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Nealstuber - wow, what a mess! We booked an identical situation as you in July on the Pearl and had no problem. (We had another huge mess but that was a TA situation unrelated to certificates) All the certificates came in my name since I called to redeem them. Hubby is an authorized user on all our cards so it never occurred to me that it would be an issue.

 

We have done 5 cruises and have 1 more booked with compass points without problem but it does seem that they have become increasingly nitpicky about their program. We were booked for a cruise on the Sun in April and had to move it up one week because our certificates expired 1 day before the sailing date. In the past they actually gave you to the end of the month in which the certificates expired but now they allow no flexibility in the date.

 

And while many of the BoA (and NCL) employees don't understand the program and dispense incorrect information, that's nothing new.

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Nealstuber - wow, what a mess! We booked an identical situation as you in July on the Pearl and had no problem. (We had another huge mess but that was a TA situation unrelated to certificates) All the certificates came in my name since I called to redeem them. Hubby is an authorized user on all our cards so it never occurred to me that it would be an issue.

 

We have done 5 cruises and have 1 more booked with compass points without problem but it does seem that they have become increasingly nitpicky about their program. We were booked for a cruise on the Sun in April and had to move it up one week because our certificates expired 1 day before the sailing date. In the past they actually gave you to the end of the month in which the certificates expired but now they allow no flexibility in the date.

 

And while many of the BoA (and NCL) employees don't understand the program and dispense incorrect information, that's nothing new.

 

Make sure you get the certs issued in two names if you need to apply them to two cabins. NCL has lost the certs and BOA still say they want the originals b4 they re-issue.

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I'd be curious to know how many posters have actually be able to apply the

certificates to their deposit, by sending them in with final payment and receiving a credit back on their credit card?

 

Because we are booking an 8-night cruise our deposit is $800 (for two people). I will have enough certificates to cover the total cost of the

cruise (about $1700) would hate to miss out on getting the $800 deposit covered.

 

Thanks.

 

Upfee

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I'd be curious to know how many posters have actually be able to apply the

certificates to their deposit, by sending them in with final payment and receiving a credit back on their credit card?

 

Because we are booking an 8-night cruise our deposit is $800 (for two people). I will have enough certificates to cover the total cost of the

cruise (about $1700) would hate to miss out on getting the $800 deposit covered.

 

Thanks.

 

Upfee

 

I've submitted certs to cover the entire cruise cost and have had my deposit credited back to my cc for our upcoming cruise.

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I'd be curious to know how many posters have actually be able to apply the

certificates to their deposit, by sending them in with final payment and receiving a credit back on their credit card?

 

We've had a bit less success than the previous poster. We submitted $1500 worth of certificates for a cruise in which we owed only $1300 (appx) for final payment. The NCL call center twice told us that we would be refunded the difference on to our original deposit credit card and we still have not received it. It has been about a month now.

 

The last time we called we were given a number to contact regarding our refund. The person in that department now states that even though we are, indeed, owed the refund our travel agent has to call to make the request. Unfortunately for us, we booked through a cut-rate travel agent who (so far) has been unresponsive for our request for them to call and initiate a refund request.

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Redemption Options:

 

Points Cruise Discounts

500 - $500 cruise discount

1,000 - $1,000 cruise discount

1,500 - $1,500 cruise discount

2,000 - $2,000 cruise discount

2,500 - $2,500 cruise discount

3,000 - $3,000 cruise discount

 

Is there a ceiling on how many points you can use per cruise? If I have 3500 can I use them all at one time?

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Redemption Options:

 

Points Cruise Discounts

500 - $500 cruise discount

1,000 - $1,000 cruise discount

1,500 - $1,500 cruise discount

2,000 - $2,000 cruise discount

2,500 - $2,500 cruise discount

3,000 - $3,000 cruise discount

 

Is there a ceiling on how many points you can use per cruise? If I have 3500 can I use them all at one time?

 

Don't think there is a ceiling; as long as your cruise cost is => the amount of certs submitted, you should be fine.

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In answer to two questions:

Only once have I overpaid a cruise with certificates and they did credit back the $100 difference. I was quite surprised as I did not expect it. The written policy (and what I've always been told by reps) is that partial certificate balances are non-refundable. ie. If you send $1,500 for a 1,300 cruise you forfeit the $200 balance. I always book a level as close to my certificates on hand as possible and pay the smallest amount of additional cost possible. This is definately the safest thing to do. I also keep bumping my cabin level until I get as close as possible.

 

Yes, I have paid for several cruises in full with certificates. I paid the deposit by M/C and when the certificates were received it was credited back. Takes 2 billing cycles.

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Maybe dumb question-but, is the ncl card better than the seamiles card? I have not cruised NCL yet-going Oct 31. I have a friend who loves NCL and has gotten 3 free cruises from card. So it sounds great to me, but would seamiles be better since you can use it for any cruise? Does anyone have any comments? Thanks

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Maybe dumb question-but, is the ncl card better than the seamiles card? I have not cruised NCL yet-going Oct 31. I have a friend who loves NCL and has gotten 3 free cruises from card. So it sounds great to me, but would seamiles be better since you can use it for any cruise? Does anyone have any comments? Thanks

 

The meaning of Better is in the eye of the beholder, that was helpful, huh. :rolleyes: You will have to do a comparison and decide what is better for you, the Seamiles or the NCL card.

 

One of the major drawbacks to the NCL card is that it is only good for NCL cruises. But...most people that post on this NCL board and have the NCL credit card, like to cruise with NCL and have found the card to be beneficial to them. We have only cruised on NCL and have saved a significiant amount of $ by using the NCL BOA card's points. Others sail with NCL and different cruise lines also. Just because you have the NCL card, you can still sail elsewhere (just not use the points towards the fare).

 

From what I understand, you receive more points with the NCL card than other cards. But, I haven't compared them to verify that. Read the terms and conditions of the cards and work from that information. Also, after your cruise, you will have more info (did you like NCL and are willing to cruise them again or did you decide they're not to your liking, etc.) that will be helpful to your decision.

 

Good luck and only you can make the correct determination of which card to get. :o

 

PS...We're just down the street from you, we live in the DTC area.

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here is the sea miles list

 

http://www.seamiles.com/ITGUpload/flashimage/SMchart0106a.pdf

 

1 point = 1 dollar spent.

 

on NCL to get 500 off you cruise you need to spend about $16,750

 

you need to decide yourself what is better. I know what I think....

 

 

as to maximum amount on the NCL card you can only earn $1000(and $250 per month) per year and they expire after three years so three thousand is about the max on ONE CARD. You can have one in your name and one in spouse's name...

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I think I agree with Smeyer on which card is the best.

 

According to the link, on Carnival 7-day Caribbean cruises (ocean view) you need charge $65,000 (per person) to get the cruise (65,000 points required at 1 point per dollar). On Carnival's website, that equates to anywhere from a $500-$900 cruise (depending on itinerary/month of sailing). Note that double points for Carnival cruises are not included in my comparison.

 

By the same token, charging $65,000 on NCL cards will yield $1,950 in cruise certificates. Charge another $1,667 and you get another $50. So there is $2K to use toward whichever NCL cruise you choose, without limit to category or duration. And, it pays for more than one person in the room.

 

If I have holes/errors in my assumptions and conclusions, please let me know. I may change my credit cards if there is a better deal to be had.

 

 

Thanks!

J

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Can I get another clarification on the loss of points after the three year period.

 

If I can just use 'round' numbers.

We are nearing the $30G total to basically get $1000 off a cruise. But we are also nearing our 3 year term. Again, using round numbers, say we charge 10G a year for 3 years, totaling 30Gs=1000 off. If we do not redeem anything before the 3 year expiration date, do we lose 333 points, about 1/3 of our total, or do we lose a specific amount each month after the 3 years?. Like is we earned 25 points the very first month we used the card and after the 3 years and one month, do we now have 975 points??

Am I making myself clear??

 

Another question--again 3 years and 1000 points. We get one certificate for 500. I would assume that it starts at the earliest point and works it's way back towards the present. So if we did this, we would now have another year and a 1/2 (again, just round numbers) before we might begin to lose points again???

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Can I get another clarification on the loss of points after the three year period.

 

If I can just use 'round' numbers.

We are nearing the $30G total to basically get $1000 off a cruise. But we are also nearing our 3 year term. Again, using round numbers, say we charge 10G a year for 3 years, totaling 30Gs=1000 off. If we do not redeem anything before the 3 year expiration date, do we lose 333 points, about 1/3 of our total, or do we lose a specific amount each month after the 3 years?. Like is we earned 25 points the very first month we used the card and after the 3 years and one month, do we now have 975 points??

Am I making myself clear??

 

Another question--again 3 years and 1000 points. We get one certificate for 500. I would assume that it starts at the earliest point and works it's way back towards the present. So if we did this, we would now have another year and a 1/2 (again, just round numbers) before we might begin to lose points again???

 

 

My understanding is that you will loose points each month, after the 36 month accrual time, not 12 months worth in one shot. Basically, if you don't use the points within 3 years, what you accrue in month 1 will fall off in month 37, month 2 will fall of in month 38, etc...

 

I'm not sure on this, we haven't not used all the points or come upon the 3 year time period yet. So...not sure if the system is FIFO or LIFO. I would guess it's FIFO, but that's only a guess. :o

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The above post is correct, First In-First Out.

 

So the points from the 37th month previous drops off your balance.

 

I think the best way to track is to have an excel spreadsheet with 6 columns: month/year; points earned current month; 12-monrth rolling total; points redeemed current month; points expired/37 months; and cumulative points.

 

For multiple cards have columns for each card.

 

Example: for the first 12 months of use, you earn 80 points per month then don't use the card again. Your balance is now 960 points. In the 37th month, the first 80 points drop off, leaving a current balance of 880 points.

 

Good luck!:)

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Maybe dumb question-but, is the ncl card better than the seamiles card? Thanks

The raw math says that you can get a free cruise much quicker with the NCL card than with the Seamiles or RCCL card.

 

Having said that, I cut mine up after 5 years. NCL is just too hard to deal with, especially when it comes to using these certificates. After accpeting only half my certificates , telling me I needed to get BOA to reissue the others in my wifes name, they "misplaced" the certificates in the accounting dept. After 4 weeks I had my agent call back to find out which ones they had, so I could start the "lost" process with BOA. They told my agent that they had found the missng certificates and had "just put them in the mail"..... 12 days ago.

 

So I now know I'm dealing with at least one liar and I'm still short and I have more phone calls in my future.

 

Carnival made vast improvements in their card when they got away from Capital One. The Juniper card got even better when Barcaleys bought them. I haven't used any Seamiles yet, but the website for point redemption looks very straightfoward and easy to use.

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Neal, I certainly hope you find something that works for you. It is too bad that things got out of hand and were not handled smoothly. When BOA bought out MBNA I assumed there was going to be some "interesting" things happen. So, I stayed on top of things and asked a lot of questions.

 

Let's hope the new programs, you are looking at, run more smoothly.

 

I, on the other hand, have never had a single problem using my Compass Rewards certificates. I have used about $25,000 worth of these certificates since getting my first card in 1997.

 

Please report back with results, good or bad, so others can have even more information to base their decisions on.

 

John

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I have another situation - this time BOA really helped me. We booked a cruise and ordered the $500 Certificates. I read the fine print (actually, it isn't really fine print, it was quite large!) and it said that the sailing must occur within one year of the date the Cert was issued.

 

My cruise didn't sail for about 13 months. I called back the next day and asked them NOT to process the Cert, but it was too late. Long story short, I contacted BOA and they said to return the certs with a letter and they would void the original certificates and re issue new ones when I requested them again.

 

So, I did not lose the $1000 and everything worked out! So even though I made a mistake, they worked it out for me. What a huge relief. In this instance, thumbs up to BOA!!:)

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Neal, I certainly hope you find something that works for you. It is too bad that things got out of hand and were not handled smoothly. When BOA bought out MBNA I assumed there was going to be some "interesting" things happen. So, I stayed on top of things and asked a lot of questions.

 

Let's hope the new programs, you are looking at, run more smoothly.

 

I, on the other hand, have never had a single problem using my Compass Rewards certificates. I have used about $25,000 worth of these certificates since getting my first card in 1997.

 

Please report back with results, good or bad, so others can have even more information to base their decisions on.

 

John

 

I will report on how this situation pans out and will post a cruise review as well.

 

I appreciate your perspective, but I reject the infferance that this problem was due to BOA - they've been great - or due to my lack of research -I have not seen this problem documented on any thread and it is a recent change to how NCL enforces a current policy.

 

I can get by people not doing the things they say they are going to do - par for the course. I will not deal with people who say they did something when they didn't.

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I appreciate your perspective, but I reject the infferance that this problem was due to BOA - they've been great - or due to my lack of research -I have not seen this problem documented on any thread and it is a recent change to how NCL enforces a current policy.

 

 

No inference made. Just an observation that I don't have a lot of trust in BOA due to previous dealings and I stayed on top of things because of it.

 

John

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if you entire cruise including down payment is 2400 and you have paid a $400 deposit and send it 5 certs for final payment. You will get the 2000 credited, 400 refunded to your cc and lose a $100 from the cert. That's how people get money back...its their money not extra from the cruise line....

 

Thanks for posting this Sid, it's been over a year since I've redeemed any and was looking for just that exact info because (as we know) banks & cruiselines sometimes change their rules!

 

We got our cruise for $2120 & have $920 due at final payment (after our deposits). I now feel safe sending in $1500 in certificates. I really only wanted $1000 in certificates for this one but they emptied my acct and the gal on the phone said she entered it wrong and couldn't stop the process once done.---But $600 out of pocket on a 10 day Hawaii cruise for 3 people isn't bad :D . I love using these certificates!

 

Let's see, roughly $20 pp/pd. YEP I can afford to tip ;)

 

BTW-I think we've only used about $5000 in certificates total, but when you are use to insides, outsides, & balconies at best and are willing to cruise in the slack periods, it sure is nice

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Thanks for posting this Sid, it's been over a year since I've redeemed any and was looking for just that exact info because (as we know) banks & cruiselines sometimes change their rules!

 

We got our cruise for $2120 & have $920 due at final payment (after our deposits). I now feel safe sending in $1500 in certificates. I really only wanted $1000 in certificates for this one but they emptied my acct and the gal on the phone said she entered it wrong and couldn't stop the process once done.---But $600 out of pocket on a 10 day Hawaii cruise for 3 people isn't bad :D . I love using these certificates!

 

Let's see, roughly $20 pp/pd. YEP I can afford to tip ;)

 

BTW-I think we've only used about $5000 in certificates total, but when you are use to insides, outsides, & balconies at best and are willing to cruise in the slack periods, it sure is nice

 

This is what they did last February. the new certs says "not to be used for downpayment" in the past any overage even if it was the downpayment was returned. I just sent in 4 certs myself which will require returning about $500 in down payment so I'll tell you real soon if this is a probem....

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The "not to be used for downpayment" means you can not send in certificates to book your cruise. Once you give them a credit card number and your down payment is charged, you can send in your certificates to get your money credited back to your credit card. We have used certificates to pay 100 percent of our cruise including the down payment. This time (Pearl-Nov. 16th) we used $2500. However, this is only about 50% since we are taking all of the kids.:D

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