Should I apply for the Royal Caribbean Visa

[bouhunter]

That's great! If you let a card cancel on its own due to inactivity, it won't affect your score like it will if you call the bank up and cancel it yourself.

 

Closing credit cards having a negative effect on credit scores is a common belief that is NOT TRUE in most cases.

[sue999]

:( I would love a Royal Caribbean Visa card.

We cruise2/3 times a year.

We live in the UK so are not allowed to have one.

Apparantly you need a US Address to be able to apply.

Oh well !! maybe one day .....

[Vegasjunkies]

We just cashed in our points for a "free cruise"... however, it wasn't exactly free. The man explained to me that the free cruise only covered up to a certain amount... in all, we ended up paying 345 dollars for a seven night cruise on the Allure. It took A LONG time to accrue and we never cashed in our points for OBC - it was tempting though.

 

Very exciting!

[shorbr]

10,000 points is automatically added. How does Royal Caribbean know to add these points to my cruise? If I pay off my cruise with the card, is there someplace to redeem these points for my upcoming cruise along with any additional purchases?

 

Sorry, this is new to me and sorta complex.

[MVPJEFFMVP]

Any points accumulating card is better than no card. Since we cruise on RCI between 1-2 times per year, I exclusively use this card for my "Credit Card" Purchases. I even pay all of my business accounts with this card and write a business check to Bank of America the next day.

 

 

To put it into perspective, for doing business as I usually would with my vendors and making normal routine purchases, I earn enough points for $1,000-$1,500 per cruise in On Board Credits.

 

 

It's a fairly easy way to earn perks while going about normal daily life.

 

Good Luck!

[leaveitallbehind]

To expand on what the OP asked about advantages... so you can accrue points for what ends up being a free cruise... are there "blackout" dates? Have any of you had a problem redeeming your points for the date of your choice?

 

I ask because I'm a teacher, so I can only sail during the premium travel months.

 

We have had the card since 2006 and use it to purchase all of our cruises + expenses and air, as well as selectively for other purchases for the points. We have banked the points and just recently confirmed through RCI and Visa that we have enough for a 7 night Caribbean cruise for two, which we are planning for 2013. I realize there are additional costs associated and it is not completely free - in particular in upgrading staterooms - but the out of pocket will be minimal relative to the award value. My wife also is a teacher and there have not been restrictions yet with the dates and itineraries we are considering. Christmas and New Years sailings are excluded.

[pcur]

10,000 points is automatically added. How does Royal Caribbean know to add these points to my cruise? If I pay off my cruise with the card, is there someplace to redeem these points for my upcoming cruise along with any additional purchases?

 

Sorry, this is new to me and sorta complex.

 

The card is offered through Bank of America. When you make your purchase, and at the end of the first billing cycle, they credit your account with the 10,000 points. Then you can either call or go online and redeem the points for the obc. You have to give them your cruise confirmation number, ship, and sailing date for the obc to be credited. It takes about 10 business days to go through.

[pcur]

Good luck with that, you're gonna' need it.

 

I have no idea what you mean by this comment, but as you can see from my signature, it might require a sarcasm or snarky font.

 

If you are commenting on my use of credit card perks for travel, I've been doing this for about 10 years with no ill effect on my credit score. By paying the balance off each month, and cancelling the card after a year if there is an annual fee, or just not using it if no annual fee, it works quite well.

 

All it takes is to know how these things work, and to be smart about how you use the card.

 

No "luck" involved; just common sense.

 

By the way, to jennmaybe's post: many cards do not cancel from inactivity. I had a Visa with BofA for about 15 years that we never used and it never cancelled.

[lah66]

Thanks for all the great advice! I just signed up for the card...too bad I did not do it earlier...I have to make my final payment on our Bermuda crusie on July 3! I always wondered if this card was worth it, and from all of your posts, I realize it is just what I was looking for. We always pay our balances at the end of the month, so it really is a no brainer! Free cruise..here we come...

[pcur]

Thanks for all the great advice! I just signed up for the card...too bad I did not do it earlier...I have to make my final payment on our Bermuda crusie on July 3! I always wondered if this card was worth it, and from all of your posts, I realize it is just what I was looking for. We always pay our balances at the end of the month, so it really is a no brainer! Free cruise..here we come...

 

It doesn't matter if your cruise is fully paid, you have up until 10 days before sailing to apply the obc. That's if you are interested in using the points for an obc. I was pushing things with ours, because I applied for the card late, too!

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

Here's my take. I have had this card since 2004. Last year, I got an AMEX card and am now kicking myself for not doing it sooner. In just one year's time, I've had a week's worth of free hotel nights and have already flown free once. If all you ever do is cruise RCI and you don't have to use any form of commercial travel to get there or stay in hotels, the Visa may work best for you. My other card has been soooooo much better and it can still be used toward the cost of the cruise. I still have the Visa for the places that don't take AMEX, but I rarely use it.

 

Besides AMEX, there are other cards, maybe Chase, that offer great travel rewards. With this Visa, you are limiting your savings to only RCI.

 

 

ITA with you Paul, had ours since 2003. We used our RC visa for everything and really enjoyed 2 free 4 night cruises and plenty of OBC from it over the years. Now that RC is no longer sailing close to home, we find it more difficult to cruise more often because we have to fly cross country to the ports.

 

With that said, we still use the card occasionally, but have switched to a airline credit card. Now we will be able to enjoy some free air to our cruises!! ;) At least that's the plan for now! :D

 

Let me also add for the OP....the card is good, no annual fee, points good for 60 months. Let the points accumulate for the best bang for your buck!

Just my 2 cents.

 

***

[Clarea]

Thanks for all the great advice! I just signed up for the card...too bad I did not do it earlier...I have to make my final payment on our Bermuda crusie on July 3! I always wondered if this card was worth it, and from all of your posts, I realize it is just what I was looking for. We always pay our balances at the end of the month, so it really is a no brainer! Free cruise..here we come...

The card returns a minimum of 2% of Royal purchases. You can get up to 4% back in a few selected awards. An example would be using 50K points for a free 3/4 day cruise in an OV. The max value of this award is $1000.

[FreshOffTheBoat]

Personally I think there are better cards for travel points out there than the RCI visa.

[leaveitallbehind]

Personally I think there are better cards for travel points out there than the RCI visa.

 

Are you refering to other RCI sponsored cards? If not, which ones and how do they coorelate to the RCI tier levels - are they recognized by RCI at the same values when applied for travel?

[ridge4]

Personally I think there are better cards for travel points out there than the RCI visa.

I agree completely. I did get the RCI Visa when the bonus offer rose to 20,000 for brief period. That was a decent offer, we utilized the bonus on our next cruise.

 

Now, we only use it to pay for RCI cruises. Just using it for this will still yield points for OBC.

 

Otherwise, there are *much* better reward cards out there. Amex and Chase offer some programs that allow many more choices for redemption, and often at better values per point, and we can still use it for $$ off RCI if we wish.

[RedWing50]

Just pay cash

[ElwoodPDowd]

Anyone know if points earned may be used on Celebrity?

 

Greg.

[eel]

My opinion is that the card is good if you cruise RCCL a lot and use the points only for free Caribbean cruises and max out the $2500 value. That makes it like a 2% cash back card (you need 125K points for the free cruise for 2) and since you get double points on RCI charges, it is like 4% on those purchases.

 

If you are using it just for OBC you might as well get a card like the Costco AMEX that gives you 1% cash back on everything, 2% on travel and 3% on restaurants/gas. We have both the RCCL Visa card and the Costco AMEX. We use the COSTCO AMEX for gas, restaurants and non RCCL travel and the RCCL Visa card for everything else.

 

We have gotten one free cruise for two out of the RCCL Visa card and are close to getting a second. The free cruise allowed us to do a B2B on Oasis for a very good price!

 

Also remember your points expire in 5 years so if you are not spending at least $25-$30K per year on the card it may not allow you to accumulate enough points for the free cruise fast enough.

[bouhunter]

I have no idea what you mean by this .

 

If you bothered to read the part of your post that I quoted in my response, it was in regards to your comment about using Spirit miles for a free airline ticket. As I said, good luck with that, unless you have a LOT of Spirit miles or get real lucky with them on the right day.

[Clarea]

Anyone know if points earned may be used on Celebrity?

 

Greg.

No, the Royal Visa card earns points that can only be used on Royal. Celebrity used to have their own charge card, but I don't know if they still do.

[pcur]

If you bothered to read the part of your post that I quoted in my response, it was in regards to your comment about using Spirit miles for a free airline ticket. As I said, good luck with that, unless you have a LOT of Spirit miles or get real lucky with them on the right day.

 

OK, I get it now.

 

Actually, we had no problem at all getting our free flight with Spirit from FLL to San Juan in April 2011. We took Southwest free roundtrip LAX-FLL ( from our Southwest Visa points), and then got one fare to San Juan free with the Spirit card, and paid another. Then, JetBlue back to FLL. I think the whole airfare cost was under $550 for both of us.

 

I booked in December for an April flight.

[Reader0108598]

That's great! If you let a card cancel on its own due to inactivity, it won't affect your score like it will if you call the bank up and cancel it yourself.

 

 

Thanks For that info I also had a cc cancel due to inactivity and wondered how it would affect my credit score.

[swcruise]

I have been reading this thread with interest and wish that in my country that our credit card providers provided travel incentives with purchases. I carry out all day to day expenses with it and would certainly have accrued flights, OBC, hotels etc. Ho Hum, mabye some day they will offer such a thing...

[mommabean]

OK, I get it now.

 

Actually, we had no problem at all getting our free flight with Spirit from FLL to San Juan in April 2011. We took Southwest free roundtrip LAX-FLL ( from our Southwest Visa points), and then got one fare to San Juan free with the Spirit card, and paid another. Then, JetBlue back to FLL. I think the whole airfare cost was under $550 for both of us.

 

I booked in December for an April flight.

 

I have no major trouble getting free flights either. We are flexible. And partner airlines that don't show up at the airlines miles booking sites are often available for less miles with just a phone call.

 

I find the hotel and airline cards to be much more "profitable" than the RCI card. Free rooms, flights, no luggage charge and no card fee the first year. The free luggage and room each year alone are worth the $49 fee after the first year - but only if you can use it. And we can sure use it since we often travel to our cruises.

 

Marriott just gave us $75 off our first bill with no minimum purchase required in order to get our free hotel night and 50,000 points. American Airlines just gave me a free one way first class flight to Europe for getting their card (50,000 points) - and gave me back 5000 of those points when I booked the flight. I booked it immediately with a partner before AA goes belly up - not that I think they are really going out of business.

 

RCI has to sweeten the pot a whole lot more for me to get their card.

 

Gina

[createcolorfun]

If I get a RCCL visa, and earn points, say to use for onboard credits, will it interfere with the onboard credits I received for booking the cruise (not using the credit card):confused: