at guest relations to make sure. He did check and it was OBN!!:eek: I told him to make a beeline for the casino, which he did. He did not mind losing the 5% as he was shortly going to lose it all.

PS (We received some lovely wine from him for Christmas- thanking us for all we saved him!)

 

Moral of the story - verify if your OBC is OBR or OBN! As you say, sometimes the TAs lead one to believe the OBC is from them when it is from Celebrity.

[rjrpar]

Isn't the type of OBC shown on the account on the in-room TV?

[Aunt Tina]

Just returned from Silhouette last weekend. OBCN was not refundable in the casino for cash with the 5% fee.

[jagoffee]

Isn't the type of OBC shown on the account on the in-room TV?

 

That is my recollection.

[JimInBuffalo]

Would anyone know if cashing in your OBC is an option on the "Summit"?

We are looking at a cruise in May that is offering $300 OBC.

 

I have never tried using a credit in the casino for cash but I know others who have successfully.

 

From what I have read above, it appears to be relative to the ship in question.

 

Thanks in advance,

-Jim

 

Currently 55 degrees F in Buffalo with overcast skies and light rain.

[jbuch02]

On Millennium in January and Constellation, last week.

 

Went to the Casino on Millennium and asked for $200 in cash. Had no intention of gambling. At the time I had some where around $400 OBCn. The cash was provided without comment by the cashier except to say, good luck. That $200 cash advance was charged to my CC on file and there was an additional 5% fee on top of that.

 

That is exactly how a Casino in Vegas or anywhere else would have done it as well. I have no problem with it although at the time I went to get the cash, I saw it as a way to preserve OBC I was not going to use. I have done this once or twice before.

 

The OBC given by Celebrity was never intended for you to be able to withdraw cash from your OBC account and spend it off the ship although it was being allowed depending on what ship you were on it seems. I saw a post with a photo of a portion of your ticket contract stating the rules of the game in these terms.

 

Allowing exchange of cash for OBCn recently stopped because it was reportedly being abused by individuals trying to game exchange rates going as far as to purchase OBCs in their country currency and then cash out at a favorable exchange rate. I can't say if that is an accurate report or not.

 

I believe if I had any OBCr, it would have been deducted from that and a 5% transaction fee would have been charged. Pretty much like a CC cash advance if you were to execute a transaction like that using a CC in an ATM. While you may dislike this and finger Celebrity, not only is it clear in your ticket contract what the rules are with respect to OBCs, what Celebirty is doing is entirely within their legal right to do it and moreover, it is consistent with US banking procedures and charges. Like it or not.

 

Your TV account view, if I recall it correctly, does not show OBCn and OBCr. It just showed your total OBC balance as a negative number. However, Guest relations will be glad to tell you what is in each account and if you ask will probably explain the rules of its use to you should you inquire about it.

[robin13]

I will be on The Summit next month and have $225 in OBC. I was planning on using that money to gamble with so hopefully that will not be a problem. This is my first Celebrity cruise so I don't know the in's and out's. Now on RCCL I did cash out my OBC after paying a 5% fee but that was fine as that was really free money.

[mygreyhound66]

I see this question comes up quite a bit - and I am hoping/almost positive - somebody please reassure me, that the OBC can be used to towards the tips/daily service charge/whatever it is called.

 

I have an upcoming Summit cruise, with the $300 OBC and planned to have the tips/service charges come out of the OBC and then whatever was left, just spend in the duty free.......is this a viable plan?

 

Many thanks....

[Ma Bell]

I see this question comes up quite a bit - and I am hoping/almost positive - somebody please reassure me, that the OBC can be used to towards the tips/daily service charge/whatever it is called.

 

I have an upcoming Summit cruise, with the $300 OBC and planned to have the tips/service charges come out of the OBC and then whatever was left, just spend in the duty free.......is this a viable plan?

 

Many thanks....

 

Yes

[mygreyhound66]

thanks so much!

[QTBabyNurse]

On Millennium in January and Constellation, last week.

 

 

 

Went to the Casino on Millennium and asked for $200 in cash. Had no intention of gambling. At the time I had some where around $400 OBCn. The cash was provided without comment by the cashier except to say, good luck. That $200 cash advance was charged to my CC on file and there was an additional 5% fee on top of that.

 

 

Just off the Silhouette today and we had $300 OBC we wanted to take out as cash and use to gamble in the casino. I fully expected to pay the 5% fee. The casino would not allow us to do so however.

 

They allowed two different options-

 

1 - They would load your Seapass card with the OBC amount you chose to use and then you could play off that amount in the slots when you placed your card in the machine. You could collect the "winnings only" in cash from the machine but you could not "cash out" any of the OBC credits. You had to play those. This is the option we chose and it worked very easily for us. It was no big deal and was quite convenient.

 

2 - If you chose to use the OBC to play any of the table games, they would deduct your chosen amount from your OBC and then give you promotional chips to use at the table.

 

In either case, you could not take the OBC out as cash. Hope this helps someone as I was really unsure how we were going to use up that much onboard credit!

 

 

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[STLCRUISIN]

Just off a 28 day b2b South America Cruise on Infinity and as QTBabyNurse explained above is exactly how the casino is now handling requests from your seapass. We had an amount loaded on our cards and played the slots. Any winnings (not much, by the way) were paid out in cash.

 

We also used the OBC to pay additional gratuities. Go to Guest Services and request an "Additional Gratuities" form which breaks out specifically who you want to give to and how much.

[blambition]

We are dinning at an assigned time so have not prepaid our gratuities, I was planning on using part of our OBC to pay for that, and now it looks like I could get chips to play in the casino. We will be on solstice, please correct me if I am wrong! TIA

[JimInBuffalo]

Wow, it is kind of a good problem to have:

On our cruise, we are getting Pre-Paid Gratuities, Premium Beverage Package AND $350 OBC.

 

As is looks now (until we are on the ship and try the Casino trick) we will have to spend the OBC on Merchandise, additional tips or possibly excursions.

 

Any other ideas from the readers of this thread?

 

-Jim

29 degrees F in Buffalo today, we had two inches of snow overnight which was more than the total we had for the entire month of March this year.

[eurotraveller1]

Wow, it is kind of a good problem to have:

On our cruise, we are getting Pre-Paid Gratuities, Premium Beverage Package AND $350 OBC.

 

As is looks now (until we are on the ship and try the Casino trick) we will have to spend the OBC on Merchandise, additional tips or possibly excursions.

 

Any other ideas from the readers of this thread?

 

-Jim

29 degrees F in Buffalo today, we had two inches of snow overnight which was more than the total we had for the entire month of March this year.

 

 

 

Treat DW to the spa, or go big on specialty dining.