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Excerpt from

WorldPoints® Rewards Terms & Conditions:

Double Cross meta upgrade on 5-day or longer cruise - 60,000 points

Double Cross-Meta upgrade refers to having the option to book a specific Balcony category

for the price of a specific Interior category.

Upgrades vary per ship, sail date, category and cabin capacity.

 

On July 15th, 2017 I booked the NCL Bliss, 14 day sailing from Los Angeles to Miami (November 3rd, 2018).

At that time, the World Points NCL rep told me to book a Category I-A (inside cabin) at the current price then, when I had 60,000 points, to call again and I would be upgraded to a Category B-A (mid-ship balcony).

This made sense.

However, when I called back a few days ago, after reaching 60,000 points, I was told

“The pricing structure has changed for this sailing”.

The Rep said, to get the B-A, I had to first pay for a I-1(one), which is a family inside, at $200. more per person “voyage fair”, because on this sailing/ship an I-1(not an I-A) is equivalent to a B-A. (?)

Finally : After much argument, I was frustrated with their mumbo-jumbo double-talk

but made the pro-rated change of an additional $400.

In the end saved $1662.00 on the current price of a B-A.

I'll be looking at all of this again.

 

They are correct. Look at the categories and see how they match up or should I say you match them up comparably. If you get top Balcony (afts and wraps excluded) you need top inside or outside to meta "Cross" over to. I usually book higher priced inside which is very little cost difference and I get a higher Balcony.

Steve

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Excerpt from

WorldPoints® Rewards Terms & Conditions:

Double Cross meta upgrade on 5-day or longer cruise - 60,000 points

Double Cross-Meta upgrade refers to having the option to book a specific Balcony category

for the price of a specific Interior category.

Upgrades vary per ship, sail date, category and cabin capacity.

 

On July 15th, 2017 I booked the NCL Bliss, 14 day sailing from Los Angeles to Miami (November 3rd, 2018).

At that time, the World Points NCL rep told me to book a Category I-A (inside cabin) at the current price then, when I had 60,000 points, to call again and I would be upgraded to a Category B-A (mid-ship balcony).

This made sense.

However, when I called back a few days ago, after reaching 60,000 points, I was told

“The pricing structure has changed for this sailing”.

The Rep said, to get the B-A, I had to first pay for a I-1(one), which is a family inside, at $200. more per person “voyage fair”, because on this sailing/ship an I-1(not an I-A) is equivalent to a B-A. (?)

Finally : After much argument, I was frustrated with their mumbo-jumbo double-talk

but made the pro-rated change of an additional $400.

In the end saved $1662.00 on the current price of a B-A.

I'll be looking at all of this again.

 

Kind of a bummer but I guess they are entitled to do this because of the wording Upgrades vary per ship, sail date, category and cabin capacity.

 

$1,662 is still a substantial savings. Far better than taking OBC or statement credit for the 60,000 points.

 

Edited to add ....... On the Bliss the BA category is 4th from the bottom (after X category). The IA is third from the bottom (after X category) and I1 is fourth from bottom so I think it would take an I1 to go to a BA. Unfortunate you were told otherwise when you first looked into it.

Edited by kjquilts
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Quick help please. We have a new ncl card. Made the required purchases to earn 10,000 pts which can be used as $100 OBC. I see posts not to take this as OBC, but charge everything to your NCL card. We went on our account yesterday and are confused as to how to use the points to pay the bill. It seems as though you take a huge cut in "money" by doing that. Can someone explain the process to us so we get the most use from our credit card. Thank you all so much!! We leave on the Escape on the 28th... Countdown is on.

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Quick help please. We have a new ncl card.

Made the required purchases to earn 10,000 pts which can be used as $100 OBC.

I see posts not to take this as OBC, but charge everything to your NCL card.

We went on our account yesterday and are confused as to how to use the points to pay the bill.

It seems as though you take a huge cut in "money" by doing that.

Can someone explain the process to us so we get the most use from our credit card.

Thank you all so much!! We leave on the Escape on the 28th... Countdown is on.

Take the OBC if you are only talking about 10,000 points:confused:

How do you think you will be taking a huge cut? How much did the points cost you?

 

However,

If you want more, save your points until they are worth more (at least 25,000 for $250) then,

Log in to your Bank of America account, then

Go to the REWARDS tab: click and go to

REDEEM POINTS tab... then go to the

CASH tab.

Let me know if it works. :)

Most likely not, if you don't at least 25,000 points to get $250. (1 for 1 credit)

 

I recommend saving 60,000 points, then getting a double meta upgrade.

Edited by $hip$hape
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I used my NCL branded MasterCard (issued by Bank of America) several times on a recent cruise from San Francisco to Miami, with ports in Mexico, Costa Rica and Colombia. Turns out that this card charges foreign transaction fees. I won't be using it any longer for out of country purchases! :lips-sealed: I am absolutely NOT a fan of Bank of America and ONLY took the card for the initial perks. At least it has no annual fee.

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I used my NCL branded MasterCard (issued by Bank of America) several times on a recent cruise from San Francisco to Miami, with ports in Mexico, Costa Rica and Colombia.

Turns out that this card charges foreign transaction fees.

I won't be using it any longer for out of country purchases! :lips-sealed:

Yes; There is a foreign transaction fee.

On our recent trip from Prague to Paris, on a Viking River Cruise,

I had a total of $1.62 USD in foreign transaction fees !

How will I ever recover ? !

Shame on them ! (sarcasm):D

Edited by $hip$hape
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I used my NCL branded MasterCard (issued by Bank of America) several times on a recent cruise from San Francisco to Miami, with ports in Mexico, Costa Rica and Colombia. Turns out that this card charges foreign transaction fees. I won't be using it any longer for out of country purchases! :lips-sealed: I am absolutely NOT a fan of Bank of America and ONLY took the card for the initial perks. At least it has no annual fee.

 

The unfortunate reality is the NCL card is not good for much more than NCL purchases. The Carnival card, through Barclay, waives foreign transaction fees and offers far more services. I wish NCL would dump BofA and move to Barclay. We just hit the points necessary for our upgrade with the NCL card, so we won't be using it any longer except for NCL purchases.

 

 

Save

 

 

Save

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Larry and I have been saving points on our NCL branded BAC Mastercards and each accumulated over 30,000 points. We booked two cruises, used 30,000 points on each of them to do meta upgrade from oceanview to balcony stateroom and saved a total of $3,680 on the cost of the two cruises. Details follow if you're interested :)

 

Booked the Norwegian Jade for 9 night France and Iberia cruise May 16, 2018 in a category OK obstructed view (lowest category where you still get perks). I knew the corresponding balcony category BD had no staterooms available but was still being sold as a BD guarantee. On the Jade there aren't any balconies I'd really hate so decided to take a chance knowing we'd receive at least a category BD balcony. We called NCL Worldpoint department at 866-954-4077 who redeemed 30,000 points then processed meta upgrade to a BD balcony guarantee. We received our actual stateroom assignment two days later - category BA balcony. It is an adjoining stateroom but is in a good location and for the $2,000 price difference between the OK obstructed oceanview and the BA balcony we are happy.

 

Decided since we will already be in Europe and since we're not getting any younger we might as well do two cruises. Spent the last 3 days looking for something special that would work with time frame of the Jade cruise and finally decided on the 11 night Mediterranean and Adriatic cruise on the NCL Spirit on May 27th. Easiest option was doing the Jade British Isles cruise front to back but couldn't resist the great Spirit itinerary. The balcony stateroom I wanted for this cruise (good location, not adjoining) is a category BB so I booked the corresponding oceanview category OA then called the NCL Worldpoint department who redeemed another 30,000 points and processed the meta upgrade for us. Savings on this cruise is $1,680 and we were able to pick our stateroom.

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Yes; There is a foreign transaction fee.

On our recent trip from Prague to Paris, on a Viking River Cruise,

I had a total of $1.62 USD in foreign transaction fees !

How will I ever recover ? !

Shame on them ! (sarcasm):D

 

I had a large-ish foreign transaction fee from my MSC cruise. Despite leaving from Miami and going to the Caribbean, MSC routes their onboard accounts through a European bank. So everything I bought onboard incurred the fee. :mad:

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Yes; There is a foreign transaction fee.

On our recent trip from Prague to Paris, on a Viking River Cruise,

I had a total of $1.62 USD in foreign transaction fees !

How will I ever recover ? !

Shame on them ! (sarcasm):D

LOL! I don't want to give ANY bank one red cent, if I can avoid it! ;)
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I used my NCL branded MasterCard (issued by Bank of America) several times on a recent cruise from San Francisco to Miami, with ports in Mexico, Costa Rica and Colombia. Turns out that this card charges foreign transaction fees. I won't be using it any longer for out of country purchases! :lips-sealed: I am absolutely NOT a fan of Bank of America and ONLY took the card for the initial perks. At least it has no annual fee.

 

Funny, I have never had a problem with BoA credit cards. However, I did read the fine print so I knew that the NCL card was not a "travel" card.

 

I typically link my NCL card to my onboard account then put it in the safe for the duration. I use my BoA Travel Card for all other purchases because it doesn't have foreign transaction fees. Neither card has annual fees, so it works for me. :D Plus, I like the convenience of being able to consolidate rewards points on one account.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Speaking to the NCl redemption department 866-954-4077 about the NCL Bank of America Master card points I was told:

 

Points expire in 5 years

 

Spending points with NCL has a higher value than redeeming the points From the credit card company for cash. NCL redemption ratio is 10,000 points=$100 which can be used for shipboard credit for example.

 

Upgrades are provided for points within the "Meta" ...meaning "same category"....but to upgrade from an Inside cabin to a balcony needs 30,000 points.

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Following information for stateroom upgrades points value required is quoted from NCL Worldpoints Rewards Credit Page. Link to the page is shown below. This summary is found by clicking on Terms and Conditions shown just under the NCL Worldpoints phone number towards the bottom of the page.

Offer:

Stateroom Upgrades Points Value

 

Up To 2-Category Upgrade On 5-Day Or Longer Cruise (Within The Same Category Meta) 10,000

 

Up To 4-Category Upgrade On 5-Day Or Longer Cruise (Within The Same Category Meta) 20,000

 

Inside To Oceanview Or Oceanview To Balcony Stateroom Upgrade On 5-Day Or Longer Cruise (Single Meta Upgrade) 30,000

 

Inside To Balcony Stateroom Upgrade On 5-Day Or Longer Cruise (Double Meta Upgrade) 60,000

 

Here is link to the NCL Worldpoints website page:

https://www.ncl.com/world-points

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Spending points with NCL has a higher value than redeeming the points From the credit card company for cash. NCL redemption ratio is 10,000 points=$100 which can be used for shipboard credit for example.

 

 

Just a clarification, this is true for point redemptions of less than 25,000. If you redeem points of 25,000 or more, there is no difference between OBC value and a statement credit value.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm going to preach/second the common feedback here to not redeem for OBC. On a cruise I booked this week where they had the 'Take 5' deal, I booked an OF and redeemed 30K points for an upgrade to BC. The difference in fare was over $2,000 on just a 7 day cruise. For us, this was a no brainer since DW cannot stand a room without a balcony. I learned my lesson after trying a porthole a few years back!

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I'm going to preach/second the common feedback here to not redeem for OBC. On a cruise I booked this week where they had the 'Take 5' deal, I booked an OF and redeemed 30K points for an upgrade to BC. The difference in fare was over $2,000 on just a 7 day cruise. For us, this was a no brainer since DW cannot stand a room without a balcony. I learned my lesson after trying a porthole a few years back!
That is why some people like vanilla and some like chocolate. Personally, I would not pay the 300 that the 30k points are worth to upgrade to a balcony, let alone the 2000 that NCL is charging on your booked cruise. I'd use it towards Vibe passes and specialty dining. People like their balconies since they don't have to battle the crowds and they can relax at their leisure. I would prefer to relax on the upgraded loungers in the Vibe and partake with being spoiled there. Once again, it all comes down to personal preference. Some people never go back to an inside once they have had a balcony, I feel the same way about the drink packages. Thank goodness I can get them for only the 18% gratuity.
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That is why some people like vanilla and some like chocolate. Personally, I would not pay the 300 that the 30k points are worth to upgrade to a balcony, let alone the 2000 that NCL is charging on your booked cruise. I'd use it towards Vibe passes and specialty dining. People like their balconies since they don't have to battle the crowds and they can relax at their leisure. I would prefer to relax on the upgraded loungers in the Vibe and partake with being spoiled there. Once again, it all comes down to personal preference. Some people never go back to an inside once they have had a balcony, I feel the same way about the drink packages. Thank goodness I can get them for only the 18% gratuity.

 

I agree on the personal preference --- I was just sharing my score. For us, it was worth the 30K points, but to others, not really. We travel with 2 kids under 10 so Vibe is out of the question. With the take 5, we already get the 3SDP and UBP so dropping 30K on the upgrade was a no brainer, especially when we already got free DSC for pax 1 and 2, and $150 OBC. I'll gladly pay DSC for pax 3 and 4 for triple points.

 

Anyway, since redemption rates for OBC/cash is .01/point, I will just say that putting your every day spending on this card just to redeem for OBC is a horrible rate. If you're only charging NCL expenses on this for the 3pts/$1, then that's a great deal to redeem for OBC or meta upgrades. There are way better cards out there for every day spend but we'll save that for another forum.

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  • 1 month later...

I just used some of my points (60,000) to do a double meta upgrade from interior to balcony on an Alaska cruise in May 2018. The whole process was very easy.

 

I called NCL and talked to a PCC and made the reservation for an inside cabin. Then they transferred me to a World Points rep who took care of the upgrade. She found me a starboard cabin on deck 10. The whole thing only took 24 minutes.

 

This was my first time to use points and I was very pleased with the whole process.

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I just used some of my points (60,000) to do a double meta upgrade from interior to balcony on an Alaska cruise in May 2018. The whole process was very easy.

 

I called NCL and talked to a PCC and made the reservation for an inside cabin. Then they transferred me to a World Points rep who took care of the upgrade. She found me a starboard cabin on deck 10. The whole thing only took 24 minutes.

 

This was my first time to use points and I was very pleased with the whole process.

 

I too just redeemed 60,000 points for a double meta upgrade.

 

Major score again!!!! I saved over $5000 in the difference from an inside to a Balcony on a 30 night south America cruise on the Sun.

 

Steve

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I just used some of my points (60,000) to do a double meta upgrade from interior to balcony on an Alaska cruise in May 2018. The whole process was very easy.

 

I called NCL and talked to a PCC and made the reservation for an inside cabin. Then they transferred me to a World Points rep who took care of the upgrade. She found me a starboard cabin on deck 10. The whole thing only took 24 minutes.

 

This was my first time to use points and I was very pleased with the whole process.

 

Thanks for this. This is exactly what we hope to do for an Alaska cruise in 2019!(y)

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