Compass Rewards Program Ends

[gary]

I think you are incorrect.

 

I think you are correct in thinking I am incorrect!

[98Charlie]

i just got off with phone with the compass rewards people, and they told me you have to use it,before end of 2009, and she said not book it use it,so now what do i do? i have like 500 points and i already paid for my cruise with my old rewards. i don't want to go again, can i transfer them? or maybe i'll take a short cruise from new york, hope i helped. larry

One other alternative is to see how much an upgrade would cost. If it's around $500 I'd use it for that rather than lose the points all together.

 

Charlie

[Giantfan13]

I am another one who called BOA today. Happens I got a young lady who tried to be very helpful. I do not think she knew more than any of the other reps, but whenever I asked her a quesation she wasn't sure of, she put me on hold and then came back with a sensible answer. She could have been asking the girl next to her, or she might have found out something.

 

I have 1400 points. I asked if they will credit all the points towards a cruise, She said I will be issued 2 x500 point coupons to be used towards a cruise and 4 x100 point coupons which can be used for upgrades. When I told her I wasn't interested in upgrades, she suggested I try to call NCL and see if they might eccept the 4 x100 point coupons as dollar amounts towards a cruise. I haven't gooten to that as of yet, becasue I know what NCL will tell me.

 

The young lady said that no points will be rolled over as it is a completely different program. EVERYONE will be getting certificates at the end of Janruary. I did ask her about using the certificates and she said that they will expire in Dec 09, but you can use them as paymsnt for a cruise later on, like the summer of 2010. I specifically asked her becasue we were planning an alaskan cruise in Aug 2010, and she said as long as I redeemed them before Dec 09, they would be honored.

 

Again, I might call back tomorrow and be told something differenet, but this is what was said, almost word for word.

 

Forget anything rolling over, it will not happen.

 

I assume she was trying to sell the new program, but I also mentioned the current rate we were getting got the NCL card and she said the new rates would be comprable.

[jame_g]

That sucks. I really don't want any crummy upgrade certificates. They're not worth the paper they're printed on.

 

If they don't let us use the smaller amounts as a dollar for dollar cruise credit, they could at least let us use them for an OBC!

[LBS1]

https://wwwa.managerewardsonline.bankofamerica.com/RMSapp/Ctl/link?eid=D14BCCDF

 

Here is the link to the Bank Of America world program

[nerd-guy]

Hi, The gravy train is ending. We are small-timers on the program, but still got about $1,200 to $1,500 in cruise certs. per year. So this may cost us about $900 yearly. I made yet another call to BOA and My-Guy said that fractional certs would be issued for any remaining Compass Rewards points! For example, I have just 105 points on one of our cards so a $105 cruise cert. would be issued on Jan 31. That sounds a lot better to me, but this may have been just his little joke. He further stated (this part is very credible) that the NCL Worldpoints program is not finalized and will not be till sometime in Dec. So maybe it will be a little more generous than we all fear.

 

Anyway, we are now using a Chase Freedom Visa card that seems about as good as the AMEX Blue Cash deal. I will say that the local chase bankers (we got $125 for just opening a cking acct.) are very nice and seem interested in taking care of our small acct. Here is a link that tells about the freedom card:

 

http://www.chase.com/PFSCreditCardHome.html

 

Happy cruising, Howard

[UKfanfromVA]

I called BOA customer service today to request moving our statement date to later in the month. After checking with someone, she said we could move the payment date which would also move the statement date. I stressed that we wanted the closing date to be at the end of the month. She was able to change our closing date to the 25-28th which was great until she added that this would be effective for the January statement! I protested but she said it will take 2 billing cycles to happen and because our current closing date is Oct 7 (tomorow) they do not count this month. :mad: So if you want to move your statement date do so ASAP!!

 

If the details of the 'new and improved' NCL World Points Program are not yet decided, do you think if we contact NCL management with our concerns, frustrations, etc, that they would listen? Any ideas on how to best reach the attention of the decision makers?

[drbabe]

Too bad. I just called to get a $500 certificate (it was just too late to apply to our cruise in a little less than two weeks), so it looks like I've got to use it on a cruise within the next year. That's okay, I'm sure there will be a low-priced NCL cruise within the next year that I'll want to go on. Meanwhile, that's it for the NCL credit card - I'm done with it.

 

Anyone have any recommendations for a great reward card? I'm fed up with Delta Amex, since Delta never makes available any decent dates or flights for rewards, and now I won't do the NCL card, since the rewards are being cut by 2/3.

[x2tpd]

I need 50 points on one card and 250 on another right now.. I am going to use the one that needs to get 250 more points right now and see how close I can get. I should be ok. If I need some more points as the program ends I am going to go buy gift cards for the businesses that I frequent an that way I can use the gift cards after the program ends and get the points before it does. Anyone else have any ideas?? Or... if you had any 0% offers on other cards you could buy several months of cards or prepay some of the bills you pay with your card and then make the payments to the 0% card. Anyone else think of anyway to make these last few months work in our favor?

[x2tpd]

I need 50 points on one card and 250 on another right now.. I am going to use the one that needs to get 250 more points right now and see how close I can get. I should be ok. If I need some more points as the program ends I am going to go buy gift cards for the businesses that I frequent an that way I can use the gift cards after the program ends and get the points before it does. Anyone else have any ideas?? Or... if you had any 0% offers on other cards you could buy several months of cards or prepay some of the bills you pay with your card and then make the payments to the 0% card. Anyone else think of anyway to make these last few months work in our favor?

[retiredonthesea]

Just received that BOA letter today! Figured it would show up soon after reading all the posts here. Thank heavens my DH has a Alaska Airlines card it has wonderful perks. Flying first class to NY for our Repo cruise Oct. 28th NY to Miami and back from Orlando to home for 40,000 pts. plus $10.00 ea. Not bad.

 

Bummer I have 490 pts on one card and with this cruise coming up I can't use it, even tho I'll have 500pts by the end of the month. Guess I better hurry and book another cruise!:D

[keeponcruising]

The end of the Compass Program as we know it is not good. You have to wonder if this was change was in the works before all of the bad economic news of the past few weeks or before. I think the bad economy plus end of compass rewards will hit NCL hard. I hope and pray they will bring the program back. But for right now, I am concentrating on reaching 500 pts before the December cut off to put to my transatlanic cruise next April. I already have 500.

 

Ellen

[CruisnGram]

I'm bummed like everyone else, but at least I have over 500 points now that can be used for my upcoming June cruise. Was counting on having $1000 but I doubt I'll make that. I'm one of those unlucky ones with an early Dec. statement date...the 4th. :(

 

CG

[7SeasLover]

Hubby has over 1000 points and I have 800-something. This will give us at least 1500 to use toward our October 09 Mexican Riviera cruise. If the balance can be used for an upgrade, that'll work too.

 

After this, I'll probably switch to my Amex Hilton Honors credit card.

 

What a bummer to lose this program, but on the bright side, I don't feel "tied" to NCL now.

[ROCruiser]

Great ideas, x2tpd!

 

My question--I started the card only a little over a year ago, so I don't know much about it. I have 1,256 points. Called into BoA to redeem 2 $500 certificates yesterday, should be getting them in 2 weeks, I was told. Plan on using them on a "last minute" type of cruise in Dec which I have not booked yet. The BoA rep told me to call them back after 48 hours and ask for the numbers of the certificates and then book the cruise, giving NCL the cert. numbers. When I receive the cert. I send them to NCL. Do all these sound right so far? Now, I will try to get the left-over 256 points up to $500. If I can't make it by December, will I be getting other certificates of those points? It's going to be too late to pay for this cruise and won't be enough for another one. How do the upgrades work with these points after we are booked? Or these points will just go to waste? :confused:

[Crusin'Cousins]

We received our letter today for one of our accounts. I suspect the other letter will arrive tomorrow.

 

At any rate, for what it's worth, we too have called BofA. We called and asked if we could "blend" our points from two separate accounts so as to obtain yet another $500 certificate. (On one account we have 302 points above a $500 certificate and on the other account we have 247 points above a $500 certificate) Initially, we were told that we could transfer the points from one account to the other with no problems; this was after being transferred to the 'worldpoints' area. However, after further review she indicated that she "could not do it today". I asked her if it could be done prior to the conclusion of the program so as to take advantage of receiving as many $500 certificates as possible. To this question she responded, "yes, that will be possilbe". I asked the question two times and received the same answer twice. I have her name and the time of the call and will use it in the future, if necessary.

 

Better than "blending points" though, it really does make sense, for good PR and all, that they honor the points earned and provide cruise credit certificates for whatever amount of points their customers have at the conclusion of the program, i.e. 386, 752 or whatever, toward a discount for a future cruise. (Their best customers know that the upgrades are really of little or no value.)

 

Will they be able to make lemonade out of this very sour situation? Let's hope so! Time will tell!

[OrangeAndBlue]

Just received that BOA letter today! Figured it would show up soon after reading all the posts here. Thank heavens my DH has a Alaska Airlines card it has wonderful perks. Flying first class to NY for our Repo cruise Oct. 28th NY to Miami and back from Orlando to home for 40,000 pts. plus $10.00 ea. Not bad.

 

Bummer I have 490 pts on one card and with this cruise coming up I can't use it, even tho I'll have 500pts by the end of the month. Guess I better hurry and book another cruise!:D

 

Not bad. I just looked and right now you can get enough points when you get the card to get a free roundtrip coach ticket. That would pay for the $75 yearly fee the first year!

[OrangeAndBlue]

I wish that I could use my points to bring the rest of my family on a cruise. I already have my cruise schedule laid out for next year and I generally use $1000 per cruise (try to cruise on the really good deals).

 

Right now, I have $2000 worth that I was planning on using in 2010 and 2011 for two free cruises.

 

I don't know how it's going to be possible to squeeze in 2 cruises next year!!! Maybe I may just splurge and do a suite :)!

[BarBug]

Great ideas, x2tpd!

 

My question--I started the card only a little over a year ago, so I don't know much about it. I have 1,256 points. Called into BoA to redeem 2 $500 certificates yesterday, should be getting them in 2 weeks, I was told. Plan on using them on a "last minute" type of cruise in Dec which I have not booked yet. The BoA rep told me to call them back after 48 hours and ask for the numbers of the certificates and then book the cruise, giving NCL the cert. numbers. When I receive the cert. I send them to NCL. Do all these sound right so far? Now, I will try to get the left-over 256 points up to $500. If I can't make it by December, will I be getting other certificates of those points? It's going to be too late to pay for this cruise and won't be enough for another one. How do the upgrades work with these points after we are booked? Or these points will just go to waste? :confused:

 

As far as just using the cert numbers, no way would NCL allow my TA to do that on my cruise. The certs actually had to be in their hands-BofA suggested to use the numbers and NCL said NO.

[OrangeAndBlue]

I took a previous poster's advice and I switched over my Chase British Airways card ( wasn't using it , just got it for a free ticket reward last year) to the Chase Freedom card. I don't like the fact the 3% is only for the first $600. I definitely spend more than that.

 

Time to do some really good shopping around for the best card. Seems most of them now are just in the 1% range :(!!!

[ute_fan]

I haven't been really impressed with the other rewards cards out there right now, either. I think the economy has definitely had an impact.

 

I'm planning on getting one from our local grocery store where I shop most of the time. It's 1% on general purchases, 2% on everything from their store, and 3% on "store" brands. In addition, you can earn up to 20 cents off per gallon of gas, based on how much you spend in a shopping trip.

 

It doesn't even begin to equal the NCL card, but seems like a pretty good deal compared to the other ones that are available. Earning free groceries isn't as sexy as earning cruise points -- but free money is free money!

[newmexicoNita]

I haven't been really impressed with the other rewards cards out there right now, either. I think the economy has definitely had an impact.

 

I'm planning on getting one from our local grocery store where I shop most of the time. It's 1% on general purchases, 2% on everything from their store, and 3% on "store" brands. In addition, you can earn up to 20 cents off per gallon of gas, based on how much you spend in a shopping trip.

 

It doesn't even begin to equal the NCL card, but seems like a pretty good deal compared to the other ones that are available. Earning free groceries isn't as sexy as earning cruise points -- but free money is free money!

We have 2 we use for gas: 1 gives up 5% off at any station, the other is Shell only and gives us up to .20 cents off, depending on the price of gas that day. We also use my Discover card just at Sams. I guess, like most of us, we have this thing down to a science; this card for this, another for something else.

 

Nita

[mrminsky]

I have about $3000 or 6 certificates. ANyone interested? I am not sure I will be able to take a cruise next year and with the program being changed, I am not sure I will be keeping the credit card either. Thanks

[jame_g]

duplicate

[jame_g]

I have about $3000 or 6 certificates. ANyone interested? I am not sure I will be able to take a cruise next year and with the program being changed, I am not sure I will be keeping the credit card either. Thanks

 

I have a copy of the certificate that I received last week. It states that it is non-transferrable. Also states that if it is brokered, bartered, sold, purchased or altered it will be considered void. So I would think that the person who is named on the certificate would have to be part of the booking.