Lots of OBC

[m921759]

Hi!

We booked at cruise at the start of May in Alaska and have a lot of OBC. I guess we cannot use it for excursions booked pre-cruise? In that case has anyone been able to pre-book excursions online and still use OBC on them? Are we stressed for nothing because we will be able to book most excursions onboard?

Its our first Holland Cruise and we are usually doing more private tours, but is Holland competitive?

Any comments? Happy sailings and holidays!

[ger_77]

OBC means just that - onboard credit.  It can't be used for pre-booked excursions or indulgences, only when you book them while you are on the ship.  Once on the ship, you can use up your OBC for the drink package, photos, laundry package, gifts from the shops, specialty restaurants, or to book other excursions.

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

[sandyss]

IF your pre-booked excursions are not fully booked when  you board the ship, you should be able to refund them to "Refundable OBC" and immediately rebook them with "NonRefundable OBC".  

[I like vacation]

8 minutes ago, sandyss said:

IF your pre-booked excursions are not fully booked when  you board the ship, you should be able to refund them to "Refundable OBC" and immediately rebook them with "NonRefundable OBC".  

 

I may be reading this incorrectly but it sounds like once onboard, the cancellation refund gets you more OBC.  Additionally, you have to be careful that you cancel in time to avoid a fee.

 

 

Cancellations for pre-paid tours are allowed up to 3 days prior to cruise embarkation and will be refunded to the credit card used for the purchase. If within 3 days of embarkation, all changes/cancellations must be done onboard the ship and refunds will be applied to your onboard account. If the credit is not fully utilized during the cruise, the balance will be paid to that passenger by the ship's Purser at the end of the voyage. If cancellation occurs onboard after the cancellation deadline for specific shore excursions, a 100% cancellation fee will apply. The ship's shore excursions office will be able to advise you of the cancellation deadline applicable to each tour. Optional shore excursions during the land portion of a Land & Sea Journey are non-refundable within 3 days of your Land & Sea Journey departure date. Group shore excursions cancelled within three days prior to embarkation (sail) date are nonrefundable. Custom tours may have different cancellation deadlines which will be stated in the proposal. In the rare instance that tours are cancelled by Holland America Line or the tour operator, the full amount will be refunded within four to six weeks after the voyage ends.

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/shore-excursions.html#&token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyb2xlcyI6WyJUUkFWRUxfQUdFTkNZX0JPT0tFRF9HVUVTVF9MT0dHRURfSU4iLCJUUkFWRUxfUExBTk5JTkdfQUxMT1dFRCJdLCJjbGllbnRJZCI6InNlY29uZGFyeUZsb3ciLCJqdGkiOiIyNWExN2M4My05YWI3LTRlNTQtODZkZS03ZDY3MDUwMDAzNmIiLCJpYXQiOjE1Nzc0OTg4NzYsInN1YiI6IkRvbkI4NTlAYW9sLmNvbSIsImlzcyI6ImhhZ3JvdXAiLCJleHAiOjE1Nzc1MDk2NzZ9.sopcIWufi3sCY7jEkyapXLXMDxiEHxE-h5x0-9ojSCs

Edited December 28, 2019 by I like vacation

[canadianbear]

I’d suggest you look at the list of excursions HAL offers in each Port you are going to.  Write down in order the ones you want and have at least 2 or 3 for each port in case your first choice is gone.  Soon as you get on the ship find out where and what time the excursion opens and go book them immediately.  This is what we did on one of our Caribbean cruises because we had so much OBC.

 

 

 

 

[I like vacation]

6 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

I’d suggest you look at the list of excursions HAL offers in each Port you are going to.  Write down in order the ones you want and have at least 2 or 3 for each port in case your first choice is gone.  Soon as you get on the ship find out where and what time the excursion opens and go book them immediately.  

 

You usually get a good idea of which excursion is selling out by checking My Bookings.  If your 1st choice is selling out, book it in advance, otherwise wait until departure.  Avoid the line at the EXC desk and book through Navigator as soon as you board.

 

HAL Navigator

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/onboard-activities/cruise-activities/holland-america-line-navigator.html

Edited December 28, 2019 by I like vacation
add info

[kazu]

1 hour ago, m921759 said:

Hi!

We booked at cruise at the start of May in Alaska and have a lot of OBC. I guess we cannot use it for excursions booked pre-cruise? In that case has anyone been able to pre-book excursions online and still use OBC on them? Are we stressed for nothing because we will be able to book most excursions onboard?

Its our first Holland Cruise and we are usually doing more private tours, but is Holland competitive?

Any comments? Happy sailings and holidays!

 

I can NEVER have too much OBC 🙂 

 

You can use it for specialty dining, wine packages, drinks, shore excursions and HSC.

 

that being said - we have two stops in Alaska next year and a lot of the ones I found what you to book through the ship.  So planning in advance is limited.

 

there are certainly some operators at dock side but the good ones seem to have lined up with the cruise ships.  In this case, I’d probably do one of HAL’s tours especially a couple of prime ones I’ve seen.  

 

The advice from others to watch and choose is excellent advice 😄 

[sandyss]

4 hours ago, I like vacation said:

 

I may be reading this incorrectly but it sounds like once onboard, the cancellation refund gets you more OBC.  Additionally, you have to be careful that you cancel in time to avoid a fee.

 

Yes.  The cancellation does get you more OBC - but the OBC that you receive is REFUNDABLE.  Then you can use your NON-REFUNDABLE OBC to purchase the same tour - if space is still available.  We did this on our cruise in early December.  There were two tours that we absolutely wanted to have, so we purchased them well before our cruise.  But, since neither was sold out when we boarded the ship, we refunded and rebooked both tours - using up around $200 of our NR OBC.  (We had non-refundable OBC of $750  for a 7 day cruise.)

 

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

You can also buy Beverage Cards and any unused amount on them will be refunded to your credit card at the end of the cruise.

[DaveOKC]

12 hours ago, m921759 said:

Hi!

We booked at cruise at the start of May in Alaska and have a lot of OBC. I guess we cannot use it for excursions booked pre-cruise? In that case has anyone been able to pre-book excursions online and still use OBC on them? Are we stressed for nothing because we will be able to book most excursions onboard?

Its our first Holland Cruise and we are usually doing more private tours, but is Holland competitive?

Any comments? Happy sailings and holidays!

 

One of the things that I WISH HAL would address is not being able to use OBC  for pre-booked excursions.  Makes no sense to me as it disrupts our plans and IMO would better allow HAL to organize/sell their excursions.  So, if you have MUST DO excursions on your list, you really should pre-book them well in advance using a credit card.  If the excursions are just "would like to do", you can take a chance and book onboard with OBC.  The popular excursions with limited capacity you should obviously pre-book.  Excursions that are easy to add capacity to (like city bus tours) are normally OK to book onboard.  I have been known to cancel/rebook my cruise when I am able to reduce my base fare by a similar (even a bit less) of OBC!

 

Using HAL or private tours is a much discussed topic, and you have people that favor each.  I know that the HAL tour will likely cost me a bit more than a local one, but personally I do the HAL tours due to the convenience, ease to book and refund (we just had this two weeks ago when our port stop was cancelled - automatically refunded without effort on our part), and guarantee to take care of you if your tour is late (normally they hold the ship).  Plus, using HAL tours we earn Mariner "points".  I find the HAL tours to be "competitive", but obviously a bit higher priced than private ones.  Many people like private tours since they are generally smaller groups and provide more flexibility.

 

DEPENDING ON THE SHIP, we have sometimes been able to cancel our pre-booked tours onboard and replace with onboard bought tour (same one) using OBC - this is great but do not count on it 100% of the time.

 

I would like to see HAL cruisers all mention on their post cruise surveys that HAL should allow OBC to be used to purchase pre-booked excursions!!!

[I like vacation]

9 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

I would like to see HAL cruisers all mention on their post cruise surveys that HAL should allow OBC to be used to purchase pre-booked excursions!!!

 

Excellent point!  I will remember to do this after my next cruise.

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, DaveOKC said:

 

One of the things that I WISH HAL would address is not being able to use OBC  for pre-booked excursions.  Makes no sense to me as it disrupts our plans and IMO would better allow HAL to organize/sell their excursions.  So, if you have MUST DO excursions on your list, you really should pre-book them well in advance using a credit card.  If the excursions are just "would like to do", you can take a chance and book onboard with OBC.  The popular excursions with limited capacity you should obviously pre-book.  Excursions that are easy to add capacity to (like city bus tours) are normally OK to book onboard.  I have been known to cancel/rebook my cruise when I am able to reduce my base fare by a similar (even a bit less) of OBC!

 

Using HAL or private tours is a much discussed topic, and you have people that favor each.  I know that the HAL tour will likely cost me a bit more than a local one, but personally I do the HAL tours due to the convenience, ease to book and refund (we just had this two weeks ago when our port stop was cancelled - automatically refunded without effort on our part), and guarantee to take care of you if your tour is late (normally they hold the ship).  Plus, using HAL tours we earn Mariner "points".  I find the HAL tours to be "competitive", but obviously a bit higher priced than private ones.  Many people like private tours since they are generally smaller groups and provide more flexibility.

 

DEPENDING ON THE SHIP, we have sometimes been able to cancel our pre-booked tours onboard and replace with onboard bought tour (same one) using OBC - this is great but do not count on it 100% of the time.

 

I would like to see HAL cruisers all mention on their post cruise surveys that HAL should allow OBC to be used to purchase pre-booked excursions!!!

 

Excellent advice about "must do" and limited excursions. If I really want to do a tour, I don't gamble on it being sold out. 

 

For Alaska, I found HAL's tours to be competitively priced for the things I want to do. And as Kazu noted, many vendors require you to book through the ship because of their contracts with the cruise line. 

 

[TAD2005]

Don't be fooled by HAL's shore excursion selections, where they show "Only 2 spaces left" 6 months out from the tour, and the tour uses buses or some other readily available mode of transport.    This is a commonly used sales tactic to encourage a purchase.   Some tours that utilize helicopters. aircraft, boats are in limited supply because you can't just call up another helicopter like you can do with a bus.

Saying that HAL's tours are "a bit higher than private" is a vast understatement.   We booked a private tour for 4 in our party for a 4 hour tour of Moorea.   The cost was $35 USD per person in a 7 passenger minivan, while the same tour, with 15 people jammed into a small bus was $129 per person.   We could call our own stops, while the ship tour was a fixed route.  An overnight at the Pearl Resort in Bora Bora cost me $1050 for 2 people, including transportation from the tender dock, an overwater bungalow for a night, lunch, dinner and breakfast and transport back.  The same tour, to the same hotel, with the same accommodations and same food allowance, would have cost me $2800 for 2.

[MisterBill99]

On 12/27/2019 at 8:48 PM, ger_77 said:

OBC means just that - onboard credit.  It can't be used for pre-booked excursions or indulgences, only when you book them while you are on the ship.  

 

Actually, it means money that has to be spent for stuff on board the ship. Celebrity and Royal Caribbean let you spend the OBC you've gotten from the cruise line (and thus is non-refundable) to book excursions and other stuff on their website pre-cruise.

 

To the OP, I'm not sure of your situation but remember that not all OBC is non-refundable. If you're getting it from your travel  agent, the odds are that it will be refundable if you do not spend it. You can get it in cash at the end of the cruise or it will go back on your credit card. You can also use non-refundable OBC towards the daily service charge (I think the HAL fine print says that you cannot, but it isn't the way things work in real life).

[Pointkitten]

Has anyone actually used non-refundable OBC towards their gratuities?

[kazu]

1 minute ago, Pointkitten said:

Has anyone actually used non-refundable OBC towards their gratuities?

 

Sure.  My OBC credit was reduced daily by the HSC.

 

[Pointkitten]

Thanks!

[DaveOKC]

6 minutes ago, Pointkitten said:

Has anyone actually used non-refundable OBC towards their gratuities?

Yes - just did earlier this month - no problem.

 

But they did not let us use casino purchaes towards OBC.

Edited December 29, 2019 by DaveOKC

[MisterBill99]

On 12/28/2019 at 6:31 AM, Krazy Kruizers said:

You can also buy Beverage Cards and any unused amount on them will be refunded to your credit card at the end of the cruise.

 

I find this very interesting. How does it work? Does it get credited back to your on board account at the end of the cruise and then back to the card on record, or does it get credited back separately? Is this documented anywhere?

 

We had a bunch of NR OBC on our June Mediterranean cruise.  We used some on dining and had plans to use more but unfortunately my wife had to use the ship's doctor and it ate up the rest of our OBC (and more). The good news is that I got reimbursed for the doctor's visit thru our travel insurance so I effectively cashed out my OBC that way. Of course, I do not recommend that as a way of using your OBC!

[kazu]

30 minutes ago, MisterBill99 said:

I find this very interesting. How does it work? Does it get credited back to your on board account at the end of the cruise and then back to the card on record, or does it get credited back separately? Is this documented anywhere?

 

If your beverage card has a credit balance on it, it is closed off at midnight (or slightly after) the night before disembarkation.  The amount is credited to your on board account (show separately).  If you have a credit balance on your on board account, the total is credited back to credit card that was used when you boarded.

I haven’t used KK’s strategy - we just like using beverage cards 🙂