Carnival MasterCard holders - I just got offered 8x points for onboard spending.

[Gregoryfo]

I got the Carnival MasterCard years ago because they had a good opening bonus during the pandemic. I rarely use it on land, but often take it with us when we cruise. It has never been turned down no matter what country we are in, and I do not have to do travel advisories prior to traveling.

 

When checking in to my cruise this morning I noticed that it said if I linked my Carnival card to my onboard spending account I would receive 8x points, which is much better than the 2x that is typically offered. Not sure if it is a one off promotion just for me or a new benefit but thought I would share so others are aware to be on the look out. I am not a gambler or big spender onboard, but I thought this might be particularly interesting to those that are.

[BlerkOne]

2 hours ago, Gregoryfo said:

I got the Carnival MasterCard years ago because they had a good opening bonus during the pandemic. I rarely use it on land, but often take it with us when we cruise. It has never been turned down no matter what country we are in, and I do not have to do travel advisories prior to traveling.

 

When checking in to my cruise this morning I noticed that it said if I linked my Carnival card to my onboard spending account I would receive 8x points, which is much better than the 2x that is typically offered. Not sure if it is a one off promotion just for me or a new benefit but thought I would share so others are aware to be on the look out. I am not a gambler or big spender onboard, but I thought this might be particularly interesting to those that are.

I'll have to look for when checking in - I don't need more airline miles right now.

[CruiseAdict218]

2 hours ago, Gregoryfo said:

I got the Carnival MasterCard years ago because they had a good opening bonus during the pandemic. I rarely use it on land, but often take it with us when we cruise. It has never been turned down no matter what country we are in, and I do not have to do travel advisories prior to traveling.

 

When checking in to my cruise this morning I noticed that it said if I linked my Carnival card to my onboard spending account I would receive 8x points, which is much better than the 2x that is typically offered. Not sure if it is a one off promotion just for me or a new benefit but thought I would share so others are aware to be on the look out. I am not a gambler or big spender onboard, but I thought this might be particularly interesting to those that are.

Where did you notice this? I use the app but nothing comes up for me. 

[Gregoryfo]

8 hours ago, CruiseAdict218 said:

Where did you notice this? I use the app but nothing comes up for me. 

I was checking in to my upcoming cruise on my laptop. When I got to the onboard account set up step, just above where is asked what card I wanted to use there was a picture of the Carnival MasterCard and the following text:

 

Earn Points by Using Your Carnival Rewards Mastercard

If you use your Carnival Rewards Mastercard you will earn 8 Carnival Rewards Points for every dollar spent onboard.

 

Seems from the text that they were aware I am a card holder. The cruise we went on last month I did not use the Carnival card for my onboard spending but did use it for a small purchase in Mexico. 

[wcrcruiser]

I just looked and I see that as well. Very cool.

 

[Petersonfcu]

Are Carnival points worth a penny a point when booking future cruises?  If so, then the return on your 8x is roughly eight percent.  I would rather buy Carnival gift cards at a 10% discount through AARP using a credit card that returns at least 2.5% cash back, and then apply those GCs to my onboard account.

[BlerkOne]

18 minutes ago, Petersonfcu said:

  I would rather buy Carnival gift cards at a 10% discount through AARP using a credit card that returns at least 2.5% cash back, and then apply those GCs to my onboard account.

Since buying gift cards is essentially a cash advance, some cash back cards can treat it differently.

 

I think Carnival points are a penny a point for future cruises, however you can get up to 1.5 against a statement credit.

[Petersonfcu]

37 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Since buying gift cards is essentially a cash advance, some cash back cards can treat it differently.

 

I think Carnival points are a penny a point for future cruises, however you can get up to 1.5 against a statement credit.

Have bought hundreds of cruise GCs through AARP over the years using several different credit cards.  None of the purchases have coded as a cash advance.

 

The 8x looks much better if you can get 1.5 cents a point.   That is definitely competitive with the GC option.  Not sure why one wouldn't always use the statement credit option, unless you only use the card on cruises and your cruises are spaced out over a long time.

[Gregoryfo]

5 hours ago, Petersonfcu said:

Are Carnival points worth a penny a point when booking future cruises?  If so, then the return on your 8x is roughly eight percent.  I would rather buy Carnival gift cards at a 10% discount through AARP using a credit card that returns at least 2.5% cash back, and then apply those GCs to my onboard account.

Yes they are worth a penny a point unless you have a bunch of them.  AARP gift cards are great, with those and a mix of AMEX offers (20% off!) we pay for our cruises and exclusions.  However for small onboard spenders like us, a few coffees and maybe take them up on the 2 for $30 shirt deal, the 8% is less cumbersome than going to the kiosk to load a gift card for a $60 total charge.  I have to load a credit card to my account, so might as well load the 8% one. 

[CorrieCJ]

I saw this too when adding my Carnival MC to my online booking. I came off my cruise 5 days ago and I see I was credited 2x the points, not 8x the points. I emailed Barclay's through their secure message center, and they told me there is no such promotion and there is no way to send a screenshot of what I was shown at check-in (even though I have the screenshot). Did anyone actually get the 8x points?. 

[Badfinger]

 A penny a point?  Cruise ship tee shirts?  Good grief.

 

Credit card companies do a good job of getting the mice in the maize chasing the cheese.

 

I would suggest not getting the credit card and taking that money you are spending on tee shirts or whatever to get points and buy some shares of Mastercard Stock.

Edited August 27 by Badfinger

[CorrieCJ]

On 7/27/2024 at 11:15 AM, Gregoryfo said:

I got the Carnival MasterCard years ago because they had a good opening bonus during the pandemic. I rarely use it on land, but often take it with us when we cruise. It has never been turned down no matter what country we are in, and I do not have to do travel advisories prior to traveling.

 

When checking in to my cruise this morning I noticed that it said if I linked my Carnival card to my onboard spending account I would receive 8x points, which is much better than the 2x that is typically offered. Not sure if it is a one off promotion just for me or a new benefit but thought I would share so others are aware to be on the look out. I am not a gambler or big spender onboard, but I thought this might be particularly interesting to those that are.

 

@Gregoryfo Did you have any luck redeeming the 8 points per dollar? I had the offer and I only got 2 points per dollar. See my post above. Very annoying.

[Gregoryfo]

On 9/3/2024 at 1:28 PM, CorrieCJ said:

 

@Gregoryfo Did you have any luck redeeming the 8 points per dollar? I had the offer and I only got 2 points per dollar. See my post above. Very annoying.

The initial charge that was on my online credit card was 2xs but I would not expect to see if until my statement closes. In previous Barclay offers that is how it was. The online would just list the base rate, but then after the statement closed I would see bonus points post. My statement closes next week so fingers crossed. 

[Superwoman1]

When I checked into my cruise today (9/7/24), I also saw the same message from carnival that says, “If you use your Carnival Rewards Mastercard you will earn 8 Carnival Rewards Points for every dollar spent onboard.” 
I then messaged Barclays on the chat option on the app and asked them to confirm the rewards. The agent, Juannie, told me twice, “Upon checking I can’t see that you will earn 8 Carnival Rewards Points for every dollar spent onboard, Its only 2 FunPoints for every $1 spent on Carnival Cruise Lines purchases.” So unfortunately, this must be a typo on carnival. Can anyone verify that they have received 8x reward points?