tomahawk246

Unlike all the answers to the RCI card which require "now you can", you will not be able to", "I assume", conflicting "I was told", "I think", "you can not on Oasis or Allure", "you can not combine", "this site says" and a few asprins for the headaches trying to sort it all out, ... the simple answer to your question is YES.

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app

Everyone should switch to Capital One, there is no comparison. Its not even a close call.

Just yesterday, I cashed in 125,000 "Royal" points ("old" program) and today I applied the resulting credit of $2,500 on the Allure of The Seas sailing in Apr 2014. Our balcony cabin cost a total of $3,019.62 and I put the remainder of $519.62 on my BofA RCL Visa card. (Just logged into my card account and I can see a "pending" transaction to ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES for the $519.62.)

 

This deal will NOT be available once the "MyCruise" awards program replaces the "Royal" awards program which change is expected any day now, per the agent with whom I spoke yesterday. We feel very lucky that we "got under the wire!!"

2

What will you get with the new program for 125,000 points?

Not sure which card you are asking about but with Capital One you get 2 points for every dollar spent and occasional promotions for more.

 

With RCI Visa you get 1 point for every dollar spent unless you are paying RCI for cruise or other items when you get 2 for 1. Occasionally RCI Visa will run a limited promotion for more points but it is minimal.

 

We are making the switch for more points and far more flexibility.

I have both I don't use the Rci Visa. I used it just for the sign up points. Correct me if I am wrong, if I spend 125,000 dollars I will recieve 1250.00 for a cruise with RCI. If I spend 125,000 with Cap One I get 2500.00 for any type travel.

Do you get one dollar or two for each dollar spent?

I wish I could - I have over 125,000 points and wanted an Oasis or Allure cruise, but I can't book one right now due to having two kids (3/4th pax aren't exactly cheap)...

 

I get angrier about this every time I think about it. My loyalty to Royal Caribbean and (BOA for that matter) - 9 cruises - apparently means nothing to them. It only takes one experience to ruin a brand/customer relationship, and this was it for me.

 

I'm not going to thump my chest and swear that I'll never cruise them again, because I clearly liked their product. However, today I applied for and was approved for the Capital One Venture card mentioned in this thread - 2 points for every purchase, which never expire, and they can be applied to any travel expense. Which means I'm no longer limited to looking just to Royal Caribbean for my cruise purchases... Royal Caribbean has opened the door for me to choose other cruise lines. Not smart for them. At all.

 

I'll sit on these points that I have until such time as I can use them, and after that you'll see me on other cruises - maybe RCCL, maybe some other cruise line. But I won't be a GUARANTEED CUSTOMER any longer, RCCL.

Welcome to Capital One, believe me you won't be sorry. Unless you like standing on your head jumping through hoops on the day they tell you to.

I guess if you have a high enough credit limit you could buy a car or time share then pay it off when you get the bill. Depending on your monthly purchases such as groceries and gas you could accumulate quite a lot of points. I use mine for gas, groceries, department store purchases and gifts, charitable donations and sometimes in restaurants .Purchasing a RCCL cruise with the card gives you double points. Anything you purchase on board is also double if your sea pass is covered by your Visa. Your'e not likely to accumulate the limit of points in a year but it's not so hard to accumulate enough for a nice upgrade or some OBC. Oh, and I used mine to make college tuition and room and board payments when I had 2 in college at the same time. I always pay it off each month and keep a close watch on the balance to make sure I can do that.

Actually a car dealer will not let you buy a car on a credit card, because it will cost him 2% to the credit card company. They will let you do it, but they will jack up the price of the car. I tried to do it on a 22,000 dollar car a few years back. I also tried to pay for collage tuition with the card, again they wanted 2% more. The merchants are paying for all the points that we get.

Can't beat that. Last question... do you lose points when you apply points to a travel purchase? In other words, if you were to spend $1,000 in travel which would normally give you 2,000 points but then go and apply 1,000 points to pay that tavel charge do you lose the 2,000 points?

No, you get to keep the points. The card works great for me. I use one card for business expenses and one for personnal use. Every couple of months I transfer all my points to one card. When May comes I shop for the best price for the cruise of my choise and use my points to pay for it. It is very simple. Capital One also allows you to transfer your points to someone else. There is no limit on points and they never expire.

Think my question couple days ago got lost in the shuffle. That $50.80 can you designate what travel it gets applied to or will CO automatically apply your points to the first travel charge that comes through that your total can cover?

At the end of the month you can see all the transaction that qualify for travel and you pick if and when you apply your points. Actually if you don't have enough points for a transaction they give you 90 days to build up points.

I just make the payment on my Capital One card (personal use), 2540.31. 50.80 for my next cruise.

"Usually", any creditor where you must physically go online to pay a bill each and every month, uses a service provider to collect their payments and as a result, there is a charge. "Usually" when you can be set up on an auto pay, there is not a charge for a cc payment. There are of course exceptions.

 

When you can pay using a cc that gives you some type of benefit whether it be credit towards a cruise or cash back, why wouldn't you use it? You can look at it as a discount on your creditor's bill. I used it for a sizable medical bill last month and to ease the "pain" :rolleyes: I thought of it as a 1% discount. Turned around the next day and paid down the credit card balance to cover the expense.

 

Keep in mind for those who still write checks. Most banks charge for providing checks and some even either charge to process a check you write or limit the number you can write in a month.

If you used a Capital One card it would be a 2% discount. Oh buy the way, I do not work for Capital One. LOL

I just checked Verizon, they charge 3.50 a month to use a cc:eek: let's say a person pays 10.00 a month to use a cc to pay bills, that's 120.00 a year or 12000 dollars to get 12000 points just to break even. Holy cow:p

Make sure that the merchant is not charging any fees and just as important you must make sure your paying the bill off in full every month.

Thank you for the information. Here is a scenario that maybe your experience may be able to answer. What if you owe say $3,000 for your cruise and have 75,000 points available. If you went and made a payment of $750 towards your cruise balance due could you then "erase" that charge by applying the points to that payment? The charge would come through as RCI and I doubt that Capital One would know it was only a partial payment if they only go by what company the charge was made to.

 

Just trying to cover all bases because as much as I like the RCI Visa card, it certainly sounds like the Capital One will give us a considerable more amount of points over the long haul.

 

We also use the card as extensively as you do because it just adds up the points that much faster.

I think that will work. I up graded to a balcony last cruise for 100.00 dollars and the 100.00 dollars appeared on the purchase eraser which means it would work.

I checked out their website and saw the travel "purchase eraser" method to use points, but they weren't clear about a few things -

 

1) Can you use credits to cover a portion of a purchase - i.e., apply 75,000 points to a $2,500 cruise?

 

2) How do you obtain an OBC with this card?

 

Thanks for any info you can provide.

I don't think you can cover a portion of a cruise. 75,000 points is = to 750 dollars, if your cruise was for two people at 1500 dollars total you would be able to pay for one person cruise. For on board credit, you would pay the on board credit with the card and use the purchase eraser when you get the bill. I would also use the points for my flight, rental car, and my before cruise hotel. It works for any travel. If you buy a meal at a Hilton Hotel, it works. I even bought concert tickets at Foxwoods Resort. You can also buy new cloths worth 750.00 dollars for your cruise by purchasing gift cards for almost any retail store. If you want cash 75000 points will get you 325.00 dollars, (not the best use of your 75000 points). I use the card for any merchant that would take it (to build up points), I pay my cable bill, cell phone bill, Gasoline bill, groceries, if they take the card I use it.

We have Capital One accounts and don't recall ever getting promos for this type of card. How do you redeem the points? Is it via credit to your card, a check or can it be applied directly to RCI amounts due? Also, with your purchases, does it give 1% for everything you use the card for or do they have any purchases that are greater such as some cards give higher percentages when you purchase gasoline or some restaurants.

 

Although we use our RCI points strictly for OBC, it is only a 1 for 1 swap and now that we have to do in 25k increments then some points will go unused each cruise.

 

Sounds like the 2 for 1 points as you note, that even negates the double points feature when you use the RCI Visa to pay for RCI amounts due.

You redeem the points by using the card for the purchase, when the bill comes you pay that item with your points. There are hundreds of companies that offer additional points when you do business with them and use the Capital One card.

Thanks for the info. When I looked at the Capital One website, the card that gives 2% cash back has an annual fee. It's still a better deal but just wanted to check that this is the card you are referring to and that I am not missing something. Is it the Capital One Venture Rewards card with the annual $59 fee?

 

Thanks!

I have two Capital one cards, both work the same way. The Signature Card has no annual fee, but I don't think that is offered any more. The Venture Card I think has no fee the first year and 59.00 dollars after that. The fee is not a problem for me because I use my cards for business and personal use. I will get 300000 points per year. With Capital One there is no jumping through hoops to redeem your points.

My advise to everyone that uses this card is to look into getting a Capital One card. Capital One card is mush simpler to redeem points. Example, if you spend 1000 dollars you get 2000 points. 2000 points will get you 20 dollars that is good towards any type of travel. You get 2% of whatever you spend towards any type of travel. I get a free cruise every year. Believe me get rid of the Royal Caribbean card and stop jumping through hoops. Look into the Capital One Card.

Who's on first, what's on second. That is the reason why Capital One is the way to go. You shop for your best cruise price and pay with Capital One Card. When the bill comes you pay with your points. Very simple process, you don't deal with people that don't even know there own rules.

Molly, I am sorry I can't find a link for Royal without being signed on to my account. The way it works is that you sign on to your account and you go to a section that is called extra rewards. There are hundreds of links to companies that give extra points. So you go to the Royal link, you would use your card to purchase a cruise on line. You would get 2 points for every dollar spent and in the case of Royal you would get an additional 4 points for every dollar spent. I could not do this on my last cruise because I had a on board next cruise OBC. I could not book on line.

Wow, 4 points for every dollar is great! I didn't know about that. Being able to pick different cruise lines (maybe someday I'll try another!), or different vacations altogether is definitely a plus. I'm going to check it out now that I've redeemed my 75k for a free companion cruise ($1449 value, so that worked out well for me).

The card works great for me, give it a try. Even with your example above I would have an extra 50.00 dollars to spend on something else. I am not sure how to use the quote feature.

If the cruise is only 1000.00 you would only need 100.000 points. I don't think you have choices like that with the Royal card. If you spend money on line with Royal capital one also gives you 4 extra points for every dollar spent. Capital one has hundreds of companies that they give you additional points. If you want an inside cabin you get an inside cabin. You can shop for the best price and also try a different cruise company with the points you earn with the Capital one card. I had 225,000 points I payed for two people in a balcony cabin on the 4th of July week.

I just called Royal asking if one person in a cabin can get the beverage package and the other person who has a medical problem go without by getting a medical note. The response was that I would not need a medical note. Just purchase the package on the ship. This woman also claimed that one person can purchase the package, just do it on the ship medical problem or not. I thought this was strange so I questioned her again with the same response. She claimed that she worked there six months and this is not a new policy. Just buy it on the ship. Is she misinformed or not?

I also have the Royal visa, but i don't use it. I just signed up for the sign up OBC. If travel is your goal the Capital one card is the way to go. I did all the research over and over again.

I have two capital one cards. One is the Venture card which I use for all my personal use, I think it has a 50.00 a year fee. Sounds like a lot but well worth it for me. I also have a capital one signature card which they don't offer any longer, I use this for business expenses. You can transfer points from one account to the other. They both are good for 2% travel.

The RCCL visa is too much thinking. Try the Capital One card. It is very simple, you get 2% of what you spend. You can pick what cabin you want just like you are paying with your credit card. When the bill comes you pay with your points. If you use your points for any kind of travel it always comes out to 2%. I have a business which has large purchases, I get a free cruise every year. I use the card for every purchase.