Major changes to RCCL Visa program

[setsail]

I thought the subject of this thread was "Major Changes to RCCL Visa Program"?? Any discussion about the new Visa Signature card is getting buried within pages of posts not relevant to the subject.

 

If you all would like to discuss other credit cards and their benefits, why not start another thread?

 

Been wondering when this would come up, thanks. Needs to be said. Agree 100%

[cruisenfever]

The major change should be to a different card.

Then please start another thread about a different card.

Edited August 22, 2013 by cruisenfever

[SherriZ366]

The please start another thread about a different card.

I agree -- the changes to the RCCL Visa are a bit complex so it would be helpful to not have to wade through the virtues of the other cards.

[StarSong]

Thanks to everyone for weighing in here. I've been following this thread off and on. Sometimes it gets murkier before the water clears again, but that's probably why it's now 17 pages long! ;)

 

The brand new updated redemption rules make more sense than the interim version. By my understanding, values of RCI Visa points are capped at double face value (at the very best).

For instance, 125,000 points can be redeemed for:

a maximum of $1250 worth of OBC, vacation discounts or companion fares,

OR a maximum of $1800 worth of companion fares on a longer cruise,

OR $2500 on certain cruises for two.

 

Not to reignite the Cap-One discussion, but given those facts, it doesn't seem sensible to continue with the RCI card over a Cap-One that always gives 2-for-1 point redemption.

 

I definitely have a dog in this fight since my account has a 250,000 RCI point balance right now.

 

In answer to questions:

 

Yes: I use it for business, but it is a sole proprietorship so I am personally on the hook for CC bills.

 

Those who charge everything they buy (and I am not one of those) cost everyone else a fortune. We bumped our prices by 5% when we started to take CCs - and occasionally have 5% OFF sale dates for those customers who pay using cash. Not debit, not credit, not checks. Cash. It's HUGELY success to run that special.

[LMaxwell]

I just received my card from Bank of America. It is a Visa Signature card. Nothing in the enclosed paperwork said anything about 10K points bonus after first qualifying purchase so I called customer service to activate and ask about the bonus points. I will indeed get 10K points after a qualifying purchase. I don't know what is a "qualifying" purchase and neither does BOA either.

 

Ah, BOA, you're back in my life...

[mein18]

I agree -- the changes to the RCCL Visa are a bit complex so it would be helpful to not have to wade through the virtues of the other cards.

 

No need to start another thread. Just trying to help sort out the options. RCI and BofA have made it so confusing there have now been 333 posts and still nobody know how the card they are carrying works.

 

Easy option... CO, double points on ALL purchases and redeem for ANY and ALL travel. That simple.

 

You can use for our Allure or Oasis with NO restrictions. Combine it with C&A, balcony discounts, diamond, any RCI points etc. NO restrictions.

 

OR if you decide to switch cruise lines, use it for that. Can't do that with RCI.

 

Just trying to help everyone that is very confused or is getting stung by the more restrictive restrictions.

[Lilyrosemum]

I am cashing in the rest of our Royal Caribbean Visa points on our next cruise in two months as OBC. We have more than 150,000 points and haven't been able to use another free cruise (125,000 points) for its full benefit as the Caribbean cruise prices are pretty low. So if the points can't be combined with Diamond Plus Balcony discounts in the future, we are done.

 

Too many better cards out there even ones I already have. After 6 free cruises with the BofA Royal Caribbean Visa it was good while it lasted.

[cruisenfever]

I just received my card from Bank of America. It is a Visa Signature card. Nothing in the enclosed paperwork said anything about 10K points bonus after first qualifying purchase so I called customer service to activate and ask about the bonus points. I will indeed get 10K points after a qualifying purchase. I don't know what is a "qualifying" purchase and neither does BOA either.

 

Ah, BOA, you're back in my life...

The Bonus Points Promotions are usually not described in your paperwork from BofA when you receive a credit card since that point value can change as well as the time frame of eligibility. It's clearly advertised on the RCI website though.

 

Just make a purchase anywhere for anything, costing whatever, and that will qualify you for the bonus points.:)

Edited August 24, 2013 by cruisenfever

[molly361]

Patti I am sorry if I missed it, but did they indicate when they were going to start sending out the new cards? thanks Ellen

[cruisenfever]

Patti I am sorry if I missed it, but did they indicate when they were going to start sending out the new cards? thanks Ellen

No Ellen, they didn't. I guess they are in the process of doing that now from what I've read here on CC.

[vavasmom]

Can someone help me here - I currently have just under 140,000 points that it looks like I need to use ASAP before the "conversion" - otherwise I loose out on my next cruise and balcony discounts (loosing 350 to get 500). I have always used for OBC before but that looks like it will not work in this case (I can't possibly use that much OBC in 1 cruise).

 

If I book a cruise for next Sept can I apply 2 $500 cruise discount certificates to that cruise plus my balcony discount and my 4$100 OBC for using a next cruise cert? Could I then add OBC to get close to 0 points?

 

I thought that there is some limit - all I can find now is about the new cards

[cruisenfever]

Can someone help me here - I currently have just under 140,000 points that it looks like I need to use ASAP before the "conversion" - otherwise I loose out on my next cruise and balcony discounts (loosing 350 to get 500). I have always used for OBC before but that looks like it will not work in this case (I can't possibly use that much OBC in 1 cruise).

 

If I book a cruise for next Sept can I apply 2 $500 cruise discount certificates to that cruise plus my balcony discount and my 4$100 OBC for using a next cruise cert? Could I then add OBC to get close to 0 points?

 

I thought that there is some limit - all I can find now is about the new cards

I would call the Redemption Center at 1-888-305-4626 and ask.

[molly361]

Can someone help me here - I currently have just under 140,000 points that it looks like I need to use ASAP before the "conversion" - otherwise I loose out on my next cruise and balcony discounts (loosing 350 to get 500). I have always used for OBC before but that looks like it will not work in this case (I can't possibly use that much OBC in 1 cruise).

 

If I book a cruise for next Sept can I apply 2 $500 cruise discount certificates to that cruise plus my balcony discount and my 4$100 OBC for using a next cruise cert? Could I then add OBC to get close to 0 points?

 

I thought that there is some limit - all I can find now is about the new cards

 

If you are saying that you have 4 next cruise certificates each with $100 OBC you can only use 1 per reservation. You would have to make 4 reservations to use the 4 of them

[vavasmom]

I would call the Redemption Center at 1-888-305-4626 and ask.

 

I am still on hold waiting - they seem unusually busy :rolleyes:

[cruisenfever]

I am still on hold waiting - they seem unusually busy :rolleyes:

I'm sure they are since it's only 7:15 on the West Coast.:)

Edited August 24, 2013 by cruisenfever

[MJonTravel]

I also received new cards because they said our account may have been compromised. Note that the new Visa cards have chips in them, so I guess I need to purchases those sleeves to protect them.

 

It's only a matter of time before all credit cards contain chips. Note that these chips are EMV Chips, and not RFID chips. I don't know that having a sleeve will have any benefit like it might for the RFID chipped cards.

 

EMV will still require being inserted into a reader of some sort, where RFID chipped cards can be "waived" over a reader, thus the sleeve might make some sense for those.

 

Edited: I may have "over spoke" about EMV not handling contactless payments. After doing a little more reading, it seems they may be capable, just not widely used in that regard yet. So... do what you're most comfortable with in regards to card sleeves. :) For the record, I have two EMV chipped cards, and they're the only two I haven't had swapped out for fraud reasons....but that may be due to the tendency to only use them in Europe more than anything else. And they sit in my wallet like the rest of my cards, with no sleeves.

Edited August 25, 2013 by MJonTravel

[mein18]

It's only a matter of time before all credit cards contain chips. Note that these chips are EMV Chips, and not RFID chips. I don't know that having a sleeve will have any benefit like it might for the RFID chipped cards.

 

EMV will still require being inserted into a reader of some sort, where RFID chipped cards can be "waived" over a reader, thus the sleeve might make some sense for those.

 

Edited: I may have "over spoke" about EMV not handling contactless payments. After doing a little more reading, it seems they may be capable, just not widely used in that regard yet. So... do what you're most comfortable with in regards to card sleeves. :) For the record, I have two EMV chipped cards, and they're the only two I haven't had swapped out for fraud reasons....but that may be due to the tendency to only use them in Europe more than anything else. And they sit in my wallet like the rest of my cards, with no sleeves.

 

What is the upside to having chips in the cards? Are we becoming such a lazy society that we can't exert the energy to swipe cards anymore or have the sleeve manufacturers paid off the credit card companies for profit to have them on all cards?

[cruisenfever]

What is the upside to having chips in the cards? Are we becoming such a lazy society that we can't exert the energy to swipe cards anymore or have the sleeve manufacturers paid off the credit card companies for profit to have them on all cards?

Security. Less chance of a card being compromised when it's pin and chip.

 

In Europe they look at you funny if you have a card that needs to be "swiped".

Edited August 25, 2013 by cruisenfever

[MJonTravel]

Security. Less chance of a card being compromised when it's pin and chip.

 

In Europe they look at you funny if you have a card that needs to be "swiped".

 

What Patti said.

 

EMV is likely to be the new standard, unless something else comes along. As an example, in Italy last year, I attempted to buy a train ticket on the platform with my "non chip" card, and it would not process. I inserted my chip equipped card, and the transaction processed with no problem. Other than that, I've not had a particular problem. Most of the tourist area merchants will take both chip and swipe cards.

 

Supposedly the merchant agreements require vendors to accept either, but I've read many stories about folks with non chip cards experiencing many hassles making purchases with their card outside the USA.

[mein18]

Security. Less chance of a card being compromised when it's pin and chip.

 

In Europe they look at you funny if you have a card that needs to be "swiped".

 

How can security be better when the card can be compromised with it snug in your wallet in your pocket? To swipe you nust physically have the card in your hand to use.

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app

[Clarea]

How can security be better when the card can be compromised with it snug in your wallet in your pocket? To swipe you nust physically have the card in your hand to use.

Many of the card compromises come when your card is taken from you (as is typical in US restaurants) and swiped on a skimming device. The information from the skimmer can be used to clone your card. The cards with embedded chips are supposedly much harder to clone.

[MJonTravel]

I'm not convinced an EMV Chip card is as easy to read from a distance as an RFID chip card.....even though I did correct my original post to note that they apparently can conduct contactless payments. I've never used one where it did not have to be inserted into a machine to process a charge though.

 

There's a good bit of information on the interweb about the coming change to Chip cards. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I'm thinking sometime in 2015, all MC/Visa issuers have to issue EMV chip cards. Anyways...I've probably said enough about chip cards.

 

Back to trying to understand the implications of the MyRewards program. I'm leaning towards thinking it might be a small enhancement to RCL's card offering, but I still think other cards are better.... Chase Freedom, Sapphire Preferred, CapOne Venture, and maybe even Barclays Arrival. Gotta do some math. :)

[cruisenfever]

How can security be better when the card can be compromised with it snug in your wallet in your pocket? To swipe you nust physically have the card in your hand to use.

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app

With a Pin and Chip card, you insert the card into the reader, enter your pin number and remove the card. The card never leaves your possession.

I'm not convinced an EMV Chip card is as easy to read from a distance as an RFID chip card.....even though I did correct my original post to note that they apparently can conduct contactless payments. I've never used one where it did not have to be inserted into a machine to process a charge though.

 

There's a good bit of information on the interweb about the coming change to Chip cards. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I'm thinking sometime in 2015, all MC/Visa issuers have to issue EMV chip cards. Anyways...I've probably said enough about chip cards.

 

Back to trying to understand the implications of the MyRewards program. I'm leaning towards thinking it might be a small enhancement to RCL's card offering, but I still think other cards are better.... Chase Freedom, Sapphire Preferred, CapOne Venture, and maybe even Barclays Arrival. Gotta do some math. :)

Last fall, after contacting BofA that we were going on a cruise and would be out of our spending zone, we got on the subject of when would the RCI Visa Plus having a chip embedded. I was told it currently had one and was sent the new card.

Edited August 25, 2013 by cruisenfever

[steveru621]

I'm not convinced an EMV Chip card is as easy to read from a distance as an RFID chip card.....even though I did correct my original post to note that they apparently can conduct contactless payments. I've never used one where it did not have to be inserted into a machine to process a charge though.

 

There's a good bit of information on the interweb about the coming change to Chip cards. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I'm thinking sometime in 2015, all MC/Visa issuers have to issue EMV chip cards. Anyways...I've probably said enough about chip cards.

 

Back to trying to understand the implications of the MyRewards program. I'm leaning towards thinking it might be a small enhancement to RCL's card offering, but I still think other cards are better.... Chase Freedom, Sapphire Preferred, CapOne Venture, and maybe even Barclays Arrival. Gotta do some math. :)

 

EMV requires much closer proximity than does RFID. Europe got ahead of the USA with chips because data communications was so bad. Years ago many Europe businesses could not get the instant approval we expect in the USA. Chips cost card issuers big bucks compared to the simple mag-stripe. Short answer to a complicated issue.

 

Mag-stripes probably won't disappear for another 10 years, so the skimming problems won't go away soon. There are millions of devices (ATMs and POS terminals) that can't read the chip. Until the millions of dollars are spent to fix that problem the old mag-stripe will be around for a while. But the bad guys will have the technology to read and decrypt the chips before we know it. Banks' saying, "We build a ten foot wall and the bad guys build a 12 foot ladder!"

 

Unless the merchants improve their computer security, it really doesn't matter if it's a chip or mag-stripe on the card. Most of the re-issues done in the last 5-7 years were cards stolen from merchant databases or networks. It's difficult to skim a really large number of cards!

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[mein18]

With a Pin and Chip card, you insert the card into the reader, enter your pin number and remove the card. The card never leaves your possession.

.

 

With the chip it may never leave your hand but does not need to to be compromised. Anyone with proper technology can steal the card info while in hour pocket. That can not happen with just the simple old fashion magnetic strip.