I Thought Celebrity OBC was non-refundable

[CruisingChick]

I just looked at my credit card statement and I had a credit from Celebrity Cruises on it for my unused OBC. Now mind you it was only $1.26 but I was stunned to see it. I thought when you took the OBC from the perk is was non-refundable? Geez, I wouldn't have used so much of it if I knew I was going to get it back.

[jkgourmet]

Are you SURE you didn't have OBC from your TA? That's often refundable.

[CruisingChick]

Are you SURE you didn't have OBC from your TA? That's often refundable.

 

No it was pick 2 perks and we picked classic drink package and OBC of $300. It also showed up right away on my Celebrity account so I could use pre-cruise. I thought TA OBC did not do that only Celebrity OBC.

[cruisestitch]

I had that happen once a few years ago and it was also a very small amount, under two dollars as I recall. I chalked it up to random accounting and good luck.

[U4icmusic]

If you are ever in doubt, just go to customer service and ask what kind of OBC you have. It also shows up on the TV as refundable or not, in my experience.

 

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[cruisestitch]

I am sure mine was of the non-refundable kind. My TA doesn't do refundable OBC and handles his "gift" to his customers differently. I suspect that when the amount is very small, someone in the back office just looks at the account quickly and moves on.

[jelayne]

Occasionally there is a change to the port fees/taxes from what was charged when you booked. If the actual port fees/taxes are less than what you paid the difference is posted to your on-board account and if unspent credited back on your credit card. If the actual cost is higher than you paid you are not charged the higher amount.

 

We have had this happen we have had a on about 8 cruises over the years.

[CruisingChick]

I had that happen once a few years ago and it was also a very small amount, under two dollars as I recall. I chalked it up to random accounting and good luck.

 

It was probably because it was such a small amount they gave it back. Still is kind of funny they would credit my card -1.26.

[BratDet]

It has happened to us if the prepaid port taxes were less, we got refunded the difference...so that could explain it. I have Celebrity non-refundable on my next cruise AND TA refundable....I made sure to verify with TA is was refundable...

Bernadette

[davekathy]

It was probably because it was such a small amount they gave it back. Still is kind of funny they would credit my card -1.26.

We also experienced a $1.75 Celebrity OBC credit back to our credit card on our fall 2017 Infinity cruise along with the TA refunded OBC ($101.75).

[TeachKinde]

This is news to me! We have some TA OBC on our upcoming cruise that we will use for tips. If we don't use it for anything else, it will be refunded to us? That would be great and could offset some of our local excursion expenses! Any wisdom is appreciated!

[wrk2cruise]

This is news to me! We have some TA OBC on our upcoming cruise that we will use for tips. If we don't use it for anything else, it will be refunded to us? That would be great and could offset some of our local excursion expenses! Any wisdom is appreciated!

 

While most of the time OBC from a TA is refundable it's not always the case. The best thing to do is look at your account on the TV. Refundable OBC is coded OBR and non-refundable is OBN. If you have any OBR and you end your cruise with a balance OBR will be refunded to the form of payment you used to secure your on board account.

 

Any unused OBN is lost. They always use OBN before OBR.

[cruisestitch]

"This is news to me! We have some TA OBC on our upcoming cruise that we will use for tips. If we don't use it for anything else, it will be refunded to us?"

 

 

possibly.. OBC from a TA can come out of his or her commission, then it is refundable. Or it can come as a pass-through from Celebrity, then it is non-refundable. It is possible that if you had, say $100 in OBC from your TA that $50 was from Celebrity (OBC-N) and $50 was from the TA himself (OBC-R)

Even if it is the refundable kind, you can't access it during the cruise. After the cruise it shows up as a credit on your credit card account.

What we are discussing here is that in a handful of cases, where there has been a very small amount of the non-refundable kind, we got it back anyway. But we are talking about amounts less than $2.

[39august]

I suspect this was a change in port fees as others have mentioned. This has happened to us a number of times.

[CruisingChick]

I suspect this was a change in port fees as others have mentioned. This has happened to us a number of times.

 

Well, it was the exact amount I had left from my $300 OBC. So that's a pretty big coincidence. I will ask my Roll Call if anyone else got back money.

[phoenix_dream]

I vote for the port fees answer. Have gotten some small refunds on that on multiple cruises.

[Silhouette2017]

Well, it was the exact amount I had left from my $300 OBC. So that's a pretty big coincidence. I will ask my Roll Call if anyone else got back money.

The changed port fees are added to OBC onboard so it looked like it was your original OBC that was refunded however it was the port fees.

[varoo]

I just looked at my credit card statement and I had a credit from Celebrity Cruises on it for my unused OBC. Now mind you it was only $1.26 but I was stunned to see it. I thought when you took the OBC from the perk is was non-refundable?

When we have a small amount of non-refundable onboard credit left at the end of a cruise, we have also noticed that it gets refunded to our credit card.

Most likely, the program that closes out the onboard accounts at the end of each cruise is programmed to bypass the routine that removes remaining non-refundable OBC when it falls below a certain amount.

So it just goes back to our credit cards by default, along with any refundable OBC.

It takes only one line of code in the program to check and make the decision as to whether or not the amount will be refunded.

Those small amounts are not worth bothering to remove, so they are allowed to pass right on through, along with any refundable OBC.

It has nothing to do with whether or not any port fees are being refunded.

But the source does not show up on credit card statements because there is only one amount charged (or credited) there - the final balance remaining on your shipboard account at the end of the cruise.

Even though that is usually the same final balance that appears on our account on the TV screen in our cabin, or the final balance shown on the final printout we receive, sometimes additional charges get added on afterwards (either valid or invalid).

That is why we try to remember to check the amount that shows up on our credit card statement and not just assume that it is correct.

 

Geez, I wouldn't have used so much of it if I knew I was going to get it back.

No need to feel bad about that because if you had left a large amount unused, you probably would not have gotten any of it back at all.

Edited June 3, 2018 by varoo

[JMG]

I vote for a refund of OBC! We had the exact same thing happen to us!

 

There is absolutely no way it could have been port fees!

 

When you board you know how much OBC you have been "granted". When the dollar amount of the OBC that you spent and the amount of the refund is EXACT!...

 

I will say...that on our last cruise...the Celebrity IT system did not give us our total OBC. We went to Guest relations and they produced paperwork that showed the OBC that we got was correct. We did not have our original paperwork. So...after we disembarked, we contacted Home office and they confirmed that our figure was correct and that the ships figure was wrong!

 

We did book another cruise so...we were offered the original OBC plus a "forgive us" amount for our next cruise. I wonder if we had not booked another cruise if we would have been refunded that amount?

 

So...next cruise..we have $850 OBC....our perks include...free gratuities, free internet... SO, we are not sure how or if we will be able to spend all of this OBC...BUT.. first..we will find out if the balance will be refunded to us! Otherwise...I will be shopping til I drop!

[davekathy]

The Celebrity refunded OBC ($1.75) was not a port fee adjustment we were credited back. We used all of our Celebrity OBC except a $1.75 and considered it a wash. We were surprised the $1.75 Celebrity OBC was credited back with the TA OBC.

[varoo]

............So...next cruise..we have $850 OBC....our perks include...free gratuities, free internet... SO, we are not sure how or if we will be able to spend all of this OBC...BUT.. first..we will find out if the balance will be refunded to us! Otherwise...I will be shopping til I drop!

 

Know what you mean. We have ended up booking a bunch of ship's excursions that we never would have booked with them otherwise, in order to use up non-refundable OBC.

 

Just the other day I ran across some old DVDs, still in their original unopened plastic wrapping, that I got with OBC on cruises years ago.

 

Then there is the iPad that is not really the model I wanted and that I never would have bought on board if I had needed to pay for it with "real" money.

 

Those cruise people certainly knew what they were doing when they came up with the idea of giving us OBC instead of discounts on cruise prices. :D

[BratDet]

Get a printout a day after you board... obc will be coded non ref. Or ref... we had 600$ refundable...about 450 non ref..and had to make sure we spent the non refundable..... we just got off the Summit bernadette

 

 

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[riclop]

I just looked at my credit card statement and I had a credit from Celebrity Cruises on it for my unused OBC. Now mind you it was only $1.26 but I was stunned to see it. I thought when you took the OBC from the perk is was non-refundable? Geez, I wouldn't have used so much of it if I knew I was going to get it back.

You can book another cruise now.:')