RCL Visa Points for Freebies

[Cruisin'BusyBee]

Hi to all - could someone please let me know when would be the best time to call and redeem my Visa RCL Reward Points? I will be going on RCL Serenade 4/17/10 and want to make sure that the discount ($150 towards purchase of cruise with 15,000 points) and/or if I should wait and "rack up more points" for the next segment of $500 (would need to get 50,000 points, but getting close w/35,000!). I just dont want to miss out w/any time limit to do this?

 

Has anyone used RCL Visa Reward Points and have any insight as to what/how to do this and if this is a "smooth transaction"? I would appreciate any Help :confused: here from anyone? Thanks so much! :)

 

C/BB

[publicpersona]

Hi to all - could someone please let me know when would be the best time to call and redeem my Visa RCL Reward Points? I will be going on RCL Serenade 4/17/10 and want to make sure that the discount ($150 towards purchase of cruise with 15' date='000 points) and/or if I should wait and "rack up more points" for the next segment of $500 (would need to get 50,000 points, but getting close w/35,000!). I just dont want to miss out w/any time limit to do this?

 

Has anyone used RCL Visa Reward Points and have any insight as to what/how to do this and if this is a "smooth transaction"? I would appreciate any Help :confused: here from anyone? Thanks so much! :)

 

C/BB[/quote']

Frankly, with all the turmoil in the credit card industry, unless you were very close to some threshold where you felt like you were getting more than a penny a point, I'd cash in for OBC or discount at every opportunity.

 

You never know when BoA is going to say, "Oh gee .. we decided that now it takes 7,500 points to get a $50 OBC instead of 5,000 points." And there's nothing you'll be able to do about it.

[Cruisin'BusyBee]

Oh Wow, you are right that there are credit card issues :eek:: I would gladly cash in my points now, but I read somewhere that there is a "time limit" and you are not able to cash out until so many days prior to cruise or the certificates that you receive might not be applicable? Does anyone know about this? :confused: Thanks, C/BB

[amybeth4]

I requested my certificates in late Aug and by mid-Sept. they were returned and my OBC was applied. I did this for my 11/1 cruise and two months was more than enough time. It went very quickly.

 

Once you get the certificates you have six months to use 'em.

 

If you're at 35k points now and cash them in and then end up racking up another 15k points by, say, late Feb, you can always ask for more certificates and get a $150 OBC...

 

I would be a LITTLE leary about requesting them THIS early...juuuuuust in case you have to cancel the cruise. I think you (ridiculously) lose the points, but I'm basing that part on what I've read on CC.

[Cruisin'BusyBee]

So, about 4 months should be time enough to order certificates and I have to mail them to RCL for credit? eeekkk, that would indeed be bad news if for some reason my cruise was cancelled and I lost my points, as I have been saving them since my last RCL cruise on AOS......................anyone having the misfortune of this happening or any further insight on this?

 

C/BB

[amybeth4]

Well, like I said, from the phone call, to receiving them in the mail, to sending them back and RCI receiving them...it was about 3 weeks tops. So 4 months is DEFINITELY enough time. You can definitely hold off on doing it, esp. if someone does come back and tell you BofA won't refund your points, which wouldn't surprise me in the least.

 

It's been suggested here that people make copies of the certificates just in case they get lost in the mail on the way back to RCI. I read that after sending it back so I called to make sure it was received and it was. I think I had to be switched to the Crown & Anchor people for some reason.

[cruisenfever]

Whoops.........OP's question has been answered.:o

[kyriecat]

So' date=' about 4 months should be time enough to order certificates and I have to mail them to RCL for credit? eeekkk, that would indeed be bad news if for some reason my cruise was cancelled and I lost my points, as I have been saving them since my last RCL cruise on AOS......................anyone having the misfortune of this happening or any further insight on this?

 

C/BB[/quote']If your cruise is cancelled, you will lose your certificate amount unless you transfer your booking number to another RC cruise. You MUST use the same booking number - don't cancel and rebook!

 

I lost $150 certificate when RC cancelled my cruise last year along with my Next Cruise OBC. In retrospect, I should have just randomly picked a cruise to hold the booking number until I had time to research other options. BUT, it was the second cruise in a row they had cancelled on me so I was really irritated. Plus, the woman on the phone was pressuring me to make a decision RIGHT THEN. I took the "screw them" attittude and cancelled the booking. I didn't realize until later that I had lost the ceritificate amount (you don't get it back if you cancel the booking) and the OBC.