travel agent on board credit: is it refundable?

[39august]

I know OBC from the cruise line is non-refundable. On RCI any TA OBC or OBC from RCI credit card points are totally refundable. I hope this is the case on Celebrity as well.

[Bo1953]

Usually, pending the agent and if they have a contract with X to handle it differently....

[griffy116]

How do people end up not using OBC??? I have never had any left over. LOL

[CruisersTimesThree]

How do people end up not using OBC??? I have never had any left over. LOL

 

I agree! On our last cruise we were in the PH which pretty much includes everything.

We has $1200 in OBC and spent all of it, even owing a few bucks in the end.

What worked out nicely was that we were able to use part of it to give our butler and room stewards extra gratuities.

[krb1000]

We had $85 in OBC left over after our last cruise...3 days later it was deposited into our AMEX ❤️

[39august]

With the "Go Best" package there is little not included, so the OBC from our TA won't be used. So is the answer "yes" to my question please, as Bo1953 seems to indicate? I really want that $400 back to offset the expense incurred for our suite.

[krb1000]

Yes, the amount of unused TA OBC will "magically" appear on your credit card statement 3-5 days after the cruise ends! Enjoy :)

With the "Go Best" package there is little not included, so the OBC from our TA won't be used. So is the answer "yes" to my question please, as Bo1953 seems to indicate? I really want that $400 back to offset the expense incurred for our suite.

[ECCruise]

I agree! On our last cruise we were in the PH which pretty much includes everything.

We has $1200 in OBC and spent all of it, even owing a few bucks in the end.

What worked out nicely was that we were able to use part of it to give our butler and room stewards extra gratuities.

 

Good heavens. What would you spend $1200 (+) on when you were in a PH?

[chamima]

I know OBC from the cruise line is non-refundable. On RCI any TA OBC or OBC from RCI credit card points are totally refundable. I hope this is the case on Celebrity as well.

 

 

USUALLY the OBC from a TA is refundable but not always.

You can check your account. If it says OBN it's not but if it says OBR it is.

It isn't up to the cruiseline but has something to do with your TA's arrangement with them.

[CruisersTimesThree]

Good heavens. What would you spend $1200 (+) on when you were in a PH?

 

My husband is a sucker for a couple of massages when we cruise.

My son traveled with us, so his gratuities came out of it.

A few bingo games (those aren't cheap!)

Like I said previously a nice chunk of it in the end went for extra gratuities to the butler and staff.

I think I purchased a pocketbook, some liquor to take home and several colognes/perfumes.

It just added up without you even realizing it.

When we booked the cruise they were running a special where they doubled your OBC, so we originally had $600, but then another $600 was added by Celebrity because of major screw-ups with their website and our reservation.

None of the OBC was refundable, so it was use it or lose it.

[NantahalaCruiser]

With the "Go Best" package there is little not included, so the OBC from our TA won't be used. So is the answer "yes" to my question please, as Bo1953 seems to indicate? I really want that $400 back to offset the expense incurred for our suite.

 

I agree that is would generally be refundable; but to be 100% sure, why not ask your TA?

[jelayne]

Good heavens. What would you spend $1200 (+) on when you were in a PH?

 

 

if you purchase a watch or some of the jewelry $1200 wouldn't be enough;).

[39august]

My TA's OBC is refundable as far as she is concerned. We don't generally make purchases on board after so many cruises. Not interested in specialty venues nor massages. On RCI I can just take cash out of the OBC account. I don't want money going back to my CC if it is possible to get it in cash, as with the RCI card I would loose some extra bonus points. If that is the only option, of course, that will have to do. I will go to guest relations during our 9 night cruise a few times and try to get some smaller amounts in cash, as the total is $400, and I wouldn't expect to be able to get that much all at once.

[Charles4515]

With the "Go Best" package there is little not included, so the OBC from our TA won't be used. So is the answer "yes" to my question please, as Bo1953 seems to indicate? I really want that $400 back to offset the expense incurred for our suite.

 

On my cruise in December the OBC from the TA was not refundable. It had been on previous cruises. It was a small amount left so I figured out a way to use it. I don't know why it was non refundable on this last sailing but I am guessing that the OBC was acquired by the TA as some kind of promotion from Celebrity.

[Lois R]

How do people end up not using OBC??? I have never had any left over. LOL

 

How? There are quite few ways.......I had a good size obc on my recent cruise last month and had 50.00 left that was

refundable.......I guess some of us just don't spend a lot of money on board.

[Baron Barracuda]

Just off Equinox where we had large OBC from X plus $150 from TA. Also found card in our cabin saying we had received extra $25 obc from TA. X's credits were OBN while $150 from TA was OBR. $25 from TA was surprisingly also OBN. Inquired at guest services why it wasn't OBR but didn't get a good answer. For $25 didn't argue much. Near end of cruise still had a sizable obn balance which we took in casino chips (no fee). After returning verified the $150 OBR had been credited to my credit card.

[GottaKnowWhen]

I know OBC from the cruise line is non-refundable. On RCI any TA OBC or OBC from RCI credit card points are totally refundable. I hope this is the case on Celebrity as well.

 

 

Call Bank of America. Website says that any OBC purchased with card points "expires at x time on the last evening." Does expired OBC get refunded? Ask.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[DrivesLikeMario]

Is it refundable? That depends.

If the TA has given you OBC from their company's Group, then no, it's not refundable.

If it's from the TA's commission and a "gift" from her/him, then it's refundable.

[debshomespun]

If you gamble on slot machines in the casino, you can put some of your OBC on your card to use in the slots. No fee. BUT, you can only play this credit. Any of your winnings, you can cash out. While just on Equinox, DH put $200 on his card and got $240. credit. He did this twice. He was able to cash out over $400. of winnings, so he turned our OBC into cash. His sister wasn't so lucky though. She didn't turn much of her OBC into cash.

[El Crucero]

On my cruise in December the OBC from the TA was not refundable. It had been on previous cruises. It was a small amount left so I figured out a way to use it. I don't know why it was non refundable on this last sailing but I am guessing that the OBC was acquired by the TA as some kind of promotion from Celebrity.

 

I just had this conversation with my TA today. We have $125 OBC from our TA on a cruise leaving this next Monday. $50 is refundable and $75 is not refundable. I asked why. She said that her agency had pre-booked a number of rooms and Celebrity had given the agency a $75 OBC per stateroom for booking so many rooms and therefore was not refundable. The $50 OBC was out of the agents own pocket (commission) and therefore was refundable. In addition, she also gifted us with a sailaway bottle of wine.

 

That makes sense to me. I doesn't matter because all of it will be spent anyway! WE LOVE OUR TA (she is also our neighbor!)

Edited March 12, 2017 by El Crucero

[riclop]

Ask guest services because it varies on every cruise line.

[caribill]

Just off Equinox where we had large OBC from X plus $150 from TA. Also found card in our cabin saying we had received extra $25 obc from TA. X's credits were OBN while $150 from TA was OBR. $25 from TA was surprisingly also OBN. Inquired at guest services why it wasn't OBR but didn't get a good answer. For $25 didn't argue much. Near end of cruise still had a sizable obn balance which we took in casino chips (no fee). After returning verified the $150 OBR had been credited to my credit card.

 

If the OBC is truly a gift from the TA, then it is refundable.

 

If the OBC is from Celebrity via the TA, then it is not refundable. I know with another cruise line the cruise line gives amenity points to the TA to "spend" as the TA would like. Options for using these amenity points include OBC (non-refundable as it really comes from the cruise line), a bottle of wine, etc. Other options include applying the points to an increased commission for the TA in which case the TA gives none of it to the client.

[easyboy]

I just had this conversation with my TA today. We have $125 OBC from our TA on a cruise leaving this next Monday. $50 is refundable and $75 is not refundable. I asked why. She said that her agency had pre-booked a number of rooms and Celebrity had given the agency a $75 OBC per stateroom for booking so many rooms and therefore was not refundable. The $50 OBC was out of the agents own pocket (commission) and therefore was refundable. In addition, she also gifted us with a sailaway bottle of wine.

 

That makes sense to me. I doesn't matter because all of it will be spent anyway! WE LOVE OUR TA (she is also our neighbor!)

Exactly. Regardless of the nature, it won't matter when all are spent!

[mafig]

Sometimes you cannot spend it. Our last cruise on Reflection we had the beverage package, we had pre-paid our gratuities because we had to at that time since we had select dining, we had been to all the ports and didn't want any excursions. Specialty restaurants? I outsmarted myself. This was one of those Chef's Cruises. I thought everyone would want to eat in the MDR because of this and there would be lots of "sales.";p Just the opposite. After the first day all the specialties were booked.

So there was no way to spend all the OBC.

 

Since most was from the TA and, it was I think, $275, we got it back in cash the last evening.

 

DH was happy.:D

[BosoxI]

As many have noted, a TA's OBC is not always 100% refundable. We were on a back to back last December with $1600 of OBC on the first cruise, $700 was from our TA but we discovered only $600 was refundable. We had no OBC on the second leg due to a ridiculously low fare. To use all the OBC we bought five bottles of wine and the sommelier in Luminae delivered them to our cabin that night. As they were bought on board, there was no corkage fee when we drank them in Blu on the next cruise. Of course, we couldn't have done this had we not been on a B2B, as we fly home.