Using OBC Toward Gratuities

[gvgseg]

Hello,

 

Just booked my first Celebrity Cruise. The TA has given me $428 of OBC of which $120 has already been issued and is available in my Celebrity account. The remaining $308 will come once I am onboard, but I can also just request it as a rebate check from the TA after the cruise is complete.. Does anyone know whether I can just use the $120 toward covering the gratuities? I'm aware of the differences between non-refundable and refundable OBC, but every cruise line seems to handle things differently and I have primarily sailed on Norwegian in the past. I'm thinking that the $120 will need to be used on something, whether it is specialty dining, excursions, or something else. We are not drinkers and typically have almost no additional onboard expenses to worry about.

[keesar]

55 minutes ago, gvgseg said:

Hello,

 

Just booked my first Celebrity Cruise. The TA has given me $428 of OBC of which $120 has already been issued and is available in my Celebrity account. The remaining $308 will come once I am onboard, but I can also just request it as a rebate check from the TA after the cruise is complete.. Does anyone know whether I can just use the $120 toward covering the gratuities? I'm aware of the differences between non-refundable and refundable OBC, but every cruise line seems to handle things differently and I have primarily sailed on Norwegian in the past. I'm thinking that the $120 will need to be used on something, whether it is specialty dining, excursions, or something else. We are not drinkers and typically have almost no additional onboard expenses to worry about.

Each day the gratuities will be charged to your account and deducted from any funds you have in your account.  If all of the funds have been used, the remainder of the balance due will be charged to the card you have on file.

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, gvgseg said:

Hello,

 

Just booked my first Celebrity Cruise. The TA has given me $428 of OBC of which $120 has already been issued and is available in my Celebrity account. The remaining $308 will come once I am onboard, but I can also just request it as a rebate check from the TA after the cruise is complete.. Does anyone know whether I can just use the $120 toward covering the gratuities? I'm aware of the differences between non-refundable and refundable OBC, but every cruise line seems to handle things differently and I have primarily sailed on Norwegian in the past. I'm thinking that the $120 will need to be used on something, whether it is specialty dining, excursions, or something else. We are not drinkers and typically have almost no additional onboard expenses to worry about.

Just don't pre pay the grats then they will be added to your account every day. Once added OBC will be used to pay the grats again on a daily basis. Non refundable OBC will be used first then refundable. Make sure your accounts are linked otherwise it will only deduct the tips from one half - if not easily linked at Guest Relations. All done automatically.

[gvgseg]

19 minutes ago, the penguins said:

Just don't pre pay the grats then they will be added to your account every day. Once added OBC will be used to pay the grats again on a daily basis. Non refundable OBC will be used first then refundable. Make sure your accounts are linked otherwise it will only deduct the tips from one half - if not easily linked at Guest Relations. All done automatically.

Yes, this is what I normally do. However, I want to make sure that the OBC can actually be applied to gratuities. I ran into a situation on my last cruise (on Norwegian) in which I didn't realize that one type of OBC must be spent onboard and couldn't be applied to gratuities. I didn't realize this until disembarkation day and was then forced into buying a very overpriced picture frame and photo because that was the only thing still open.

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, gvgseg said:

Yes, this is what I normally do. However, I want to make sure that the OBC can actually be applied to gratuities. I ran into a situation on my last cruise (on Norwegian) in which I didn't realize that one type of OBC must be spent onboard and couldn't be applied to gratuities. I didn't realize this until disembarkation day and was then forced into buying a very overpriced picture frame and photo because that was the only thing still open.

X doesn’t work like that. As an example assume your Account is Zero for purchases and has an OBC of $100. Tips go on at $20 the OBC will automatically reduce to $80 using non refundable first. Just make sure your accounts are linked otherwise OBC will only be deducted from one of you. The linking shows on the account.

[Pinboy]

5 hours ago, the penguins said:

Just make sure your accounts are linked otherwise OBC will only be deducted from one of you. The linking shows on the account.

If whomever you are traveling with are charging everything to the same credit card on file, the accounts are automatically linked.

An example--- $18 per day per passenger for gratuities = $36 for 2 people ----

Lets say the cruise is 10 days----- $36 x 10 days= $350 will be deducted from any OBC.

The balance will be charged on your credit card.

How's that for math???

 

 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

we've just sailed on X with $300 of non-refundable OBC from X. All of it was applied to gratuities (total of $432) and a purchase of wifi for 1 day ($37). The rest of charged to my credit card.

Edited April 17 by Itchy&Scratchy

[ExArkie]

7 hours ago, gvgseg said:

Yes, this is what I normally do. However, I want to make sure that the OBC can actually be applied to gratuities. I ran into a situation on my last cruise (on Norwegian) in which I didn't realize that one type of OBC must be spent onboard and couldn't be applied to gratuities. I didn't realize this until disembarkation day and was then forced into buying a very overpriced picture frame and photo because that was the only thing still open.

From my experience, which includes seven or so cruise lines so is obviously a limited sample, NCL is the only one that specifies daily service charges (a.k.a., gratuities) must be paid with refundable OBC only and cannot be paid with nonrefundable OBC. We have been on NCL a couple of times; using nonrefundable OBC for daily service charges was not a problem eight years ago, but was forbidden last summer.

 

[jwlane]

1 hour ago, Pinboy said:

 $36 x 10 days= $350

How's that for math???

 

1 hour ago, Pinboy said:

 

 

Ummmm.

Edited April 17 by jwlane

[MikeMary4449]

9 hours ago, gvgseg said:

Hello,

 

Just booked my first Celebrity Cruise. The TA has given me $428 of OBC of which $120 has already been issued and is available in my Celebrity account. The remaining $308 will come once I am onboard, but I can also just request it as a rebate check from the TA after the cruise is complete.. Does anyone know whether I can just use the $120 toward covering the gratuities? I'm aware of the differences between non-refundable and refundable OBC, but every cruise line seems to handle things differently and I have primarily sailed on Norwegian in the past. I'm thinking that the $120 will need to be used on something, whether it is specialty dining, excursions, or something else. We are not drinkers and typically have almost no additional onboard expenses to worry about.

FYI:  It is our understanding that, if you want the "remaining $308" as a "rebate check", you need to let your TA know this BEFORE you embark on the cruise.  If your gratuities (or any other charges onboard) exceed the $120 of OBC, your credit card on file will be charged, but any amount over the $120 will be offset by the rebate check (money in your pocket) after you return home.  If you take the entire $428 as OBC, you MUST use it onboard or you lose it.  Hope this wasn't too confusing.

[Pinboy]

8 minutes ago, jwlane said:

 

Ummmm.

Congratulations---- You win !!

Thank you for reading my post---

Do you think I did it on purpose to see if " anybody " would notice ???

 

 

 

[Alakegirl]

No

[jwlane]

2 hours ago, Pinboy said:

 did it on purpose 

That's what my 7th graders say. 

[hiccups]

6 hours ago, MikeMary4449 said:

FYI:  It is our understanding that, if you want the "remaining $308" as a "rebate check", you need to let your TA know this BEFORE you embark on the cruise.  If your gratuities (or any other charges onboard) exceed the $120 of OBC, your credit card on file will be charged, but any amount over the $120 will be offset by the rebate check (money in your pocket) after you return home.  If you take the entire $428 as OBC, you MUST use it onboard or you lose it.  Hope this wasn't too confusing.

OP may not necessarily lose the OBC—they need to ask their TA if it’s refundable.  Our OBC from our TA is refundable, and anything we don’t spend onboard is refunded to our linked credit card.

[Bosjoe]

On 4/17/2024 at 11:15 AM, MikeMary4449 said:

FYI:  It is our understanding that, if you want the "remaining $308" as a "rebate check", you need to let your TA know this BEFORE you embark on the cruise.  If your gratuities (or any other charges onboard) exceed the $120 of OBC, your credit card on file will be charged, but any amount over the $120 will be offset by the rebate check (money in your pocket) after you return home.  If you take the entire $428 as OBC, you MUST use it onboard or you lose it.  Hope this wasn't too confusing.

Any additional obc from a TA is refundable, so the $308 is. Leave it un the account and it will be refunded to your credit card on file with the cruise ship, you do not lose it. I just did this on Ascent 2 weeks ago, I saw a refund on my credit card 2 days later. I am cruising in 4 weeks and getting $195 non refundable and $508 refundable. The ta also gave me the option to issue a check after the cruise, I just tell them to add the total for on board. The $195 will be used first, if any left over comes back to me. 

 

 

 

[MikeMary4449]

32 minutes ago, Bosjoe said:

Any additional obc from a TA is refundable, so the $308 is. Leave it un the account and it will be refunded to your credit card on file with the cruise ship, you do not lose it. I just did this on Ascent 2 weeks ago, I saw a refund on my credit card 2 days later. I am cruising in 4 weeks and getting $195 non refundable and $508 refundable. The ta also gave me the option to issue a check after the cruise, I just tell them to add the total for on board. The $195 will be used first, if any left over comes back to me. 

 

 

 

While this may be true in your case, in our experience, some TAs offer refundable OBC and some issue non-refundable OBC.  @gvgseg should verify with their TA.

[Bosjoe]

1 hour ago, MikeMary4449 said:

While this may be true in your case, in our experience, some TAs offer refundable OBC and some issue non-refundable OBC.  @gvgseg should verify with their TA.

Non-refundable which always comes from the cruise line will 90% of the time will always show up on your account when you login to Celebrity, this credit can be used toward pre-purchase products prior to your cruise. I have never seen refundable credit show up till you board the ship on my account.  Yes always check with your TA when booking where the OBC is coming from. My TA always breaks it down. 

[mahasamatman]

12 hours ago, Bosjoe said:

Any additional obc from a TA is refundable

 

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. The OBC I get from my TA has always been non-refundable.

[Bosjoe]

43 minutes ago, mahasamatman said:

 

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. The OBC I get from my TA has always been non-refundable.

If you have any non refundable obc it came from the cruise line, through your TA. My TA breaks it down. This has always been the case with me for over 20 years.

[wrk2cruise]

On 4/17/2024 at 3:04 AM, gvgseg said:

However, I want to make sure that the OBC can actually be applied to gratuities.

 

On Celebrity any type of OBC can be used for Gratuities. 

 

If you have refundable OBC remaining at the end of the cruise it can either be refunded in cash at Guest Relations on the last day otherwise it will be issued as a credit on the credit card on file for your account.

[burdekn]

Currently sailing on X and the gratuities are coming out of our OBC on a daily basis.

 

Our booking statement stated that "a service charge for your dining and stateroom attendant is included in your cruise fare".  We assumed that this related to gratuities, so were surprised when the gratuities appeared on our daily statement.  

 

Can anyone explain the difference between a service charge and a gratuity in simple terms for a lost Aussie/

 

[wrk2cruise]

They are pretty much the same thing.  What was described on your booking statement is the same as you are being charged.  I would take your booking statement to Guest Relations and have them correct (or explain).

[burdekn]

Thanks so much wrk2cruise - that was my assumption as well but when I went to Guest Relations I was told gratuities are different to service charges, so I left confused! 

 

He did say he could remove the charge from my account, and we could then pay gratuities as we saw fit, but I am not wanting to see the very dedicated staff miss out if the gratuities don't come to them to some source.

[mahasamatman]

On 4/20/2024 at 7:25 PM, Bosjoe said:

If you have any non refundable obc it came from the cruise line, through your TA.

 

TAs can issue either refundable or non-refundable. Just because your TA does it one way doesn't mean all TAs do the same.

[wrk2cruise]

6 hours ago, burdekn said:

Thanks so much wrk2cruise - that was my assumption as well but when I went to Guest Relations I was told gratuities are different to service charges, so I left confused! 

 

So what did they say the "service charge" covers?  This makes no sense to me.   Did you use a TA?  If so I would reach out to them to see if they think the gratuities are included.