Free Cruise with Royal Caribbean CC Points?

[eel]

Back in 2011 I was able to get a (mostly) free cruise on Oasis with my RC Credit Card points. I know the rules have changed and it is very difficult to take advantage of the free cruise anymore. I have a cruise coming up on Freedom next fall that this might work for and I have 125K points burning a hole in my pocket!

 

Just wondering if anyone has recently redeemed points for a free cruise where the payout was better than 1 cent per point? Otherwise I will just redeem the whole pile for on board credit. I now have better credit card options (2% cash back) so only use the RC card for RC purchases.

 

Anyone know how I can check just how my cruise would be repriced and my points would be applied before pulling the trigger? I have this cruise booked through a TA. Should I just ask the TA to investigate for me?

[KelJ]

Using RCCL Visa points for a free cruise is usually better than using them for OBC because you get twice as much dollar value toward the free cruise. For example, for your 125,000 points you could get $1,250 in OBC, but you can get $2,500 toward your free cruise.

 

I redeemed 50,000 for a free cruise we'll be taking in January. I could have gotten $500 in OBC, but instead I had up to $1,000 to use for my free cruise. In the end, it was actually a $918 value, much better than the $500 OBC.

 

The tricky part is the never-ending BOGO sale. For example, the price for guest one for my cruise was $459. The price for guest two, because of the BOGO, was $229.50. In order to use the points toward a free cruise, the BOGO goes away and the price reverts to $459 per person. Had I paid for the cruise using the BOGO and without applying the points for a free cruise, it would have cost me $688.50, so you could say that the value of my free cruise was really $688.50 instead of $918, but that is still better than the $500 OBC.

 

Keep in mind that, when applying the points for a free cruise, you still have to pay taxes, fees and port expenses. Also, in order to get Crown & Anchor credit for a free cruise, they will charge you $1 per person so that you "paid" for the cruise because you don't get Crown & Anchor credit for a truly free cruise.

 

I hope this helps. Good luck planning your free cruise!

[molly361]

Like the above poster said they take away the BOGO and calculate your points from that point. If you have a copy of your booking invoice it will show the pre-BOGO full fare and you can take it from there to see what the value would be.

[Clarea]

Like the above poster said they take away the BOGO and calculate your points from that point. If you have a copy of your booking invoice it will show the pre-BOGO full fare and you can take it from there to see what the value would be.

Don't they also take away the balcony discount if you use the "free" cruise redemption?

[novalab]

Hi Lee!

 

KelJ gave you very good advice. I used RC points for the free cruise last year. I let my Travel Agent handle the transaction (she had never dealt with the RC Visa points & wanted the experience just in case she ran across a similar request from another client). Since we were quoted a different price for the 2nd passenger on two of the calls with two different Visa/RC reps, I was glad that she & not me was taking care of the exchange. It all worked out for the best (did have to pay the $1 so DD could get her C & A points). I would go this route again if I had enough points for the free companion fare.

 

Missing our wonderful Jewel Pacific Coastal cruise this past October!:(

 

Judy

[molly361]

Don't they also take away the balcony discount if you use the "free" cruise redemption?

 

I believe so

[molly361]

Every time I have checked using points for a companion fare it does not pay since you are already getting it at half off

[Clarea]

Every time I have checked using points for a companion fare it does not pay since you are already getting it at half off

I agree. Last time I checked, I thought they made me remove the balcony discount too, so it was a double whammy.

[KelJ]

Don't they also take away the balcony discount if you use the "free" cruise redemption?

 

I agree. Last time I checked, I thought they made me remove the balcony discount too, so it was a double whammy.

 

When using 50,000 points for a free 3 or 4 night cruise, you get an oceanview stateroom. Therefore, both times I've taken a free cruise this way, the balcony discount didn't factor into it because a balcony wasn't a free option. I did ask if I could pay the difference to upgrade to a balcony and apply my balcony discount, and they told me I could upgrade but could not use the discount.

[Clarea]

When using 50,000 points for a free 3 or 4 night cruise, you get an oceanview stateroom. Therefore, both times I've taken a free cruise this way, the balcony discount didn't factor into it because a balcony wasn't a free option. I did ask if I could pay the difference to upgrade to a balcony and apply my balcony discount, and they told me I could upgrade but could not use the discount.

Thanks for the update. The 3 or 4 times I was able to use the 50K point redemption was before the continuous fake sale era. We would book a JS and get close to the max of $1000 discount. I honestly cannot remember if they allowed the balcony discount on combination with the 50K point discount back then.

[molly361]

Thanks for the update. The 3 or 4 times I was able to use the 50K point redemption was before the continuous fake sale era. We would book a JS and get close to the max of $1000 discount. I honestly cannot remember if they allowed the balcony discount on combination with the 50K point discount back then.

 

I believe that they did allow the balcony discount back then

[Clarea]

I believe that they did allow the balcony discount back then

Ahhh, the good old days.:)

[lv2bcruzin]

Ahhh, the good old days.:)

I've pretty much determined there is a very specific way to use your RCCL points to actually make it worth it and that very specific way is available less and less often. We will be switching to the CapitalOne Venture, Chase Saphire, or Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite. The only decision at this point is which one makes the most sense for how we travel. At minimum I know we can get a better value for our points using them for other parts of our cruise vacation such as air or hotel. But, if we want we can still use dollar point cards for OBC if we want as well. Now, do we want 1:1 partner points or dollar points we can spend anywhere? Hmmm....

[Clarea]

I've pretty much determined there is a very specific way to use your RCCL points to actually make it worth it and that very specific way is available less and less often. We will be switching to the CapitalOne Venture, Chase Saphire, or Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite. The only decision at this point is which one makes the most sense for how we travel. At minimum I know we can get a better value for our points using them for other parts of our cruise vacation such as air or hotel. But, if we want we can still use dollar point cards for OBC if we want as well. Now, do we want 1:1 partner points or dollar points we can spend anywhere? Hmmm....

I agree. It will not be long before we don't use the Royal Visa card at all anymore.

[KelJ]

I agree. It will not be long before we don't use the Royal Visa card at all anymore.

 

Same here. Used 50,000 points for our upcoming free cruise and used 15,000 points for $150 OBC on that cruise. I only have like 145 points left over and am switching cards.

[cruisegirl1]

We took advantage of a few "free" 3 or 4 night cruises. It worked out great as we got an OV state room. We could travel most anytime of the year as the points had a maximum of $1000. The points allowed for the least expensive OV it was easy to find an OV cabin to fit within that price restriction. We just reached enough points for another cruise if i can maneuver through the RCCL pricing maze.

 

We now use the Chase Saphire card for everything except a few recent RCCL cruises. Now that we have enough points for the trip, we likely won't bother with the RCCL Card. Like many of their policies in the last few years, RCCL seems to make things increasingly difficult for the long term loyal passenger.

 

M

[orville99]

Ahhh, the good old days.:)

 

"Rah rah rumble seats and running boards, dem was da good ol' days":D

Edited December 3, 2015 by orville99

[sj25]

I agree. It will not be long before we don't use the Royal Visa card at all anymore.

 

I know now we've went towards using our southwest credit card more and more so I can get the points there and get free flights...for now it seems to be our better option.

[tugboat]

I have had better luck lately using Southwest points for cruises and OBC on RCL

[KelJ]

I have had better luck lately using Southwest points for cruises and OBC on RCL

 

If I may ask, how do you use your Southwest points for RCCL OBC? I have a ton of Southwest points.

[orville99]

We switched to an Amazon Visa for most of our CC use. Triple points for Amazon purchases, Double points for gas & restaurants, and 1% on everything else. The only thing we use the RCL card for any more is booking RCL cruises.

[tugboat]

If I may ask, how do you use your Southwest points for RCCL OBC? I have a ton of Southwest points.

 

It has changed now you can only gift card for RCL, $100 for 10,000 points

 

Look under repaid rewards the more rewards, then cruises.

 

Last year we flew to Barcelona on US Airways and the TA on the Liberty on Southwest Points

[lv2bcruzin]

I am looking at Chase Sapphire as well since you can use points as dollars or 1:1 partner points. The downside is the high annual fee and only 1 point per dollar except for travel and restaurants.

 

It seems no card has the perfect combination of 2%+ for all purchases, low annual fee, and the ability to transfer points 1:1 with partners.

[eel]

We now mostly use the Fidelity AMEX which gives us 2% cash back on all purchases. For gas we use our Costco AMEX because we get 3% cash back. For Hilton I use my HHonors Visa because I get 6X points for Hilton purchases. And we have a Capital One card we use overseas because of no foreign transaction fee. We only use the RCCL card for Royal purchases but honestly thinking about stopping that once we use up our points.

 

We also play the game and get airline cards for one year for the sign-up bonus. Recently got the Southwest Airlines card for the 50K points (well worth the $99 annual fee). Will cancel the card after the one year is up.

 

Anyone all these credit cards are driving my wife crazy. She always has to ask me which one to use!

[eel]

So currently if I look at the lowest priced outside on the Freedom sailing in question the base cruise fare for two is $1806 for the lowest priced outside cabin before the BOGO discounts. My base cruise fare (without discounts) for the balcony I have booked is $1598. So it seems on paper that I should get this cruise for free (just pay taxes). Am I missing something here?