Carnival Mastercard

[Kamloops50]

Which credit card doesn't have crazy interest cards. Most cards (Canada maybe in the US also ) charge about 20% on your balance.

 

 

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[Saint Greg]

Don't ever carry a balance on a Carnival MC because the interest rates are crazy. Not many options for using the points other than taking a Carnival cruise. I did cash in my points last year for either Amazon or Chili's gift cards. I prefer my US Bank card where I can use my points for hotels, airline tickets and lots of other stuff.

 

I don't know about airline tickets...I try not to fly...But You can use the carnival points for some hotels. Right now I can use points for a statement credit on an embassy suites stay from October and a comfort suites stay from November. The best value is to save up the 100k points and use it on a cruise though. I don't be carry a balance. I use it instead of a debit card and pay it off every week.

[newNCLcruiser2010]

Yes, there are better cards, but the Carnival MC is not bad if you use it right. I use mine primarily for cruise-related purchases, and also use it when they run other promotions that gives you 2x. After that, you just have to be patient enough not cash out until you reach 100,000 points. Do that, and you get $1500 towards a cruise (yes, $1500 and not just $1000). That's what I will be using for my May cruise, which will make my cruise free courtesy of the card. Do the math, and that is the effective equivalent of getting 3x on cruise-related purchases and promotional purchases. Works for me!

 

That's what I did too, except I only had about 70,000 points and I cashed them in as a statement credit towards my cruise final payment. Got $1100! That was so much better than the amount of OBC I could have gotten.

It's much more beneficial if you used the points as statement credits towards Carnival purchases.

[CounterTorque]

We charge everything to it, doesn't have to be travel related to get points. They also do lots of double/extra points on everyday things.

 

Just hit the 100k mark for the $1500 credit. Pretty much our kids get to go free as 3rd and 4th.

Oh and the interest rate is very fair, though we pay it off every month so it doesn't matter.

 

 

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[1cruisingal]

Agree that it's confusing. Hope this helps:

 

First, know that the 180 days does not refer to the expiration of your accumulated points. They do not expire.

The 180 days refers to the "eligible purchases" against which you can apply your points as a statement credit.

 

Example:

 

Let's say you took a cruise 3 months ago. In the weeks leading up to the cruise, you used your Carnival MC to purchase the cruise, excursions, Cheers program, etc. And when the cruise was over, you had a balance on your S&S account that also hit your Carnival MC. All of those charges are "eligible purchases". They will remain on your rewards program history as eligible purchases for 180 days from the transaction date. (Note: your monthly statement and the rewards program history are two different things. Even though you may completely pay your statement off at the end of the month, these eligible charges will still be listed on your rewards program history for 180 days).

 

When you select the option to use your points to apply as a statement credit, all of the active eligible purchases will be listed. You select the one to which you wish to apply your accumulated points. Now this is where it gets interesting. If you have eligible purchases of $1500 or more (individually, not collectively), then the redemption value of your points increases from 1% to 1.5%. This means that a 10,000 point redemtion would get you a statement credit of $150. On the flip-side, if you redeem your points against an eligible purchase of less than $1500, then that same 10,000 points will only get you a statement credit of $100.

 

Yes, it was a bit confusing at first. We have had this card for several years now. Once we had some history with it, and took the time to sit down and draw up some scenarios that mimicked our typical crusing pattern, then we were able to make the card work well for us.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Thank you so much! You've helped explain a lot!

[mojavetex]

We charge everything to it, doesn't have to be travel related to get points. They also do lots of double/extra points on everyday things.

 

Just hit the 100k mark for the $1500 credit. Pretty much our kids get to go free as 3rd and 4th.

Oh and the interest rate is very fair, though we pay it off every month so it doesn't matter.

 

 

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We do the same thing--we charge everything and pay it off every month. You have to be disciplined. We stay on budget, of course. But we use all our points for onboard credit or to pay for our cruise.

 

 

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[cynusps]

I have a Carnival MC. I got it last year after my first cruise. Where can I find out the way to use the points?

[sunsetsatsea]

I have this card and have paid for three cruise fares fully with it. I know that spending more that $1500 for the cruise gets the best redemption rate. I am looking at booking another cruise now and am dismayed that I can no longer find the "how many points will I need to pay for my cruise button." I have looked all over the website. Does anyone have any experience with this? I have 2 kids now so I don't want to spend more that I have points for.

[DenaInWyo]

Not a great card at all. It cost me 12,500 points for a 100.00 onboard credit so not only did I have to use up all the 10,000 I got for applying but had to use 2500 more I had built up. Unless you are using the card for carnival purchases only, you basically have to spend 12,500 dollars to get a measly 100.00 OBC. Now that I have redeemed all my points, Im thinking about cutting the card up.

 

 

 

So much this. Your post really got my attention because my situation this year was spending a little over 11k on my Capital card all total, and got back nearly $700 on my Carnival S&S purchase from my last cruise. Spent less money using that card, and got $600 more in rewards. Yep, thinking that one is getting the scissor treatment.

[auscgguysgirl]

We charge everything to it, doesn't have to be travel related to get points. They also do lots of double/extra points on everyday things.

 

Just hit the 100k mark for the $1500 credit. Pretty much our kids get to go free as 3rd and 4th.

Oh and the interest rate is very fair, though we pay it off every month so it doesn't matter.

 

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Same here. I haven't paid interest on my Carnival MC since we got it a year ago. And we've redeemed close to $750 in rewards.

We do have other rewards cards, which I use depending on the reward status, like I use my Chase Amazon Visa for anything Amazon and the reward points come in handy at Christmas.

[auscgguysgirl]

We charge everything to it, doesn't have to be travel related to get points. They also do lots of double/extra points on everyday things.

 

Just hit the 100k mark for the $1500 credit. Pretty much our kids get to go free as 3rd and 4th.

Oh and the interest rate is very fair, though we pay it off every month so it doesn't matter.

 

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Same here. I haven't paid interest on my Carnival MC since we got it a year ago. And we've redeemed close to $750 in rewards.

We do have other rewards cards, which I use depending on the reward status, like I use my Chase Amazon Visa for anything Amazon and the reward points come in handy at Christmas.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Yes, there are better cards, but the Carnival MC is not bad if you use it right. I use mine primarily for cruise-related purchases, and also use it when they run other promotions that gives you 2x. After that, you just have to be patient enough not cash out until you reach 100,000 points. Do that, and you get $1500 towards a cruise (yes, $1500 and not just $1000). That's what I will be using for my May cruise, which will make my cruise free courtesy of the card. Do the math, and that is the effective equivalent of getting 3x on cruise-related purchases and promotional purchases. Works for me!

 

 

It would take us years to get that many points. We just checked and we only have 8,000 points right now. We are going to pay off our cruise with it (we owe $2100, I think), but at the rate we're gong it will take several years.

 

 

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[auscgguysgirl]

I agree. No more benefits better than others.

 

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I don't agree w/ this. I have many reward cards and each is good in their own way. A lot of it is how you use your card and what benefits you want and maximizing those benefits.

 

I've had my card almost 2 years. Never paid a dime in interest. Paid gratuities on 4 cruises (7, 8 & 10 days, which is cheaper than paying the gratuities out of pocket) ... 4 $200 spa credits ... redeemed almost $1500 in statement credits, which I've used to pay carnival related stuff & earned 2x pts w/ that credit.

 

I always try to maximize the rewards available. Recently Amex had an offer of $100 stmt credit w/ any $500 purchase for carnival reservations... I took advantage of that w/ all 3 of our Amex cards as $1500 payments for $1200 was a better offer.

 

It's all in how you use your rewards.

[Madhook]

I have a carnival card and my wife and I are going on a free 7 day cruise and also have enough points after paying for the cruise to get $1200 in on board credit

 

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[Port of Tampa]

Thanks for all the info...we just got our Carnival MC and will use it wisely.

 

Cheers and happy cruising.

[Madhook]

Thank you I take advantage of all the bonus points when ever they have them

 

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[apmecruise]

Oh I am confused about the credit. Do I have to apply for $100?

 

 

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[apmecruise]

Another question. Do I just wait and use the carnival credit to help pay the bill after the cruise? Or do I set something else up before?

 

 

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[evparsons]

I have this card and have paid for three cruise fares fully with it. I know that spending more that $1500 for the cruise gets the best redemption rate. I am looking at booking another cruise now and am dismayed that I can no longer find the "how many points will I need to pay for my cruise button." I have looked all over the website. Does anyone have any experience with this? I have 2 kids now so I don't want to spend more that I have points for.

 

 

That is gone, what you can know do is either get gift cards or apply your points to a statement credit.