We really like this "Fun Points" change to the Carnival credit card.

[fig414]

We originally got the Sea Miles card thinking it might be decent and then after actually seeing what a pain it really was we chalked it up as a "what are you gonna do" kinda thing. Now they change it to "fun points" which is what we wanted in the first place. We never envisioned a "free" cruise, but we wanted some on board credit or the like. I have no idea who changed it or why they changed it, but I'm very glad they did. I'm sure it's not as good as some cash back credit cards, but the fact we are getting OBC makes me very happy. All you have to do is redeem 15 days before your cruise. Pretty good.

[lollylew]

I know back in September when my mother signed up for the original Sea Miles, I had read that Carnival was changing it because so many people were unhappy with the Sea Miles card. My mother just redeemed her points for $100 OBC and is excited to be getting some extra cash for our upcoming cruise in May :D

 

Our next mother/daughter cruise is in January 2012 so she is going to put everything she can on her card so that she will have more credit to use! :p

[Tiffany1203]

I know back in September when my mother signed up for the original Sea Miles, I had read that Carnival was changing it because so many people were unhappy with the Sea Miles card. My mother just redeemed her points for $100 OBC and is excited to be getting some extra cash for our upcoming cruise in May :D

 

Our next mother/daughter cruise is in January 2012 so she is going to put everything she can on her card so that she will have more credit to use! :p

 

How many points did it take for a 100 OBC?

[lollylew]

12,500 points

 

She earned double points for booking her cruises with the card as well as using it for any and all purchases she makes.

 

ETA: Should clarify my statement. She earned double points for using the card to book Carnival cruises and purchases she makes on board; all other purchases are the normal 1pt for $1

[AlabamaFootball]

If you paid for your cruise with your funpoints card, you can redeem points for a partial credit back towards your credit card statement....in $50 increments (5,000 pts)

 

I also ordered 3 Bar Credit 4packs from Bon Voyage for $21.50 each....$64.50 total.

 

Waited for that to hit my online transactions, then it let me use 6,450 pts to get a $64.50 credit.

 

Very easy to do online...just click, click, click.

[okwriter]

...all other purchases are the normal 1pt for $1

 

Unless they give you 25 times that many points. Just sayin'... it could happen. :D

[Amber F]

I used 40,000 points for a $400 statement credit which offset my $517 final payment. Much better than when I used Sea Miles.

[twinklen01]

do they ever do promotions like more then 2pts per dollar?

Example I have a card that is 1% = 1.00 for every hundred. Sometimes they have promos like 5X per $1

 

 

Or does this carnival card ever offer 0% for so many months on cruise package?

 

Just checking. I need to look into this:)

[wasiii]

do they ever do promotions like more then 2pts per dollar?

Example I have a card that is 1% = 1.00 for every hundred. Sometimes they have promos like 5X per $1

 

 

Or does this carnival card ever offer 0% for so many months on cruise package?

 

Just checking. I need to look into this:)

 

.....and right now for the months of March and April. once you charge over $300, all points are double up to 8000 points per month. (Carnival charges will not be 4X only 2X).

 

:D

 

wasiii

[UpstateCruizer]

Hmm this card may be worth looking into! For those that have it can you please keep adding your experiences here?

I had the Chase Freedom card because it gave us 3% on our top spending categories plus is allowed me to cash in 200 points for a $250 check. With all the issues with credit cards they have changed that promotion to a 1 point = 1 dollar. Nothing extra and pretty much the same thing my Discover Card gives us.

Discover does have those quarterly specials where they offer 5% on certain categories but the fine print is they only allow you to use it on a certain amount. That usually ends up with a $40 bonus before it reaches the max cash back.

If the new Carnival card gives double for booking and double for what we spend onboard I'm definatly interested.

[cantw82cruise]

How many points did it take for a 100 OBC?

 

This is the 4th different Carnival credit card I have had and it looks like the best so far. I hated the Sea Miles and ended up closing mine. On the Fun Points card I think you are better not getting the OBC as it takes more points then it would to come home and apply a credit toward your S&S bill on the credit card plus you get double points on your total bill. A $100 OBC is 12,500 points, you can go to your statement and take $100 off for 10,000 points. A $200 OBC is 20,000 points but you can get 400 more points by having that extra $200 on your S&S bill. I hope you can see what I am saying. You can also apply your points toward your air fare on your statement.

 

John

[UpstateCruizer]

Ok please forgive the stupid question but does anyone have the website for this card? I tried looking for it earlier but kept getting the old seamiles website? Thanks!

[4Cruise4Fun]

I got this link from the Carnival website:

 

https://www.barclaycardus.com/apply/Landing.action?campaignId=1303&cellNumber=1

 

I have had all of the Carnival credit cards. The SeaMiles card program was the worst of them all!:mad: I quit using that card. I'm looking forward to the new program and $$$ off on our next cruise.

 

Happy Cruising!:)

[golfadj]

We got it last month while on a cruise so we can get double points for paying it with the card.

 

Will know more about how great it is over the next few months.

[vital1]

You used to get 5,000 points for using it the first time. I'm not sure if that's still the case though. I'm using mine for an OBC of $100 in June!

[cantwait06]

This is the 4th different Carnival credit card I have had and it looks like the best so far. I hated the Sea Miles and ended up closing mine. On the Fun Points card I think you are better not getting the OBC as it takes more points then it would to come home and apply a credit toward your S&S bill on the credit card plus you get double points on your total bill. A $100 OBC is 12,500 points, you can go to your statement and take $100 off for 10,000 points. A $200 OBC is 20,000 points but you can get 400 more points by having that extra $200 on your S&S bill. I hope you can see what I am saying. You can also apply your points toward your air fare on your statement.

 

John

 

 

This is a much better idea. Have you done this? Right now we have just under 20,000 points, which I was going to redeem for $200 OBC (when I reach 20,000), but from what you are saying, it sounds like I will be able to make my points go further by applying them to the S&S account AFTER my cruise? So will a $200 S&S bill be cleared with $20,000 points AFTER my cruise? Please let me know if I am understanding this correctly!

[mom2isabella05cole08]

That's the way it looked when I read it earlier. After talking to DH who mentioned this morning that we need to find a card for him that does some kind of rewards as his current card doesn't do anything and we are actually thinking of taking all of our business elsewhere due to some issues the bank is trying to pull. I told him about the Carnival funCard and he asked me to look into it more for him so of course I searched the threads to see what others were saying.

 

To me, it makes sense to not use your fun points for on board credit because as the previous poster said, you get double points for everything on your s&s account. So, if you spend 400 you would get 800 points. Well, if you spend 20,000 points to get 200 OBC then you will only get 400 points. And since it looks like the points don't expire for 5 years (please correct if that's wrong, but I believe it said 5 years when I was looking earlier) you may as well redeem for $ off your next cruise rather than redeeming them for OBC.

[iwannacruznow]

This is just to funny.Im reading this thread and my DW me todays mail.And there it is.an offer for Carnival fun points.I'm thinking about it.Do you guys use youe card for all of your spending,food,gas,bills etc.?And pay it off every month.Does that work ok for you?

[TaterSalad]

I used mine for OBC and wine. I had over 60,000 points and tried to apply it to the cruise cost booked on the credit card but it wouldn't let me do it online for partial credit, only if I had enough for the entire cruise. This may be a glitch but I would look into it to make sure they will allow partial credit (the terms state they will I believe) but I can't do it online. Could probably call them and have them do it but decided not to go to the trouble and just use it toward OBC and such.

[407dm]

I agree. I was just about ready to get rid of the seamiles card when they said that they were changing. I kept it and waited for the switch-over and I am glad that I did.

 

I really never figured that I would ever get enough points to use, even for an upgrade. But after my January cruise, and when I got my funpoints info, I went online to check it out. I was able to cash in my points and they paid for both of my sign and sail card extras for the back2back cruises. Almost $250. Like I said, I never figured that I would ever get anything back.

 

I have had to rethink what I am using my card for. Yes the funpoints is much better than the seamiles.

[cantw82cruise]

This is a much better idea. Have you done this? Right now we have just under 20,000 points, which I was going to redeem for $200 OBC (when I reach 20,000), but from what you are saying, it sounds like I will be able to make my points go further by applying them to the S&S account AFTER my cruise? So will a $200 S&S bill be cleared with $20,000 points AFTER my cruise? Please let me know if I am understanding this correctly!

 

Yes you are correct if you had 20,000 points and your S&S was $400 you could do a partial credit towards it of $200. you also picked up 400 points by having the $200 on your S&S.

 

John

[cantw82cruise]

I used mine for OBC and wine. I had over 60,000 points and tried to apply it to the cruise cost booked on the credit card but it wouldn't let me do it online for partial credit, only if I had enough for the entire cruise. This may be a glitch but I would look into it to make sure they will allow partial credit (the terms state they will I believe) but I can't do it online. Could probably call them and have them do it but decided not to go to the trouble and just use it toward OBC and such.

 

When I go on line and say I want to redeem my points it brings up my statement and has like 5 things highlighted (a couple Carnival charges and some Southwest airline charges) that I can either do a full credit or a partial credit. All I have to do is check the box of what I want the points to go toward. It look like the easiest system they have ever offered.

 

John

[okwriter]

You used to get 5,000 points for using it the first time. I'm not sure if that's still the case though. I'm using mine for an OBC of $100 in June!

 

You are correct. I implied earlier I had received way too many points for what I had charged (in my first billing cycle). My statement came yesterday, and I was given 5,000 points for just using the card the first time. I hadn't seen that when looking at my account online, but it makes perfect sense now.

 

And yes, I'm going to use my card for everything. I previously used a "hotel chain" reward card for occasional purchases and a fuel card for gas (and pay cash for everything else). But now I'm going to charge everything I can to the Carnival card. I pay the bill monthly anyway, so they aren't making any money. :D

 

I also appreciate the explanation about NOT using the points earned toward an OBC and instead funding your S&S with your Carnival card. Thanks! :)

[bmwmj]

OK, current dilemma with the “Fun Card” which so far this morning hasn’t been very “FUN”. I used the online calculator to determine how many points for our Miracle cruise in December for our anniversary. Tells me 96,886 (I’ve been saving a LONG time), however when my $600 deposit came up it wanted to use 57,143 points & then another 92,545 for the balance due in Sept. That’s a total of 149,688 an EXTRA 52,802 points. Now apparently if I paid the whole thing at once it would cost me the original 96,886. 52,802 is half of another cruise!! :confused: So now I have a call in to my PVP to find out the pros & cons of doing the whole thing at once. Am I still going to be able to take advantage of any credits if the price of our cruise goes down? I really like the changes from Sea Miles, that one stunk, but since my credits rolled over to Fun Points I WAS thinking it would be better, but I need to weigh my options. It also will work for any CCL cruise company, however you do not get the same dollar for dollar rate. Where I almost have enough points for a suite on the 8 day Carnival, I don’t have half as many as I need for a 7 day inside on a Princess. But hey, once I get everything figured out, it will be a free cruise, I’ll put my S&S on it to work for the next cruise & get the bonus points (I hope). Hopefully I can keep you posted on the positive outcome.

Yes, I use it for almost everything but gas because I get a cash discount on that one. I even offer to buy friends major purchases & they give me the cash!

[Dyeitcoke]

We have had the carnival card for a very long.. in fact we had enough points for 5 of us to get a free cruise that we are taking in April. I will say that they make sure that they take the most amount of points for what you are getting. The people that I am "paying" for are in 3 rooms... All 3 rooms were separate transactions-- thus costing more points. I did a spreadsheet to figure out the"points" and there really isn't much sense to it. But I can tell you-- for a carnival purchase of $850.00 will take 77273 points...while a carinval purchase of $1300.00 will take 77844 points.. while a purchase of $1250.00 will take 113636. --- mistake I made was I didn't add the tip but live and learn. Hope this helps someone else out