NCL Mastercard FAQ

[c breeze]

Just received the letter dated January 5 from BOA about the wonderful World Points program.....blah, blah, blah.... Of note, it states that we should receive our Compass Reward certificates in 6-8 weeks.

[lumofny]

For all those looking for a replacement card now that the 3/4% NCL program has ended, I'd strongly recommend going with a card that gives you cash back, rather than points or miles. Programs can change and point levels can go up or down, but cash is always cash. I wouldn't want to be stuck with a card that earns you miles on X airlines or hotel stays at Y hotel, only to have X or Y go out of business. Be safe, stick with cash, and avoid the anger of another program possibly coming to and end :)

[lindaleecamper]

Just a headsup for you. As of January 1, 2009 the Hhonors AMEX changed the bonues (some positive, and some major negative).

 

 

While they increased the bonuses to 3 points instead of 2 (a total of 6 instead of 5), they took away a couple categories, including a HUGE one in RESTAURANTS. The USPS is the other category taken away.

 

The loss of restaurants is a huge blow, and IMO the extra bonus point in the other categories doesn't nearly make up for it. Keep this in mind when deciding which card to use.

 

Also, warehouse clubs and superstores (i.e. Target, Walmart, etc) are explicitly excluded.

 

I still think it's a very good card, but for restaurant purchases, I'll likely use another card.

 

 

Thanks so much for the info but I haven't been able to find anywhere on line that the Amex HH has changed as you specified. I just got off the phone with Hilton Honors and they told me there haven't been any changes. They told me that the Citibank HH pays 6 points which I knew. But if you are correct it will be a bummer not to have restaurants included. Unless maybe you have some insider information. Please let me know. Thanks.

[Preds]

Thanks so much for the info but I haven't been able to find anywhere on line that the Amex HH has changed as you specified. I just got off the phone with Hilton Honors and they told me there haven't been any changes. They told me that the Citibank HH pays 6 points which I knew. But if you are correct it will be a bummer not to have restaurants included. Unless maybe you have some insider information. Please let me know. Thanks.

The change in bonuses was related to us as a change in terms in our account statements this month. There is a lot of discussion on it at the FlyerTalk Hilton Boards.

 

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilton-hhonors/904730-hhonors-amex-point-change.html

Edited January 11, 2009 by Preds

[lindaleecamper]

The change in bonuses was related to us as a change in terms in our account statements this month. There is a lot of discussion on it at the FlyerTalk Hilton Boards.

 

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilton-hhonors/904730-hhonors-amex-point-change.html

 

 

Thanks so much for the info and the link. I only signed up about 7-10 days ago and I was told I should receive my Amex HH card by February. But as of yesterday I received my Citibank HH card which I signed up for at the same time. Thanks so much for the heads up I really appreciate it.

[judyf]

Please if someone could confirm if the HH AMEX card for points or cash back.

[Preds]

Please if someone could confirm if the HH AMEX card for points or cash back.

The Hilton Hhhonors AMEX card is purely Hhonors points. No cash back.

 

That said, the Hhonors points can be valuable. I typically average over 4.1 points per dollar in spending with the bonus points (that'll likely drop a tad with the loss of the restaurant bonuses). Thus, $10,000 in spending averages about 40,000 points or so , which is a a free night at a class 6 hotel ($300+ in value).

 

The Hhonors AMEX also has a special discount code (AXON) which allows 4 nights at a category 5 or 6 hotel for 125,000 points. Normally that'd cost 140,000-160,000 points.

 

As an example, I have a 4 night stay at the Embassy Suites Waikiki booked for Easter using the AXON code. Had I paid for that room, it'd be over $1,100 with taxes. Instead it was 125,000 points which equates to about $31,000 in spending which is actually a tad better than we got with the Compass Rewards card.

Edited January 11, 2009 by Preds

[lindaleecamper]

Please if someone could confirm if the HH AMEX card for points or cash back.

 

The Hilton Honors Amex Credit card is for points for stays at any of the Hilton family hotels.

[judyf]

Thanks you both, that's just want I thought. I think I want to get a cash back card.

 

Which is the best card for cash back without an annual fee?

[Sandyshore]

The Citibank HH pays 6pts for Hilton stays, 3pts grocers, gas, drugstores and 2 pts or everything else. Also between January and Early April they will double points with their HH hotel card. These points can add up fast. So you can have a HH membership card + both credit cards.

 

Is this an Amex card? I have a Citibank Hilton Visa Signature card (no annual fee) that pays 6 pts for Hilton stays and 2 pts for everything else. Just in case yours is also a VISA card, I wanted to be sure I'm not missing out on the 3 pts for grocers, gas, drugstores. Thanks.

[jcc&lnc]

Keep in mind that the Hilton HHonors points can be used for Carnival cuises. But it takes quite a number of points.

[EmmasNana]

The amex HH can also be used for certs off for ncl or most cruise lines. The certs for ncl are still cheaper than using the BOA card. Of course I don't know for sure since I have not rcvd any info on the changes in our NCL BOA cards.:confused::confused::confused:

[Preds]

The amex HH can also be used for certs off for ncl or most cruise lines. The certs for ncl are still cheaper than using the BOA card. Of course I don't know for sure since I have not rcvd any info on the changes in our NCL BOA cards.:confused::confused::confused:

Using Hhonors points for cruises are NOT the best use of points. In fact they're a poor use at best.

 

You only have 2 options, a VERY limited selection of off-peak Carnival cruises, or to redeem certificates at 1/4 the value we used to get from Compass Rewards, AND you MUST use a specific TA (Cruises Only).

 

http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/rewards/cruises.do

Cruises

 

When it's time to get away, reward yourself with an unforgettable cruise vacation. Hilton HHonors provides exciting cruise rewards for even the most discriminating traveler.

 

CruisesOnly

 

Carnival Cruises

 

CruisesOnly

 

Set sail with CruisesOnly, America's largest cruise agency. CruisesOnly works with every major cruise line in the world and offers up to 75% off on over 6,500 sailings. It's a whole new way to see the world with your points. Dream up your favorite destination, search for available cruises and redeem your HHonors points for a CruisesOnly reward certificate.

 

Reward Certificate - Total Points Needed Reward Code

$250 - 120,000pts CRON1

$500 - 240,000pts CRON2

$1,000 - 480,000pts CRON3

 

Embark on your next luxurious adventure today.

 

Carnival Cruises

 

Ready to recharge? Choose the fun-filled activities of the Carnival "Fun Ships". 'Today's Carnival' features expanding dining choices, children's programming, spa facilities plus shipboard wedding options. Carnival rewards are outside cabins with an ocean view and are available through April 2, 2009.

 

Reward cruises are only offered on specific sail dates. Please click here for the reward options and sail dates. Subject to availability.

Edited January 12, 2009 by Preds

[EmmasNana]

Preds, yes the cruise advantage is not so great, but considering what we THINK the new BOA points will be, the amex HH card will still be 25% better if you choose to use them for cruise points depending of course on how you use your puchases.

[noreddye]

Everyone should call BOA to verify their points. I received my December statement, without the points annotated. I called BOA today and asked how many points I accumulate for the month of Dec (even though I already knew the number ;)). BOA stated I had only accumulated 30 points, in actuality I should have accumulated 218 points.

 

The BOA rep placed me on hold for about 5 minutes when I told her that the accounting for my accrual points was inaccurate. She told me that their was a discrepancy in my points accumulations and that she had to send my statement to the Liaison department; which will take 7 - 10 days to correct.

 

Do yourself a favor and call BOA now so you can get the correct points credited so you will get the correct certificates.

Edited January 12, 2009 by noreddye

[c breeze]

Everyone should call BOA to verify their points. I received my December statement, without the points annotated. I called BOA today and asked how many points I accumulate for the month of Dec (even though I already knew the number ;)). BOA stated I had only accumulated 30 points, in actuality I should have accumulated 218 points.

 

The BOA rep placed me on hold for about 5 minutes when I told her that the accounting for my accrual points was inaccurate. She told me that their was a discrepancy in my points accumulations and that she had to send my statement to the Liaison department; which will take 7 - 10 days to correct.

 

Do yourself a favor and call BOA now so you can get the correct points credited so you will get the correct certificates.

 

Thanks! I was actually going to do this this week anyway. I have not received my January statement (closing at the end of the week) but since there have been a lot of problems, I thought I would try to nip things in the bud. I called BOA and the rep I spoke with had no access to any points, Compass or World. I told her to make a not on my account that my total Compass Reward Points as of December 31 should be 1,008 and that I earned 115 Compass Reward Points the last two weeks of December (billing date mid January). This was based on my account balance on December 31, which I got when I called the toll free number that day. Hopefully this will eliminate any problems with the certificates, however I will call after the closing date and see if I can get a definitive answer. For all I know, no one may even look at the notes put on the account when they are calculating the Compass Reward Certificates.

[c breeze]

Thanks you both, that's just want I thought. I think I want to get a cash back card.

 

Which is the best card for cash back without an annual fee?

 

http://www.askmrcreditcard.com/cashbackcreditcards.html

 

Since I am not intersted in earning points for hotel stays or air travel, and would only be interested in cruises redeption or cash back, these cards are the most appealing for my needs:

 

Blue Cash® from American Express or TrueEarnings® Business Card from Costco and American Express (if you use Costco alot). Another one is Discover® More(SM) Card (which I already have) The major problem with all of these is that they may not be accepted some places, particularly when traveling.... I keep coming back to The Capital One® No Hassle MilesSM Ultra—For Professionals - while it does have a $39 fee, it is incredibly flexible with rewards (while is is called No Hassle Miles, the points are good for all types of travel as well as many other things), has good earning percentage, and since it is a Master Card, it is accepted more widely.

 

Reward Formula - Professionals with excellent credit can earn twice the miles on every purchase. Earn 2 miles for each dollar spent on all purchases. There are no blackout dates or seat restrictions. There are no expiration date on miles and no limit on the miles you can earn. There are 5 different reward redemption options : Travel, cash, merchandise, charitable donations or gift certificates.

 

Fees and Rates - This card has an annual fee of $39.

http://www.askmrcreditcard.com/capitalonenohasslemilesultra.html

[Preds]

http://www.askmrcreditcard.com/cashbackcreditcards.html

 

Since I am not intersted in earning points for hotel stays or air travel, and would only be interested in cruises redeption or cash back, these cards are the most appealing for my needs:

 

Blue Cash® from American Express or TrueEarnings® Business Card from Costco and American Express (if you use Costco alot). Another one is Discover® More(SM) Card (which I already have) The major problem with all of these is that they may not be accepted some places, particularly when traveling.... I keep coming back to The Capital One® No Hassle MilesSM Ultra—For Professionals - while it does have a $39 fee, it is incredibly flexible with rewards (while is is called No Hassle Miles, the points are good for all types of travel as well as many other things), has good earning percentage, and since it is a Master Card, it is accepted more widely.

 

Reward Formula - Professionals with excellent credit can earn twice the miles on every purchase. Earn 2 miles for each dollar spent on all purchases. There are no blackout dates or seat restrictions. There are no expiration date on miles and no limit on the miles you can earn. There are 5 different reward redemption options : Travel, cash, merchandise, charitable donations or gift certificates.

 

Fees and Rates - This card has an annual fee of $39.

http://www.askmrcreditcard.com/capitalonenohasslemilesultra.html

Schwab has a no annual fee VISA that pays 2% on ALL personal purchases (can't use it for business purchases).

 

http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/banking_lending/credit_card?cmsid=P-990780&lvl1=banking_lending&lvl2=credit_card&

 

Aside from the 2% rebate, another very nice feature with this card is that there are NO foreign transaction fees on purchases. This can save you 2-3% on international purchases, which is particularly nice for cruisers.

 

The catch is that the rewards are deposited monthly into your brokerage account, however, you can then transfer that into a free Schwab HY Checking account.

 

http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/banking_lending/checking?cmsid=P-990750&lvl1=banking_lending&lvl2=checking&

 

With the checking account, you also get a VISA Debit card, that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees at ATM's around the world.

 

I just got this card a couple weeks ago and haven't yet decided how I'm going to rotate it into my spending habits, but I will be integrating it in.

Edited January 12, 2009 by Preds

[tjbarney]

I just got off the phone after 2 hours with BOA and NCL(they kept switching me back and forth). I was told by the guy I was speaking to from BOA that I was getting certificates sent to me for the points I had accrued by the statement ending Dec 5, 2008. As we all know, he said the rules stated that we would get the points we accrued on the old CRP on all purchases made up to Dec. 31, 2008, BUT since my statement didn't end until Jan. 8, 2009 that those points that I got from 12/6/08-12/31/08 will be going onto the new program because I TECHNICALLY did not get those points since they weren't posted until after Dec 31st!!!! *****!!!! During this time he is putting me on hold and talking to someone at NCL. He then comes back on and tells me that NCL says that I have earned 250 points and that is all that I am getting right now....Uhh...., NO! I should have 789 total points as of 12/31/08. I asked him to please call the NCL person he was talking to again and see why they were saying this. Well the BOA guy comes back and tells me that I will get the 651 points issued from the ending billing statement on 12/5/08 and then the 250 is seperate and I can use it now....WHAT? So then I realize that somehow NCL has told him about the 250 which is actually the $250 that I have on my NCL account from the pre-booking program on my last NCL cruise. I am shocked that NCL gave him this information and it doesn't have a darn thing to do with my NCL BOA CC! The BOA guy says that I have to talk to NCL because they are the ones that are in charge of posting the points every month. So at this point I am already convinced that this guy is a retard. I know NCL has nothing to do with this because it is all done by the BOA CC ppl. So I ask to please be sent to the person he was speaking to at NCL. He just patches me over the the general NCL reservation line. I talk to a gentleman at NCL explaining what was going on and he verified that they surely don't have anything to do the CC stuff and it is all done by BOA. He then reads me the info he has regarding the CRP switching over and confirms about getting the point up until 12/31/08. I asked him about if I do get my rewards certificates properly (which I am doubting at this point) what happens to the 89 points I have remaining? He then gets me a supervisor and she is checking into if they will round up the points and is supposed to call me back. They said that it states that NO CRP will be switched over to the new WP program. The supervisor said there is no way that they (NCL) will issue fractional certificates though. It is looking like my 89 points is just going to dissapear! If I had realized that I was that close to the next certificate(even though they are basically useless under $500) I would have made sure I got over the 100 hump. I am way beyond pissed because no one seems to be on the same page or know what is really going on. :mad:

[*Wink*]

Take a breath, dear friend. I know this is a huge mess. What I question is the 250 pt. certificate. There is no such thing! The only certificates NCL/BOA offer are in 100 and 500 increments. I remember reading that if you don't have enough points to make a certificate, like 89, they do not roll over to the new card. Can someone please confirm that information?

My feeling at this point is there are a lot of operators on both NCL and BOA's end that have no clue of what they're talking about and are pulling these ridiculous conclusions out of their a**.

[Sea Hound]

My feeling at this point is there are a lot of operators on both NCL and BOA's end that have no clue of what they're talking about and are pulling these ridiculous conclusions out of their a**.

 

And my guess is that, the more we keep calling up and bugging them, the worse it will get. We were told to wait until the end of the month and our certificates would be issued. I'm waiting until then because I really don't have the time to get upset over something I can't control until I know there's something to worry about.

 

I'm expecting $1,500 in certificates and I expect to get them soon after 1/31/09. If I don't, then I know I'll have something to get all upset about.

 

I know some of you have pending cruises and payment deadlines (as have I) but these constant calls to BOA and NCL seem to do no good except to get people all worked up.

 

My advice -- wait until you KNOW you have something to worry about and then worry all you want. In the meantime, leave the poor folks at BOA and NCL alone and let them do their jobs. They know what they published and promised and they know we expect to hold them to it. Do we really need to hammer them with calls all day every day?

 

Just my $0.02

 

Sea Hound:D

[tjbarney]

Take a breath, dear friend. I know this is a huge mess. What I question is the 250 pt. certificate. There is no such thing! The only certificates NCL/BOA offer are in 100 and 500 increments. I remember reading that if you don't have enough points to make a certificate, like 89, they do not roll over to the new card. Can someone please confirm that information?

My feeling at this point is there are a lot of operators on both NCL and BOA's end that have no clue of what they're talking about and are pulling these ridiculous conclusions out of their a**.

 

The 250 points he was talking about is the $250 on my NCL account good towards my next cruise booking deposit. That is why I can't believe NCL even told him about it, he has no legal right to know those sort of details about my NCL account. And yes, they said that no points will roll over to the new card.

[c breeze]

And my guess is that, the more we keep calling up and bugging them, the worse it will get. We were told to wait until the end of the month and our certificates would be issued. I'm waiting until then because I really don't have the time to get upset over something I can't control until I know there's something to worry about.

 

I'm expecting $1,500 in certificates and I expect to get them soon after 1/31/09. If I don't, then I know I'll have something to get all upset about.

 

I know some of you have pending cruises and payment deadlines (as have I) but these constant calls to BOA and NCL seem to do no good except to get people all worked up.

 

My advice -- wait until you KNOW you have something to worry about and then worry all you want. In the meantime, leave the poor folks at BOA and NCL alone and let them do their jobs. They know what they published and promised and they know we expect to hold them to it. Do we really need to hammer them with calls all day every day?

 

Just my $0.02

 

Sea Hound:D

 

Well, while I agree that NCL and BOA should not be "hammered", particularly the people fielding the phone calls, I don't see the harm in calculating the Compass Rewards points that we have earned as of Dec 31, 2008 (provided everyone is calculating correctly), and having that noted in our accounts so that this might prevent lots of letter writing and phone calls in February.

 

Just my .0006 Compass Point!!

[tjbarney]

Well, while I agree that NCL and BOA should not be "hammered", particularly the people fielding the phone calls, I don't see the harm in calculating the Compass Rewards points that we have earned as of Dec 31, 2008 (provided everyone is calculating correctly), and having that noted in our accounts so that this might prevent lots of letter writing and phone calls in February.

 

Just my .0006 Compass Point!!

 

I agree fully, the LAST thing I want or feel like doing is being on the phone with them. But, I do want to make sure that they are accounting for my points correctly, which they are not. I want to make sure that it is done correctly and not wait and just SEE what certificates and for what amount they might send out and then try and get them to change it after the fact. I am sure at that point they will be like "You got certificates and they are already issued so deal with it".

[noreddye]

I agree fully, the LAST thing I want or feel like doing is being on the phone with them. But, I do want to make sure that they are accounting for my points correctly, which they are not. I want to make sure that it is done correctly and not wait and just SEE what certificates and for what amount they might send out and then try and get them to change it after the fact. I am sure at that point they will be like "You got certificates and they are already issued so deal with it".

 

You are correct; I have had too many dealings with BOA in my life time and I do not trust them at all. The last thing I wanted to do today was have a conversation with BOA about their miscalculations of my points. However, I am glad that I bit the bullet and called them because if I would have taken that "wait and see" stance, then BOA would have only sent me 3 $100.00 (worthless) upgrade certificates instead of the 1 $500.00 cert and 1 $100.00 upgrade cert.