RCL VISA points- best time to redeem for 2010 sailing

[powelweb]

Hi All,

 

I've used points in the past for a free sailing, but never so far out.

 

I know the certificates are only good for 6 months, and my understanding is that once you apply them to a reservation they'd be lost if you had to cancel for any reason.

 

Can anyone confirm if the cancellation part if true- even if you have travel insurance?

 

part of the problem is I don't have all the points yet but definitely will in the next 2 years (and no worries about other points expiring before then).

 

thanks for any suggestions,

Wendy

[kenandlaura06]

My suggestion would be to wait until 1-2 months before final payment is due if you are using the points towards paying off some of your cruise. We redeemed 50,000 points that we earned with our January credit card statement, got the certificate in two weeks, made our final payment in February and then received the credit back on our card once the certificate had been redeemed. If we had had the 50,000 points in December I would have redeemed it then and not had to worry about the credit on our card.

[powelweb]

So you don't have to advise rcl that you intend to use visa points for your sailing when you book? I thought I had to let them know so they could note the minimum oceanview value.