Christie Posted June 14, 2015 Report Share Posted June 14, 2015 Matt talks a lot in the podcasts about prebooking excursions, dining, etc and how that helps break up the cost of the cruise. I'm assuming that means payment is due at time of booking. Is there any way to not pay when you book something so that it is charged to your shipboard account? Looking to spend some OBC. Thanks! Matt 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocLC Posted June 14, 2015 Report Share Posted June 14, 2015 Not with Royal. Some of the other lines wait until you board, though. The good news is you end up with a smaller onboard account when you get off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AGSLC5 Posted June 14, 2015 Report Share Posted June 14, 2015 That's why OBC is not always great for a Royal Caribbean Cruise because if you want to prebook (which I think you should) you can't use the OBC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted June 14, 2015 Report Share Posted June 14, 2015 There's only 1 exception that I have seen. When you are a suite guest and you book a cabana at Labadee or CocoCay before the cruise through the concierge they will charge it to your room; you do not pay for the cabana when the concierge books it for you. That's the only prebooking I have EVER done that I didn't have to pay for at the time that I booked it. AGSLC5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted June 14, 2015 Report Share Posted June 14, 2015 Matt talks a lot in the podcasts about prebooking excursions, dining, etc and how that helps break up the cost of the cruise. I'm assuming that means payment is due at time of booking. Is there any way to not pay when you book something so that it is charged to your shipboard account? Looking to spend some OBC. Thanks! If you have OBC to spend and there is no risk of what you're booking selling out, feel free to wait for the ship. The beverage packages are a great example of something that you can wait to book onboard. Things like shore excursions or specialty dining (at a specific day and time) are something I think you should consider pre-booking. In my experience, I never have a problem spending my OBC money! It seems to disappear quite quickly Wobby77, Galveston Steve and AGSLC5 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted June 14, 2015 Report Share Posted June 14, 2015 I'm with you, Matt ! There is never a shortage of things to snap up my OBC ! One of the discussions on this topic (if it is not this particular one) mentioned that you cannot use your OBC in the casino. That is only partially true. While you cannot take your OBC directly and use it in the casino, you CAN cover casino expenditures with OBC by taking a "cash advance" at the casino. The only problem is, it will cost you a 5% "convenience fee" unless you are a member of Club Royale. So you CAN spend OBC in the casino...with just a little bit of overhead. If you have $100 of OBC and you take a $100 cash advance at the blackjack table, your sea pass card will be charged $105. It will be offset by the $100 OBC and the net charge to your sea pass account is $5....but you have successfully used you OBC and, in fact, now have $100 in your hand (unless you foolishly gambled it away !!!). Wobby77, AGSLC5 and Matt 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AGSLC5 Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 Raye, That is exactly how I use my OBC. Since I don't have to pay the 5% fee its a great deal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Vitale Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 I can't imagine there's anyone who has a ZERO balance at the end of a cruise. Surely the OBC can be used to help pay that balance off. That's what I'll be doing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocLC Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 I actually had an $83 dollar refundable credit coming off a Celebrity ship last year. With everything prepaid, including our first night specialty dining, and being on the non-alcoholic packages, we simply didn't spend much. Only time, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 I can't imagine there's anyone who has a ZERO balance at the end of a cruise. Surely the OBC can be used to help pay that balance off. That's what I'll be doing The one and only time I ever spent $-0- on a cruise was waaay back when I first started cruising. We charged NOthing. We were so proud of ourselves for not putting a cent on our sea pass account. Then, just as we were getting off the ship at debark we stopped by the guests services desk just to be SURE that we had not been charged for ANYthing and that's when we discovered that we had a $50 OBC that we had not used - and so we lost it. That is the LAST time ever tried to go on the cheap. Just goes to show it does not pay to try and save money ! DocLC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloatMe Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 I thought that I had a similar issue, but as has been mentioned above, there is no shortage of ways to use OBC. Gratuities, internet, one replenishment package, and one refreshment package.... $400 OBC gone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galveston Steve Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 It's definitely easy to use it up. As a last resort I always figure I can use it for shopping on the last day. My last cruise I spent the remainder on a nice watch that I just couldn't live without. My wife was very understanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteSoxFan Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 There's only 1 exception that I have seen. When you are a suite guest and you book a cabana at Labadee or CocoCay before the cruise through the concierge they will charge it to your room; you do not pay for the cabana when the concierge books it for you. That's the only prebooking I have EVER done that I didn't have to pay for at the time that I booked it. We had the concierge book a few shore excursions for us prior to boarding and the excursions were charged to our onboard account. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 Nice ! I guess the concierge is the difference. What a sweet (pun intended) service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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