Best "Points" credit card?

[squirrellee01]

My husband and I are looking to do a lot more crusing. We wanted to know if anyone has recommendations on the best rewards card for cruse traveling. I have only have cruised NCL and think they have thier own card. Does anyone have it and like it, do the rewards add up fast?

We also may cruise other lines depending on the deals we find so any other card that lets you have the freedom to choose?

I've never had a rewards card I actully redeemed because I always preferred the "cash back" / "dividends" cards. But maybe a points card would be a way to save specifically for crusing.

Any ideas would be great!

 

SHERYL

[Nickymjw1]

We have the NCL Mastercard (now through Bank of America). I think it is one of the better deals around. To me the big difference is that you don't need a lot of points to get the free cruises. You earn at 1 pt per $100 I think, but you only need 500 points to get a $500 certificate. I use it for everything like I would my check card normally, and then I pay it off each pay period.

 

We just turned in 1000 points, received $1000 certificate to pay for our cruise next month. Cost of cruise was $1379 for 2. So we are only paying $379. Definitely worth using the card.

 

I looked at the Carnival card, but it think you have to earn like 30,000 points or something to get a free cruise. Kind of like skymiles, takes forever to earn enough to get anything.

[squirrellee01]

Well that's really good to hear. I found this link:

https://wwwn.applyonlinenow.com/USCCapp/Ctl/entry?sc=MEH0&mc=A000001YVK

It seems good and I like Bank of America too.

 

We love NCL but may sail other ships sometimes if it's a great deal and a close port. I guess if it's such a "great deal" I wouldn't need to worry about saving more with "points". I'm definately going to check into getting the NCL card.

 

Thanks!

Sheryl

[squirrellee01]

Also do you know if there is a limit on how many points you can use / redeem?

 

Thanks!

[squirrellee01]

Oh yeah, (since you have the card I'm thinking of all the questions I can!) how do you redeem your points? Like can you use any TA or you do it be going through NCL or what?

 

SHERYL

[Suzanne123]

Here's a good site to compare cards:

http://www.e-wisdom.com/credit_cards/travel.html

[klct39lg]

I am so glad to see this thread. We seem to be the only people with credit cards that don't *work* for us. I am also looking into the NCL card. We've never cruised with them but I am all for giving them a shot!

 

My question is: When you use the NCL card as you would a debit card to earn points, do you tend to overspend?

 

This is what is holding me back. I know it's about restraint, but I also know that with my debit card I think before each purchase. Is it hard to do this with a credit card?:o

[Marlissa]

Also do you know if there is a limit on how many points you can use / redeem?

 

As far as I understand, there is no limit to how many points you can redeem. We redeemed 2000 points and received $2000 off our last cruise.

 

Oh yeah, (since you have the card I'm thinking of all the questions I can!) how do you redeem your points? Like can you use any TA or you do it be going through NCL or what?

 

We book directly with NCL and just send the point certificates to them. You can book thru a TA, the cert says to send to either your TA or NCL.

[Marlissa]

Here are some links to recent posts regarding the BOA NCL credit card. These came from the NCL board, this is a pretty regular topic over there.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=501193&highlight=BOA

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=493580&highlight=BOA

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=443059&highlight=BOA

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=438397&highlight=BOA

[Marlissa]

I am so glad to see this thread. We seem to be the only people with credit cards that don't *work* for us. I am also looking into the NCL card. We've never cruised with them but I am all for giving them a shot!

 

My question is: When you use the NCL card as you would a debit card to earn points, do you tend to overspend?

 

This is what is holding me back. I know it's about restraint, but I also know that with my debit card I think before each purchase. Is it hard to do this with a credit card?:o

 

Your question is a hard one. We don't overspend and the credit card is paid in full each month. What I do is this, our finances are kept in Microsoft Money. An account, in Money, has been created for each credit card. Weekly, I enter the charge receipts into the correct account in Money. I then go to our checking account in Money. There is a fake entry (that never clears, kinda just a place holder) that is for the credit card payment. If the new credit card receipts totaled $100, I add $100 to the fake entry. This keeps money that is in the checking account allocated, thus I don't spend it. I never have the fake entry at zero, I like to keep a fudge factor of $100, so $100 is the lowest it will ever be. When the credit card bill arrives, I pay the bill. I then subtract the amount of the bill from the fake entry and change the fake entry to the remaining amount (with $100 being the lowest balance).

 

Not sure if that makes any sense or not :o .

 

Maybe you need to come up with some sort of system that will work for you. The points that we receive from the card are great. Saved us $2000 off our last cruise.

[klct39lg]

Marlissa,

Thank you for your response, I think I understand. Sometimes I need to stew about things a little while before it clicks. I will look at my finance software and see what kind of system I come up with.

 

Regarding the $2000, was that from 2 years of points on 1 card, or 1 year with 2 cards?:)

 

Thank you. (must feed this cruise addiction):D

[Marlissa]

Regarding the $2000, was that from 2 years of points on 1 card, or 1 year with 2 cards?:)

 

1 year with 2 cards.

[squirrellee01]

Great tips. I was thinking of how I would use the NCL card and be sure to pay it off every month. We've just paid all our credit cards off when we closed on a private note we were holding and I'm not going back down that credit card debt street again. I was thinking maybe keeping a register (sorry I'm old fashion, still don't have computer financial software I use) for the credit card and keep track of expenses like I would with the debit card / checking account. Then make weekly payments, or daily or anything right from my bank's online bill payment system. So really I'd have to think about like a debit card becuase I'll be paying it off all the time.

Not sure if a system like that would work. I've love to start saving some points. I also budgeted $500 a month to savings just for travel. I'm so excited about this! My husband also gets his own savings which he will use to spend on car parts. Ha ha. At least we are both trying to save. :)

[squirrellee01]

double post

[squirrellee01]

Oh I just realized that I wouldn't need to keep a register because with Bank of America they are REALLY quick about posting "pending" purchases on thier website. Stuff that may not really "post" for several days will still be displayed, which I think is great! That way, right away, you'd be able to tell your balance and the amount you'd need to pay to keep it paid in full.

 

Sheryl

[Marlissa]

Oh I just realized that I wouldn't need to keep a register because with Bank of America they are REALLY quick about posting "pending" purchases on thier website. Stuff that may not really "post" for several days will still be displayed, which I think is great! That way, right away, you'd be able to tell your balance and the amount you'd need to pay to keep it paid in full.

 

Sheryl

 

You are so right. I hadn't even thought of that. Maybe that type of system would work for klct39lg also.

[klct39lg]

Thanks!:)

 

I really want to try this. (My husband is soooo tired of hearing talk about this :rolleyes: ).

[MikeyP]

I just recently signed up for the Marriott Rewards program. Then I signed up for the Marriott Rewards Premier Visa Signature card. It's got a good points system...

- You earn 15,000 points off the bat with your first purchase.

- You automatically get Silver status in the Marriott Rewards program.

- I think you get a free night every year in a Marriott hotel...

- You earn 5 points for every dollar spent at a Marriott property (plus what you normally earn for being Silver level, which I think is 20pts/1$).

- You earn 2 points on airline, dining and rental purchases, (plus you can use your Marriott Rewards # when reserving a Hertz vehicle to earn 500pts in addition to the 2pts/1$, or something like that)

- You earn 1pt/1$ on all other purchases.

 

Plus, you can use their rewards mall for a decent web shopping variety and earn X amount of points/$ at those places, in addition to the points earned just by using the card.

 

There were a couple of other perks, but I don't know what they are offhand. On the downside, the card has a $65 annual fee. It might be worth it if you end up using the free night every year though.

 

A cruise for 2 on Carnival off-season in an OV stateroom (6A I think) is somewhere around 155,000 points. It can add up quickly since you get more than 1pt/1$ on average. You can also buy points at $10/1000 I think.

 

http://www.marriottrewards.com if you're interested.

[bigwally]

We have airline affinity Visa cards. 1 mile on our favourite European carrier for every $1 charged. Works out great for us because we have done a fair bit of travel to Europe over the years.

 

We charge just about everything we can, up to and including monthly bills, and actually find it annoying when we can't charge something. In fact, we used to have this deal that if it were less than $10 we would pay cash (when we had cash), then it became $5, and now it's generally any small amount depending on the conveneince of using either card or cash.

 

Basically we're real mileage whores. :rolleyes:

 

But pay any affinity charge card off in full every month, or the interest charges will eat up any benefit you gain real fast.

 

BofA = worst bank ever, politics aside (offereing bank accounts to illegals). I'll never take or apply for any services that they have a hand in.

[Nickymjw1]

I think the max is 250 points per month, and they expire after 3 yrs. To redeem call BOA and ask for the certificates. Got mine in about 5 days.

 

We booked directly with NCL, send my certificates certified mail.

 

As far as spending to much,..we do have a budget we go by, so I look at it just like a debit card. The card is used for gas, groceries, etc. If we have a large purchase, like our new fridge the other day, we use the card and I imediately schedule a payment to pay it off, I never wait for the due date.

 

If you have a shopping problem, you will not be able to manage.

 

And BTW, congratulations of paying off all your credit cards!! I know that is a huge thing.

[squirrellee01]

We have airline affinity Visa cards. 1 mile on our favourite European carrier for every $1 charged. Works out great for us because we have done a fair bit of travel to Europe over the years.

 

We charge just about everything we can, up to and including monthly bills, and actually find it annoying when we can't charge something. In fact, we used to have this deal that if it were less than $10 we would pay cash (when we had cash), then it became $5, and now it's generally any small amount depending on the conveneince of using either card or cash.

 

Basically we're real mileage whores. :rolleyes:

 

But pay any affinity charge card off in full every month, or the interest charges will eat up any benefit you gain real fast.

 

BofA = worst bank ever, politics aside (offereing bank accounts to illegals). I'll never take or apply for any services that they have a hand in.

There are some really bad credit card banks out there. I personally have NEVER had a problem with Bank of America and really like how they treat me and how fast thier website gets updated. I, however, think Chase bank is the WORST bank out there! So really it just depends on who you ask and what thier experience was. Here's a good website about bad credit cards, notice who had the most complaints. If you read them all you'll even read mine. http://www.badcreditcards.org/

 

I've even convinced my parents to get this card. They will get several if needed. (They spend more money then I do!)

 

Sheryl

[squirrellee01]

I think the max is 250 points per month, and they expire after 3 yrs. To redeem call BOA and ask for the certificates. Got mine in about 5 days.

 

We booked directly with NCL, send my certificates certified mail.

 

As far as spending to much,..we do have a budget we go by, so I look at it just like a debit card. The card is used for gas, groceries, etc. If we have a large purchase, like our new fridge the other day, we use the card and I imediately schedule a payment to pay it off, I never wait for the due date.

 

If you have a shopping problem, you will not be able to manage.

 

And BTW, congratulations of paying off all your credit cards!! I know that is a huge thing.

Yes! Thank you so much! We are relatively young, (24 and 27) and it's amazing how fast debt can add up. We had a good system of paying it down and averaged about 5% interest, so that kept me from totally getting stressed out over it. But now that's its gone, We just need to continue to be diligent to keep it that way. I had no problem with that before I got married, how strange what marriage and kids will do to ya!

 

Sheryl

[klct39lg]

Did you all fill out the application online? I really need to do this, I am always so apprehensive about applying for credit cards.

I really want to do the NCL Bermuda cruise.:)

[Marlissa]

Did you all fill out the application online? I really need to do this, I am always so apprehensive about applying for credit cards.

I really want to do the NCL Bermuda cruise.:)

 

Both of our NCL cards were obtained by filling out the online application. Here is the link https://wwwn.applyonlinenow.com/USCCapp/Ctl/entry?sc=KWYS&mc=A000001QFY

[klct39lg]

WooHoo!

 

I did it, it took about 3 minutes to fill out and about 30 seconds to be approved.

 

Thanks all!:D