Compass points!

[sailingnut]

How many points do you need for $500.00 off of a future cruise? I took out a NCL mastercard and now have 112 points. I bet I will have to rack up a lot more. Any knowledge of it would be appreicated. Thanks.

[ute_fan]

500 points = $500. 1,000 points = $1,000. Keep spending! :D

[Ask4Jay]

sailingnut -

You need 500 points for one certificate.

Since you have 112 points already, you need 388 more.

If you spend it all on NCL (at 4%), you'll need to spend another $9,700.

If you spend it for non-NCL purchases, you need to spend (at 3%) $12,933.

Not to worry, it does add up. We just sent in two certificates.

[bubbletoes]

sailingnut -

You need 500 points for one certificate.

Since you have 112 points already, you need 388 more.

If you spend it all on NCL (at 4%), you'll need to spend another $9,700.

If you spend it for non-NCL purchases, you need to spend (at 3%) $12,933.

Not to worry, it does add up. We just sent in two certificates.

Here are some ways we use the card to rack up the points, but it takes discipline, or you'll get yourself in trouble. There's no point in getting points for free cruising dollars if you're paying interest. First, never write out a check where you could use the card. To keep track, I use a separate checkbook register just for the card purchases! At the end of each week, month, whenever is right for you, add it up and make the FULL payment for your purchases, better yet if you have electronic banking and click to pay each week. Second, check over all your bills, some may be payable with a credit card online, write those into the credit card register as well and pay them off too, instead of mailing a check! Why not get free points? I use it to grocery shop, supply the daycare at BJ's, gas, about $400 a month of utility bills and of course to book our cruise and pay it off. Last year we got $1000, and this year we'll be close, but already sent a $500 certificate. Good luck, and just remember to keep that balance paid.

[retiredonthesea]

If you have alot of charges and go over your max. 1000 pts. a year, just get another card. We have two and just keep rotating them. Just sent in $1500.00 in compass rewards for our Oct. cruise.

 

We used one of our cards for partial payment on my car also hospital bills, insurance payments, concerts, ect. ect. Just use it for anything that a CC can be used for, BUT remember only charge what you know you can pay off in full each month!! Also it doesn't pay to go over your monthly 250 pts as anything over doesn't count.

 

Happy Charging,

[terrymtex01]

I agree completely with what has been posted so far about making sure you only charge what you can pay off.. OR.. if you have a big purchase you are going to finance anyway and the interest rate you get with NCL is acceptiable, you might as well get something back for your money. As Retired said, just remember if you put a big purchase on your card, you still only can get a max amount of points of 250 in any given month. That is around $8K. We usually charge between 10K and 20K when we take a cruise (spending money in the casino) and that is a lot of wasted points so we are going to get another NCL Mastercard and split the finally billing between the two. One other thing we avoid is paying bills by using the credit card where the business charges us a fee to do so. I can't remember (since my DDP pays our bills) if AT&T wireless is one of them (used to be Cingular)..but if they are one of the ones I'm thinking about, they charge like a $5.00 fee to use a credit card to make a payment. We only use it where there is no fee and where we can pay off the balance at the end of the month. Otherwise the rewards are not worth it.