using sea miles

[edpeeks]

Please share your strategies and/or experiences using your sea miles. I have just over 71k points and have tried to get the most out of them and haven't had much success. I wanted to attain one person in a room on the Glory for next 4th of July week. I would buy the other person's ticket. No go. They said both people in the cabin had to be either sea miles or purchased. To me this is very misleading when on their website they say X number of miles for a cruise.

 

Then they wanted to "discount" two cabins. One using 50K miles on an OV cabin and 10K miles on the kid's inside cabin. I told them why not use the remaining 20K on the inside and they said the increments for use of the points were 10K, 25K and 50K. An answer for everything.

 

So then I asked about plane fare discounts. $25. for every 5K miles. $350. credit for 70K points! I could have gotten a ticket to Europe for that, a $1500. ticket no less.

 

So if you all can help, thanks. I'm going to use the miles the best way and go back to my AE Delta Sky Miles card.

[LHP]

Please share your strategies and/or experiences using your sea miles. I have just over 71k points and have tried to get the most out of them and haven't had much success. I wanted to attain one person in a room on the Glory for next 4th of July week. I would buy the other person's ticket. No go. They said both people in the cabin had to be either sea miles or purchased. To me this is very misleading when on their website they say X number of miles for a cruise.

 

Then they wanted to "discount" two cabins. One using 50K miles on an OV cabin and 10K miles on the kid's inside cabin. I told them why not use the remaining 20K on the inside and they said the increments for use of the points were 10K, 25K and 50K. An answer for everything.

 

So then I asked about plane fare discounts. $25. for every 5K miles. $350. credit for 70K points! I could have gotten a ticket to Europe for that, a $1500. ticket no less.

 

So if you all can help, thanks. I'm going to use the miles the best way and go back to my AE Delta Sky Miles card.

 

Good luck!

 

Also be aware that they try to tack on cruise insurance without asking. When you do ask, they tell you that insurance is "required". Well, of course we experienced cruisers all know that insurance is not "required"....but I bet they sucker many who do not know better.

 

We know first hand. They charged $70.00 to our credit card and NEVER mentioned insurance. When we questioned the $70.00 charge, they said it was for the "required" insurance. Hubby told them he had been cruising longer than they had been alive and that insurance was definately NOT required and to remove the charge.

 

Had we not known better, that would have been another $70.00 bucks in their pocket. sleeze city!!! That card is now GONE!!

[DqALEX]

What I did was, I cashed in just over 80,000 points for 2 tickets on the Celebration for Jan 27. It cost me $80.00 + 80,000 points, for and ocean view cabin. The best part was I also used a coupon from the last Currents Mag that got me a 3 deck upgrade. Sea Miles did not want to take the coupon so I told them I would call my PVP atCarnival myself and ask. He than told me he would be glad to call for me If I would hold. Well they took the coupon. IM not real happy with Sea Miles, but its better than getting nothing, like the old days.

[Cruzman]

I have the same dilemma. I'm trying very hard to use my 50,000 + points without getting ripped off, but it has been difficult. My initial attempts have been unsuccessful because they refuse to honor cruise line pricing (their pricing is higher don't 'ya know). The problem is that there seems to be a complete disconnect between Juniper Bank and the travel agency that manages bookings for them. Juniper Seamiles will tell you one thing, and the travel agency something just the opposite. Then they blame each other for the discrepency. Now that I know how crooked the whole process is, I am working on beating them at their own game; then I will be done with them! My advice; stay away from Seamiles!!!!

[LHP]

I have the same dilemma. I'm trying very hard to use my 50,000 + points without getting ripped off, but it has been difficult. My initial attempts have been unsuccessful because they refuse to honor cruise line pricing (their pricing is higher don't 'ya know). The problem is that there seems to be a complete disconnect between Juniper Bank and the travel agency that manages bookings for them. Juniper Seamiles will tell you one thing, and the travel agency something just the opposite. Then they blame each other for the discrepency. Now that I know how crooked the whole process is, I am working on beating them at their own game; then I will be done with them! My advice; stay away from Seamiles!!!!

 

The "travel agency" is the same folks that run CVC. enough said!

[vtoria98]

I used them to book a cruise on the Elation and had the Carnival site up and made them give me the Past Cruiser discount, They said no problem. I ended up with a pretty decent deal with only 25k miles. However i ended up cancelling and using the miles for a 3 day Soveriegn cruise so some friends could go with us.

 

However I just looked at their site and noticed that Chase will be taking over the card. I am hoping that they will make some changes to the program. Lots of people on here have the card and have had no problems. You just have to know how to handle them.