NCL Mastercard FAQ

[dohboy43]

I'm looking to book a free 4-day Bahamas cruise with my worldpoints and I had a few questions.

1. Do I have to pay the port taxes/fees?

2. Will I get all the Free at Sea offers (specialty dining, $50 shore ex, drinks package, internet, etc...)?

3. For balcony at 110k points, can I choose an aft balcony room?

[kjquilts]

4 hours ago, dohboy43 said:

I'm looking to book a free 4-day Bahamas cruise with my worldpoints and I had a few questions.

1. Do I have to pay the port taxes/fees?

2. Will I get all the Free at Sea offers (specialty dining, $50 shore ex, drinks package, internet, etc...)?

3. For balcony at 110k points, can I choose an aft balcony room?

 

Here is link to the NCL WorldPoints Rewards credit card information

 

https://www.ncl.com/world-points

 

It looks like the port taxes/fees are included

 

For #'s 2 and 3 I would call the NCL WorldPoint department at 1-866-954-4077

 

I would be surprised if you could book an aft facing balcony since you can't do meta or double meta upgrade to aft facing balcony but on the other hand you're using a lot more points.

 

 

[julig22]

On 6/14/2023 at 8:19 AM, alwalaska said:

NCL just canceled my cruise.  Any idea how long it will take to get my points back so that I can do the same double-meta upgrade if I find another cruise to move to?  They canceled 10 months of the Spirit 2025 cruises.

Mine just cancelled today - it was one of the holdouts but now it's gone along with the others.  I booked something else to take advantage of the 20% fcc but trying to figure out if there would be any issues upgrading now and then applying the 20% fcc when it becomes available. 

[mscdivina2016]

On 6/15/2023 at 11:28 AM, dohboy43 said:

I'm looking to book a free 4-day Bahamas cruise with my worldpoints and I had a few questions.

1. Do I have to pay the port taxes/fees?

2. Will I get all the Free at Sea offers (specialty dining, $50 shore ex, drinks package, internet, etc...)?

3. For balcony at 110k points, can I choose an aft balcony room?

1.No

2. Yes but you pay the service charge or tips on booze and dining.

3. You are getting a BD most likely. You can pay to upgrade. Aft is it's own category not included in "Balcony" inventory.

Edited June 17, 2023 by mscdivina2016
Spelling

[alwalaska]

12 hours ago, julig22 said:

Mine just cancelled today - it was one of the holdouts but now it's gone along with the others.  I booked something else to take advantage of the 20% fcc but trying to figure out if there would be any issues upgrading now and then applying the 20% fcc when it becomes available. 

Me too.  Plus I need to call WP because I don't have my points back yet either.

[Becky_Mac]

I am so sorry. I am sure this has been asked, but I really don’t know how to search this specific thread so I am asking here. I got the credit card after booking our cruise but did use it to pay for cruise with it. We booked a club balcony room. I have 40,000 plus points. Since I already have a club balcony room, I don’t need an upgrade. So my question is this: Do I get onboard credit with the points or do I just use my NCL credit card to pay for onboard purchases and use the points to pay off the credit card? I think I know the answer, but just wanted to double check my logic. 

[Clay Clayton]

17 minutes ago, Becky_Mac said:

I am so sorry. I am sure this has been asked, but I really don’t know how to search this specific thread so I am asking here. I got the credit card after booking our cruise but did use it to pay for cruise with it. We booked a club balcony room. I have 40,000 plus points. Since I already have a club balcony room, I don’t need an upgrade. So my question is this: Do I get onboard credit with the points or do I just use my NCL credit card to pay for onboard purchases and use the points to pay off the credit card? I think I know the answer, but just wanted to double check my logic. 

If it was me, I’d hold onto the points until I had 60,000 and then use them on another cruise to move from an inside tip a balcony on a long cruise. 

[mscdivina2016]

2 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

If it was me, I’d hold onto the points until I had 60,000 and then use them on another cruise to move from an inside tip a balcony on a long cruise. 

2nd that.

[laudergayle]

Just started reading about the world points upgrade.  This is a great option for a long expensive cruise.  How often do they run 25000 bonus points?  Do they ever do more than 25K?

[julig22]

1 hour ago, laudergayle said:

Just started reading about the world points upgrade.  This is a great option for a long expensive cruise.  How often do they run 25000 bonus points?  Do they ever do more than 25K?

I've never seen anything above 25K and it seems like it's been awhile since it was over 20K.  But I also have to admit it's not something I pay attention to, since I've had my card for several years.

[julig22]

4 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

If it was me, I’d hold onto the points until I had 60,000 and then use them on another cruise to move from an inside tip a balcony on a long cruise. 

I usually go the OV to balcony route as the price difference between inside and OV is often pretty low compared to the significant difference between OV and balcony.  That way I get upgraded on 2 cruises.

[alwalaska]

6 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

If it was me, I’d hold onto the points until I had 60,000 and then use them on another cruise to move from an inside tip a balcony on a long cruise. 

I agree with Mike as long as you plan on taking another cruise before the points expire.  I'm not used to credit card points expiring, so I have to keep an eye on these.

[The Traveling Man]

4 hours ago, julig22 said:

I usually go the OV to balcony route as the price difference between inside and OV is often pretty low compared to the significant difference between OV and balcony.  That way I get upgraded on 2 cruises.

Agreed.

[The Traveling Man]

2 hours ago, alwalaska said:

I agree with Mike as long as you plan on taking another cruise before the points expire.  I'm not used to credit card points expiring, so I have to keep an eye on these.

I don't think that Bank of America Master Card World Points have expiration dates.

[julig22]

9 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

I don't think that Bank of America Master Card World Points have expiration dates.

They do but it's something like 7 years

[The Traveling Man]

1 hour ago, julig22 said:

They do but it's something like 7 years

I always have managed to use them within a year or two at most.

[alwalaska]

14 hours ago, julig22 said:

They do but it's something like 7 years

 

13 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

I always have managed to use them within a year or two at most.

They expire 5 years from the end of the billing cycle from when they were earned.  Some of us don't cruise all the time, or we have multiple cards that we use and when trying to save up for a big purchase like a double-meta upgrade, it can take a while.  

Other travel credit cards I have transfer the points to the group sponsoring the card (Hilton, Marriott, AA, Hawaiian Air, etc) and they don't expire OR they stay active as long as you are earning or using points. 

[DTZSCruise]

I have used my Mastercard World Points to redeem on board credit for a cruise I am going on next month. When I previously redeemed points I got an "Amenity Confirmation" message from NCL a couple of days after I redeemed the points. This time when I redeemed more points, I did not get a follow up email from NCL. 

 

Is there a way for me to log onto my NCL account and see all of the OBC that has been credited to my room? Or is there somewhere on the Mastercard web site that shows all of the points I have redeemed.

 

Thanks for any assistance

[alwalaska]

58 minutes ago, DTZSCruise said:

I have used my Mastercard World Points to redeem on board credit for a cruise I am going on next month. When I previously redeemed points I got an "Amenity Confirmation" message from NCL a couple of days after I redeemed the points. This time when I redeemed more points, I did not get a follow up email from NCL. 

 

Is there a way for me to log onto my NCL account and see all of the OBC that has been credited to my room? Or is there somewhere on the Mastercard web site that shows all of the points I have redeemed.

 

Thanks for any assistance

I would ask your TA for a new printout of your confirmation with all of the codes on it.  That still is not a guarantee that everything will show up, but I find it much more correct than what I see when I log into my account.

 

At one point I thought I found it on the NCL page under My Account, but I couldn't find it today.

 

There is a thread somewhere here in the NCL area with all of the codes and abbreviations.  Also, my TA said today that she could see a bunch of WP info on my reservation within her system that in the past she could never see.  Maybe your TA will be able to see your 

[MagnoliaBlossom]

The promo code thread is a sticky and is right below the NCL MC thread.

[julig22]

Just scored a sweet upgrade deal, for anyone who is debating the value of the CC upgrades.  Cost to upgrade from my OV to balcony would be a little over $3K on my upcoming cruise.  Minimum bid to upgrade would have been $80 x 2 ($160 total) and no guarantee for any upgrade, let alone at a minimum bid. So I used my $300 in points value and my balcony was just assigned - I'm not picky so just did the online redemption, took less than 24 hours for new cabin assignment.

Cruise is still 2 months away, so of course prices could go down some but very doubtful that a paid upgrade would be less than $300. And while I've had good luck with bids in the past, don't really want to chance it.

I'm happy.

[mscdivina2016]

1 hour ago, julig22 said:

Just scored a sweet upgrade deal, for anyone who is debating the value of the CC upgrades.  Cost to upgrade from my OV to balcony would be a little over $3K on my upcoming cruise.  Minimum bid to upgrade would have been $80 x 2 ($160 total) and no guarantee for any upgrade, let alone at a minimum bid. So I used my $300 in points value and my balcony was just assigned - I'm not picky so just did the online redemption, took less than 24 hours for new cabin assignment.

Cruise is still 2 months away, so of course prices could go down some but very doubtful that a paid upgrade would be less than $300. And while I've had good luck with bids in the past, don't really want to chance it.

I'm happy.

Way to go!!

[MagnoliaBlossom]

Congratulations!  For those who are open to upgrading their cabins, the upgrade option really is a tremendous value.

[alwalaska]

17 hours ago, julig22 said:

Just scored a sweet upgrade deal, for anyone who is debating the value of the CC upgrades.  Cost to upgrade from my OV to balcony would be a little over $3K on my upcoming cruise.  Minimum bid to upgrade would have been $80 x 2 ($160 total) and no guarantee for any upgrade, let alone at a minimum bid. So I used my $300 in points value and my balcony was just assigned - I'm not picky so just did the online redemption, took less than 24 hours for new cabin assignment.

Cruise is still 2 months away, so of course prices could go down some but very doubtful that a paid upgrade would be less than $300. And while I've had good luck with bids in the past, don't really want to chance it.

I'm happy.

That is definitely a sweet deal.  Do you mind sharing what cruise?  I'm very anxiously awaiting the 23rd so that my TA can apply the 20% FCC to my new Spirit cruise to replace my canceled one, and then I will be doing an upgrade and seeing how much it was worth.  As long as it is worth the $600, I'm good.  I really want a balcony but don't want to pay for it.

[julig22]

1 minute ago, alwalaska said:

That is definitely a sweet deal.  Do you mind sharing what cruise?  I'm very anxiously awaiting the 23rd so that my TA can apply the 20% FCC to my new Spirit cruise to replace my canceled one, and then I will be doing an upgrade and seeing how much it was worth.  As long as it is worth the $600, I'm good.  I really want a balcony but don't want to pay for it.

This is on the Jewel in Alaska later this summer, so can't use the 20% discount from the Spirit.  One reason the upgrade deal was so good is that there is no solo supplement on inside & OV but no solo discount currently on balconies.  Some Alaska cruises are highly discounted this summer.

I've got 2 Spirit cruises booked for later, not sure which one I'll keep.  Recommendation from my PCC is to wait until the FCC is applied, then do the upgrade. I'll also make Diamond on the Alaska cruise so have to factor in using that upgrade on something - only a year to use that one.

Fortunately none of my points are expiring soon.