Using RC Visa Rewards points for a cabin upgrade

[bluewater1298]

I’ve searched this many times and thought I knew how it worked until I called in for a redemption using 15,000 points for an upgrade on 4-8 night cruise (interior to ocean view max value $300). I thought if the difference between an interior and ocean view was $300 or over, you could get the max value of $300 off your cruise price. Now after many calls, I’m really confused.

 

First call - I wanted to verify what I thought I knew. I was told I needed to book the cruise first, have a reservation number and then they would apply it to the reservation. Also it could be book through travel agent, but I would need to call RC’s Rewards Redemption to get the points turned in. I could book any room category but the upgrade would only be the difference between interior and ocean view.

 

Second call - I had reservation # with ocean view cabin booked. I was told I couldn’t get the upgrade credit because I already had an ocean view booked. Was told I should have booked an interior and then they could have upgraded me to an Ocean View. I ask him to check with his supervisor but still got the same answer. I ended the call and tried again for a different person.

 

Third call - I was told it could be done with my booking. She said the difference was more than $300 and max credit could be applied but they would have to deduct $75 from it because of a promotion added to my booking from the travel agent. So $225 is the max I can get taken off even though the difference between interior and ocean view is way over $300. She said when she turned it in, they would first deduct $300 and then add $75 back on. I decided to wait and call again.

 

Fourth call - I was told they couldn’t do anything since it was book through a travel agent. I should call the travel agent and have them handle it. I booked it through an online cruise site. The first three people I talked with never mentioned me calling the travel site. They would put me on hold while they called the travel company to check pricing.

 

Fifth call - I call travel company and got someone that had never handle a rewards redemption and didn’t understand what I was asking. I ended call and thought I would check here before making another call.

 

Anyone have experience getting the upgrade credit taken off the cruise price? And how were you able to get it? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Final payment is a month away.

[California Traveler]

Following post to see your final decision. We have 30,000 pts to upgrade on our next trip in 2026. I will check with my TA. She is great! 

Good luck. 😉 

[cruceristamsc]

I had used my Visa Reward points for a cruise discount. I reserved the cabin I wanted (balcony) and then on BOA web I made the discount that were applied a couole of days later. 

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, cruceristamsc said:

I had used my Visa Reward points for a cruise discount.

Welcome to CC and coming out of a long lurk.

[cruiseguy1016]

1 hour ago, cruceristamsc said:

I had used my Visa Reward points for a cruise discount. I reserved the cabin I wanted (balcony) and then on BOA web I made the discount that were applied a couole of days later. 

 

Using the points for a cruise discount is completely different from using the points for a room upgrade. The two transactions are handled very differently.

[RosieRoo]

I feel your pain. I find the whole thing confusing. We cashed in 75,000 points for a companion fare. Had to go thru the travel agent to get it done. By the time they finished deducting the discounts off my reservation (can’t use it with this discount or that discount) I would have been better off just cashing in the points for OBC. 

[bluewater1298]

12 minutes ago, RosieRoo said:

I feel your pain. I find the whole thing confusing. We cashed in 75,000 points for a companion fare. Had to go thru the travel agent to get it done. By the time they finished deducting the discounts off my reservation (can’t use it with this discount or that discount) I would have been better off just cashing in the points for OBC. 

Thanks! I wish I had let the one person take the $225 off. That might be the best I can do. That is if I can find someone now to do it. It's crazy that you get so many different responses calling the same number.

[island lady]

The points to upgrade...IMHO...was a total waste when I tried it.  

 

I am now keeping to just using them for OBC, which I happily love to use.  🙂 

[SilkySal]

We always use our VISA redemption money for on-board OBC. If we don't spend any of it, RC puts a credit back on our VISA. No hassling with long phone calls. Perfect for us!

[Tree_skier]

10 minutes ago, SilkySal said:

We always use our VISA redemption money for on-board OBC. If we don't spend any of it, RC puts a credit back on our VISA. No hassling with long phone calls. Perfect for us!

Ditto for us. We always book balcony or above so the upgrade from interior to OV has never been of interest. That being said, it just seemed like a really limited program and really complicated. OBC works best for us.  Between cruises (usually 3 or 4 a year) I usually rack up enough points to pay our grats. 

[island lady]

1 hour ago, SilkySal said:

We always use our VISA redemption money for on-board OBC. If we don't spend any of it, RC puts a credit back on our VISA. No hassling with long phone calls. Perfect for us!

 

I very often will cash the rest out to add to our additional cash tips, over the already prepaid tips.  

[Jussabitconfused]

"Second call - I had reservation # with ocean view cabin booked. I was told I couldn’t get the upgrade credit because I already had an ocean view booked. Was told I should have booked an interior and then they could have upgraded me to an Ocean View. I ask him to check with his supervisor but still got the same answer. I ended the call and tried again for a different person."

 

This is what I did and it was wrong. I booked an interior thinking they would upgrade to an ocean view. Wrong. You have to book the ocean view and they will pay the difference. Now we will be cruising in an interior. No problem. I haven't sailed in one for a long time so we will see how it goes. It is terrible that they give you bad advice. It is the second time they have told me wrong information when I have called. 

Edited May 4 by Jussabitconfused
added quotation marks

[Sonic2012]

3 hours ago, Jussabitconfused said:

"Second call - I had reservation # with ocean view cabin booked. I was told I couldn’t get the upgrade credit because I already had an ocean view booked. Was told I should have booked an interior and then they could have upgraded me to an Ocean View. I ask him to check with his supervisor but still got the same answer. I ended the call and tried again for a different person."

 

This is what I did and it was wrong. I booked an interior thinking they would upgrade to an ocean view. Wrong. You have to book the ocean view and they will pay the difference. Now we will be cruising in an interior. No problem. I haven't sailed in one for a long time so we will see how it goes. It is terrible that they give you bad advice. It is the second time they have told me wrong information when I have called. 

I’m now more confused, which is it: book the interior or the OV? Is there a certain timeframe that you need to do this. Next cruise talked me into the card while I was booking with them. They said that I could just take $300 off the cruise before final payment…

[Jussabitconfused]

1 minute ago, Sonic2012 said:

I’m now more confused, which is it: book the interior or the OV? Is there a certain timeframe that you need to do this. Next cruise talked me into the card while I was booking with them. They said that I could just take $300 off the cruise before final payment…

They told me I had to book the ocean view and they would pay the difference up to 300 dollars. Live and learn. They won't put the points back but they gave me a credit to my cc even though it was a lot less then I would have saved between the price of the interior and ocean view.

The first time they told me over the phone that I could use companion fare for two different people on the same cruise as long as I had the points to cover both. That was wrong and I only received the companion fare for one person. They should not have let the transaction go through if it was wrong but the website did. I got onboard credit for that, also a lot less than the companion fare would have been.

[Wetmib]

You are one patient person. Good luck and once it's resolved, enjoy the trip

[bluewater1298]

Update - I called today and finally received someone that seemed to know what she was doing. It took less 10 minutes. She said I would receive the max amount of $300 credit on my reservation. 

I didn't receive a conformation number, so I ask how soon it would be applied. She said to contact travel agent and they would confirm everything. Another phone call 🤦‍♀️

 

I called the travel company and that call took 45 minutes. Most of it was with me on hold while the agent was on hold with Royal Caribbean. Seems like nobody knew what to do. Finally the call ended with said $300 credit applied. I'm supposed to get an email with the new balance for final payment within the next few days. 

 

Hopefully it works out because they have already deducted the 15,000 miles from our card. I'll update if it doesn't.

 

Thanks for all the replies!

[bluewater1298]

On 5/4/2024 at 4:55 PM, Wetmib said:

You are one patient person. Good luck and once it's resolved, enjoy the trip

Thank you! My patients is beginning to thin. But once on the cruise all will be forgotten....hopefully 😅

Edited May 6 by bluewater1298