Caution--Princess Card--Rewards

A little over two weeks ago, I called the Barclay Princess Card Redemption Center at 877-847-8905 and had them place Onboard Credit on a number of cruises for which final payment had been made. The representative had the option to mail them to our home or place them in the booking to be received when onboard the ship. We selected to receive the OBC on the ship.

This morning I attempted to call the Redemption Center and a recorded message says that this number is no longer working and to call the number on the back of the credit card or go online to redeem points. So, I went online and filled out everything including Booking Number and dates; however it only gives you an option to receive the award by mail. This won't work since we will already be gone from home and on a ship. I called the number on the back of the card and spoke to 6 representatives in the Philippines and the USA and they all had the same issue I was getting. After 6 calls I finally got a manager who is located, believe it or not, in Las Vegas. She tried to have the OBC sent to the ship, but got the same issue with the system wanting to mail it to our home.

So, as of this morning, if you want the OBC sent to the ship you are cruising on, there does not appear to be a way in Barclay's updated system software for this to happen any longer. They told me that they will investigate, but investigations take 10 business days. Of course I advised the manager that they didn't have any delay in posting my purchases and I would hope that they could figure something out quickly.

Curt :mad::mad::mad:

Before we cancelled our card we just ended up doing statement credits.

Statement credits seem to currently be the best (only) way to be assured you'll get the benefits from the card....

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I got rid of my cruise line affinity cards as the restrictions got greater and the deals got worse...

Instead, I use a Capital One Venture card--which gets me a much better deal--2% on all purchases...no restrictions...I can buy cruises with less card usage...or just pay for stuff instead of dealing with OBC...

I'm having an "investigation" done just to get a statement credit at the correct percentage!

Our final payment on a cruise >$4001 was just about at the 180 day cutoff for the 2% redemption level. But that payment didn't show up as a "qualifying" charge!! I also ended up speaking with a manager who was able to explain things MUCH better than the initial clerk. Though she could see the charge on my statement and that it was within the 180 days, she could not redeem my points at the 2% level since that Princess payment wasn't showing as "qualified". So she put in the investigation inquiry.

I also had smaller Princess purchases come through in subsequent statements (some purchases just before and after the cruise--ended up on different statements) along with a recent payment in full...NONE of those were included as "qualified" either!!

BE SURE: if you have multiple qualified purchases and you are redeeming points, you might want the redemption to "go against" the oldest of those purchases and maybe not against the most recent. It seems to me, based on the manager's description, that once you "use" a qualified purchase for redemption, it's now "gone". If I understood that correctly, this would be the example: a qualified 2% purchase made 3 months ago that you'd use today to redeem points cannot be used again 2 months from now to redeem more points at the 2% level too.

So in my case, I'm hoping investigations will be able to redeem all of my current points at the 2% level, "using" my qualifying purchase but leaving all of the remaining Princess purchases so I can tally them up for the maximum percentage redemption before the oldest one gets to 180 days.

I'm sure the above is confusing especially because I'm not absolutely certain I understand it correctly! But at the very least, maybe this info will help others to be able to ask questions better. I was on the phone with them for almost an hour and I don't wish that on anyone.

Don't know if we'll continue to use this card or not. Maybe only for qualifying cruises and just a single vendor who does a regular monthly charge, which keeps the card active and meets the requirements of this new program.

A little over two weeks ago, I called the Barclay Princess Card Redemption Center at 877-847-8905 and had them place Onboard Credit on a number of cruises for which final payment had been made. The representative had the option to mail them to our home or place them in the booking to be received when onboard the ship. We selected to receive the OBC on the ship.

 

This morning I attempted to call the Redemption Center and a recorded message says that this number is no longer working and to call the number on the back of the credit card or go online to redeem points. So, I went online and filled out everything including Booking Number and dates; however it only gives you an option to receive the award by mail. This won't work since we will already be gone from home and on a ship. I called the number on the back of the card and spoke to 6 representatives in the Philippines and the USA and they all had the same issue I was getting. After 6 calls I finally got a manager who is located, believe it or not, in Las Vegas. She tried to have the OBC sent to the ship, but got the same issue with the system wanting to mail it to our home.

 

So, as of this morning, if you want the OBC sent to the ship you are cruising on, there does not appear to be a way in Barclay's updated system software for this to happen any longer. They told me that they will investigate, but investigations take 10 business days. Of course I advised the manager that they didn't have any delay in posting my purchases and I would hope that they could figure something out quickly.

 

Curt :mad::mad::mad:

Sorry to read about another snafu with the terrible implementation of the new Barclay Princess chargecard benefits. Even statement credits are difficult to receive as discussed in this lengthy thread about their new rewards rules.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2407334&page=9

And now that I finally received my statement credit, it's time to do what Colo did & to cancel their chargecard and instead use another one which gives me a yearly 3% rebate for all of my travel expenses & includes trip insurance (not medical).

Before we cancelled our card we just ended up doing statement credits.

I got rid of my cruise line affinity cards as the restrictions got greater and the deals got worse...

 

Instead, I use a Capital One Venture card--which gets me a much better deal--2% on all purchases...no restrictions...I can buy cruises with less card usage...or just pay for stuff instead of dealing with OBC...

I have one too. BUT - the points are worth HALF what they are with other credit cards. For example, I just cashed in 82,728 points. What did I get? You'd think $827.28 credit, right? Nope. Only $413.64. :rolleyes:

I got rid of my cruise line affinity cards as the restrictions got greater and the deals got worse...

 

Instead, I use a Capital One Venture card--which gets me a much better deal--2% on all purchases...no restrictions...I can buy cruises with less card usage...or just pay for stuff instead of dealing with OBC...

That's a pretty sweet deal - may look into it, thanks for sharing [emoji4]

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Capital One has the best rewards . You buy what you want using the card like normal and then pay the for the cruise using the points to pay the bill on your statement so no ones knows you are using points. I have a business Venture card this year have racked up 2.5 million points. But have 15 cards being used for my business

I transferred for ship board credit and still don't see it. What should I do?

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Wow Curt. That's just what you need before leaving on a long cruise. There seem to be a lot of changes lately but this sounds like a Barclays issue. I hope it works out for you.

I have one too. BUT - the points are worth HALF what they are with other credit cards. For example, I just cashed in 82,728 points. What did I get? You'd think $827.28 credit, right? Nope. Only $413.64. :rolleyes:

I do have the same card but have not cashed in on my points yet for future use. I guess I better check with Capital One to confirm. Thanks for the info.

A little over two weeks ago, I called the Barclay Princess Card Redemption Center at 877-847-8905 and had them place Onboard Credit on a number of cruises for which final payment had been made. The representative had the option to mail them to our home or place them in the booking to be received when onboard the ship.

In the past there was no option to mail them to you home. The OBC always went to the ship.

What do they actually mail?

I transferred for ship board credit and still don't see it. What should I do?

 

Where are you looking?

It will not appear in the "Onboard Credits" part of the Travel Summary in the Personalizer.

It should show up in the "All Special Services" part of the Travel Summay. It will say onboard credit, but not list a source.

I received this reply from Princess on their Facebook page and another person also got a similar reply about using their reward points.

"Princess Cruises-- Hi Curt, we sincerely apologize for your frustration. We were able to locate your bookings. We will pass your feedback along to our Customer Relations Department, so one of team members will assist you. We look forward to welcoming you onboard Diamond Princess!"

Waiting to hear something back from Princess.:confused:

Issue Resolved. I finally got in touch with a Barclay's Manager, Nichol located in Maine this morning. She was able to process my request for OBC and have it assigned to the ship. She explained that they left some explanations out of the web page. What was left out was a footnote indicating that when you reach the screen on line that shows the Delivery Method it actually is going to the ship since you inserted the Princess Booking Number not to your mailing address. She did not know why the 8 other representatives did not know how to process the transaction, but said she was emailing various offices in Barclay's to ensure they understand how to process requests to utilize points. She said that the Redemption Center is no longer operational, but any Barclay's representative should be able to assist in the future or you can do it yourself online. It takes 5 to 10 business days for the OBC to be posted to your cruise in the Booking Summary by Princess, under the Onboard Reservations tab at the very bottom of the page.:)

I have one too. BUT - the points are worth HALF what they are with other credit cards. For example, I just cashed in 82,728 points. What did I get? You'd think $827.28 credit, right? Nope. Only $413.64. :rolleyes:

I do have the same card but have not cashed in on my points yet for future use. I guess I better check with Capital One to confirm. Thanks for the info.

If I redeemed 82,728 points for a statement credit applied to eligible travel purchases (Purchase Eraser), I would get $827.28 credit. However, if I asked to be sent a check, I would only get $413.6.

Maybe the terms of your card are different but you might want to check all the redemption options to see which one is the best deal for you.

I have a CapitalOne Venture card with no annual fee that gives 1.25 points per dollar spent.

 

If I redeemed 82,728 points for a statement credit applied to eligible travel purchases (Purchase Eraser), I would get $827.28 credit. However, if I asked to be sent a check, I would only get $413.6.

 

Maybe the terms of your card are different but you might want to check all the redemption options to see which one is the best deal for you.

Noted. Will do that and see what happens.

Finally resolved statement credit problem.. Took a phone call and email but early this week my 150,000 points were converted to a $3000 statement credit. They checked and saw I just made a $4000+ payment on our January cruise.. Final cost of the cruise will be a little over $1000... Not bad.. :D:D:D

I have a CapitalOne Venture card with no annual fee that gives 1.25 points per dollar spent.

 

If I redeemed 82,728 points for a statement credit applied to eligible travel purchases (Purchase Eraser), I would get $827.28 credit.

The problem with the CapitolOne Purchaser Eraser is that you cannot apply your points to a purchase unless you have enough points to erase the entire charge.

With the Princess Visa card, you can apply a fewer number of points to pay for part of a cruise if you do not have enough points for the entire charge amount.

I have a CapitalOne Venture card with no annual fee that gives 1.25 points per dollar spent.

 

If I redeemed 82,728 points for a statement credit applied to eligible travel purchases (Purchase Eraser), I would get $827.28 credit. However, if I asked to be sent a check, I would only get $413.6.

 

Maybe the terms of your card are different but you might want to check all the redemption options to see which one is the best deal for you.

The problem with the CapitolOne Purchaser Eraser is that you cannot apply your points to a purchase unless you have enough points to erase the entire charge.

 

With the Princess Visa card, you can apply a fewer number of points to pay for part of a cruise if you do not have enough points for the entire charge amount.

"Purchase Eraser®: Previous Travel Purchases

You can make travel purchases directly from any travel provider using this Rewards card account and redeem your miles to receive an account credit for the amount of your travel purchase.

Partial Redemptions: Redemptions for part of a travel purchase charged to this Rewards card account are available.

Redemptions can be made for travel purchases within 90 days from the date the purchase posts to the account.

Account credits usually post within 2 to 3 business days after redemption."

However, each person needs to check his/her Rewards Program Terms & Conditions to see exactly how his/her card works.

BTW, I rarely use the CapitalOne Venture card for everyday purchases. I mostly use it for travel purchases out of the USA because it has no foreign transaction fees or currency conversion fees.

I finally gave up on the statement credit and just took the OBC. I guess I should be thankful that my OBC redemption didn't have any snafus!!

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Two years ago was able to go online and get Princess Visa statement credit immediately with points. Now, as said previously an investigation. Going on for 3 weeks now with phone calls and e mails. Website even says no travel done despite almost 10 k charged in the 180 days and 5 k in the last month. What incompetence.

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Two years ago was able to go online and get Princess Visa statement credit immediately with points. Now, as said previously an investigation. Going on for 3 weeks now with phone calls and e mails. Website even says no travel done despite almost 10 k charged in the 180 days and 5 k in the last month. What incompetence.

Have you been able to communicate with an accounts manager (supervisor)? After talking to a supervisor within a couple of days my total number of reward points were redeemed for a $186 chargecard credit.

Yes, supposedly expedited. But what kind of investigation when they tell me yes they can see on their screen I have met the conditions. Waiting for a $1200 credit. Would prefer not to have to make extra payment to avoid interest charges.

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