Equinox 29 Feb-Mar 7, 2020 Smooth Sailing Until Today

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I would tell the DR port authorities to take a hike and cancel all future port calls there.  No port is worth that type of aggravation, certainly not the Dominican Republic.

[cluso]

Before I go and stand in a huge line at Guest Relations—what does 

OBR-ONB Credit Cruise Fare Refund really mean?  Refundable or not?  I thought the Capt said it had to be used by Friday midnight.  Our account has other credits and they are not all broken out.  Over $900 with this credit to use in 2 days.  Already had Specialty restaurants reserved.  Don’t need jewelry, clothes, etc.  No art.  Apple products already picked over In sure...

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

Who's missing Samana on this thread?  

We are scheduled there on the March 29 cruise.    It was substituted for Tortola about 2 months ago due to port congestion caused by Edge.

[Jim_Iain]

3 minutes ago, cluso said:

Before I go and stand in a huge line at Guest Relations—what does 

OBR-ONB Credit Cruise Fare Refund really mean?  Refundable or not?  I thought the Capt said it had to be used by Friday midnight.  Our account has other credits and they are not all broken out.  Over $900 with this credit to use in 2 days.  Already had Specialty restaurants reserved.  Don’t need jewelry, clothes, etc.  No art.  Apple products already picked over In sure...

Refundable -

OBR is On Board Refundable      OBN is On Board Non-Refundable

 

If you ask at Front desk they will break it out for you.   All of my credits  have either of these designation on them - even on the app or TV.

 

Edited March 4, 2020 by Jim_Iain

[helen haywood]

Jim is correct.  Ignore the “N” in the second part of the acronym.  OBR=Refundable, OBN=Non-refundable.

[hcat]

7 hours ago, cluso said:

Starboard side.  Five tenders and 9 local boats still waiting (not all in picture).

Very nice photo.love the sea and sky colors!

 

Jim...looking forward to your review

[lifeisrealygood]

If you have extra nonrefundable OBC, just go to the casino cashier.  She will give you house chips to use at the tables.  That is, they are, for example, five dollar "fake" chips that you can bet.  If you win, they pay you in real money.  So, you convert "fake" money given to you via the OBC and walk away with real money, assuming you win anything, of course.  Just play blackjack, where your odds are maybe 52/48 in favor of the house, but you certainly will walk away with some money if you just follow the blackjack rules.  Remember, if you just break even, and start with $100 in "fake" chips, you walk away with $100 in real money.  

 

My wife does this all the time with some of our nonrefundable OBC.  When she uses up the casino "no value" chips, she goes to  the cashier and cashes in her winnings.  

 

She is always excited and says "look at all this money I have won", even though she may have just broken even.  Just converted the fake money to real money.

 

 

[hcat]

2 hours ago, cluso said:

Before I go and stand in a huge line at Guest Relations—what does 

OBR-ONB Credit Cruise Fare Refund really mean?  Refundable or not?  I thought the Capt said it had to be used by Friday midnight.  Our account has other credits and they are not all broken out.  Over $900 with this credit to use in 2 days.  Already had Specialty restaurants reserved.  Don’t need jewelry, clothes, etc.  No art.  Apple products already picked over In sure...

Spa treatment,  salon/ barber , special class in the gym...max out on really  expensive liquor as a treat to take home... fancy champagne,    .gamble? Photo package...large photo prints...camera...always something to spend  money on!

Edited March 5, 2020 by hcat

[PIXEYLOU]

2 hours ago, lifeisrealygood said:

If you have extra nonrefundable OBC, just go to the casino cashier.  She will give you house chips to use at the tables.  That is, they are, for example, five dollar "fake" chips that you can bet.  If you win, they pay you in real money.  So, you convert "fake" money given to you via the OBC and walk away with real money, assuming you win anything, of course.  Just play blackjack, where your odds are maybe 52/48 in favor of the house, but you certainly will walk away with some money if you just follow the blackjack rules.  Remember, if you just break even, and start with $100 in "fake" chips, you walk away with $100 in real money.  

 

My wife does this all the time with some of our nonrefundable OBC.  When she uses up the casino "no value" chips, she goes to  the cashier and cashes in her winnings.  

 

She is always excited and says "look at all this money I have won", even though she may have just broken even.  Just converted the fake money to real money.

 

 

Look forward to meeting you on March 15. I am Puxey, wear large hats and with er rillator or wheelchair. Registered for Meet n Mingle so keep eyes out. We nitely have CROCKtail in Ensemble lounge 7ish. We registered for 815 select dining as lwvel 3 late dining 845. I wld give wmail but too many loonies. Did they have ABBA or white nite

[keesar]

On our cruise, we had a great whale watching excursion on Samana.    Better than Alaska.  Whales from the Northeast winter there and we saw some mom's and babies.  Then we went to a private beach and had a blast.  

[cluso]

Went to Guest Relations.  The second part is ONB, not OBN.  They said non-refundable. So over 2000+ people have a giant amount of $$ to spend in 2 days.  We talked to one couple that had over $2700.  Went by the stores tonight, pretty limited.  Spas, etc already booked up because of sea day.  Whatever, it was a nice PR gesture by Celebrity.  I guess $$$ champagne on our balcony the next few nights. 🤗

[helen haywood]

Are you saying that you have onboard credit listed as OBR-ONB and Guest Services is telling you that is non-refundable?!  If so, that has never been the case on any cruise I’ve taken.  I would perhaps ask again.

[cluso]

8 hours ago, helen haywood said:

Are you saying that you have onboard credit listed as OBR-ONB and Guest Services is telling you that is non-refundable?!  If so, that has never been the case on any cruise I’ve taken.  I would perhaps ask again.

Yes, see letter we received last night.

[riredsox]

17 hours ago, toddmanka said:

Worst port I have ever been too 

last year on Equinox 

They should make it a sea day and go around in circles 

Cmon Celebrity wake up

I did a tour with Terry on Samana twice.  The locals couldn’t have been nicer.  We went horseback riding and dropped school and sports supplies off at the local school.  We also brought baby clothes and donated them as we were driving around.  I loved the Island and the people who were so grateful.   

[LMaxwell]

15 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

I would tell the DR port authorities to take a hike and cancel all future port calls there.  No port is worth that type of aggravation, certainly not the Dominican Republic.

 

That's a bit of an extreme response.  DR doesn't have the right to protect its people at this time? Celebrity and DR don't mutually benefit from port calls under normal circumstances? 

[cluso]

12 hours ago, cluso said:

Went to Guest Relations.  The second part is ONB, not OBN.  They said non-refundable. So over 2000+ people have a giant amount of $$ to spend in 2 days.  We talked to one couple that had over $2700.  Went by the stores tonight, pretty limited.  Spas, etc already booked up because of sea day.  Whatever, it was a nice PR gesture by Celebrity.  I guess $$$ champagne on our balcony the next few nights. 🤗

Ha ha, it’s a feeding frenzy in the shopping area, and I have never seen the casino maxed out like today.  Celebrity earning a lot of brownie points for this...a good way to get rid of inventory.  🤪

[janetz]

If you shop for Christmas, start it 😁

Edited March 5, 2020 by janetz

[Mike981]

I believe I read that port contracts are for a long time, in that case it would be hard to decide to change your mind before the contract term date.

I'm not sure how this would work, per non-refundable credit, could you get creative to purchase something to share with some friends. Martini flights come to mind for me.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

11 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

 

That's a bit of an extreme response.  DR doesn't have the right to protect its people at this time? Celebrity and DR don't mutually benefit from port calls under normal circumstances? 

It sure does.  And Celebrity has a right to protect its guests from this sort of treatment.  Jamaica tried this two days in a row to MSC.  MSC doesn't go to Jamaica any more.

[hcat]

It will be interesting to see how U.S, ports ( Newport and Charleston) and Bermuda  treat Summit in May! Guess we shall find out very soon!

[SusieV]

22 hours ago, cluso said:

Went to Guest Relations.  The second part is ONB, not OBN.  They said non-refundable. So over 2000+ people have a giant amount of $$ to spend in 2 days.  We talked to one couple that had over $2700.  Went by the stores tonight, pretty limited.  Spas, etc already booked up because of sea day.  Whatever, it was a nice PR gesture by Celebrity.  I guess $$$ champagne on our balcony the next few nights. 🤗

 

$2700?? For just one day? That seems a little... unusual. Isn't even the Penthouse less than $1350pp/pd?

[Quo Vadis?]

1 hour ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

It sure does.  And Celebrity has a right to protect its guests from this sort of treatment.  Jamaica tried this two days in a row to MSC.  MSC doesn't go to Jamaica any more.

Will Princess stop calling on San Francisco... 

[cluso]

9 hours ago, SusieV said:

 

$2700?? For just one day? That seems a little... unusual. Isn't even the Penthouse less than $1350pp/pd?

Sounded high to us, too.  Maybe they have more than one cabin, and maybe they added their other credits to that number.  We got a super deal on our cabin and already had $600 in credits to burn through before we got the extra credit.

[RickT]

@cluso, how are things on board?  Any reported illness (Covid/Noro/etc)?  We are supposed to board tomorrow using the new screening process.. should be interesting.  DW will not be happy if the shops have been picked clean!

[SunNFunCruzer]

On 3/4/2020 at 6:56 PM, cluso said:

Went to Guest Relations.  The second part is ONB, not OBN.  They said non-refundable. So over 2000+ people have a giant amount of $$ to spend in 2 days.  We talked to one couple that had over $2700.  Went by the stores tonight, pretty limited.  Spas, etc already booked up because of sea day.  Whatever, it was a nice PR gesture by Celebrity.  I guess $$$ champagne on our balcony the next few nights. 🤗

 

 

Can you ask at the Future Booking desk if you can use the NonRefund OBC toward a cruise deposit on a future cruise?  It's a stretch, but maybe?!