Waiting until onboard to book excursions/rant about limits on OBC

[Haljo1935]

7 minutes ago, croozen said:

...as I noted in my original post I wanted to prepay for excursions before sailing date so we could secure spaces. Answer NO

@croozen you can't use OBC to prepay for excursions, but you can get payment moved over to OBC once onboard. See my previous responses. It does work as recently as May 2023 on Eurodam. 

Aligned with everyone that having published policies followed would ease frustrations and minimize these threads, but since we know it's not, just need to help each other be educated on how to work with what we have to get desired results.

Edited May 30, 2023 by Haljo1935
Typo

[croozen]

I will definitely do this. But May not need to if you can apply it toward gratuities, laundry and internet as the majority on CC are telling me. 

[Haljo1935]

1 minute ago, croozen said:

I will definitely do this. But May not need to if you can apply it toward gratuities, laundry and internet as the majority on CC are telling me. 

You absolutely can. 🙃

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, croozen said:

If what everyone is saying here is true, then we will be overjoyed. But I was matter of factly told the exact opposite repeatedly today. I will try calling back later today and see if I am told the same thing. 

Addendum: why oh why can you not SEE your OBC balance when you look at your booking or account? We must take I non faith that it’s there. 

What is the source of the OBC?  Is it from HAL or from some other source such as a TA?  If it is from HAL then you should be able to use it, if from another source then probably not.

[croozen]

2 minutes ago, ldtr said:

What is the source of the OBC?  Is it from HAL or from some other source such as a TA?  If it is from HAL then you should be able to use it, if from another source then probably not.

Source is HAL for a portion because price of cruise dropped significantly on a “private fare” poster that came out on the weekend (only good for new bookings not those crazy pre planner people who reserved months ago and paid $1300 more approximately) and I was PO’d so it was a goodwill gesture from them. 🤣😂 and then another $100 was from husband holding Carnival Shares. Which he says isn’t worth it and he’s dumping them! 

[BermudaBound2014]

People have to be very careful here. Where the OBC originates absolutely matters. This is a not a one size fits all. 

[Mary229]

The only exceptions that I am aware of are terms of refundability and use in casino.  Those depend on the origins of the OBC .  Of course special pre-cruise discounts are not available once you board and those are few.

[Tampa Girl]

34 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

The only exceptions that I am aware of are terms of refundability and use in casino.  Those depend on the origins of the OBC .  Of course special pre-cruise discounts are not available once you board and those are few.

Exactly.  And OBC from non-HAL sources can be used on board for most expenses, including in the casino.  In fact, the OBC'S given on casino cruise are "supposedly" for use in the casino.

[kazu]

1 hour ago, croozen said:

I specifically went through each item. Laundry, internet, gratuities, drink packages. The answer to all was NO. And it was a confident no, such as it was. She went on to confirm you can only use OBC for excursions (once on board) specialty dining (once on board) spa services, and shopping. 
 

as I noted in my original post I wanted to prepay for excursions before sailing date so we could secure spaces. Answer NO

 

I’m guessing but either the rep is clueless (I’ve often said call HAL 3 times and get 3 different answers) or thought you wanted to use your HIA OBC pre-cruise for other things.

 

Once on board, you can use your OBC for ANYTHING other than the casino and a cash advance.  Period.  You can’t use your OBC before you sail but like the others have suggested - you can prepay and then go to each desk (shore excursions, specialty dining, etc) and ask them to use your OBC to pay instead of credit card.  The OBC you end up from that is refundable and will be credited back to your credit card if it’s not used whereas HAL’s is non refundable.

All of us posting have sailed a lot and recently.  It’s been that way for as long as I can remember.  

[BermudaBound2014]

34 minutes ago, kazu said:

Once on board, you can use your OBC for ANYTHING other than the casino and a cash advance.  Period. 

 

Just so  I'm clear. The $300 shore excursion OBC that comes with HIA can be used for Anything? Period? I don't have to use it on shore excursions? That would be great because I typically don't buy shore excursions from HAL. What about OBC that is used as a booking incentive for cancelled cruises?  Or OBC that is awarded as referral credit? How about loyalty OBC? s.

 

Travel agents often award different types of OBC, not just the typical OBC you get for booking with X agent. Some is non-refundable. Some is refundable. 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by BermudaBound2014

[kazu]

7 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Just so  I'm clear. The $300 shore excursion OBC that comes with HIA can be used for Anything? Period? I don't have to use it on shore excursions? What about OBC that is used as a booking incentive for cancelled cruises?  

 

Just so I am clear - The HIA credit can only be used what it’s deemed for - shore excursion, specialty dining etc if it is so designated.  
 

Any other OBC whether awarded as a bonus with HIA, early booking bonus, etc  (any OBC not designated for anything specific) can be used for anything except casino or cash.

 

But the OBC for shore excursions and specialty dining can be spent pre-cruise in bookings.  Not the same as regulars OBC.

 

 

7 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Travel agents often award different types of OBC credit as well. Some are specific to what it's to used for. Some is non-refundable. Some is refundable.

 

 

 

Yes most is refundable (at least my TA’s are).  That OBC whether refundable or non refundable can be used for anything.  If it’s refundable it can also be used for the casino IME.  

 

If refundable is not used, it is refunded.  If non refundable is not used -it’s use it or lose it.

[BermudaBound2014]

6 minutes ago, kazu said:

Yes most is refundable (at least my TA’s are).  That OBC whether refundable or non refundable can be used for anything.  If it’s refundable it can be used for the casino IME.  

 

My TA offers refundable obc as booking incentive. That can be used for anything.

 

But I also get loyalty (for being a repeat customer) and referral credit (for referring friends/family) as non-refundable OBC. So, my TA's all award both refundable and non-refundable OBC.

 

I have never been able to use loyalty and/or referral credits toward gratuities on other lines (RCL, Celebrity, NCL, MSC). Recently, I was not allowed to use Shareholder OBC toward gratuities on Celebrity.

 

It's great that HAL has a different policy.  Ty

 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by BermudaBound2014

[FOPMan]

The excursion credit with HIA isn’t onboard credit. It’s explicitly excursion credit. Unused value doesn’t convert to general OBC and is not refundable.

[SueMo]

My TA allows us to deduct agency OBC from the cost of our cruise.

[kazu]

21 minutes ago, FOPMan said:

The excursion credit with HIA isn’t onboard credit. It’s explicitly excursion credit. Unused value doesn’t convert to general OBC and is not refundable.

 

Thanks for putting that better than I did 👍 

[kazu]

48 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

But I also get loyalty (for being a repeat customer) and referral credit (for referring friends/family). I have never been able to use loyality and/or referral credits toward gratuities on other lines (RCL, Celebrity, NCL, MSC).. It's interesting that HAL has a different policy.  

 

Ok, I can’t comment on that specific OBC - I’ve not had it for a few years but when I did, it could.  I see no difference between it and HAL’s OBC if there are restrictions but I haven’t had it in a few years so I’ll leave that to others who have more experience.  

[RuthC]

3 hours ago, croozen said:

I specifically went through each item. Laundry, internet, gratuities, drink packages. The answer to all was NO. And it was a confident no, such as it was. She went on to confirm you can only use OBC for excursions (once on board) specialty dining (once on board) spa services, and shopping. 

I learned a very long time ago, as I listened to a new subordinate give totally incorrect information to a client, with total confidence, that you don't have to know what you're talking about. You only have to sound like you know what you're talking about, and no one will question you. 

That HAL representative only sounded like she knew what she was talking about. 

[Florida_gal_50]

2 hours ago, FOPMan said:

The excursion credit with HIA isn’t onboard credit. It’s explicitly excursion credit. Unused value doesn’t convert to general OBC and is not refundable.

Exactly.  Pretty straightforward.  I don’t know how that confusing.  I didn’t hear one peep out if the op asking about hia obc 🙄.

[croozen]

3 hours ago, kazu said:

 

I’m guessing but either the rep is clueless (I’ve often said call HAL 3 times and get 3 different answers) or thought you wanted to use your HIA OBC pre-cruise for other things.

 

Once on board, you can use your OBC for ANYTHING other than the casino and a cash advance.  Period.  You can’t use your OBC before you sail but like the others have suggested - you can prepay and then go to each desk (shore excursions, specialty dining, etc) and ask them to use your OBC to pay instead of credit card.  The OBC you end up from that is refundable and will be credited back to your credit card if it’s not used whereas HAL’s is non refundable.

All of us posting have sailed a lot and recently.  It’s been that way for as long as I can remember.  

I know you wouldn’t want it, but we need to get you a job taking calls for HAL! So nicely explained thank you.

And we Never discussed what type of OBC we had - but agent was looking at my booking and could see we didn’t have a HIA promo, but rather the free gratuities for first two guests. 
I wish now I could remember her name or had stayed on the line to do their survey at the end. Of course, upon hanging up

I was only furious w the crazy (news to me!) policy she was presenting, and didn’t yet know the info was erroneous. 

[Mary229]

7 minutes ago, croozen said:

I know you wouldn’t want it, but we need to get you a job taking calls for HAL! So nicely explained thank you.

And we Never discussed what type of OBC we had - but agent was looking at my booking and could see we didn’t have a HIA promo, but rather the free gratuities for first two guests. 
I wish now I could remember her name or had stayed on the line to do their survey at the end. Of course, upon hanging up

I was only furious w the crazy (news to me!) policy she was presenting, and didn’t yet know the info was erroneous. 

I once received bad info by email.  I gave it a few days then tried again.  Lucky me I got a senior customer service rep who asked me to send all of the previous emails so they could instruct the newbie.  There are a lot of newbies and many are remote workers - a very bad combination as they have no one to learn from. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

12 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

There are a lot of newbies and many are remote workers - a very bad combination as they have no one to learn from. 

 

That's true in customer service all over the place these days, unfortunately. 

[Nodakboiler]

The nice thing with the shore excursion credit is that it can now be compounded. We have $300 shore exc credit each and just booked a $199 excursion and now have $101 left. In the past they would only have applied $100 to each excursion. Progress!

[Florida_gal_50]

46 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

I once received bad info by email.  I gave it a few days then tried again.  Lucky me I got a senior customer service rep who asked me to send all of the previous emails so they could instruct the newbie.  There are a lot of newbies and many are remote workers - a very bad combination as they have no one to learn from. 

I’m sure they have someone if they care too.  I deal with a lot of people over teams at work. You can share your screen so it’s not a huge problem. Did that a lot during the darkest days of the pandemic.  I’m sure hal has something comparable.  The pcc’s were working from home long before the pandemic. 

[Florida_gal_50]

25 minutes ago, Nodakboiler said:

The nice thing with the shore excursion credit is that it can now be compounded. We have $300 shore exc credit each and just booked a $199 excursion and now have $101 left. In the past they would only have applied $100 to each excursion. Progress!

Now if you could get your Mariners discount on specialty restaurants booking ahead that would be great.  They’ve been saying it’s coming for about 55 years now. 

[BermudaBound2014]

2 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Exactly.  Pretty straightforward.  I don’t know how that confusing.  I didn’t hear one peep out if the op asking about hia obc 🙄.

 

Pretty straight forward. I don't know how this is confusing. We are on page two with 50 responses. The conversation evolved to include broader forms of OBC beyond those which the OP asked about.

 

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by BermudaBound2014