$100 OBC - What Do You Use Yours on?

[bcsurvivor2001]

First cruise in several years and first with a $100 OBC.   What do you use yours for?  Spa? What?  TIA 

[davekathy]

14 minutes ago, bcsurvivor2001 said:

First cruise in several years and first with a $100 OBC.   What do you use yours for?  Spa? What?  TIA 

Only my wife can answer that question. 😉

[lenquixote66]

I do not make those decisions,lol

[denmarks]

It will cost more than that for tips. 

[h-sar]

Possibilities:

Put towards gratuities

Specialty dining

Soda/mocktails package

Toward excursion 

Internet package 
Salon 

Photos

Onboard shops 

 

We’ve done all of the above 👍🏼 
Unfortunately, $100 wont go far on-board ☹️

 

Edited October 14, 2019 by h-sar

[bcsurvivor2001]

5 minutes ago, h-sar said:

Possibilities:

Put towards gratuities

Specialty dining

Soda/mocktails package

Toward excursion 

Internet package 
Salon 

Photos

Onboard shops 

 

We’ve done all of the above 👍🏼 
Unfortunately, $100 wont go far on-board ☹️

 

Thanks for all these great options.  I already did pre-paid gratuities this time (without thinking) but the rest sound great!  I was leaning towards the Salon or Photos right now

[shipgeeks]

On a recent RC cruise we discovered unused OBC as we were leaving the ship.  Guest Services allowed us to nominate crew members to receive additional tips.

On Celebrity, we were able to donate our unused OBC to the Hurricane Dorian relief fund.

[c-boy]

apply it toward the drink package, and then proceed to buy drinks for all my new friends. 

[XBGuy]

1 hour ago, shipgeeks said:

 

On Celebrity, we were able to donate our unused OBC to the Hurricane Dorian relief fund.

 

Princess had a similar program.  We submitted a form to the Passenger Services Desk; and it was charged to our account.

 

As usual by the end of our cruise there was no unused OBC.  I often have wondered how people go on a cruise and have leftover OBC.  It's never happened to us.

 

[George C]

On celebrity they had a deal buy 50 in casino chips get 55 , I used my 300 to get 330 in chips. Agree on other points specialty restaurants, massage etc

[leaveitallbehind]

At least with the two cruise lines cited, RCI and Celebrity, while you can choose how it is spent at your discretion, the amount  of OBC is indiscriminately applied towards any and all charges made to your stateroom account while on board.  It can be spent by you for anything on board other than for use as a deposit for a future cruise booked on board. 

 

But you cannot say to have it applied for one specific charge or another - it is just applied as a blind credit as charges are made on your account. So how you spend it is up to you but how it is applied is based on when a charge is made.  Purchases can also be made against your OBC in advance of the cruise for excursions, dining, etc.

 

Also, cruise line provided OBC is non-refundable and not given back in cash if not spent.  Interesting - and nice - options given for requested disbursement of remaining OBC.

 

That being said we usually make our first OBC purchases for specialty dining.  

Edited October 14, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[ldubs]

43 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

At least with the two cruise lines cited, RCI and Celebrity, while you can choose how it is spent at your discretion, the amount  of OBC is indiscriminately applied towards any and all charges made to your stateroom account while on board.  It can be spent by you for anything on board other than for use as a deposit for a future cruise booked on board. 

 

But you cannot say to have it applied for one specific charge or another - it is just applied as a blind credit as charges are made on your account. So how you spend it is up to you but how it is applied is based on when a charge is made.  Purchases can also be made against your OBC in advance of the cruise for excursions, dining, etc.

 

Also, cruise line provided OBC is non-refundable and not given back in cash if not spent.  Interesting - and nice - options given for requested disbursement of remaining OBC.

 

That being said we usually make our first OBC purchases for specialty dining.  

 

I was going to ask Mrs Ldubs, but I think this explains it well.   

[bcsurvivor2001]

1 hour ago, leaveitallbehind said:

At least with the two cruise lines cited, RCI and Celebrity, while you can choose how it is spent at your discretion, the amount  of OBC is indiscriminately applied towards any and all charges made to your stateroom account while on board.  It can be spent by you for anything on board other than for use as a deposit for a future cruise booked on board. 

 

But you cannot say to have it applied for one specific charge or another - it is just applied as a blind credit as charges are made on your account. So how you spend it is up to you but how it is applied is based on when a charge is made.  Purchases can also be made against your OBC in advance of the cruise for excursions, dining, etc.

 

Also, cruise line provided OBC is non-refundable and not given back in cash if not spent.  Interesting - and nice - options given for requested disbursement of remaining OBC.

 

That being said we usually make our first OBC purchases for specialty dining.  

THANKS- this is VERY HELPFUL!!!!

[Underwatr]

10 hours ago, XBGuy said:

I often have wondered how people go on a cruise and have leftover OBC.  It's never happened to us.

One Christmas we disembarked with something like $1.85 in remaining OBC. I was quite happy with our skill at using it up. Sometimes we've had to visit the onboard shops.

[DarrenM]

We used ours to buy photos taken throughout the week. Only one had my ugly mug in it, and that was after we popped off at Monte Carlo

[iancal]

Wine

[Bookish Angel]

If non-refundable, toward gratuities as we buy almost nothing on a ship.  If refundable, we take it as cash.

[geoherb]

On our recent 16-day cruise, we spent our OBC toward gratuities, internet package, a few drinks and corkage fees, a bottle of liquor to take home, a jacket, and a bracelet. We did not have any left over, but did not have huge bill either.

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, Bookish Angel said:

If refundable, we take it as cash.

 

Which would normally be a third party applied OBC such as that from a travel agent or family member as a gift, etc.  Again using RCI and Celebrity as examples, cruise line sponsored non-refundable OBC's are applied against charges made to your stateroom account first, with refundable OBC's applied last.  In this manner you would not lose the value of the refundable OBC if not used on board as any remaining balance would be given to you at the end of the cruise with settlement of your stateroom account.

Edited October 15, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[bcsurvivor2001]

Thanks everyone for the great, diverse options 😘. This is the first time getting an OBC - was part of my booking “sale”.  Just didn’t know how or IF I needed to do something special to take advantage of this “free $$$”. 

[davekathy]

11 minutes ago, bcsurvivor2001 said:

Thanks everyone for the great, diverse options 😘. This is the first time getting an OBC - was part of my booking “sale”.  Just didn’t know how or IF I needed to do something special to take advantage of this “free $$$”. 

Enjoy and don't spend it all in one place. 😉

Edited October 15, 2019 by davekathy

[chipmaster]

20 hours ago, bcsurvivor2001 said:

First cruise in several years and first with a $100 OBC.   What do you use yours for?  Spa? What?  TIA 

 

If we are doing tours, almost always credit a tours.  If we don't plan tours we usually break down and get a drink package but try to avoid that, they are such a ripoff

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, chipmaster said:

 

If we are doing tours, almost always credit a tours.  If we don't plan tours we usually break down and get a drink package but try to avoid that, they are such a ripoff

 

True, but if it is ship's money to begin with by way of an OBC, there is no ripoff.  The only downside to you would be to not use the OBC - regardless of how it is used.  (IMO, tours through the ships are also overcharged as they take their % from the tour operators through whom they book and you pay that premium). 

[Hlitner]

19 hours ago, XBGuy said:

 

Princess had a similar program.  We submitted a form to the Passenger Services Desk; and it was charged to our account.

 

As usual by the end of our cruise there was no unused OBC.  I often have wondered how people go on a cruise and have leftover OBC.  It's never happened to us.

 

On Princess it can be pretty easy to have left over OBC.  With that cruise line we can often get thousands of OBC since the line allows "stacking" of credits.  We are soon off on another Princess cruise where we have about $1800 in OBC plus pre-paid gratuities.  Since it is only a 25 day voyage we need to spend about $70 a day which should cover most of our drinks.   On Princess we have actually returned from some cruises and received a refund check from the cruise line (many of our OBCs are refundable).  On any Princess cruise I start out with $250 Stockholder credit and $250 Veterans Credit (we do not take short cruises).  Our various cruises agencies usually kick-in about 10% of the cruise cost plus more and sometimes Princess has a promo where they toss in OBC.

 

We do fine with OBCs on other lines, but Princess is generally the best. 

 

Hank

[sverigecruiser]

21 hours ago, XBGuy said:

 I often have wondered how people go on a cruise and have leftover OBC.  It's never happened to us.

 

 

I often have wondered how people get the OBC. It's never happened to us!