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Princess Credit Card Enhancements


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The new feature allows you a bonus when you apply your points to past Princess charges on your credit card up to 180 days after the purchase has been made.

 

It is applying your points to past purchases instead of to OBC on a future cruise.

 

Thank you Caribill. Now I understand.

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Shoot. We just redeemed 40000 points for $500. But thanks for the info. We are Princess Visa fans.

 

Guess I am not understanding what the difference is. I am feeling reaaaalllly stupid here.

 

As an example using the above, what would you have gotten had you waited until November? We have upcoming cruises coming due and want to do it correctly. What exactly extra do you get and where does it show up on board the ship?

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Guess I am not understanding what the difference is. I am feeling reaaaalllly stupid here.

 

As an example using the above, what would you have gotten had you waited until November? We have upcoming cruises coming due and want to do it correctly. What exactly extra do you get and where does it show up on board the ship?

 

I've never received the similar offer and when I go to the Princess CC website I only get the same old numbers.

I think I'll wait it out to see what comes down.

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I got a mailing today that the Princess Cruises Rewards Visa credit card program will "updated to make it even more rewarding" starting in early November. And the best part is: it really does make it better! You will still earn rewards at 2x for purchases on Princess [and also on other World's Leading Cruise Lines -- meaning all Carnival Corp brands] and 1x on all other purchases. But now when you redeem your points against Princess purchases [only Princess, not the other CCL brands] you will get a higher multiplier for larger redemptions. Previously you got 1% up to $500, 1.25% $501–$3,000, 1.5% $3,001–$7,500, and 2% for redemptions above $7,500. Now you bump to 1.5% at $2001, and to 2% at $4,001. [i also note that they no longer charge Foreign Transaction Fees – this seems to be old news, but when I got the card there was a 3% charge]. What these changes mean is that if you use the Princess credit card to book your cruises, you can get a total of 4% discount between the 2x earn and the 2% redemption -- that is a very good deal!

We just received our updated Reward Rules in today's mail. They are written in a very complicated manner (and DH and I have Finance backgrounds) and we've just spent an hour trying to figure it all out. Most confusing is that Points are discussed but the enclosed table only shows Dollars. I'm still confused about that.

 

My interpretation of these changes are that they are very bad. First, Princess purchases used to always bring 2 points per dollar, plus a bonus over 40000 points. No longer. Now the 2 points per dollar requires at least $4001 in purchases in the prior 180 days. $4000 or less in purchases offer 1.5 points or less. A minimum of 5000 points is required to redeem the minimum $50 reward (this is the part that confuses us...points vs. dollars).

 

The changes having a negative impact:

- the 180 day look back for purchases. Redeem within 180 days or lose the points. Don't have 5000 points to redeem? Lose the points.

- the $50 redemption increment. While the new terms specifically state that 5000 points bring a $50 reward (which, again, we can't reconcile to what is stated in the table in the document), if one has 7850 points, one can only redeem 5000 of them. Then, either use the card to get the points up to 5000 again within 180 days, or lose them altogether.

 

We had 18750 points yet to redeem. We just today redeemed 10000 of them for $100, under the existing terms. Before 11/1, we will purchase another $1300 from Princess (either FCCs or onboard spending) and immediately redeem another 10000 points. Since we use the card only for Princess purchases, it may not make sense for us to use it at all in the future. That's too bad, as we used to get $500-$1000 back every year on our Princess purchases.

 

If anyone else has a different interpretation of the confusing new terms, please discuss it here. I want to believe it's not as bad as it seems, but I remain unconvinced that any credit card company really does want to make its terms more advantageous for its customers.

 

ETA: Also, the 2x points are only on Princess purchases. Points can be redeemed for any CCL brand cruise...but only at 1%. We get at least that much on our other credit cards.

Edited by PescadoAmarillo
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We just received our updated Reward Rules in today's mail. They are written in a very complicated manner (and DH and I have Finance backgrounds) and we've just spent an hour trying to figure it all out. Most confusing is that Points are discussed but the enclosed table only shows Dollars. I'm still confused about that.

 

My interpretation of these changes are that they are very bad. First, Princess purchases used to always bring 2 points per dollar, plus a bonus over 40000 points. No longer. Now the 2 points per dollar requires at least $4001 in purchases in the prior 180 days. $4000 or less in purchases offer 1.5 points or less. A minimum of 5000 points is required to redeem the minimum $50 reward (this is the part that confuses us...points vs. dollars).

 

The changes having a negative impact:

- the 180 day look back for purchases. Redeem within 180 days or lose the points. Don't have 5000 points to redeem? Lose the points.

- the $50 redemption increment. While the new terms specifically state that 5000 points bring a $50 reward (which, again, we can't reconcile to what is stated in the table in the document), if one has 7850 points, one can only redeem 5000 of them. Then, either use the card to get the points up to 5000 again within 180 days, or lose them altogether.

 

We had 18750 points yet to redeem. We just today redeemed 10000 of them for $100, under the existing terms. Before 11/1, we will purchase another $1300 from Princess (either FCCs or onboard spending) and immediately redeem another 10000 points. Since we use the card only for Princess purchases, it may not make sense for us to use it at all in the future. That's too bad, as we used to get $500-$1000 back every year on our Princess purchases.

 

If anyone else has a different interpretation of the confusing new terms, please discuss it here. I want to believe it's not as bad as it seems, but I remain unconvinced that any credit card company really does want to make its terms more advantageous for its customers.

 

ETA: Also, the 2x points are only on Princess purchases. Points can be redeemed for any CCL brand cruise...but only at 1%. We get at least that much on our other credit cards.

 

We also got ours. I may be reading it wrong, but it looks like what you are talking about and what the changes are if you apply it to your credit card balance and not a Princess cruise.

 

Has anyone called Barclay?

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We just received our updated Reward Rules in today's mail. They are written in a very complicated manner (and DH and I have Finance backgrounds) and we've just spent an hour trying to figure it all out. Most confusing is that Points are discussed but the enclosed table only shows Dollars. I'm still confused about that.

 

My interpretation of these changes are that they are very bad. First, Princess purchases used to always bring 2 points per dollar, plus a bonus over 40000 points. No longer. Now the 2 points per dollar requires at least $4001 in purchases in the prior 180 days. $4000 or less in purchases offer 1.5 points or less. A minimum of 5000 points is required to redeem the minimum $50 reward (this is the part that confuses us...points vs. dollars).

 

The changes having a negative impact:

- the 180 day look back for purchases. Redeem within 180 days or lose the points. Don't have 5000 points to redeem? Lose the points.

- the $50 redemption increment. While the new terms specifically state that 5000 points bring a $50 reward (which, again, we can't reconcile to what is stated in the table in the document), if one has 7850 points, one can only redeem 5000 of them. Then, either use the card to get the points up to 5000 again within 180 days, or lose them altogether.

 

We had 18750 points yet to redeem. We just today redeemed 10000 of them for $100, under the existing terms. Before 11/1, we will purchase another $1300 from Princess (either FCCs or onboard spending) and immediately redeem another 10000 points. Since we use the card only for Princess purchases, it may not make sense for us to use it at all in the future. That's too bad, as we used to get $500-$1000 back every year on our Princess purchases.

 

If anyone else has a different interpretation of the confusing new terms, please discuss it here. I want to believe it's not as bad as it seems, but I remain unconvinced that any credit card company really does want to make its terms more advantageous for its customers.

 

ETA: Also, the 2x points are only on Princess purchases. Points can be redeemed for any CCL brand cruise...but only at 1%. We get at least that much on our other credit cards.

 

Thanks for you interpretation. :D They've made it simple for me. Cash in what I've got for the next cruise & get another credit card with simpler instructions. They not the only credit card company out there.

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I don't believe the points are use-or-lose; the rule before was two statement cycles or not yet paid in full. Now you can apply points to "pay off" a previous charge from Princess, WLCL or airlines, up to 180 days back, regardless of payment status. It appears to be similar to "purchase eraser" from other issuers.

 

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the big win here: self-service redemption.

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I don't believe the points are use-or-lose; the rule before was two statement cycles or not yet paid in full. Now you can apply points to "pay off" a previous charge from Princess, WLCL or airlines, up to 180 days back, regardless of payment status. It appears to be similar to "purchase eraser" from other issuers.

 

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the big win here: self-service redemption.

 

Confused again about this. We've always had self-service redemption by using their website. Do you mean something else?

 

And the table states 'Princess Purchase Amount within last 180 days'. I take that to mean Princess purchase amounts 181 days and older do not have any point redemption value.

 

I have not called Barclay, mostly because I am cynical and don't believe their customer service reps will have a full understanding either. I'm probably wrong about that, but I am kind of with FloridaLover on this one: make it straightforward or I'll find a card that does.

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We also got ours. I may be reading it wrong, but it looks like what you are talking about and what the changes are if you apply it to your credit card balance and not a Princess cruise.

 

Has anyone called Barclay?

 

We received ours this afternoon and am very confused so I called Barclays. To make it short after the round about, the agent told me that there are others that are confused and they will send a simpler explanation by mail or email.

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We received ours this afternoon and am very confused so I called Barclays. To make it short after the round about, the agent told me that there are others that are confused and they will send a simpler explanation by mail or email.

 

They better hurry up. I'm sure people are already shopping around for better deals.....like this one.

Of course you can't get the cash back in the form of on board credit but who really cares...it's cash.

Unless I'm reading their terms wrong it appears to be better than the Princess CC.

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I agree the brochure is very confusing but I am sure that the points do NOT expire. The business about 180 days is to get the double redemption value -- for that you need a Princess purchase within the last 180 days; if you have that, you can pair your point redemption to that purchase and get 2% rather than 1% for your points. I was planning to redeem 5,000 points for a $50 OBC on my upcoming Princess cruise. Now I will wait until final payment, put the entire cruise cost on the Princess credit card, and then use the points earned against that cruise charge. If the timing works out, I should be able to do this before paying for the cruise charge. Since I'll get 2x points for making the charge, and collect them as 2% statement credit -- I will get a 4% discount on the cruise. I still say this is a good deal.

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So I have 38,000 points on my Princess credit card. I cruised with Princess on the Grand in late August 2016. I charged $6,000 to the credit card for the cruise.

 

Do I redeem 3,000 points to get the 2x statement credit which will pay for the cruise?

 

Or do I redeem 6,000 points?

 

Or is it something else?

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I agree the brochure is very confusing but I am sure that the points do NOT expire. The business about 180 days is to get the double redemption value -- for that you need a Princess purchase within the last 180 days; if you have that, you can pair your point redemption to that purchase and get 2% rather than 1% for your points. I was planning to redeem 5,000 points for a $50 OBC on my upcoming Princess cruise. Now I will wait until final payment, put the entire cruise cost on the Princess credit card, and then use the points earned against that cruise charge. If the timing works out, I should be able to do this before paying for the cruise charge. Since I'll get 2x points for making the charge, and collect them as 2% statement credit -- I will get a 4% discount on the cruise. I still say this is a good deal.

 

 

So host, why can't other country's citizens avail themselves of these benefits, by being able to acquire a Princess Visa card?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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So host, why can't other country's citizens avail themselves of these benefits, by being able to acquire a Princess Visa card?

 

I don't even know why you can't avail yourselves of US-based cruise specials – and you think I run the banking industry??? Seriously, I do know that the banking industry is regulated very tightly at the country level. [Let's not get into a political discussion about whether it is regulated tightly enough...] So it's no surprise that credit card offers are country-specific.

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So I have 38,000 points on my Princess credit card. I cruised with Princess on the Grand in late August 2016. I charged $6,000 to the credit card for the cruise. Do I redeem 3,000 points to get the 2x statement credit which will pay for the cruise? Or do I redeem 6,000 points? Or is it something else?

 

OK, with the disclaimer that I may be totally off base here, my understanding of how this will work is the following: You charged $6,000 for a Princess cruise, which gets you 2x points or 12,000. At the normal 1% redemption rate that would give you a $120 statement credit. But since you had a Princess purchase in the last 180 days for more than $4,000 you can get a 2% redemption rate -- therefore your 12,000 points can be redeemed for $240. You spent $6,000; you get $240 back -- that's 4%.

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OK, with the disclaimer that I may be totally off base here, my understanding of how this will work is the following: You charged $6,000 for a Princess cruise, which gets you 2x points or 12,000. At the normal 1% redemption rate that would give you a $120 statement credit. But since you had a Princess purchase in the last 180 days for more than $4,000 you can get a 2% redemption rate -- therefore your 12,000 points can be redeemed for $240. You spent $6,000; you get $240 back -- that's 4%.

 

I hope you're right.

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We just received our updated Reward Rules in today's mail. They are written in a very complicated manner (and DH and I have Finance backgrounds) and we've just spent an hour trying to figure it all out. Most confusing is that Points are discussed but the enclosed table only shows Dollars. I'm still confused about that.

 

My interpretation of these changes are that they are very bad. First, Princess purchases used to always bring 2 points per dollar, plus a bonus over 40000 points. No longer. No. You still earn 2 points per dollar on Princess purchases. You also can now earn 2 points per dollar for purchases on all other CCL Corp cruise lines.

 

Now the 2 points per dollar requires at least $4001 in purchases in the prior 180 days. $4000 or less in purchases offer 1.5 points or less. A minimum of 5000 points is required to redeem the minimum $50 reward (this is the part that confuses us...points vs. dollars). This is only if you are redeeming points as a payment towards appropriate charges to the credit card.

 

The changes having a negative impact:

- the 180 day look back for purchases. Redeem within 180 days or lose the points. Don't have 5000 points to redeem? Lose the points. No. You do not lose the points. They just cannot be used to apply to a past charge on the credit card that is older than 180 days. They can still be used for redemption for future Princess cruises such as OBC, Spa treatment, etc. or for appropriate charges within the last 180 days when you do choose to redeem once you have 5000 points.

- the $50 redemption increment. While the new terms specifically state that 5000 points bring a $50 reward (which, again, we can't reconcile to what is stated in the table in the document), if one has 7850 points, one can only redeem 5000 of them. Then, either use the card to get the points up to 5000 again within 180 days, or lose them altogether.

 

We had 18750 points yet to redeem. We just today redeemed 10000 of them for $100, under the existing terms. Before 11/1, we will purchase another $1300 from Princess (either FCCs or onboard spending) and immediately redeem another 10000 points. Since we use the card only for Princess purchases, it may not make sense for us to use it at all in the future. That's too bad, as we used to get $500-$1000 back every year on our Princess purchases. And you still can. All this confusing stuff is if you are applying points to appropriate purchases made in the preceding 180 days.

 

If anyone else has a different interpretation of the confusing new terms, please discuss it here. I want to believe it's not as bad as it seems, but I remain unconvinced that any credit card company really does want to make its terms more advantageous for its customers.

 

ETA: Also, the 2x points are only on Princess purchases. Points can be redeemed for any CCL brand cruise...but only at 1%. We get at least that much on our other credit cards. You will earn 2% in points when you use the card to make purchases on other CCL Corp brands. However if you redeem the points for a puchase made in the preceding 180 days, you can only get more than 1% if it was for a Princess brand purchase.

 

See above in red.

 

To summarize:

 

o You still will earn 2% in points for Princess purchases.

 

o You will now be able to earn 2% in points for other CCL Corp purchases.

 

o You can still redeem points for Princess cruise items (such as OBC) just as in the past.

 

o If you redeem points to apply to Princess Purchases that were made in the 180 days prior to redemption, you can get a bonus so that the amount applied will be greater than 100 points/dollar. How much greater depends on the amount of the Princess purchases.

Edited by caribill
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So I have 38,000 points on my Princess credit card. I cruised with Princess on the Grand in late August 2016. I charged $6,000 to the credit card for the cruise.

 

Do I redeem 3,000 points to get the 2x statement credit which will pay for the cruise?

 

Or do I redeem 6,000 points?

 

Or is it something else?

 

To get more than 1% when applying points to a Princess purchase within the previous 180 days, you need to have had Princess purchases $500 or greater and the $6000 cruise charge qualifies.

 

To fully pay for a $6000 cruise, you would need to redeem 300,000 points.

Edited by caribill
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