Best way to use Carnival MasterCard funpoints?

Hi all,

In your opinion, what is the best way to use the funpoints earned from Carnivals MasterCard? I see we can redeem them for carnival gift cards- can these gift cards be applied to my S&S card when I cruise? Any tips or tricks are appreciated [emoji4]

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Hi all,

 

In your opinion, what is the best way to use the funpoints earned from Carnivals MasterCard? I see we can redeem them for carnival gift cards- can these gift cards be applied to my S&S card when I cruise? Any tips or tricks are appreciated [emoji4]

 

 

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You can do slightly better than 1% if you use your points to pre-pay your tips. I think they want 8400 points for a 7 day which would take $92 off your account.

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The best way is to save 100,000 points if you can and get a $1,500 statement credit on a cruise. I'm at 92,247.

If you have any CCL charge over $1,500 you can apply it against it for 1.5 points value.

The best way is to save 100,000 points if you can and get a $1,500 statement credit on a cruise. I'm at 92,247.

This exactly! We just cashed in again on this method for our cruise in November. If you go ahead and add gratuities, insurance to your final bill it will help get your total cruise balance to take advantage of the higher cash in. Since our total was little over $1,600 we charged it on our card got the double points for that purchase and then turned around and claimed the $1,600 statement credit and cruise is paid in full. We usually always wait till we have the points available and decide what cruise we will apply it to. It usually takes a year and half to get to the minimum $1,500 to take full advantage of the points. But this works for us!

We just got the card, what's the best way to maximize and get those 100,000 points? Use it to book a cruise or everyday spending, both? Thank you in advance

We just got the card, what's the best way to maximize and get those 100,000 points? Use it to book a cruise or everyday spending, both? Thank you in advance

You get double points for carnival purchases...but what I do is use it buy the discounted gift cards from AARP or Allstate. Get less points but I save 10%. I use my card for everyday purchases and pay it off every week so I don't have to pay any interest. The barclaycard app makes payments extremely quick and easy. If you have the iPhone with the thumbprint reader, you can log in that way.

Also if you go on their website or through the app there are online stores you can buy from that will give you 2-5 points per dollar spent. I don't use them, but some people do.

We just got the card, what's the best way to maximize and get those 100,000 points? Use it to book a cruise or everyday spending, both? Thank you in advance

We use it for every bill possible that doesn't charge a card fee. Of course pay it off monthly so no interest is accrued. You will be surprised how quickly all those points add up. Haven't used a debit card in years I guess this credit card replaces it, lol. We also use gift cards to pay for cruises with the 10% off when we aren't going to cash in our points for a "free" cruise on our credit card statement.

Can I use Fun Points to make the final payment for a Seaborn cruise?

We have over 140,000 fun points.  I would like to use them to pay a portion of our final balance due for our Holland America Cruise (under Carnival Corp umbrella). 

I'm trying to figure out how to get $1.5 for every 1 point - can anyone help?  Carnival Fun Points customer service told me to call Carnival directly but the number she gave me was vacant.  Should I call Holland directly?  Just want to get the best bang for my buck 🙂

You will only get $1.5 per point if you use it to pay for a Carnival cruise with a minimum of $1,500. You can apply funpoints towards Holland America but you only get $1 per point. 

There is a calculator on the Barclays app that you can use as a guide for redemption planning. Points may only be applied to an individual transaction once. 

From the App you select Rewards along the bottom, then select "Pay with funpoints." This will show you travel expenses that you have the option to pay with funpoints. 

From the "Pay with funpoints" screen, you will find the calculator option on the bottom for your redemption planning. 

On 9/23/2017 at 8:37 PM, 13cheermom said:

 

We use it for every bill possible that doesn't charge a card fee. Of course pay it off monthly so no interest is accrued.

This ^^^^

Also, if you've got family that you trust who still write checks for their bills, pay theirs too and have them give you the cash.  I paid my elder Dad's utilities, insurance and medical bills for years before he passed.  It was a win-win - he didn't have to worry about bills getting paid and I got all the points for running those bills through my credit cards.  Good times.

Best thing is to use the points, get rid of the card, and find a better card to use if you want points. There are MUCH better travel cards that get a lot more points. You can use them how you like. I think we get 2% and points can be used immediately for travel purchases. For our upcoming cruise, we have our flights, pre-cruise hotel, and 2 excursions (rental vehicles) covered. That is points earned from April 2022 to January 2023. Just pay that balance off every month and it adds up.

What are the redemption values for eligible transactions?

Redemption values for eligible transactions are: 

Carnival Cruise transactions of $1,500.00 or more = 1.5%  
Carnival Cruise transactions of $50.00 - $1499.99 = 1%  
World's Leading Cruise lines transactions of $50.00 or more = 1%  
Airfare or hotel transactions of $50.00 or more = 0.90%

Thanks for the replies everyone.  I was SO hoping that Holland America cruises would fall under Carnival vs 'World's Leading Cruise Line'.

I do like the suggestion to just get a better rewards card 🙂 and I think I will pursue that.