NCL Mastercard FAQ

[*Luv2Cruz*]

I booked a BA on the Bliss. What category can I upgrade to with a 10k 2 cat upgrade; or a 20k 4 cat upgrade? TIA😉

[djpk2003]

I am so frustrated right now. I'm booked on Gem leaving Boston in October and was just told I cannot redeem my 30,000 points for a single meta upgrade because all upgrades are unavailable on this sailing (all upgrades already used up). Didn't realize this was a possibility, especially since if I do a mock booking there are a ton of cabins still available. I booked the OX category thinking we could just use the points I've been saving to upgrade after final payment. I am very disappointed. This is literally the only reason I signed up for the card in the first place. I feel like I've been bait and switched a little. Tell me - what are the benefits of having this card?? Right now it doesn't feel like much if any.😞

[rtkenmore]

13 minutes ago, djpk2003 said:

I am so frustrated right now. I'm booked on Gem leaving Boston in October and was just told I cannot redeem my 30,000 points for a single meta upgrade because all upgrades are unavailable on this sailing (all upgrades already used up). Didn't realize this was a possibility, especially since if I do a mock booking there are a ton of cabins still available. I booked the OX category thinking we could just use the points I've been saving to upgrade after final payment. I am very disappointed. This is literally the only reason I signed up for the card in the first place. I feel like I've been bait and switched a little. Tell me - what are the benefits of having this card?? Right now it doesn't feel like much if any.😞

 

Terms and conditions state, "Upgrades vary by ship, sail date, category and cabin category. Stateroom upgrades are subject to availability."

 

Sounds like the available "upgrade" inventory is already spoken for.  Just because there are cabins available when you search doesn't necessarily mean they are available for upgrade.  Also, are you sure that a sail-away rate qualifies for upgrades?

 

[djpk2003]

It wasn't a sail away rate. I said OX mistakenly, but meant OK (obstructed ocean view). Sorry for the confusion. Yes, I recognize there is fine print. I guess it's on me for thinking they just upgrade you if there are cabins available. I suppose I thought with 4 months still left they would have something available to use the upgrade offer. My understanding was that you cannot use an upgrade offer until you're paid in full. Payment date was yesterday. 

Edited June 18, 2019 by djpk2003

[TifffanyD]

Each oceanview category can only upgrade into a specific balcony cabin and that cabin type may be sold out. Can you ask if there are any other balcony categories still available for upgrade and what oceanview cat you would need to upgrade into it?

[Clay Clayton]

When I wanted a specific balcony cabin, I booked it then called and had my fare re-priced to the inside category that qualified for that balcony. So I’d follow Tiffany’s advice. Call back, say you want to use the points did an upgrade and what category do you need to pay for. If it’s too expensive then you can decide whether to book it or not. 

[TifffanyD]

Also... in the future I would recommend doing the upgrade further out... as you can see these categories can sell out. 

[Zippeedee]

You do not need to wait until final payment. I booked my Panama Canal inside to balcony upgrade in January for next April. Final payment is due in December and that is when I'll pay for it. You do have to be sure to ask first which category you can book to get the upgrade you want.

[djpk2003]

1 hour ago, Zippeedee said:

You do not need to wait until final payment. I booked my Panama Canal inside to balcony upgrade in January for next April. Final payment is due in December and that is when I'll pay for it. You do have to be sure to ask first which category you can book to get the upgrade you want.

That is good to know for future. I was given the impression when I asked my TA about it that I needed to wait for final payment to be eligible to upgrade. Perhaps we misunderstood each other. 

[TifffanyD]

1 hour ago, djpk2003 said:

That is good to know for future. I was given the impression when I asked my TA about it that I needed to wait for final payment to be eligible to upgrade. Perhaps we misunderstood each other. 

 

Maybe your TA was referring to the bid for an upgrade option that you get ~80 days out?

[JC5240]

I second this. I was roughly ~2k points away from 60k points for a double-meta upgrade, and rather than waiting to (slowly) get the additional points by regular charges, I made a partial payment to NCL for our May 2020 Greece Isles (and honeymoon!) cruise and once the statement closed, I was able to use the points for the double-meta upgrade.

 

I 100% suggest doing your upgrade as early as you can in the future. If you're unlucky with the above recommendations, maybe bank your points until you get to 60k for the double-meta upgrade (keeping in mind the expiration schedule, though). Good luck!

 

 

3 hours ago, Zippeedee said:

You do not need to wait until final payment. I booked my Panama Canal inside to balcony upgrade in January for next April. Final payment is due in December and that is when I'll pay for it. You do have to be sure to ask first which category you can book to get the upgrade you want.

 

[$hip$hape]

One more time... (I have been on this thread for years.)

Save up, and do a double-meta-upgrade. (We have saved hundreds of dollars).

However, recently,  we have cancelled this Norwegian Bank of America Card,

since we have switched to Celebrity Cruises.

We now have a Celebrity/Royal Caribbean Bank of America Card.

Note: It only offers points for on-board-credit, and NO double-meta-upgrades. 

 

If you want to keep it simple, just take the CASH option, as a second best choice.

Edited June 21, 2019 by $hip$hape

[lkcous]

Good Morning....Can I do a single up grade from an oceanview room or do you have to start at an inside and go from there? I currently have about 22,000 points and not sure if we will make it up to 60,000 points by next april, for the double meta. We are going to do the 11day hawaii cruise on the jewel!! :) We Just got back from Bermuda....Beautiful!!  And what category do I need to book? Thanks Lisa

[Heather1972]

If you have 30k points, you can go from ocean view to balcony.

[$hip$hape]

8 hours ago, lkcous said:

Good Morning....Can I do a single up grade from an oceanview room or do you have to start at an inside and go from there? I currently have about 22,000 points and not sure if we will make it up to 60,000 points by next april, for the double meta. We are going to do the 11day hawaii cruise on the jewel!! :) We Just got back from Bermuda....Beautiful!!  And what category do I need to book? Thanks Lisa

Please. Save your points for a double-meta upgrade. Don’t use them in April. Look for another cruise, maybe a year out, and negotiate for one of the best cabins. Take your time.

[TifffanyD]

18 hours ago, $hip$hape said:

Please. Save your points for a double-meta upgrade. Don’t use them in April. Look for another cruise, maybe a year out, and negotiate for one of the best cabins. Take your time.

 

That's not really the best advice. Sometimes inside -> oceanview is not a big difference and oceanview -> balcony is huge. I routinely book oceanview and do a single meta... and this way 60k points can be used over 2 cruises and saves me much more. 

 

It just depends on how the pricing works out. 

[my3sonsnj]

My experience today . . . I have booked 3 cruises (2 on the Breakaway & 1 on the Bliss) in a Family Balcony and have been able to use 10,000 points to upgrade into an Aft Facing Balcony. Today I called the Worldpoints Dept just to verify it was the same on the Getaway prior to booking. I am being told that even if I booked a large balcony or spa balcony and used my Worldpoints, I would get a midship -BA- balcony (i.e. a downgrade for my points)????

 

What is that all about? 

 

The last cruise that I booked was about 14 months ago which I will be taking in January. Has the Worldpoints program made major changes with the end result being the points are worthless? 

[20YearsBetweenCruises]

My experience today.  I just signed up for the credit card so do not have points yet.  But after reading @my3sonsnj post, I thought I call to see what I have to book to get into a 4 person Aft Balcony on the Jewel.  Very nice rep tried every which way for the 2 category upgrade to work from an other balcony category (B2 and BC are the only other 4 person balcony categories) but said it would not work.  He said I'd have to go for the 30,000 upgrade to go from an O1 to a B1.  This was for 2020 cruise.   He thought maybe it was due to the big price difference between the B2 and B1?  I have read that others have upgraded to a B1 on Jewel from a B3.  So I hope the rules have not changed on getting into a B1.

[karinad]

For you guys that have this point thing figured out. What would you do in this case? I think I have about 38,000 points on mt MC for NCL. I'm looking at the NCL Joy for Oct, I got a rate for the Sailaway balcony for $3290.44. This comes with paid gratuities and a $200. OBC. I, also got a rate for the BF cat., but it's still on a gty, no cabin #, of $3578.28 which comes with 2 of the perks and $50.OBC and paid gratuities. The t TA checked the single upgrade with the points with NCL and got the OV gty cabin in cat. OB to upgrade to the balcony. She did a hold for me so that I have a booking number when I call the number to ck for the upgrade. The price for that would be $3226.38 with the 2 perks and the gratuities and I think the $50. OBC.

 

Here's the thing, because I don't want to keep this card, and I don't want to lose the points. Right now, there isn't a big price difference between the categories. I'm not sure about the Inside rates. Any suggestions on my best bet? Thanks!

[peg013]

33 minutes ago, 20YearsBetweenCruises said:

My experience today.  I just signed up for the credit card so do not have points yet.  But after reading @my3sonsnj post, I thought I call to see what I have to book to get into a 4 person Aft Balcony on the Jewel.  Very nice rep tried every which way for the 2 category upgrade to work from an other balcony category (B2 and BC are the only other 4 person balcony categories) but said it would not work.  He said I'd have to go for the 30,000 upgrade to go from an O1 to a B1.  This was for 2020 cruise.   He thought maybe it was due to the big price difference between the B2 and B1?  I have read that others have upgraded to a B1 on Jewel from a B3.  So I hope the rules have not changed on getting into a B1.

 

There are only 2 aft facing balconies - the ones on Deck 10 that even accommodate 4 people. Maybe that is why you can't get the upgrade? We used 10,000 points to upgrade from a B3 to  B1 but there was only two of us. When I later paid to upgrade to a SE, they gave me the 10,000 points back in the form of $100 OBC. 

[20YearsBetweenCruises]

2 minutes ago, peg013 said:

 

There are only 2 aft facing balconies - the ones on Deck 10 that even accommodate 4 people. Maybe that is why you can't get the upgrade? We used 10,000 points to upgrade from a B3 to  B1 but there was only two of us. When I later paid to upgrade to a SE, they gave me the 10,000 points back in the form of $100 OBC. 

 

I'm not sure but I had a hold one 1 and the other one was still opened. Having 4 in a room did seem to put a wrinkle in it since only certain categories are open to 4. e.g. I cannot book a B3 for 4 people.    Maybe I'll call back tomorrow and see what happens if I had a B2 with 2 people in it.

[20YearsBetweenCruises]

16 minutes ago, karinad said:

For you guys that have this point thing figured out. What would you do in this case? I think I have about 38,000 points on mt MC for NCL. I'm looking at the NCL Joy for Oct, I got a rate for the Sailaway balcony for $3290.44. This comes with paid gratuities and a $200. OBC. I, also got a rate for the BF cat., but it's still on a gty, no cabin #, of $3578.28 which comes with 2 of the perks and $50.OBC and paid gratuities. The t TA checked the single upgrade with the points with NCL and got the OV gty cabin in cat. OB to upgrade to the balcony. She did a hold for me so that I have a booking number when I call the number to ck for the upgrade. The price for that would be $3226.38 with the 2 perks and the gratuities and I think the $50. OBC.

 

Here's the thing, because I don't want to keep this card, and I don't want to lose the points. Right now, there isn't a big price difference between the categories. I'm not sure about the Inside rates. Any suggestions on my best bet? Thanks!

 I'm new to this, but if you like AFT cabins, that is where the upgrades matter. They told me you can go from an O1 to a B1 (B1 is aft).   You can always cash your points in for $300, but seems like using it to upgrade is the way to make more use of your points.    

[karinad]

15 minutes ago, 20YearsBetweenCruises said:

 I'm new to this, but if you like AFT cabins, that is where the upgrades matter. They told me you can go from an O1 to a B1 (B1 is aft).   You can always cash your points in for $300, but seems like using it to upgrade is the way to make more use of your points.    

Thank you for the suggestion! We used to always get AFT cabins, but, I started to see the advantage of getting a cabin close to the elevators. Booking a gty, with what the lowest rate is, I couldn't do that.

[my3sonsnj]

11 hours ago, 20YearsBetweenCruises said:

 I'm new to this, but if you like AFT cabins, that is where the upgrades matter. They told me you can go from an O1 to a B1 (B1 is aft).   You can always cash your points in for $300, but seems like using it to upgrade is the way to make more use of your points.    

Funny because I was told nothing in the oceanview category could be upgraded to an aft balcony. I was told I would get a BA - midship balcony from the O1.

[eiloo]

Speaking of these points becoming worthless... In 2017 and 2018, I had redeemed 40K of points to comp the third and fourth passengers in my cabin without issue.

 

I've tried to do the same the other day and was told that if the first two passengers were not comped, that I'm not able to use the 40K comp for the third and fourth passengers either.  I don't have enough points to comp the first two passengers.

Does anyone have thoughts on if things changed within the past year with this program.  If I am able to comp, I will almost exhaust these points.  That will also be the end of this credit card for me.