Carnival Credit Card....Is it worth it ?

[Luckiestmanonearth]

We have a Chase Card which has a good points system that we use to mostly buy airline tickets 

 

Was wondering if the points offered on a Carnival Credit Card is a good deal or not compared to a regular bank credit card.

 

Considering we use our credit card regularly. can you earn a cruise fairly quickly or does it take a while ?

[ElCrappyTan]

1 hour ago, Luckiestmanonearth said:

We have a Chase Card which has a good points system that we use to mostly buy airline tickets 

 

Was wondering if the points offered on a Carnival Credit Card is a good deal or not compared to a regular bank credit card.

 

Considering we use our credit card regularly. can you earn a cruise fairly quickly or does it take a while ?

It's OK, definitely there is better out there. $1 = 1 point. (It's 1x points, 2x on all CCL purchases, and they do have some Rewards boost thing were you can earn additional points through certain companies. I believe they also are offering 0% APR for 6 months for cruises booked with the card. 20,000 points = $200 on board credit. You can use it to redeem credits for other on board items (cakes, decorations, prepaid gratuities, bar and photo coupons, etc) as well as "cash back" which just uses points against transactions on your card to reduce the balance, but the value isn't as good. I believe if you have over 150,000 points you can redeem at 1.5 to 1. 

 

Oh, and 10% rebate on shore excursions booked through CCL using the card. 

 

I only use it cause they gave me 0% APR for 15 months and I used it to consolidated all my remaining cards to this one. 

Edited February 16, 2019 by ElCrappyTan

[coevan]

no, there are much better cards out there. Capital One is 2 miles per dollar on anything and you can use your miles any way you like. 

[Shaded Lady]

Regardless of what anyone says, only you can decide based on what they're offering when you sign up, if it's worthwhile to you. We got the card, got the extra $100 gift card for signing up, plus the extra points once we'd spent a certain amount... which was the deposit for our family cruise.

 

FTTF is considered an excursion so we got 10% off using our Carnival card... plus they have a 6 months 0% APR for cruises paid for with the card now... all in all it works for us.

 

If you pay off the balance each time it can be great. However, if you're the kind of person who carries a balance it may not work for you as their interest rate is a bit too high...

[ober134]

I got it just to get the 20,000 sign on promo points which I promptly redeemed for $200 in Carnival gift cards. It'll take forever to earn enough points to get another $100 gift card. But once I do.... I'll be ditching it.

[jdemps]

I think for an average spender it would take years to earn even a 4 night cruise worth of value.  The chase card is likely a better overall value.  I have the SW chase card and it gives me way better value for flights alone versus the tiny rewards you get on the CCL card.  I think it's something like 20K points (basically $20K dollars spent) = $200 value. 

You do the math and see if it works for you.

[CA_Cruzing]

Considering I get around and 11% discount though Costco’s credit card, executive membership and their TA combined, I’d find it hard to get that deal value anywhere else. 

 

Annual costco citi card cash back just funded my upcoming cruise so my cruise fares are actually free. All I had to buy were flights and my shore ex. 

 

To each their own though. How you value money and points/rewards is really up to you.  To us the Carnival card was too low in value for how we spend and vacation. 

Edited February 16, 2019 by CA_Cruzing

[Butterbean1000]

Wet have it.  We get onboard credit with it and discounts on excursions. 

[ProfCruise]

2 hours ago, Butterbean1000 said:

 

 

I have it and after about 5 years I finally have enough points to mostly pay for a short cruise.  100,000 points = $1500. 

[cccer]

2 minutes ago, ProfCruise said:

 

I have it and after about 5 years I finally have enough points to mostly pay for a short cruise.  100,000 points = $1500. 

 

We are in the same boat.  As soon as we hit, 100,000 points, we are going to drop it for another one to get a good initial bonus.  I wish I didn't use the startup points for $200 OBC or I would already have a new card.

 

There are better cards out there, but the 1500 for 100,000 points is nice if you can get there.

[RWolver672]

I  could be wrong but didn't I read on one of their mailers that I get all of the time that if you use your points with their card, you have to go through a specific travel agency.

[CRocks]

19 hours ago, coevan said:

no, there are much better cards out there. Capital One is 2 miles per dollar on anything and you can use your miles any way you like. 

 

Best card going! Blows away the Carnival card or Chase Sapphire which I also have.

[coevan]

no doubt, the best fraud department and no foreign transaction fees

[NoleFam20]

Question...you can get the Carnival card, make at least one charge (no minimum amount) and get a $200 OBC? Do I have that right? Most card promos that I've seen require a minimum amount charged per month for a certain # of months. For example, at least $1000 a month for 3 months before you get the promo bonus points.

[Mm13]

The promotion that I got one month ago was $200 statement credit with first purchase. There was no required amount that the purchase needed it to be. 

 

When I was paying off the cruise it was on the screen as a option for how to pay for the cruise. 

 

I applied but didn’t use the card to pay off cruise but rather to purchase excursions. It came in the mail less than 3 days after I applied. 

[Doggielover68]

23 hours ago, CA_Cruzing said:

Considering I get around and 11% discount though Costco’s credit card, executive membership and their TA combined, I’d find it hard to get that deal value anywhere else. 

 

Annual costco citi card cash back just funded my upcoming cruise so my cruise fares are actually free. All I had to buy were flights and my shore ex. 

 

To each their own though. How you value money and points/rewards is really up to you.  To us the Carnival card was too low in value for how we spend and vacation. 

Agreed. Costco card for the win! Plus, it has no foreign transaction fees. Cash is king when it comes to reward credit cards. You can use cash back for anything.

[BettyPC]

We use our Carnival card quite often & are able to get credit onboard.   We also have a Royal Car. card which we also use

[xDisconnections]

Amex ❤️

[Luckiestmanonearth]

Sounds like I should just stick to the Chase Card.  Thanks for all the feedback

[fuddrules]

25 minutes ago, Luckiestmanonearth said:

Sounds like I should just stick to the Chase Card.  Thanks for all the feedback

 

Depending on how you use them and what cards you have, Chase offers fantastic value.  Amex can too, especially international flights to Asia, but domestically Chase is better.  

 

If you use points strictly for Carnival, cash back cards would work well.   If you go this route, you should be including your partner and getting multiple cards/sign up bonuses.  

 

I’m surprised WavyChicken hasn’t commented.   She’s uses Barclay’s Reward Boost portal (via Carnival Card) to buy many items to increase her Carnival points.  It works for her.  

Edited February 18, 2019 by fuddrules

[webzila]

I don't think the Carnival credit card is worth it. It's only good when you initially get approved and get the bonus points.

After that there is absolutely nothing special about it and many other cards have better points / rewards system.

I can get more cash back on my Amex in 6 months than I could on the Carnival card in 2 years. Then I could just cash out and use that for cruise related purchase.

[MechE31]

If you already have a Chase card (you didn't say which), combining the Chase cards may be your best bet. You can transfer points between cards, so get 1.5% cash back on everything (Freedom Unlimited), 5% on a rotating category (Freedom) and 3% back on travel and dining (Sapphire Reserve). All points can be transferred 1 to 1 to several airline and hotel partners for some occasional crazy deals, or redeem for 50% more towards travel, both using the Sapphire Reserve. You can use points towards cruises, but it is through their travel agency.

 

I redeemed $6000 towards my Alaska trip last year. In part due to the rest of the expenses from Alaska earning at 4.5%, I earned/redeemed another $1800 towards my cruise next year in 9 months.

 

On 2/16/2019 at 6:04 PM, CA_Cruzing said:

Considering I get around and 11% discount though Costco’s credit card, executive membership and their TA combined, I’d find it hard to get that deal value anywhere else.

 

How much of that would you earn without the credit card? It looks like only 3% of that is from the CC.

[CA_Cruzing]

Costco’s CC is 4% on gas, 3% on travel, 2% dining, 1% others. 

 

When we book a cruise through them, depending on cabin type, I get 6-7% in store gift card after trip is complete (I cash in that gift card for actual cash), then on my Executive Membership I get 2% end of year bonus and the CC also gets me 3% on end of year bonus. 

 

For hotles, we usually NYOP on Priceline which saves substantial money on hotel nights (just booked a 4* hotel for $85 a night) when Marriott was selling same room for $179 a night. 

 

I project my Costco CC will cash me around $1300-1500 a year with how we spend and pay for stuff. I estimate I save over $2000 a year on hotels through NYOP on Priceline (20 nights at around $100 saved per night, some rooms are more and some are less). And I get instant cash back when I travel using them as my TA. 

 

For me, I don’t have to track promotions and rotating categories. And all my expenditures are on a single CC which makes bookkeeping easier for taxes. 

[cruisegus]

On 2/16/2019 at 4:12 PM, Shaded Lady said:

FTTF is considered an excursion so we got 10% off using our Carnival card...

 

How did that work, I just purchased FTTF with my Barclay Carnival Card it certainly didn't give me a 10% discount in the ordering system.

[Shaded Lady]

2 minutes ago, cruisegus said:

 

How did that work, I just purchased FTTF with my Barclay Carnival Card it certainly didn't give me a 10% discount in the ordering system.

If you check your purchase on the Carnival site or the email they sent you, it certainly appears that way... but check your Carnival credit card account and you'll see a credit for the amount of 10% off FTTF... we bought it for 2 cabins for a 7 night cruise ($89.99 per cabin) and got $17.99 in discount...

 

SHORE EXCURSION CREDIT

May 3rd, 2018

($17.99)

CARNIVAL SHORE EXCURSION

May 1st, 2018

$89.95

180 FunPoints

CARNIVAL SHORE EXCURSION

May 1st, 2018

$89.95

180 FunPoints