NCL Mastercard FAQ

Key word was value =10%

 

I used 60,000 points to go from inside cabin, upgraded to Balcony on a 40 night cruise. The difference in cost between inside and Balcony for 40 nights is/was $6000. As time went on the spread got even larger. Now it is sold out and its still a year away.

If I used the points for OBC or cash back that would be $600.

I always use the upgrade. I just booked a 15 night Panama cruise, value of inside to Balcony =$2400

 

Many of my points come from using NCL as they give triple on any of their stuff. Last 21 night cruise gave me 27,000 points just for booking and paying.:)

 

Steve

 

Steve

That's great information Steve, I'll be sure to dig deeper before crying foul. Thank you!

Many of my points come from using NCL as they give triple on any of their stuff. Last 21 night cruise gave me 27,000 points just for booking and paying.:)

 

Steve

 

Steve

Steve...More power to you, but you're in a rather unique situation. You mentioned a 40 night, 21 night and 15 night cruise that you were able to accumulate and redeem upgrades on. Well over 95% of people on CC are not in your league because most do 10 night or less cruises, with the rare B2B.

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Steve...More power to you, but you're in a rather unique situation. You mentioned a 40 night, 21 night and 15 night cruise that you were able to accumulate and redeem upgrades on. Well over 95% of people on CC are not in your league because most do 10 night or less cruises, with the rare B2B.

 

 

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I agree, it's still a good value in most cases to use the points to upgrade, but most of us aren't going on 40-night cruises! I have two cruises booked for this year, and they're both 7 nights. Of all the cruises I've taken, only two or three of them have been more than 7 nights, and I suspect that's the case for most people even if cruising is their "vacation of choice."

Okay so my day has been ruined. I know you all are just the messengers!

 

We plan on spending nothing more on this cruise. We had a job loss after final payment and all other travel booked. So we are going, but doing absolutely nothing extra - dining, drinks, excursions, etc. We are perfectly happy with this plan as we enjoy the included activities and food.

 

 

Now I just read that I can't pay for the service charge with my Mastercard OBC that is already processed and sitting there for me. #$&@%#%&

 

 

So this is the plan and please tell me if I have any of this wrong.

1. Go to the casino.

2. Ask to get $150 out.

3. Take $150 to guest services and place it on our account.

4. Deal with $4.50 charge and $39 remaining DSC balance.

5. End of cruise, pay $43.50.

 

 

Is this a workable plan of action? Thanks in advance!

I would call up the world point line and ask them if you can cancel the OBC you exchanged your points for and see if you can have them refunded the points to your account. If you haven't made your final payment yet you may be able to use the points for cash off the balance of your cruise.

I would call up the world point line and ask them if you can cancel the OBC you exchanged your points for and see if you can have them refunded the points to your account. If you haven't made your final payment yet you may be able to use the points for cash off the balance of your cruise.

Cruise is paid off already. We sail next month.

Anyone have input on if my above plan is workable?

I agree that this card is not worth it anymore. I still have it from the days of 3% points and we cruised almost every year for free. Now I just need to get rid of these last few points and we will just stick with my 2% travel eraser card.

I would call up the world point line and ask them if you can cancel the OBC you exchanged your points for and see if you can have them refunded the points to your account. If you haven't made your final payment yet you may be able to use the points for cash off the balance of your cruise.

We sail next month... it's been paid in full for two months. :(

Cruise is paid off already. We sail next month.

 

Anyone have input on if my above plan is workable?

 

I agree that this card is not worth it anymore. I still have it from the days of 3% points and we cruised almost every year for free. Now I just need to get rid of these last few points and we will just stick with my 2% travel eraser card.

I spoke to an agent this morning and they said they can do a statement credit if you are past the final payment date but want to use the points for payment as opposed to OBC. She said they don't like to do that but they will....It's worth a shot to ask.

Cruise is paid off already. We sail next month.

 

Anyone have input on if my above plan is workable?

 

I agree that this card is not worth it anymore. I still have it from the days of 3% points and we cruised almost every year for free. Now I just need to get rid of these last few points and we will just stick with my 2% travel eraser card.

Should work no problem. Just keep an eye on your account to make sure.

Cruise is paid off already. We sail next month.

 

Anyone have input on if my above plan is workable?

 

As mentioned many times before on this expansive thread...

Save, until you have more than 60,000 points.

Then do a NCL Double Meta Upgrade and save hundreds of dollars.

Even at that, be careful.

Look, as each offering is different.

Time is on your side.:cool:

Time is on your side.:cool:

Nooooot really. Points expire after 5 years....and lets be honest...the only way you are saving up enough (unless you are independently wealthy) is if you use it to pay for cruises. Let's say your cruise cost $3500...you are going to have to cruise 5-6 times to make it to 60000. A lot of people cant afford to cruise 1 or more times every year. Maybe if you are retirement age and have financially set yourself up comfortably...but that's not a large portion of the population. Just my 2 cents...as a middle aged father of 3.

Nooooot really. Points expire after 5 years....and lets be honest...the only way you are saving up enough (unless you are independently wealthy) is if you use it to pay for cruises. Let's say your cruise cost $3500...you are going to have to cruise 5-6 times to make it to 60000. A lot of people cant afford to cruise 1 or more times every year.

Maybe if you are retirement age and have financially set yourself up comfortably...but that's not a large portion of the population. Just my 2 cents...as a middle aged father of 3.

Okay. You are right.

I spent 41 years to grind it out to retirement age..

By next year, I'll have should have saved 60,000 points($600) to get at least $3000. off our NCL Australian Cruise... hope not to die in the meantime.

(Would you like to trade your youth for me $) ?:)

I hope the 45th POTUS takes care of you.

It was more about the fact that you only have 5 years to use points...I would dare say most people would be unable to accumulate 60k points and use them before some start to expire. You obviously are not in that position and I applaud you for your hard work. You are getting to reap the fruits of your hard labor...my hat's off to you. For *most* of us here collecting 60k inside of 5 years is a bit out of reach ;) For someone entering retirement with a nice nest egg and no mortgage then the world is your oyster...and NCL will carry you all over it :)

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It was more about the fact that you only have 5 years to use points...I would dare say most people would be unable to accumulate 60k points and use them before some start to expire. You obviously are not in that position and I applaud you for your hard work. You are getting to reap the fruits of your hard labor...my hat's off to you. For *most* of us here collecting 60k inside of 5 years is a bit out of reach ;) For someone entering retirement with a nice nest egg and no mortgage then the world is your oyster...and NCL will carry you all over it :)

 

 

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I agree that accumulating 60k point before they expire can be difficult. My DH and I are parents to 7 sons, the youngest is now in college and not wealthy by any means. We have just begun to be able to cruise in the last 5 years and I have been able to use my points for $500 off of two separate cruises and also for hundreds in on board credits. I have found that I can make this card work for me buy using it to pay for most things and then paying my balance at the end of every day. This way I never pay them any interest and I can accumulate points more quickly. Plus I take the benefit of the three times the points for anything that I purchase through NCL. This may not work for everyone but we have been able to enjoyed the perks.

We use our NCL credit card and we used it this past cruise. The points we accrued allowed us to get our 3rd and 4th passengers (our kids) free with 40.000 points. So we pretty much are using our NCL credit card for everything and paying it off at the end of the month!

It was more about the fact that you only have 5 years to use points...I would dare say most people would be unable to accumulate 60k points and use them before some start to expire. You obviously are not in that position and I applaud you for your hard work. You are getting to reap the fruits of your hard labor...my hat's off to you. For *most* of us here collecting 60k inside of 5 years is a bit out of reach ;) For someone entering retirement with a nice nest egg and no mortgage then the world is your oyster...and NCL will carry you all over it :)

 

 

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It's very doable. I work at a convenience store and in 4 years, I've accumulated 50,000 points. EVERYTHING goes on that credit card. All my bills and all purchases, including 99cent bottles of water. I have an extra 10,000 for signing up. So I have a grand total of 60000 points.

I pay the entire bill off every month too. Not one penny towards interest has been paid. I am determined! It helps that I remind myself that every purchase I made that month, would have been paid with a check or debit card, automatically removing that money.

It helps to have a plan.

It's very doable.

I work at a convenience store and in 4 years, I've accumulated 50,000 points. EVERYTHING goes on that credit card. All my bills and all purchases, including 99cent bottles of water. I have an extra 10,000 for signing up. So I have a grand total of 60000 points.

 

I pay the entire bill off every month too. Not one penny towards interest has been paid. I am determined! It helps that I remind myself that every purchase I made that month, would have been paid with a check or debit card, automatically removing that money.

It helps to have a plan.

Nice Post!

Ok...sorry I didn't take into account those that use the card for EVERYTHING. I use credit cards for EVERYTHING as well...and pay them off EVERY month as well...but I get a much better return on those other cards because I'm getting anywhere from 2-5% back in cash on every single thing I purchase as opposed to the 1% you are getting on the NCL card...which is NOT a good return in comparison. Different strokes for different folks...the 3% return on NCL purchases is decent agreed...but I have a Master Card that gives me the same on all travel along with getting 5% on gas. So for those that really shop their credit card benefits around the NCL card is really only a good return on the initial opening bonus where you can get 15k points quickly on a 1st booking. After that there are better options for return on your spending.

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I use the card for everything, but I don't use it just to get the 1% back. It's worth more to cash it in towards room upgrades. It's worth it to me. So far 90,000 points has given me $4300 worth of upgrades. You do the math.

Each person can use the card to get whatever benefit is the best for THEIR individual situation. Many use it to accumulate points, take extra long cruises and get double meta upgrades to save money. I, on the other hand used the card twice, got my 10000 points and flipped it for 100 in OBC. Have not used the card since and I won't use it again. Did the same thing a few years ago with a Celebrity card and will do it again with a Carnival card I just received.

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I use the card for everything, but I don't use it just to get the 1% back. It's worth more to cash it in towards room upgrades. It's worth it to me. So far 90,000 points has given me $4300 worth of upgrades.

You do the math.

WE just booked the NCL Bliss TransAtlantic.

When looking at the Double Meta Upgrade (for 60,000 points), using the points for THIS cruise was not worth it. I'm just going to save, and look for a better deal of a later cruise.

The last time we used 60,000 points(worth $600.00) on an upgrade, we saved about $1500.00.

My advice is take your time and don't deal with the first offer a NCL rep gives you.

First "Do the math". For every cruise/ship offers are different.

Time is on your side.

Time is on your side.

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I thought that the points expired after five years and if some people take awhile to accumulate the 60000 points needed for the double meta upgrade, then wouldn't they possibly be backed into a corner to redeem those points and thus time would not be on their side.

 

 

 

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This is what I mentioned previously...time is on your side as long as you can accumulate the points and use them within 5 years...that was my initial concern...I tend to think that the majority of people signing up for the card thinking they will be able to gather 60k points and use them before they start to expire, would not be able to do so. As was said a cpl posts ago...for me personally...it's a better deal to use other cards that give me back a defined amount that is dbl or more than the 1 point per dollar the NCL card gives...I know that I'm not going to gather 60k points within 5 years because I don't cruise more than once a year or on longer cruises due to having school age children involved in sports ect...maybe 10 years from now that will be a different situation. At the end of the day NCL does not dangle offers that they don't plan on making a significant profit on...it's all our jobs to make them pays as much as possible for the offers they put out there ;) For those that can take advantage and gather the 60k I say more power to you and I applaud you...but for someone with a young family with 2-3 kids thinking they are going to make out great on this card...I would have my doubts...once you get the 1st 15k it will be a long slog for the next 45k points for a young average family that's doesn't cruise multiple times a yr.

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Just for the record...I fully plan on getting the card and quickly compiling 20k points to get $200 off my cruise. THAT is certainly a pretty easily attained goal for a new card member.

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I thought that the points expired after five years and if some people take awhile to accumulate the 60000 points needed for the double meta upgrade' date=' then wouldn't they possibly be backed into a corner to redeem those points

and thus time would not be on their side.

[/quote']

 

 

Actually, Bank of America / NCL World Points start to diminish after holding them for 4 years.

Note : I’ve been following the thread for a number of years and have been using my B of A Norwegian CC ever since. After over 4,000 posts on this thread, too bad CruiseCritic doesn’t have a FAQ .

It seems to me and others, the best advantage of using points is to gain enough(60,000) to book an inside cabin then get transferred to a balcony.(Double Meta Upgrade)

So once you have, or are near to 60,000 points, start looking for the cruise and ship that is going to give you the most for your money.

This is where I may have been misunderstood; Do not take the first cruise upgrade offered; squint your eyes and look closer.

Once you have 60,000 points, it’s my opinion that 4 years would be more than enough time to make a final decision for a cruise. For us, since we already have the points, it would be done in weeks.

(Right now, we are waiting; NCL is coming out with new choices)

As others, we have taken advantage of the DMU(double meta upgrade) in the past and saved much more than OBC .

This Norwegian Credit Card is not for you if you think the initial (up to) $150 is an advantage.

If you spend your points as fast as you get them, you might as well get any card.

Important: For more information, call NCL at 866-234-7350

So,I did not express myself clearly ?

Time is on our side, not yours.

The card worked out OK for me, I used it twice, paid it off, got 100 in OBC and it'll never be used again.

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