New Celebrity Visa Credit Card, don't make my mistake.

[capecruzer]

Do you guys realize that the FREE Capitol One credit card offers 1.5 points for every dollar spent which can be redeemed in cash or a credit to your bill? And that card has no international transaction fees? Far better deal, IMHO.

 

:pThat's the card I paid off with the new Celebrity Visa. I think I only earn 1 point for every dollar which in turn is 1% and that is how we pay our airfare for several trips per year. But, if you use it as cash back, you get half that.

 

Because my Capital One does accrue interest and we recently had a large purchase of $8K on it that we wouldn't be able to pay in one month, it made sense to transfer the balance to a zero card, get the free dining and OBC. I think its a win-win.

[cle-guy]

Looking at the Celebrity rewards card, it states you must charge ($xxxx) to receive the benefits. Can anyone tell me if a Balance transfer is considered a charge to the card, so that you would be able to receive the promotions running, or do you need to complete an actual charge.

 

Thank you in advance for any information.

 

MOST reward cards do not count balance transfers as a "purchase", they consider them "cash advances" and most cards do not provide points on cash advances.

 

I'd expect this card to follow the others. But let us know if you find different.

 

Without this provision, there are lots of people who would move balances daily from card to card to get the perks from their whole wallet of affinity cards (myself included :D )

[rucruisn2]

Bank of America offers 2 Celebrity visa cards. 1 has no annual fee the other has a small fee, but you get an additional $300.00 off a concierge cabin and no foreign trans fee. That's the one I should have gone for but didn't read the page fully when I applied. Another point about balance transfers, if you also use the card monthly, they charge you a "minimum interest charge" of around $1.50. I did this on a different BOA card and had to call every month to object. I finally stopped using this particular card. Have enough other one's I can use without the hassle.

[lovetotraveltx]

Bank of America offers 2 Celebrity visa cards. 1 has no annual fee the other has a small fee, but you get an additional $300.00 off a concierge cabin and no foreign trans fee. That's the one I should have gone for but didn't read the page fully when I applied. Another point about balance transfers, if you also use the card monthly, they charge you a "minimum interest charge" of around $1.50. I did this on a different BOA card and had to call every month to object. I finally stopped using this particular card. Have enough other one's I can use without the hassle.

 

We have our first celebrity cruise already booked for June. We are in a C3 cabin. Our final payment would be due in March. What is the best time to get the card. And, if I get the one with the $69.00 annual feel do I get $300 off my already booked cruise? If so, is this without cashing in any bonus points.

 

I would also get a buy one get one free on Specialty Dinner.

 

And, OBC starting with the free 10,000 pts and whatever I add to that before I cruise.

 

Am I correct?

 

Also, any other glaring benefits I might be missing?

 

Thank you!

[Host Jazzbeau]

:pThat's the card I paid off with the new Celebrity Visa. I think I only earn 1 point for every dollar which in turn is 1% and that is how we pay our airfare for several trips per year. But, if you use it as cash back, you get half that.

 

Because my Capital One does accrue interest and we recently had a large purchase of $8K on it that we wouldn't be able to pay in one month, it made sense to transfer the balance to a zero card, get the free dining and OBC. I think its a win-win.

 

There are several CapitalOne cards now. We had the Venture which paid 1.25% but could only be redeemed for travel (IIRC). But we upgraded (with an easy call to their 800 number) to the newer Quicksilver card which pays 1.5% on everything and redeems as cash -- still no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees.

 

But that has been eclipsed by the Barclaycard Arrival Plus card, which pays 2.0% on everything and redeems in cash or with a 10% bonus (i.e. 2.2% net) as a credit against travel expenses -- no foreign transaction fees and full Chip and PIN technology. There's also a good sign-up bonus and the $89 annual fee is waived the first year. I don't like paying annual fees, but I calculated that the 0.7% extra will pay off the $89 fee with $12,715 in charges -- so I use it for every possible purchase.

[lovetotraveltx]

We have our first celebrity cruise already booked for June. We are in a C3 cabin. Our final payment would be due in March. What is the best time to get the card. And, if I get the one with the $69.00 annual feel do I get $300 off my already booked cruise? If so, is this without cashing in any bonus points.

 

I would also get a buy one get one free on Specialty Dinner?

 

And, OBC starting with the free 10,000 pts and whatever I add to that before I cruise.

 

Am I correct?

 

Also, any other glaring benefits I might be missing?

 

Thank you!

[oregon50]

I cannot figure out which is the larger profit generator for Celebrity. Drink packages or credit card sales?

[rucruisn2]

we have our first celebrity cruise already booked for june. We are in a c3 cabin. Our final payment would be due in march. What is the best time to get the card. And, if i get the one with the $69.00 annual feel do i get $300 off my already booked cruise? If so, is this without cashing in any bonus points.

 

I would also get a buy one get one free on specialty dinner?

 

And, obc starting with the free 10,000 pts and whatever i add to that before i cruise.

 

Am i correct?

 

Also, any other glaring benefits i might be missing?

 

Thank you!

 

as i understand it, the answer if yes on all your questions. Also, once you get your card, start charging everything on it to build up more onboard credits. I booked a c2 cabing, but since i opened up the wrong card, i only got the free specialty dinner and $200. Onboard spending. ( i charged allot) open your card now, they give you 18 months for your free dinner. Also, make sure to put your final payment on the card, double points.

Hope this helps.

[rucruisn2]

I cannot figure out which is the larger profit generator for Celebrity. Drink packages or credit card sales?

 

 

The credit card in not thru Celebrity but Bank of America. And they wouldn't do it if it didn't make money for them.

[rosie#1]

Just a follow-up. I got the card a few weeks ago with a balance transfer offer for 0% one year but the limit was too low for me to transfer a full balance. I called and they increased my balance and gave me the deal for 18 months.

 

I also received my dining credit letter so I called and made my ressies for OceanLiners and then transferred my OBC to my reservation as well.

 

Now though I can't remember why I thought I'd have an additional 3000 bonus points lol...I did have the 10,000 which equated to $100 but does anyone remember what the additional bonus points were about?

 

Anyways, good deal for us!

 

Do you remember how long it took to get the dining credit letter? Celebrity said it comes from BOFA, but BOFA says they have nothing to do with the promotion.

 

Thanks

[rucruisn2]

Just got back from my cruise. I got my free specialty dining. When I called Celebrity to get it they made my reservation right then on the phone. I also had $200.00 in refundable on-board credit. Was a win win for me!

[sr4mjc]

Bank of America offers 2 Celebrity visa cards. 1 has no annual fee the other has a small fee, but you get an additional $300.00 off a concierge cabin and no foreign trans fee. That's the one I should have gone for but didn't read the page fully when I applied. Another point about balance transfers, if you also use the card monthly, they charge you a "minimum interest charge" of around $1.50. I did this on a different BOA card and had to call every month to object. I finally stopped using this particular card. Have enough other one's I can use without the hassle.

 

Thank you so much for posting this. It looks like you have to spend 5k in the first 60 days of getting this card in order to get the $300 off a Concierge class cabin and must sail within 18 months. Can you already have the cabin booked during 123 and just have the discount applied later? In our case I'll be putting a deposit down on a Concierge class before the 1/5 promotion deadline, but the sailing isn't until 1/22/2017. So I can't get this card until at least next year and need to make sure I have something large to purchase in the first 60 days. I do have a RC cruise next November to pay the balance on, so I could get double points.

 

Also, is it difficult to get the credit applied if you booked with a TA? Thanks in advance.

Edited December 15, 2014 by sr4mjc

[lovetotraveltx]

Thank you so much for posting this. It looks like you have to spend 5k in the first 60 days of getting this card in order to get the $300 off a Concierge class cabin and must sail within 18 months. Can you already have the cabin booked during 123 and just have the discount applied later? In our case I'll be putting a deposit down on a Concierge class before the 1/5 promotion deadline, but the sailing isn't until 1/22/2017. So I can't get this card until at least next year and need to make sure I have something large to purchase in the first 60 days. I do have a RC cruise next November to pay the balance on, so I could get double points.

 

Also, is it difficult to get the credit applied if you booked with a TA? Thanks in advance.

 

I'm booked in June since March. I called the credit card company and was told I can use the credit towards that cruise since it's before final payment.

[Shining Clem]

I would like to let people know that we agree with Host Jazzbeau about the Barclaycard Arrival Plus card.

 

In planning for our transAtlantic on Insignia in Oct, we were seeing ads for various credit cards, esp in travel magazines. We had already gotten our flights to France & trip insurance (put on an AMEX, and pd - they have a pts program too) but still had the balance to pay for the cruise, plus 4 nights in Paris. We also wanted to have the Chip & Pin feature (which the US will pickup in the Fall) because some toll rds and Metro & RR stations only have auto ticket payments using these and do not accept reg US cards or cash.

 

Found a helpful web site, http://thepointsguy.com/. I think it started out as a site for just airline & hotel points, but has added credit card deals. Seems to be very up-to-date. Lots of info to the right and be sure to scroll down.

 

From there we chose the BarclayCard (a Master Card) - called the info in to apply, and they expressed the new cards to us within a week. :D Facing a deadline on the final cruise payment, we made it. We also used it for an unexpected expensive brake line leak on a van, adding to the total charged within the 3 months. We used it for a rental car, in NE France. We had 90 days to charge up $3,000. to get the bonus pts.

 

Then we used it as the credit card on the boat.

 

When that bill came, we had enough points with the 30,000 bonus pts to pay ALL of the ship charges - $500. worth! (A significant birthday was celebrated in the United States restaurant, with a wonderful bottle of French wine!). You do have to use the pts to pay for a travel related charge, can't pay for your new stove with it.

 

With the aid of a web site such as The Points Guy, you can see numerous offers and see which one is best for you. It's really gotten to be quite the competitive jungle out there. Hope this helps people to sort through it.

Edited December 15, 2014 by Shining Clem

[michaelsop]

I would like to let people know that we agree with Host Jazzbeau about the Barclaycard Arrival Plus card.

 

 

This is the correct answer to all travel rewards credit card questions. Cannot beat this card for travel rewards. I also got the Celebrity card to get the free specialty dinner and OBC, but plan on cancelling after my March cruise.

[sr4mjc]

This is the correct answer to all travel rewards credit card questions. Cannot beat this card for travel rewards. I also got the Celebrity card to get the free specialty dinner and OBC, but plan on cancelling after my March cruise.

 

Same. I already know this isn't the best card in the business for ongoing travel rewards, but if I can use it for some OBC, $300 off Concierge and 10% off excursions, it'll be a value for at least the first year.

[sr4mjc]

I wanted to bump this to say I got an email today offering 'for a limited time' an extra 7,500 bonus points when applying for the card, on top of the 10,000 points. I would love to jump on this, but I want the $300 Concierge class discount and my cruise is more than 18 months away. :(

[sr4mjc]

Am I reading it right, that you can't put a payment towards your cruise except for 15,000 points or $150 and then again at 50,000 points?

 

So if you have 25,000 points, you can get $100 OBC and $150 off the cruise, but not $250 off your cruise balance?

[gingerspike]

Does anyone know if I could apply the discount to a cabin I'm paying for but not occupying? Family members are traveling with us.

Thanks

 

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

[cruise47]

Thanks for sharing all these tibits.

[renaroo]

T...But that has been eclipsed by the Barclaycard Arrival Plus card, which pays 2.0% on everything and redeems in cash or with a 10% bonus (i.e. 2.2% net) as a credit against travel expenses -- no foreign transaction fees and full Chip and PIN technology. There's also a good sign-up bonus and the $89 annual fee is waived the first year. I don't like paying annual fees, but I calculated that the 0.7% extra will pay off the $89 fee with $12,715 in charges -- so I use it for every possible purchase.

 

Wow. When I first saw this thread, I thought the Celebrity OBC would be nice, but am generally leery about getting new credit cards. Great customer service is key - I hate wasting time if/when I have a question or issue. I've had the Amex Blue for years and have never had a problem, but admit I'm tempted by the Barclaycard. I looked up the Barclaycard information and think it sounds great! My husband hates cards with an annual fee, but I think the rewards more than make up for it. It looks like a winner!

[sr4mjc]

Finally getting to close to 18 months for my sail date and looking at this card again. I think they got rid of the speciality dining BOGO offer, it's now BOGO 50%. But another question, can you use any of these points for OBC on a Royal Caribbean cruise? We have so much OBC now with the Infinity sailing, I'd love to apply these points to our Thanksgiving cruise on RC. I know the RC charges count 2x, but not sure about spending them.

[AtleeH]

If we have this Celebrity BoA Visa card, does one get the extra points if paying for the cabin via your TA rather than directly to Celebrity?

[gdpups]

Yes you can apply the points from the Celebrity Visa to either Celebrity, Royal Caribbean or Azamara cruises.

 

I just paid off my September Equinox cruise using my Celebrity Visa through my TA and like always the charge shows to Celebrity, not to my TA, so I do always get double points. You might want to check with your TA to see how they apply the payment.

[fleckle]

Another credit card that may be worth considering, especially for those who pay off their balance every month, is the new Citi Double Cash Card.

 

From preliminary info, it appears to be hassle free, paying back 2 % cash on ALL purchases (no limit), and there is no annual fee.

 

But it would not be one to use for foreign transactions as it charges a foreign exchange fee.