New AMEX Offer

[davencl]

Used this offer today for prepaid gratuities and thermal spa pass on my upcoming AUS/NZ trip.  Got an email within minutes from AMEX that I'd used my offer.

[rbxlady]

On 10/11/2022 at 8:53 AM, 2boyzmom said:

I chatted with amex. They said it is still being loaded on accounts.

Thank you! I'm a longtime AMEX customer and didn't see it on my Gold card. (They keep trying to get me to upgrade to Platinum, but it doesn't make sense for me to upgrade.)

My 10/22 cruise is already fully paid for, so if we're not ready to book another cruise, is there a way to buy CruiseNext (or FCC or whatever) through NCL.com to take advantage of the offer?

[jlacy1987]

I have two Amex Platinum cards (a personal and a business) but they are both Delta Skymiles cards and the offer is not showing up on either. So it is probably only available to just American Express cards and not partner cards. 

[davencl]

4 hours ago, jlacy1987 said:

I have two Amex Platinum cards (a personal and a business) but they are both Delta Skymiles cards and the offer is not showing up on either. So it is probably only available to just American Express cards and not partner cards. 

That would be correct.  It's not on my Delta Skymiles card but it is on my Blue Cash card.

[2boyzmom]

8 hours ago, rbxlady said:

Thank you! I'm a longtime AMEX customer and didn't see it on my Gold card. (They keep trying to get me to upgrade to Platinum, but it doesn't make sense for me to upgrade.)

My 10/22 cruise is already fully paid for, so if we're not ready to book another cruise, is there a way to buy CruiseNext (or FCC or whatever) through NCL.com to take advantage of the offer?

I also have a gold but they gave me 150,000 am ex award points to convert. That gives me 2 round trip tickets to Hawaii 🙂 

[jimsig]

It was showing on my account yesterday but now is gone.  😡

[MichiganBound]

2 hours ago, jimsig said:

It was showing on my account yesterday but now is gone.  😡

Same for me.  I had it on Friday but gone now.  Weird.

[ngrund]

8 hours ago, MichiganBound said:

Same for me.  I had it on Friday but gone now.  Weird.

I believe the offers are limited, so once enough people load them to their cards...

 

As soon as you see any offer that you may possibly use, add to your card

[603NHCruiser]

21 hours ago, rbxlady said:

Thank you! I'm a longtime AMEX customer and didn't see it on my Gold card. (They keep trying to get me to upgrade to Platinum, but it doesn't make sense for me to upgrade.)

My 10/22 cruise is already fully paid for, so if we're not ready to book another cruise, is there a way to buy CruiseNext (or FCC or whatever) through NCL.com to take advantage of the offer?

As far as upgrading your card to try and get the offer, if that is your primary reason, you may be disappointed. They are targeted marketing offers and it doesn't seem to matter which card type you have. The offer has shown up on the free cards (cash, blue, etc.) as well as the premium cards (green, gold, plat, centurion.) The only cards that appear to specifically not get the offer are branded cards (airline, big box store, etc.) (*that is just based off of comments found on the forum here. If someone has a branded card with the current NCL offer I think everyone would like to know)

 

The offer is also likely pre-selected so even if you were to upgrade to platinum, you may not get the offer this round.

 

As for your question regarding buying CruiseNext certs. Those can only be purchased onboard. You can however purchase CruiseFirst certs directly through the website or by phone. They do come with a few more restrictions such as not being able to double them up like the CruiseNext, and according to the T&C they can ONLY be used for NEW reservations. But, I can confirm that buying them without also booking a reservation DOES satisfy the requirement and I received the rebate from AMEX when this same offer ran last year. NCL will periodically run a promo on CruiseFirst where the value is increase and you purchase a $500 cert for $250. this makes them effectively the same thing as buying two CruiseNext certs. https://www.ncl.com/cruisefirst-program in the past they ran the $500 offer a few days after a major holiday sale ended so keep a look out and the page. It may come up again after US Thanksgiving. Just make sure to thoroughly read the terms and conditions so there are no surprises, and be confident that you will be cruising again within three years

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, MichiganBound said:

Same for me.  I had it on Friday but gone now.  Weird.

Same here also. I had it, and now no longer have it. And that is despite the number of offers in the travel category went up from 11-15 .

[MsTabbyKats]

My  husband has an Amex card....it's blue (other than that, I don't know what rank or tier).  He uses it about once a year, for about $50 (just to keep it active).

 

Thanks to this thread, I saw that he got the offer and I put it on his card.  A few days later I noticed it wasn't listed under "offers" but was still on his card.  I just assumed that it wasn't listed under "offers" because it was on his card.

 

As of this morning, it's still on his card, but not listed under "offers".

 

Don't know what any of this means....just reporting in.

[davencl]

The original offer terms said it must be added by 10/14 used by 12/31.  Since it's not 10/14 yet must be due to limited availability.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, MsTabbyKats said:

My  husband has an Amex card....it's blue (other than that, I don't know what rank or tier).  He uses it about once a year, for about $50 (just to keep it active).

 

Thanks to this thread, I saw that he got the offer and I put it on his card.  A few days later I noticed it wasn't listed under "offers" but was still on his card.  I just assumed that it wasn't listed under "offers" because it was on his card.

 

As of this morning, it's still on his card, but not listed under "offers".

 

Don't know what any of this means....just reporting in.

Once you use an offer, it is no longer offered as it has been used.

[MsTabbyKats]

1 minute ago, ontheweb said:

Once you use an offer, it is no longer offered as it has been used.

OK...that's what I thought.  I did just check...and it said it had to be claimed by 10/14, which is probably why I claimed it.

I really never pay attention to offers....lesson learned.  I should!

DH didn't want to go on "yet another cruise" but now that we can save $300, he's all in.

[ngrund]

47 minutes ago, MsTabbyKats said:

OK...that's what I thought.  I did just check...and it said it had to be claimed by 10/14, which is probably why I claimed it.

I really never pay attention to offers....lesson learned.  I should!

DH didn't want to go on "yet another cruise" but now that we can save $300, he's all in.

When you are logged into the account when viewing "Amex offers & Benefits" you should see 3 tabs:

 

Available- Added to Card- Savings

 

Once an offer is added to the card, you would see it under the "added to card" tab, once used under "Savings"

 

There is no obligation to use an offer-so as soon as you see one you might use-add it

 

 

[rbxlady]

4 hours ago, 603NHCruiser said:

As far as upgrading your card to try and get the offer, if that is your primary reason, you may be disappointed. They are targeted marketing offers and it doesn't seem to matter which card type you have. The offer has shown up on the free cards (cash, blue, etc.) as well as the premium cards (green, gold, plat, centurion.) The only cards that appear to specifically not get the offer are branded cards (airline, big box store, etc.) (*that is just based off of comments found on the forum here. If someone has a branded card with the current NCL offer I think everyone would like to know)

 

The offer is also likely pre-selected so even if you were to upgrade to platinum, you may not get the offer this round.

 

As for your question regarding buying CruiseNext certs. Those can only be purchased onboard. You can however purchase CruiseFirst certs directly through the website or by phone. They do come with a few more restrictions such as not being able to double them up like the CruiseNext, and according to the T&C they can ONLY be used for NEW reservations. But, I can confirm that buying them without also booking a reservation DOES satisfy the requirement and I received the rebate from AMEX when this same offer ran last year. NCL will periodically run a promo on CruiseFirst where the value is increase and you purchase a $500 cert for $250. this makes them effectively the same thing as buying two CruiseNext certs. https://www.ncl.com/cruisefirst-program in the past they ran the $500 offer a few days after a major holiday sale ended so keep a look out and the page. It may come up again after US Thanksgiving. Just make sure to thoroughly read the terms and conditions so there are no surprises, and be confident that you will be cruising again within three years

No, that wasn’t why I would consider upgrading to Platinum. They keep sending me offers for a ton of points if I do, but I don’t because (1) we don’t travel enough to make the annual fee worth it, and (2) if I make my husband an authorized user, I have to pay the membership fee for him as well (or he can get a Gold card on my Platinum account but doesn’t get Platinum benefits, which sort of defeats the purpose). Right now I pay the membership fee for Gold once and that’s it, and we both use it enough that we get enough value out of it. (We have monthly events (read: hotel stays) in another part of the state, and I haven’t paid for a hotel room in forever because AMEX points double when you transfer them to Hilton.)

 

But anyway, you’re right that I might not be pre-selected to get the offer, and I just looked again and did not see it. Oh, well. Thanks for the tips on past offers, and I’ll definitely keep an eye out moving forward!

[LadyZolt]

And in case anyone isn't aware -- AmEx will only show 100 offers (and it always shows 100 offers).  So, you can also try adding some offers to your card and then exiting the site and re-entering, or refreshing it and you will see new offers.  It doesn't hurt to add offers to your card.  If you don't use them, they will just expire in their time.  So, if you want to just get some more offers and see what is there, you can add ones that are expiring soon to your card and then see what the new offers are.  

[WYB!]

For me this AmEx deal worked out really well and the $350 credit was already applied to my September/October AmEx Stmt.

 

I spent roughly $713 on Prepaid Gratuties, then $286 on specialty dining, and then lastly $5 in onboard credit, which brought me to $1,004.00 and then the $350 credit was applied to my stmt.

 

Safe travels,

 

- WYB

[fstuff1]

4 hours ago, WYB! said:

For me this AmEx deal worked out really well and the $350 credit was already applied to my September/October AmEx Stmt.

 

I spent roughly $713 on Prepaid Gratuties, then $286 on specialty dining, and then lastly $5 in onboard credit, which brought me to $1,004.00 and then the $350 credit was applied to my stmt.

 

Safe travels,

 

- WYB

 

how do you pay the cabin tips online?

i cant find it in my reservation.

[davencl]

30 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

how do you pay the cabin tips online?

i cant find it in my reservation.

Assuming you're logged in and on your reservation page,   click on summary.  Then scroll down to pre-pay service charge.  Click on the +.  There will be a link to pre-pay these charges.  I prepaid these charges and added thermal spa passes to get over $1000.  The $350 credit posted to my account within a week.

Edited October 17, 2022 by davencl

[fstuff1]

26 minutes ago, davencl said:

Assuming you're logged in and on your reservation page,   click on summary.  Then scroll down to pre-pay service charge.  Click on the +.  There will be a link to pre-pay these charges.  

 

ahh.. summary.

i went to Explore & Plan.

thx!

 

[fstuff1]

6 hours ago, WYB! said:

For me this AmEx deal worked out really well and the $350 credit was already applied to my September/October AmEx Stmt.

 

I spent roughly $713 on Prepaid Gratuties, then $286 on specialty dining, and then lastly $5 in onboard credit, which brought me to $1,004.00 and then the $350 credit was applied to my stmt.

 

Safe travels,

 

- WYB

 

Just booked 3 free casino cruises today (14,7,9 days).

Total price (including cabin tips): $877

(Used a cruisenext certificate for each.)

 

I can only have a max of 3 casino cruises booked so need to wait till till i finish one to book the next.

And then i'll be over $1000.

[Greygooser]

Hey all. I added this offer last week but I was confused about using it outside of NCL.com. Seems from other responses using a travel agent works. I'd love to take advantage of some of the other websites that offer extra OBC and prepaid gratuities, but I assume those wouldn't qualify for the amex credit?  I decided to chat with Amex today to ask what "through your preferred travel advisor" meant. The guy sent me a link to a travel agency called "Preferred Travel of Naples". When I mentioned how absurd that sounds, the agent said it was 100% accurate and the promo was worded wrong. Amazing.

 

Anyway, so besides my question about booking through a site like ***** to get extra benefits, I am hoping someone can clear up how the CruiseFirst certificates work. Right now, there's a promo of buying a $300 certificate for $150. Does that mean I could buy 7 of them for a total of $1050, get the credit then redeem them all for a future cruise? Or are you limited on how many you can redeem at once? Thanks!

[LadyZolt]

10 hours ago, Greygooser said:

I am hoping someone can clear up how the CruiseFirst certificates work. Right now, there's a promo of buying a $300 certificate for $150. Does that mean I could buy 7 of them for a total of $1050, get the credit then redeem them all for a future cruise? Or are you limited on how many you can redeem at once? Thanks!

If I'm not mistaken, you can only use one CruiseFirst certificate per reservation.  So, if you bought 7, you'd have to book 7 different cruises.  

[Greygooser]

10 hours ago, LadyZolt said:

If I'm not mistaken, you can only use one CruiseFirst certificate per reservation.  So, if you bought 7, you'd have to book 7 different cruises.  

 

Thats what I thought. Thank you.