NCL Mastercard FAQ

[ACJBWJ]

Zotbot, did you have any luck with the letter your attorney wrote? We are in the same boat (ha, ha). We booked well before January 31st and were told twice that the certificates only needed to be sent by the final payment date in June. We booked through NCL and they even agree that it is confusing but are now saying BOA needs to be contacted. We are escallating our request that they honor the certificates but have had no success so far.

[shannonh]

I am really close to being able to turn my World Points into $250 onboard credit. Since we sail in July, I want to make sure to request this within the next month. To get me to the point where I can qualify for $250 I will need to charge quite a bit on my card this month. I am thinking that I will purchase onboard credit for my cruise using my credit card. Since the credit would be purchased through NCL, I will get more points than with a regular purchase. Will they charge my credit card immediately for those points? Has anybody tried this?

[Grumpy100]

Question: I used to have the NCL CC and got the certificates in the past to use for our cruises on NCL, mailed them in was given the credit and then just paid the final payment when it was due.

Now that you can use the CC to get different types of credit like booking airline tickets, cruises, etc. I don't know what the process is.

I am almost up to 50,000 points so I want to book a cruise sometime next year and get $500 off the cruise.

How do I do this and do I have to book it through the website for the credit card. Please advise. I usually like to book my own cruise so if I do it myself for whichever cruise line I want would they then just send me a certificate like the old days.

[halos]

I purchased my cruise on 12/24/09... before 01/31/10. The certs were sitting on my desk for a while but when I read their FAQ and spoke to them in December before booking I was told that as long as I book before 1/31 i am fine.. nothing about redeeming certs by then. My final payment is not due until June 1st and of course I thought I had until then to apply certs.

 

I may be out of luck. I will most likely cancel my cruise as they will not bend the rules here.... but my attorney feels their website is indeed misleading and will send them a letter. What else can I do? Thing is.. I don't have to pay attorney fees so not worried about going this route.

 

If they won't redeem the certs I won't cruise NCL again.

 

May I ask why you waited so long to send the certs in???? :confused:

$1,000 is a lot to lose. I'd be nauseous if I were you.....but to be honest, I was pretty clear on when they were no longer accepting those certs.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

shannon - usually NCL charges show up in two to three days, just remember your points are not going to be available til the statement closes so don't cut it too close to your closing date.

 

Grmp - you can redeem ponts in two ways. One, tell your Ta/PVP that you are using points and they will get the information from you and redeem them. The second, IMHO, easier way, is to redeem points for cash and just pay your CC bill. That way you get to earn double points from charging your cruise and then pay it off w/ points. Go to BoA's site and "redeem points" or whatever it says. You will set up a checking acct number and when you redeem points they will transfer cash to your checking acct. Painless. The money showed up in my little home town bank acct in about three days.

[mbisson]

I was just looking at one of the benefits charts for this card ( http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/cruiser/cmsPages.html?pageId=WorldPointsDM&utm_source=pccassigned_pastguest&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BOA41716&utm_content=boatnc )

 

And see "Exclusive Cruise Specials: Coming Soon"---I wonder just what that means

[MagnoliaBlossom]

mbisson - my guess is that it will be kinda' like the Carnival past guest specials. I've noticed it there for a month or two and it will be interesting to see if it actually offers any good deals.

[moma2012]

If you are redeeming points for on board credit make sure you check when you start your cruise to make sure they have the credit on record. I just came back from a cruise, everything was properly applied for and we were supposed to have $150 of onboard credit. Unfortunately I didn't check and when we went to settle our bill they had no record of it. I was told to just call the company and show the bill and you will get your credit.

 

Well I have been on the phone for a week now being passed around to countless people and all they want to do is put the points back on my card! If I wanted the points on my card I wouldn't have cruised Norwegian to redeem the points!!!!!!

 

A week later I am still waiting to hear from someone, anyone who will credit my card for the $150.

 

Any ideas out there of what else I can do would be appreciated. I took out the Norwegian card because I heard it was the best cruise deals. After this cruise I don't believe that to be true and probably won't use Norwegian again. (Therefore don't really need the points back) I previously sailed Carnival and found that to be a more friendly and entertaining experience with better food and did not add extra charges for everything!

 

Be careful with your points people~ Double check everything

[MagnoliaBlossom]

If they will put the points back on your cards, have them do that.which

Then when the points appear, go to the redemption area and request cash back. You will have to enter an account (checking or savings) and the money will be transferred to your account in aboout two weeks.

 

This is actually a better way to use your points, as the redemption ration is better than lower levels of OBC. And by now, you should have your

double points for onboard expenditures on your acct. If the card has not closed, then wait until it does so you have access to those points.

 

Sorry you had a frustrating experience. NCL's card used to be the best around by BoA has changed the program so dramatically it on the same (1%) level with Carnival, and Princess. But it is still better than RCCL's.

[Bars7816]

Just checked the Bank Of America World Points site and found that 10,000 points are only worth only $80 and $5,000 points are worth $25. If I redeem for OBC, the 10,000 pts are worth $100 and 5,000 pts worth $50. Is this correct?

 

It seemed that redeeming for cash was the way to go, but not at this exchange.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

Smaller levels of redemption never give you as good a rate as higher amounts. I've never paid much attention to the smaller amts. because I just wait til I have $500 and redeem.

 

But now I'm curious if the cash and OBC actually are different (not that I doubt you, I'm just curious).

 

Just got back from the Baltics yesterday and my OBC came through just fine, but I had verified it before I left and had a printed document in my file.

 

When you arrive in the room there will be a little notice about your OBC, so you'll know right off that it's there.

 

MB

[lpglarry]

thats what i read also, so it is better to get ship credit

[ute_fan]

Haven't read anything on this thread for a long time, so forgive me if this has already been covered. We had two of the old NCL cards, and haven't bothered to cancel them. I realize the points you earn aren't nearly as good as they used to be -- but one little advantage is that they can be redeemed for a wider variety of rewards.

 

I just used my smaller balance to pay for a night's stay at the Hilton Garden Inn in Idaho Falls on a land trip to Yellowstone. I'd much rather have the old 3% earnings rate back for NCL cruises -- but failing that, it is nice to be able to have other options for redeeming the points you do use.

[Us2inFL]

Capital One No Hassle Professional or Venture cards seem to be the way to go, with two points (miles) for each dollar spent.

 

One hundred thousand miles = $1000 refund for travel.

 

Old NCL rewards would have given us $1500 cruise credit, so the loss with CapOne is about the best you're going to get.

 

(Edited to add: NCL World Points gives you $500 OBC for 50,000 pts, $250 OBC for 25,000 pts etc. There are also a few casino specials where you get $100 voucher for casino play for 5000 pts.)

Edited August 18, 2010 by Us2inFL

[c breeze]

I do not see an option for cash back on the redemption chart. If I have 50,000 points, I can get $500 off a cruise, or $500 OBC. Does this mean I can get $500 cash back, or is the amount different? How do I go about doing this? I miss the old certificate program!

[Us2inFL]

Is your question directed at me and the Cap One card I spoke about?

[c breeze]

Is your question directed at me and the Cap One card I spoke about?

 

No..... The NCL World Points Card. Thanks!

[Us2inFL]

To my knowledge (and from a few experiences) World Points only convert to reduction in cruise price or OBC.

 

I do not use the BofA NCL card much anymore because Cap One gives you twice the benefit.

 

$50,000 worth of purchases gets you $500 reward with NCL BofA card.

$50,000 worth of purchases gets you $1000 reward with Cap One, $1000 real dollars, right off the balance of your payment.

 

PS: In the old days $50,000 worth of purchases got you $1500 in Compass coupons.... oh well.

[c breeze]

MagnoliaBlossom stated in an earlier post that you can redeem for cashback. I have looked at the Cap One, and still plan to get one, but for now I am trying to figure out how to get cash back for the NCL world points. If I can't, then I will use them for a cruise in the next year or two.

 

 

To my knowledge (and from a few experiences) World Points only convert to reduction in cruise price or OBC.

 

I do not use the BofA NCL card much anymore because Cap One gives you twice the benefit.

 

$50,000 worth of purchases gets you $500 reward with NCL BofA card.

$50,000 worth of purchases gets you $1000 reward with Cap One, $1000 real dollars, right off the balance of your payment.

 

PS: In the old days $50,000 worth of purchases got you $1500 in Compass coupons.... oh well.

[flashdog_1]

I do not see an option for cash back on the redemption chart. If I have 50,000 points, I can get $500 off a cruise, or $500 OBC. Does this mean I can get $500 cash back, or is the amount different? How do I go about doing this? I miss the old certificate program!

 

Maybe they've removed the cash back option recently, but last fall I got a $250 check.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

Okay - ya'll really scared me - thought the wascals at BoA had taken away this option. Whew! They hid it a bit more but I sniffed it out.

 

Go to your BoA acct and log in

 

See the "rewards" tab ? There should be four, and rewards is on the far right. Click on it

 

Next screen is the nice distracting thing with cruise ships (sigh) etc on it

and you can click on a variety of things but ignore all that . . .

 

Scroll to the bottom of the page. You will have nine options of things like "gift cards" etc. The very last one is "cash deposits" or something like that. Click on it (not the one that says cash)

 

Next screen gives you the option to add accounts (which you have to do before you can redeem) or redeem. It is pretty self explanatory and no different than most sites where you enter your bank info. The money will be deposited into your checking or savings acct. It does not have to be a BoA bank - I use a little local bank and they found it in about a week or two. Redemption amounts begin at $250 and are in multiples of 2500 pts. You will not receive 1% redemption until 25,000 points ($250). I don't remember this in the past, seems like it was at 10,000 ($100), but I could be wrong.

 

Hint: If you have more than one BoA NCL cards, you can transfer points from one acct to the other free of charge. This allows you to get past that 1% barrier a bit easier. BUT if you transfer points between accounts you MUST redeem them in 90 days or lose them. :eek: I'm so friggin' paranoid about the banks robbin' me, I don't ever transfer points until the day I intend to use them.

 

Hope, ya'll are happy now that you got me all revved up - can't sleep, so guess I'll go surf CruiseCritics and dream of my next cruise ;)

[Bars7816]

Sure enough, BOA web site still says 10000 = $80 cash. So I opted for $100 OBC for my 10000 points. Rocket science, it ain't! :D

[Us2inFL]

If you venture into the casino, remember there is a 5000 points / $100 casino voucher available through NCL BofA. Who knows, you could really parlay that into a "bundle!"

[MagnoliaBlossom]

Certainly the casino credit is the best ROI at 2% - but only if your a slot player. I'd never really paid much attention to the casino credits before because if it works the same as the CAS coupon money, you can't cash out any of your "free" money, only what you've won above that amount.

 

Did that on our recent cruise. Had my little $20 for $10 promo points (or whatever amount it was, I kinda' forget now) and hit a win that would have given me an even $100 but it would only let me cash out a lesser amount. The rest had to be played.

 

No biggy - just thought I would let people who aren't real familiar with the casino programs know that you can't cash it out. Too bad - would be a nice way to get 2% rather than 1% :)

[shellmisi]

The slots play option is not really a good deal. It doesn't give you $100 credit, it's just giving you the ability to buy $100 worth of slot credit for $50. You still have to spend the $50 to get the $100 credit with the voucher. You can get an addition $50 OBC and spend it however you want with the same amount of points.