Low Down on Carnival Credit Card?

[1cruisingal]

Can anyone please give me the low down on everything to do with the Carnival credit card?

 

How do you redeem fun points to pay for a cruise we're looking at and how do we redeem fun points if we want to purchase a spa service? What if we don't book our spa service until we're actually sailing?

 

Also, I read somewhere it was mentioned that you have 6 months to use your points toward credit. Does that mean once i have points I have to book a cruise within 6 months to be able to apply the points towards a cruise?

 

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help enlighten me on all of this.:)

[vbscoot]

We've had the carnival credit card for about 15 years. Cant remember exactly how we redeemed toward the cruise..but you certainly would be able to find out from website or by making a call. As far as the 6 month issue...I realize that is what is written in the card rules, but we have never lost any points ..even let them accumulate for years before we actually used them. I believe we used them once through a TA and once through a pvp on carnival's site.

 

Just FYI....we dont use the Carnival card much anymore because they only give you 1% back in points. We have a Capital One card that gives 1.5% back(which you can just get as cash back or apply to your balance) and i believe there are cards out there that give you 2% back on certain types of purchases if you sign up each month or so on web.

[firemanbobswife]

I have the Carnival card but don't use it. Only got it for the $100 sign on bonus.

 

However, you get the most bang for your buck by charging your Carnival stuff on there and then "erasing" the charge with your points. So use it to set up your S&S account then charge everything on board to it. When your bill comes, redeem your points to remove all or part of the charges from your statement. I believe you have 6 months to erase the charges, not to forfeit your points. At least I think that's how it works, not really sure. Haven't used it in a year and a half and still have 50 points or so.

Edited January 18, 2017 by firemanbobswife

[CharlesKru]

Can anyone please give me the low down on everything to do with the Carnival credit card?

 

How do you redeem fun points to pay for a cruise we're looking at and how do we redeem fun points if we want to purchase a spa service? What if we don't book our spa service until we're actually sailing?

 

Also, I read somewhere it was mentioned that you have 6 months to use your points toward credit. Does that mean once i have points I have to book a cruise within 6 months to be able to apply the points towards a cruise?

 

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help enlighten me on all of this.:)

 

We had it, it simply is not the best deal out there... you only get bonus points on Carnival products.

 

I got the AAA Visa card, and they give me 5% on all travel, ( cruises, hotels, rental cars, gas, etc.) 2% on a lot of shopping, and 1% on everything else.

 

It just cash back, so if we are not cruising we can use it for a number of other things.

 

Staying with what you asked, it was easy to use. We did not try to cash points till after the 6 month window, but when we did we just cashed for OBC ( on board credit ).

 

Hope that helps some.

[tropicaledrink]

We had it, it simply is not the best deal out there... you only get bonus points on Carnival products.

 

I got the AAA Visa card, and they give me 5% on all travel, ( cruises, hotels, rental cars, gas, etc.) 2% on a lot of shopping, and 1% on everything else.

 

It just cash back, so if we are not cruising we can use it for a number of other things.

 

Staying with what you asked, it was easy to use. We did not try to cash points till after the 6 month window, but when we did we just cashed for OBC ( on board credit ).

 

Hope that helps some.

 

 

Technically the bonus points on Carnival products only is an incorrect statement. The card utilizes "rewards boost" - and you get bonus points if you buy through the link through your log in info. For example, I get 5 points per dollar when I order from Sephora, 4 points per dollar for booking a Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express. There are literally tons of options. If you do a lot of online shopping, you can accrue rewards quickly. If you don't online shop, then this is not going to be a good card for you.

 

You want to redeem for statement credits, NOT on board credit. If you redeem for on board credit, you're cheating yourself out of 400 points.

 

You do have 6 months to apply the points to your statement, however you do have to pay the statement amount in the meantime. Best redemption values at 100,00 points (1.5 points per dollar, so 100,000 points equals a $1,500 statement credit) OR by redeeming on a charge of $1,500 or higher (in which case, 50,000 points is equal to $750 credit. Again, a 1.5x redemption rate). We paid off a cruise at the end of September and paid it off, and it was over $1500. I am letting points accrue until the last possible day, and then will redeem my points (which cover nearly the whole charge) and apply a statement credit to my account, which will then cover my paying off the next cruise AND my Cheers! package! I'm redeeming on the older charge because it was the bigger ticket item (next cruise, I owe less on final payment).

 

Sooooo - if you are willing to spend some time making it work for you, it can be worth it. I accrued my points over about a 2 year period, and I don't have super regular bills (complicated, but I just don't). If you were paying regular bills on it (my parents do on their card), I imagine it might add up a little quicker.

[Micahs Grandad]

We had it, it simply is not the best deal out there... you only get bonus points on Carnival products.

 

I got the AAA Visa card, and they give me 5% on all travel, ( cruises, hotels, rental cars, gas, etc.) 2% on a lot of shopping, and 1% on everything else.

 

It just cash back, so if we are not cruising we can use it for a number of other things.

 

Staying with what you asked, it was easy to use. We did not try to cash points till after the 6 month window, but when we did we just cashed for OBC ( on board credit ).

 

Hope that helps some.

 

Thanks for sharing. We have been getting on our Sams M/C 5% gas, 3% travel and restaurants and 1% everything else and thought we were getting a great deal but obviously not.

[Grandmacruiser6]

I have had it 5 years I charged the cruise we are taking in June 2017 and will use on the ship you get 50 for every 500 I cashed in half and have 200 towards June cruise you have to spend a lot I booked 4 rooms! I still have 13,000 to use

[frayedend]

I've had this card for a long time and hardly use it because the interest is high. I can't say I understand much on the points. But this thread just made me take a look. The "statement credit" was the way to go and then I had to look at each transactions to see what the best deal was. For instance it was gonna take 5000 points for a $50 credit on my Fun Shops transaction. But it took less than 7000 points for a $100 credit on my cruise fare transaction. Glad I looked because I was gonna just get an onboard credit for the bar at $1 per point.

[cmichael1279]

I really like Chase's Southwest Airlines Visa. I use it as often as I can, always enough points to pay for my flights to the cruise! :)

[Saint Greg]

Can anyone please give me the low down on everything to do with the Carnival credit card?

 

How do you redeem fun points to pay for a cruise we're looking at and how do we redeem fun points if we want to purchase a spa service? What if we don't book our spa service until we're actually sailing?

 

Also, I read somewhere it was mentioned that you have 6 months to use your points toward credit. Does that mean once i have points I have to book a cruise within 6 months to be able to apply the points towards a cruise?

 

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help enlighten me on all of this.:)

 

I've had it for 2 1/2 years. I've been building up points that entire time. The six month deal is to redeem points for a purchase. Like a cruise I took 5 months ago, I can still redeem my points for a statement credit on that cruise. Once six months have passed, I can't use them for a statement credit on that charge. I would still keep all of my points.

 

 

I'm saving up for 100k points because that gives you the best redemption rate. 990,000 points I can redeem for $990...but 100,000 points I can redeem for $1,500. That's what I'm going to hit this year. It's going to pay for a cruise. It's two points for a carnival purchase and 1 point for everything else. There are some online outlets you can use to get escalators up to I think 5 points per dollar but I've never used them.

 

 

I'm looking at other cards to decide if I'm going to switch after I cash in my 100k points. If not I'll keep this one and get another free cruise in three years.

[CounterTorque]

Just redeemed our 100k points for the $1500 statement credit. It was super easy, the website doesn't try to hide it or anything sketchy and it showed up as a credit(like a payment) right away.

If you do the math on other cash back cards, the 1.5% is the same as the 100k reward. For us, it's easier to 'save' for a cruise this way. :)

 

 

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[crusinpsychRN]

I got rid of mine due to terrible customer service. I disputed several charges and it took over 7 months for them to take them off. Meantime they were charging interest on the disputed charges.

[Saint Greg]

I got rid of mine due to terrible customer service. I disputed several charges and it took over 7 months for them to take them off. Meantime they were charging interest on the disputed charges.

 

Sounds like why I left Capital One.

[Saint Greg]

It's not the most durable card in the world but it still works!

 

[auscgguysgirl]

I got rid of mine due to terrible customer service. I disputed several charges and it took over 7 months for them to take them off. Meantime they were charging interest on the disputed charges.

 

I didn't have this problem (and subsequently haven't had it w/ my Cap1 card either). I bought a refurbished certified Apple laptop through Amazon for our daughter for Christmas and it didn't work properly. Amazon gave me a LOT of problems w/ the return. I disputed it directly w/ CMC and received the credit back in 5 days ... and assistance fighting the merchant's insistence that the laptop wasn't returned with all the parts and in a timely fashion.

I have LOVED my CMC and use it for pretty much everything ... as mentioned by someone else ... I pay everyday bills ... NEVER paid a dime of interest ... I take advantage of the multi point options available on things I purchase anyway like Starbucks coffee for 5x points, etc. I take advantage of 2x carnival points on everything carnival and have redeemed almost 100,000 pts in less than a year.

You can do it, but it takes a little work.

There are a few other discussions on this ... just do a search ... you'll find them.