BOA Visa double points ending soon

[hcat]

My update as promised. Have spent two frustrating hours on phone with various personnel from BoA and WorldPoints, who all seem to be more interested in transferring me to someone else rather than understanding my problem.

 

Have learned that from now forward there will be no new branded BoA Visa cards. This is true not just for Celebrity but Norwegian and other affinity cards as well.

 

Current cards work fine for purchasing items. They are not canceling the cards (for now).

 

No word on if they are still giving double points for purchases made with Celebrity.

 

Have been unable to redeem my points for OBC. The website freezes up when I try to choose that option. Nobody at BoA or WorldPoints can tell me when the problem might be fixed.

 

When I try to go directly to the WorldPoints website, I get an "apology message" and cannot access the site.

 

Everyone I spoke to at WorldPoints says that points can only be redeemed for OBC via the website, not by speaking in person to a representative by phone. But when the website is not working, there seems to be no "Plan B."

 

So as near as I can tell, there will be no new X Visa cards. Those of us with cards can use them to buy things, and redeeming points is problematic at this moment.

 

I went through the same frustrating exercise today trying to redeem Celebrity VISA Rewards Points from BOA for on board credits for our upcoming Equinox cruise.... spent 2 hours or more trying to get the rewards today--finally did it but I sense strongly this card program is not long for the future..& will not be using the BOA cards anymore...

 

.. My First and Fourth attempts to redeem were via the the orginal way through the regular BOA Visa account tel, no,. They said they can only process cash rewards which are under 1 % unless one has 50,000 points...they said there was no reward option for On Bd Credits that they could see on their screens...I was shuttled off to the World Point Rewards Number

 

Aftre being on hold,The Gift Rewards option folks (attempt two) advised they only deal in gifts...so I was sent to another long wait on hold to the Travel folks (attempt three)-- they actually tried to get me to re-book my already paid for cruise with them & said they had NO help for anyone under the prior program...said there is NO BOA support for this Celeb Visa program & those points could only be redeemed online..

 

we tried to open an online banking acct with BOA altho we have no accts with them other than the BOA Royal & Celeb credit cards.... It is very time consuming & personally invasive information wise....after giving much info I drew the line when they wanted the name of my maid of honor (35 yrs ago) & c*ap like that..there went another waste of time...

 

Finally, VOILA! my husband called the Captains Club (bless them). There is a new option to press CELEBRITY REWARDS..... We were connected to a very knowledgeable/helpful person who processed our rewards in no time. No certificates needed--somehow she go into BOA to do it ...I was encouraged to pass this info along....

 

Problem will be in a few weeks when we want to get one more reward credit when the points from our final payment (with dbl points) hit the card.. I sensed the option via may Celebrity not be around by then!! I am certain we will be stuck with 5,000 Royal points on our Royal card so we may as well try to get a beach towel if we can!!

 

Hope this helps anyone in the present time frame... BOA has changed alot of their programs--not to our liking.. so we will sit with two large useless open lines of credit for awhile...(closing them is not a good idea for credit scores!!)

 

Celebrity & Royal C. should make some type of announcement b/c many of their clients are spending cruise dollars on a card that is no longer delivering the rewards as intitally promised.

[BroncosFan2010]

I went through the same frustrating exercise today trying to redeem Celebrity VISA Rewards Points from BOA for on board credits for our upcoming Equinox cruise.... spent 2 hours or more trying to get the rewards today--finally did it but I sense strongly this card program is not long for the future..& will not be using the BOA cards anymore...

 

.. My First and Fourth attempts to redeem were via the the orginal way through the regular BOA Visa account tel, no,. They said they can only process cash rewards which are under 1 % unless one has 50,000 points...they said there was no reward option for On Bd Credits that they could see on their screens...I was shuttled off to the World Point Rewards Number

 

Aftre being on hold,The Gift Rewards option folks (attempt two) advised they only deal in gifts...so I was sent to another long wait on hold to the Travel folks (attempt three)-- they actually tried to get me to re-book my already paid for cruise with them & said they had NO help for anyone under the prior program...said there is NO BOA support for this Celeb Visa program & those points could only be redeemed online..

 

we tried to open an online banking acct with BOA altho we have no accts with them other than the BOA Royal & Celeb credit cards.... It is very time consuming & personally invasive information wise....after giving much info I drew the line when they wanted the name of my maid of honor (35 yrs ago) & c*ap like that..there went another waste of time...

 

Finally, VOILA! my husband called the Captains Club (bless them). There is a new option to press CELEBRITY REWARDS..... We were connected to a very knowledgeable/helpful person who processed our rewards in no time. No certificates needed--somehow she go into BOA to do it ...I was encouraged to pass this info along....

 

Problem will be in a few weeks when we want to get one more reward credit when the points from our final payment (with dbl points) hit the card.. I sensed the option via may Celebrity not be around by then!! I am certain we will be stuck with 5,000 Royal points on our Royal card so we may as well try to get a beach towel if we can!!

 

Hope this helps anyone in the present time frame... BOA has changed alot of their programs--not to our liking.. so we will sit with two large useless open lines of credit for awhile...(closing them is not a good idea for credit scores!!)

 

Celebrity & Royal C. should make some type of announcement b/c many of their clients are spending cruise dollars on a card that is no longer delivering the rewards as intitally promised.

 

We are still using our Royal Caribbean Visa card, but are not sure what we will do with the rewards, as we don't have any plans to cruise RCCL again. Also, I cannot get DH to comitt to a new card (since we can't get a Celebrity Visa anymore)! :p:rolleyes:

[hcat]

We are still using our Royal Caribbean Visa card, but are not sure what we will do with the rewards, as we don't have any plans to cruise RCCL again. Also, I cannot get DH to comitt to a new card (since we can't get a Celebrity Visa anymore)! :p:rolleyes:

 

we also have no plans to go back to Royal C for awhile so we have the 5,000 points sittting there..--not alot but wasted & not enough of a reason to hop on a cruise we had not contemplated-.

 

I'd skip any BOA card right now our dtr had a hockey logo card (no other perks) & the next time it renewed they switched her to World points & no more nice logo-- same for someone we know with an NFL logo card..

 

what other Celeb Points cards are out there?

[hcat]

Not sure if you meant 5000 points for OBC. That is the minimum. They are still giving double points for now. You can get cash back, but at a lower rate than if you redeemed for OBC.

 

OOPs, I did mean 5000 but the cash percent is really low unless you hit 50,000..we always liked our ship bd credit!

[CptSticky]

OOPs, I did mean 5000 but the cash percent is really low unless you hit 50,000..we always liked our ship bd credit!

I understand. OBC is still available, but some have had trouble getting it. I did not have any trouble. Scroll back a few postings and look for the links that others have used.

[CptSticky]

I just used the BoA web site to order another OBC for $50 using 5000 points. I know lots of people say that the link isn't there, but it is, just hidden very well. It took me about 5 minutes to find it (it's the same link posted earlier here on this thread). You find it on their site by paging forward on one of the offers that has a tab that says 1 of 3 (sorry, can't remember exactly which one). Number 3 has an add for Celebrity, choose the Cruises tab. To complete the purchase, you will need your sail date and ship name.

[flashdog_1]

Don't know if this will happen with the Celebrity card (I have the X Amex card but only use it when I'm going to cruise X soon), but here's what happened to the NCL BofA card 2 years ago. BofA had a 4% benefit, and it was fairly easy to accumulate enough points to get $1000 off a cruise. Some people even got $500 more off, and did this regularly, a couple of times a year. Then we were notified that that particular program was going to end on Dec 31, 2008. Any "points" would be converted to world points, and the new rate of earning would be 1%. poo. So given a deadline, people were cashing in their minimum amounts, which I believe was $500. Well, some of us hadn't reached that point yet. I'd only had the card a couple of months when this conversion occurred.

 

Since I did not have $500 worth, I was given 4 100 point certificates. Note, that is not $100 certificates. The 100 point certificates could only be used for upgrades. And naturally, with two people in a cabin, it required 2 certificates for a one category upgrade within class (inside to inside etc up to balcony).

 

I looked at all the fares, and found that the largest differential was in balcony cabins, so booked two categories lower than what I was to get, having 4 100 point certificates. I had to mail them in. Meanwhile NCL booked me in a BC category and as soon as they received the certificates switched me to a BA. I called and got the exact cabin of my choice (with a 108 sq ft balcony on the stern). At this point, about a year before the cruise, I was able to get the Pride of America thru Hawaii for something like $800 pp which is almost unheard of now that PofA is the only ship that sails exclusively in Hawaii. Availability was wide open so I had my choice of cabins. My "codes" showed "complimentary upgrade from BC to BA" as if NCL had given it to me, so no further upgrades or upsells were offered me.

 

That may sound strange to you X cruisers, but NCL has an upsell department that frequently fills unsold high end cabins a few weeks before sail date, by giving about a 75% discount to people already booked in suites. Then this filters on down until every cabin is filled and the only ones left are insides which they offer to the general public for a pittance. Everyone wins. But no, everyone does not get the call.

 

As we all know, no reward program's rules are written in blood. Look at airline reward programs. Yes, you may still earn the same, but it requires a whole lot more miles to get a seat!

[hcat]

I just used the BoA web site to order another OBC for $50 using 5000 points. I know lots of people say that the link isn't there, but it is, just hidden very well. It took me about 5 minutes to find it (it's the same link posted earlier here on this thread). You find it on their site by paging forward on one of the offers that has a tab that says 1 of 3 (sorry, can't remember exactly which one). Number 3 has an add for Celebrity, choose the Cruises tab. To complete the purchase, you will need your sail date and ship name.

 

Do you have to make an online banking acct first to use that?

 

As soon as next Celebrity points hit we will redeem via Cap Club if we can & have stopped using both or our BOA cards---eventually we will close them when we do not think our credit line will not be dinged too much from it.. we have very high lines with them...& will have to start with a new bank....

 

using a Chase cash back card for now..

[CptSticky]

Do you have to make an online banking acct first to use that?

 

As soon as next Celebrity points hit we will redeem via Cap Club if we can & have stopped using both or our BOA cards---eventually we will close them when we do not think our credit line will not be dinged too much from it.. we have very high lines with them...& will have to start with a new bank....

 

using a Chase cash back card for now..

Good question, don't know. I do use an online account.

[librarylady19]

Do you have to make an online banking acct first to use that?

 

quote]

No bank account needed. Just fill out the online form (once you eventually find it!); you'll get an email confirmation. I waited a few days and called Capt.s Club and they had a record of my OBC. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks whether it was actually on my account!

[hcat]

Thanks-- we have to wait til Dec 10th, & then we'll go for our extra $50 OBC--every little bit helps..esp at the spa!!!

[hcat]

Called Celeb BOA today-- just to check that my points were all set & ready to be posted on the 10th so we can make our final redemption for OBC for ur Jan cruise.

 

The rep asked if I had received my letter.. I asked, what letter?

I was told-- The one that will explain that the card is being converted to a World points Program eff. Jan 1st.... she also said puruchases this month in several categories would garner mega points--but not for Celebrity OBC only for the new program...

 

If others get such a letter, please post it. I suggest folks start doing what they can to get some of their OBC put to good use...

 

I really think Celebrity & BOA should have given more notice about this..some may really be caught holidng alot of points that will be rolled into the new program!!!. we lucked out but still have points on the BOA Royal card--

 

Does anyone know if Celebrity has other card affiliations that give OBC??

[chessbriar]

I just received my statement and BOA isn't doubling credits for X purchases anymore. Looks like we'll be kissing our X card goodbye. I have other cards that do more for me

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Our statement from 12/3 gave double points for our onboard charges in November. We are looking at excursions for our next cruise and may book one just to see what happens with X points.

Mary Lou

[pbrady]

It looks like we'll be getting rid of our X Visa, but we have accumulated many points. If I transfer it all to OBC for our February cruise, can I get what we don't use in cash at the end?

Thanks -

[hcat]

Hi everyone-

seems we are all saying goodbye to these BOA cards....

 

Today's the day we redeem our last OBC reward. we'll be calling Cap Club to try that route first as soon as we confirm that our last points (from final payment) have hit. We will use the instructions for doing it on the computer if Cap Club fails us.....Hope it does not take 2 hours to get this done, like it did the last time.

 

We will still have about 1800+ points left aftre doing the OBC ..Does anyone know what'll happen if we cancel a cruise that gave us 1800 points way back when (for a $900 dep.)....esp if the reward program changes in Jan. as predicted????

[hcat]

It looks like we'll be getting rid of our X Visa, but we have accumulated many points. If I transfer it all to OBC for our February cruise, can I get what we don't use in cash at the end?

Thanks -

 

We were told by one rep at BOA that the points will roll over to the new program but they pay a very low percent unless you get to 50,000 points..

[CptSticky]

It looks like we'll be getting rid of our X Visa, but we have accumulated many points. If I transfer it all to OBC for our February cruise, can I get what we don't use in cash at the end?

Thanks -

There are two kinds of OBC, refundable and nonrefundable. OBC that you "buy" with your reward points should be refundable. Refundable means that they should credit your credit card with money for any unused OBC. That being said, last month on the Monarch, the lady at the front desk told us that yes our credit was refundable, but would be lost at the end if we did not use it.:confused: Wow, the things that you are told by different RCI employees. Anyway, so as not to argue with her or take any chances, we requested cash on the spot and she gave it to us.:D That way, our on board charges went on our credit card and earned double points;). We have in the past had the extra OBC credit back to our credit card (inspite of what this person told us). That time it was a cruise on X, so it went back on our X card. I have heard from some that the front desk will not always give you cash. If that happens, you can go to the casino and ask for cash, but there is a 3 percent fee for that. So to make a long story short, if you have lots of points and are worried about them losing value with the change over, I would use them all for OBC and then cash out what you don't use.

[hcat]

Success!

 

Kudos again to the Celebrity Captains Club for helping us get our final OBC from the BOA rewards program... the reps were pateint & polite, & got the job done in a much shorter time than if we did it ourselves!

 

I really hope Celebrity finds us another card program!!

[shipshape sam]

I don't know if it IS affecting those of you who already have the card, but we were unable to sign up for a NEW Celebrity card. I hope they let you keep the rewards that you have earned.

 

They have allowed you to keep current points soooo far. At some point, I would be willing to bet, they will transfer them exclusively to World Points and only offer those specific redemption options AND not have cruise type redemption options.

 

We redeem all our points once we heard they were not opening new accounts for a cruise in January!! :)

[hcat]

They have allowed you to keep current points soooo far. At some point, I would be willing to bet, they will transfer them exclusively to World Points and only offer those specific redemption options AND not have cruise type redemption options.

 

We redeem all our points once we heard they were not opening new accounts for a cruise in January!! :)

 

this is pretty much the gist of it from what we were told by BOA ..some type of BOA letter is supposed to be going out...they are pushing their own travel programs real hard..

[CptSticky]

Everything changes, all the time. Talked to the RCI "rewards rep". She told me that as of May 17th, all OBC is now non-refundable. So, guess we will try to get cash from the purser, barring that, the casino at minus 3%.

[gracecarmo]

I plan to get my rewards in cash....a check. I tried doing it on the web site with no success, and will most likely have to call the number on the back of my Celebrity AMEX card. I also have points on the Visa card.

 

I hate the fact that I have to pay the 3% charge to have access to my cash money.

Time to change cards?

[cruisestitch]

There has been a thread about this but the title of that thread is a little unclear so I thought I would start a new thread regarding the Bank of America Celebrity Visa card. Cardholders are supposed to receive a letter in January telling us that this program whereby we receive double points for purchases on Celebrity will end in early 2011.

 

All points must be redeemed prior to March 31, 2011.

 

Like many in the other thread, I will be canceling this card if there is no special benefit for purchases on Celebrity and hope that the cruise line comes up with another card for us sometime in the future. It was a great deal, but alas, it is going away.

[hcat]

we redeemed our last group of points this week for our Jan cruise and have stopped using the BOA Celebrity & BOA Royal cards.... only reason we got them was for OBC & once we got $500 off the cost of a cruise too...

 

we'll be stuck with about 1800 points but can get a small cash back on that I think after they convert them..

 

remember that when you cancel a card it can impact your credit score..if we don't use it & they cancel us, I don't think that counts as a negative... (???)

 

It is annoying that BOA & Celebrity have let this all go on without letting anyone know what is coming down the line-- folks cruising past the applicable time frame will be disppointed!!