NCL Mastercard FAQ

[bermuda lover]

I've been away from this board for a while. Got disgusted w/ the new program so decide to "detox" and refrain from reading the board :rolleyes: Anyway, I had a new grandbaby so how hard was deciding between baby rocking and posting?:D

 

So, anyway - I'm baaack. We have an upcoming NCL cruise in August - the Baltics and I have made my deposit w/ my last 3 Compass Certificates and am accruing points for the balance which is due in May. So, yesterday I was looking at how the online point transfer thing works (a friend told me she had done it recently and it was quite easy - of course, she's a brain surgeon {really} and what are the chances that NCL/BoA made something easy?) So, while I'm perusing the site I notice that contrary to what my original letter said, you can redeem in 20,000 point incremints rather than 25,000. I'm sure ya'll have posted about this but I'm being lazy and have not read the zillion posts that have cropped up in my absence. Since I juggle 6 NCL cards to maximize my per year points, it will make my current situation much easier to be able to redeem 10, 20 or 50,, 000 point increments and have the 10K actually give you the same value as a greter value amount Did that make sense?

 

I mean w/ one of the other cards you can redeem 10,000 points but it gives you something like A$80 rather than $100.

 

The smaller, yet equal, redemption allows me to pay "in full" more easily w/ points than the $500 certificates did. Of course, I would loooove to have the old system back but at least there is a teeny, tiny bit of good in this new format.

 

Happy New Year to all,

Magnolia

Hi there,

I am confused and I am not sure if I should register my NCL MC. I am wondering (after reading many posts) if I can redeem points for on board credit. I can't seem to find this in the paperwork, although it states this on the NCL website. If this is a headache, I don't want any part of this. Can someone provide some pros and maybe the cons...

thanks

Lisa

[hanlonm]

Hi there,

I am confused and I am not sure if I should register my NCL MC. I am wondering (after reading many posts) if I can redeem points for on board credit. I can't seem to find this in the paperwork, although it states this on the NCL website. If this is a headache, I don't want any part of this. Can someone provide some pros and maybe the cons...

thanks

Lisa

 

We did it for our Spirit cruise in December and it was great. Called them and then within a day it was listed on our account. No problems at all. Used our card for the cruise and then booked another last week. Our bill just cycled and we now have enough with bonus points for our next cruise in February. We have a Royal Caribbean Card through Bank of America and it is much hard to cash in points. They actually mail a coupon to you and then you have to fill it out and mail in to a different address. For the NCL Mastercard it is all done over the phone at one time. Hope this helps.

[wg6530]

I spent about half an hour on the phone getting my points back after NCL didn't honor the slot credit on board. The woman was pleasant, but could not see why they didn't give me my slot credit aboard despite 2 email confirmations. She said she had NOT been trained to check for fares which are "not combinable". She said she would check with her supervisor. I will post if I get any further feedback from NCL.

[zimmerjulie]

wg, I would appreciate any updates you get on why they thought that your credit should not be honored. Thanks for sharing your info. I am considering using credit card points to add an on board credit to my reservation for my upcoming cruise. The cruise was booked with credit card rewards points, so I am wondering if this would turn out like your experience, or like others who have had credits added to reservations paid by another credit deal.

 

Thanks,

Julie

[wg6530]

wg, I would appreciate any updates you get on why they thought that your credit should not be honored. Thanks for sharing your info. I am considering using credit card points to add an on board credit to my reservation for my upcoming cruise. The cruise was booked with credit card rewards points, so I am wondering if this would turn out like your experience, or like others who have had credits added to reservations paid by another credit deal.

 

Thanks,

Julie

 

Julie, I don't know if they will let use have an OBC along with your current reward. That's why the "not combinable" line bugs me. I did not use any other credit card reward program to book to the cruise. I only requested one slot play reward for the cruise. I cannot imagine why NCL did not honor the reward. Frankly it was silly of NCL. We would have spent the reward in the casino. Instead, we spent more time talking to the casino staff about the problem then we spent gaming. Frustrated by their failure to honor the reward, we spent less money in the casino and elsewhere on the ship. Unhappy cruiser = less revenue for NCL.

 

If I had it to do again, I would not bother apply for the card. But since I have the card and the points, I will try to use them on the next cruise. If they fail again, I will cancel the card.

[bermuda lover]

We did it for our Spirit cruise in December and it was great. Called them and then within a day it was listed on our account. No problems at all. Used our card for the cruise and then booked another last week. Our bill just cycled and we now have enough with bonus points for our next cruise in February. We have a Royal Caribbean Card through Bank of America and it is much hard to cash in points. They actually mail a coupon to you and then you have to fill it out and mail in to a different address. For the NCL Mastercard it is all done over the phone at one time. Hope this helps.

 

 

Thanks for your help... I will activate my card.

Lisa

[Birdnutty]

We're going on the spirit in a few weeks and I called our PCC to transfer some points for OBC and slot play. She said she couldn't do it herself, but could have someone else in her office do it - I did not have to go to BOA to do it. I haven't gotten any confirmation email yet, so I will write and remind her.

 

She said all transfer of points had to be done before one week before the cruise date.

 

My daughter also is transferring points for OBC, and she used a Compass Reward coupon, too. We'll see how that works out.

 

I'll let you know how we make out.

[CaliforniaDreamer]

i know this has been discussed here before and people gave different replies.

 

what is the consensus, does the old cruise reward from the old credit card apply to the entire fare or the fare less the taxes/fees.

 

i need to cash in my $500 cert before the end of the month, i booked the EPIC and the total fare was $464 ( on a crazy weekend deal).

i don't mind losing the $36 dollars but if they apply it to an amount less than the total , i will be disappointed.

 

i plan to use it for that or wait a couple weeks and see if i can get a deal on another cruise for end of April.

[shannonh]

I am just wondering if anyone has any experience with our situation. I submitted $500 of Cruise Rewards from the old program to pay off part of our invoice. Now I have enough in the new program to ask for onboard credit. Are the two combinable? Will they tell me that I cannot use the onboard credit since I used Cruise Rewards?

[maryallen99]

This is a real problem and I don't have any way to fix it, and I am almost out of time. Anyone who had the Compass Rewards program knows that Bank of America ended the program end of Dec. 2008. Certificates were mailed out in January and were good to book until Jan 2010, and sail until Jan 2011. Well, money has been tight, so we waited to book until last week - our certificate says Jan 16 on the front. We booked a 9 day last week to sail Jan 28th 2011. On Monday we were told that our certificates are no good; they were mailed out before the final mailing, even though the program was already closed, and all certificates were mailed in Jan. 09. There was NOTHING on the certificate but the issue date, Jan. 16th.

We have gone round and round - NCL says it is a bank program, BOA CSR's (who probably started last week) never heard of the program. No one can help us. Than a NCL supervisor thought we could use them by Feb 18th - a few weeks, but maybe we could do it. When we went to switch this reservation, we were told we had to SAIL by Jan. 16 - this weekend! What a scam. This is $1000 worth of certificates. There are no dates listed anywhere on the certificate except the issure date of Jan 16,09. BOA does not want to have to pay out this money, and NCL just says it is a bank program....yes, but haven't they benefited from it too? (Otherwise why would they have it?) I have taken 4 cruises with NCL, so I am disappointed that they won't help me with this. They could AT LEAST give me a contact at BOA.

If ANYONE has a name or contact info of anyone who could possibly help, would you please post? I'm at my wit's end trying to get this done. Thanks!

[jaddld]

Does your certificates have an "FC" at the end of the reference number on the front of the certs? I think that only the "FC" certs were the ones that had to be booked by Jan 2010 and sail by Jan 2011.

 

Any others were supposed to be applied and sailed by the expiration date and were only good for a year from the issue date.

 

Ours had an expiration date of January 31, 2010 on them.

[lpglarry]

don/t lose your 36 dollar in credits, pre pay the tips,or order a bottle of wine

[Birdnutty]

I spent about half an hour on the phone getting my points back after NCL didn't honor the slot credit on board. The woman was pleasant, but could not see why they didn't give me my slot credit aboard despite 2 email confirmations. She said she had NOT been trained to check for fares which are "not combinable". She said she would check with her supervisor. I will post if I get any further feedback from NCL.

 

I called my PCC, who tried and was told that my number was invalid and not an NCL MC # (what the....????). So I tried BOA, and they wanted nothing to do with it and referred me back to NCL (which is where I started). My PCC could not get me the redemptions, but she said someone in her office could. Apparently, they got thru and BOA deducted the amounts from my account. But...... I got "something" that I hardly call a confirmation email. No mention of ship, reservation number, sailing, etc., and is a pretty pathetic excuse for a confirmation. Now I'm nervous, and I only have 2 weeks till sailing.

 

What kind of email confirmation did you get?

[wg6530]

I called my PCC, who tried and was told that my number was invalid and not an NCL MC # (what the....????). So I tried BOA, and they wanted nothing to do with it and referred me back to NCL (which is where I started). My PCC could not get me the redemptions, but she said someone in her office could. Apparently, they got thru and BOA deducted the amounts from my account. But...... I got "something" that I hardly call a confirmation email. No mention of ship, reservation number, sailing, etc., and is a pretty pathetic excuse for a confirmation. Now I'm nervous, and I only have 2 weeks till sailing.

 

What kind of email confirmation did you get?

 

I got two separate email confirmations before my cruise. One from managerewardsonline . com included name, points redeemed, and reward type. Is that the one you got? My second email confirmation came from ncl . com; an attachment titled "amenity confirmation" that specified my reservation #, ship, sail date, cabin number, and reward description. I printed both, and took them along. Even with the documentation ncl reneged. I hope you have better luck.

[Birdnutty]

I got two separate email confirmations before my cruise. One from managerewardsonline . com included name, points redeemed, and reward type. Is that the one you got? .

 

Yes, that's the one I got. But it's so non-specific that it must be useless. I tried calling BOA last night, explained my predicament, they forwarded me to the NCL Redemption Center and gave me a phone number for future references. They're only open weekdays, 9 - 5, so I have to call back next week. At least this is a different number than the one I was given last time! And the "\Rredemption Center" must be a little more knowledgeable than my PCC. So I'll see what happens Monday, or Tuesday, in case they're closed for the holiday.

 

What ship were you on that denied these rewards? And by any chance, did you have a special fare offered by Casinos at Sea?

[wg6530]

What ship were you on that denied these rewards? And by any chance, did you have a special fare offered by Casinos at Sea?

 

I was curtly denied the reward by NCL employee Christina Petean on the 1/1/10 saining of the NCL Dawn. No, I was not on a special Casino at Sea fare.

 

I believe that NCL mishandled my reward paperwork, and NCL then found it easier to deny me the reward rather than fix the error. They didn't apology, and they didn't seem to try to fix the system. Instead the Dawn staff chose to blame the customer and the NCL employee in the Redemption Center. From other postings on the NCL board, I know I am not the first one to experience this problem. I wish I could believe I would be the last.

 

I hope NCL handles your paperwork properly and that you get the reward you deserve.

[CaliforniaDreamer]

don/t lose your 36 dollar in credits, pre pay the tips,or order a bottle of wine

 

thanks for the tip!

[Birdnutty]

I was curtly denied the reward by NCL employee Christina Petean on the 1/1/10 saining of the NCL Dawn. No, I was not on a special Casino at Sea fare.

 

I believe that NCL mishandled my reward paperwork, and NCL then found it easier to deny me the reward rather than fix the error. They didn't apology, and they didn't seem to try to fix the system. Instead the Dawn staff chose to blame the customer and the NCL employee in the Redemption Center. From other postings on the NCL board, I know I am not the first one to experience this problem. I wish I could believe I would be the last.

 

I hope NCL handles your paperwork properly and that you get the reward you deserve.

 

I think that's awful. What a blow. Turns out that I did get another email confirmation (finally) from NCL this time, stating the awards I got. Sounds like it's the same one that you got - the Amenity Confirmation. They seemed to get it right. They also state that it will show up in my room on the first day. I sure hope that's true! If not, I'm going to be extremely nice in asking to speak to the hotel manager and the captain, if need be. I hope I don't have to get insistent and nasty.

 

I'm sorry you had to go through all that.

 

Did they at least credit your points back to you?

[wg6530]

I think that's awful. What a blow. Turns out that I did get another email confirmation (finally) from NCL this time, stating the awards I got. Sounds like it's the same one that you got - the Amenity Confirmation. They seemed to get it right. They also state that it will show up in my room on the first day. I sure hope that's true! If not, I'm going to be extremely nice in asking to speak to the hotel manager and the captain, if need be. I hope I don't have to get insistent and nasty.

 

I'm sorry you had to go through all that.

 

Did they at least credit your points back to you?

 

I'm glad your amenity confirmation looks OK. Mine did too. Documentation in hand, I went to the casino staff when my award didn't show up in my cabin. They tried to keep my documents and I had to insist they only photocopy them. After three visits to the casino they passed it to Christina Petean. She said she contacted shore personel, but refused to provide any info or documentation. I do not know if the hotel director or captain could help since mine was a casino reward. Did you ask for OBC or a casino reward?

 

Yers, I got my points back. It took about half an hour on the phone. The woman who recredited the points to my account was pleasant and professional, but I believe she is the same one who issued the (supposedly invalid) reward. If NCL have declined to issue the reward before departure (non-combinable or whatever reason), I would not be particularly upset. But I do feel it is shortsighted on NCL to an issue reward then renege. It undercuts the credit card reward program and upsets loyal passengers. In the end, NCL suffers far more negative impact than me.

[halos]

We just returned from the Sky 3 nighter over Christmas, 12/25-12/28/09 and DW, DS (14) and I shared a Cat. II Superior Inside cabin that was totally paid for with $1,000.00 in credit from the old rewards program on the MC. Booked it in January, then applied the credit to it (total of $992 for the three of us at the time I booked, including port fees & taxes). Then during early 2009 months I earned enough on the new World Points to get both a $100 OBC and a $50 OBC, and NCL correctly processed these credits onto our stateroom account, so it was a terrific "free" cruise.

I'm happy to see there are a few people who are having no issues with their cards/rewards.

Thanks for psoting :D

[Birdnutty]

 

I asked for both. I'll take your experience and use it - I'll be sure to make sure I bring extra copies in case they try to steal mine. :)

 

The reason I would go to the hotel director is that as far as I know, the whole ship is in his jurisdiction, except for the gift shops which are an outside outfit. In all the meet n greets I have attended, the staff encourages you to bring all problems to them for solution. They really do want you to be happy and they go to extraordinary lengths (if the right people know about it) to cause that to happen.

I'm hoping your situation was just a glitch. Too bad it had to happen at all.

 

We're sailing soon, and I'll let you know how I make out.

[Dannie138]

When I log into my BOA Worldpoints site, I can see my current points and "pending" points. Are the pending points just the purchases that have already posted....or do they include the "pending" transactions? (Neither is completely matching up with my spending for the month...and I need to get a few more points for my reward! :))

[shannonh]

Again, I am just wondering if anyone has any experience with our situation. I submitted $500 of Cruise Rewards from the old program to pay off part of our invoice. Now I have enough in the new program to ask for onboard credit. Are the two combinable? Will they tell me that I cannot use the onboard credit since I used Cruise Rewards?

[Birdnutty]

AS far as I know they ARE combinable. I've done it before, and my daughter is in the process of using both for her upcoming cruise. That being said, other people may have had situations that ran differently. Have you called NCL yet to ask? If you have a Personal Cruise Consultant (PCC), he or she will usually work toward making sure all these little details happen correctly. If you've cruised with NCL before and plan to again, I would suggest you hook up with one. I have a terrific relationship with mine. She's even gotten me out of hot water on more than one occasion.

[drbabe]

Procrastinator didn't email the certificate numbers for a final compass rewards until last week. Haven't heard anything from them, and final payment date is next week. Also, had to use the certificate by end of January. Any advice?