How Would You Use Extra OBC?

[monkeydawn]

What happens is it's added it to the total trip cost. Any overage payment on the actual cost of the cruise goes to your onboard account (pre-paid onboard credit). Gratuities are charged to your onboard account.

I understand all of this. I dont understand how it accomplishes prepaying gratuities.

When I prepaid my gratuities via CC I wasnt really doing that, I was just adding an amount of OBC to my account that was equal to the gratuities.

My main reason for posting is so that someone doesnt waste time contacting DCL to prepay gratuities with the FCC OBC (unless there is a way with FCC OBC to assign a portion specifically to gratuities). Or, worse yet, have someone actually pay their gratuities with a CC in order to prepay because something get lost in the translation when they have plenty of OBC to use.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I understand all of this. I dont understand how it accomplishes prepaying gratuities.

When I prepaid my gratuities via CC I wasnt really doing that, I was just adding an amount of OBC to my account that was equal to the gratuities.

My main reason for posting is so that someone doesnt waste time contacting DCL to prepay gratuities with the FCC OBC (unless there is a way with FCC OBC to assign a portion specifically to gratuities). Or, worse yet, have someone actually pay their gratuities with a CC in order to prepay because something get lost in the translation when they have plenty of OBC to use.

It's my understanding that any excess of the FCC toward a new cruise can be applied to the onboard account (obc). Whether that OBC is used to cover gratuities, Palo/Remy, excursions, whatever, doesn't matter.

 

[cvjw]

We have $1600 in OBC for our next cruise and we are going to splurge and go to Remy. Maybe have the wine pairing too

 

[monkeydawn]

It's my understanding that any excess of the FCC toward a new cruise can be applied to the onboard account (obc). Whether that OBC is used to cover gratuities, Palo/Remy, excursions, whatever, doesn't matter.

It was my understanding that the FCC automatically became OBC. No "applying" necessary, it just happens. If there is an extra step and people need to actually apply it, hopefully that is widely understood, it wasnt obvious to me.

I still dont understand how you would use OBC to PREpay gratuities. Its the PRE that I am asking about. I know that it can be applied after you are on board.

I know all of this may just seem like I am being picky or a matter of semantics but if its misunderstood to be precisely what is being said then at best someone may waste time calling DCL or at worst may pay with cash something that could have been covered by the FCC OBC, unless I am misunderstanding and those extra steps are necessary to utilize the OBC in the exact ways being stated. I know none of us can know exactly what will happen when the cruises resume but we can make educated guesses bast on how things have gone in the past.

 

[SamFaniam]

This was not true for me in 2012 or 2017 on the Wonder, it may have changed since then. On my 2nd and 6th cruises I happened to win some OBC (through DVC presentation & Bingo) towards the end of the trip, didn't have anything booked in the spa or excursions those trips, had already prepaid my tips, so I went to the gift shop and bought gift cards. They don't have them on display, but I asked the gift shop people, and they said sure I could purchase them and rang me up with gift cards that were kept under the cash register.
First time I think I walked off with about $200 in DGC and it was under $100 for the other cruise, I'd have to look at my old posts to remember the amount. But it was fun to have spending money from my cruise the next time I was in the parks!

When we have won bingo, admittedly not often and not very much, they have cashed that out for us. It was not just OBC.

I have not asked in a couple of years, but in 2017 or 2018 we inquired about purchasing a gift card on board, and were told they were not available. Disney’s official page says that they aren’t. But perhaps they were once and that policy has changed.

https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/faq/onboard-services/gift-cards/

 

[PrincessShmoo]

It was my understanding that the FCC automatically became OBC. No "applying" necessary, it just happens. If there is an extra step and people need to actually apply it, hopefully that is widely understood, it wasnt obvious to me.

I still dont understand how you would use OBC to PREpay gratuities. Its the PRE that I am asking about. I know that it can be applied after you are on board.

I know all of this may just seem like I am being picky or a matter of semantics but if its misunderstood to be precisely what is being said then at best someone may waste time calling DCL or at worst may pay with cash something that could have been covered by the FCC OBC, unless I am misunderstanding and those extra steps are necessary to utilize the OBC in the exact ways being stated. I know none of us can know exactly what will happen when the cruises resume but we can make educated guesses bast on how things have gone in the past.

"Pre-pay" as in put the amount necessary into your onboard account before the cruise to be used to pay the gratuities at the end of the cruise. They are not actually paid to the people receiving them until the "normal" time at the end of the cruise.

 

[monkeydawn]

"Pre-pay" as in put the amount necessary into your onboard account before the cruise to be used to pay the gratuities at the end of the cruise. They are not actually paid to the people receiving them until the "normal" time at the end of the cruise.

Yup, basically what I have been saying this whole time.

You could certainly find out the tip amount and mentally set that amount of your OBC aside. Is that what you all mean?

 

[bakerworld]

beverages ....

 

[Ralph&Pam]

I still dont understand how you would use OBC to PREpay gratuities. Its the PRE that I am asking about. I know that it can be applied after you are on board.

We have prepaid gratuities for all 19 of our DCL cruises. The amount gets added to the final payment we make at PIF date. This amount has never appeared on our stateroom account folio. Instead, we get the perforated green summary sheet that we can distribute to the servers and stateroom host in the supplied envelopes (we usually add cash on top of the prepaid amount based on quality of service). If using any FCC credit for this purpose, it would be posted as a separate line item on the invoice at the time you complete your booking, just like taxes and port fees, DCL port transfers, and DCL’s vacation protection plan (i.e., travel insurance) each get listed as a separate line item.

 

[MomOTwins]

We have prepaid gratuities for all 19 of our DCL cruises. The amount gets added to the final payment we make at PIF date. This amount has never appeared on our stateroom account folio. Instead, we get the perforated green summary sheet that we can distribute to the servers and stateroom host in the supplied envelopes (we usually add cash on top of the prepaid amount based on quality of service). If using any FCC credit for this purpose, it would be posted as a separate line item on the invoice at the time you complete your booking, just like taxes and port fees, DCL port transfers, and DCL’s vacation protection plan (i.e., travel insurance) each get listed as a separate line item.

Are you sure it was not on your folio too? When we prepaid gratuities on our November 2019 cruise we saw it added to the cruise cost on the email invoice before the cruise, but then when on the ship we were still charged daily tips on our folio and were given a corresponding credit to cover the total tip amount.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Are you sure it was not on your folio too? When we prepaid gratuities on our November 2019 cruise we saw it added to the cruise cost on the email invoice before the cruise, but then when on the ship we were still charged daily tips on our folio and were given a corresponding credit to cover the total tip amount.

Never in the folio. I have all of them filed by trip, so I just verified that my recollection is correct. We’ve sailed on Magic, Wonder, and Fantasy. Same process on all three ships. We were most recently on the Magic b2b in January and on the Fantasy in November 2019.

 

[ahen]

We spent a fortune on excursions in Alaska so I have a feeling that it would not be any trouble to use it up. We have a little over 600 left after we rebooked and our TA said we can apply it to another cruise. Not sure yet, but I’m thinking it’s not an impossible amount to use up

 

[monkeydawn]

Are you sure it was not on your folio too? When we prepaid gratuities on our November 2019 cruise we saw it added to the cruise cost on the email invoice before the cruise, but then when on the ship we were still charged daily tips on our folio and were given a corresponding credit to cover the total tip amount.

This I what I experienced as well (Magic Sept 2019).

I dont get the befifit of "prepaying" in this specific scenario, unless you are just bad at budgeting/ remembering to leave X amount of OBC for the tips. But I do see ways for this to get forked up and cause trouble by "prepaying" with the FCC OBC. Hopefully everyone is on their toes and gets what is due to them (with minimal hassle)!

 

[clten]

There is a such thing as prepaid gratuities and it is exactly as @Ralph&Pam describe. I've done it several times myself. The "recommended" gratuity amount is added to my cruise fare and is paid off in advance of the cruise - usually with final payment. As far as I know these can only be added by talking to a res agent. When we are on board, these NEVER show up in our On Board charges because they have been PREPAID. We still receive the coupons to give to the crew on tip night. (Sometimes, it's not a matter of budgeting. We have sailed with others where we have paid for their cruise and want to be sure we pay the gratuities as well. We've found this is the best method so there's no questions when they get their folio.)

This is not to be confused with what a lot of people on this board refer to as prepaid gratuities - where they purchase an Onboard Credit in the amount of the recommended gratuities. If you do it this way (or your travel agent does it this way) the gratuities will show up on your folio as will the credit in the same amount. This method is not actually pre-paying gratuities.

 

[monkeydawn]

There is a such thing as prepaid gratuities and it is exactly as @Ralph&Pam describe. I've done it several times myself. The "recommended" gratuity amount is added to my cruise fare and is paid off in advance of the cruise - usually with final payment. As far as I know these can only be added by talking to a res agent. When we are on board, these NEVER show up in our On Board charges because they have been PREPAID. We still receive the coupons to give to the crew on tip night. (Sometimes, it's not a matter of budgeting. We have sailed with others where we have paid for their cruise and want to be sure we pay the gratuities as well. We've found this is the best method so there's no questions when they get their folio.)

This is not to be confused with what a lot of people on this board refer to as prepaid gratuities - where they purchase an Onboard Credit in the amount of the recommended gratuities. If you do it this way (or your travel agent does it this way) the gratuities will show up on your folio as will the credit in the same amount. This method is not actually pre-paying gratuities.

How do you actually accomplish prepaying gratuities? I would expect that calling your travel agent or DCL and requesting to prepay the gratuities should accomplish this. However in my experience (and it seems others here as well), all that resulted in was a credit in my OBC in the amount of the gratuities. It was NBD in my situation but I can certainly see how in your situation of wanting to treat someone to a cruise, gratuities included, that the way you and @Ralph&Pam describe would be much better. For those that need to do it that way, I'm sure guidance would be appreciated. Or maybe it's simply luck of the CM draw when you call to get this done?

Is there a way to move posts to a new thread here on dis? As in move this sub discussion completly? I know I could manually start a thread and copy and paste stuff over but the discussion would still be going on here too, possibly.

 

[clten]

I'm not sure if it is luck or timing. When I add prepaid gratuities, it is always when I am either making the initial reservation (when I have to call in anyway - like opening day) or when I am calling in my final payment. I know in both cases I tell the call center agent to add prepaid gratuities to the cruise fare and I have always had it work out where it is actually pre-paid not an OBC credit. I don't know if once the cruise is PIF that their standard is just to add it as an OBC - I'm just assuming a lot of people add the gratuities closer in than final payment time - but I could be wrong, just speculating on this.

 

[monkeydawn]

I'm not sure if it is luck or timing. When I add prepaid gratuities, it is always when I am either making the initial reservation (when I have to call in anyway - like opening day) or when I am calling in my final payment. I know in both cases I tell the call center agent to add prepaid gratuities to the cruise fare and I have always had it work out where it is actually pre-paid not an OBC credit. I don't know if once the cruise is PIF that their standard is just to add it as an OBC - I'm just assuming a lot of people add the gratuities closer in than final payment time - but I could be wrong, just speculating on this.

That guess fits with my info. I booked the cruise after PIF so obviously I added the gratuities after PIF.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

I'm not sure if it is luck or timing. When I add prepaid gratuities, it is always when I am either making the initial reservation (when I have to call in anyway - like opening day) or when I am calling in my final payment. I know in both cases I tell the call center agent to add prepaid gratuities to the cruise fare and I have always had it work out where it is actually pre-paid not an OBC credit. I don't know if once the cruise is PIF that their standard is just to add it as an OBC - I'm just assuming a lot of people add the gratuities closer in than final payment time - but I could be wrong, just speculating on this.

Our experience: We always add the gratuities to the booking when I call to make our final payment, typically a couple of days prior to PIF day. We don’t use a travel agent for our DCL cruises, and all of the DCL cast members who have processed our final payment have managed this the same. We then get the email with the updated invoice showing prepaid gratuities as a line item, and the total amount paid for the cruise with zero balance due. As I noted in an earlier post, we have never had anything to do with gratuities appear on our stateroom folio, since we add any extra gratuity to the envelopes as cash along with the green prepaid slip left in our stateroom near the end of the cruise.

 

[dprincessmom]

I am thinking you could do that - as said some of the excursions in Alaska are pricy. You could do a couple of spa treatments that you usually wouldn't (i believe there are some couple treatments). Now could also be the time for some Disney Art or a high end bag/watch.

Whenever we are booking a trip and we get a "gift" free dining, discounted room, on board credit that's not costing us anything extra, we try to make it to our benefit and do things that we might not do.

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

We plan to have a good deal of extra OBC whenever we can finally sail again. The plan is excursions, pre-cruise MCO hyatt stay, remy, champagne, tips, and shopping! It will be a great time.