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On Board Credit Usage Suggestions?


Waywardspirit
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This is our first cruise so we are entirely unfamiliar with what you pay/dont pay for on the ship.  We booked Aqua, with a deal for 150 pp in on board credit (For a total of 300) and also got a deal for prepaid gratuities.   

 

What do you suggest utilizing credit for? Can you use it at Casinos? Spa? Do we need to pay anything for food?  Are all drinks free or only non-alcoholic?  Neither of us are huge drinkers so I feel like a drink package may be too much for us.  We may have a few drinks a day each.

 

For reference Celebrity Infiniti 5 night Caribbean leaving Nov 24th

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You can use the OBC for most anything you purchase on the ship, except for a deposit on another cruise.  If you use it in the casino you will be given promotional chips which have no cash value but you can cash out winning from playing with promotional chips.

It sounds like you didn’t select the beverage package as a booking perk so you can use OBC to pay for drinks, speciality restaurants, speciality coffee/tea, spa treatments, items from the shops on the ship, art,  classes in the fitness center, shore excursions, laundry and dry cleaning and other musc things.

 

The $300 will show up on your ship board account and as you purchase something the cost will automatically be deducted from the $300.  If you don’t spend it all you will forfeit any unspent $.  If you spend more your credit card will be charged for any amount over the $300.

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You may also use it for specialty dining, shore excursions, drinks, additional tips, spa, shopping on board, late night room service charges (nominal small charge between 1130 PM and 6:30 AM), special gym classes. Or you could sign it over to us and we'll happily dispose of it for you.😜

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Do you know if the OBC is through Celebrity or a travel agent? Any OBC through Celebrity should show up in the Cruise Planner (usually a few weeks after booking the cruise) online where you can pre-book shore excursions, spa treatments, dining/drink packages, etc. We had the same amount through Celebrity and used it to book a shore excursion already even though our cruise isn't until next year. My understanding is that the travel agent OBC won't show up until you are on the ship though. 

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You mentioned drinks, the only drinks that are free include water (not bottled), coffee, tea, orange juice, ice tea and milk.  There is a charge for all other drinks like sodas, specialty coffee and tea, bottled water, smoothies and alcohol.  Since you expect to have a few drinks a day, that $300 will go fast.

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Not sure if anyone answered your food questions. If you eat in the Main Dining Room  (MDR), the buffet, the outdoor grills, the food is included in the cost of your cruise.  If you eat in the speciality restaurants, there is an additional cost that you can use your credit for. 

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22 minutes ago, CEOofVacation said:

You mentioned drinks, the only drinks that are free include water (not bottled), coffee, tea, orange juice, ice tea and milk.  There is a charge for all other drinks like sodas, specialty coffee and tea, bottled water, smoothies and alcohol.  Since you expect to have a few drinks a day, that $300 will go fast.

Ha ha, exactly what I was going to say.  A couple of drinks a day will certainly take care of the OBC.  My wife uses ours in the casino.  She's going to play anyway so why not.

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You may also want to do the Math.  If you are getting 2 perks through Celebrity, instead of picking pre-paid gratuities and $300 OBC, a better option may be drinks and OBC.   Pre-paid gratuities is $15 per day per person and if you drink enough, even just 2 alcohol drinks a day, you will be spending way more than $15 per day.  Just pick the classic beverage package as one of your 2 perks and use the $300 OBC to pay for gratuities and you still get some change back to spend on other stuff.

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Agree about the drinking. You will be surprised at how your 'couple of drinks a day' will turn into 'a few a day' on a fantastic vacation. I have sincerely felt bad for more than a few cruisers when they got their final bill.
I have the classic package included and will wait until I get on the ship to see if I want to upgrade. Either way I will get my money's worth. 🙂

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34 minutes ago, CEOofVacation said:

  Just pick the classic beverage package as one of your 2 perks and use the $300 OBC to pay for gratuities and you still get some change back to spend on other stuff.

As CEOof Vacation said, the drink package, if you can switch might be the best deal.  You can also get bottled water, soda and the good coffee drinks from the Cafe with the package.  I don't drink alcohol and we still get the drink package with one of our perks.  So if you can, it would be best to change the prepaid gratuities to the beverage package.

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5 minutes ago, Duanerice1 said:

As CEOof Vacation said, the drink package, if you can switch might be the best deal.  You can also get bottled water, soda and the good coffee drinks from the Cafe with the package.  I don't drink alcohol and we still get the drink package with one of our perks.  So if you can, it would be best to change the prepaid gratuities to the beverage package.

Precisely!  I don't drink alcohol and rarely any non-alcoholic drinks, we still pick the beverage package because my husband has a couple of glasses of wine over dinner and we do wander to Cafe Al Baco for coffee and tea.  Being able to pick up bottled water anytime and as many as we want is what I love most.  I am a boring water drinker.  

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4 hours ago, CEOofVacation said:

You mentioned drinks, the only drinks that are free include water (not bottled), coffee, tea, orange juice, ice tea and milk.  There is a charge for all other drinks like sodas, specialty coffee and tea, bottled water, smoothies and alcohol.  Since you expect to have a few drinks a day, that $300 will go fast.

In addition to the above lemonade, apple or fruit juice, tea bags and cocoa packets are available and included.

 

The included dining venues are the main ding room, Oceanview Cafe, Pool Grill, Aqua Spa Cafe and the pastries at Cafe al  Bacio (extra charge for coffee & teas at al Bacio).  Blu is your assigned dining room and is open for breakfast & dinner.

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Even though my husband doesn't drink alcohol, we choose the classic alcohol package as one of our perks. Soda, juice, mocktails, coffee in Cafe Al Bacio, bottled water are included in the classic alcohol package. We go to guest services when we board and trade his classic alcohol package for a premium non-alcohol package so he can get sparkling water. The only free beverages are from the drink dispensers in the buffet, which include juice, ice tea, punch, lemonade, tea, cocoa mix. Milk, coffee, tap water are available in the MDR. You may be able to change your perks if you call you TA or Celebrity agent.

Edited by Marelaine
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10 hours ago, Waywardspirit said:

Thanks guys, I think I was able to change my prepaid grat to the bev package,  I appreciate all your advice!!

Good decision. As others have said does not take long to exceed the $15 per day gratuity credit with drink costs including the 18% gratuity on drinks:

specialty coffee or tea = $5.80

bottle of water = $3.54

glass of wine = $10.62

 

Have a wonderful cruise

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Just to be clear, your OBC is not discretionary in that you don't pick and choose how it is used. It is applied to any and all on board purchases made to your ship board account as they are made, with the exception as mentioned for future cruise deposits.  So whatever charges appear will have the OBC credited towards that total to reconcile a balance due at the end of your cruise.

Edited by leaveitallbehind
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Back home on my laptop and able to cut and paste -- 

 

Now that there are so many programs in place giving non-refundable OBC, and we can no longer take this out of the casino in cash, I have come up with this list of things to spend  OBC on, since we see so many questions about this on Cruise Critic.  This list is specific to Celebrity line.

 

I'll make the list alphabetical, so it will be easy to add any items I have forgotten.

 

Acupuncture

Airport transfers

Apple products, other electronics,  and I-lounge classes

Art Auctions

Babysitting fee (and gratuity)

Barbershop (and gratuity)

Beverages -- Alcoholic, soft drinks, specialty coffees and teas, bottled water (and gratuities attached)

Bingo

Bottles of wine (and gratuity attached)

Casino

Duty free liquor and cigarettes

Fitness classes

Flowers, other in-stateroom special occasion gifts

Gelato

Gift shop -- purses, clothing, souvenirs, perfumes, etc. etc. etc.

Gratuities

Hair and nail salon (and gratuity attached)

Internet

Laundry/pressing/drycleaning

Luggage Valet

Medical Center

Mini bar

Shore Excursions

Pay-per-view movies

Photos & cameras

Room service up charge items, late night delivery fee

Shore Excursions

Shuttle to town (some ports)

Spa -- massages and treatments (and gratuities attached)

Specialty restaurants

Teeth Whitening

Voyage in Review DVD

Wine and liquor tastings (and gratuities attached)

Zumba

Edited by cruisestitch
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10 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Just to be clear, your OBC is not discretionary in that you don't pick and choose how it is used. It is applied to any and all on board purchases made to your ship board account as they are made, with the exception as mentioned for future cruise deposits.  So whatever charges appear will have the OBC credited towards that total to reconcile a balance due at the end of your cruise.

In a manner of speaking it can be discretionary.  When we get ours we immediately apply it against excursions or dinner.

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You can choose what you will buy, but what you can't do is you cannot say "I will spend this much of my non-refundable OBC on this purchase, then I will go shopping and use my refundable OBC and then later I will spend  the rest of the non-refundable OBC.   It doesn't work that way. 

 

You arrive on the ship with, say, $500 in non-refundable OBC.

 

On day one, you buy two shore excursion for $200

On day two, you buy a purse for $100

On day three, you buy a blouse for $100

On day four, you buy a camera for $100

On day five, you buy two specialty dinners for $200

 

You can't say "I want to use my non-refundable OBC for the  shore excursions and the dinners.  By the time you get to the dinners, the OBC  is all spent.  It goes in chronological order.

Edited by cruisestitch
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5 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

You can choose what you will buy, but what you can't do is you cannot say "I will spend this much of my non-refundable OBC on this purchase, then I will go shopping and use my refundable OBC and then later I will spend  the rest of the non-refundable OBC.   It doesn't work that way. 

 

You arrive on the ship with, say, $500 in non-refundable OBC.

 

On day one, you buy two shore excursion for $200

On day two, you buy a purse for $100

On day three, you buy a blouse for $100

On day four, you buy a camera for $100

On day five, you buy two specialty dinners for $200

 

You can't say "I want to use my non-refundable OBC for the  shore excursions and the dinners.  By the time you get to the dinners, the OBC  is all spent.  It goes in chronological order.

Considering that might have been intended for me, your example is correct of course.  Which is why we applied the OBC to our excursions and dinner before boarding.  That left us with a $32 OBC balance.  $3.25 went towards a very generous shot of Makers Mark and the rest towards some makeup my wife always gets onboard.

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