Looking back, do you regret your decision taking the refund or $600 OBC?

[Markmom18]

Hi,

  I had 4 Covid cruises cancelled by Carnival. I took the OBC for the future cruises, which I have already cruised 2 of the 4. Loved having that OBC.
 

Last month I came home with the OBC in real $$ to use for my next cruise on the Radiance in January!  I did the Casino dealio to get my OBC in cash bills. 
 

  No regrets. 
 

 🛳🛳

 Bobbi

[Denverdonkeys]

I would have liked a refund, I had over $15k in gift cards or cruises paid with gift cards. A refund would not have meant much since an FCC and a Gc are very similar. So glad I have OBC to act as interest in that money sitting there. Still have all the GC’s/FCC as I haven’t cruised yet.

[satxdiver]

We took the OBC and are on the Vista right now spending the $600 happily.

 

[RWolver672]

We took the refund and don't regret it all.  Not knowing when or even if cruising would start back up again, it wasn't worth it to us.  

 

We love cruising but don't like playing games.  "When will it be safe again"?  "What will the restrictions be?"  "When will the airlines be flying again?"  "Will any hotels be open?"    Those are games we weren't interested in playing no matter how many carrots are dangled in front of us.

 

Even though we are both vaccinated and have gotten the booster shots, my health isn't the greatest so until things get back to normal, we won't be cruising.  And before you say it, yes, things may never get back to normal.  If not, our cruising days are over.

 

[balcony bound]

I came out even either way.  Took the OBC but we had such a great original price the OBC just made up the difference.  Probably my bad for just moving the date instead of booking something different.  No regrets though.

[Joebucks]

18 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Let's be honest. No one getting free obc will regret having the extra money to spend. Seems like a no brainer to me. 

 

It will encourage extra bookings in the future for carnival. Win win. If I had a cancelled carnival cruise I hadnt taken a refund on, I'd be more interested in booking. Who would regret extra obc?

 

I agree that on paper, it sounds like an easy choice. However, looking back, this no-brainer mentality was not quite there across the board.

 

I thought this might be an interesting lookback since life these days rarely has us follow-up on the doom scenarios we originally create.

[sgttami]

I'm glad I left it the way I did.

 

  My original cruise was canceled 2 weeks after I booked it so it was paid in full.  I was able  to transfer it to an identical casino offer cruise that was also canceled.

With the uncertainty of not knowing when cruising would resume, I didn't want to book anything for the immediate future.

 

I was able to transfer again to an identical casino offer but it's not until 1/2023.

 

On the good note, I'm booked on a 14 day Journey's that's paid for and I have the $600 OBC plus the casino OBC of $200 to look forward to.

 

If I decide to cruise before then, I still have casino offers to use but I really have no interest right now so I'll just leave it the way it is.

[cvonscpa]

For us the OBC was a better option.  We had 2 cabins booked on the Panorama for spring break 2020, so that we were getting $1,200 in OBC.  We knew that we wanted to sail on Carnival again.  After that cruise was cancelled we rebooked for spring break  2021 at a lower fare, so we had about $1,600 in OBC before that cruise was also cancelled.  Now we are booked for spring break 2022, and because of lower fares for the sailing we have over $2,000 in OBC.  That will easily cover all excursions for my family of 4 for the week, a couple's massage for my wife and I, a couple of specialty dining nights and give my kids some spending money at the shops.  The OBC may not have been a great option for everyone but I'm glad that we decided to do it.  

[Joe817]

We have no regrets what so ever of taking the $600 OBC. Add to that $120 rate adjustment(in OBC) for 2 cancelled cruises and we spent all of it PLUS $127 of our own money....over and above our accumulated OBC. It paid for our gratuities, 2 shore excursions, 6 or 7 take home t-shirts in the Fun Shops(to give to our kids & grandkids), steakhouse dinner, and just about all of the drinks my wife & I could handle. We had a great time. Taking the OBC was well worth it for us. 

Edited November 19, 2021 by Joe817

[IntrepidFromDC]

On 11/15/2021 at 5:12 AM, RWolver672 said:

We took the refund and don't regret it all.  Not knowing when or even if cruising would start back up again, it wasn't worth it to us.  

 

We love cruising but don't like playing games.  "When will it be safe again"?  "What will the restrictions be?"  "When will the airlines be flying again?"  "Will any hotels be open?"    Those are games we weren't interested in playing no matter how many carrots are dangled in front of us.

 

Even though we are both vaccinated and have gotten the booster shots, my health isn't the greatest so until things get back to normal, we won't be cruising.  And before you say it, yes, things may never get back to normal.  If not, our cruising days are over.

 

Risk aversion done right.

[IntrepidFromDC]

14 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

We have no regrets what so ever of taking the $600 OBC. Add to that $120 rate adjustment(in OBC) for 2 cancelled cruises and we spent all of it PLUS $127 of our own money....over and above our accumulated OBC. It paid for our gratuities, 2 shore excursions, 6 or 7 take home t-shirts in the Fun Shops(to give to our kids & grandkids), steakhouse dinner, and just about all of the drinks my wife & I could handle. We had a great time. Taking the OBC was well worth it for us. 

AWESOME!

[ATL_Miami_Cruiser]

Taking the $600 OBC was a good decision for us. The $600 combined with price drops gave us $1,200 in OBC. 

[lostsoulcruiser]

No real right or wrong, just your particulars.  Remember the the OBC means $500 (the Future Cruise Credit you leave with Carnival) is dead money until you cruise again. I took the OBC and when combined with the $200 OBC with the booking and $100 OBC for shareholders, will mean a nice cruise when next I go.