Cruise line credit cards- worth it?

[pinkie1]

I'm thinking about signing up for a credit card with one of the cruise lines. I wanted to know how many of you have one and do you think it's worth it?

I usually sail with Royal, but I saw Princess' credit points and they seem to be a "little" better value. I like both cruise lines, so either one I'd be happy to sail on.

What's your opinion?

 

BTW, I pay off my balance every month so the APR % doesn't apply to me and I put "everything" on my credit card so I could rack up a lot of points.

[cruiserbryce]

I have one. We got a great point bonus for signing up. We have the RC Visa. The interest rate is high, so its really only good if you can pay the balance off each month. Every dollar is a point and every dollar spent with RC is 2 points. We started with 10000 which was enough for a $100 OBC right away...we are saving it...unsure what for but just saving for a while.

[arlodog]

I just signed up for the HAL card since I am cruising with them in Feb. I get 2 free dinners at the Pinnacle with the bonus points for my first purchase so I figure I am money ahead. Will use if for my cruise and pay it off. Have never sailed HAL before, but am stongly considering it for 2010 for an Alaskan cruise so I figure if nothing else I should have some extra OBC by then.

[trish1c]

NCL usued to have the best value -- lowest dollars spent for maximum reward but that ends this year. I don't think any of the other programs are worth it but we may switch to RCLs program if I can get BoA to just switch me rather than canceliing one card & opening another. Don't want to freak out that credit score.

[Cruzman]

Had a Carnival Seamiles Card; very bad experience there. I currently have the Princess card but primarily use it for Princess purchases only (double points). I primarily use a bank card that both gives my triple reward points for certain types of purchases, and pays me in cash instead of cruise credits.

[14Terry]

We have a RCI visa card. Very low interest rate too. Doesn't matter, we pay it off every month. Have cashed in points to use on upcoming cruise. If you like to cruise, it has its benefits. Good luck! :D

[retiredonthesea]

NCL's was the best, will really miss it as we usally got $2000.00 of each cruise. Now it's looking for something comparable!:(

[cruiserbryce]

Very low interest rate too

 

 

huh...ours is much higher than our other cc's

[Darkwolfe]

Nope. No credit card is worth having.

[firefly333]

I vote for the RCL VISA card too, because its easy to use to collect the points. Carnival folks have a lot of negative to say about the sea miles, you have to book thru that one TA, not your own TA.

 

Im getting $300 off my next cruise, half of that was bonus points for signing up.

 

PS Im another who has no idea what the interest rate is because I pay if off every month.

[ondeckatsea]

Like any credit card they are only good if you pay them off in full each month. Otherwise, the finance charges far out weigh the benefits. We've had our RCI Visa for several years and usually get about enough points to pay for the gratuities for the cruise.

[hkolln]

And another thing...how much DO you really have to spend to get something back??!! I mean are you using it for normal stuff you would normally buy or buying stuff just to obtain points? And unless you pay them off in full every month they aren't worth it.