AMEX offer question

[Russiamomm]

Mine appeared today too!

[victory2020]

My husband's showed up today & I'm leaving on a cruise next week. If I buy $1000 obc & don't use it all, what happens? Is it refunded to card on file (not my Amex)?

[Russiamomm]

47 minutes ago, victory2020 said:

My husband's showed up today & I'm leaving on a cruise next week. If I buy $1000 obc & don't use it all, what happens? Is it refunded to card on file (not my Amex)?

This is what I did.  It’s my understanding that any unused portion is refunded in cash on the last day of the cruise. 

[joydivision84]

I currently have excursions booked and paid for for our Nov 28th Breakaway cruise. Does anyone know if I can cancel the excursions, then re-buy after my (I hope full refund), exclusions tallied up with my prepaid gratuities would take us near the 1k.

[victory2020]

8 minutes ago, joydivision84 said:

I currently have excursions booked and paid for for our Nov 28th Breakaway cruise. Does anyone know if I can cancel the excursions, then re-buy after my (I hope full refund), exclusions tallied up with my prepaid gratuities would take us near the 1k.

I believe you can, just make sure your shore excursion credit is properly credited

[ontheweb]

6 hours ago, joydivision84 said:

I currently have excursions booked and paid for for our Nov 28th Breakaway cruise. Does anyone know if I can cancel the excursions, then re-buy after my (I hope full refund), exclusions tallied up with my prepaid gratuities would take us near the 1k.

The problem that could arise is that the some or all of the excursions might be sold out.

[cruiser2015]

On 10/5/2023 at 7:05 PM, Susandt said:

My delta Amex never has a Ncl offer

 

On 10/5/2023 at 7:41 PM, InFullertonCA said:

Not my Delta, Hilton or Bonvoy?

I have one also.

It's been posted on here that the Delta AMEX cards do not participate.

[shoptom]

Does anyone have experience with Upgrade Advantage triggering the rebate?

[FredZiffle]

2 hours ago, shoptom said:

Does anyone have experience with Upgrade Advantage triggering the rebate?

No experience, but I can think of no reason it wouldn't work.  Even if you originally booked through a TA, I believe Upgrade Advantage bypasses the TA and is billed directly by NCL.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, FredZiffle said:

No experience, but I can think of no reason it wouldn't work.  Even if you originally booked through a TA, I believe Upgrade Advantage bypasses the TA and is billed directly by NCL.

Nothing booked by a TA should ever be charged to the TA. The charge should always show up as by the cruise line. A TA is only a conduit who takes the charge and has the cruise line as the one being paid.

[boxedmoon]

21 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Nothing booked by a TA should ever be charged to the TA. The charge should always show up as by the cruise line. A TA is only a conduit who takes the charge and has the cruise line as the one being paid.

Not a guarantee of that happening. I thought the same as you, but a recent TA booking had some paid to the TA and some to NCL. I suspect it had to do with the TA selling a discounted fare but charging normal price, and then keeping the difference.

[Russiamomm]

23 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Nothing booked by a TA should ever be charged to the TA. The charge should always show up as by the cruise line. A TA is only a conduit who takes the charge and has the cruise line as the one being paid.

 

1 hour ago, boxedmoon said:

Not a guarantee of that happening. I thought the same as you, but a recent TA booking had some paid to the TA and some to NCL. I suspect it had to do with the TA selling a discounted fare but charging normal price, and then keeping the difference.

I agree.  I discovered this the hard way at the beginning of COVID.  I had booked a cruise through a TA.  It was fully paid for.  I had booked extras on my own directly through NCLs website.  Those were refunded rather quickly, considering the circumstances.  But months passed and I hadn’t gotten the cruise fare refunded.  NCL said I had to talk to the TA.  The TA said it was still being processed by NCL.  I got really frustrated and escalated it within NCL.  They finally told me that the refund had been processed two months earlier and gave me the last four digits of the card it was credited to.  It wasn’t my card.  Turns out that the TA put it on their own card, received the refund and never credited me back.  I was furious.  The TA credited us within a few days.  That was obviously the last time we worked with that TA.  I discovered CAS after that and have used them ever since.

[joydivision84]

3 minutes ago, Russiamomm said:

 

I agree.  I discovered this the hard way at the beginning of COVID.  I had booked a cruise through a TA.  It was fully paid for.  I had booked extras on my own directly through NCLs website.  Those were refunded rather quickly, considering the circumstances.  But months passed and I hadn’t gotten the cruise fare refunded.  NCL said I had to talk to the TA.  The TA said it was still being processed by NCL.  I got really frustrated and escalated it within NCL.  They finally told me that the refund had been processed two months earlier and gave me the last four digits of the card it was credited to.  It wasn’t my card.  Turns out that the TA put it on their own card, received the refund and never credited me back.  I was furious.  The TA credited us within a few days.  That was obviously the last time we worked with that TA.  I discovered CAS after that and have used them ever since.

That's straight fraud. Even if you got it back within days of finding out and asking for it back, you should have reported that to the police. 

[Russiamomm]

2 minutes ago, joydivision84 said:

That's straight fraud. Even if you got it back within days of finding out and asking for it back, you should have reported that to the police. 

Possibly.  I’ve learned a lot about cruising since then.  I’ve made up for a lot of lost COVID time in the last two years.  😂. We had used that TA before and it never occurred to me that it was an issue that the charge was to the TA and not to NCL.  Live and learn, but if the experience helps someone else I’m happy about that.  I just wish I could name the TA.  It’s an online cruise seller that is still in business.  I still get promotional emails from them at least once a week.

[joydivision84]

1 minute ago, Russiamomm said:

Possibly.  I’ve learned a lot about cruising since then.  I’ve made up for a lot of lost COVID time in the last two years.  😂. We had used that TA before and it never occurred to me that it was an issue that the charge was to the TA and not to NCL.  Live and learn, but if the experience helps someone else I’m happy about that.  I just wish I could name the TA.  It’s an online cruise seller that is still in business.  I still get promotional emails from them at least once a week.

That's true, good you learned and good you warned people. If it is as black and white as them using their credit card (and I presume benefiting from things such as points doing so), then naming and shaming them seems fine and beneficial, in my opinion. There is no argument for what they did there and it definitely falls under fraud. So feel free to name them, I'd say, but also, that's just me!

[Russiamomm]

1 minute ago, joydivision84 said:

That's true, good you learned and good you warned people. If it is as black and white as them using their credit card (and I presume benefiting from things such as points doing so), then naming and shaming them seems fine and beneficial, in my opinion. There is no argument for what they did there and it definitely falls under fraud. So feel free to name them, I'd say, but also, that's just me!

I’m too much of a rule follower for that.  😳😂.  It’s also altogether possible in the craziness of the times that it simply fell through the cracks at the TA.  The cruise was scheduled for April 2020.  It was one of the first ones cancelled with COVID.  As we all know, the world was crazy and I’m sure NCL and the TAs were processing thousands of refunds.  In hindsight I should have taken the 150% (?) FCC they were offering, but life was in such a state of flux that I opted for the refund.

[FredZiffle]

2 hours ago, boxedmoon said:

Not a guarantee of that happening. I thought the same as you, but a recent TA booking had some paid to the TA and some to NCL. I suspect it had to do with the TA selling a discounted fare but charging normal price, and then keeping the difference.

The difference here though is that we're talking specifically about the Upgrade Advantage.  The TA receives no commission on an upgrade bid and is not involved to my knowledge.

[ontheweb]

18 hours ago, boxedmoon said:

Not a guarantee of that happening. I thought the same as you, but a recent TA booking had some paid to the TA and some to NCL. I suspect it had to do with the TA selling a discounted fare but charging normal price, and then keeping the difference.

I am glad we have a TA we have worked with over the years and have found we can fully trust.

[ontheweb]

16 hours ago, Russiamomm said:

I’m too much of a rule follower for that.  😳😂.  It’s also altogether possible in the craziness of the times that it simply fell through the cracks at the TA.  The cruise was scheduled for April 2020.  It was one of the first ones cancelled with COVID.  As we all know, the world was crazy and I’m sure NCL and the TAs were processing thousands of refunds.  In hindsight I should have taken the 150% (?) FCC they were offering, but life was in such a state of flux that I opted for the refund.

Yes, if you did name the TA, the post would be taken down as soon as someone informed me mods of a TA being mentioned.

 

And instead of this being brought to the attention of the police, maybe the Better Business Bureau or isn't there some TA organization that would be better tp bring this to their attention.

[alexgtp]

On 10/3/2023 at 7:41 AM, justhappy said:

My Amex Platinum has a new offer for $200 statement credit off a 1K purchase made with NCL. It has purchase exclusions listed as

shore excursions, gift cards, transportation and onboard purchases. It doesn’t mention that Cruisefirst  certificates are excluded. Has anyone purchased OBC or Cruisefirst with one of these offers?

TIA

I use these deals all the time. Make sure to read fine print. Purchase needs to be billed as NCL.COM (or cruiseline offering promotion) or phoned into NCL (or cruiseline offering promotion) and billed as Cruiseline to get the credit.

I normally use these to buy beverage packages, excursions, specialty dining or to pre-pay gratuities. 

I used to always pay for everything in advance, but now with me being targeted with these offers, I now try and pay for things closer it gets to cruise, So as to save money or rack up those membership reward bonuses. 

 

My favorite one was an RCL spend 1K receive 20k membership points. 

I did charge money in Casino  for an RCL cruise, so I could qualify for another bonus they had, unfortunately this was billed as the name of the ship and not RCL. So it did not trigger the bonus for me. So just be careful to read fine print. Luckily I was able to cash out the money and pay off AMEX charge.. LOL.  

Also some On board charges while on ship may be billed as name of ship and not the ship brand , so you wont trigger the bonus or cash back!

 

 

ALSO: If you want to be targeted for these offers (all amex cards seem to get targeted) Make sure you add any cruise offer you see , even if you are not planning on cruising with them. They will see you are interested in cruising and will target you when available.

Now with all offers they are limited to a finite number of users, so if you see it add it ASAP. You will see an expiration date and you have until than to use it.

Here are some of the ones I am currently targeted for and have added to my card. An no I probably wont ever sail HAL or Oceania or Regeant. 

Edited October 31, 2023 by alexgtp

[alexgtp]

On 10/3/2023 at 11:36 AM, smokeykat said:

If my final payment isn't until May 2024 and I want to charge Amex $1000.00 towards payment for the cruise fare to get the $200 back deal, what happens if I cancel the cruise before the final payment is due? Anyone know?

 

You will no longer qualify for the offer and they will deduct the membership point you received or the money adjustment credit you received. You can see it in the fine print email they send you when you trigger an offer.