Why would anyone use the RCCL Visa Card?

[zalusky]

[quote name='Flynnlives']My accountant told me that any cash back or discounts earned from CC should be reported for tax time :([/quote]

Isn't it technically a rebate on purchases or more specifically a discount on the original purchase price (or more specifically a rebate on the transaction fee of the purchase). It is not unearned income in my opinion so I see no reason its taxable.

[doug419]

How long are the points good for before they expire?

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Personally I use my Royal Card because of a few reasons-

I want to book my cruise with who I want to (myself) and not Discover's required agency.

Quite a few places I do business with (mostly local shops) do not accept Discover or Amex.

Many of those 5% offers are only on the first $500 not the entire amount.

For us the Royal card works out fairly well. My DH has a Discover that he uses, we're very strategic about where we use each card.

[Clarea]

[quote name='doug419']How long are the points good for before they expire?[/quote]
Five years.

[setsail]

[quote name='doug419']How long are the points good for before they expire?[/QUOTE]

Already answered

[rednancy1]

[quote name='doug419']How long are the points good for before they expire?[/quote]

I think it's something like 5 years. :)

[CruisesOnMyMind]

[quote name='doug419']How long are the points good for before they expire?[/quote]


It's 5 years from the date you accumulated your points at purchase time. The very 1st points you received will expire in 5 years. If the next points were a week later because of a purchase, then those points would expire next at the 5 year mark and so for.

I have seen people say they have 25,000 points and think they have 5 years for them all.

I hope that is not too confusing.

Just to add, we have taken 2 - 4 nights cruises and 1 - 7 night cruise with this card. Love it. If I had a card that gave cash rewards I am sure the cash would have been spent else where.

[pescatch]

[quote name='eel']The RC card is good IF you ONLY use it for RCCL purchases and items where you only would get 1% cash back on another card.

Then NEVER use the card for onboard credit, only for free cruises (up to $2500 for 125K points) or companion fares (up to $1500 for 75K points). This assumes you can accumulate the required points before they expire.

With this strategy you will get better than 2% value back.[/QUOTE]

I only use my RCCL card for RCCL purchases to take advantage of the 2% (3% in December!)

Cashed in 25,000 points for a companion fare on a Liberty 4 night sailing. Netted me a 2.9% return. Trick is to cash them in where they offer the most value. Example 25,000 points can get you a $250 OBC, but I cashed in 25,000 points for $324 worth of trip expenses. There was actually a short 3 or 4 night cruise on Allure (I can't remember which) this past year where you most likely would have extracted even more value from those same 25,000 points.

Also if you travel with a group and anyone is paying cash for their trip (yes people still do this) you can take the cash and put it on your card. Free Points!

[derrick22]

[quote name='John&LaLa']i like looking at the picture of the ship when i use it.[/QUOTE]

So true!

I also know that I am getting closer to free cruising each time I use it.

I have cruised 2x for free in the past 3 years.
I use the card for everything and pay it off every month.
The return is over 2%.
Customer service has always been great and on top of any fraud that has come along.
The card works for me.

[14Terry]

Just cashed in 30,000 points for upcoming cruise in May! :D

[StarSong]

[quote name='CruisesOnMyMind']It's 5 years from the date you accumulated your points at purchase time. The very 1st points you received will expire in 5 years. If the next points were a week later because of a purchase, then those points would expire next at the 5 year mark and so for.

I have seen people say they have 25,000 points and think they have 5 years for them all.

I hope that is not too confusing.

Just to add, we have taken 2 - 4 nights cruises and 1 - 7 night cruise with this card. Love it. If I had a card that gave cash rewards I am sure the cash would have been spent else where.[/quote]

[COLOR=green]Is there a way to check when the points expire? I haven't seen how that can be done...[/COLOR]

[BrMtnLover]

[quote name='StarSong'][COLOR=green]Is there a way to check when the points expire? I haven't seen how that can be done...[/COLOR][/quote]

You can call the cc customer service # and they can tell you.

[cruiselvr04]

There may be cards that give a better return. For us it works to keep us cruising. We have had 2 free 4 night cruises, our daughters 4 night honeymoon cruise and now have almost enough points for a free seven night cruise plus have used it for on board credit several times. If you charge a lot ( and pay it off every month) it has great perks. We love anything discounted or FREE.

[grand isle joe]

[quote name='SPDBigG']Why ask why when you already have the answer?[/quote]



...............to re-enforce a sense of superiority?................:confused::D






Hope "spring":D finds you well Big G................

[WetToes]

SPDBigG did apologize for that comment. Don't know why it was removed. At least one other comment (not snarky) was removed also. ???

[tndisneyfan]

Ii signed up for and used it once to get $100 of OBC. I doubt I'll use it again.

[Big_G]

[quote name='grand isle joe']...............to re-enforce a sense of superiority?................:confused::D






Hope "spring":D finds you well Big G................[/quote]

Thanks Joe. Finally got into the 40's today. I misread the OP's post so they deleted my apology instead of my original comment. Go figure. :rolleyes: Hope it's warming up for you there. Happy sailing...

[Sunny AZ Girl]

[quote name='lthomas927']I love my discover card...no fee card, no fee for first late payment, can use your cash back for Amazon purchases. You can shop through discover at 100's of different retailers and receive an additional5-20% cash back. As poster above mentioned each quarter they run a special where you get 5% back on certain purchases: might be groceries, gas, travel, etc. You can buy gift cards at discounted rates...for instance I just bought $50 gift cards for chili's and pan era bread for $40 each...many others available too. enough raving you'll think I work for them![/QUOTE]
I use multiple cards depending on what my goal is at the moment and the redemption value of each card. I use my Discover Miles card the most for all of the reasons stated. It is also easy to redeem points. I used my points to take $500 off the price of my upcoming cruise.

I also got a new SW Visa card. With the sign-up points I was able to get 2 free flights to FLL from PHX.:) There is a $75 fee for that card, but well worth it for the savings. I will switch over to that card for a bit for airline miles for next year's cruise, too. The return is greater than 3X if you can grab a flight when the points required are lowest.

My Costco AX card gives back the best for gas & eating out. I get cash back for that and will be using that for cruise cash on our upcoming trip.:)

My RCI Visa is only used for RCI purchases. I also paid off my cruise when points were at 3X. I use that for OBC. OBC is not the best return, but is the way I prefer to use it.

Of course, I pay off my CC's each month or it is not worth having. I figure this is all free money as it is purchases I would be making anyway.

[steveru621]

I use my Amex and RCCL card based on the billing date. If you use your card just after the billing date, you get almost 45 days before you have to pay for your purchases. I always pay off the balance and don't pay any interest.

As others have said, value to you is different than for me. The promises of greater than 1% cash back are pretty thin. I pay $150/year for my Amex (Delta) but we get a free companion ticket that was worth $357 on a flight to Ft. Laurderdale. Plus we used 60,000 miles ($600) each for tickets to Barcelona that are selling for $1,000+. We generally get about a 2% benefit for using our Royal Points, and they did double and triple your points for some purchases earlier this year.

RCCL and Amex may be better for how you use them not the amount of cash $$ you get back. I would be interested in the [B][I]actual [/I][/B]usage cashback over a year for some of the other cards. The websites that recommend cards don't really know your spending and redemption patterns. A credit card bank will not make any money if they give you over 3% cashback on everything.

Like me, cardholders seem to be very loyal to their own selected credit cards. You just can't trash another card without more information.