25th Cruise Milestone

[DanBoy]

Ok... So I booked as a solo in an aft balcony on a cruise for 8 nts Apr 27... will my OBC  be based on the cabin cost (had to pay single supplement of course) it was about 22 0r 2300  or based on what one person would pay (half).. I have a call into my TA since I don't have a PVP.. Let her do the work if she wants me to use her services again

 

[ChosenOne]

On 2/21/2019 at 9:04 AM, EmmasNana said:

One other bit of advice, if you don't think you can spend all the OBC is to cash it out in the casino. I brought home nearly $600 of my OBC (if you can still do this).

I will hit my 25th cruise next year.  How exactly do you cash it out in the casino.  I am not a gambler and never set foot in the casino.  Do you have to play slots or something & then ask to cash out money from your Sign & sail card??

[pe4all]

22 minutes ago, ChosenOne said:

I will hit my 25th cruise next year.  How exactly do you cash it out in the casino.  I am not a gambler and never set foot in the casino.  Do you have to play slots or something & then ask to cash out money from your Sign & sail card??

The obc will be loaded onto your sail and sign card account when you board.  Go to the casino, put your sail and sign card into a slot machine and "make" an account - it will ask for your birthdate, and to make a password.  You can then press the button that says "charge my sail and sign account" and download money into the machine.  If you don't want to play, push the button that says something like (don't remember the exact wording) "cash out to players bank."  Once the machine downloads into your casino players bank, just go to the cashier window and tell them you want to cash out.  When you look at your account summary, it will show the amount you initially downloaded listed as "entertainment."  I would try it with $20 first - if that works, go for the gusto!!  

[Davey Wavey]

4 hours ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

So I checked out that website link, which says they still send out letters, so obviously a little stale...

 

But: I don't have a PVP - I do everything myself.  So does Carnival send me a link to the form, or what?

 

I'd call the number, but I thought I'd ask here to see what actual experience anyone had, since I am nowhere near the 25th milestone, much less 50 or 100.  I have a grand total of 4 Carnival cruises under my belt!

 

I also book my own. On my 25th, I got my regular Platinum card and nothing else. I happened to be sitting with a woman talking about how many cruises we had taken. When I said this was my 25th, she asked where my special card was. She happened to be wearing one of those cards except it was 50th milestone for her. I went to customer service and they pulled up my cruise history and counted..."yep you and your wife have 25." He went in back and brought back some generic white cards for us. When I got back to the room, he called and said they had issued an OBC of 25% for me and my wife for that cruise even though I didn't ask for that. I guess it was fine since most of mine are "free" from the casino. It didn't feel like anything special. 

[Bostwick girl]

54 minutes ago, pe4all said:

The obc will be loaded onto your sail and sign card account when you board.  Go to the casino, put your sail and sign card into a slot machine and "make" an account - it will ask for your birthdate, and to make a password.  You can then press the button that says "charge my sail and sign account" and download money into the machine.  If you don't want to play, push the button that says something like (don't remember the exact wording) "cash out to players bank."  Once the machine downloads into your casino players bank, just go to the cashier window and tell them you want to cash out.  When you look at your account summary, it will show the amount you initially downloaded listed as "entertainment."  I would try it with $20 first - if that works, go for the gusto!!  

I believe you DO have to play a few bucks before you can cash out.  

[pe4all]

2 hours ago, Bostwick girl said:

I believe you DO have to play a few bucks before you can cash out.  

 I play the obc in the casino, so that could definitely be a possibility.

[crooooze]

I have a ways to go before hitting the 25 milestone...

I also did the math and I would be about 112 years old when I hit the 100 milestone.

Sadly,  by that age, I would have already switched from Carnival to Holland America.

[PhillyFan33579]

On 2/20/2019 at 4:21 PM, Allura_317 said:

You will be able to redeem your milestone benefits up to 30 days before your cruise and will be applied to your booking 1 week before your sail date.  You will receive "the opportunity to redeem a future non-refundable onboard credit equivalent to 25% of the cruise ticket price."  Also, your Sail and Sign card will look something like:

 

Just an FYI , Carnival recently changed the look of their sign and sail cards for milestone cruises. My wife, who has one more cruise than me on Carnival, received a white card like this one on her 25th cruise in December. However, on my 25th cruise last week, my card was mostly platinum with a white background in the lower right corner and the number 25 in the same corner.  Per Guest Services on Sunshine this was a recent change implemented by Carnival 

[BoDidly]

On 2/22/2019 at 12:51 PM, Davey Wavey said:

 

I also book my own. On my 25th, I got my regular Platinum card and nothing else. I happened to be sitting with a woman talking about how many cruises we had taken. When I said this was my 25th, she asked where my special card was. She happened to be wearing one of those cards except it was 50th milestone for her. I went to customer service and they pulled up my cruise history and counted..."yep you and your wife have 25." He went in back and brought back some generic white cards for us. When I got back to the room, he called and said they had issued an OBC of 25% for me and my wife for that cruise even though I didn't ask for that. I guess it was fine since most of mine are "free" from the casino. It didn't feel like anything special. 

I honestly think this is the 🌊 wave of the future . In otherwords be your own PVP . Make the calls necessary that benefits you !

[Melanie H]

So glad I read this post, I set sail on my 25th cruise on Friday. I will be contacting my PVP tomorrow. Thank you everyone for the great information

[RoperDK]

We are closing in on our 25th cruise.  It will be on the Mardi Gras in a suite.  So that would be the cruise we would like to apply the 25% OBC to.  I have a couple of questions to make sure I truly understand how to do this.

 

1.  Has anyone had any problems applying the OBC to the 25th cruise?  I read where it was for use after the 25th cruise.

 

2.  My husband will reach the milestone on the same cruise as me.  As I understand it, we can both get our OBC at the same time (on the same cruise).  Correct?

 

3.  Can the OBC be used for any onboard expenses, including gratuities and downloading to the slots in the casino?  

 

4.  I booked the Mardi Gras online.  Who should I contact to make sure my OBC is applied to the Mardi Gras cruise and do you actually see the OBC on your cruise planner? 

 

Thanks in advance!

 

[jmcathome]

I did  my 25th last week. I called my PVP about a month before and he filled out the paperwork. No letter was sent and my PVP said the credit would appear on my documents a couple of days before the cruise. And it did appear on cruise documents,I thought the credit would be all non refundable. It was not I received 157 dollars as refundable. Also I did go to the casino and put some on my SS card and cashed it in. This did cost 3 per cent which is alright because i was playing in the casino.

It was surely a benefit as I did not spend any money on board the entire cruise and drank a lot more 

[lele100]

On 2/21/2019 at 1:13 PM, pe4all said:

I am also going on my 25th CCL cruise in March.  I read what was on the website, then called the Milestone desk to ask a few questions about the 25% obc back on a future cruise.  We always pay our gratuities before our cruise.  We will use this 25% obc to pay the grats for our 26th cruise.  (the 25% must be used within 18 months, I think).  The obc is non-refundable - meaning if you don't use it, you lose it.  The suggestion to download it from your sail and sign account and then cash it out in the casino is a good one.  Our onboard expenses are minimal, after so many cruises, so this is what we will do.  

Are you saying we only have 18 months to use the 25% obc milestone benefit, from when you hit your 25th cruise?

[pe4all]

15 hours ago, lele100 said:

Are you saying we only have 18 months to use the 25% obc milestone benefit, from when you hit your 25th cruise?

This is what I was told when I called Milestone dept.  

[Julienatul]

I will be going on my 25th this summer but I dont want to use my 25% since I already have alot of OBC from my travel agent. Can I use it on my 26th cruise instead? Do I have to alert Carnival now or can I just wait until the 26th and tell them it was last cruise and I never used it? 

[BoDidly]

19 hours ago, lele100 said:

Are you saying we only have 18 months to use the 25% obc milestone benefit, from when you hit your 25th cruise?

Carnival explained to me that you had to be booked within 18 months.   Meaning you could cruise well after 18 months as long as you booked by 18 months .   But I have read through the years where an extension was given after 18 months as well.   I would call the number for the milestone desk and ask ,as it's always a different answer depending on whom you talk with.

[BoDidly]

22 minutes ago, Julienatul said:

I will be going on my 25th this summer but I dont want to use my 25% since I already have alot of OBC from my travel agent. Can I use it on my 26th cruise instead? Do I have to alert Carnival now or can I just wait until the 26th and tell them it was last cruise and I never used it? 

Sure you can , just give Carnival a ring to set it up.   I would never wait . 

[lele100]

3 hours ago, BoDidly said:

Carnival explained to me that you had to be booked within 18 months.   Meaning you could cruise well after 18 months as long as you booked by 18 months .   But I have read through the years where an extension was given after 18 months as well.   I would call the number for the milestone desk and ask ,as it's always a different answer depending on whom you talk with.

Thank you,  So here is my situation,  My 25th cruise will be this May, and I already booked the Mardi Gras, for October 31st 2020, can I use it on the Mardi Gras, even though I booked it before I hit the 25th?

[Bostwick girl]

51 minutes ago, lele100 said:

Thank you,  So here is my situation,  My 25th cruise will be this May, and I already booked the Mardi Gras, for October 31st 2020, can I use it on the Mardi Gras, even though I booked it before I hit the 25th?

Yes,  doesn't matter if you've already booked it. I'm going on my 25th March 31, back on April 4. I want to use my OBC on my May 4 cruise which has been booked a couple of months. I just called my PVP to get my form submitted, but since I haven't actually taken the 25th, can't do it till I get back. So to be within the 30 days, I have to call her the day we get back home in April for her to submit it which won't be a problem.  

 

[lele100]

17 hours ago, Bostwick girl said:

Yes,  doesn't matter if you've already booked it. I'm going on my 25th March 31, back on April 4. I want to use my OBC on my May 4 cruise which has been booked a couple of months. I just called my PVP to get my form submitted, but since I haven't actually taken the 25th, can't do it till I get back. So to be within the 30 days, I have to call her the day we get back home in April for her to submit it which won't be a problem.  

 

Cool thanks

[cruise_mojo]

we hit our milestone at Halloween on the pride last year and....

 

though we cruised before Christmas and again b2b the last couple weeks on elation we have a Havana cruise on the Sunshine booked in 2020 for our benefit cruise

 

only a five day cruise but expensive with an aft extended balcony we'll get a pretty good OBC for that - friends of ours that reached their milestones at different cruises got told different info in their calls to the desk as well

 

the lady there told us you earned it, its your's use it when you want to

 

I thought it odd that when you search the FAQ at least back when we came back from our cruise that the header for milestone was in the faq but no info was in there! so maybe the program was being modified ? 

 

our buddies said they got all that mumbo jumbo about 18 months and all that confusion the lady told me use it when you want but just call them ahead of time to let them know you want to apply it and fill out the paperwork, maybe about the time the final payment is due would be a good time to call first?

[Elaine5715]

On 2/24/2019 at 8:15 AM, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

Just an FYI , Carnival recently changed the look of their sign and sail cards for milestone cruises. My wife, who has one more cruise than me on Carnival, received a white card like this one on her 25th cruise in December. However, on my 25th cruise last week, my card was mostly platinum with a white background in the lower right corner and the number 25 in the same corner.  Per Guest Services on Sunshine this was a recent change implemented by Carnival 

My 25th milestone was a week ago and my card was like the one pictured,

[PhillyFan33579]

6 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

My 25th milestone was a week ago and my card was like the one pictured,

 

Maybe they ran out of white cards on my cruise.  There were a lot of Diamonds on the ship, plus it was a premier cruise. On the bright side, the color of my S&S card has never impacted my enjoyment on a cruise, although my wife’s milestone card looks a lot nicer than mine. 

[BoDidly]

6 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

although my wife’s milestone card looks a lot nicer than mine. 

Damn , now I have to go through all our cards and see which one is prettier 😡 

[Clarasgrandma]

On February 21, 2019 at 9:04 AM, EmmasNana said:

One other bit of advice, if you don't think you can spend all the OBC is to cash it out in the casino. I brought home nearly $600 of my OBC (if you can still do this).

I was just sharing this obc topic was my husband...we have a long way to go b4 we will see this but I was curious as to how we would spend a larger obc as we don't drink a lot and we don't gamble...he said he would drink a lot of pina coladas! Lol! But really, if u could cash it out, that would be great! I'm thinking excursions we wouldn't normally book might be nice too or specialty restaurants....