NCL Mastercard FAQ

[LAFFNVEGAS]

On 6/27/2024 at 8:24 AM, alwalaska said:

Ahhh, but that opens so many more cans of worms.  What is your required 100k plus in their accounts returning interest and growth wise, what is the annual fee on the credit card that it boosts, what are their management fees on your money, and so much more. 🙂  I've looked at this before, but the majority of our money is in Fidelity and we've been extremely happy with their service for about 35 years now.

I totally agree Ann we too have Fidelity, B of A Preferred Rewards is not the best card out there and with the additional fees and needing to have your money in their Merrill Investment and still pay that annual fee to me it does not make sense unless your money was already invested there. My money is spread around with large chunks in several places. For my everyday card I prefer Capital One Venture X but my other card is Citi American Executive Black Card because I do fly mostly AA and or One World Airlines. I have used the Lounge more times than I have fingers in the past year. My Venture X also gives me Lounge access where there is not an American Lounge both give me Global Entry credit so one for me and one for husband.

I got the NCL card basically for statement credit we either book Haven or Club Balcony so the Upgrade does us no good. But with planning at least 2 NCL cruises a year (we also cruise other cruise lines averaging 4 per year) Husband and I both have a NCL card which works well since there is no annual fee, I pay off charges when it hits the card so statements are always zero. Combining our points we currently have 75K. I plan to wait till we have over 100K and then apply that toward statement credit. The other cruise line we frequent is Holland America, for that I buy AARP gift cards 8% savings and pay for them with the Venture X 2X points. If NCL would offer the AARP Gift cards I probably would not bother with their Visa but since there is no annual fee it still works out for a savings.

It is good to leverage out what works well for you. What might work well for me may not work well for others. I envy those doing those using points for Upgrades but that just will not work for us. I will say points accumulate fast when final comes for those Haven Suites 😂

[lastingtouch]

Does anyone else just use the points for onboard credit?  Just wondering.

 

[MagnoliaBlossom]

Yes, many do but it’s the worst possible way to use them.

using them for OBC leaves money on the table.

If you pay your onboard acct with your CC you will get triple points.  Say you have $500 acct, you get 1,500 points.  If you cash in points for OBC you get nothing.  Instead, use the points you c would have used for OBC plus your new points and use them for statement credit.

 

The best use is for cabin upgrade, unless you prefer inside cabins, which some people do.

Having said all that some people have unique situations where OBC is the. Best options for them, but most people do statement credits or upgrades.

 

feel free to come back with questions.

MB

 

[julig22]

So rumor has it (I really should stay off of other sites 🤣) that points are no longer refundable if you cancel your cruise? This is what was relayed to someone upgrading last week. I know you can't cancel an upgrade but 99.9% sure that I've been told that you could get your points back if you cancel the whole cruise. Anyone know if there's been a change or if it was a misunderstanding? 

[kismetique]

3 hours ago, julig22 said:

So rumor has it (I really should stay off of other sites 🤣) that points are no longer refundable if you cancel your cruise? This is what was relayed to someone upgrading last week. I know you can't cancel an upgrade but 99.9% sure that I've been told that you could get your points back if you cancel the whole cruise. Anyone know if there's been a change or if it was a misunderstanding? 

I was told that same thing when I booked my last upgrade. And I had to acknowledge it before she would do the upgrade.  Here's my dilemma...I have 10 cruises booked one right after the other.  If one cancels,  which 2 already have,  I have to either find another cruise that will work or lose all my points for the rest of the cruises?  Thank goodness they gave me back the points from the cruises THEY canceled and I hadn't upgraded any of the other cruises yet going forward. 

 

With the economic issues and election right around the corner,  we were thinking of maybe canceling them all,  but then I realized I'd lose 150,000 points! But maybe it's not retroactive and since I booked those upgrades before the "no give backs" is going to be staunchly adhered to,  I could get them back?  I have to start making my final payments on 2 of the cruises before our election,  and I'm very nervous about what is going to happen here. 

 

So,  here's what I did.  I'm not sure this is legal and if it's not,  I didn't do this,  I was just thinking about it.  I booked my inside AND my balcony.  I was going to book the balcony in my children's name and then when I called to upgrade,  say my children decided not to go,  and they just released the cabin I want!  But it let me book 2 cruises in the same names.  I'll call to upgrade when I'm positive I'm going and release the balcony cabin by canceling my booking.  I used Next Cruise certs to book,  so I'm not out any money really.  And if I do end up losing them,  which I can't see why I would,  it was a small price to pay to hold that cabin. 

 

Is this illegal or is there a better way?  I'm not going to risk losing any more points if civil unrest in the US causes me not to be able to go!  If not for the election,  I'd be packing my bags already!!!

 

[kismetique]

I wished they would let you just book the cabin you want,  then call when you're positive you want to do the upgrade and credit the sailing with the savings as if you had booked the inside or ov, and deduct the points. 

 

I understand the issues with that because of certain categories to categories don't work... but if they are going to get hard nosed about us losing 30,000 or even 60,000 points... something has to give.  If nothing else they should let you convert it to OBC if they won't refund them. 

[julig22]

1 hour ago, kismetique said:

So,  here's what I did.  I'm not sure this is legal and if it's not,  I didn't do this,  I was just thinking about it.  I booked my inside AND my balcony.  I was going to book the balcony in my children's name and then when I called to upgrade,  say my children decided not to go,  and they just released the cabin I want!  But it let me book 2 cruises in the same names.  I'll call to upgrade when I'm positive I'm going and release the balcony cabin by canceling my booking.  I used Next Cruise certs to book,  so I'm not out any money really.  And if I do end up losing them,  which I can't see why I would,  it was a small price to pay to hold that cabin.

Thanks for the feedback. Can't say I'm a fan of the change but it definitely means I probably won't be booking a solo cabin, as the chances are better that I'll still be able to upgrade to a regular cabin if I choose to wait.

How long ago did you do your double booking? I once had my PCC do a double booking so I could book family members on the same cruise and use a CN for the deposit. But in this case, she changed the names on the 2nd booking almost immediately. But she had also told me that at some point the system would find that double booking and flag it, not sure if 1 or both would be cancelled. Ironically, NCL actually double booked me once when they changed the dates on part of a B2B I'd booked!

[kismetique]

1 hour ago, julig22 said:

Thanks for the feedback. Can't say I'm a fan of the change but it definitely means I probably won't be booking a solo cabin, as the chances are better that I'll still be able to upgrade to a regular cabin if I choose to wait.

How long ago did you do your double booking? I once had my PCC do a double booking so I could book family members on the same cruise and use a CN for the deposit. But in this case, she changed the names on the 2nd booking almost immediately. But she had also told me that at some point the system would find that double booking and flag it, not sure if 1 or both would be cancelled. Ironically, NCL actually double booked me once when they changed the dates on part of a B2B I'd booked!

I booked them almost a month ago now.  I keep expecting to hear about it.  I do hope they ask before they cancel either one of them!  I probably should go in and cancel the inside cabin or rebook it in my children's names.  I went ahead and booked my balcony's for 2 reasons.  I'm going to be on that ship for 5 cruises and I was actually able to book the same cabin for 4 of them.  Also, I need to pay for a few of the first ones with my card to get the points to upgrade the later cruises.  So I don't fully have the points yet. I could go in and pay for my service fees, extra meals and internet to get me there, but the uncertainty in the US right now is just making us very nervous.

[julig22]

I'm wondering if it would be possible to initially book a balcony and then reverse engineer the booking at a later date, to pay the cost for the OV and keep the balcony? Still not clear if only certain rooms are available for WWP upgrades. I've had to get creative on my last couple of upgrades, the first one because they wouldn't upgrade solo cabins initially (now they do) and the 2nd one because the balcony I wanted was actually designated as a solo (and I'd not booked a solo cabin based on the info from the previous time LOL). But the WWP folks were more than willing to make it all happen.

[kismetique]

7 hours ago, julig22 said:

I'm wondering if it would be possible to initially book a balcony and then reverse engineer the booking at a later date, to pay the cost for the OV and keep the balcony? Still not clear if only certain rooms are available for WWP upgrades. I've had to get creative on my last couple of upgrades, the first one because they wouldn't upgrade solo cabins initially (now they do) and the 2nd one because the balcony I wanted was actually designated as a solo (and I'd not booked a solo cabin based on the info from the previous time LOL). But the WWP folks were more than willing to make it all happen.

I'm not sure if its just my luck, but I find it funny that I have NEVER yet had a clean upgrade.  I always have to pay $20 or up to $60 extra to get the "last balcony available in that category".  Of course, for the amount I'm saving it's well worth it, but I wonder if they do it to everyone, or my file just has "sucker" written on it.

 

I think allowing us to book the actual cabin we want to end up with and reverse engineer it would be a better way to go.  We wouldn't tie up a cabin we have no intentions of staying in. And we could upgrade more or less closer to sail date, allowing us more time to accumulate those points.  I still need 45,000 to do both my last 2 upgrades.  That's $15,000 in charges, but I should easily get that once I start making my final payments on all these cruises.  But I also can't wait around until then to book, because the cruises are filling up fast.

 

I'm curious about bidding for upgrades on some of these cruises, as I've never done that.  We usually just book a suite and be done with it, but doing this many in a row, I had to settle for balconies.  I'm not sure if I'm going to miss the butler or not! 🙂

[kismetique]

I have a question.  I think I already know the answer, but when I originally booked these cruises, it was before things got really bad in the middle east and I had 2 cruises that got cancelled.  I had used 60,000 points on both to upgrade the first 2 that didn't get cancelled.  I was able to piece together some alternatives and make the trip work, but needed to book 3 more cruises since I'm now having going around Africa to get to Barcelona.  

 

On 2 of the cruises I already had booked, I used 60k to go from Inside to Balcony.....do you think they would let me take back 30,000 and pay the difference from an OV to balcony instead of inside to balcony so I'd have enough points to upgrade these last 2 cruises that I had to book as replacements because they cancelled.  I used the 60k on them, because at the time it all worked out - BEFORE the cancellations.  I figure they won't and not sure if it would just complicate things.  

 

It's not that big of a deal.  I should have plenty of points at some point in the future before the final payment is due on the 2 that have not been upgraded yet.  But just wondering if anyone had experience with this...or the new "no give backs" rule would positively prohibit me getting them back to use on another cruise.

[julig22]

38 minutes ago, kismetique said:

I have a question.  I think I already know the answer, but when I originally booked these cruises, it was before things got really bad in the middle east and I had 2 cruises that got cancelled.  I had used 60,000 points on both to upgrade the first 2 that didn't get cancelled.  I was able to piece together some alternatives and make the trip work, but needed to book 3 more cruises since I'm now having going around Africa to get to Barcelona.  

 

On 2 of the cruises I already had booked, I used 60k to go from Inside to Balcony.....do you think they would let me take back 30,000 and pay the difference from an OV to balcony instead of inside to balcony so I'd have enough points to upgrade these last 2 cruises that I had to book as replacements because they cancelled.  I used the 60k on them, because at the time it all worked out - BEFORE the cancellations.  I figure they won't and not sure if it would just complicate things.  

 

It's not that big of a deal.  I should have plenty of points at some point in the future before the final payment is due on the 2 that have not been upgraded yet.  But just wondering if anyone had experience with this...or the new "no give backs" rule would positively prohibit me getting them back to use on another cruise.

As far as I know, once you apply them to a cruise, there has always been a "no give back" policy. You could only get them back if you cancelled. They probably had too many people cancelling, then rebooking...

[julig22]

1 hour ago, kismetique said:

I'm not sure if its just my luck, but I find it funny that I have NEVER yet had a clean upgrade.  I always have to pay $20 or up to $60 extra to get the "last balcony available in that category".  Of course, for the amount I'm saving it's well worth it, but I wonder if they do it to everyone, or my file just has "sucker" written on it.

I've never had to pay anything to use my points. I've often booked the cheapest OV (unless I booked onboard and got a free upgrade), so far, there has always been a balcony available, no additional cost.

[kismetique]

17 minutes ago, julig22 said:

I've never had to pay anything to use my points. I've often booked the cheapest OV (unless I booked onboard and got a free upgrade), so far, there has always been a balcony available, no additional cost.

Well, that confirms it - my file says "sucker" for sure! 🤣

As far as the other issue - I figured as much and already decided to live with it.😏

[MagnoliaBlossom]

I’ve used points to upgrade on scores of cruises and have never paid anything to upgrade.

 

i remember when they started reading yu the script when upgrading and it suddenly said points may not be refunded if you cancel.  I questioned it and the agent said it was new because there were so many cancellations (it was toward the end of COVID lock down).  It does make me more reticent about doing my upgrades, meaning I don’t do it right away, as we always book at least a year out,    So, have any of you actually lost points?  I have one out there that I’ve nt upgraded yet, but it is still a long way off.  And I’ve always gotten the cabin I wanted.  Occasionally I would get an agent who wanted to read me a list of what I could have and refused to give me an available cabin.  When that happened I hung up and called back to speak with a different agent

 

i don’t know how the posts below showed up.  

On 8/1/2024 at 6:11 PM, olemissreb said:

We're supposed to depart at 7pm.

 

On 8/8/2024 at 3:44 PM, omahabob said:

2024 must be the Year of the Surgery. You, graphicguy and me. I have three surgeries before the end of the year, starting with rotater cuff next week.

 

On 8/25/2024 at 6:21 PM, ChiefMateJRK said:

Sometimes?? 🤣

 

On 9/2/2024 at 9:31 AM, lastingtouch said:

Does anyone else just use the points for onboard credit?  Just wondering.

 

 

[jds2001]

2 minutes ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

i don’t know how the posts below showed up.  

I think that you pressed the + button next to quote a few times, and got a bunch of random stuff in your queue. Was entertaining, though!

[MagnoliaBlossom]

When I use my iPad, pre-coffee, strange things happen 😵‍💫

[kismetique]

28 minutes ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

I’ve used points to upgrade on scores of cruises and have never paid anything to upgrade.

I've thought about hanging up and calling back but since it happened every time,  I thought it would do no good.   I've been told I didn't book the right category of OV and would need to pay $20, or you'll have to pay $60 to pick your balcony cabin.  I don't know how to book a specific category when you just pick what they offer and book it. I watch these cruises like a hawk and have always called back later and gotten a price reduction... so it works out in the wash,  but there is so many inconsistencies in using these points!

 

They really don't like to give that reduction since it was an upgrade,  but they begrudgingly always have. 

[julig22]

1 hour ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

I’ve used points to upgrade on scores of cruises and have never paid anything to upgrade.

 

i remember when they started reading yu the script when upgrading and it suddenly said points may not be refunded if you cancel.  I questioned it and the agent said it was new because there were so many cancellations (it was toward the end of COVID lock down).  It does make me more reticent about doing my upgrades, meaning I don’t do it right away, as we always book at least a year out,    So, have any of you actually lost points?  I have one out there that I’ve nt upgraded yet, but it is still a long way off.  And I’ve always gotten the cabin I wanted.  Occasionally I would get an agent who wanted to read me a list of what I could have and refused to give me an available cabin.  When that happened I hung up and called back to speak with a different agent

The T&Cs have always said may not be refunded, never heard of anyone complaining that they didn't get them back - at least if they asked. Sounds like it's now will not be refunded. Either that or reps are being told to go over the terms and include the may/will terminology, whatever they are actually saying.

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 hour ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

When I use my iPad, pre-coffee, strange things happen 😵‍💫

I sometimes experience the same when I use the computer post-scotch.😵‍💫

[MagnoliaBlossom]

On 9/4/2024 at 12:01 PM, ChiefMateJRK said:

I sometimes experience the same when I use the computer post-scotch.😵‍💫

That’s a whole different class of errors 🥃🐀🍸

[MagnoliaBlossom]

On 9/4/2024 at 11:34 AM, julig22 said:

The T&Cs have always said may not be refunded, never heard of anyone complaining that they didn't get them back - at least if they asked. Sounds like it's now will not be refunded. Either that or reps are being told to go over the terms and include the may/will terminology, whatever they are actually saying.

No, Ive not heard of any non-refunds either, but it sounds as though they may be moving in that direction.  Grrrrr.

Edited September 5 by MagnoliaBlossom

[MagnoliaBlossom]

On 9/4/2024 at 10:44 AM, kismetique said:

I've thought about hanging up and calling back but since it happened every time,  I thought it would do no good.   I've been told I didn't book the right category of OV and would need to pay $20, or you'll have to pay $60 to pick your balcony cabin.  I don't know how to book a specific category when you just pick what they offer and book it. I watch these cruises like a hawk and have always called back later and gotten a price reduction... so it works out in the wash,  but there is so many inconsistencies in using these points!

 

They really don't like to give that reduction since it was an upgrade,  but they begrudgingly always have. 

The basic, although this doesn’t work on every shi, especially ally some of the older ships that now have only BA and BX balcony categories.  But if you’re u want to be in a BA yes u should book one of the to two categories, either IN or OV.  If you’re u are happy with a BD, yu can book a lower category.  But to save the aggregation and perspiration, call WP first and ask what cabin do you need to book on this ship in rider to get into your preferred category.  A little extra work but since when did NCL make anything easy? 

[Beaumont Barbie]

Anyone have information on the next “More Rewards Day”? The last one was November 2023. 

[MagnoliaBlossom]

I’d forgotten about that, we’ll all have to keep our eyes open and alert the rest.  Thanks for the reminder.