Is On Board Credit taken in any particular order?

[milamber]

We have two lots of OBC for our upcoming cruise, some from Cunard themselves when we booked and the rest in stockholder credit. Are spends against these deducted in any particular order? We'd normally put anything left towards the gratuities, but I gather the stockholder credit can't be used for gratuities, so just wondered if we had to spend one before the other or if we can allocate the non stockholder credit to gratuities from the start?

[exlondoner]

Gratuities for the voyage usually appear on the account immediately, I think, so will be there when they allocate the Cunard obc, if that makes sense.

[Victoria2]

1 hour ago, milamber said:

We have two lots of OBC for our upcoming cruise, some from Cunard themselves when we booked and the rest in stockholder credit. Are spends against these deducted in any particular order? We'd normally put anything left towards the gratuities, but I gather the stockholder credit can't be used for gratuities, so just wondered if we had to spend one before the other or if we can allocate the non stockholder credit to gratuities from the start?

Are they differentiated?

 

Our obc and stockholder credit appeared as a lump sum on the onboard account.

[milamber]

5 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Are they differentiated?

 

Our obc and stockholder credit appeared as a lump sum on the onboard account.

Ok thanks. Ours just show as a single credit too, but we booked with a TA which makes it a little harder to tell as nothing shows on the manage my booking area on the website. I just read that you can't use the stockholder credit for gratuities, but that, of course, might be wrong.

[Victoria2]

3 minutes ago, milamber said:

Ok thanks. Ours just show as a single credit too, but we booked with a TA which makes it a little harder to tell as nothing shows on the manage my booking area on the website. I just read that you can't use the stockholder credit for gratuities, but that, of course, might be wrong.

This was the first time the s/h credit was used and as we spent all the obc etc  and then some, I have no idea about any s/h credit and grats. significance. I haven't heard of any but that doesn't mean you are misinformed.

Hopefully a member more experienced with that particular benefit can help because unless we have thousands of obc [and it has happened], we easily spend it all!

[Poole Boy]

On my last QV cruise in June, the Grats appeared on the bill on the first day and were imediatley reduced by the Shareholder OBC, so unless some thing has changed in the last 3 months OBC is OBC regardless of the source.

[milamber]

Great, thanks both of you. We don't drink or use ship excursions so OBC slightly harder to use up!

 

[Underwatr]

For nonrefundable credit it really doesn't matter. If you miss a port the port fees are credited to you account as refundable credit and this is used after your nonrefundable onboard credit is exhausted.

Otherwise I don't know how you can tell which lump of onboard credit is which. I think it would only come into play if your onboard credit and your onboard spending are both less than the amount of gratuities.

If you're sharing a stateroom and using different credit cards to settle the account some of the onboard credit is allocated between the occupants and some (shareholder and veterans) is applied completely to the account of the .qualifying passenger. If one of you is picking up most of the tab you could end up with the other passenger in this situation.

 

There have been times that I've had a large amount of nonrefundable onboard credit and had to go shopping to use it up. In this case there was never an issue about having to contribute toward crew gratuities (but on the other hand most of my recent bookings have come with Cunard paying the gratuities as a booking perk).

[Bell Boy]

Every Cunard cruise I have taken I have the usual ( OBC)  onboard credit which is applied as part on my booking.

I also have my Carnival share (OBC) onboard credit.

 

Both of these appear on my ONBOARD statement as 'one lump sum'.

Within the first few days the Auto Gratuities are deducted from that lump sum, including any spending at the various Bars or wine in the restaurant.  I have no problem spending any amount of OBC I might receive, I'll still end up with a healthy credit card bill after my return home.

 

I never noticed in what order the OBC is deducted , also never heard that stockholder credit cant be used towards auto gratuities .   

 

 

[Bell Boy]

4 minutes ago, milamber said:

Great, thanks both of you. We don't drink or use ship excursions so OBC slightly harder to use up!

 

Harder to use ! 🤦‍♂️  Treat your better half ( or your self)  to something nice from the onboard shops.

Better still, treat a member of the crew who has gone that extra mile.   

[BklynBoy8]

We are using it to laundry...

[frankp01]

On 10/4/2022 at 4:43 AM, milamber said:

I gather the stockholder credit can't be used for gratuities

I've read that, too. But, as others have said, it's not really the case.

[Underwatr]

Onboard credit (from any source) can't be applied toward the medical center nor for a deposit for a future booking.  Those are the only exclusions of which I'm aware.

[North West Newbie]

3 hours ago, Underwatr said:

Onboard credit (from any source) can't be applied toward the medical center nor for a deposit for a future booking.  Those are the only exclusions of which I'm aware.

 

Also, any gambling, i.e. Casino and Bingo

[frankp01]

This is from the shareholder benefit document:

 

This benefit is not transferable, cannot be exchanged for cash and, cannot be used for casino credits/charges and gratuities charged to your onboard account.

 

I don't know why it says that, since (from experience) gratuities are covered.

Edited October 11, 2022 by frankp01

[North West Newbie]

21 minutes ago, frankp01 said:

This is from the shareholder benefit document:

 

This benefit is not transferable, cannot be exchanged for cash and, cannot be used for casino credits/charges and gratuities charged to your onboard account.

 

I don't know why it says that, since (from experience) gratuities are covered.

 

From my experience, I can vouch for that too.