Carnival MasterCard......

Does anyone use it to book cruises? How is it different than other credit cards? Just asking before I open an account.....

My wife has one but we don't use it. You get 2 points for every dollar spent on Carnival and 1 point for every other dollar spent. But the redemption rates are poor and i get 2 points for everything with my Capitol One card.

Capital one venture or Barclay Arrival + would be better options, at least to keep for a little less than 2 years You get 2 percent credit with every purchase and a $400 sign up bonus if you meet the min. spend.

You would then charge your Carnival cruise to the card and take your credit you've built up.

Once you're second annual fees is about to hit, determine if the card is worth keeping.

As far as the carnival cards, it works like the above mentioned cards but you would just redeem a smaller amount of money towards the cruise

It has no annual fees attached. I use it for my cruises and other purchases - just got my first rewards - $300 paid on my account post cruise.

As Fudules says Capital One is the best way to go, by far. 2 for one miles on everything, adds up quick. You can book your cruise with any TA or CCL direct and redeem miles very easily. We looked at the CCL Mastercard while on board and we saw no advantage over Cap One

As Fudules says Capital One is the best way to go, by far. 2 for one miles on everything, adds up quick. You can book your cruise with any TA or CCL direct and redeem miles very easily. We looked at the CCL Mastercard while on board and we saw no advantage over Cap One

Agree. I have Cap One Venture card as well. LOVE it!

I got the Carnival card just for the initial $100 off a Carnival charge (10,000 fun points at sign up) and in case they ran more gift card specials this year. They didn't. So I charged our room upgrades when the "Upsell Fairy" called before my last cruise and got them for basically free. Don't plan on using it again.

Better redemption rates occur when you charge $1500 or more to Carnival. The redemption rate is then 1.5. For example, if you charge $800, you could redeem 50k points for 500 off. If you charge $1500, you can redeem 50k points for $750. You can redeem points up to 6 months after the charge.

There is a program called rewards boost that allows you to get bonus points by shopping through their affiliate links. I use the sephora link a lot, which gets me 5 points per dollar.

It's not a bad card, but we do pay it off each month. It's also a microchip card if that matters to you.

I have the Carnival FunPoints MC. I've had it since 2005 and DH & I have taken 3 free cruises since then with the FPs we have accrued. It's the only cc we use and we use it for EVERYTHING that a cc is accepted for - everything we buy, all the utilites that will take a card (electric, heating oil and propane, cell phone bills, life/home/auto insurance, etc.). I pay it off in full every month and have never paid a penny in interest or fees.

Here's the thing that many here either don't know about or disregard when they are saying this card's rewards are too small: RewardsBoost.:cool: RewardsBoost is an online shopping portal that you use to shop at hundreds of different retailers from Barclay's website. The 2 FunPoints per $ that Carnival purchases get me are really nothing compared to the bonus FPs I get from doing my shopping through RewardsBoost. A 10 point per dollar rate is typical for many stores. Many are lower, and some are really high. There are also multi-thousand, one-time lumps of points that are offered by some companies. And these RB FunPoints are in addition to the 1 point per $ I'm already getting for these purchases! I rack up several thousand bonus FPs every month just by checking RB first when I want or need something.

If you have this card and haven't already, check out RewardsBoost.;)

Full disclosure: I have been told that other Barclay's ccs also have the RB portal, so you still might want to choose a card other than the Carnival card. But I just wanted to make sure the points accruing possibilites of this card were fairly represented.

I have the Carnival FunPoints MC. I've had it since 2005 and DH & I have taken 3 free cruises since then with the FPs we have accrued. It's the only cc we use and we use it for EVERYTHING that a cc is accepted for - everything we buy, all the utilites that will take a card (electric, heating oil and propane, cell phone bills, life/home/auto insurance, etc.). I pay it off in full every month and have never paid a penny in interest or fees.

 

Here's the thing that many here either don't know about or disregard when they are saying this card's rewards are too small: RewardsBoost.:cool: RewardsBoost is an online shopping portal that you use to shop at hundreds of different retailers from Barclay's website. The 2 FunPoints per $ that Carnival purchases get me are really nothing compared to the bonus FPs I get from doing my shopping through RewardsBoost. A 10 point per dollar rate is typical for many stores. Many are lower, and some are really high. There are also multi-thousand, one-time lumps of points that are offered by some companies. And these RB FunPoints are in addition to the 1 point per $ I'm already getting for these purchases! I rack up several thousand bonus FPs every month just by checking RB first when I want or need something.

 

If you have this card and haven't already, check out RewardsBoost.;)

 

Full disclosure: I have been told that other Barclay's ccs also have the RB portal, so you still might want to choose a card other than the Carnival card. But I just wanted to make sure the points accruing possibilites of this card were fairly represented.

I did check it out. The points through the Rewards Boost are equal to the shopping mall sites through various Frequent Flier programs so it works out better my way - for me. I earn the multiple miles per $ spent for free airfare while using my Cap One card for an additional 2 pts per $ spent. So I earn free airline tickets all the while racking up my free travel good on any travel related expense.

I also use it for EVERYTHING I can charge and pay in full each month.

I like the fact that I'm not stuck redeeming my points on one particular cruise line. While Carnival is fine and I enjoy it, I'm not sure how much more I'll be sailing on it. Nothing in particular that irks me, just a culmination of various things and since the prices have become more in line with other cruise lines, I may look elsewhere.

It's great that the card works for some people. For myself and others, it's not as beneficial and we choose to earn our benefits via a different route.

There is one thing that we can all agree on and that is throw away your debit card and use SOME type of rewards card. Otherwise you are giving away free money!

I did check it out. The points through the Rewards Boost are equal to the shopping mall sites through various Frequent Flier programs so it works out better my way - for me. I earn the multiple miles per $ spent for free airfare while using my Cap One card for an additional 2 pts per $ spent. So I earn free airline tickets all the while racking up my free travel good on any travel related expense.

 

I also use it for EVERYTHING I can charge and pay in full each month.

 

I like the fact that I'm not stuck redeeming my points on one particular cruise line. While Carnival is fine and I enjoy it, I'm not sure how much more I'll be sailing on it. Nothing in particular that irks me, just a culmination of various things and since the prices have become more in line with other cruise lines, I may look elsewhere.

 

It's great that the card works for some people. For myself and others, it's not as beneficial and we choose to earn our benefits via a different route.

 

There is one thing that we can all agree on and that is throw away your debit card and use SOME type of rewards card. Otherwise you are giving away free money!

Yep, you and I have agreed before about this. Even though we choose different reward cards for our own reasons, I think we are pretty much in agreement here.:)

I don't fly much at all. I drive to my cruises. The FPs can be used on any of the Carnival corp cruiselines, although the redemption rates are not as good for the other lines. FPs can also be redeemed for airfare and hotel stays, but those rates are really not good.

I, too, am cruising less and less with Carnival - a whole big pile o' straws on that camel's back.:rolleyes: I have branched out, and so far, I prefer every other cruiseline to Carnival. But taking a free cruise on Carnival every couple years, in addtion to the cruises I'll be paying for on other cruiselines, ain't bad.:p

I have it and try to use it for most purchases. I use it like a debit card and pay it off every week. My phone bill and cable bill go on the card. Payments are easy with the barclaycard app on iPhone. It accepts my thumbprint so I don't even have to use my password. I have 50,000 points which I can redeem for $500 towards my cruise. But once you hit 100,00 points, you can redeem that for $1,500. I'm saving for the 100,000 points and the $1,500 cruise.

Great Thread and great posts from those who know how to use the points systems.

I've got a Cap One Card and the dollar rewards are great but it is amazing how competitive the CC industry is; you have to keep abreast of the latest offerings.

I had no idea about Rewards Boost on the Carnival MC from Barclays. I just picked it up in August of 2015 for the bonus rewards which I cashed in and have not used it since. I think I'll start using it instead of my Debit Card from PNC which I have used religiously for years to pay my monthly recurring bills. The bill pay feature is convenient and I pay all my monthly bills in one place that way. I am assuming that those of you using your Barclay's Carnival MC are paying your bills from the web site who is issuing the bills requiring you to go to these to pay them. Do I have that right? I do like the idea of a single place to pay my monthly recurring bills but I also like the idea of a free cruises and cabin credits.

BTW, I am a Celebrity Loyalist (34 trips) trying out Carnival but sparingly (3). We took our Grand kids on a Cruise in August on Breeze and loved it. We decided on Breeze after we sailed on Sunshine and Disney and thought Carnival was a waaaayyyy better deal than Disney. Grand Kids (3 of them, 7-9) loved it. Just booked Vista for early 2017. Amazing ship ....... in pictures anyway. Pretty sure we'll like it. I'd love to hear about "straws" mounting up negatively for Carnival. We have the same thing going on with Celebrity. Is this the "grass is greener ....." at play?

Great Thread and great posts from those who know how to use the points systems.

 

I've got a Cap One Card and the dollar rewards are great but it is amazing how competitive the CC industry is; you have to keep abreast of the latest offerings.

 

I had no idea about Rewards Boost on the Carnival MC from Barclays. I just picked it up in August of 2015 for the bonus rewards which I cashed in and have not used it since. I think I'll start using it instead of my Debit Card from PNC which I have used religiously for years to pay my monthly recurring bills. The bill pay feature is convenient and I pay all my monthly bills in one place that way. I am assuming that those of you using your Barclay's Carnival MC are paying your bills from the web site who is issuing the bills requiring you to go to these to pay them. Do I have that right? I do like the idea of a single place to pay my monthly recurring bills but I also like the idea of a free cruises and cabin credits.

 

BTW, I am a Celebrity Loyalist (34 trips) trying out Carnival but sparingly (3). We took our Grand kids on a Cruise in August on Breeze and loved it. We decided on Breeze after we sailed on Sunshine and Disney and thought Carnival was a waaaayyyy better deal than Disney. Grand Kids (3 of them, 7-9) loved it. Just booked Vista for early 2017. Amazing ship ....... in pictures anyway. Pretty sure we'll like it. I'd love to hear about "straws" mounting up negatively for Carnival. We have the same thing going on with Celebrity. Is this the "grass is greener ....." at play?

Yes, RewardsBoost is a great tool for building points and many of the retailers you already shop with are there, offering extra points just for shopping with them through that portal. Be sure to check it out.:)

You've got it right: for bill paying with the cc, I admit, it's not as convenient as a bill-pay page from your bank website. Yes, I do have to go to the websites of the utility/provider (such as my insurance company's website), or call the 800 number and do the phone tree, pay-over-the-phone thing (such as my electric company), or, in the case of my cell phone bill, I just press the "Pay my Bill" number in my directory (AT&T). My MC is already linked to the account and it gets paid with just the press of that one button. There is a little more "work" involved in paying with the MC, but I consider the extra FunPoints worth it - I'm getting free money (which eventually becomes free cruises) to pay my bills this way.

I LOVED X (sailed Mercury out of Baltimore in 2010)!:) There probably is a bit of the greener grass syndrome going on with loyal cruises of all lines. If we hang around long enough with any particular cruiseline, we're bound to see and be bothered by cutbacks and quality downgrades. That's one good reason for 'mixing it up' and branching out to other cruiselines.

For me, most of my camel's straws are cutbacks, but I do have a few non-cutback-related "straws", too. I could go into an exhaustive list of Carnival cutbacks I've noticed just in the last few years, but I don't think others would appreciate it if I did so in this thread.:o Actually, many wouldn't appreciate it anywhere.:p But if you really want to know, many threads can be found on the Carnival boards discussing the cutbacks.

Great Thread and great posts from those who know how to use the points systems.

 

I've got a Cap One Card and the dollar rewards are great but it is amazing how competitive the CC industry is; you have to keep abreast of the latest offerings.

 

I had no idea about Rewards Boost on the Carnival MC from Barclays. I just picked it up in August of 2015 for the bonus rewards which I cashed in and have not used it since. I think I'll start using it instead of my Debit Card from PNC which I have used religiously for years to pay my monthly recurring bills. The bill pay feature is convenient and I pay all my monthly bills in one place that way. I am assuming that those of you using your Barclay's Carnival MC are paying your bills from the web site who is issuing the bills requiring you to go to these to pay them. Do I have that right? I do like the idea of a single place to pay my monthly recurring bills but I also like the idea of a free cruises and cabin credits.

 

BTW, I am a Celebrity Loyalist (34 trips) trying out Carnival but sparingly (3). We took our Grand kids on a Cruise in August on Breeze and loved it. We decided on Breeze after we sailed on Sunshine and Disney and thought Carnival was a waaaayyyy better deal than Disney. Grand Kids (3 of them, 7-9) loved it. Just booked Vista for early 2017. Amazing ship ....... in pictures anyway. Pretty sure we'll like it. I'd love to hear about "straws" mounting up negatively for Carnival. We have the same thing going on with Celebrity. Is this the "grass is greener ....." at play?

The only thing I have to go to a website to pay is my water bill. Electric, att, directv, my storage unit, my car insurance, all automatically go on my CCL MC and I just go in and pay it off on the barclaycard app. It's linked to my paypal account, Apple wallet, eBay account, and my Amazon account. Last night I bought something on Amazon for my cruise. All I had to do was swipe right in the Amazon app and it charged my CCL MC and shipped it to my home address.

I've got a dumb phone, not a smart phone. No apps.:o But that does sound smoother than my operation. I forgot to mention that I have this card hooked up to my PayPal account, too. Anywhere I can use a cc, I use this one. It all helps make the FPs add up pretty quickly.:D

I enjoy my Funpoints MC and as most stated previously, I moved all my spending to that card. I pay it as I spend it. It has been a great way for me to learn how to maximize credit card benefits. When I finish school, I'll be looking into capital ventures card since I hear great stuff about it.

I WAS using this card for EVERY purchase. However, that stopped when I got HORRENDOUS service multiple times from multiple "supervisors" - some flat-out LIED to me about what they were doing, including telling me they would "note our conversation on my account" ... and then upon me calling back in to see if the issue was solved, there is NO note on the account and I find out what they said they would do was not taken care of.

I now use my Capital One Quicksilver card for EVERY purchase (including utility bills) and it's racking up CASH BACK at a much faster rate, as I get 1.5% - compared to 1% on the carnival card.

I still have the Carnival MC, but due to the substandard payout AND the horrible service I received ... it's relegated to the back of my wallet and will be used for EMERGENCY purposes ONLY. I refuse to use it even for my upcoming Carnival purchases.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers!

Jeff aka Recovery Dude

I WAS using this card for EVERY purchase. However, that stopped when I got HORRENDOUS service multiple times from multiple "supervisors" - some flat-out LIED to me about what they were doing, including telling me they would "note our conversation on my account" ... and then upon me calling back in to see if the issue was solved, there is NO note on the account and I find out what they said they would do was not taken care of.

 

I now use my Capital One Quicksilver card for EVERY purchase (including utility bills) and it's racking up CASH BACK at a much faster rate, as I get 1.5% - compared to 1% on the carnival card.

 

I still have the Carnival MC, but due to the substandard payout AND the horrible service I received ... it's relegated to the back of my wallet and will be used for EMERGENCY purposes ONLY. I refuse to use it even for my upcoming Carnival purchases.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

Cheers!

 

Jeff aka Recovery Dude

Sorry to hear you got crappy customer service from Barclays, Recovery Dude. I, too, would drop this card (or any other) like a hot potato if I was ever treated in a way by the company that p'd me off.

I do find that the Barclay's reps usually have such thick accents (are their call centres in Eastern Europe?) that I sometimes have trouble understanding them. And it's often difficult to get them to understand me.:( And I sometimes feel I know more about how the card works than some of them do.:rolleyes: I wish they would use North American call centres for their North American customers.

Luckily, in all these years, I haven't had any major issues to get fixed. And the two times that my card number was stolen (once since it became the new "chip" card), it was extremely fast and easy to get the fraudulent charges removed and the new card issued.

Sorry- was reading your posts and you all are saying something that I am not familiar with. We have had the carnival mastercard for years. (looking at the benefits of a 2:1 card) but procrastinate and have not changed yet. I am not familiar with the $100,000 will pay $1500. I thought $100,000 would pay $1000.

We are currently at 72,000 points and were going to redeem $700 on our cruise for March. But are you saying we should hold off and accrue more for better usage? Explain please. (we have straws too- but we love the western caribbean and when we look for the itinarary Carnival usually wins).:)

Sorry- was reading your posts and you all are saying something that I am not familiar with. We have had the carnival mastercard for years. (looking at the benefits of a 2:1 card) but procrastinate and have not changed yet. I am not familiar with the $100,000 will pay $1500. I thought $100,000 would pay $1000.

We are currently at 72,000 points and were going to redeem $700 on our cruise for March. But are you saying we should hold off and accrue more for better usage? Explain please. (we have straws too- but we love the western caribbean and when we look for the itinarary Carnival usually wins).:)

Yes, $1,500 qualifying purchase is where the redemption rate gets better.

Here's a post on this subject from this other thread

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=48845716#post48845716

...discussing this (please excuse the stuff that doesn't apply to you, I was speaking to another poster about their specific situation):

"Some of what you've said is correct, some is not. I think the rep you spoke to may have been confused. I've found Barclays reps don't always know what they are talking about.:o

You can find out for yourself (without calling a rep) how much of a statement credit you will get for the amount of points you have in a backwards kind of way by using the 'How many FunPoints Will I Need To Pay For My Cruise?' Calculator:

1. Go to the "Manage Rewards" tab (the one with the gift box icon) from your account summary page
   
2. Click on "Start Using My FunPoints" (the big picture of the deck with hot tubs)
   
3. Underneath "Pay with FunPoints", click on "How many "FunPoints" will I need to pay for my cruise?" (calculator).
   
4. Then play with plugging in different numbers until the "purchase amount" brings up a FunPoints "cost" amount equal to what you currently have. The "purchase amount" is equivalent to the statement balance you'll get by cashing in that number of points.
   

Notice that a purchase amount of $1000 will cost you 100,000 FP. But a purchase amount of $1500 will also cost you 100,000 FP. $1500 is where the redemption rate changes. If you want to get the best bang for your FP, make sure you do it for amounts of $1500 or more.;)

Note - all these amounts I've discussed assume a Carnival Cruise Lines purchase. The redemption rates for the other cruise lines and hotel and airfare are not as good.

For the amounts you mentioned (as statement credits for Carnival purchases):

$300 would cost 30,000 FP

$320 would cost 32,000 FP

$450 would cost 45,000 FP

$500 would cost 50,000 FP

$750 would cost 75,000 FP

$1500 would cost 100,000 FP

Your friend definitely could have gotten a $1500 statement credit for her 100,000 FP, but only once - she couldn't have gotten $1500 off her cruise twice for that same 100,000 points. There must be some confusion there.

Also, the redemption window for a qualified purchase is only 180 days (about 6 months), not 18 months.

Here's the info, straight from the card's website (can be found by clicking "Using My FunPoints"):

"Redeem your FunPoints for statement credits toward travel purchases of $50 or more on Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Costa Cruises, The Cunard Line or The Yachts of Seabourn or for hotel stays and airfare. And remember, you have 180 days to pay yourself back for a statement credit toward eligible purchases! Statement credit redemptions start at 5,000 FunPoints."

I hope I've helped clarify things.:o"

Another Carnival FunPoints MasterCard PSA brought to you by ShakyBeef:p:

Always redeem your FPs for a statement credit after your cruise, after paying for your cruise and your S&S balance with the Carnival MC for 2x FPs. Don't go for the OBC - you don't get as much bang for your FP "buck" with the OBC.;)

Thank you for responding. I am still confused. Most of the time our cruises are not hitting $1500. We are hitting just under it. We typically do the $500 deposit and pay the $970 later. Then book an excursion. So if we were to hit the magical $1500 how does it work from there with paying the deposit and then paying the final amount at the time final cruise payment is due. Or are you paying the $1500 all at once? (we still suffer from the economics principle opportunity costs):eek:

Thank you for responding. I am still confused. Most of the time our cruises are not hitting $1500. We are hitting just under it. We typically do the $500 deposit and pay the $970 later. Then book an excursion. So if we were to hit the magical $1500 how does it work from there with paying the deposit and then paying the final amount at the time final cruise payment is due. Or are you paying the $1500 all at once? (we still suffer from the economics principle opportunity costs):eek:

You would need to have one qualifying purchase (in this case, we're talking a Carnival purchase) in a single lump of $1500 or more to get the better redemption rate. If your cruise were to cost $1500 and you paid it all at once, instead of the typical deposit-then-balance method, it would be a qualifying (for redemption of FPs) purchase of a qualifying (for better rate) amount. But if your total cruise fare is still under $1500, you'd either have to combine some purchases at the time of booking (pre-pay gratuities, for example) and make sure they are going to post as one purchase, or possibly use the points for another purchase.

What about your S&S balance? For our cheaper cruises (just DH and me in a non-Suite cabin), our S&S balance is often higher than our cruise fair, and I choose to use my FPs to pay that off instead of the cruise fare (if I don't have enough FPs for both). Even if you don't usually, maybe, in order to redeem for the better rate, you could treat yourself on your next cruise and rack up some onboard spending of $1500. It's a great feeling to know that all your onboard spending is going to be refunded to you.;) Those DODs sure taste good when I know they're free.:D

Maybe you should consider booking a slightly more expensive cruise in order to make it a free cruise with the better redemption rate. ;):D:cool:

thinking of doing family cruise in July- would be 6-8 people and so we might could hit the magical $1500. We keep our expenses deliberately low in hopes of doing more trips throughout the year. (one year we did 4 cruises- some 4 days but we indulged our guilty pleasure). Thanks again for the info. We do love to cruise and as we are freezing today in NC we can't help but think of those sunny days coming in March/April.:D

thinking of doing family cruise in July- would be 6-8 people and so we might could hit the magical $1500. We keep our expenses deliberately low in hopes of doing more trips throughout the year. (one year we did 4 cruises- some 4 days but we indulged our guilty pleasure). Thanks again for the info. We do love to cruise and as we are freezing today in NC we can't help but think of those sunny days coming in March/April.:D

You're very welcome. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. You may have noticed that I enjoy talking about this.;):p Sounds like that big family cruise might fit the bill. It's a balmy 19 degrees F here, on the beautiful Eastern Shore of MD. I've got a long wait 'til my next cruise in September...