NCL Mastercard FAQ

[nhtravels]

On 3/1/2024 at 9:31 AM, mscdivina2016 said:

 

If not doing upgrades it's lousy.

It truly is a lousy card once you have gotten used to the Haven!  LOL!

 

[dmwnc1959]

On 3/1/2024 at 4:19 PM, Stowaway LFC said:

Not really interested in upgrading my cabin. It's one of the cheaper cabins, no view or balcony but I don't plan to be in there much.  I will likely redeem points for a statement credit instead.

 

If I pay the rest of my NCL purchases with my NCL card then I will get 3 points per each dollar spent, correct?

Does the 3 points per dollar apply to excursions booked through NCL too?

If I am calculating correctly NCL will be a much greater return than using my 2% cash back card.

 

Thank you 🤩

 

On 3/1/2024 at 5:50 PM, mscdivina2016 said:

Everything including excursions and even casino will pay 3x

That’s the same thing I’m doing. Not even interested in being upgraded, I’m more than fine with the inside cabin that I have. Plan on using the card to buy the online packages and goodies, crew appreciation, pay off the balance of the cruise, as well as buy shore excursions when they become available. I’m looking +40,000 points easily, which equates to a $400 statement credit - which is nothing to sneeze at some of us! 🤣😉

[Stowaway LFC]

20 minutes ago, dmwnc1959 said:

 

That’s the same thing I’m doing. Not even interested in being upgraded, I’m more than fine with the inside cabin that I have. Plan on using the card to buy the online packages and goodies, crew appreciation, pay off the balance of the cruise, as well as buy shore excursions when they become available. I’m looking +40,000 points easily, which equates to a $400 statement credit - which is nothing to sneeze at some of us! 🤣😉

My thoughts exactly!!!

[julig22]

Well, new information for solo cruisers. You can now use your points to upgrade the solo categories - so solo OV to solo Balcony for example. Although I'd been told that before, only to get my points returned, the rep verified that it can be done now. And I have a confirmation from NCL, so pretty sure it's all good.

Only found out because the balcony I wanted happened to be a solo balcony so couldn't upgrade from my booked OV.  What a disappointment - I had to rebook my OV as a solo OV (a $400+ savings) to get the cabin I wanted!!  

 

Also confirmed that if you cancel a cruise, you get your points returned.  If you change your mind and don't want to use your points for an upgrade, you are out of luck and points are forfeited.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

I’ve always had my points returned when we’ve cancelled or rebooked, but shortly after restart they started reading you a script that said the company had the discretion of whether or not to return your points.  😳. I guess they’re just CYA, and I’ve never heard of anyone else not getting them back.  But it sure got my attention when I first heard it.

Edited March 5 by MagnoliaBlossom

[kismetique]

2 hours ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

I’ve always had my points returned 

When I recently did my 4 upgrades,  I asked specifically,  if while booking my 4 b2b's if something didn't work with the chained cruises and I needed to cancel would I get my points refunded,  both people I talked to said absolutely, no problem.  Just my experience. 

[MagnoliaBlossom]

Glad to hear all has returned to sanity.  Guess they realized telling people they might lose their points was not a bright idea.  

[3dogmom]

I'd like to use 30k points to upgrade an Obstructed OV. Do you know which balcony category this would be? Also, if you book with a TA, do they have to process the points/upgrade or do you still call NCL MC?  Thanks!

[julig22]

15 minutes ago, 3dogmom said:

I'd like to use 30k points to upgrade an Obstructed OV. Do you know which balcony category this would be? Also, if you book with a TA, do they have to process the points/upgrade or do you still call NCL MC?  Thanks!

OK-BF is what I've always gotten.

You have to call MC or use the online request form.

If you call, they might let you choose your cabin, they will pick your cabin if you use the online request form. If you have a specific cabin in mind, it never hurts to ask for it, no guarantees.

[3dogmom]

10 minutes ago, julig22 said:

OK-BF is what I've always gotten.

You have to call MC or use the online request form.

If you call, they might let you choose your cabin, they will pick your cabin if you use the online request form. If you have a specific cabin in mind, it never hurts to ask for it, no guarantees.

Thank you!

[alwalaska]

2 hours ago, julig22 said:

OK-BF is what I've always gotten.

You have to call MC or use

2 hours ago, 3dogmom said:

I'd like to use 30k points to upgrade an Obstructed OV. Do you know which balcony category this would be? Also, if you book with a TA, do they have to process the points/upgrade or do you still call NCL MC?  Thanks!

 

2 hours ago, julig22 said:

OK-BF is what I've always gotten.

You have to call MC or use the online request form.

If you call, they might let you choose your cabin, they will pick your cabin if you use the online request form. If you have a specific cabin in mind, it never hurts to ask for it, no guarantees.

the online request form.

If you call, they might let you choose your cabin, they will pick your cabin if you use the online request form. If you have a specific cabin in mind, it never hurts to ask for it, no guarantees.

 

On my most recent upgrade, they said that the cabin I wanted (which was in the correct category they said I could pick from) was not available.  I then picked the best one from the list she gave me.  Since I knew the cabin I wanted was available, I asked my TA for suggestions.  She decided to try and switch my reservation to the cabin I wanted and was successful.  I probably would have also been successful if I had said, "never mind", and then called back to see if I could book it through a different person.  It was a cabin where something was wrong on the NCL site and it did not appear in the images but appeared in a different location on the lists if you knew where to look.

[julig22]

1 minute ago, alwalaska said:

 

On my most recent upgrade, they said that the cabin I wanted (which was in the correct category they said I could pick from) was not available.  I then picked the best one from the list she gave me.  Since I knew the cabin I wanted was available, I asked my TA for suggestions.  She decided to try and switch my reservation to the cabin I wanted and was successful.  I probably would have also been successful if I had said, "never mind", and then called back to see if I could book it through a different person.  It was a cabin where something was wrong on the NCL site and it did not appear in the images but appeared in a different location on the lists if you knew where to look.

It definitely depends on who you talk to. I knew the cabin I wanted was available but it happened to be one of the new solo balconies and I had booked a regular OV - so the WWP rep took care of everything necessary to adjust my existing reservation so the upgrade would be possible - saving me over $400 in the process.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

Around the lockdown some agents began telling people you had to choose from their list.  I challenged them on that and eventually would hang up and call back to get the room I wanted from another agent.  I don’t know how they can mess up something s simple, but . . . Never mind, y’all know.

[mking8288]

FYI all - posting a post stateroom upgrade using 60,000 accrued points on NCL, from OV to Balcony (spoke to agent live and able to choose our preferred deck & room, given a list of available cabins when we called in) at more than 120 days out.  

 

We still received the PlusGrade offer to participate in the Upgrade Advantage bidding ... now, to Club Balcony, Suites & Haven - already for our particular sailing, most of the roll call didn't receive the invite or offer to bid until under 60 days ... including us.  Hence, we're not excluded simply because we already upgrade from our initial booking of an OV - still in the game, if we choose to bid.

 

Also, we have a 2nd cabin that we upgraded, using our one-time Diamond upgrade - that was good & done as well, around the same time after we did the BOA double meta upgrade first. to see if we can get something nearby ... and we did, successfully by emailing our request to the Latitudes support desk.  We also get the email invite to bid up too, if we want to upgrade again by making offers for Club Balcony, Suites and/or Haven.  

 

Currently, suites and Haven suites are listed as sold out and nothing "new" available to book - less than 2 months to embarkation.  

[kjquilts]

mking8288    if you're still on line you might want to edit your post to show stateroom upgrade using 60,000 points from Inside to Balcony .... rather than from OV.

 

Question on your diamond upgrade on other stateroom .... were you within one year of award?  We haven't used our diamond upgrades and don't know if we've lost them.

 

 

Edited March 7 by kjquilts

[9tee2Sea]

I have tried to read as many posts as I can, but I am still confused.  Tell me if my thinking is correct.  As of now, I have approx, 145,000 points.  Let's say I book an inside cabin on a 14 a cruise.  Do I call the World Points number and ask for the upgrade to a balcony using some of my points?  OR, do I book a balcony, and then ask for a statement credit? Do I have to pay the cruise in full first?  Would my PCC be able to navigate this?  Can I also use my Cruise Next Certificates as deposit?  I wish NCL had a tab on their Home Page that gave you an option to redeem points ( just like some airlines do).  Sorry if this all haas been answered, but Math is not my strong point, and all this stuff is like taking Geometry to me.  Goes over my head

[laudergayle]

37 minutes ago, 9tee2Sea said:

I have tried to read as many posts as I can, but I am still confused.  Tell me if my thinking is correct.  As of now, I have approx, 145,000 points.  Let's say I book an inside cabin on a 14 a cruise.  Do I call the World Points number and ask for the upgrade to a balcony using some of my points?  OR, do I book a balcony, and then ask for a statement credit? Do I have to pay the cruise in full first?  Would my PCC be able to navigate this?  Can I also use my Cruise Next Certificates as deposit?  I wish NCL had a tab on their Home Page that gave you an option to redeem points ( just like some airlines do).  Sorry if this all haas been answered, but Math is not my strong point, and all this stuff is like taking Geometry to me.  Goes over my head

Book your inside cabin (preferably an IA if you want best pick for balcony) through your PCC. You can use your Cruise Next as your deposit. Just tell your PCC to apply it.  Once booked, do a mock booking for balcony cabins to identify one you want.  Then call the WP number and request the 60k point upgrade from Inside to Balcony.  Hopefully the cabin you want will be available through the WP rep.  You don’t have to have your booking paid in full.  Enjoy your cruise.

 

Also, an upgrade is a much better value than a statement credit.

Edited March 7 by laudergayle

[julig22]

37 minutes ago, 9tee2Sea said:

 I wish NCL had a tab on their Home Page that gave you an option to redeem points ( just like some airlines do).  Sorry if this all haas been answered, but Math is not my strong point, and all this stuff is like taking Geometry to me.  Goes over my head

The option to redeem points is available on the BofA site - that's where your points are, they administer the program, not NCL.

[kismetique]

2 hours ago, julig22 said:

The option to redeem points is available on the BofA site - that's where your points are, they administer the program, not NCL.

I called to ask several questions before I actually did the upgrade and then inquired about just doing it online rather than calling back and the gentlemen said,  NO!!  Don't book online,  always call us,  less chance it goes bad!  I've only ever done this once,  so I have no real experience,  but he tickled me with his emphatic NO!

[julig22]

8 minutes ago, kismetique said:

I called to ask several questions before I actually did the upgrade and then inquired about just doing it online rather than calling back and the gentlemen said,  NO!!  Don't book online,  always call us,  less chance it goes bad!  I've only ever done this once,  so I have no real experience,  but he tickled me with his emphatic NO!

Funny story about that - I called to ask if I could use points to upgrade from a solo OV - and was told sure, no problem.  So I rebooked to solo OV, then did the online upgrade later on. A few days later, got a notice saying I couldn't do that, my points had been returned. So who knows what would have happened if I'd called and gotten the same rep. But yea, I'll always call from now on - although the results will only be as good as the person you speak to.

[alwalaska]

3 hours ago, laudergayle said:

Book your inside cabin (preferably an IA if you want best pick for balcony) through your PCC. You can use your Cruise Next as your deposit. Just tell your PCC to apply it.  Once booked, do a mock booking for balcony cabins to identify one you want.  Then call the WP number and request the 60k point upgrade from Inside to Balcony.  Hopefully the cabin you want will be available through the WP rep.  You don’t have to have your booking paid in full.  Enjoy your cruise.

 

Also, an upgrade is a much better value than a statement credit.

@9tee2Sea One clarification to the response above ...

Although it did not happen to me, since Post COVID cruising, there is a very scary disclaimer that they read to you saying that if you cancel your booking, you MAY lose all of your points, and you have to acknowledge that you understand.  Some people wait until last minute (right before final payment) to do the upgrades, but I wanted a specific cabin, so I decided to roll the dice.  I didn't cancel my cruise, but NCL canceled my cruise. It was part of the almost a year's worth of cruises on the NCL Spirit that were canceled at 3 (I believe) different times.  After several days, I had my Cruise Next cert back, but my points had not been returned.  I called in, I think it was the WP number, and thye said that sometimes it has to be done manually, there is no automatic refund process.  They processed the refund and I had my points about 2 days later and I was able to redo my double-meta upgrade.

The other thing that is messy are price drops.  Before final payment, the price drop is determined on the interior prices, not the balcony prices. Sometimes, NCL won't do anything about price drops saying that the upgrade finalizes everything.  We totally loved our cabin and it was definitely worth the extra work to make it happen.

 

[MagnoliaBlossom]

On 3/7/2024 at 3:06 PM, kismetique said:

I called to ask several questions before I actually did the upgrade and then inquired about just doing it online rather than calling back and the gentlemen said,  NO!!  Don't book online,  always call us,  less chance it goes bad!  I've only ever done this once,  so I have no real experience,  but he tickled me with his emphatic NO!

True!  You CAN do it online but there are posts describing the mess that happened when doing an upgrade that way.  If you want OBC or statement credit, that’s fine to do online but not an upgrade.  I don’t understand the aversion some people have to making a phone call.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

I had an upgraded cruise cancelled around February of 2020.  I watched and waited for points to be restored,which normally took a few days, but now had stretched to two weeks.  The WP agent said not every agent can restore points, only someone with a security level that allows them to see your credit card information.  So, there aren’t very many of them and everyone was now working remotely and proper security had not been established for the at home computers.

 

she assured me she could see the points and they were slated to be returned but it could take several months.  They were returned but I think it was about three months.  
 

I remember the first time they read me that script about possible loss of points, it was pretty scary, but it never wound up happening, and I don’t remember if they still do that.  I’ve not done an upgrade in a year or so.

Edited March 9 by MagnoliaBlossom

[mking8288]

On 3/7/2024 at 12:24 PM, kjquilts said:

mking8288    if you're still on line you might want to edit your post to show stateroom upgrade using 30,000 points from Oceanview to Balcony ...

 

Question on your diamond upgrade on other stateroom .... were you within one year of award?  We haven't used our diamond upgrades and don't know if we've lost them.

Stand corrected, must've been having that senior moment posting, middle of the day too.  Thanks, actually - caught my error but after 20 minutes, as we know, CC won't allow edit anymore - both cabins were booked in OV, upgrade first one with the Diamond perk and then call into WP on the second OV with list of available balconies (none on her list ... but she came up with quite a few choices on the decks I asked, with the deck plan on my screen display)   It was (is) a good use of just 30,000 points for a single meta upgrade.  

 

The other diamond upgrade - eyeballing mid/late October on the older ship's TA from our homeport, flying back the other way but could possibly do a B2B with 2 days sightseeing the ports in between, still doing the math & looking at flights (we plan & choose ours) etc. - that's still within the 1 year and should be fine.  We still have enough points to do WP upgrades, single and a double meta.  Have another one that's more than 18 months out, late 2025 (we typically don't book this far out ... now, we can) and tempted to see if we can do the Diamond upgrade for it.  We can use 30,000 points again for this Fall's TA instead and the saving is quite substantial.  First world problems to deal with, huh  😁

 

If you cannot use the other one, should be fine - book something ahead ... according to this post, several "trusted" CC posters basically confirmed the 1 year rule or restriction on use it or lose it, does not apply.   See link below for that post - 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2996292-diamond-latitude-question/#comment-67059436

 

[kismetique]

4 hours ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

I don’t understand the aversion some people have to making a phone call.

I don't know but i suffer from it.  If I can do it on line,  I'm going to do that over a phone call.  I think it has to do more with getting CSRs that don't soak good English and having a slight hearing deficit.  Those two issues make for excruciating phone convos!!! 😊