julig22

Duh. And if I can spend $300 in "real money" to get a $1,500 credit, that's what I'm going to do. And if the difference in fare is not significantly more than $300, I don't use points, I pay the difference with the card (and get more points) I guess you don't understand how spending $125 on a cruise next gets you $250 towards another cruise either. Sheesh. There is NO extra spending involved anywhere, anyway, anyhow.

And if the difference between an OV and a balcony isn't significant, I pay the difference, save my points for the next cruise. Worst case scenario would be that I take a statement credit. Still NO extra money spent.

Wash, rinse, repeat. NO, my investment is the rewards of spending that I would do anyway, regardless of what credit card I choose to use. And I use the rewards to pay for something that I would have to pay for otherwise. Aside from sometimes using my NCL card while I'm traveling (no foreign fees) I only use the NCL card for NCL purchases that I would normally make. And it's free, no annual fees. Do I use it to buy airfare, pay for hotels, etc - absolutely not. I use other cards, depending on their "rewards" program.

Why does NCL allow me to reprice my cruise if the price drops - isn't that costing them revenue? Other cruise lines charge re-booking/cancellation fees. Your definition of getting something for nothing is just as fuzzy as thinking that getting a 5x return on my "investment" is somehow spending more. Yea, I took marketing. Obviously it's not the card for you.

Same here. Too much fuzzy logic (or lack therof) to wrap my mind around how using points for an upgrade I'd be paying for anyway, at more than 5x the return I'd get if I just cashed in the points for a statement credit, is extra spending. They didn't address that in any of my math or accounting classes.

My thoughts exactly. And I've never been asked for my DOB, email address only when confirming where to send the confirmation. Unless the "scammer" has some sort of inside access (TA/PCC), they really couldn't count on being able to book the upgraded room when it opened up. Since I'm not privy to how the bid process works at that point, I can only speculate that a vacant room goes into the open-for-purchase pile first, before it's available. So grudge/revenge jumps to mind, or a random prank. @Laszlo no, they do not keep your passport info on file. Or at least not in a place where an agent would have access. It's been debated whether or not they keep it at all. There is no requirement to even have a passport in order to make a reservation - and if you are a first-time cruiser, that info is only entered when you check-in at day 21.

You must be using some sort of new math. When I opt to use points for an upgrade, I am using points instead of cash to book the same cabin I would have booked without points. So if a $1,500 upgrade is only equal to $300 when I use points, I'm spending $1,200 LESS. But if you don't get it, that's fine.

Nope.

I would definitely call to at least find out what's up. A couple of years ago they cancelled my excursions to JFK for lack of interest and didn't have a transfer. And it was halfway through the cruise before they notified me. Fortunately for me they decided to arrange for a transfer after I complained.

Spending more to get points - not really, at least I don't. But there's a caveat to that. I do charge my casino play (which isn't excessive) - so I charge $100, I get 309 points, which covers the $3 service fee, plus some. So basically a wash if I took a statement credit. But I use my points for upgrades - my OV to balcony upgrade cost me $300 in points, current price difference is about $1,500. No annual fee, no foreign transaction fees don't hurt the value to me either. But I'm leaving soon for NCL cruise #23, not too hard to build up points. And I pay my card off monthly, so no worries about interest rates.

How is it a security gap if the person calling has all the information necessary? What do you expect Carnival - or any other agency - to do to verify? It's not like whoever called is going to be able to benefit financially - since any refunds go to the original form of payment. Maybe they scammer got the information simply from what was posted in this instance, but it's also possible it came from multiple sources. It might be someone they know. It wouldn't be hard to get the required info. But what a scammer would get out of it is a mystery. Someone with a grudge?

The card doesn't "need" a specific FAQ. Lots of people ask the same questions over and over so there is a pinned thread to hopefully address questions. Guessing this post will be moved to that thread shortly.

I was referring to the fact that posting a link to the sale site wasn't allowed.

Are you sure it was 2023? Prices were good (no solo supplement for my cruise in late August on the Jewel) but I don't think the ships were only half-full. Most were in GTY status long before even final payment - which usually indicates low inventory. I was on the Sun in May of 2023, I didn't pay that much attention to how full it was. It's the perfect ship for me, I found an ideal cabin for my purposes. I will be on the Sun in October (same cabin LOL) when she moves out of Alaska, to Hawaii and beyond.

Log into your BofA account on the website. Find the Rewards & deals tab. There should be a link there that takes you to a rewards page, choose cash.

I'm not 100% sure but if you can't use it for the OSC, good chance you can't use it in the casino either. Conflicting reports on how it's handled, possibly because there are different accounting systems on different ships. If you haven't already traded in your points, I highly advise you to get a statement credit instead. It's the same value, plus whatever you charge on your NCL card gets you more points. So if you charge $100 onboard for the casino for example, you get 3x points (covers the 3% service charge). Then cash in 10,309 points for a statement credit of $103. You are actually ahead because if you are able to use the OBC in the casino, you are still charged the 3% fee.

I've been able to make changes to NCL bookings that weren't mine (family traveling with me) - I believe I was able to even cancel the airfare on the reservation. However, those changes were mostly done through my PCC who knew that I'd made the original booking but I also added excursions by calling the excursion desk - just needed to give them the reservation info & name on the reservation - and of course my CC #. Note - I've never been asked for my DOB when calling NCL.

With cruise tourism booming, Juneau has negotiated a limit on how many passengers can come off ships (ktoo.org)

Sorry, don't think that's allowed here. But if you go to that other site and search for NCL Cruise Next Certificate you should be able to find it.

You might want to consider leaving the "normal" Seattle stuff that's offered on a port-to-airport excursion for after your cruise. And do "off the wall" stuff during the 4 days you are in Seattle. Seattle has something called a city pass that gives you discounted admission to your choice of many of the Seattle attractions. You can often get a discounted pass on Groupon. Otherwise, I'd be seeing what Viator offers.

Not your only option. You can buy CNs online - the book-site that is set up for buying/selling only allows people to sell at cost - or below. The "double up" offer isn't that special - it's almost always in effect if you are booking a balcony or above. The promo changes every couple of weeks, seems like the "any cabin" offer is around every couple of promo cycles. You can buy CFs the next time they have a $250/$500 offer - they have to be bought 4 months in advance of your cruise. If I had to guess, I'd say they are on the opposite cycle to "double up" CF and CN programs are different entities with different target audiences, more or less for new cruisers vs repeat cruisers. Their programs, their rules.

AFAIK, CF can only be used on new reservations - clearly spelled out in the terms. As opposed to the not-so-specific terminology with CN, made more specific with the new terms. Just a word of warning - and hopefully it doesn't happen - but their system doesn't seem to be set to authenticate everything initially. So just because you were able to apply the CN doesn't mean it will pass a future audit. Haven't heard of that happening so far but at some point they might decide to enforce the new booking only clause.

Nope. Current CF offer is $150/$300

Did you even read what I wrote??? Nowhere did I say NCL could/would buy in bulk from every city with an airport. When you choose the airfare, there is an extensive list of gateways you can choose from - all priced accordingly, based on whatever pricing model NCL uses. But since you've never used it, I guess you wouldn't know that.

I'd call back. I recently had an issue with a price adjustment - not CND$ but a little more complex than normal. I had used NCL CC points to upgrade to a balcony but the pricing is based on an OV. I called 2 times and both times was told that the price hadn't changed. I had to wait until my PCC finally got around to answering her phone to get the pricing changed. Lost my double points because of that delay - not overly happy about that (not that I'll probably ever make Ambassador anyway) - but I did get the better price.