Which credit cards offer the best perks to cruisers?

[KAKcruiser]

On the Citi dividend card, I know you can get an extra 4 percent for HAL purchases. But, I thought you had to book the cruise through their network. Does anyone know about this?

[carolcp]

I am looking into a new card with the best rewards for me. My daughter will be starting college this fall and the school allows us to pay via pay pal. Cool - it is a small private engineering school so I want to be sure I get something from this deal too!

 

I was looking at the Marriott Awards credit card http://marriott.com/rewards/usepoints/morecrc.mi. One point for every dollar spent. When I get to 360,000 points I can redeem them for a 10 night cruise on HAL for either Northern Eurpore or the Mediterrean. Here are some of the details:

 

"All accommodations are outside staterooms and are based on double occupancy. Stateroom assignments for the Statendam, Maasdam, Ryndam, Veendam, Volendam, Zaandam, or Amsterdam will be at category "G."

Cabin upgrades are available. Please contact Holland America Line directly for upgrade costs and availability. Cabin assignments will be made at issuance of Holland America Line cruise, not earlier than 30 days prior to departure."

 

At the moment I am looking at the Noordam this July for us to celebrate her fantastic acheviements in school so of course I would really burn into the new card! First I need to read more details about the card and its fees, limits and points

 

Carol

[Scrumpy]

Talked to AMEX directly. The $300 shipboard credit is for any category.

 

I'm confused; in a message after this, you stated it was only for suites.:confused: Please clarify. When I looked at the website, it didn't say anything about cabin category. We have been tossing around the idea of getting this card, but have not called them yet for more details. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I was on Delta and the flight attendant gave me a sign-up for some kind of Delta American Express card, but I don't know where I put it. Didn't give it back to her, so it must be around here somewhere. Don't think it was a Platinum card, tho. Hmmmm....

 

We have almost everything go through a Citibank AA card. Not actually wild about American Airlines, but once you start building a balance, it's hard to walk away. Flying five members of DH's family over from NZ this summer for free, so it's come in handy :D I have another credit card for normal shopping and household stuff, but I'm thinking I should switch. The actual "reward" is not that great anyway...

 

Also see someone talking about a card that gets Marriott points. That would be excellent. Doing the math, I think that's at least a cruise a year for us. I never knew that Marriott had anything going with the cruise lines. We just redeem for Marriott hotels (DUH!). I will be all over this now. The only thing we'd investigated at all was some deal with United Airlines, but I believe it was for Princess. I have got to follow up on some of these things. Since I can't seem to get the good prices other people find, maybe I could take advantage of some of the redemption programs. (Probably help if we planned a teeny bit further in advance anyway; this might force our hands).

 

Thanks for all the good ideas, ya'll! This makes my night - and to think I almost didn't even read this thread :eek:

:) Scrumpy - a very happy Scrumpy!!! :)