Royal Caribbean Visa Card?

[jules815]

Does anyone here us a RC credit card and are you happy with the benefits?

 

Thought it might be time to get a credit card with travel benefits.

[Clarea]

Does anyone here us a RC credit card and are you happy with the benefits?

 

Thought it might be time to get a credit card with travel benefits.

Reasonably happy. Like everything else Royal, terms have changed lately to the detriment of the benefits. However, I can still get 3% to 4% back on Royal purchases, so I only use it for those. There are many other cards with better benefits for non-Royal purchases.

[bouhunter]

Reasonably happy. Like everything else Royal, terms have changed lately to the detriment of the benefits. However, I can still get 3% to 4% back on Royal purchases, so I only use it for those. There are many other cards with better benefits for non-Royal purchases.

 

That sums it up.

[Aquahound]

Does anyone here us a RC credit card and are you happy with the benefits?

 

Thought it might be time to get a credit card with travel benefits.

 

I have the card as a back-up, but if you're looking for a card with good travel benefits, I don't recommend it. There are much better cards out there that won't limit you to just 1 cruise company for spending reward points. American Express Premier Rewards Gold card or Chase Sapphire are great options.

[Life is Good Cruising]

We use ours for only Royal purchases and are very happy with the card and the OBC we gets from our points.

[jules815]

I have the card as a back-up, but if you're looking for a card with good travel benefits, I don't recommend it. There are much better cards out there that won't limit you to just 1 cruise company for spending reward points. American Express Premier Rewards Gold card or Chase Sapphire are great options.

 

Yes, looking at Chase Sapphire right now.

 

Thanks.

[Drutch616]

I been using my Royal VISA for 7 years now but this year I am switching over to a Chase card and get 1.5% money back on all purchase. It was easier last year before they changed there redemptions to apply your points to Royal cruise but now you can also apply points to Celeberty and Azamara but there is A lot more restriction so make sure you read all the fine print. And just like calling Royal depending on the person you many get great customer service and help or you may get someone with wrong info and doesn't want to help.

[Sherri914]

We had one and used to use it for all monthly household purchases (gas, groceries, etc) and paid the bill off in full monthly to just to accumulate points. We redeemed those points for OBC on our last cruise. We canceled the card after that last cruise. We now use a diff card with better benefits. RC's Visa benefits unfortunately just aren't what they used to be. There are several others out there (Chase Sapphire is a good one) with better travel benefits. Good luck!

[Aquahound]

Yes, looking at Chase Sapphire right now.

 

Here is a good site comparing travel cards. It's updated every year.

 

http://www.nextadvisor.com/credit_cards/articles/19/best-travel-reward-credit-cards-analysis?kw=gcctccx5+compare%20travel%20credit%20cards+ntwk+g+dvce+c-fq-&gclid=CP3fnu78s8ECFaZj7Aodb0gA0A&ref=www.google.com

[hardyz13]

We have one. If I knew it was with Bank of America I wouldn't have. Their customer service lacks to say the least. Mainly we got it for the "10,000" point. So far 3 months later all we have received is 5,000 and cannot get an answer from boa or rci. We will probably cancel and continue using our Discover.

[waterbugohio]

Have had one for about 8 years. Got some great $$ off of cruise and lots of OBC. The card has served us great, including the extra points we got for signing up.

 

However, with all the recent changes I am also looking to change.

This last time, we booked with the BOGOHO sale and could not use our points (over 100,000) for money off the cruise. We would have had to pay full price for the cruise and then take the money off. Would have paid $400 more for the cruise, just to get $1000 off.

Instead, we are paying for the cruise in full. Using the 100,000 points for $1000 OBC. And then anything we don't use while onboard will be credited back to the card. I guess we still get the $$ off, just need to jump thru all their hoops. Just hope we don't spend to much on board with all the OBC dangling in front of us.

 

Aquahound, thanks for the link comparing cards. I have it narrowed down to the Chase Shappire and the Capital One Venture.

[BillOh]

Does anyone here us a RC credit card and are you happy with the benefits?

 

Thought it might be time to get a credit card with travel benefits.

 

I am reasonably happy with mine having had it for about 5 years now. As others might say, there maybe better deals, but I can use these directly with Royal and they have made that process much easier over the years. There online payment and reward selection sites run pretty well.

 

I've only had one complaint during this time. Early on they suddenly up'd my interest rate from 9% to 24.9% despite the fact that I had excellent credit and not a single late payment. Fortunately that applied to only new purchases and I usually keep the balance low or zero, so i quit using it. 3 or 4 months later when I hadn't used it I called them and said to cancel it unless they wanted to return it to its previous rate, which they did.

[Grand PooBah]

This card offers 40,000 bonus point with sign-up and purchases, Gives 2 points for ALL purchases, then returns 10% of the points when you redeem.

Yes it has a fee, but that is small potatoes if you charge very much. Turned in my RC visa points for a free Balcony, but same amount of purchases would have put me in a Grand Suite if I had been using Barclays.

[AlexanderBeetle]

Barclaycard Arrival+ MasterCard is our card of choice. Everything goes on it and we pay it off each month. Great bonus signup and you can use it for any travel expense. Just log on to the site and apply your points to whichever transaction you need to on your statement.

[AlexanderBeetle]

This card offers 40,000 bonus point with sign-up and purchases, Gives 2 points for ALL purchases, then returns 10% of the points when you redeem.

Yes it has a fee, but that is small potatoes if you charge very much. Turned in my RC visa points for a free Balcony, but same amount of purchases would have put me in a Grand Suite if I had been using Barclays.

 

The fee is waved for the first year.

[cruisinfanatic]

I am reasonably happy with mine having had it for about 5 years now. As others might say, there maybe better deals, but I can use these directly with Royal and they have made that process much easier over the years. There online payment and reward selection sites run pretty well.

 

I've only had one complaint during this time. Early on they suddenly up'd my interest rate from 9% to 24.9% despite the fact that I had excellent credit and not a single late payment. Fortunately that applied to only new purchases and I usually keep the balance low or zero, so i quit using it. 3 or 4 months later when I hadn't used it I called them and said to cancel it unless they wanted to return it to its previous rate, which they did.

no such thing as a reward if you are paying interest

[molly361]

The fee is waved for the first year.

 

 

True story- We don't use it enough to pay a fee so we will cancel after the year is over. They also have a free one but it pays 2% for all taravel and 1% for all over charges which is ok with us.

[jules815]

I know this is probably a silly question, but if you use a card like Barclays, that looks really good by the way, do you still earn reward points if you pay off your balance monthly? They're really not making any money off of me (other than an annual fee) if I choose to keep a zero balance.

 

Also, can you purchase upgrades for existing reservations using points?

[molly361]

I know this is probably a silly question, but if you use a card like Barclays, that looks really good by the way, do you still earn reward points if you pay off your balance monthly? They're really not making any money off of me (other than an annual fee) if I choose to keep a zero balance.

 

Also, can you purchase upgrades for existing reservations using points?

 

 

Yes we always pay our cards off monthly. No you can't use the points for upgrades with the Barclay card. It is just good for credit towards any travel purchases.

[AlexanderBeetle]

I know this is probably a silly question, but if you use a card like Barclays, that looks really good by the way, do you still earn reward points if you pay off your balance monthly? They're really not making any money off of me (other than an annual fee) if I choose to keep a zero balance.

 

Also, can you purchase upgrades for existing reservations using points?

 

As molly361 indicated yes you can keep a $0 balance (and as someone said that's the only way you are actually getting any reward).

 

We spend just about the right amount to cover the annual fee (there are blog posts who've calculated it out for you to determine whether you want the free version or the annual fee version).

 

And don't think they aren't making money just because you pay the balance in full each month. Merchants pay fee's to the credit cards. By keeping a $0 balance you may be what they like to refer to as a 'deadbeat credit card user' but they still want you to use that card :)

 

Edit: If the upgrade is being charged from the travel merchant then yes you can use your existing points to cover the cost but that will be after the charge appears on your statement. For example, we upgraded on our recent cruise after prices came down and when the charge showed up on our online statement, we applied existing points to it.

Edited October 17, 2014 by AlexanderBeetle
added the upgrade response.

[waterbugohio]

This card offers 40,000 bonus point with sign-up and purchases, Gives 2 points for ALL purchases, then returns 10% of the points when you redeem.

Yes it has a fee, but that is small potatoes if you charge very much. Turned in my RC visa points for a free Balcony, but same amount of purchases would have put me in a Grand Suite if I had been using Barclays.

 

Barclaycard Arrival+ MasterCard is our card of choice. Everything goes on it and we pay it off each month. Great bonus signup and you can use it for any travel expense. Just log on to the site and apply your points to whichever transaction you need to on your statement.

 

sounds like the Barclaycard may be a good option.

 

How is their website for paying online and watching charges??? userfriendly?

[tonyt]

As molly361 indicated yes you can keep a $0 balance (and as someone said that's the only way you are actually getting any reward).

 

We spend just about the right amount to cover the annual fee (there are blog posts who've calculated it out for you to determine whether you want the free version or the annual fee version).

 

Would you please post the blog post reference?

[karena1]

I have the card as a back-up, but if you're looking for a card with good travel benefits, I don't recommend it. There are much better cards out there that won't limit you to just 1 cruise company for spending reward points. American Express Premier Rewards Gold card or Chase Sapphire are great options.

 

 

I am a little confused. I don't see where you can use Chase Sapphire points for cruises. Am I missing something? Plus $95 a year is pretty steep for an annual fee.

[Vitamin_Sea]

opened it up last month.. So, I have a $100 OBC on upcoming cruise.

The OBC is the only reason I opened it

no annual fee

Edited October 19, 2014 by limoguy1

[karena1]

This card offers 40,000 bonus point with sign-up and purchases, Gives 2 points for ALL purchases, then returns 10% of the points when you redeem.

Yes it has a fee, but that is small potatoes if you charge very much. Turned in my RC visa points for a free Balcony, but same amount of purchases would have put me in a Grand Suite if I had been using Barclays.

 

This one actually looks pretty good. I hate fees, never have paid them, but may look at this one. Have you used it for Royal Caribbean? How does it work? I like that there is no Foreign transaction fees.

 

We have had our Royal CC for years, and liked them a lot. Huge credit limit so we never have to worry. We pay our cards off every month but charge everything, and I mean everything to get points. But with the new restrictions, we are not getting the bang for the buck that we used to get. So would not mind changing if I can get a good card that I can use for Royal cruises that gets me a great bang for the buck