Royal Caribbean Credit Card

[famreynoso]

Whats your experience using your RC Credit card to earn points and how have you used them?

 

Pay for a cruise? Onboard credit? Whats your strategy....

 

Just got aprooved, cruise booked for 2018, any tips would b appreciated!

 

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[Clarea]

We only use the card for RC purchases and redeem for OBC and discounts. Redeeming for "free" cruise has pretty much been screwed by RC because it cannot be used with sale pricing, even if those are fake sales. So if you want to redeem for a "free" cruise, they remove the fake sale price and change you to "really obscene" prices, which generally makes it not a useful redemption to use.

[CaptainUnlucky]

We've used our points twice for free 4N cruises on Majesty of the Seas. They were only Ocean view and you still have to pay port fees and taxes. And this time we used it for 500$ off our cruise on Anthem for May because the 50,000 points is only for 3-4 nighers and this is 5N. We saved over 800$ twice for the free cruises i feel you get the best value from using your points that way.

[rum & monkey]

We have just used our points for a free 3-4 day cruise. It became difficult because the voucher winds up to be a maximum value of $1000 for the 3-4 day. We did not have enough points for a 7 day and you have to keep an eye on the points because they do expire, it is not like other cards we have that as long as you use the card it renews all your points. With the Royal card they just expire after so long. As Bob said the voucher is not combinable with any other sale, with the 3-4 day voucher it can not be used on a new ship that is less than 12 months old. And guess what when we went to redeem ours they consider Empress a new ship! We did finally find a 4 night on Indy that came to a total of $900 and something so we did get a free cruise to ..... wait for it. . . . Cozumel & back. We tried for one on Anthem to Bermuda and back but would have had to pay an additional $1000, and could not do any on the New ship Empress. You have 180 days to book after redeeming. To redeem for a free cruise on 3-4 day one it requires you to book the highest available ocean view room then they discount it by the $1000 and you pay the rest. So the trick is to find one under that price. We needed to book by August so we only had one choice for a truly free cruise. You still pay port fees, taxes, & gratuities. We paid a total of $157 for port fees & taxes for two of us. You will also pay a cruise fair of $1 a person if you want your C&A points for the nights.

Edited January 22, 2017 by rum & monkey

[Flatbush Flyer]

Whats your experience using your RC Credit card to earn points and how have you used them?

 

Pay for a cruise? Onboard credit? Whats your strategy....

 

Just got aprooved, cruise booked for 2018, any tips would b appreciated!

 

Sent from my SM-G935T using Forums mobile app

 

 

So many travel related credit cards that are far better: do your homework!

 

 

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[johnjen]

This is our first experience with the RCL BOA card. We applied for it on Anthem when we began the booking for our next cruise on Brilliance. We're going to wait until we book and pay for our excursions and then will finally apply our points earned toward OBC; once on board we'll probably use that for drink packages. Maybe ours isn't the best idea but I too am learning from what repliers are saying here so thanks everyone for the great tips.

[maryjaden]

I have used mine for OBC. I know there are better cards out there, but this is easy and it works good for us.

[molly361]

The one good thing about it is there is no minimum purchase in order to get 10,0000 or $100 OBC. You can make 1 purchase and never use the card again.

[Jeremiah1212]

Southwest, IHG (Holiday Inn, Intercontinental, Crown Plaza, etc) Hyatt and even the Marriott card all have reward programs that are really easy to use that are way more valuable than the Royal card. We get easily $1200+ in value per year with the Southwest cards alone.

 

A hotel card with an annual free night alone is usually worth the modest annual fee those cards carry. We haven't paid for cruise airfare or hotel in 4+ years and that's solely from using the sign up bonuses.

 

There are some programs out there that are confusing and tedious to figure out, but Southwest and IHG couldn't be any easier. I highly recommend both!

[famreynoso]

So many travel related credit cards that are far better: do your homework!

 

 

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Such as?

 

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[famreynoso]

We have just used our points for a free 3-4 day cruise. It became difficult because the voucher winds up to be a maximum value of $1000 for the 3-4 day. We did not have enough points for a 7 day and you have to keep an eye on the points because they do expire, it is not like other cards we have that as long as you use the card it renews all your points. With the Royal card they just expire after so long. As Bob said the voucher is not combinable with any other sale, with the 3-4 day voucher it can not be used on a new ship that is less than 12 months old. And guess what when we went to redeem ours they consider Empress a new ship! We did finally find a 4 night on Indy that came to a total of $900 and something so we did get a free cruise to ..... wait for it. . . . Cozumel & back. We tried for one on Anthem to Bermuda and back but would have had to pay an additional $1000, and could not do any on the New ship Empress. You have 180 days to book after redeeming. To redeem for a free cruise on 3-4 day one it requires you to book the highest available ocean view room then they discount it by the $1000 and you pay the rest. So the trick is to find one under that price. We needed to book by August so we only had one choice for a truly free cruise. You still pay port fees, taxes, & gratuities. We paid a total of $157 for port fees & taxes for two of us. You will also pay a cruise fair of $1 a person if you want your C&A points for the nights.

Thanks for expiration info, wasnt aware.

 

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[famreynoso]

Southwest, IHG (Holiday Inn, Intercontinental, Crown Plaza, etc) Hyatt and even the Marriott card all have reward programs that are really easy to use that are way more valuable than the Royal card. We get easily $1200+ in value per year with the Southwest cards alone.

 

A hotel card with an annual free night alone is usually worth the modest annual fee those cards carry. We haven't paid for cruise airfare or hotel in 4+ years and that's solely from using the sign up bonuses.

 

There are some programs out there that are confusing and tedious to figure out, but Southwest and IHG couldn't be any easier. I highly recommend both!

Nice. Thanks for the info

 

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[debshomespun]

On the RC Bank of America Card, the points will expire in 5 years (60 months). If you are not sure when any of your points might expire, you can call them as ask.

[Clarea]

On the RC Bank of America Card, the points will expire in 5 years (60 months). If you are not sure when any of your points might expire, you can call them as ask.

I first noticed last week that you can now see a display of expiration dates for your points on the B of A website.

[Big_G]

I first noticed last week that you can now see a display of expiration dates for your points on the B of A website.

Thank you. I'll have to check mine. We've never done the 'free cruise' but we've certainly dented the price on a couple. We mostly use it like you for OBC now.

 

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[Flatbush Flyer]

Such as?

 

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Up until a few weeks ago (when the bonus points deal was reduced), the best (and most flexible) perks of any travel related credit card was Chase Sapphire Reserve. Beside 100k points when you hit the $4k initial spend mark, you'd get 3x points, $300 travel purchase credit, insurance, et al.. And, once you did the math on the initial shock of a $450 annual fee, you quickly realized that the perks went far beyond wiping out that cost. Then, after year one you could cancel.

Haven't checked on the new 2017 bonus deal for new customers (think it went down from 100k to 50k - still at least two RT tix on most US domestic coach fares). But, it's probably still a good deal.

Of course, if you can't qualify (very restrictive) or shriek at the $450, there's always other Chase travel-savvy products. Do look at the United Explorer Visa, which (again, if you qualify) gets you free checked bags, club passes, various travel insurance perks and, most importantly, the points are usable across the entire Star Alliance consortium of airlines. And, yes, you can use the points for cruises, hotels, et al.

Edited January 22, 2017 by Flatbush Flyer

[breezy_carol]

The one good thing about it is there is no minimum purchase in order to get 10,0000 or $100 OBC. You can make 1 purchase and never use the card again.

I just applied for this card strictly for the OBC. I have some home improvements to pay for so may as well get some drinks out of it.

[CapeCoralCruiser]

OP, thanks for posting this question. Been meaning to do it myself, and you got some great responses.

 

We have just used our points for a free 3-4 day cruise. It became difficult because the voucher winds up to be a maximum value of $1000 for the 3-4 day. We did not have enough points for a 7 day and you have to keep an eye on the points because they do expire, it is not like other cards we have that as long as you use the card it renews all your points. With the Royal card they just expire after so long. As Bob said the voucher is not combinable with any other sale, with the 3-4 day voucher it can not be used on a new ship that is less than 12 months old. And guess what when we went to redeem ours they consider Empress a new ship! We did finally find a 4 night on Indy that came to a total of $900 and something so we did get a free cruise to ..... wait for it. . . . Cozumel & back. We tried for one on Anthem to Bermuda and back but would have had to pay an additional $1000, and could not do any on the New ship Empress. You have 180 days to book after redeeming. To redeem for a free cruise on 3-4 day one it requires you to book the highest available ocean view room then they discount it by the $1000 and you pay the rest. So the trick is to find one under that price. We needed to book by August so we only had one choice for a truly free cruise. You still pay port fees, taxes, & gratuities. We paid a total of $157 for port fees & taxes for two of us. You will also pay a cruise fair of $1 a person if you want your C&A points for the nights.

 

Thanks for the above info. We'll soon have enough points for a 3-4 nt and were thinking about using them to go on a 4 nt Empress, as we recently sailed on her and really enjoyed it. Maybe we'll just have to wait until after her 1st re-birthday to try. Otherwise, we might do Indy again.

 

Didn't know about the $1 payment to receive cruise points. I asked the Next Cruise sales manager on a recent cruise if we would receive cruise points if using cc points to purchase a cruise and she said "absolutely," but I thought I had read a recent CC member's post that said "no". I know, consistently inconsistent.

 

Haven't even had the card a year yet, so we'll see if it works out for us going forward. So, I'm new to this cc, but it seems to me you get the most bang for your points if you use them for a "free" cruise (as long as you are satisfied with the available cruise selection), or am I missing something? 50,000 points = $500 OBC or up to $1,000 toward a "free" cruise? Admittedly, a 4 nt cruise is shorter than we prefer, but we're close enough to the FL ports that its not exactly inconvenient.

[silvermcs]

We use the RCL Visa for OBC. As others have mentioned, other cards can be more rewarding. Currently also using other reward cards. I travel for work so we use the hotel and airline points for free travel.

What I like about the RCL points for OBC is that at the end of the cruise, all the extras are paid for. For us it is flowrider lessons, wine and spa. The prices on board are excessive and the points take the sting out of receiving that final bill on your cabin door.

 

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[zdad59]

Such as?

 

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The best rated card is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. I have it and on our last cruise I got the RCL Visa card. I got it for the instant 10,000 points. Worked it up to 25,000 point and then put it away. Will use those point for a $250 OBC for our upcoming February cruise.

 

The Chase card is awesome because points are transferrable 1:1 to many other rewards programs. For example, we booked our Southwest flight to San Juan for the upcoming cruise by transferring Chase points to my Southwest account. BOOM....free flights. You can accumulate points pretty quickly. If you book using the Chase rewards site, there is even more power in the points.

[CAT GIRL]

I first noticed last week that you can now see a display of expiration dates for your points on the B of A website.

 

 

Thanks Bob. I didn't know they expired and I went to the website

and saw that some expire next month.

If I redeemed it for $500 off a cruise itinerary, does the cruise

need to be within a certain time frame? I have 7 cruises booked but

I wanted to use it on the most expensive one. But if it's either

use it or lose it, I will apply it to one that's coming up.

If you could refer me to what site shows the "fine print" on redemption

I would appreciate it.

[rum & monkey]

Thanks Bob. I didn't know they expired and I went to the website

 

and saw that some expire next month.

 

If I redeemed it for $500 off a cruise itinerary, does the cruise

 

need to be within a certain time frame? I have 7 cruises booked but

 

I wanted to use it on the most expensive one. But if it's either

 

use it or lose it, I will apply it to one that's coming up.

 

If you could refer me to what site shows the "fine print" on redemption

 

I would appreciate it.

 

 

If it works like the free cruise you have 180 days to use it after redeeming. So we needed to redeem by March but did not have to sale until August.

 

 

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[molly361]

Thanks Bob. I didn't know they expired and I went to the website

and saw that some expire next month.

If I redeemed it for $500 off a cruise itinerary, does the cruise

need to be within a certain time frame? I have 7 cruises booked but

I wanted to use it on the most expensive one. But if it's either

use it or lose it, I will apply it to one that's coming up.

If you could refer me to what site shows the "fine print" on redemption

I would appreciate it.

 

Here are the rules- You can apply them to any cruise

 

http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/pdf/visa/royal_web_program_rules_07_29_16.pdf

 

And the redemption site

 

https://www.managerewardsonline.com/RMSapp/Ctl/entry?pid=grprwd&mc=RCCL

Edited January 22, 2017 by molly361

[CAT GIRL]

Thanks for all your help. Let's say that I have 79,000 points and

that a lot of them start to expire in various months in 2017. I

want to redeem them as credits to cruises. If I redeem, say 25000,

and save the rest will they take the points from the ones that were

ready to expire or from the more recent ones accrued? Trying to figure out

if I should redeem all of them since they are starting to

expire or if I can redeem some here and there.

[Clarea]

Thanks for all your help. Let's say that I have 79,000 points and

that a lot of them start to expire in various months in 2017. I

want to redeem them as credits to cruises. If I redeem, say 25000,

and save the rest will they take the points from the ones that were

ready to expire or from the more recent ones accrued? Trying to figure out

if I should redeem all of them since they are starting to

expire or if I can redeem some here and there.

Oldest points are redeemed first.