Update: BoA Royal Caribbean Visa Rewards (Again)

[Ret MP]

On September 30th I transferred my reward points (I posted about this in another thread) from my BoA Royal Caribbean Visa Rewards C.C. to OBCs on my October 31st cruise, my C.C. and my wife's C.C.  Within just a couple of days, the OBC showed up in our "Cruise Planner", for HALF the amount.  So, I called RCCL and asked what is going on.  I spent a good 10 minutes with the "Phone Answerer", this is after waiting in the que for at least as long, explaining what I was trying to do, he would repeat just about everything I said, put me on hold many many times, apologized every time I was put on hold, and eventually said that I would have to speak to someone at the "Rewards Desk". 

 

Waited in the que for at least another 10 minutes for someone at the "Rewards Desk" to come on the line.  Again, explained everything that I was trying to do.  Again, repeating just about everything I was saying.  Again, placed on hold several times and apologizing every time.  I was asked if I have a confirmations number from BoA for the transaction, which I did.  Placed on hold for an extended period of time.  Then asked for my C.C. # and a couple of other things.  Placed on hold, again on hold for extended period of time.  Comes back and explains that the first transfer was done quickly and the second will be done shortly.  But, it could, and this is important, take up to two weeks from the initial transfer date for the transfer to show up in my RCCL account.  I was told that A TROUBLE TICKET WAS INTIATED, though. 

 

Okay, so I wait till October 14.  Nothing changed in my OBC/Cruise Planner.  I call back late in the day on October 14th.  Go through the entire process as stated above.  After I go through the process, including talking to the "Phone Answerer" and eventually being transferred to the "Rewards Desk", I ask if a "Trouble Ticket" was initiated during my initial call, why am I having to go through all of this again.  Response, Obfuscation!  No real answer.  So, the "Rewards Desk" guy after I'm being placed on hold and hold and hold...... repeating everything over and over again, tells me that even though RCCL doesn't usually, again this is important, put the rewards OBCs into the account until TWO WEEKS PRIOR TO THE CRUISE DATE, he was going to go ahead and put the remaining OBCs into my account.  So, I go off.  I ask, "First, if you don't award awards OBCs until TWO WEEKS PRIOR to the cruise date, why was I awarded half of our award OBCs within a day or two of transferring them from BoA's website on Sep 30th"?  Answer, "Somebody didn't follow policy".  Second Question, "Why was I told during my last conversation with the "Reward Desk' that OBC aren't put on our account up to  "TWO WEEKS OF THE INITIAL TRANSER DATE"?  Answer, "That was incorrect".  Third Question, "Why was I told a "trouble ticket" was initiated yet you know nothing about it, what is the purpose of having a "trouble ticket"?  Answer, crickets.  

 

The good news, as I was still on the phone with the "Rewards Desk", the remaining OBCs mystically appeared.  At that point, I asked, "it's more than two weeks from sail date, did you just violate company policy"?  Answer, "Is there anything else I can help you with today"?  Answer, "No, I think you have done enough".  "Please remain on the phone for a short survey".  Then the phone hangs up.  

 

These people at the Mother Ship have no clue what they are doing (of course, there are exceptions and when they are good, they are good and a pleasure to work with) and will say ANYTHING to pacify you on the phone. 

[DeltaJoe15]

Did OBC from my BA credit card to my Dec cruise. All posted within three day. No problems

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

Why diden't you just put your rewards points on you card balance? Then you just spend whatever on the cruise and get more points. I have BoA Premium Rewards card mainly for cruising because it has travel insurance.

[Cigar King]

47 minutes ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Why diden't you just put your rewards points on you card balance?

I wasn't aware that the RCI BoA card allowed you to do this?

 

FWIW, I think the best value is using them to get the cruise fares.  Those rewards are twice the OBC value.

[Ret MP]

56 minutes ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Why diden't you just put your rewards points on you card balance? Then you just spend whatever on the cruise and get more points. I have BoA Premium Rewards card mainly for cruising because it has travel insurance.

I didn't know that is an option on the Royal Caribbean Rewards BoA Card.  I'm in the site now and all it offers is:

 

The "Onboard Credits and Amenities" is what I choose.  I don't see an option to put/transfer the points into credit on the C.C.  

 

This is the Card I have:

 

 

Edited October 16, 2022 by Ret MP

[Ret MP]

11 minutes ago, Cigar King said:

I wasn't aware that the RCI BoA card allowed you to do this?

 

FWIW, I think the best value is using them to get the cruise fares.  Those rewards are twice the OBC value.

Yep, I use that card exclusively for purchases of cruises (paying the deposit and cruise fair balance at the 90 day mark) and paying the onboard account balance.  

[Ret MP]

1 hour ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Why diden't you just put your rewards points on you card balance? Then you just spend whatever on the cruise and get more points. I have BoA Premium Rewards card mainly for cruising because it has travel insurance.

                                                  HOWEVER

 

If BoA is offering a credit Card that offers those options, I'm going to give them a call and see what it's all about, as long as it doesn't have an annual fee.  I don't pay a fee for C.C.s.  

[PolicromaSol]

I wouldn't worry about the call center rep. Most have a little leeway as long as the excuse is good and they don't do it too often.

[Ret MP]

4 hours ago, PolicromaSol said:

I wouldn't worry about the call center rep. Most have a little leeway as long as the excuse is good and they don't do it too often.

The problem is, without too many exceptions, whenever I call to get answers to questions, I never feel confident that I got/get the straight poop.  It shouldn't be that way.  If the "Phone Answerers" are still working from home, they need to be brought back into the Mother Ship where they can be supervised.  However, I bet the supervisors need a lot of supervision.  It's a dirty nasty snowball.  

Edited October 16, 2022 by Ret MP

[PolicromaSol]

Well, doing other work of this sort (tech support), it actually became fashionable to send call center workers home between 4-8 years ago. The reps are still supervised, and heavily so. The sups are listening into random calls, same way they did in the call center. And the reps have various numbers they must meet as well.

 

The only real problem is that if a crazy one-off comes up that is well beyond policy, the rep can't just set the phone down and go ask someone. (Unless by immense luck the sup happens to be listening in and can lend a hand.) They have to wait in queues and chats themselves, and the supervisors are often too busy monitoring someone else's call to assist. This puts the rep in a tough spot, often having to ask forgiveness rather than permission.

 

(Well, that and it turns you into a social hermit...)

[Ret MP]

10 hours ago, PolicromaSol said:

Well, doing other work of this sort (tech support), it actually became fashionable to send call center workers home between 4-8 years ago. The reps are still supervised, and heavily so. The sups are listening into random calls, same way they did in the call center. And the reps have various numbers they must meet as well.

 

The only real problem is that if a crazy one-off comes up that is well beyond policy, the rep can't just set the phone down and go ask someone. (Unless by immense luck the sup happens to be listening in and can lend a hand.) They have to wait in queues and chats themselves, and the supervisors are often too busy monitoring someone else's call to assist. This puts the rep in a tough spot, often having to ask forgiveness rather than permission.

 

(Well, that and it turns you into a social hermit...)

While I don't doubt that that is the case in your experience, your realm of the kingdom, it just doesn't seem to be that way with the Mother Ship.  Even if it is, it's broken and needs to be repaired.  

[StephPS79]

54 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

While I don't doubt that that is the case in your experience, your realm of the kingdom, it just doesn't seem to be that way with the Mother Ship.  Even if it is, it's broken and needs to be repaired.  

 

I had a similar situation, where I redeemed points and over a month later, they still had posted to my OBC account.  However, I found it was very easy to resolve, you can bypass the "phone answerer" and contact the Rewards Desk direct.  There's a number posted in previous threads, but don't have it handy.  Took about a 10 minute total phone call to get resolved, which I don't think was unreasonable.  He confirmed my OBC was showing on my account before we ended the phone call.  A small inconvenience, but not overly so.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

22 hours ago, Ret MP said:

                                                  HOWEVER

 

If BoA is offering a credit Card that offers those options, I'm going to give them a call and see what it's all about, as long as it doesn't have an annual fee.  I don't pay a fee for C.C.s.  

This card has a fee. However we cruise 4-6 times a year and the fee is far less than purchasing travel insurance for each cruise.

[Ret MP]

4 minutes ago, StephPS79 said:

 

I had a similar situation, where I redeemed points and over a month later, they still had posted to my OBC account.  However, I found it was very easy to resolve, you can bypass the "phone answerer" and contact the Rewards Desk direct.  There's a number posted in previous threads, but don't have it handy.  Took about a 10 minute total phone call to get resolved, which I don't think was unreasonable.  He confirmed my OBC was showing on my account before we ended the phone call.  A small inconvenience, but not overly so.

I appreciate your response and suggestion.  On each phone call, and I only talked about 2 of them, I did ask for the Rewards Desk initially and I always got the, "let me get a little information from you so I can let the Rewards Desk know what your call is about".  Or words to that effect.  It was always the same old questions and placed on hold and after an extended period of time, transferred, finally, to the Rewards Desk where it didn't do any good answering the questions and stating  my case because the Rewards Desk asked the same questions and had me state my case again, and again.  I was also, as stated, told that a trouble ticket was initiated and apparently that was B.S., too.  And again, at first I was told by the Rewards Desk that the OBCs show up within 14 days/Two weeks of the initial transfer and then after the 14 days/two weeks had passed I was told that they show-up when I get to within 14 days/two weeks of the embarkation date.  

 

My experience, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, the Mother Ship just says what they have to to get by on the phone call.  

[Ret MP]

1 minute ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

This card has a fee. However we cruise 4-6 times a year and the fee is far less than purchasing travel insurance for each cruise.

Yep, well worth it for you and those that cruise as much as you.  

 

We cruise on average, maybe once a year.  However, we do travel a lot, when not cruising, we road trip to Texas, Indiana, and Georgia several times a year and we generally stay with my daughters or an old Army buddy in Texas.  So, a fee based C.C. isn't something that would benefit me greatly.  

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

3 minutes ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

This card has a fee. However we cruise 4-6 times a year and the fee is far less than purchasing travel insurance for each cruise.

BoA Premium rewards card. I keep what is required in the bank to receive the max points. 3-1/2% on everything. Get the card and charge $3000 on it in 90 days and you receive $500 That alone paid for over 5 years of the yearly cost of the card.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

5 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

Yep, well worth it for you and those that cruise as much as you.  

 

We cruise on average, maybe once a year.  However, we do travel a lot, when not cruising, we road trip to Texas, Indiana, and Georgia several times a year and we generally stay with my daughters or an old Army buddy in Texas.  So, a fee based C.C. isn't something that would benefit me greatly.  

This is not just cruise insurance. it is TRAVEL insurance and cover every way you might travel. Tons of benefits.

[Williamsburgcruiser]

I'm going to add that I had a very similar experience this year with the OBC rewards.  

 

Found that when you are using rewards from 2 separate credit cards - for the same booking - it confuses the staff completely.  Add to that shareholder OBC, and time of booking OBC, and they are completely out of their league.

 

In the future, if I am going to redeem points - I'm going to do it completely separately - and definitely a month apart.  

 

The hour on the phone to get it fixed was very stressful.  Thankfully - I save every receipt that RCI sends me, so I could tell the person EXACTLY what dates each type of OBC got credited to the booking.

 

Good luck!  

[Ret MP]

7 minutes ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

This is not just cruise insurance. it is TRAVEL insurance and cover every way you might travel. Tons of benefits.

Yes, true!  But, I don't usually stay in hotels and when I do, on road trips, it's take an exit and get an available hotel, no deposit involved or cancelation policy to worry about, and usually the hotel rate is the same as booking on line, USUALLY.  I tend to schedule my road trips during none high travel periods.  I even check to see if there are major league games going on where I plan to drive thru or wind up at.  

 

I'm covered (Medicare, TRICARE, VA) anywhere I travel to in the U.S., haven't been to Canada in a lot of years, which is 99% of my road trips, with hospitalization. But, TRICARE for Life covers us in Canada, too (There may be up to a 25% deductible though).  And I'm sure you know that.  I also have Neptune Society where my (and my wife) remains (ashes) will be brought back home at no charge, I've prepaid.  

 

Don't get me wrong, I do encourage people, and I do ALWAYS, get the cruise lines or TA recommended travel insurance when I cruise.  I believe it is a much when cruising, for many things.  

[Ret MP]

4 minutes ago, Williamsburgcruiser said:

I'm going to add that I had a very similar experience this year with the OBC rewards.  

 

Found that when you are using rewards from 2 separate credit cards - for the same booking - it confuses the staff completely.  Add to that shareholder OBC, and time of booking OBC, and they are completely out of their league.

 

In the future, if I am going to redeem points - I'm going to do it completely separately - and definitely a month apart.  

 

The hour on the phone to get it fixed was very stressful.  Thankfully - I save every receipt that RCI sends me, so I could tell the person EXACTLY what dates each type of OBC got credited to the booking.

 

Good luck!  

What adds to the confusion is when you are in the BoA Rewards website page, it only offers the transfers in brackets.  For example:  I had over 20,000 points.  I could only redeem 15,000 or 25,000 points.  So, I redeemed the 15,000, then I noticed that I could redeem the remaining 5,000 points.  So, there was two transactions on my card alone.  My wife's card was like mine, so she had two separate transactions.  Bottom line, we had 4 "Confirmation #s.  I bet that blew the Mother Ship's mind.  It was my redemption that went thru almost immediately in Royal's site.  It was my wife's that was the issue.