OBC. Thing of the past?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

20 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

 

I doubt that OBC reduction was the objective when Celebrity determines how long to make the TA and TP sailings.  TA/TP and Trans Canal sailings are considered repositioning cruises so the length doesn't matter.  Now it is possible that the definition of a repositioning cruise is inconsistently applied at the time booking onboard OBC is awarded, but my point is that Celebrity already has a way to avoid delivering large OBC amounts for those sailings.

 

I believe that the stock ownership OBC cares only about the length of the cruise and does not make a distinction on whether it is a repositioning cruise or not.

 

But with that kind  of logic how can we start conspiracy theories?🤣😉😁

on the CONNIE November 16  night TA  last year we got $250 OBC , so who knows if the follows that list you posted 🤔🤣

 

 

Edited March 12 by Ex-Airbalancer

[mahdnc]

3 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

But with that kind  of logic how can we start conspiracy theories?🤣😉😁

on the CONNIE November 16  night TA  last year we got $250 OBC , so who knows if the follows that list you posted 🤔🤣

 

 

 

Yes, as I mentioned in my earlier post, the repositioning definition may be inconsistently applied.  Congratulations.

[wrk2cruise]

There are 2 different types of OBC being confused here.

 

The onboard booking bonus OBC which is defined by the length of the sailing, stateroom type and if it's a repositioning sailing or not.  I agree that at times they may miss the fact that a sailing is a repositioning cruise and give the regular amount.  I've also had sailings which they designate a repositioning which in my mind are questionable.

 

Shareholder benefit which is based solely on the length of the cruise.

[Arizona Wildcat]

12 hours ago, zitsky said:

So is there any benefit to using a TA for my next cruise?  Because I understand that TAs are no longer giving OBC but Celebrity is doing that?

 

How much OBC are they giving?  Is it per day or does it depend on the cost?

On my upcoming TA this fall. $100 from Celebrity and $600 from my TA.  I get either a group fare with refundable deposit, small OBC and fare about 8-10% lower or lots of OBC.

Obviously depends on cost.

Your post is confusing as you say you think no TA OBC and then how much OBC from TAs.  You already know.

[CruseKrazy]

OBC on Celebrity dried up last fall.  The demand for cruising has gone nuts so up go the prices and down go the discounts.  Luckily we booked 2 upcoming cruises well before this and have plenty of OBC on each. In future, booking on board and RCCL stock benefit is all we will have unless demand dries up again as our TA only gives cash back discounts.

[the penguins]

14 hours ago, Hawkstar33 said:

I was wondering if anyone is receiving any OBC these days with their bookings??  So they charge you $500 extra for all included classic Bev, and wi-fi. Saves you a few bucks, but the wifi is in and out.   Then took away pre-paid gratuities..But you can pre-pay them yourself if you want..Not seeing obc on many if any upcoming cruises, unless it is a suite of some kind.  Yet, I see and hear people using up large amounts on booze, and other items from the shops onboard, at cruise end..

Not in our experience. We get it from X for booking onboard - and then we transfer the booking to our Agent. Refundable OBC from our Agent on every cruise. Shareholders OBC on every cruise. If things go wrong on the ship GR's solution is usually a bottle of wine (which we turn down as we don't drink) or some OBC which we readily accept.

[zitsky]

26 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

On my upcoming TA this fall. $100 from Celebrity and $600 from my TA.  I get either a group fare with refundable deposit, small OBC and fare about 8-10% lower or lots of OBC.

Obviously depends on cost.

Your post is confusing as you say you think no TA OBC and then how much OBC from TAs.  You already know.

I said TAs are not giving OBC but Celebrity is question mark.  How much OBC are they giving (is it) question mark, referring to Celebrity.

Edited March 12 by zitsky

[cruisestitch]

2 minutes ago, zitsky said:

I said TAs are not giving OBC but Celebrity is question mark.  How much OBC are they giving (is it) question mark, referring to Celebrity.

There is no single, simple answer to your question.  Too many variables.

[JBare]

When did OBC supposedly stop ? Last month I booked three 2025 cruises direct with a UK Celebrity agent, Millenium (11 nights), Ascent (11 nights), Silhouette (12 nights) all in standard verandas and got $200 OBC for each cruise.

[mahdnc]

46 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

There are 2 different types of OBC being confused here.

 

The onboard booking bonus OBC which is defined by the length of the sailing, stateroom type and if it's a repositioning sailing or not.  I agree that at times they may miss the fact that a sailing is a repositioning cruise and give the regular amount.  I've also had sailings which they designate a repositioning which in my mind are questionable.

 

Shareholder benefit which is based solely on the length of the cruise.

 

Yes, you are right, I didn't look close enough at @Ex-Airbalancer's screenshot which is awarding shareholder OBC.

[zitsky]

14 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

There is no single, simple answer to your question.  Too many variables.

The only variables are yes/no.

 

Either Celebrity still gives OBC on some cruises or they do not.

 

Either TAs still give OBC on some cruises or they do not.

 

I am not making a statement of what TAs/Celebrity are doing.  I’m asking a question as my understanding was that there is no more OBC from anyone.

 

I think the answer is (???) that BOTH are still giving OBC under certain circumstances.

Edited March 12 by zitsky

[mahdnc]

14 hours ago, Hawkstar33 said:

 Yet, I see and hear people using up large amounts on booze, and other items from the shops onboard, at cruise end..

 

Some of us are still sailing on older bookings that had larger OBC attached to it.  Our upcoming 14 night canal sailing on Summit next month was booked under a Thanksgiving 2022 promotion which delivered $200 OBC per passenger for my family of 4.  So the grand total of OBC back then was:

 

   $800 2022 Black Friday Promo OBC

     $50 2022 Cyber Monday Promo OBC

   $100 Booking On Board OBC (repositioning cruise even though it is 14 nights)

   $250 Shareholder OBC

$1,200 Total OBC

 

If we had booked a suite (back then), I am sure the OBC would have been even larger.

[wrk2cruise]

15 minutes ago, zitsky said:

The only variables are yes/no.

 

Either Celebrity still gives OBC on some cruises or they do not.

 

The answer is they never "gave" OBC.  It's factored into the price you pay and is used as a Marketing tool.

 

They still use OBC in some of their promos which seem to change every 2 or 3 days.  Sometimes it's $200 discount sometimes $150 discount, sometimes it's not a discount but rather OBC.

 

By the way anybody figure out that lately the higher discount promo are generally over the weekends when most people's TA's are not available?

 

These ever changing promos are really just a waste of everybody's time.  Here is the price history for the last 30 days for some of my future cruises.  The higher blips are usually mid week when no discount is offered.

Edited March 12 by wrk2cruise

[zitsky]

19 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

The answer is they never "gave" OBC.  It's factored into the price you pay and is used as a Marketing tool.

 

They still use OBC in some of their promos which seem to change every 2 or 3 days.  Sometimes it's $200 discount sometimes $150 discount, sometimes it's not a discount but rather OBC.

 

By the way anybody figure out that lately the higher discount promo are generally over the weekends when most people's TA's are not available?

 

These ever changing promos are really just a waste of everybody's time.  Here is the price history for the last 30 days for some of my future cruises.  The higher blips are usually mid week when no discount is offered.

Are you using some kind of price tool or are you checking manually every day?

[Jeremiah1212]

The current Wave season offering does not include OBC for any category. The extra incentive is done in a dollar mount discount (except on Thursdays). The standing OBC for suites was also eliminated last fall. 
 

OBC from TA’s definitely exists. Celebrity has changed and pulled back what they offer TA’s with things like the Early Booking Bonus being a standard to only being offered on a case by case bonus. 
 

I know people like it but often the amount of OBC smart consumers could accumulate was borderline ridiculously high. 

[cruisestitch]

52 minutes ago, zitsky said:

The only variables are yes/no

those are the answers, not the variables 

52 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

Either Celebrity still gives OBC on some cruises or they do not.

sometimes they do

52 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Either TAs still give OBC on some cruises or they do not.

Some do

 

I am not making a statement of what TAs/Celebrity are doing.  I’m asking a question as my understanding was that there is no more OBC from anyone.

clearly you see that your understanding was in error

52 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

I think the answer is (???) that BOTH are still giving OBC under certain circumstances.

Yes

[catspaw1]

We got $250 in OBC from our TA for a cruise to Bermuda this year. The TA offered a $700 rebate on our Galapagos cruise but when I told them the big box store gave $875 they matched it. That was around the same amount we paid for trip insurance also.

[wrk2cruise]

2 hours ago, zitsky said:

Are you using some kind of price tool or are you checking manually every day?

 

It's cruise search tool which can track prices.  I believe it is ok to mention here (I've seen it mentioned multiple times) since they are not a travel agency and don't sell travel.  I have a watchlist setup and do monitor it daily but the graphs shown are listed on my watchlist for each category I'm watching.

 

www.cruiseplum.com

Edited March 12 by wrk2cruise

[zitsky]

What I plan to do for our next cruise, maybe in Aqua on a Japan cruise, is get a quote from TA before getting on board, then get a quote while on the ship, which we have never done.  And compare which has the better price and which has better OBC.  If not a big difference, I could see a benefit to keeping the booking with Celebrity.

 

I could see us checking out other cruise lines if they include OBC, maybe Princess?  I don't see us doing Regent or Oceania or Azamara right now as even though some of them are all included, we don't always book suites.  

[Jeremiah1212]

14 minutes ago, zitsky said:

What I plan to do for our next cruise, maybe in Aqua on a Japan cruise, is get a quote from TA before getting on board, then get a quote while on the ship, which we have never done.  And compare which has the better price and which has better OBC.  If not a big difference, I could see a benefit to keeping the booking with Celebrity.

 

I could see us checking out other cruise lines if they include OBC, maybe Princess?  I don't see us doing Regent or Oceania or Azamara right now as even though some of them are all included, we don't always book suites.  

It’s easy. The TA could do the same prevailing rate or better if they have a group rate. They don’t offer special rates onboard. Your onboard booking OBC would carry over if you transfer to the TA. 

[doghog]

29 minutes ago, zitsky said:

I could see us checking out other cruise lines if they include OBC, maybe Princess?  I don't see us doing Regent or Oceania or Azamara right now as even though some of them are all included, we don't always book suites.  

With Princess if you, your spouse or both are veterans you will receive an OBC. We used a TA for our 27 March 2024 Enchanted Princess cruise. For that booking Princess gave us an OBC, plus the veteran OBC plus the TA gave us an OBC. 

 

https://www.princess.com/content/dam/princess/promos-deals/pdfs/military-personnel-benefit-overview-request-form-north-america.pdf

 

 

 

Edited March 12 by doghog

[Beamafar]

We got $100 OBC each for a booking made on Feb 29th as part of a promotion. 

[debfed65]

49 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

It's cruise search tool which can track prices.  I believe it is ok to mention here (I've seen it mentioned multiple times) since they are not a travel agency and don't sell travel.  I have a watchlist setup and do monitor it daily but the graphs shown are listed on my watchlist for each category I'm watching.

 

www.cruiseplum.com

Thank you for posting this website.  I just signed up for an account and it is great that it allows me to select Canada for pricing & options.   This is very helpful and thank you for sharing. 

[capsplace]

Here’s is the stockholder benefit..

 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

7 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

The days of $250 OBC are almost long gone 😭

not THAT long. We got $300 OBC on our upcoming 8n cruise in the inside cabin on Reflection. I booked it less than a year ago.