NCL Mastercard FAQ

[JennKach]

I guess I didn't realize this benefit to upgrading with points to a balcony because I don't usually do it this early, but as soon as I upgraded I was able to apply a second cruise next certificate.  I'm still more than four months out so I was just able to apply a third one today with the new promotion that ends on the 27th.  Someone posted this email promo on another site and it worked for me.  So not only do I save $1200 on the OV to balcony, I saved another $250 with extra cruise next certs.

[alwalaska]

7 minutes ago, julig22 said:

This is on the Jewel in Alaska later this summer, so can't use the 20% discount from the Spirit.  One reason the upgrade deal was so good is that there is no solo supplement on inside & OV but no solo discount currently on balconies.  Some Alaska cruises are highly discounted this summer.

I've got 2 Spirit cruises booked for later, not sure which one I'll keep.  Recommendation from my PCC is to wait until the FCC is applied, then do the upgrade. I'll also make Diamond on the Alaska cruise so have to factor in using that upgrade on something - only a year to use that one.

Fortunately none of my points are expiring soon.

 

 

Sorry for the confusion, I have my Australia/New Zealand on the Spirit picked out for the FCC.  I was just curious what itinerary had such a premium for balconies.  Alaska makes total sense.  I saw some Alaska itineraries with interiors at $247 plus taxes and fees.  That is crazy.  I just can't afford any other cruises right now with the AUS/NZ trip that we will be taking in Feb this year instead of next.  I reached Sapphire on my last cruise but think I may never get to Diamond.

 

Yeah, I'm anxiously waiting to do my upgrade as soon as the FCC comes out and applies it.  My TA has been a great help through this mess of trying to figure everything out. She did apply my Next Cruise as soon as it came back, but we decided waiting to do the upgrade would be safest.  The WP person when I called to get my points back from the 2025 canceled cruise said she thought it would be OK to do the upgrade before the FCC, but I really don't want to take any chances on losing that 20% or the 60k points.

[julig22]

9 minutes ago, JennKach said:

I guess I didn't realize this benefit to upgrading with points to a balcony because I don't usually do it this early, but as soon as I upgraded I was able to apply a second cruise next certificate.  I'm still more than four months out so I was just able to apply a third one today with the new promotion that ends on the 27th.  Someone posted this email promo on another site and it worked for me.  So not only do I save $1200 on the OV to balcony, I saved another $250 with extra cruise next certs.

Now that is interesting.  I was told that if I used points to upgrade any balcony and up promos were still based on the cabin I paid for.  But I don't have anything eligible at this point anyway...

[JennKach]

1 minute ago, julig22 said:

Now that is interesting.  I was told that if I used points to upgrade any balcony and up promos were still based on the cabin I paid for.  But I don't have anything eligible at this point anyway...

I think it's more the onboard promos that don't apply, like an extra specialty meal for being in a balcony.  From past experience I know they wouldn't give me any FCC for price drops since I used teh upgrade certificate.

[alwalaska]

3 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Now that is interesting.  I was told that if I used points to upgrade any balcony and up promos were still based on the cabin I paid for.  But I don't have anything eligible at this point anyway...

That was what I thought too. It doesn't surprise me though that the system isn't configured to catch all exceptions to the rule.

[julig22]

3 minutes ago, alwalaska said:

Sorry for the confusion, I have my Australia/New Zealand on the Spirit picked out for the FCC.  I was just curious what itinerary had such a premium for balconies.  Alaska makes total sense.  I saw some Alaska itineraries with interiors at $247 plus taxes and fees.  That is crazy.  I just can't afford any other cruises right now with the AUS/NZ trip that we will be taking in Feb this year instead of next.  I reached Sapphire on my last cruise but think I may never get to Diamond.

 

Yeah, I'm anxiously waiting to do my upgrade as soon as the FCC comes out and applies it.  My TA has been a great help through this mess of trying to figure everything out. She did apply my Next Cruise as soon as it came back, but we decided waiting to do the upgrade would be safest.  The WP person when I called to get my points back from the 2025 canceled cruise said she thought it would be OK to do the upgrade before the FCC, but I really don't want to take any chances on losing that 20% or the 60k points.

Yea, sadly the Aus/NZ trips aren't cheap.  I just want to make sure that any % discounts are applied before anything else, although the upgrade shouldn't affect pricing.  My concern about adding the upgrade too soon is that if prices do go down - or they reduce the solo supplement - it's a real mess to try to get the price adjusted.  With all the cancellations, it's hard to say if people will be cancelling trips on the Spirit because they just don't trust NCL- or filling the ships to use the 20% discount.

[julig22]

5 minutes ago, JennKach said:

I think it's more the onboard promos that don't apply, like an extra specialty meal for being in a balcony.  From past experience I know they wouldn't give me any FCC for price drops since I used teh upgrade certificate.

I thought it was the other way around - you'd get the onboard promos, no different than if you paid.  But I don't get the specialty dining so can't say for sure.  I know if you upgrade with a bid you don't get some of the onboard promos, although I won an upgrade to club balcony and got the cabin perks (wine, snacks, laundry).

 

As to FCC, I know that's not true.  I just got FCC from my last cruise and I used an upgrade. Price adjustment was based on the price change between what I paid and the current price for that category.  But as my PCC said, it sometimes depends on who handles your request.

[Beaumont Barbie]

20 hours ago, julig22 said:

Just scored a sweet upgrade deal, for anyone who is debating the value of the CC upgrades.  Cost to upgrade from my OV to balcony would be a little over $3K on my upcoming cruise.  Minimum bid to upgrade would have been $80 x 2 ($160 total) and no guarantee for any upgrade, let alone at a minimum bid. So I used my $300 in points value and my balcony was just assigned - I'm not picky so just did the online redemption, took less than 24 hours for new cabin assignment.

Cruise is still 2 months away, so of course prices could go down some but very doubtful that a paid upgrade would be less than $300. And while I've had good luck with bids in the past, don't really want to chance it.

I'm happy.

We upgraded from an inside to a balcony for our 20-day Panama Canal Cruise. Saved $5,000, which is more than the cost of the inside cabin! Score!

[MagnoliaBlossom]

3 hours ago, alwalaska said:

.  I really want a balcony but don't want to pay for it.

A woman after my own heart ! 🤣

[alwalaska]

2 minutes ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

A woman after my own heart ! 🤣

I feel the same way about first-class or premium seats on airplanes.  Trying to work some magic since I no longer have 18 months to plan and get ready to buy the plane tickets.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

11 minutes ago, alwalaska said:

I feel the same way about first-class or premium seats on airplanes.  Trying to work some magic since I no longer have 18 months to plan and get ready to buy the plane tickets.

Spending a zillion dollars for a business class seat is like a root canal without anesthesia for me.  🤯.  On our Iceland trip we got lucky and our bid to use air miles for the upgrade was approved, so it was only $1500 total extra for us.   We are doing our first European river cruise in July and have the same bid in, so we are crossing our fingers and making sacrifices under the light of the moon that the air gods will smile on us again.  DFW to AMS is a loooong haul.  I can take a daylight flight from LHR to DFW home, okay, but that first leg is a rough way to begin a dream trip.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

On 6/18/2023 at 12:24 PM, laudergayle said:

Just started reading about the world points upgrade.  This is a great option for a long expensive cruise.  How often do they run 25000 bonus points?  Do they ever do more than 25K?

The last time I remember seeing 25K was in November or so of last year (remember it because DD applied for one). I do remember seeing a 30K but that was many years ago and just the one time.

[laudergayle]

20 minutes ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

The last time I remember seeing 25K was in November or so of last year (remember it because DD applied for one). I do remember seeing a 30K but that was many years ago and just the one time.

Thanks…we have final payment due July 13 so I’m holding off as long as I can to apply hoping for a good bonus.  I assume with excellent credit they provide same day card number?  Has that worked that way for you?

[julig22]

3 minutes ago, laudergayle said:

Thanks…we have final payment due July 13 so I’m holding off as long as I can to apply hoping for a good bonus.  I assume with excellent credit they provide same day card number?  Has that worked that way for you?

I would not count on being able to use the card the same day - they might assign the number but you still need the security code to use it.  I got mine while onboard and was able to use it immediately for my onboard account but hard to say if that's possible in your case.

[JennKach]

4 hours ago, julig22 said:

As to FCC, I know that's not true.  I just got FCC from my last cruise and I used an upgrade. Price adjustment was based on the price change between what I paid and the current price for that category.  But as my PCC said, it sometimes depends on who handles your request.

Maybe I did it wrong.  I got the FCC for the OV cabin price decrease about 6 weeks before sailing, then a week later I used points to upgrade to a balcony.  I didn't see any FCC on my account so I called and they said they took it away because I upgraded.

[julig22]

1 hour ago, JennKach said:

Maybe I did it wrong.  I got the FCC for the OV cabin price decrease about 6 weeks before sailing, then a week later I used points to upgrade to a balcony.  I didn't see any FCC on my account so I called and they said they took it away because I upgraded.

That's good information to have for future reference. I did my upgrade just before the payment deadline. It's possible that any upgrade (paid or WP) would trigger a flag on the FCC, since after final payment changes are a one-time offering.

I did get FCC on a cruise when I also won a bid, so that didn't trigger anything.  But it was quite some time ago.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

The introduction of FCC during COVID (I don’t recall such a thing prior to z2019  or am I mistaken?) has lead to such crazy interpretations that it makes things difficult, if not impossible to understand,as it seems different NCL employees interpret things differently.   🤯.   Add to that the curve balls they throw you if you have used WP to upgrade and you are at the mercy of NCL/WP to deceifer what has happened.   Excuse me, please,while I open another bottle of wine 🍷

[alwalaska]

3 hours ago, laudergayle said:

Thanks…we have final payment due July 13 so I’m holding off as long as I can to apply hoping for a good bonus.  I assume with excellent credit they provide same day card number?  Has that worked that way for you?

New comment

Sorry, I think I misinterpreted that you were hoping to use the bonus points (see below at original comment), but I bet you just want to pay with it.   I'd give yourself 5-7 business days unless you already have a bank account with BofA according to the article.

 

Original Comment

Remember too, even though you may be able to use it immediately (I really can't remember what happened when we got ours last year), but it takes at least until the end of the billing cycle or maybe even longer for the points to post to your account. You are probably already too late for July 13 this year. American Express gave me a temporary number and code immediately, but their agent said their points lag 2 billing cycles.  So, I spent the last of my required 3k today, my first billing cycle ends July 17, but I likely won't see my bonus points until at least August 17. 😞

 

Edited June 21, 2023 by alwalaska

[laudergayle]

12 hours ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

Excuse me, please,while I open another bottle of wine 🍷

My kind of woman 🥂 🤣

[laudergayle]

11 hours ago, alwalaska said:

Sorry, I think I misinterpreted that you were hoping to use the bonus points (see below at original comment), but I bet you just want to pay with it.   I'd give yourself 5-7 business days unless you already have a bank account with BofA according to the article.

Yes…I just wanted to pay for the cruise to get 3x final payment points to add to the bonus points.  Then…start looking for that longer, more expensive cruise to do an OV to BA upgrade.  We do have long term BoA relationship…so that will help. Thanks for your insight.

[laudergayle]

As a follow up.  I applied today and even though we are long time BoA customers, I had to answer additional security questions due to a recent address change. Therefore I was not provided with the card number at time of approval.  The card will be mailed today and I will be at the mercy of the USPS…who BTW seems to only deliver Amazon packages in a timely manner these days.  

[MagnoliaBlossom]

On 6/20/2023 at 5:23 PM, laudergayle said:

Thanks…we have final payment due July 13 so I’m holding off as long as I can to apply hoping for a good bonus.  I assume with excellent credit they provide same day card number?  Has that worked that way for you?

They do approve right away if you have good credit.  However, remember that part of getting your points is that you have to chrge a certain amount of money in a specified time.  So factor that in, too 

[laudergayle]

6 minutes ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

They do approve right away if you have good credit.  However, remember that part of getting your points is that you have to chrge a certain amount of money in a specified time.  So factor that in, too 

Thanks.  I posted a few minutes ago.  Actually our final payment for Nov cruise is 7/8…so the 7-10 business days to get the card is cutting it close.  I’m going to be sad if i have to use a different card and miss the 3x points on NCL., and trigger the 20k bonus.  We’re eyeing an April ‘25 cruise on the Star leaving out of Lisbon to Canary Islands for the upgrade.

 

[julig22]

14 minutes ago, laudergayle said:

Thanks.  I posted a few minutes ago.  Actually our final payment for Nov cruise is 7/8…so the 7-10 business days to get the card is cutting it close.  I’m going to be sad if i have to use a different card and miss the 3x points on NCL., and trigger the 20k bonus.  We’re eyeing an April ‘25 cruise on the Star leaving out of Lisbon to Canary Islands for the upgrade.

 

If the card is late I would suggest you call NCL the day before your payment is due and ask for an extension - I think they might be able to do that - but probably a good idea to get it in writing.

Your other option is to call BofA and see if they can give you the info...good luck.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

Consider this, how much is you final payment (don’t tell us, this is an excersice for you).   Multiply that by 3,  is that amount of gain plus what you will spend on your onboard account worth maybe taking the 2o k now vs waiting til heaven knows when for a 25k offer,

just food for thought