ncl credit card

[jennylane]

can someone who has used the card tell me about your experience with it? do the rewards add up pretty quickly?

[trex-de]

we have had it for a month and logged 100 points (25 to activate plus 75 earned). Not too bad. I am guessing that we should have 600 to 1000 in one year. Looking forward to using them.

[jeannep]

We got our credit card July of 2004 and I just paid down my balance by $1000 on our next Spirit cruise. We use the card for a few things that automatically get billed to it e.g. cable tv, ez pass, aol and I pay the phone bills with it and groceries also. I called mastercard and they sent the coupons withing 2 weeks. I mailed them by certified mail to NCL and within 2 weeks I got a revised bill with the $1000 taken off.

 

My daughter just received her NCL card. She has an airline card and there are so many restrictions and blackout dates. NCL is so easy. I definately recommend it.

 

Jeanne

[Cruisebum28]

I was wondering what the interest rate on the credit card is. We get offers from them all time but I just throw them away. Since we recently bought a house the 1 or 2 cruises a year will not happen anymore and I think the only way to continue to cruise is replace our american express card with this card. On the rare occasion we cannot payoff our balance our rate is 9.99%. I was wondering if the NCL card is better.

 

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

DL

[jeannep]

The rate is between 8% and 8.9% Better than American Express.

 

Jeanne

 

 

((Sorry!!! I just went on NCL.com and it says the rate is 9.9%. I thought it was better than that. )

 

Jeanne

[x2tpd]

We have had this card since 2004 and in November will be going for our second almost free cruise. We have been in a balcony cabin both times, catagory BB and both cruises have been 7 days. The first on the Sun in 10/05 and we paid $202 total for the cruise portion w/tax and port charges. This November we are going on the Jewel and at this time our balance is $342. We have 115 points right now and will probably get enough to order one more $500 certificate and pay for the entire cruise with MBNA cruise certificates. We love this card!! We pay everything with it and pay it off every month.:D

[jennylane]

i just read all of the comments to my hubby, he seemed a little convinced but not quite there. more good stories please!! :D

[immargaret]

We have several NCL-MBNA accounts. There are maximum amounts of points you can earn per month (250) and per year, so we opened more accounts so we could take every advantage.

 

We cruise about once a year and use an average of about $2000+ in vouchers each time. We charge everything we can, but never carry a balance or it just wouldn't seem worth it.

 

If you do a search of this forum you will find lots of information about the credit card, and many more happy stories.

[Cruise_More_Often]

We're cruising to Alaska in May for half-price! We used 1,500 points that we accumulated between September 2004 and late last year. We charge everything we can on them (DH and I each have one). BUT, we never charge more on it than we can pay off each month, as it defeats the purpose of the card -- saving money.

[7SeasLover]

I applied $1000 in certificates to a $1300 cruise bill. It was wonderful! I now have over 903 points (don't have my April statement yet) and when it hits 1000 I will order certificates to apply to my Med cruise balance. I always pay for my cruises on the NCL card and rack up more points.

 

I do sometimes carry over a balance, but not one that takes months to pay off. I use the card for all my travel expenses, insurance, clothing, luggage, hotels, airfare, etc. I pay for everything using my card.

 

My husband was so delighted that he signed up too and has nearly 500 points already. I told him that if he doesn't come up with 1000 points, he can't go! ha ha ha!

 

We love the cards.

[cruisinthemed]

i just received mine yesterday. i have a 7.90 rate. i called and asked them if i could use it to pay monthly bills and they said yes. so i will use it to pay as much as i can. i'm not sure if i can use it for my car payments or mortgage, but i have a mercedes card and since getting that in november i have enough points for a free airline ticket if i choose. i use it for my weekly shopping like wal-mart, groceries, dry cleaning and fun shopping. i have never used it to pay bills, but will use my ncl for everything. i also got 0% balance transfer, but don't carry balances. i used my ncl yesterday to pay my son's karate dues for the month, and then this morning paid it off on-line. it is an extra step, but one well worth it. i was convinced after reading about it on these boards. tell hubby you have nothing to lose and a free or discounted cruise to look forward to. it makes grocery shopping etc. more exciting to see your points at the end of the month. go for it!!!!

[cruisinthemed]

one more thing. we made our deposit last month and will be paying off our cruise to the med in may, we have two cabins and our friends have one. i will use our card and we get an extra point for ncl purchases. so that will help alot. maybe i will even talk our friends into letting me put there's on my card. i will just do a check on-line and pay off my account. happy cruising!!!!

[7SeasLover]

I do that a lot at work, etc. We bought flowers for our boss' birthday and I paid on my card. Will collect from everyone and use that to pay the card. There are all sorts of clever things one can do to earn points.

[jennylane]

see, the problem is that right now we have a similar reward system with amazon.com, so i'd have to convince hubby that discounted cruising is more important than free dvd's!!! that's not necessarily going to be an easy one...

[jennylane]

ok....let's see. 1000 points equals 1000 dollars in credits....and how many dollars do you have to spend charging on the card, to get your 1000 points? i'm just wondering if we'll be able to charge up enough to make it worth it. i usually put about $5000/month on my amazon.com card and thats just me, not my hubby's card. so if just i were to switch to ncl and say i'd spend $60,000/year...what do you guys think?

 

of course i'm thinking that it would be an easy way to be sure that we take a trip every year!!

[cruisinthemed]

i believe it is 34000.00 for 1000.00 in reward certificates. that is the limit per account per year. i had read about this about 10 days ago when i applied for my card. the thread compared it to other cruise card companies and i think rccl was something like 125,000.00 you would have to spend to get the same. i am not positive, you know we read soooo much on the boards. if someone can direct you to that thread it was very helpful in making my decision. you and your hubby could get your own accts and combine certificates. hmmm a free cruise in a year with 2 accts or dvd's, hmmmm to me that's a no brainer!!!!l lol too bad you didn't apply last week when i did, you would have your card for your trip and start racking up those points. but it sounds like you wouldn't have a problem maxing yours out in a year!!! and once you do then hubby can use his amazon card the rest of the year and get some dvd's.

[cruisinthemed]

i found the board that had the info under money saving tips the thread is cruise credit card to earn a free cruise by paul/charity. it is about 50 down on the money saving tips under discussions. hope this will help to make the decision, cruise or dvd"s hmmm, no brainer. lol

[Markanddonna]

Hi,

 

We paid just the deposit $500 for our upcoming Alaskan cruise. We had $2,000 in vouchers which can be used same as cash but not a deposit. So, we are very pleased!

 

I wish NCL had shorter cruises like they used to. I would be cruising every year.

 

Connie

[CarlNcl]

> I wish NCL had shorter cruises like they used to. I would be cruising every year.

 

The Jewel has 5 day cruises to West Carib starting December.

 

 

The deal is 3 points per $100 spent so divide the target amount by .03 to get the charge amount $1000 / .03 = $33,333 in charages. Or you can also multiply by 33.33.

 

You get 4 points for NCL charges so charging your next cruise and onship stuff gets you there faster. The factor is / . 04 or * 25 i.e. $25,000 in NCL charges gets you a $1000 reward.

[ENGINEER]

My wife and I are going on our second free cruise. We went to the Carribean in December 2004 and we are going to Alaska in August thanks to Kid going to college and all other things we put on the cad. My sister and brother in-law decided to go with us to Alaska so I booked it for them using my NCL card and got an extra 100 points (4%) for being their bank for two weeks. You get 3% of every purchase and 4% if you are spending money at NCL. You can only earn so many points in one year and points fall off after three years, so keep track of your points so you dont loose them. Its also important to use your points for paying for your cruise and not for upgrades. If paying for your childs college, make sure you do not have to pay a fee for using a credit card.(some schools charge) It is also important to pay off the balance each month. It's the best card out there, so if you love to cruise sign up soon.

 

engineer

[Suesan Jean]

We have TWO NCL credit cards. One for me and one for my DH. We may get another one too.

 

On our first Dawn cruise, in April 2006, we were able to use a $500 voucher.:)

 

On our 2nd Dawn cruise, February 2006, we had vouchers worth $1,500....!!!!

 

We will be on the Dawn again in April 2007. We will have at least $1,000 in vouchers by then, probably $1,500.

 

We charge EVERYTHING....!!! Of course we pay off our debt each month in full, as we would have been if we used our check book or debit card. Otherwise, it really doesn't make sense.....

 

Each MBNA card can only rack up $2,000 NCL Voucher Points ($$) per your credit card year. So, it sounds as if you charge ALOT, you would need more then one card. Then again, your DH can still have a card for Amazon.

 

If you like to cruise and you like to cruise NCL, it is 100% WORTH IT....!!! It costs NOTHING and it is like getting "FREE" MONEY....!!!:D

 

I HIGHLY reccomend an NCL MBNA Credit Card.....!!!!

[jennylane]

you guys are the best...i think i've got it now! i've scribbled down some notes and i'm ready to make my presentation! :D we pay our balance off every month and with the amazon card, we usually get 50-100 in amazon certificates per month, depending on the spending. but i'm totally with you...whats more fun, free dvd's or a free CRUISE!!

 

does anyone know if they promote the credit card on board? i was thinking that i could probably get him to do it there, after he sees how much fun we're having..... could we apply while we're on board and get the number immediately so that we could use it right away for the ship charges??

[immargaret]

I've never seen it promoted on the ship. Apply for it on line at the ncl.com website. I doubt that even if you called in the application they could get you your card before your cruise....

[jennylane]

yah, i didnt think so about the physical card, but for instance if you apply for a target card at target, they can give you the number pronto and let you use it right away. just wondered if the cruiseline did that too.

[immargaret]

It really isn't the cruise line approving the credit cards.....it's MBNA. I'm not sure if you can call MBNA and do the application over the phone and get a number immediately or not, not sure I've ever heard of that for a Visa/MC type card.

 

I guess you'll have time to convince hubby about the card on the cruise, and start earning points once you get home.