Confused about Carnival Mastercard....

[angiei812]

So I am relatively new here, and this will be my second Carnival Cruise. After booking my cruise on the Pride sailing in October, I received an email offer for a Carnival Master card in which I will get 20,000 bonus fun points, plus 1 point for every dollar spent on purchases and 2 points for every $1 spent on Carnival Cruise line purchases. So I just got the card and started using it. BUT now I'm confused... What do I do with these points?

For example if I want to purchase an excursion (approximately $200 per person) and charge it to this card, then I will get approximately 400 fun points, which are worth what to me? Surely not worth $400.

 

Will I be able to use the points as a credit to pay off the credit card after my cruise? OR only on a future cruise?

Use your card for all purchasesEarn 20,000

bonus FunPointsTransfer a

balance Earn 2X FunPoints per $1 spent on Carnival Cruise Line and World's Leading Cruise Line purchases.

 

Earn 1X FunPoints for every $1 spent on all other purchases. Earn 20,000 bonus FunPoints after you make your first purchase within the first days after account opening. 1Earn up to 5,000 bonus FunPoints when you transfer a balancewithin the first 30 days of account opening (1 FunPoint per $1 transferred). 2Make your Carnival Mastercard your card of choice to earn rewards every day.

[BananaAnna]

Points are worth approximately 1 cent each. 5,000 points can get you $50 statement credit.

There are some redemption rates slightly higher or lower.

[teknoge3k]

You did mention an excursion. If it's a Carnival excursion you're booking, you do get 10% off of the excursion if you pay with your Carnival Mastercard. That would save you $20 per person.

[kona_wahine]

I got one, ended up with like a 6 pack of beer, and haven’t used the card since. I use aarp gift cards to pay off the cruise, and I always use my air miles card for everything else. The Carnival MasterCard isn’t a great deal...

[dsotm73]

I got one, ended up with like a 6 pack of beer, and haven’t used the card since. I use aarp gift cards to pay off the cruise, and I always use my air miles card for everything else. The Carnival MasterCard isn’t a great deal...

 

Yep. Plenty of cards out there with better benefits.

[calbred01]

You can use your points to pay off purchases on your credit card statement or even parts of your cruise. I had enough points on my last cruise to pay for an upgrade to a suite, then used the points to pay off the upgrade. This year I had enough points to pay $1,500 off our Hawaiian cruise (our cruise ended up at $3,700 instead of $4,700). Also saving on excursions booked through Carnival as well as getting double points. I use it for our onboard account and just save the points until we cruise again (usually every two years). This has worked well for us and since we pay it off every month no interest charges. There may well be other cards that suit your needs better BUT some I have received have yearly fees and when I figured it out it did not make sense for us (I hate having to pay a fee to use a card but that is the only way they would make ANY money off of me!). Hope this helps

[TEXSUN46]

I got one, ended up with like a 6 pack of beer, and haven’t used the card since. I use aarp gift cards to pay off the cruise, and I always use my air miles card for everything else. The Carnival MasterCard isn’t a great deal...

 

Really just a six pack? In the past year we have used our points for luggage, a really nice toaster and $100 OBC on our cruise coming up in October so we got a little more than a six pack. No yearly fee, we don't carry a balance so interest rate is irrelevant...not only rewards card we use but seems like a pretty good deal.

[Brierpatch]

I applied for one and they denied me. Said my Trans Union credit score was 582. I checked my score and it was 712. Anyone have this problem?

 

 

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[Lee Cruiser]

If you use this card, then the way to get the best value is to wait until you build up 100,000 points, which makes the points worth 1.5%. For instance, once you reach 100,000 points you can book a cruise, pay $1,500, then you can request a statement credit for the $1,500. If you use the points before you reach 100,000, they will only be worth 1%. Example: 10,000 points = $100 statement credit.

There are much better cards out there. For instance, there is a Citi card that gives you 2% cashback and you are able to use that cashback for anything, not just a cruise.

[Kermarkim]

I'm using my points to pay gratuities for 3 people on my November 5 day/4 night cruise and the balance for a $50 onboard credit

[chicchic325]

There are certainly better travel cards out there. But, if you are using thiss as one of your only cards and cruise often, it could be worth it. We've used our points for OBC and gratuities before. The most bang for your buck is the $1,500 statement credit. (But I've been using the card since 2014 and only have about 60k in points, so...

[dsotm73]

If you use this card, then the way to get the best value is to wait until you build up 100,000 points, which makes the points worth 1.5%. For instance, once you reach 100,000 points you can book a cruise, pay $1,500, then you can request a statement credit for the $1,500. If you use the points before you reach 100,000, they will only be worth 1%. Example: 10,000 points = $100 statement credit.

There are much better cards out there. For instance, there is a Citi card that gives you 2% cashback and you are able to use that cashback for anything, not just a cruise.

 

Am I correct in assuming that the Carnival card gives you one point for every $100 spent, so that you need to spend $100,000 to get that 100,000 points and the resulting $1,500 special statement credit?

 

This compared to the Citi 2% card, with which the $100,000 spend would get you 200,000 points, and a statement credit (or cash back) of $2,000. To put it a different way, you only have to spend $75,000 on the Citi card to get the $1,500 statement credit.

 

i continually question why folks think the Carnival card is such a good deal.

[mkmaj]

For us, we got it for this cruise and will use the points from booking for obc. Why not? Free money.

That said, it will not be used regularly as our primary card has much better rewards.

 

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[Lottacruises]

Really just a six pack? In the past year we have used our points for luggage, a really nice toaster and $100 OBC on our cruise coming up in October so we got a little more than a six pack. No yearly fee, we don't carry a balance so interest rate is irrelevant...not only rewards card we use but seems like a pretty good deal.

 

 

The 10% off excursions is a great deal also.

[Lee Cruiser]

Am I correct in assuming that the Carnival card gives you one point for every $100 spent, so that you need to spend $100,000 to get that 100,000 points and the resulting $1,500 special statement credit?

 

This compared to the Citi 2% card, with which the $100,000 spend would get you 200,000 points, and a statement credit (or cash back) of $2,000. To put it a different way, you only have to spend $75,000 on the Citi card to get the $1,500 statement credit.

 

i continually question why folks think the Carnival card is such a good deal.

 

You are correct that $100,000 in spending equals 100,000 points for every day purchases, so it is not the best for every day use. You do get 2 points for any Carnival purchases, but you can get that with Citi on any purchases. Many choose to get it for the up front 20,000 bonus points. You can use it for that and then another card after you redeem those points. The thing that I do use the Carnival card for is the 10% shore excursion credit.