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

[UpstateCruizer]

Yes you have 6 months to use funpoints to apply credit toward your qualified purchases. You can still use your funpoints but would be used as OBC etc.

 

I have the card and also considered closing it because their interest rate for me is just out of line. I have a credit score of over 800 and my interest rate for purchases is 25%. That is absurd. But I just use the card now & then and pay it off when the bill comes so they have never gotten anything out of me.

 

In the meantime, I obtained a miles discover card and using it instead. All my miles purchases give me double points. Including cruises on any cruiseline, airfare, etc. I will apply whatever points I have on the CCL card toward my next Carnival cruise in October then I'm done with it. If they gave me a halfway decent rate, I'd keep it. Maybe I'll call their customer service dept and see if they want to keep me as a customer.???

 

If you never carry a balance over the intrest rate is irrelevant isn't it? I would never have a credit card with an intrest rate that high if I did plan on carrying a balance each month. It totally defeats the purpose of getting points if your are being hit with such high finance charges.

 

I'd definatly call them and ask why the intrest rate is so high.

 

Anyone looking to get this card please make sure you read the fine print as with any credit card they have a clause where your intrest rate can be raised as high as 30.24% IF you are late, go over your credit limit, make a payment that is returned or do any of the above on an account that you have with them. Yes, those are the terms I just copied from our acceptance for this card.

 

We never carry a balance and pay the bills as soon as the arrive and keep an eye on the payments to make sure they've posted to our account in a timely manner.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Yes thats true and that is why I haven't cancelled the card yet cuz they have never earned a dime from me in interest. I charge to it & pay it off when the bill comes. Maybe that is why they aren't willing to bring the interest down where it belongs cuz they know they aren't earning anything on me. When I called to see about lowering it, he said you signed up for this card 2 years ago and agreed to those terms. I said no I didn't agree to those terms. When I was on the ship & they convinced me to open an account, they said they didn't know what my credit limit would be or what my interest rate would be so I learned that I had a $17,500 credit limit with 25.24% interest. I was shocked but dealt with it. Now I'm just ticked about it. Since they dropped it 2%, I will probably redeem my 27K funpoints for my next cruise in October then send them a cancellation letter. I'll stick with my discover card that has the miles program & gives me better rewards too.

[DeckTime]

Maybe I am wrong but according to the website I have 6 months to redeem the miles or they are lost.

 

I take this to mean that if I buy a $ 1000 item on Jan 1 I get 1000 points.

 

I must than use those points within 6 months or they are taken from me.

 

Is this not correct?

 

 

No - you don't lose the points after 6 months - the points are valid for 5 years. After 6 months, the qualifying purchase disappears, not the points.

 

When you purchase a qualifying item (i.e. Carnival cruise, excursion, sail & sign charges, etc), you have 6 months from the time the item appears on your statement to apply the points for statement credit against that charge. For example, if you charge a cruise and it shows up on your statement on Jan 1st, you can apply your points for statement credit toward the cruise until July 1st. After July 1st, the cruise will disappear as being eligible to redeem your points against, but your accumulated points will remain.

[golfadj]

No - you don't lose the points after 6 months - the points are valid for 5 years. After 6 months, the qualifying purchase disappears, not the points.

 

When you purchase a qualifying item (i.e. Carnival cruise, excursion, sail & sign charges, etc), you have 6 months from the time the item appears on your statement to apply the points for statement credit against that charge. For example, if you charge a cruise and it shows up on your statement on Jan 1st, you can apply your points for statement credit toward the cruise until July 1st. After July 1st, the cruise will disappear as being eligible to redeem your points against, but your accumulated points will remain.

 

I guess I am missing something. Why does the points not show up on my statements so I know how many I have?

 

Why do I need statement credit against a charge? If I use my card on a cruise and make a payment of $ 1000 should I not have 2000 points on my account?

 

Thanks so much for your help.

[DeckTime]

I guess I am missing something. Why does the points not show up on my statements so I know how many I have? When it was Seamiles, your total points were not on your statement just the ones earned for that statement - had to go online to see total points. When it switched over to Funpoints, my statements list both total points and points earned for that statement and online. Not sure why your statement would be different.

Why do I need statement credit against a charge? If you get a statement credit against a charge, you don't have to pay for the charge - the points pay for the charge making it essentially free (or partially free if you don't have enough points for full credit against the charge). If I use my card on a cruise and make a payment of $ 1000 should I not have 2000 points on my account? Yes - you get 2 points for every $1 charged on Carnival. You can then use those 2000 points toward statement credit or save the points and continue to accumulate them (for up to 5 years) for bigger Carnival purchases.

 

Thanks so much for your help.

 

You earn the points 1 for $1 (2 for $1 on Carnival), but the redemption value seems to be random ranging from 125 points per $1 down to 60 points per $1. It appears that the larger the charge the fewer points per dollar needed, but I can't find anywhere where it lists the breakdown.

 

For me personally, I got the Seamiles card in 2006 and have been accumulating points for the past 4 years and finally have enough points for a free cruise. I have to charge the cruise to my card and when the charge shows up online, I can apply the points to it before the bill is due and I never have to pay cash money for the cruise - the points pay for it making it 100% free! Although, I currently have an "open investigation" with funpoints into a brochure they sent me stating 77,000 points = $1,250 cruise discount, but their website states I need over 110,000 points for that dollar amount. We'll see. . .

 

I hope this helps and doesn't make it more confusing :)

[bmwmj]

Decktime you mentioned an "Open investigation" I'd be curious to hear about that. My cruise should have been 96,000ish points, however when I added my insurance in it popped up to 108,000ish I'm wondered if it's because part of that didn't go to Carnival directly even though it all processed as one Carnival transaction?

[cantw82cruise]

I just went to the website for the first time and found two things I am not happy with.

 

1. You have six months from the time you make a purchase to redeem the points. Had no idea about that before and that sucks.

 

I took this right from the terms of the card.

 

You will have 5 years to redeem your Points unless your Account is terminated earlier for inactivity. Points will expire and be forfeited 5 years from the date the earned Points post to your monthly statement. Points will be redeemed on a first-in, first-out basis.

 

Not sure where you got the 6 months...

[MEOWSMURPHY]

If I do not have a cruise booked within six months of making a purchase using my card I lose the points.

 

That sucks IMHO.

 

AdmittedlyI did not read the fine print when I was on the ship and shame on me but the idea of losing points after six months leaves a lot to be desired.

No...you are wrong...the points you accumulate don't start to expire until after 5 years...I've been saving my points forever...never used any from the seamiles to the funpoints...I have over 160k of points that I will be redeeming in a month or so for an aft cabin and an 8 day Panama Canal trip for free...can't beat it IMHO

[DeckTime]

bmwmj - I received a brochure in January concerning the switch from Seamiles to Funpoints. In the brochure it stated 75,000 points = $1,250 cruise discount. (I mistyped 77,000 in my earlier post). I booked a cruise last week for $1,214 with the intent to apply @ 75,000 points toward it making it free. Now, according to the funpoints website, I need over 110,000 points for $1,214 discount.

 

I called to ask for an explanation for the difference between the brochure and website. A relationship manager, "Bill", opened an investigation when he was unable to give me an answer. I have since been contacted and asked to fax a copy of the brochure to the Correspondence Department. I faxed the copy this afternoon and am waiting to hear back.

 

I'll post an update once I hear back.

[bmwmj]

Decktime, I went in & checked my balance today, they have paid off my cuise $1800 including insurance cost me 108,239 points. I was trying to figure out how it jumped from 96,000 points to 108,000 when I added $190 worth of insurance. Guess they have their own ways. But I did have to put everything in one transaction to get it for that rate. Otherwise it would have cost me almost twice as much. :(

[martinchem]

This program is a scam, if you don't use the card for a few months they consider it inactive then close the account and sent you a letter telling you they are trying to protect you from fraudulent use, you have no points, you have no recourse. I lost over 10,000 points and I think there bean counters got a bonus. I can't believe Carnival would allow their good name to be associated with a bunch of thieves like Barkley!

[Cindy]

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.

 

I wish I knew how great it is! I have been haggling with Barclays since January 12th trying to get my access to my points straightened out. For some reason, they're unable to fix my screen so I can redeem points...I can see them sitting there, but I can't use them.:mad:

I'm now working with someone from the Executive Office, since I had almost 8 weeks of frustration and no resolution working with the customer service folks. I already missed one opportunity to redeem points for OBC...I just want it fixed! This shouldn't be that difficult!

Rant over! Sorry about my outburst!:o

[moorechinacu]

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?

 

This is exactly what I do. I don't carry cash, just my debit card, since that doesn't really earn me any rewards, I have changed to charging everything on this card and continuing to write the expense in my checkbook register just like my debit card. Then once or twice a month I go online and pay off the charges, so I'm not incurring any interest either. I have racked up 17K points in under 2 months. Mind you, 3500 of those are doubles due to purchasing a carnival cruise and then the 10K for making my 1st purchase on the card be a carnival charge. I'm hoping to have next year's cruise paid for by next summer. :D

[bmwmj]

We use it for practically everything as well. We are finally getting our first "free" cruise (after all the work with the previous Sea Miles-joke), so I am very excited about building to another cruise. At this rate we should be able to do another in about 1-1/2 to 2 yrs. We don't live in a port city and we have too many other interests to cruise 3-5 times a year, but we can sure look forward to the next one! :D

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

I just redeemed 20K points for $200 OBC and another 4200 points for 4 bar drinks & 4 soda's for my October cruise. That leaves me with just under 3K points that I will probably just dump or apply toward my final payment then I plan to cancel the card.

[DeckTime]

bmwmj - I received a brochure in January concerning the switch from Seamiles to Funpoints. In the brochure it stated 75,000 points = $1,250 cruise discount. (I mistyped 77,000 in my earlier post). I booked a cruise last week for $1,214 with the intent to apply @ 75,000 points toward it making it free. Now, according to the funpoints website, I need over 110,000 points for $1,214 discount.

 

I called to ask for an explanation for the difference between the brochure and website. A relationship manager, "Bill", opened an investigation when he was unable to give me an answer. I have since been contacted and asked to fax a copy of the brochure to the Correspondence Department. I faxed the copy this afternoon and am waiting to hear back.

 

I'll post an update once I hear back.

 

UPDATE - Well it took awhile, but Barclay's has issued me statement credit for $1,214 for @ 73,000 points. I'm guessing that without the brochure I would have been denied the full credit since the website still shows 110,000+ points are needed for that value. I was somewhat disappointed that no one ever contacted me regarding the resolution. I found the credit on my own logging onto my account and have since received my monthly statement in the mail.

 

Now I can sit back, relax and look forward to my free cruise in 196 days!

[Tobias_the_Cruise_Cat]

"Hi Guys,

 

 

 

I am new here, glad to be a part of such a cool community!

 

 

 

I have a bit of a Cruise Crisis :)

 

 

 

So I recently took a look at the Carnival Funpoints card that I have been using since they sent it to me. I have looked at it compared to the Seamiles Program aswell.

 

 

They both seem like great programs, but I am not sure whether the Funpoints program is as flexible as I would like it to be. Personally I do alot of cruising, but there are those in my family that even with the highly regarded ear patch, just cannot stomach a cruise, literally! That however is another story for another day. So I would also like to be able to book resorts, and hotels, as that is my families go to vacation. me personally would rather cruise any day of the week!

 

Before I make a hasty decision and throw a man overboard ;) no pun intended I figured I would spitball ideas with you enthusiasts!

 

 

Hoping you guys can fill me in if I make a mistake or am missing anything.

 

 

With Funpoints I can redeem for cruises, flights, and onboard credit/purchases. However, I can only redeem my points with a Carnival Cruise Line, including the Carnival Family? I earn 2x pts for on board purchases, and carnival booked cruises. not for booking a cruise on a different line? essentially 20000 pts will get me $200 of onboard credit, or partial payment of my cruise to any Carnival cruise, or carnival family cruiseline.

 

 

 

With Seamiles I can redeem for cruises, flights, resorts, hotels, and even for cash. I can redeem points on any cruise line including RCL. I earn 2 seamiles for every dollar spent on board, and I earn 4 seamiles for every dollar spent booking a cruise on any line, as long as its booked through 1-877seamiles. and esentially 20000 pts will get me $250 cash, to use towards any of the above vacation or business options.

 

 

 

This is as much as I have gathered from looking at both programs. They both seem to have great rewards and make me look forward to using them and building credit for future vacations with my lovely wife!

 

 

 

I only seem to think that Seamiles seems a bit more flexible, and offers a little bit more of an incentive to your everyday spender.

 

 

 

Then again I am not quite fully informed, and am trying to be a well informed consumer, before making my final decision.

 

 

 

Im sure everyone has their own opinion, and would love to hear any input or recommendations!

 

 

 

thanks for all your time!

 

 

 

Looking forward to some replies!"

[cooltj]

UPDATE - Well it took awhile, but Barclay's has issued me statement credit for $1,214 for @ 73,000 points. I'm guessing that without the brochure I would have been denied the full credit since the website still shows 110,000+ points are needed for that value. I was somewhat disappointed that no one ever contacted me regarding the resolution. I found the credit on my own logging onto my account and have since received my monthly statement in the mail.

 

Now I can sit back, relax and look forward to my free cruise in 196 days!

 

Do you have a copy of this brochure? I am about ready to cash my points in and for 73K for $1,214 sounds good to me!

 

Tim