NCL Mastercard FAQ

[Warm-Water Diver]

Just got my NCL card in the mail today and booked my next NCL cruise on it.

 

Question. If I normally used online booking agents that discount NCLs prices. How do I go about redeeming certificates and getting them applied to future bookings this way? Do I pay the deposit on my card then send my certificates to the online discounter who would then forward to NCL for crediting, or do I just mail them directly to NCL and then make my final payment to the online discounter - the certificates?

[Marlissa]

Just got my NCL card in the mail today and booked my next NCL cruise on it.

 

Question. If I normally used online booking agents that discount NCLs prices. How do I go about redeeming certificates and getting them applied to future bookings this way? Do I pay the deposit on my card then send my certificates to the online discounter who would then forward to NCL for crediting, or do I just mail them directly to NCL and then make my final payment to the online discounter - the certificates?

 

Can be done either way...Ask your online discounter how they want to handle them.

[CruzinFamilyof5]

It doesn't seem like a very good deal to me, but maybe we don't spend enough. In order to get the 500 points for a cruise discount of $500, you have to spend about $16,600 on your credit card. Am I figuring it correct?

 

 

This card is very, very good! We had to accumulate $70,000 on Carnival Sea Miles to get $600 off our last cruise. If you cruise in the off season, a baja cruise would have been free for 2 people. In order to have the same discount with NCL, we only need about $20,000 in expenses. We just ordered the NCL card, so we plan on making our final payment in a few weeks for our Mediterranean cruise. After all the credits go through, we will already have about 350 points. We'll just need 150 points to get that $500 discount. We may just put all our onboard expenses and excursions for 6-7 ports since we get that bonus 1%. :D

 

 

 

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[smeyer418]

Can be done either way...Ask your online discounter how they want to handle them.

Mail them directly there is no reason to give someone else a chance to lose them....

[kdg51]

CruisnFamily...if you do any gambling in the casino you can take out money on your card too. Minimum was at $100 on our cruise in May. Why spend my $$$ from home when I can add on those points? :D

[going2cruz]

If I apply today, get a card next week can I use the credits for a cruise already booked with final payment due in January 09.

[kdg51]

goingtocruiz---you'll need to do some major shopping but I can tell you it can be done. I got my card about this time one year and got all my holiday shopping out of the way in a hurry and had enough credits to get a certificate by early February. Just keep in mind the monthly limit...I think that the points are limited to $2500 in spending a month??? And you can only earn $1000 in cert in a year so keep track of how many points you have each month. Thanks to the advice I got here I was able to get a second card for my Hubby and I try to alternate with $500 on one and then $500 on the other to keep myself from loosing out on points. I charge everything...utilities, groceries, gas, etc and pay the bill off each month. The most they ever got for me was $12 fee to get my payment posted on time becaus I had let it go until after 5PM on the day before it was due. Now I make at least the minimum payment when the bill arrives (just in case:eek: ) or I schedule the payment for a few days before it's due so I can see that it was processed in time. :D

[weloverunning]

Going2cruz: You will have to spend $16,700 in the next couple of months (but not more than about $8,300 in any ONE month) in order to have a minimun of $500 for one certificate by your final due date.

[Lyman713]

If I apply today, get a card next week can I use the credits for a cruise already booked with final payment due in January 09.

 

Vince - It took us more than a week to get the card - closer to 3 weeks. We got our first card in May, then a second card a couple of months ago.

 

Also, your points don't get posted to your account until the end of the billing cycle. Finally, there is a 250 point limit each month (equating to about $8300 of non-NCL charges (NCL charges get 1% additional points)).

 

With all that said, if you got a card by the first week of October, in theory, you could get 250 points posted in Nov, and another 250 points posted in Dec, have your certificate by mid/late Dec and send it to NCL.

 

Good luck! :-)

[CruzinFamilyof5]

CruisnFamily...if you do any gambling in the casino you can take out money on your card too. Minimum was at $100 on our cruise in May. Why spend my $$$ from home when I can add on those points? :D

 

We don't do much gambling, but wouldn't we pay the higher interest or fees with a cash advance?

[CruzinFamilyof5]

Going2cruz: You will have to spend $16,700 in the next couple of months (but not more than about $8,300 in any ONE month) in order to have a minimun of $500 for one certificate by your final due date.

 

I think you have to spend less if the expenses are NCL related. With $8800 on NCL charge, we should have 350 points, plus 25 points with first purchase. Am I doing the math right? 4 points for each $100. To get that first certificate, I should get 125 points with $4200 in regular every day expenses. You could get that first certificate with $13000 in expenses as long as you don't go over $8300 in one month? Do house payments count? lol that could rack up pretty quickly! :eek:

[cruizinwithkids]

We don't do much gambling, but wouldn't we pay the higher interest or fees with a cash advance?

 

It ends up being a charge to your on board account. Be careful if you do this as I have read other lines are changing it to being the type of cash advance you are talking about. We have had to do it the "tricky" was sometimes where we are given chips, walk away, then cash them in. I don't use it for the gambling but basically to pay additional gratuities and such at the end of the cruise.

[weloverunning]

Cruzinfamilyoffive: I don't understand your math. The OP asked about their already booked cruise. It would be kind of hard to have $8800 in NCL charges in the next three months.

No one has yet to find a mortgage company who will let you pay your mortgage with a credit card.:(

[CruzinFamilyof5]

I was responding to this quote:

 

Originally Posted by rpbcouple

Going2cruz: You will have to spend $16,700 in the next couple of months (but not more than about $8,300 in any ONE month) in order to have a minimun of $500 for one certificate by your final due date.

In this scenario, you would only need to spend $13,000 in 2 months if combining expenses with NCL related charges for a $500 certificate towards the next cruise and there are many automatic expenses that can be charged to a credit card. We did it with Sea Miles. If you plan it far enough perhaps the certificate can be used prior to final payment of the same cruise? We did our deposit in April for a December cruise. The OP is on Page 11 of this thread with a different situation. No matter how it's worked out, the NCL card is much better than the Sea Miles card. We had to accumulate $70000 in expenses for almost the same discount :mad:

 

 

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[CruzinFamilyof5]

It ends up being a charge to your on board account. Be careful if you do this as I have read other lines are changing it to being the type of cash advance you are talking about. We have had to do it the "tricky" was sometimes where we are given chips, walk away, then cash them in. I don't use it for the gambling but basically to pay additional gratuities and such at the end of the cruise.

 

 

Thank you, we'll read the "fine print" prior to our cruise. Would you pay for NCL excursions since you get more points on NCL related or would you rather save money and do your own tours? We have 7-8 ports and the tours would add up substantially with family of 5. We have private quotes for 400 Euros for each tour which would come out to approx $600 each port which would come out to about $5000 in tours for the entire trip, plus gratuities. I think the NCL excursions are close to that price. :confused: If we go through NCL for cruise and tours, I think we would end up with enough points for a $500 certificate by the end of the cruise? :)

 

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[cruizinwithkids]

Thank you, we'll read the "fine print" prior to our cruise. Would you pay for NCL excursions since you get more points on NCL related or would you rather save money and do your own tours? We have 7-8 ports and the tours would add up substantially with family of 5. We have private quotes for 400 Euros for each tour which would come out to approx $600 each port which would come out to about $5000 in tours for the entire trip, plus gratuities. I think the NCL excursions are close to that price. :confused: If we go through NCL, I think we would end up with enough points for a $500 certificate by the end of the cruise? :)

 

...

 

I am way too wimpy to have that question asked. You are definitely paying more than 4% above the cost of a private tour so it really doesn't work out to a savings. However if I was in Europe I would do ship tours because I would be so nervous about missing the ship. I think you could call my fear of abandonment in a foreign country a phobia, so I really don't think it's worth a normal person considering.:D

[dandi]

Hi folks,

 

I have a question concerning getting 4 points for each hundred when charging a cruise.

 

I am charging my cruise through my TA. The charge on the card is from the TAs company, which means I will get 3 points for every $100 spent. Is there anyway of getting the extra point per $100 spent booking the cruise?

 

Dan from Cape Cod

[smeyer418]

Hi folks,

 

I have a question concerning getting 4 points for each hundred when charging a cruise.

 

I am charging my cruise through my TA. The charge on the card is from the TAs company, which means I will get 3 points for every $100 spent. Is there anyway of getting the extra point per $100 spent booking the cruise?

 

Dan from Cape Cod

 

 

yes tell them you want it charged through the cruise line. Unless they are selling you a room that they own(they can resell roooms) they should have no trouble doing that. You really always want it charged through the cruise line for safety reasons(in case the TA is trying to use your money....)

[*Wink*]

Hi folks,

 

I have a question concerning getting 4 points for each hundred when charging a cruise.

 

I am charging my cruise through my TA. The charge on the card is from the TAs company, which means I will get 3 points for every $100 spent. Is there anyway of getting the extra point per $100 spent booking the cruise?

 

Dan from Cape Cod

I'm not joking when I say I was just getting ready to post this same question.. (insert twilight zone music here.)

 

Thanks Dandi and Thanks Sid.

[Lyman713]

Thank you, we'll read the "fine print" prior to our cruise. Would you pay for NCL excursions since you get more points on NCL related or would you rather save money and do your own tours? We have 7-8 ports and the tours would add up substantially with family of 5. We have private quotes for 400 Euros for each tour which would come out to approx $600 each port which would come out to about $5000 in tours for the entire trip, plus gratuities. I think the NCL excursions are close to that price. :confused: If we go through NCL for cruise and tours, I think we would end up with enough points for a $500 certificate by the end of the cruise? :)

 

...

 

If you are going to have lots of expenses on a single cruise (over $6250, as $6250 * 4% = $250 monthly point limit, assuming no other credit card charges that month, even less if you have current charges...), consider getting two cards, and apply different cards to different people to divy up the expenses.

 

Happy Sails!!

[logan1_2000]

Hi, I wonder if anyone knows--is the $1,000 annual limit on the rewards you can earn toward a discount subject to a calendar year, or is the year based upon when we got the card (February for us). I'm about to hit the $1,000 limit/maximum, and trying to figure out when to switch back to the NCL mastercard, January 1st or the later date. I called customer service and bless her heart, she even got on the line to ask my question and got back on and said she checked and there was no $1,000 annual limit. Since I did not believe that her answer was accurate, I'll attribute it to maybe I mis-spoke, or used the wrong word, so that they mis-understood. I guess maybe I mistook points for discount dollars off a cruise fare, and that confused them?

 

Anyone who can define when the "year" begins and ends, thanks in advance, and if there is no longer any limit, thanks for letting me know that, too.

[Preds]

Hi, I wonder if anyone knows--is the $1,000 annual limit on the rewards you can earn toward a discount subject to a calendar year, or is the year based upon when we got the card (February for us). I'm about to hit the $1,000 limit/maximum, and trying to figure out when to switch back to the NCL mastercard, January 1st or the later date. I called customer service and bless her heart, she even got on the line to ask my question and got back on and said she checked and there was no $1,000 annual limit. Since I did not believe that her answer was accurate, I'll attribute it to maybe I mis-spoke, or used the wrong word, so that they mis-understood. I guess maybe I mistook points for discount dollars off a cruise fare, and that confused them?

 

Anyone who can define when the "year" begins and ends, thanks in advance, and if there is no longer any limit, thanks for letting me know that, too.

It goes by your annual statement date, NOT by calendar year.

 

Also, there IS a 1,000 point cap on earnings per statement year.

[smeyer418]

It goes by your annual statement date, NOT by calendar year.

 

Also, there IS a 1,000 point cap on earnings per statement year.

and the statement year begins with the first statement you have charges on.

[Lyman713]

Hi, I wonder if anyone knows--is the $1,000 annual limit on the rewards you can earn toward a discount subject to a calendar year, or is the year based upon when we got the card (February for us). I'm about to hit the $1,000 limit/maximum, and trying to figure out when to switch back to the NCL mastercard, January 1st or the later date. I called customer service and bless her heart, she even got on the line to ask my question and got back on and said she checked and there was no $1,000 annual limit. Since I did not believe that her answer was accurate, I'll attribute it to maybe I mis-spoke, or used the wrong word, so that they mis-understood. I guess maybe I mistook points for discount dollars off a cruise fare, and that confused them?

 

Anyone who can define when the "year" begins and ends, thanks in advance, and if there is no longer any limit, thanks for letting me know that, too.

 

 

I believe the answer to your question is the year begins in the month you first used the card, not the calendar year. This part is fairly clear in the fine print that comes with the card. And, as far as I know, there still is a 1000 point annual limit (and 3000 point maximum).

 

But, your question brings up another question, which was discussed a bit earlier in this thread... Here is the scenario...

 

You get 83 1/3 points starting with your November 1, 2007 statement (yes, I know you don't get fractional points, but just for example....)

 

At month 12 (October 1, 2008 statement) you get 83 1/3 points, bringing your yearly total up to 1000 exactly.

 

The question---

If you earn 250 points in the next month, what happens?

 

I see two options --

1. The point "reset" annually... so, after the Oct. 1 statement (one statement year), your count goes to zero and you get all 250 points.

 

2. The points have a "rolling reset" - meaning that you have to look at the past 11 months of points (regardless of the calendar year or the statement year) and take that sum and subtract it from 1000. So, in this case, you would only be eligable for 83 1/3 points in the 13th month, losing 168 2/3 points.

 

 

I believe the earlier post pointed to the latter (option #2), but the fine print with the card isn't very clear on this, and each rep I speak with at BOA doesn't know... I'm going to try it with one of my cards during my 13th month to find out for sure... but was wondering if anyone has encountered this specific issue?

 

Thanks!

[smeyer418]

I don't think its that complicated.

 

Simply put your can earn 1000 points in any statement year. if you have left over from the first year because you didn't earn 1000 they just carry forward and the most you can earn in that new year is 1000 so if you earn the full thousand you get 2 500 credits and have the same balance left over when you start the next statement year.

 

if you earn 250 points in the 12 month you lose them if you have already have the 1000 for the year. actually I think it may restart exactly on the day you have your first charge but since I have 3 different cards I just change to another one when I reah the limit.

 

and yes I don't think the agents know exactly. this is one of those really esoteric questions that only the truly obsessed care about.