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

[coevan]

12 hours ago, xDisconnections said:

Amex ❤️

 

 

better have a plan B in the Caribbean, AMEX is not widely accepted  

[cruisegus]

1 hour ago, Shaded Lady said:

If you check your purchase on the Carnival site or the email ..... but check your Carnival credit card account and you'll see a credit for the amount of 10% off FTTF

 Your right, though not on the email from purchase, I did log into my CC account and saw I had a $9 credit.  Guess I should have waited a while but as I usually do an electronic pay/check the same day I do the charge on a CC, hence a 10% or $9 credit on that account.  made FTTF that much cheaper.

 

Thanks

[ShakyBeef]

7 hours ago, fuddrules said:

 

 

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.  

What a witty adaptation of my screen name.  You're so funny.  However did you think of that all by yourself?

 

But yes, you have it right as far as my use of the card.  It does work for me.  I get $2000 to $3000 off of a cruise (could be a "free" cruise if I was booking cheaper cruises) about every 12 to 18 months.

 

As far as RewardsBoost: I do not buy items I wouldn't be buying anyway, and i do not pay extra just to use a RB merchant.  I get the best price while also getting extra points multipliers.

[taylor1293]

There are better cards out there but I do have one and use it often. I only redeem when I receive $1.50 per point, never for only $1.00 per point.

 

 

 

[ShakyBeef]

On 2/17/2019 at 4:31 AM, RWolver672 said:

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.

 

No, this is definitely not the case.  You do not have to use any particular TA, or any TA at all, for that matter, to use your FunPoints.

 

Also, others were mentioning foreign transaction fees.  Just to be clear:  the Carnival MasterCard has no foreign transaction fees.

ETA: I just happened to be on the phone with a Barclays representative on a completely unrelated matter to this discussion (unfreezing my DH's card that had been misplaced and then found)  so I asked him about the foreign transaction fee.  It turns out it is dependent on the card user and the terms of their agreement.  Mine has no foreign transaction fee.  YMMV.

Edited February 18, 2019 by ShakyBeef

[Joebucks]

This card is good for the easy to get welcome bonus and the other occasional perks you get like OBC and excursion discounts. Other than that, it's not very good. 

[gkbiiii]

The Capital One Venture Card gets you 2X points on every purchase.  Now, that they have airline transfer partners, most of whom are 2/1.5 point/airline mile transfer ratio, the card is even more valuable.  So if you spent $10,000 on any expenses, that would get you 20,000 points and transfer to 15,000 airline points.  Avainca's Lifemiles program, allows points & cash option.  This is a way, to get cheap Business/First Class one-way Europe flights: for those of us who want to do the transatlantic on Mardi Gras!

 

One last thing, if you do Hotels.com/Venture bookings with you Venture card, you get 20X points, for every dollar spent.  So the trip to Europe before the transatlantic, could be quite lucrative as well. 

Edited February 19, 2019 by gkbiiii

[Luckiestmanonearth]

Can anyone put the Carnival card points in more clear terms for comparison ?

For example, are Carnival points 1 to every dollar?

[ShakyBeef]

3 hours ago, Luckiestmanonearth said:

Can anyone put the Carnival card points in more clear terms for comparison ?

For example, are Carnival points 1 to every dollar?

 

You get 1 FunPoint on every dollar spent on any purchase (including utility bill payments).  You get 2 FunPoints per dollar spent for every purchase from a CCL company.  And then, you get additional points per dollar spent when you use the RewardsBoost shopping portal, on top of the regular 1 point per dollar spent.  Different RB merchant offer different points multipliers.

 

For example, right now, here are what some are offering:

 

• Neiman Marcus - 6 points per dollar
• Expedia - 1 point per dollar
• Sam's Club - 2 points per dollar
• The Container Store - 3 points per dollar
• The Home Depot - 2 points per dollar
• 1800Flowers - 10 points per dollar
• Bradford Exchange Checks - 15 points per dollar

 

... and remember, each of those multipliers listed after the merchant above is in addition to your regular 1 point per dollar.

 

 

 

Here's some info on FunPoint earning straight from the Barclays site:

 

Earning FunPoints is easy

Earn 2X FunPoints® spent on Carnival Cruise Line and World's Leading Cruise Lines purchases.

Earn 2X FunPoints per $1 spent on all Carnival Cruise Line purchases including onboard purchases charged to Sail & Sign® AND on any purchases with the brands of the World's Leading Cruise Lines℠.

Earn 1X FunPoint per $1 on all other purchases everywhere Mastercard is accepted.

Earn 1X FunPoint per $1 on all other purchases made at any of the millions of merchant locations where Mastercard is accepted. The more you use your Carnival Mastercard, the more FunPoints you will earn!

Get a 10% reFUNd on shore excursions.

Get a 10% reFUNd when you book a Carnival shore excursion on Carnival.com prior to your cruise.  

Shore excursions may be booked online prior to sailing up until the Pre-Sail cut-off time of 11:30pm ET, the evening prior to the cruise departure. A statement credit will be posted to the account within 1-2 business days and will appear on the account billing statement within 1 billing cycle. Please note, if a statement credit is going to be more than $2,499, it will require a few extra days to post to the cardmember's account.

Use your Carnival Mastercard to pay for your Sail & Sign card purchases and you'll earn more FunPoints.

Use your Carnival Mastercard to pay for your Sail & Sign card purchases and you'll earn two FunPoints per $1 on Sail & Sign purchases. Twice the fun - and all the convenience!

0% promo APR for 6 months on all of your Carnival cruise bookings.

0% promo APR for 6 months every time you book a Carnival cruise using your Carnival Mastercard. At the end of the 6-month promotional period, your standard purchase APR, will apply.

 

 

I hope this helped.

 

 

[MalleyCat]

I have one and use it only for Carnival purchases (cruise, excursions, on board purchases, etc...). Originally, I thought I'd use it for everything, but after a few months, I wasn't seeing the rewards add up like they do with my Discover Card-I put EVERYTHING but my mortgage on my card and pay it off each month. I'll have enough Discover Cash Back Bonus money to purchase a cruise before I'll have enough points on the Barclay Carnival Card.

[Lee Cruiser]

If you are planning on using the card for everyday purchases, there are many cards out there that are better.  To get the best return you have to wait until you have 100,000 points.  For that you get $1,500 or 1.5%.  Citi offers a card that give 2% cash back (1% at purchase and 1% at payment).  That same 100,000 in expenditures would be $2,000.  Plus that $2,000 is cash back and can be used for anything, not just cruises.  Also, you don't have to wait until you build up that many points.  Even with the up front $200 you get with the Carnival card, the extra points for Carnival purchases, and the 10% off of excursions, the Citi card gives you much better returns.

[grandmarnnurse]

On 2/16/2019 at 10:36 AM, 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 ?

I have had that card for several years. I used reward points to pay for my daughter and SIL’s honeymoon cruise back in 2008. Then, because I was sailing primarily RCCL and NCL after take a few years off to recover from 2 major surgeries, and I accrued a lot of points. You see, I use my card for EVERYTHING and they accrue pretty fast. So, a year ago I booked a Carnival cruise and used the card to pay it in full at time of booking, that way I earned double points on that. Added to what I already had, it gave me a $1200 statement credit. My end cost for a 7 day cruise, plus trip insurance through Carnival, and plus adding in the pre paid gratuities at time of booking, was $796. Total. Then, for every 5,000 points I accrued since then, I redeem them towards bar credit. So, I’m leaving on my Breeze cruise on March 2 with $300 bar credits. Anything I book through Carnival (beverages for cabin, excursions, spa appointments) gains me double points, plus 10% off any excursions. To help accrue points faster, I shop online through the Carnival Mastercard (Barclaycard) site to their reward booster stores. I earned 10/$1 on a luggage set through ebags, and at Christmas, I earned 4/$1 on gifts from Harry and David to send to family out of state. Most any store you shop at is in there. I find the card extremely beneficial, and it helps us immensely to continue to cruise on a retirement budget. BTW—I never maintain a balance, always paying my bill off every month. Accruing debt is never a good thing to get reward points, so I never advise this card to anyone unless the can pay their balance off monthly. 

[xDisconnections]

On 2/18/2019 at 12:45 PM, coevan said:

 

 

better have a plan B in the Caribbean, AMEX is not widely accepted  

I usually use my Sapphire Reserve at places that don’t accept Amex.

[gkbiiii]

12 hours ago, gkbiiii said:

The Capital One Venture Card gets you 2X points on every purchase.  Now, that they have airline transfer partners, most of whom are 2/1.5 point/airline mile transfer ratio, the card is even more valuable.  So if you spent $10,000 on any expenses, that would get you 20,000 points and transfer to 15,000 airline points.  Avainca's Lifemiles program, allows points & cash option.  This is a way, to get cheap Business/First Class one-way Europe flights: for those of us who want to do the transatlantic on Mardi Gras!

 

One last thing, if you do Hotels.com/Venture bookings with you Venture card, you get 20X points, for every dollar spent.  So the trip to Europe before the transatlantic, could be quite lucrative as well. 

 

Remember that Comped First/Business Class airfare, is often worth thousands of Dollars and is the best possible redemption.  Often cruises that are cheap, are often prohibitively expensive, due to airfare.  This can let you see the world or even Alaska, with a reasonable cost.