American Express and RCL Wine/Champagne Benefit

[greatestvalue]

Has anyone ever asked to downgrade their Amex Benefit on RCL of a bottle of champagne/wine to a 6 pack of beer?  

 

[yogimax]

1 hour ago, greatestvalue said:

Has anyone ever asked to downgrade their Amex Benefit on RCL of a bottle of champagne/wine to a 6 pack of beer?  

 

What AMEX benefit?

[greatestvalue]

1 hour ago, yogimax said:

What AMEX benefit?

If you have an Amex Platinum card it comes with Cruise Privilege's.  For RCL part of the benefit is a bottle of champagne/wine along with OBC.  

 

[MadamG2U]

2 hours ago, greatestvalue said:

If you have an Amex Platinum card it comes with Cruise Privilege's.  For RCL part of the benefit is a bottle of champagne/wine along with OBC.  

 

Can you explain how this works.  Do I need to book the cruise with my platinum card?

[CruznGal145]

awesome!  I didn't know this!  Gonna go check it out now!

[MarinerAlex]

3 hours ago, MadamG2U said:

Can you explain how this works.  Do I need to book the cruise with my platinum card?

Yes, need to use Amex Plat through the cruise privilege program. I think you need a min 5 night sailing, which you then get either 100/200/300 OBC depending on category, and a bottle of either champagne or wine. I’ve booked them online and also by phone, my advice is its easier to call them.

 

You also get 2x membership rewards points.

Edited August 1, 2022 by MarinerAlex

[marvelous35]

I was looking at the Amex Platinum benefits.  Can the cruise be booked through any travel agency or do you specifically need to book it through Amex?

[MarinerAlex]

Only through Amex

[Stockjock]

I think only certain sailings and/or cabin categories are qualified for that perk.  I did a recent short cruise out of Los Angeles and was told that it did not qualify for the Amex benefit (I have a Amex Platinum card).

However, when we did an 8 night out of Shanghai in a mini-suite, we got $300 OBC and a bottle of wine.

I think that it has to be a certain number of nights to qualify, plus you have to book with an agent who has that qualification with American Express.  Many do, but some don't.

I recently booked Oceania, and I think any category on Oceania qualifies for $300 OBC, a bottle of wine and an invitation to a wine tasting event, again as long as the agent has that qualification.  That would be separate from anything else that one's travel agent may be able to provide.  So I ended up getting $300 OBC from Amex, $150 OBC from the agent, $100 NCL shareholder credit, which puts me at $550 OBC.  Then, I did 2 Amex offers on the same sailing, which got me $250 cash back with an $800 spend twice ($500 cash refunded to my card).  Plus the wine plus the wine tasting.  All of that is worth over $1,000, by my math.

Edited August 1, 2022 by Stockjock

[greatestvalue]

5 hours ago, MadamG2U said:

Do I need to book the cruise with my platinum card?

Yes, you must book the entire "fare" with the Amex Platinum card.  You can also go to your Amex Platinum benefits and look up Cruise Benefits.  

 

You must also book with a TA that is certified to book for Amex, or you can book through Amex Travel. 

 

 

[greatestvalue]

41 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

I think only certain sailings and/or cabin categories are qualified for that perk.

I believe it is 5 nights or more.  The benefits are listed on the Amex page under Cruise Privilege's. 

[greatestvalue]

42 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

Many do, but some don't

I found this out myself recently.  But it was ok, because I had an Amex offer to spend $1000, get $250.00 back and it was on an Amex Blue Card.  So it was going to be one or the other anyway. 

[greatestvalue]

44 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

All of that is worth over $1,000,

Booyah!!  Thats what we are talking about.  

 

On the upcoming RCL it's $376.00 for the OBC(s) from Amex & TA and shareholder benefits

 

Im pretty close to you on an upcoming NCL 15 day Panama Canal. One thing I like about this one, is it includes pre-paid gratuities for 2 as well 

 

So nothing to spend the money on but ourselves, once we get on board.  This is for a 15 day Panama Canal. 

 

So it all adds up!!  

[greatestvalue]

1 hour ago, MarinerAlex said:

Only through Amex

No you can use a TA but they must have ability's to book with Amex. 

[greatestvalue]

1 hour ago, marvelous35 said:

Can the cruise be booked through any travel agency or do you specifically need to book it through Amex?

Any TA that is certified through Amex.  Or you can book through Amex direct. 

[Stockjock]

Here's a tip.  Some of the Amex Offers will provide a credit on a certain spend, usually on new bookings only.

But...

Typically, they don't actually know if it's a new booking.

In other words, let's say you see an offer for a $200 credit on a booking of $500 or more.  Go ahead and book.  If the initial deposit is, let's say, $398, instead ask the agent to provide an initial deposit of exactly $500 to trigger the Amex Offer.

Let's say 6 months later, you see the same, or a similar offer.  Make another payment on your booking for at least that minimum and it will likely trigger the refund/offer all over again. 

No guarantees, but this has worked for me.  On one sailing, I've got $500 in refunds and if I see another offer, I'll make another payment and perhaps even upgrade the cabin, if need be, in an effort to trigger a 3rd credit.

Edited August 1, 2022 by Stockjock

[greatestvalue]

2 hours ago, Stockjock said:

a bottle of wine

Back to my original question.  Think they will downgrade the bottle of champagne/wine to beer?  I no one has any experience with this, I will let you know when I come back from Europe in a couple of weeks 🙂

[Stockjock]

16 hours ago, greatestvalue said:

Back to my original question.  Think they will downgrade the bottle of champagne/wine to beer?  I no one has any experience with this, I will let you know when I come back from Europe in a couple of weeks 🙂

I would discuss this with your travel agent.