NCL Mastercard FAQ

[Kylie]

Just an FYI-

We received another bonus points offer good until March 31, 2014 on qualifying airfare, hotel, travel agencies, car rentals, or cruise purchases this time. I'm not sure why I get these (definitely not complaining!) but as soon as one expires I get another one good on different purchases.

Keep an eye out for a white unmarked envelope - it might not be junk mail!

[travelqueen555]

To redeem your points for OBC call NCL Redemtion center at 1-866-954-4077.:)

 

I was still a little confused by the letter I also received from Bank of America, and the posts here on CC regarding still being able to redeem for on board credit or not. Just wanted to confirm, that today, I called the phone # above, which is the NCL Redemtion Center, and very easily transferred my Bank of America rewards points for on board credit for my upcoming cruise on the Epic.

 

I was a little worried about being able to do this, due to all the information being posted, but am very happy to report now that it was so easy to do. Now I just can't wait for the cruise to get here :)

 

Just call the number above. . .

[Odesitka70]

I was still a little confused by the letter I also received from Bank of America, and the posts here on CC regarding still being able to redeem for on board credit or not. Just wanted to confirm, that today, I called the phone # above, which is the NCL Redemtion Center, and very easily transferred my Bank of America rewards points for on board credit for my upcoming cruise on the Epic.

 

I was a little worried about being able to do this, due to all the information being posted, but am very happy to report now that it was so easy to do. Now I just can't wait for the cruise to get here :)

 

Just call the number above. . .

 

 

I called that num and was told that 10000 points can be redemt for $80.00. I remember in the past it was always 10000 points = $100.00. Did something change? Thanks for any info.

[travelqueen555]

Not sure why it would be different for you. . . I just called today, and was able to cash in 20,000 reward points for $200.00 on board credit, as stated above - no problem at all, very easy.

 

I would try to call and speak to someone else, could there possibly be different levels of card membership, so different redemption amounts?

[TVLady3]

I called that num and was told that 10000 points can be redemt for $80.00. I remember in the past it was always 10000 points = $100.00. Did something change? Thanks for any info.

 

Thats right, 10,000 points can be redeemed for a $80 CASH reward thats deposited into YOUR credit card account as a credit.

But a 10,000 point redemtion for On Board Credit for your cruise gets you $100, which will be posted to your ships account.

That's the difference.

You do not receive the full amount if you ask only for a cash reward.

[dalgirl]

If you charge $100 on your onboard acct. and pay with your ncl mastercard you get double rewards. Then later you have those points credited to your statement to pay on the balance - isn't that a better use of the card?

 

Sent from my GT-P3113 using Forums mobile app

[TVLady3]

If you charge $100 on your onboard acct. and pay with your ncl mastercard you get double rewards. Then later you have those points credited to your statement to pay on the balance - isn't that a better use of the card?

 

Sent from my GT-P3113 using Forums mobile app

 

Well sure, any NCL purchase will give you double points if you pay with the NCL credit card. But were talking about redemtion of points here.

10,000 points= $100 OBC or

10,000 points= $80 cash credit

Edited January 5, 2014 by TVLady3

[$hip$hape]

Well sure, any NCL purchase will give you double points if you pay with the NCL credit card. But were talking about redemtion of points here.

10,000 points= $100 OBC or

10,000 points= $80 cash credit

IMHO, I wait until 25,000 points, then cash in for $250.00

[dalgirl]

Yes, we also wait to get to over 20,000 points. If you use the points for credit back to the card, I think this is the best return.

 

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Forums mobile app

[Buford T Justiice]

I never get any offers from them - only BT offers. I'm not opted out on anything so I don't know why some are getting the offers and others aren't. Right now I am tapping the 5% from Discover online shopping through Dec 31st. Maybe I just don't use the card enough.

 

I would log into BofA's website, click on rewards, then preferences, and see what BofA has listed as your preferences.

[Odesitka70]

Well sure, any NCL purchase will give you double points if you pay with the NCL credit card. But were talking about redemtion of points here.

10,000 points= $100 OBC or

10,000 points= $80 cash credit

 

Thank you for clearing this one for me. I guess when I called I didn't ask the right question. Will try to call again.

[Clay Clayton]

Don't know if this is possible on all cruises but we were just able to book a 2015 Europe cruise paying for an inside and using 60,000 points (gained by previously combining dh and my points) to do a "double cross meta upgrade" from inside to balcony. The "free" balcony was on deck 9 and for $10 each we were able to go to deck 10 (sandwiched between two decks of balcony staterooms).

 

I found the cruise I wanted, pulled up deck plan for the ship on drag it decks, then called NCL since we don't normally use a PCC. The call center employee was wonderful and it went very smoothly. If cruise is cancelled points will go back on our card.

 

KJQUILTS

I wish I had of gotten your CSA! I just called to attempt to use a DCMU and while the nice lady was very helpful, she was clueless about what I was trying to do. Which was book a particular balcony cabin while paying for whatever inside category cabin NCL said I needed to buy. She put me on hold four times to talk with someone and finally came back and said there weren't any cabins on the cruise I wanted that I could use a DCMUs to purchase. Since one of the two cabins I wanted (shhh, they are the two best BCs in the fleet) I went ahead and reserved it using a cruise reward. I then called the number on the BOA Worldpoints website page that describes the DCMU award and reached someone else who had no idea what I was talking about. Once I finally got her to listen to me, she was able to find the DCMU award and she says that once the 60K points (I thought I had them but apparently they all haven't posted yet) show on my account, that I can call back, they will rebook me at whatever the inside stateroom costs that day, and I will still keep "my" cabin.

 

Sounds too good to be true to me:confused:

Edited January 11, 2014 by Clay Clayton

[kjquilts]

KJQUILTS

I wish I had of gotten your CSA! I just called to attempt to use a DCMU and while the nice lady was very helpful, she was clueless about what I was trying to do. Which was book a particular balcony cabin while paying for whatever inside category cabin NCL said I needed to buy. She put me on hold four times to talk with someone and finally came back and said there weren't any cabins on the cruise I wanted that I could use a DCMUs to purchase. Since one of the two cabins I wanted (shhh, they are the two best BCs in the fleet) I went ahead and reserved it using a cruise reward. I then called the number on the BOA Worldpoints website page that describes the DCMU award and reached someone else who had no idea what I was talking about. Once I finally got her to listen to me, she was able to find the DCMU award and she says that once the 60K points (I thought I had them but apparently they all haven't posted yet) show on my account, that I can call back, they will rebook me at whatever the inside stateroom costs that day, and I will still keep "my" cabin.

 

Sounds too good to be true to me:confused:

 

Clay, hope it works out for you. You were very lucky to find one of those two BC's open .... and working backwards from a specific stateroom is trickier than the way we did our dcmu double cross meta upgrade. Think you were very smart to hold the stateroom with the cruise reward ..... lol be sure to tell them you don't want any stateroom changes without your approval.

 

I was on hold quite a while during our booking .... first the points had to be redeemed from BAC and applied to my latitude account. The agent took care of this while I was on the phone. They were then able to tell me the stateroom category option. When I mentioned we'd prefer a "sandwich deck" we were able to move up one deck for a very minimal charge and were allowed to pick a specific stateroom in the offered category. So we ended up paying for category IC inside and getting category BB balcony.

 

When I saw the 12 day British Isles cruise I was so thankful we had saved up the points ..... saved us a LOT of $$s.

[Clay Clayton]

Clay, hope it works out for you. You were very lucky to find one of those two BC's open .... and working backwards from a specific stateroom is trickier than the way we did our dcmu double cross meta upgrade. Think you were very smart to hold the stateroom with the cruise reward ..... lol be sure to tell them you don't want any stateroom changes without your approval.

 

I was on hold quite a while during our booking .... first the points had to be redeemed from BAC and applied to my latitude account. The agent took care of this while I was on the phone. They were then able to tell me the stateroom category option. When I mentioned we'd prefer a "sandwich deck" we were able to move up one deck for a very minimal charge and were allowed to pick a specific stateroom in the offered category. So we ended up paying for category IC inside and getting category BB balcony.

 

When I saw the 12 day British Isles cruise I was so thankful we had saved up the points ..... saved us a LOT of $$s.

 

 

Yup, if this works out looks like it could be worth about $2,400 for this 19 day Panama Canal trip!:eek::D. But like I said, I'm a feared it's too good to be true. We shall see.

Edited January 11, 2014 by Clay Clayton

[drdscly]

AS far as I have been able to tell the NCL MasterCard is available to cruisers with American address only. Is this the case?:confused:

[Regguy]

We have some NCL cruising coming up, so I'm considering this card. On its face, I see very little advantage to having this card to use for OBC or cruise discounts, as opposed to other cards out there, but this thread is so long that I assume I'm missing something. So, it the experts can indulge me, let me lay out my thinking a little.

 

WorldPoints are basically worth 1 cent per point. You generally can redeem them in set increments to get $100 of OBC or off a cruise for 10,000 points, $250 for 25,000 points, etc. You earn 1 point per each dollar you spend. You earn 2 points for NCL spending.

 

So, let's assume you are aiming for $500 in OBC. You need 50,000 points. To accumulate 50,000 points (putting the sign up bonus to the side) you need to spend either $50,000 on regular expenses, or $25,000 on NCL expenses, or something in between. Let's imagine that most aren't spending $25,000 on a cruise, so we'll say that $10,000 in spend is on NCL. So, that's 20,000 points, and then an addition spend of $30,000 to get to 50,000 points. A total spend of $40,000.

 

If you're prepared to spend $40,000 on a credit card, you can do much better than a $500 OBC, I think. For example, the capital one venture card gives you 2 points for each $1 spent. So, for $40,000 in spending, you get 80,000 capital one venture points. And unlike NCL World Points, you can use those points for ANY travel -- they just are a statement credit. So, let's so you go on a NCL cruise, and your on board charges are $725. You don't need to redeem Capital One points in even increments. You just pay for your on board expenses with your Capital One card and then when you get your statement, you redeem 72,500 points to pay off the entire bill. So, no worries about spending an exact amount of OBC -- you use 72,500 and you have 7,500 left. And, here's the kicker -- you actually earn more capital one points for the charge itself! So, a $725 charge earns 1450 points -- another $14.50 toward travel. And you can use the points for any travel -- so if you want to use it for airfare to and from your cruise you can.

 

Even better is the Barclays Arrival card. It works the same as the Capital One card -- you simply use your points to erase any travel charges you put on your card. (So, cruises, air fare, luggage fees, rental cars, etc.) Like the Venture card, you earn 2 points for every $1 you spend, no matter what the spending is. And the redemptions are even better than Venture -- it's the same thing, one point gets you 1 cent, but you actually get 10 percent of your points back. It's a little complicated, but here's how it works. Say you spend the same $40,000 used in the NCL example. You get 2x points, so 80,000 points. These can be redeemed for $800 in travel. So, just like Venture, say you have $1000 in charges aboard an NCL cruise. When your statement comes, you redeem 80,000 of your points for an $800 credit, and only have to pay $200 of your bill. Plus, you then get a rebate of 8,000 points ($88 in future value), and your $1,000 in charges all earn points, so another 2000 points (or $22 in future value).

 

In short, for those putting spending on NCL cards to get on board credits, I don't see how they come close to comparing. You have to redeem in 5,000 to 10,000 increments. You don't get any additional points for the spending on board. And you only get 1 point per dollar for spend unrelated to NCL. Compare to the Barclay card where you get 2 points for every spend. The points are worth 10 percent more. You can redeem for any travel. You can redeem in uneven amounts. And you actually get points for the spending that you're getting for free.

 

Then there's the matter of sign up bonuses. Capital One currently has an offer where you get 50,000 sign up points if you spend $3,000 in the first three months (which, if you're getting these cards to spend on them to save up for NCL cruises should be easy.) The arrival card gives 40,000 bonus points for $1,000 in spending. NCL gives only 10,000 points as a sign up bonus. If my goal is getting free money to spend on NCL cruises, why would I ever spend $1 on an NCL card when I could spend it on one of these other cards and get a better value? I could see doing it for the sign up bonus alone -- $100 is $100. But there are so many lucrative sign up bonuses out there that I don't want to take a hard pull on my credit report for a meager $100.

 

The other issue is the annual fee. There is none on the NCL card. There is a $59 fee on the capital one and an $89 on the Barclay. But, (1) it's waived for the first year under current offers, and (2) it's easy to get it waived each year if you have been using the card and call customer retention, and (3) given the amount of spending we're talking about, the extra value of the points and the extra point on ordinary spend easily makes up the difference, and (4) you actually get some other benefits with these cards that the others don't offer (like tripit pro with the Barclays card).

 

I'm sure there's a fundamental flaw in my thinking here, and obviously this analysis doesn't really apply for those who want to use points for upgrades, but that's not my case.

[Clay Clayton]

I have 60k points. I think 20k of them was a sign up bonus. The other 40 I earned both on NCL and not. I am hoping to use these points to pay for the upgrade from and inside to a balcony cabin. Presuming that happens, my 60k of points will be work somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,500.

[CruisingAmazona]

I just booked a cruise on the Getaway for February 2015. Three questions:

 

1. If my husband and I each apply for the card now, after we've booked the cruise, and the card gives us 10,000 points after first purchase which is good for a $100.00 OBC, can we apply that OBC to a cruise that is already booked, or only for new bookings after we qualify for the 10,000 points.

 

2. If yes, can we apply my $100.00 OBC and my husband's $100.00 OBC; and finally....

 

3. We already have a $225.00 OBC that was a promotional offer with the booking, can we apply the extra $200?

[candygirl27540]

1. Yes 2. Yes 3. Yes

[c breeze]

When many of us originally signing up for this card, the value of the points was triple what it is now. It was a sad day when the card was switched from the previous bank to BOA. The old Compass Rewards program is missed by all us who knew it. You are correct, that there other cards out there now with more bang for your buck.

 

We have some NCL cruising coming up, so I'm considering this card. On its face, I see very little advantage to having this card to use for OBC or cruise discounts, as opposed to other cards out there, but this thread is so long that I assume I'm missing something. So, it the experts can indulge me, let me lay out my thinking a little.

 

WorldPoints are basically worth 1 cent per point. You generally can redeem them in set increments to get $100 of OBC or off a cruise for 10,000 points, $250 for 25,000 points, etc. You earn 1 point per each dollar you spend. You earn 2 points for NCL spending.

 

So, let's assume you are aiming for $500 in OBC. You need 50,000 points. To accumulate 50,000 points (putting the sign up bonus to the side) you need to spend either $50,000 on regular expenses, or $25,000 on NCL expenses, or something in between. Let's imagine that most aren't spending $25,000 on a cruise, so we'll say that $10,000 in spend is on NCL. So, that's 20,000 points, and then an addition spend of $30,000 to get to 50,000 points. A total spend of $40,000.

 

If you're prepared to spend $40,000 on a credit card, you can do much better than a $500 OBC, I think. For example, the capital one venture card gives you 2 points for each $1 spent. So, for $40,000 in spending, you get 80,000 capital one venture points. And unlike NCL World Points, you can use those points for ANY travel -- they just are a statement credit. So, let's so you go on a NCL cruise, and your on board charges are $725. You don't need to redeem Capital One points in even increments. You just pay for your on board expenses with your Capital One card and then when you get your statement, you redeem 72,500 points to pay off the entire bill. So, no worries about spending an exact amount of OBC -- you use 72,500 and you have 7,500 left. And, here's the kicker -- you actually earn more capital one points for the charge itself! So, a $725 charge earns 1450 points -- another $14.50 toward travel. And you can use the points for any travel -- so if you want to use it for airfare to and from your cruise you can.

 

Even better is the Barclays Arrival card. It works the same as the Capital One card -- you simply use your points to erase any travel charges you put on your card. (So, cruises, air fare, luggage fees, rental cars, etc.) Like the Venture card, you earn 2 points for every $1 you spend, no matter what the spending is. And the redemptions are even better than Venture -- it's the same thing, one point gets you 1 cent, but you actually get 10 percent of your points back. It's a little complicated, but here's how it works. Say you spend the same $40,000 used in the NCL example. You get 2x points, so 80,000 points. These can be redeemed for $800 in travel. So, just like Venture, say you have $1000 in charges aboard an NCL cruise. When your statement comes, you redeem 80,000 of your points for an $800 credit, and only have to pay $200 of your bill. Plus, you then get a rebate of 8,000 points ($88 in future value), and your $1,000 in charges all earn points, so another 2000 points (or $22 in future value).

 

In short, for those putting spending on NCL cards to get on board credits, I don't see how they come close to comparing. You have to redeem in 5,000 to 10,000 increments. You don't get any additional points for the spending on board. And you only get 1 point per dollar for spend unrelated to NCL. Compare to the Barclay card where you get 2 points for every spend. The points are worth 10 percent more. You can redeem for any travel. You can redeem in uneven amounts. And you actually get points for the spending that you're getting for free.

 

Then there's the matter of sign up bonuses. Capital One currently has an offer where you get 50,000 sign up points if you spend $3,000 in the first three months (which, if you're getting these cards to spend on them to save up for NCL cruises should be easy.) The arrival card gives 40,000 bonus points for $1,000 in spending. NCL gives only 10,000 points as a sign up bonus. If my goal is getting free money to spend on NCL cruises, why would I ever spend $1 on an NCL card when I could spend it on one of these other cards and get a better value? I could see doing it for the sign up bonus alone -- $100 is $100. But there are so many lucrative sign up bonuses out there that I don't want to take a hard pull on my credit report for a meager $100.

 

The other issue is the annual fee. There is none on the NCL card. There is a $59 fee on the capital one and an $89 on the Barclay. But, (1) it's waived for the first year under current offers, and (2) it's easy to get it waived each year if you have been using the card and call customer retention, and (3) given the amount of spending we're talking about, the extra value of the points and the extra point on ordinary spend easily makes up the difference, and (4) you actually get some other benefits with these cards that the others don't offer (like tripit pro with the Barclays card).

 

I'm sure there's a fundamental flaw in my thinking here, and obviously this analysis doesn't really apply for those who want to use points for upgrades, but that's not my case.

[moonjelly]

I want to use the cash back option I have used in the past with my NCL Mastercard. Before, I would log onto the redemption site and request a $500 check be sent to me for 50,000 points.

 

Now I can find no way to do the redemption online (through the BOA or NCL,sites- maybe I just can't find it) and this reward is not shown on the NCL page describing the benefits of the credit card.

 

Is this cashback still an option? Would I call NCL to redeem under the new terms?

 

Thank you for any information you can give. It seems like in the past it was best to have it figured out before calling them, in order to guide them through the process and ask the right questions.

 

Thanks!

[Twelvevman]

I want to use the cash back option I have used in the past with my NCL Mastercard. Before, I would log onto the redemption site and request a $500 check be sent to me for 50,000 points.

 

Now I can find no way to do the redemption online (through the BOA or NCL,sites- maybe I just can't find it) and this reward is not shown on the NCL page describing the benefits of the credit card.

 

Is this cashback still an option? Would I call NCL to redeem under the new terms?

 

Thank you for any information you can give. It seems like in the past it was best to have it figured out before calling them, in order to guide them through the process and ask the right questions.

 

Thanks!

 

The redemtion site is https://www.managerewardsonline.bankofamerica.com/RWDapp/ns/home?mc=mwprwd

 

There is a link there to redeem for cash.

[Regguy]

When many of us originally signing up for this card, the value of the points was triple what it is now. It was a sad day when the card was switched from the previous bank to BOA. The old Compass Rewards program is missed by all us who knew it. You are correct, that there other cards out there now with more bang for your buck.

 

Bummer. I'm sorry I missed that. Given how much revenue other travel providers realize by selling their currencies (miles, points, upgrades, whatever) to banks to use as credit card swipe incentives, I think cruise ships (pun intended) may be missing the boat here. Frequent travel programs have become a massive source of revenue. Cruise line loyalty sets ups are pretty basic and unrewarding in comparison. It's a much different business, but it does seem like there really should be an opportunity for true branded credit cards that could provide better benefits.

[pizzalady1]

I recently signed up for the NCL BOA card to get the 10,000 bonus miles (free money, yea! :)). I made a purchase as required, and my bonus points came on my first statement. I called NCL at 866-954-4077. Within 10 minutes I had my $100 OBC added to my May cruise. While I was still on the phone, I received an email showing the OBC on an amenity confirmation. Easy as pie!

[tymike]

Hi all! Has anyone gotten not only an email but a NEW card from BOA/NCL replacing an existing one? This happened to me last week and the email and letter with the new card states that due to a large amount of fraud they are sending out new cards/account #'s etc.

 

I've never heard of this happening before. I have until the 4th of March to cancel my prior card; otherwise, the new card will "take over" and I have to activate it.

 

Has anyone else had this happen?:confused: