NCL Mastercard FAQ

[Heather1972]

28 minutes ago, bbeauty said:

Hi everyone, I am planning to book a 11 night cruise to Greece and Italy on the Jade in September 2019. I would like to book an inside room and then do a double meta upgrade to a balcony room. I currently am about 3,500 point shy of the 60,000 points needed for the upgrade. Can I book an inside room and airfare to get the points and then upgrade at a later date? Does anyone know how long it takes the points to hit the NCL Mastercard account? Also, does the upgrade only allow you to go from a specific inside category to that same category balcony? Or can I upgrade to any balcony category? Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

 

Yes you can book the inside room now, and upgrade later. Your points will not hit your card until your statement closes for the month. I have seen people on here say that you must book the highest category inside to get the lowest level balcony available. However, from my personal experience that has not been the case. You could search this thread for my previous posts on about what category I booked and what category I wound up with.

[bbeauty]

1 minute ago, Heather1972 said:

 

Yes you can book the inside room now, and upgrade later. Your points will not hit your card until your statement closes for the month. I have seen people on here say that you must book the highest category inside to get the lowest level balcony available. However, from my personal experience that has not been the case. You could search this thread for my previous posts on about what category I booked and what category I wound up with.

Thank you so much Heather1972, I have found your posts very helpful! My statement closes in a few days so I should be able to do the upgrade soon. I really appreciate the help!

[$hip$hape]

30 minutes ago, bbeauty said:

Thank you so much Heather1972, I have found your posts very helpful! My statement closes in a few days so I should be able to do the upgrade soon. I really appreciate the help!

 

30 minutes ago, bbeauty said:

Thank you so much Heather1972, I have found your posts very helpful! My statement closes in a few days so I should be able to do the upgrade soon. I really appreciate the help!

OP, Be ready to negotiate with whomever  you get that’s representing NCL. Don’t accept the first thing offered... and, you will find each NCL ship and sailing, has different rules and restrictions. September is not far away, so your cabin offerings will be limited. Save your points, and sail/ book the Jade September 2020.

Michael

Edited March 1, 2019 by $hip$hape

[bbeauty]

10 minutes ago, $hip$hape said:

 

OP, Be ready to negotiate with whomever  you get that’s representing NCL. Don’t accept the first thing offered... and, you will find each NCL ship and sailing, has different rules and restrictions. September is not far away, so your cabin offerings will be limited. Save your points, and sail/ book the Jade September 2020.

Thank you $hip$hape, this is very good to know! Hubby and I are not too picky about cabins, as long as we are able to get a balcony (for the price of an inside) we will be content 

Edited March 1, 2019 by bbeauty

[my3sonsnj]

Wondering if anyone has figured out the category to book if you want to do the:

https://www.ncl.com/world-points

Up To 2-Category Upgrade On 5-Day Or Longer Cruise (Within The Same Category Meta)

10,000

 

to a B1 Aft Facing Balcony on the Encore.

 

I have done this on the Breakaway from a B3 to a B1

On the Bliss I had to book a B8 category to upgrade to a B1

 

However, when I called the Worldpoints number to ask which category to book on the Encore, the rep I spoke to couldn't tell me the answer. Apparently it is not available in the system yet??? 

 

I'm thinking the Encore may be a B8 (like the Bliss) ??

I am just wondering if anyone has successfully upgraded to a B1 yet on this new ship.

 

Also wondering if anyone has found a way to get to a B1 Aft Facing Balcony using any of the other rewards categories like:

Up To 4-Category Upgrade On 5-Day Or Longer Cruise (Within The Same Category Meta)

20,000

 

or

 

Inside To Oceanview Or Oceanview To Balcony Stateroom Upgrade On 5-Day Or Longer Cruise (Single Meta Upgrade)

30,000

Edited March 6, 2019 by my3sonsnj

[vince_g]

On 3/6/2019 at 1:33 PM, my3sonsnj said:

Wondering if anyone has figured out the category to book if you want to do the:

https://www.ncl.com/world-points

Up To 2-Category Upgrade On 5-Day Or Longer Cruise (Within The Same Category Meta)

10,000

 

to a B1 Aft Facing Balcony on the Encore.

 

I have done this on the Breakaway from a B3 to a B1

On the Bliss I had to book a B8 category to upgrade to a B1

 

However, when I called the Worldpoints number to ask which category to book on the Encore, the rep I spoke to couldn't tell me the answer. Apparently it is not available in the system yet??? 

 

I'm thinking the Encore may be a B8 (like the Bliss) ??

I am just wondering if anyone has successfully upgraded to a B1 yet on this new ship.

 

Also wondering if anyone has found a way to get to a B1 Aft Facing Balcony using any of the other rewards categories like:

Up To 4-Category Upgrade On 5-Day Or Longer Cruise (Within The Same Category Meta)

20,000

 

or

 

Inside To Oceanview Or Oceanview To Balcony Stateroom Upgrade On 5-Day Or Longer Cruise (Single Meta Upgrade)

30,000

The big piece is for you to figure out which reward you are going to use.  Really don't need to worry so much about booking the exact category you are going to upgrade from.  Last double meta upgrade I did, I wanted to end up with a BC balcony, but I had previously booked a IF inside.  When I called to do the upgrade, the agent told me a cat IF would get us into a cat BD.  When I told her I wanted cat BC, she told me I would need an ID inside to get into a BC.  She told me it would be an extra $20 per person to upgrade us from the cat IF to cat ID.  So she did a regular cash upgrade first, and then she did the point upgrade to get us the cat BC balcony.

[my3sonsnj]

2 hours ago, vince_g said:

The big piece is for you to figure out which reward you are going to use.  Really don't need to worry so much about booking the exact category you are going to upgrade from.  Last double meta upgrade I did, I wanted to end up with a BC balcony, but I had previously booked a IF inside.  When I called to do the upgrade, the agent told me a cat IF would get us into a cat BD.  When I told her I wanted cat BC, she told me I would need an ID inside to get into a BC.  She told me it would be an extra $20 per person to upgrade us from the cat IF to cat ID.  So she did a regular cash upgrade first, and then she did the point upgrade to get us the cat BC balcony.

I think it is more important to know the exact category if you are working with a travel agent.

 

My experience . . . knowing that I wanted to be in a B1 using 10,000 points, I had booked a B2 on my travel agents advice because the B2 & B3 were the same price at the time. When I called the Worldpoints desk, they told me I had to go back to the travel agent to change my reservation to a B3 before they could help me. Apparently upgrading from a B2 couldn't be done nor can the Worldpoints desk make any changes to a reservation from a travel agent.

 

So yes, in my case, I need to know the exact category to book because travel agents don't have inside information on the Worldpoints program. Unless of course, I want to create additional work & wasted time on the phone for myself and my travel agent.

[vince_g]

52 minutes ago, my3sonsnj said:

I think it is more important to know the exact category if you are working with a travel agent.

 

My experience . . . knowing that I wanted to be in a B1 using 10,000 points, I had booked a B2 on my travel agents advice because the B2 & B3 were the same price at the time. When I called the Worldpoints desk, they told me I had to go back to the travel agent to change my reservation to a B3 before they could help me. Apparently upgrading from a B2 couldn't be done nor can the Worldpoints desk make any changes to a reservation from a travel agent.

 

So yes, in my case, I need to know the exact category to book because travel agents don't have inside information on the Worldpoints program. Unless of course, I want to create additional work & wasted time on the phone for myself and my travel agent.

Yes, with a TA booking you do really need to know.  The booking I spoke of was not through a TA, so it was easy to have world points desk do both cash upgrade and points upgrade.  I hope someone can answer your question.

[K922]

Quick question if you cash points for OBC can you pick who’s account they are added too?

[crich_416]

What are the benefits to obtaining this card, versus a Travel Rewards card with just about any other credit card out there?  I hear Discover IT is a decent card.  Does NCL give you better incentives and rewards?  

[SNJCruisers]

41 minutes ago, crich_416 said:

What are the benefits to obtaining this card, versus a Travel Rewards card with just about any other credit card out there?  I hear Discover IT is a decent card.  Does NCL give you better incentives and rewards?  

There are short term versus long term benefits.  Those using long term will accumulate points for upgrades, especially on 10+ day longer cruisers.  The short term benefits is to use the card once and obtain 10 K points which can be redeemed for 100 in OBC.

[moonjelly]

Benefits :

1) you can redeem points for cash rather than just apply them to NCL purchases or upgades (although I tell myself it can only be used for cruises 😉. ) this is simpler for me than trying to apply points toward a reservation. I just have the CC company apply the dollar amount to my bill or send me a check and then I book the cabin I want.

 

2) no annual fee

3) good customer service

 

Negatives:

1)  they charge foreign transaction fees, a pretty big percentage, imo. I didn't realize this until I purchased airline tickets from Icelandair for 4 people and got hit with, I think, ~$150 foreign transaction fee

2) they no longer give you travel insurance and car rental insurance with your travel purchases. I believe they used to.

 

When looking at cards for travel benefits,, check out Chase Sapphire. they have a great card. got lots of points for joining up, they have travel insurance included on your travel purchases, you get more $$ from your points if you book excursions, travel, etc. through their card. No foreign transaction fees. Also, it may seem like a small deal, but the card itself is sturdy and metal-like, old school. it has some heft to it. Also good customer service.

[Diana68]

The biggest perk for me, is the 3 points for NCL purchases, which equals 3% back. I don't use this card for any other purchases. If you spend a lot on NCL, it's worth getting. If you don't, there are better cards out there.

[JC5240]

Hey all!

 

Just yesterday I redeemed 60k points for a double-meta upgrade from inside to balcony for our honeymoon cruise to Greece - SO EXCITED!

 

Since it's a honeymoon cruise, we are (hoping) that we would still be eligible to bid for an upgrade to a spa balcony (or even haven!), but I'm not entirely sure how it works since technically we are "booked" in an inside. 

 

Does anyone know if we would still qualify for a bid email? We booked directly with NCL. If not, it's not a big deal since we were able to get a decent located balcony on deck 10 on the Getaway, but having the option to upgrade would be very nice. We set sail May 18th 2020 (two days after the big "I DO!").

 

Thanks in advance!

[TifffanyD]

Everytime I have done the cross meta upgrade, my bid options have been the 2 tiers above what I am sailing in. So I paid for an oceanview, upgraded to a balcony, and got the mini suite and suite options to bid on. So you should be good!

[JC5240]

That's great to know - thank you!

 

1 minute ago, TifffanyD said:

Everytime I have done the cross meta upgrade, my bid options have been the 2 tiers above what I am sailing in. So I paid for an oceanview, upgraded to a balcony, and got the mini suite and suite options to bid on. So you should be good!

[TifffanyD]

No problem - good luck w your bidding!

[fstuff1]

2 hours ago, JC5240 said:

Hey all!

 

Just yesterday I redeemed 60k points for a double-meta upgrade from inside to balcony for our honeymoon cruise to Greece - SO EXCITED!

 

Since it's a honeymoon cruise, we are (hoping) that we would still be eligible to bid for an upgrade to a spa balcony (or even haven!), but I'm not entirely sure how it works since technically we are "booked" in an inside. 

 

Does anyone know if we would still qualify for a bid email? We booked directly with NCL. If not, it's not a big deal since we were able to get a decent located balcony on deck 10 on the Getaway, but having the option to upgrade would be very nice. We set sail May 18th 2020 (two days after the big "I DO!").

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

congrats but couldnt you use the 60k points to upgrade directly to a spa balcony? (dont know if this is possible.)

 

also, why did you get an upgrade to a regular balcony instead of large balcony (b6) or aft balcony (b1)?? (others in this thread have said that was possible)

 

Edited May 22, 2019 by fstuff1

[JC5240]

We asked all the questions you just mentioned...and even though we booked the highest inside cabin thinking we'd be able to get the highest balcony, that isn't how it works unfortunately. Every ship has certain restrictions, and the Getaway doesn't allow the double-meta to be used for Spa Balconies, Aft Balconies, etc. The gentlemen suggested that we book the Spa balcony directly and use the 60k points to take $600 off the cruise, but in comparison we'd be losing out since upgrading from inside to a mid-ship balcony saved us $1,600. 

 

hopefully we'll be able to bid, but if not - I'm happy with the location, and the savings! With wedding planning, every cent matters LOL.

 

14 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

 

congrats but couldnt you use the 60k points to upgrade directly to a spa balcony? (dont know if this is possible.)

 

also, why did you get an upgrade to a regular balcony instead of large balcony (b6) or aft balcony (b1)??

 

[fstuff1]

16 minutes ago, JC5240 said:

We asked all the questions you just mentioned...and even though we booked the highest inside cabin thinking we'd be able to get the highest balcony, that isn't how it works unfortunately. Every ship has certain restrictions, and the Getaway doesn't allow the double-meta to be used for Spa Balconies, Aft Balconies, etc. The gentlemen suggested that we book the Spa balcony directly and use the 60k points to take $600 off the cruise, but in comparison we'd be losing out since upgrading from inside to a mid-ship balcony saved us $1,600. 

 

hopefully we'll be able to bid, but if not - I'm happy with the location, and the savings! With wedding planning, every cent matters LOL.

 

 

ahh.. ok.

then hopefully you booked the lowest/cheapest inside cabin to upgrade to regular balcony. :)

 

edit:

just thought of something.. get an angled balcony!

especially a forward angled balcony with unobstructed view to the front of the ship!!

ie: room #10184

 

edit2:

you can see the ship's bridge from one of those unobstructed front view angled balconies. 

but that means they can see you too (incase you plan on having some 'fun' on the balcony with your new wife.  )

 

Edited May 22, 2019 by fstuff1

[Zippeedee]

I used 60,000 points to upgrade from inside to a balcony on the Bliss Panama Canal next year. In order to get the balcony I wanted (forward near the elevators) I had to book a family inside. I saved almost $4000 for a solo, 21 day cruise. There have been three price drops since I booked so I have saved an extra $900. Watch your cruise for the category you booked and call! Just make sure you tell the rep about the upgrade. Not every CSR knows how to process the price drop without messing up your upgrade.  I'm amazed that people will settle for $600 for 60,000 credits when it can be worth so much more!

[$hip$hape]

On 5/22/2019 at 3:58 PM, Zippeedee said:

I used 60,000 points to upgrade from inside to a balcony on the Bliss Panama Canal next year. In order to get the balcony I wanted (forward near the elevators) I had to book a family inside. I saved almost $4000 for a solo, 21 day cruise. There have been three price drops since I booked so I have saved an extra $900. Watch your cruise for the category you booked and call! Just make sure you tell the rep about the upgrade.

Not every CSR knows how to process the price drop without messing up your upgrade. 

I'm amazed that people will settle for $600 for 60,000 credits when it can be worth so much more!

I agree. You caught my attention since WE used our 60,000 points on the NCL Bliss Panama Canal Cruise , November 03-17, 2018. You have to educate yourself BEFORE talking to a NCL rep....some, it seems, have never heard of a "double meta upgrade". Don't settle for the first thing one of them offers... Time is on your side.

However, the sooner you book, the more (nice) cabins are available.

 

WE, on the other hand, have switched to a Celebrity Bank of America Card,

since we have a few Celebrity Cruises in the future. 

Just found out they do not offer the same benefits as the Norwegian Card.

Edited May 24, 2019 by $hip$hape

[SNJCruisers]

1 hour ago, $hip$hape said:

 

 

WE, on the other hand, have switched to a Celebrity Bank of America Card,

since we have a few Celebrity Cruises in the future. 

Just found out they do not offer the same benefits as the Norwegian Card.

The Bank of America cards for NCL, Celebrity and Royal all offer 100 in OBC for using the card once and never using it again.  The Barclays card on Carnival though sometimes has a 100 sign up bonus, making it worth 200 in OBC.  Have snagged 500 in OBC for putting a single transaction on each card and never using them again.  It's the frugal way to get the max by using them the least.

[fstuff1]

On 5/22/2019 at 3:58 PM, Zippeedee said:

I used 60,000 points to upgrade from inside to a balcony on the Bliss Panama Canal next year. In order to get the balcony I wanted (forward near the elevators) I had to book a family inside. I saved almost $4000 for a solo, 21 day cruise. There have been three price drops since I booked so I have saved an extra $900. Watch your cruise for the category you booked and call! Just make sure you tell the rep about the upgrade. Not every CSR knows how to process the price drop without messing up your upgrade.  I'm amazed that people will settle for $600 for 60,000 credits when it can be worth so much more!

 

did you get an angled balcony?

(no cost difference thus 50% bigger balcony for free)

 

[Zippeedee]

8 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

 

did you get an angled balcony?

(no cost difference thus 50% bigger balcony for free)

 

Not this time. My priority was deck 14, forward-ish and near the elevators. The angled balconies were gone. I booked one for the Getaway last month but gave it up for a spa mini suite upgrade. Best shower in a cruise cabin!