NCL Credit Card

Does anyone have the new NCL Credit Card??? And are you happy or not with the benefits?? We just filled out the form and hope it's as good as it looks. Any help would be great.

I have had this NCL credit card with Bank of America since 2004. Yes, I'm verry happy with it and the benefits. I try an charge everything to get the points for my NCL cruises. Just this past March I received $100 On board credit for cashing in 10,000 points. I don't carry a balance though and pay it off every month.

I got the NCL Mastercard with BOA about 9 months ago. I received 15,000 bonus points (worth $150 OBC) for opening the account. I think it is a good deal, especially if you like cruising on NCL and if you pay the card off each month eliminating any interest charges. I use it as much as possible and have already accumulated over 5,000 additional points since I got it. Every 5,000 points is worth $50 OBC.

We have has ours for about 5 years. We charge alot of everyday stuff and pay off at the end of the month. Last year we got $500 on board credit and 2 of the casino chips. We have never used it for anything else.

There is already a Sticky thread on this. You don't have to scroll through all 3,000+ responses :eek: to give you an idea of how cruisers use the card. Just look at recent posts. Most CCers with the card wait until they accumulate 25,000 points, then ask for $250 cash back. (On lesser points, you don't get full value if you ask for cash.) Do your homework. Maybe the perks for the casino are good value for you....maybe at the time you're cruising, $ is tight so you would rather have $100 OBC....

We just received the NCL card and used it immediately to buy groceries, which activates the 10,000 free points award (yes, it's down from 15,000 free points for signing up). We will use the card to pay for our September cruise and all things related to NCL, including on-board charges, so we get double points.

Before applying, you should also find out how getting a new credit card and line of credit might affect your FICO score and interest rates. If you have a high FICO, it shouldn't affect it much.

If you don't pay charge accounts in full when they are due, you should find out (based on your FICO score) how high the interest rate will be on this new card. We always pay our bank card balances when due.

For us, it seems like a win-win situation. I will let you know how long it takes to have our free points credited to our account. And how much junk mail we start getting for now being a Bank of America customer!

Even if you spend $25,000 to get $250 cash back, the rate of return is only 1%. Why not just get a card like the Capital One Cash Rewards that gives you 1.5% back (technically 1% on everything and a 50% annual bonus) that still has no annual fee?

I really hate the NCL card because the online application experience was poor - the screen that explains the decision process disappeared after 10 seconds to redirect to the NCL website! Then I got the card and tried to activate it only unsuccessfully 5 times, so I had to call in! Finally, you can't redeem 15,000 points online for $150 shipboard credit - you have to call in. Plus, I had read that many people never had the shipboard credit show up, so I just gave up and traded in the points for cash back, even though it was less than $150. A complete waste of time and now Bank of America has another dissatisfied customer too!

I'm leaning away towards cards that are so specific with rewards and going to ones that can be booked on anything or switched to a wide range of airline, hotel, cruise accounts. I have the Chase Sapphire card and the point system is the best I have ever had. If you do decide to get the NCL card and you have a cruise coming up, wait to sign up onboard with the PCC. A lot of their income comes from signing people up for these and you still get to use it for your OBC and get the bonus points.

James

Even if you spend $25,000 to get $250 cash back, the rate of return is only 1%. Why not just get a card like the Capital One Cash Rewards that gives you 1.5% back (technically 1% on everything and a 50% annual bonus) that still has no annual fee?

 

I really hate the NCL card because the online application experience was poor - the screen that explains the decision process disappeared after 10 seconds to redirect to the NCL website! Then I got the card and tried to activate it only unsuccessfully 5 times, so I had to call in!

 

We did look at Capital One, mainly because they don't charge extra for foreign transactions. But I did the math re how much we spend when abroad using our credit card, and figured the annual fee Capital One charges is more than we would incur on foreign exchange fees and ATMs.

 

Re the online experience of signing up with Bank America, we agree! They tend to wipe out explanations too fast, etc. We didn't know our application was accepted until we got possible fraud alerts that the credit agencies had been contacted. When the card came in the mail, my husband immediately called the phone number to activate it. Had a very pleasant chat with their employee in Ohio. Then he went out and used the card. No problems.

I'm leaning away .. cards that are so specific with rewards and going to ones that can be booked on anything or switched to a wide range of airline, hotel, cruise accounts. I have the Chase Sapphire card and the point system is the best I have ever had. If you do decide to get the NCL card and you have a cruise coming up, wait to sign up onboard with the PCC. A lot of their income comes from signing people up for these and you still get to use it for your OBC and get the bonus points.

 

James

We also have Chase Sapphire. That is our main CC and we use it for everything we can buy through charges. It's great for air fare. For the first 25,000 points, they give us @ $330+ towards air fare, not $250. We're happy with Sapphire, but since we don't book NCL cruises through them (we like our cruise-savvy TA), we wouldn't get the double points. With 2 cruises booked this year, the double points was the main factor in getting the second card.

We did look at Capital One, mainly because they don't charge extra for foreign transactions. But I did the math re how much we spend when abroad using our credit card, and figured the annual fee Capital One charges is more than we would incur on foreign exchange fees and ATMs.

The Cap One Cash Rewards card has NO annual fee, trust me - I have one! There is a Venture card that earns 2 points per $1 spent that has an annual fee, but also a version that earns 1.25 points per $1 spent with no annual fee. The cash back rate is still superior at 1.5% though and no annual fee.

So you don't get double points with NCL card for booking cruise if you use a TA? Hmmm. We don't boom thru NCL. We love our TA !

Great answers to my question. Thank you everyone. We also didn't know if the card was excepted until we received a fraud alert yesterday. But we are hearing good things about the card.

We had the Chase Sea miles card for 3 years and Chase has decided to do away with the program. The point system was fantastic. 1x for everything, 4x for any purchase of a cruise, 2x for purchases on a cruise. 20000 points got you $200 plus a $50 bonus. On the last cruise we took, we used most of our accrued points and got a huge check in the mail prior to sailing.

They didn't advertise this card and had to do away with the offers. They are issuing us a new card with a new program but it doesn't compare to the NCL card.

So you don't get double points with NCL card for booking cruise if you use a TA? Hmmm. We don't boom thru NCL. We love our TA !

We always book our cruises using various web TAs and have always received double points using our card. I check my statements to make sure, and have never had a problem.

So you don't get double points with NCL card for booking cruise if you use a TA? Hmmm. We don't boom thru NCL. We love our TA !

Yes you do get double points...in fact I just did this for my cruise in April...ANYTHING charged to NCL gets double points...just gave my neice the romance package for her cruise and recieved double points..

My son's college accepts credit cards so I have charged his tuition for the last year as well as everything else I could over the past two years...I was able to save $1000 on my cruise as well as have $650 in on board credit!!!! We also pay the credit card off every month as otherwise it really isnt worth the benefits....with two kids in college next year(unfortunately my DD's college charges to use a credit card!), and another two following them shortly, this card will be the only way I will be able to go on a cruise for the next 7 years!!!! LOVE IT...

Love mine. Not as good as it used to be when the points were earned faster, but still a good deal if you pay it off each month. Just used my points to pay for $600 of the cruise we finished yesterday.

So you don't get double points with NCL card for booking cruise if you use a TA? Hmmm. We don't boom thru NCL. We love our TA !

make sure the charge comes from NCL...not form the travel agency who then pays NCL. Two reasons...you will get your double points on the credit card. And if the travel agency experiences insolvency/legal troubles/embezzlement/etc your cruise payment doesn't get caught up in their mess:eek:.

I'm leaning away towards cards that are so specific with rewards and going to ones that can be booked on anything or switched to a wide range of airline, hotel, cruise accounts. I have the Chase Sapphire card and the point system is the best I have ever had. If you do decide to get the NCL card and you have a cruise coming up, wait to sign up onboard with the PCC. A lot of their income comes from signing people up for these and you still get to use it for your OBC and get the bonus points.

 

James

I received an email from NCL promoting their CC again with at 15,000 point bonus rather than 10,000 points.

When I was on my last cruise, I recall them providing a bonus set of points for applying on board? Does anyone know what that bonus is? Is it better than 15K?

We won't be sailing for another 13 or so months but it would be nice to get a bonus just for applying. The Capital One cards don't seem to have such generous application bonuses. I'm not worried about my FICO score or anything of that nature. I am currently using a Chase Freedom card and since this is similar in percentage rewards, it may be a replacement too.

Thoughts?

I just applied online two weeks ago and received this week the rewards card through ncl. They have a 0 percent balance transfer going right now and 15,000 on board credit for making a purchase in the first two billing cycles. I called and activated the card and spoke to a very helpful customer service rep. Said if I even purchase a pack of gum this would activate the bonus points and then I would need to all back after receiving the statement and ask for my onboard credit voucher to apply to my booking. Sounds simple and hope it will be. It's basically free money. Also, when going online to the B of A website, I see points can be redeemed for cash or other services and items if I decide not to use on the cruise.

I received an email from NCL promoting their CC again with at 15,000 point bonus rather than 10,000 points.

 

When I was on my last cruise, I recall them providing a bonus set of points for applying on board? Does anyone know what that bonus is? Is it better than 15K?

 

We won't be sailing for another 13 or so months but it would be nice to get a bonus just for applying. The Capital One cards don't seem to have such generous application bonuses. I'm not worried about my FICO score or anything of that nature. I am currently using a Chase Freedom card and since this is similar in percentage rewards, it may be a replacement too.

 

Thoughts?

When we applied on board in October, the offer was 10,000 points after first purchase and they transferred our on board account to the new card giving us double points for those charges. In addition, we were given a $25 OBC for that cruise.