RC Visa questions for those who have one

[Spara]

I did a search but it was taking to long to find the right anwsers.

 

First, how do the points go, how many dollars for how many points?

 

Do you find that is a great benefit to have it and use it? I am thinking of getting one and using it for daily life purchases and paying off each month. Not to carry a balance. Anyone else use it like this?

 

I didnt see how much the apr was but I guess it wont matter, its probably based on your credit rating right? Is there a yearly charge?

 

Is this card and holding stock the only ways you can earn bonuses towards cruises?

 

It will be probably a year or so before we go on a cruise so I am thinking I could get some good points going in this amount of time.

 

:)Thanks for any help!

[MIcruiser99]

We use the card for our purchases to earn points for the cruise. You get one point for each dollar you spend. I have a Bank of America card and there is no annual fee.

 

As far as the apr, I don't know as we pay our card off each month.

 

We don't really use points on other cards that much so this works for us to save some money on our cruise and have OBC.

[coast2coast]

We run everything we possibly can through our RCI Visa card. We've been members since '03 and have gone on 2 free 7-day cruises (1st 2 passengers paid for). It was nice as those cruises are the only time we've ever had something better than an inside room! (Ocean view (non-balcony) are the ones they usually allow you to take, unless you decide to upgrade on your own.) No annual fee, and we've never carried a balance, so those were truly 2 free cruises... it's been totally worth it.

We don't own stock in RCI, so I can't answer your question about that....

Anytime you use your RCI card to book an RCI cruise gets you double points. Also anything you put on your sea pass gets you double points if you use the card to pay for it.

[montekat]

We have the card and have redeemed for a free 4 nt. cruise, a couple of $50 certificates, two robes and a 7 nt. cruise. We always charge as much as possible to the card and keep it paid off. The APR is 10.99%, but I only know that because it's on the bill!

[cruisenfever]

I did a search but it was taking to long to find the right anwsers.

 

First, how do the points go, how many dollars for how many points?

 

Do you find that is a great benefit to have it and use it? I am thinking of getting one and using it for daily life purchases and paying off each month. Not to carry a balance. Anyone else use it like this?

 

I didnt see how much the apr was but I guess it wont matter, its probably based on your credit rating right? Is there a yearly charge?

 

Is this card and holding stock the only ways you can earn bonuses towards cruises?

 

It will be probably a year or so before we go on a cruise so I am thinking I could get some good points going in this amount of time.

 

:)Thanks for any help!

First of all, welcome to Cruise Critic. There is a wealth of information to be found on these boards. The "Search This Thread" is a wonderful tool. Just click on it and put in key words to any questions you may have. If that doesn't help, just ask...........somebody always knows the answer.:D

 

Here is the link to the Royal Caribbean Visa Card. It will give you all the details and how you can redeem your points and for what.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/dealsandmore/offer/visa.do;jsessionid=0000XNZVirAnJmhMd3IzSODmXyS:12hbioe0u?cS=NAVBAR

[Spara]

Thank you for all the anwsers!:D

[Jiffymom]

since this is a reward not a discount, I assume I can use this for OBC even though I already have a diamond balcony discount.

[Retired LEO]

since this is a reward not a discount, I assume I can use this for OBC even though I already have a diamond balcony discount.

 

Yes

[Down South Cruiser]

We run everything we possibly can through our RCI Visa card. We've been members since '03 and have gone on 2 free 7-day cruises (1st 2 passengers paid for). It was nice as those cruises are the only time we've ever had something better than an inside room! (Ocean view (non-balcony) are the ones they usually allow you to take, unless you decide to upgrade on your own.) No annual fee, and we've never carried a balance, so those were truly 2 free cruises... it's been totally worth it.

We don't own stock in RCI, so I can't answer your question about that....

Anytime you use your RCI card to book an RCI cruise gets you double points. Also anything you put on your sea pass gets you double points if you use the card to pay for it.

If you own a business you can use as your business card as I do & rack up a ton of points. I buy all my inventory with it & use it for as many expenses as possible. As a heavy user I found out that there is a 250,000 point limit per year but I just got a second card & continued on. Getting free cruises by using the card is like getting something for nothing. You do still have to pay the taxes on the cruise but so what if you get the cruise fare paid for free.

[printingchick]

You get one point for every dollar spent unless that dollar is spent on something Royal Caribbean related. Pay for your cruise, your on-board account or your ship-sponsored excursions with your card and those purchases earn you double points.

 

I find it to be a great benefit. Some people prefer cash-back cards, but I'd never save up the cash to put toward a cruise. This point system is forced savings toward a specific purchase. On my up-coming cruise, I traded in points to upgrade my cabin from an inside to ocean view. I limited my point redemption because I'm taking kids on my 2011 cruise and that will be more costly. By that time, I'll be able to get about $600 off the cruise cost.

 

Yes, APR will be based on your specific credit rating. The interest rates are not as good as they once were. Mine were increased with the banking crisis, even though my credit rating is very high. I took offense to this and looked around for a better rate, but discovered every card had raised it's rate. Gone are the days of those ridiculously low rates about which we used to get junk mail every day.

 

The card points are the one thing that remain combinable with the other benefits. I purchased a NextCruise certificate for my upcoming cruise, which earned me a $100 OBC. I also used my Visa points for a cabin upgrade. I could have also used my stock-holder benefit for the $100 OBC, but I intended to be traveling with other people and a NextCruise coupon earns the benefit for your friends' cabin(s) as well. I could NOT combine the shareholder benefit AND the NextCruise certificate.

 

I believe when you first get the card, you get something like 10,000 free points to start out with. So yes, if you're not cruising for a year, you'll have time to save up points.

 

You need to redeem your points at least a few months before your cruise, as it's not exactly an INSTANT process. You call customer service and tell them how many points you want to redeem. They send you a certificate for that number of points. You check off which benefit you want to exchange your points for and mail that into Royal Caribbean, with your cruise reservation #. They apply the points within about 4 weeks of receiving your request.

[cruisenfever]

You get one point for every dollar spent unless that dollar is spent on something Royal Caribbean related. Pay for your cruise, your on-board account or your ship-sponsored excursions with your card and those purchases earn you double points.

 

Also, if you use the RCI credit card when booking a cruise and you have price reductions applied before final payment you will lose double points.

[Puffinater]

Like others have stated we use our card for everything and never carry a balance forward. We have had the card since 04 and will be applying our second "free" seven day cruise to our October cruise on the Oasis.

[BroncosFan2010]

We also use the RCCL Visa for EVERYTHING, never carry a balance, don't pay an annual fee, and earn 1 point per dollar on everything we spend, DOUBLE on RCCL expenditures. We love this card, and have cashed in a $500 cruise credit and several OBC certificates. Never had any problems with it...knock on wood.

[MiniMom57]

We've had our RCI Visa for several years, use it for everything, and have never carried a balance. A couple years ago we used points for a free companion fare on a 7 day cruise, and next month we are using points for a free 1 week cruise for 2. Definitely worth getting the card if you are disciplined enough to pay it off each month.....otherwise, every dollar you pay in finance charges decreases the value of your rewards.

[ctcruiser1721]

I did a search but it was taking to long to find the right anwsers.

 

First, how do the points go, how many dollars for how many points?

 

Do you find that is a great benefit to have it and use it? I am thinking of getting one and using it for daily life purchases and paying off each month. Not to carry a balance. Anyone else use it like this?

 

I didnt see how much the apr was but I guess it wont matter, its probably based on your credit rating right? Is there a yearly charge?

 

Is this card and holding stock the only ways you can earn bonuses towards cruises?

 

It will be probably a year or so before we go on a cruise so I am thinking I could get some good points going in this amount of time.

 

:)Thanks for any help!

 

Here is how you can find a complete outline of the benefits:

 

Go to rccl.com

Then Deals and Gifts tab

Then Royal Caribbean Visa tab

 

Good luck!