Heads up for those with American Express and NCL/Carnival bookings

Just wanted to share that this morning I notice I had an Amex offer for NCL (spend $500, get a $100 statement credit). After looking further I also saw one for Carnival (spend $250 get $75). I added these offers to all of mine and my wife's cards that I could (seems to only be available for cards which earn Membership Rewards (Amex Everyday, Amex Gold, Amex Platinum, etc). Since I have both a Carnival and NCL booking I can pay down, and 4 cards for each promotion, I'll save about $700 just making four $500 payments to NCL and four $250 payments to Carnival.

Just thought I'd pass this on. I think the offers just started today, and Amex offers are generally limited in quantity to the first x number who load it.

Good luck!

I got the Carnival Amex offer, but does anybody know if it works for shore excursions? I know that it has to show up as Carnival on your statement (and that Bon Voyage doesn't work because it shows up as Bon Voyage).

I got the Carnival Amex offer, but does anybody know if it works for shore excursions? I know that it has to show up as Carnival on your statement (and that Bon Voyage doesn't work because it shows up as Bon Voyage).

Here's what I can tell you:

An order from the fun shop (Bon Voyage) on 11/1/2015 shows as: "CARNIVAL- THE FUN SHOP"

An excursion purchase on 9/4/2015 shows as: "CARNIVAL CRUISE LINEMIAMI"

A payment applied to an existing booking on 2/29/2016 shows as: "CARNIVAL CRUISE LINEMIAMI"

So I can't guarantee anything, but the payee is the same between applied payments to booking and excursion. They could still be coded differently, but I think your chances are pretty good. Just make sure you spend at least $250 in one transaction.

On a related note, I made one payment of each Carnival and NCL on 2/29 with my Amex Biz Gold, as a test, and today the amex offers credit applied. So this is real! :D

I've taken advantage of this AMEX Carnival offer a couple times since they have offered it and it has worked just fine on bookings, payments, and fun shop purchases. I would imagine if your booking the excursion through carnival it would be applicable to that purchase as well

How often do they offer it?

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I'm not sure if it's on a certain time scale but I used it for the cruise I have booked in May, and I also used it for a cruise I just went on in January. So at least twice in the past 4 months

These offers don't appear to be for everyone. It is not showing up for either myself or a friend of mine online. I called Amex customer service to ask about it and was told that these offers are available on an individual basis based on your spending history. The supervisor I ended up speaking to said that there is no way to add that offer either so if it isn't showing up online when you log into your account you don't get it. Needless to say, I'm very disappointed.

These offers don't appear to be for everyone. It is not showing up for either myself or a friend of mine online. I called Amex customer service to ask about it and was told that these offers are available on an individual basis based on your spending history. The supervisor I ended up speaking to said that there is no way to add that offer either so if it isn't showing up online when you log into your account you don't get it. Needless to say, I'm very disappointed.

Sorry it didn't work out for you. :( They are indeed targeted... In my case it only showed up on my Amex Membership Rewards earning cards. Didn't show up on any of my co-brand cards (SPG, Delta, or Hilton). A friend of mine said it showed up on his Delta card, but not his Amex Gold. Seems hit or miss...

I'm using the American Express "everyday" I think it's called. Clear card. It's shown up on mine twice in the past 6 months and have taken advantage both times. Guess I'm getting lucky

Just the other day I saw most of the major cruise lines on the Amex reward online page. A small percentage of cashback but you had to reserve through a link they provided you. You can't just go to the cruiseline's link. Since I have already reserved through the cruiseline, I am not eligible.

MasterCard also has joint promo with a big box TA from time to time. I snatched $50 OBC by simply using MC to book my cruise early this year. So check around.