Fun points for stateroom decoration....fustrated

[debster818]

I redeemed my fun points for credit on my credit card for our upcoming cruise with no problem. I had some fun points leftover so I decided to use them to buy a stateroom birthday decoration. Now....we cruise on 4/18, but the when I was filling out the form to order this, it said that the "gift" cannot be delivered on 1st day of or last day of sail. So, it would not let me enter in the date as 4/18 so the stateroom could be decorated. After spending a hour plus on the phone with Mastercard and carnival, it seems that no one could help me out on this. Why couldn't I call a few days after Carnival received the order from Mastercard and change the date???? Who wants someone to come into your cabin the next day after arrival to decorate????? I wanted this to be a suprise. This is crazy. I ended up ordering the decoration thru gift services and charging it to my Carnival Mastercard. I was told I could redeem the points as a credit to my account when I get the bill. How stupid is this? We will see what happens here.

[KroozFoolz]

Makes about as much sense as a Walmart purchase showing up on my account as a "qualifying transaction" redeemable for statement credit but a final cruise payment to Carnival won't show up to be redeemed. :rolleyes:

[maxamuus]

More i read about this Carnival Fun Card seems like a pain in the keester.

[debster818]

Makes about as much sense as a Walmart purchase showing up on my account as a "qualifying transaction" redeemable for statement credit but a final cruise payment to Carnival won't show up to be redeemed. :rolleyes:

Are you serious????? I had no problem redeeming a credit for my cruise. So, I thought this would be find also. How stupid is this???? Mad!!

[KroozFoolz]

Are you serious????? I had no problem redeeming a credit for my cruise. So, I thought this would be find also. How stupid is this???? Mad!!

Yep. I am still waiting to hear from them re the "case number" that was initiated to investigate this back in early January, so it has been more than the up to 30 days I was told it could take. :rolleyes:

Meanwhile I have booked a cruise on Radiance of the Seas. :D We will find out how easy it is to redeem our Royal Caribbean Visa points.

I am glad that you had no problem redeeming a credit for your cruise.

[Amber F]

I tried redeeming my fun ponts online, and it never let me. It just kept showing the faq for fun points, and no boxes to redeem points. I had to call to have them redeem my points over the phone, which is ridiculous! I couldn't even see how many points it would cost for onboard credit or gifts! In the end, I used 40k points for a $400 statement credit processed over the phone.

[martinchem]

This program really should never had started because it gives Carnival a black eye.

[bmwmj]

Ain't this the truth! Being the pea brain I am, I never noticed the drop down on the points conversion calculator. Seems I have enough points for a suite on an 8 day with Carnival, but not even enough for an inside 7 day on Princess. You would “assume” it would be dollar for dollar under the CCL umbrella. Had my heart set on a particular cruise for our 25th anniversary, now it’s back to considering Carnival and had eliminated their itineraries previously. Guess it’s back to the drawing board.

[Amber F]

At least you have a points calculator! My site is dead in the water, and it's frustrating!

[Dyeitcoke]

I have had a ton of issues with this also... and finally after many many hours on the phone with them I believe that I have the right answer... but only time will tell. Long story but I will try and shorten.

 

Have enough points for a free 7 day on carnival for five of us in a combined three rooms... each of the rooms show on my credit card as separate transactions.. I booked the cruise on the 11th and the charges posted to the account on the 15th. On the 14th, I purchased 4 airlines tickets with my credit card each of these show as separate transactions- these posted on the 15th. I had two airline ticket qualify purchases from September that are still showing as qualifying transactions (which I really don't get because the fun points program wasn't around).

 

My sister who is traveling with me also used her card... and by the 19th her carnival transaction showed up and she redeemed.

 

I would call the customer service number and given the total run around-- from being transfered to the redeemation center (only to be put back in the call center that I just called) to being told that a manager would call me in 48 hours..and of course that never happened. Finally I found a number on the internet for the executive of communication for the actual company of the card. Call there, left a message, and within about two hours I recieve a phone call back.

 

I ended up talking to the person at the corporation office in charge of the program. I explained all of the run around that I had gotten, how upset I was because of the way that I was being treat, etc. She explained to me the following:

 

They have no way of redeeming the points for me (which from this thread doesn't sound to be the case) and that the website only allows 6 transactions to show at a time that are qualifying transactions. And because the airlines that I booked with starts with the letter A, the four airline tickets appear before my carinval tickets.

 

So the only option that I have is to wait until the 2 airline tickets from September fall off... which she and I counted on the calendar so I know what day this will be and then I will be able to redeem for the carnival transactions. Or I can redeem one of the tickets from the past..and I will them be able to redeem the carnival transactions. (of course, I don't want to do this because the trade in points is not as good)

 

Of course, I will be responsible for the payment that is due (I pay in full each month) and my card will have a credit. They will cut me a check for the amount of the credit if that is what I want them to do.

 

So March 29th will be the day that I can tell you if this information provide to me was accurate or not.

 

There are a couple of lessons that I did learn for the future. Before actually booking -- look at the number of qualifying transactions that you have so that you won't have more than 5. book with an airlines that starts with a letter after C. And make sure to include all of the tips and everything because the more your transaction is the bigger "bang" for the points.

 

Hopes this helps someone else out and keeps them from getting the run around like I did

[debster818]

Wow.....and I thought I had a problem just trying to redeem points for cabin decorations!!!! I am hoping that I will be able to redeem points once the transaction from purchasing the cabin decorations posts to my account.

[Kurbanfan]

I have had no problems with my fun points redemption..........

[osiebosie]

I've had no problems, either, which is what makes it even worse. It's like they can't decide whether to be a functional program or not.

 

But if they can get it right sometimes, why not all of the time??

 

Sorry for your problems. Like I said, I had none with the fun points, but I did have problems with the Future Cruise Certificate, and others sailed through that with flying colors.

 

Go Figure. I guess if we didn't have to struggle a little for our cruise(s), we wouldn't appreciate them as much. ?? :) ??

 

Shay

[KarenMF]

The only reason you're having trouble is because you want the cabin decorated on the first day.

 

You can't have your cabin decorated on the first or the last day because they do not have time to do it with all they need to do with the change over of passengers.

[debster818]

I have seen many cabins decorated before boarding.

 

I made arrangements thru carnival and the date they are going to do it is on boarding day. How much time can it take to put up 1 streamer and and centerpiece?

 

So, it is possible to decorate on sail away day.