Credit card rewards

[lhsail]

Requested OBC from my Celebrity credit card for a July cruise a few weeks ago. It is not showing up in My Account. Can someone with experience tell me when I will see this?  Want to use it to upgrade the beverage package with our 10% Elite discount (at the new price!). 

 

[NutsAboutGolf]

I am NOT a fan of the card due to amount of spending you need to do receive the $100 OBC

[WestLakeGirl]

Lhsail, how did you order?  Email? By phone? On the web?

[sn2792]

2 hours ago, lhsail said:

Requested OBC from my Celebrity credit card for a July cruise a few weeks ago. It is not showing up in My Account. Can someone with experience tell me when I will see this?  Want to use it to upgrade the beverage package with our 10% Elite discount (at the new price!). 

 

Whenever I add OBC from credit card on Celebrity, I have had to call to get it added. The number I used is 844-418-6824.

[lhsail]

11 hours ago, WestLakeGirl said:

Lhsail, how did you order?  Email? By phone? On the web?

I did it on the bank’s website. 

[lhsail]

10 hours ago, sn2792 said:

Whenever I add OBC from credit card on Celebrity, I have had to call to get it added. The number I used is 844-418-6824.

Interesting that I would need to make a call in addition to requesting online. Not very efficient. 

[lhsail]

12 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

I am NOT a fan of the card due to amount of spending you need to do receive the $100 OBC

We took the card out when booking an additional week while onboard last summer. Agree that it’s benefits are not very good. Will not be renewing. 

[lola2013]

I also redeem the points on BOA's website.  I follow up with an email to my TA to let her know I've done it.  She then verifies when it shows up on my account.

[cruisestitch]

Assuming that you have another cruise planned on Celebrity, you might want to consider redeeming the points for reduction in cruise fare rather than onboard credit.

 

You will see the credit you redeem  show up on your credit card statement.

 

then instead of having OBC, use the card for settling your on board account and start building up new points to redeem on the next cruise or later.

[thebutlerdidit]

4 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

Assuming that you have another cruise planned on Celebrity, you might want to consider redeeming the points for reduction in cruise fare rather than onboard credit.

 

You will see the credit you redeem  show up on your credit card statement.

 

then instead of having OBC, use the card for settling your on board account and start building up new points to redeem on the next cruise or later.

That’s some good advice. 

[lhsail]

3 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

Assuming that you have another cruise planned on Celebrity, you might want to consider redeeming the points for reduction in cruise fare rather than onboard credit.

 

You will see the credit you redeem  show up on your credit card statement.

 

then instead of having OBC, use the card for settling your on board account and start building up new points to redeem on the next cruise or later.

Appreciate the information. At this point we don’t have another cruise with Celebrity that has not already been paid in full. And, I have another credit card I use more for paying off cruises as it has travel insurance attached to it. 

[lola2013]

12 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

Assuming that you have another cruise planned on Celebrity, you might want to consider redeeming the points for reduction in cruise fare rather than onboard credit.

 

You will see the credit you redeem  show up on your credit card statement.

 

then instead of having OBC, use the card for settling your on board account and start building up new points to redeem on the next cruise or later.

I have always used the points to bring down my balance rather than OBC...works out great.

[OT-Miami]

1 hour ago, lhsail said:

Interesting that I would need to make a call in addition to requesting online. Not very efficient. 

This has been our experience as well; our online request always requires a follow up phone call.  Agreed, not effecient at all.

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, lhsail said:

We took the card out when booking an additional week while onboard last summer. Agree that it’s benefits are not very good. Will not be renewing. 

 

If there's no annual fee there isn't a NEED to cancel it as doing so will lower your credit score by a tiny bit.  Yet if you want to keep it open you should probably plan on buying a cheap item from amazon or something every quarter to ensure it remains open

[jwlane]

WOW!  I was screen shotted!  Like I said---pick up the phone.

[ryansmousehouse]

Just went thru this for my July Cruise.. Phone call required and it was there in15 minutes

[Pennstatedj]

I have used my points many times. I used BOA website to order the OBC. Each time it appeared in a couple of weeks. It did not always show on X website, but it always was on my account when I was onboard. I also used for Royal cruise. It has always worked. Only issues I have had involved cancelled cruises in March 2020. That was a nightmare. The second nightmare occurred recently when I got tested positive week of cruise. I managed to transfer some OBC to kids on that cruise. I lost a portion because they, BOA and RCL  messed up and we lost 50 out of 250 OBC. But they tried. 

Bottom line it will work most of the time. If anything happens between BOA and X it is not a good process and no one knows the system. Most of the time it works. If something happens good luck finding answers or tracking. All questions are handled by a section of CC at X. I do recommend copying your order on the BOA site for your record. The records of your order disappear after a month and cannot be tracked. 

 

[lhsail]

Thank you all for the information. 

[sn2792]

On 5/20/2022 at 10:02 AM, lhsail said:

Interesting that I would need to make a call in addition to requesting online. Not very efficient. 

I agree, but that’s the only way I have been able to get it added to my reservation on Celebrity. On RCCL. It shows up within a couple of days. 

[jwlane]

On 5/20/2022 at 9:10 PM, Pennstatedj said:

I have used my points many times.

But have you done it in the last year or so? Unless you call, the OBC will not make it to your onboard account. The interface between BoA and Celebrity does not exist. 

[Redtravel]

Thanks.  Called Celebrity today and got the rewards OBC attached to my June cruise account.  Fortunately, I had my receipt.  Before pandemic, it was posted quickly after online redemption. Not the case now.  

[Pennstatedj]

Yes I did this year and it was posted in less than two weeks. I also saw it on my plan so I could use on that cruise. 

[outoftowner]

Thanks to the information on this chat and others, I called 800-760-0654 option 3 to speak to the rewards desk. The first call I got a guy who did not know what to do. He did tell me he could not find the OBC credit from the Credit card and  told me someone would call me back within 48 hours. No one called. My second phone call and 49 minute wait on hold, I got a lady who did know what to do. She got our credit card OBC credited to our reservation and helped me cancel an excursion and rebook it using the aforementioned OBC.

it might take a few calls and many minutes on hold, but it can be done. I have decided to not use the Celebrity credit card after this next trip. Too much incompetence for a small return.

[lhsail]

2 minutes ago, outoftowner said:

Thanks to the information on this chat and others, I called 800-760-0654 option 3 to speak to the rewards desk. The first call I got a guy who did not know what to do. He did tell me he could not find the OBC credit from the Credit card and  told me someone would call me back within 48 hours. No one called. My second phone call and 49 minute wait on hold, I got a lady who did know what to do. She got our credit card OBC credited to our reservation and helped me cancel an excursion and rebook it using the aforementioned OBC.

it might take a few calls and many minutes on hold, but it can be done. I have decided to not use the Celebrity credit card after this next trip. Too much incompetence for a small return.

I have called twice and been on hold so long I had to hang up. Very frustrating. But, it will pay for the drink package upgrade once I finally get through. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

Because the card is cobranded you can't convert it to another card.  However, if you have a credit score in the upper 700s just cancel it.  If you go to costco a lot one of the best card without an annual fee is the costco card.  Also the chase freedom and flex.