For those who have gotten the free cruise with the Visa Certificates...

[EggDropErin]

Did those cruises count towards C&A?

[Maxiecat3]

I used the free cruise certificate for our cruise in May and was credited with a cruise credit. Now we upgraded to a balcony and ended up paying about $200.00 per passenger for the upgrade, so I do not know if that made a difference or not.

Gregg

[EggDropErin]

Thanks for answering. We are actually considering upgrading as well.

[THERUDYS]

Rudy from Il here. Have been meaning to chat but not much free time lately.....until you caught my eye with this post. How did you get a cruise from Visa? I have their card and believe me they love me as they just sent an upgraded card LOL So explain the cruise please.

[EggDropErin]

Rudy from Il here. Have been meaning to chat but not much free time lately.....until you caught my eye with this post. How did you get a cruise from Visa? I have their card and believe me they love me as they just sent an upgraded card LOL So explain the cruise please.

 

Howdy! Good to see you posting.

 

We have the Royal Caribbean Visa. You can earn points towards free cruises, onboard credits, etc. :)

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/dealsandmore/offer/visa.do;jsessionid=0000KTCK-En1cp7kHM4kPAqaSnX:12hbioan0?cS=NAVBAR

[pmshirl]

I also was credited with a cruise credit, upgraded to a balcony too. You want to try to get a cruise thats in the highest season(price), and a more expensive Ship, to get the best bang for the buck. I used mine for a June Liberty sailing and was credited $2500.00 off my cabin. Good Luck!

[TexasAlexus]

Glad to see this post too. I have booked the Mariner for June, and am going to use the free cruise for two OV option to pay for one of the cabins. In order to be near the rest of the family who are booked in PR cabins, we had to book a Balcony cabin. Am I understanding correctly that I can just pay the extra cost difference of the Balcony and also how do they determine how much to credit your cruise? Is it based on a standard 2500.00 or the cost of the cheapest OV on that particular sailing? Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer.

[Shanafan]

I was not credited for our cruise in February after using 125,000 points. When I questioned it I was told you do not get credits for free cruises. I also used 50,000 points in August for a 3 night cruise and was credited for it, although with the C & A being such a mess right now it hasn't updated. When I wrote recently they said I had 7 cruise credits, which would have included the 2 free cruises. I wish they would hurry up and updte it so I can be assured that I did get the 2 cruise credits for those cruises.

[Shanafan]

Glad to see this post too. I have booked the Mariner for June, and am going to use the free cruise for two OV option to pay for one of the cabins. In order to be near the rest of the family who are booked in PR cabins, we had to book a Balcony cabin. Am I understanding correctly that I can just pay the extra cost difference of the Balcony and also how do they determine how much to credit your cruise? Is it based on a standard 2500.00 or the cost of the cheapest OV on that particular sailing? Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer.

It is based on the cheapest OV cabin. You can book whatever room you want, but you are only going to get the cheapest OV at the time they take your certificate off.

[Tranquil Waters]

I was told - yes, I realize what a loaded statement that is ;) - that the trick is spending money of your own (no matter how small) on the cost of the cruise itself. Upgrading is the most common way to spend your own money on the cost of the cruise. If you get a "free" oceanview with your points - and you spend even $50 to upgrade to balcony (needless to say, cost to upgrade will vary depending on each individual cruise) - then you have paid something for the cruise. And then you do get a cruise credit for the cruise on your C&A cruise count.

 

If you simply take your free cruise - no credit.

 

We upgraded to balcony last year and did get our cruise credit.

 

At least that is what I was told.....;) :D YMMV

[EggDropErin]

Thank y'all for your answers and your feedback. :)

[Shanafan]

I was told - yes, I realize what a loaded statement that is ;) - that the trick is spending money of your own (no matter how small) on the cost of the cruise itself. Upgrading is the most common way to spend your own money on the cost of the cruise. If you get a "free" oceanview with your points - and you spend even $50 to upgrade to balcony (needless to say, cost to upgrade will vary depending on each individual cruise) - then you have paid something for the cruise. And then you do get a cruise credit for the cruise on your C&A cruise count.

 

If you simply take your free cruise - no credit.

 

We upgraded to balcony last year and did get our cruise credit.

 

At least that is what I was told.....;) :D YMMV

 

That is the crazy thing. I did upgrade on both of the cruises we got 'free' and I didn't get the credit. The one in February I paid for our 2 kids to be in our room and they I think $799 each plus we upgraded to an aft balcony. They told me I would not receive credit as it was a free cruise. :confused: The one in August I think I paid an extra $143 so it wasn't 'free' either. We upgraded our room so it was about $80 of that and the rest was of course the taxes and port fees.

 

When I emailed crown and anchor they said I had 7 cruise credits and that they would be taking care of it. (It shows I have 5 so the two above were not credited) It has been about 2 weeks and I still haven't had the adjustment made. I wonder if I should contact them again.

[TexasAlexus]

Thanks shanafan, you made my day. I'm so glad that I can use my credits and Tranquil Waters- I never even thought about the cruise not counting if I didn't pay for it. Just showing up is not enough, huh!?! I guess the balcony upgrade is a good idea for several reasons.

[Tranquil Waters]

That is the crazy thing. I did upgrade on both of the cruises we got 'free' and I didn't get the credit. The one in February I paid for our 2 kids to be in our room and they I think $799 each plus we upgraded to an aft balcony. They told me I would not receive credit as it was a free cruise. :confused: The one in August I think I paid an extra $143 so it wasn't 'free' either. We upgraded our room so it was about $80 of that and the rest was of course the taxes and port fees.

 

When I emailed crown and anchor they said I had 7 cruise credits and that they would be taking care of it. (It shows I have 5 so the two above were not credited) It has been about 2 weeks and I still haven't had the adjustment made. I wonder if I should contact them again.

 

I would definately contact them again. And if the person you speak to doesn't acknowledge that you spent money on the cruise (and so are qualified for the credits), I would ask him/her to speak to his/her supervisor to recheck the policy.

 

This is what happened to me. I had heard about the $$ issue here on CC. So when I checked the credits I was initially given the "free cruise" line. I mentioned the upgrade and asked that she check with her supervisor. She came back on the line and said I was indeed correct. And my credits were applied. No problem.

 

This was in Feb. 2007. So unless the policy has changed again.....

[Shanafan]

I would definately contact them again. And if the person you speak to doesn't acknowledge that you spent money on the cruise (and so are qualified for the credits), I would ask him/her to speak to his/her supervisor to recheck the policy.

 

This is what happened to me. I had heard about the $$ issue here on CC. So when I checked the credits I was initially given the "free cruise" line. I mentioned the upgrade and asked that she check with her supervisor. She came back on the line and said I was indeed correct. And my credits were applied. No problem.

 

This was in Feb. 2007. So unless the policy has changed again.....

Thank you!! I will call because the one in question was our February cruise. I still paid over $2000 with our upgrade and paying for the kids. So it sure as heck wasn't free!

[Tranquil Waters]

Thank you!! I will call because the one in question was our February cruise. I still paid over $2000 with our upgrade and paying for the kids. So it sure as heck wasn't free!

 

Good luck. :) It would only be fair. We paid a very minimal upgrade amount - it was on Navigator and not a sold out sailing (so the difference between OV and smallest balcony was not much) and it was just DH and I. For some reason $67 comes to mind but I wouldn't swear to it.......

[EggDropErin]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I think when we do this, we're going to make sure we get the upgrade.

[karena1]

I just called C&A and got the same answer as before. We are going on Sovereign in May. We booked the OV on Deck 8 and used 25k points to get one free companion fare, so we are paying for DH but mine is free except for the taxes. I called to make sure I would get credit and both times I have called they said "yes". So even though my cruise is "free", I will get the credit for it.

[Tranquil Waters]

I just called C&A and got the same answer as before. We are going on Sovereign in May. We booked the OV on Deck 8 and used 25k points to get one free companion fare, so we are paying for DH but mine is free except for the taxes. I called to make sure I would get credit and both times I have called they said "yes". So even though my cruise is "free", I will get the credit for it.

 

But it is not a totally free booking - ie you could not sail "for free" if husband was not paying. That might be the difference. :) Just guessing.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

OK - here is another question. Can you apply your "Free 7 Night Caribbean or Mexican Riviera Cruise" to a 14 night Repo Panama Canal Cruise, which is technically both? I hope to be able to do that cruise in 2010 & will more than likely have enough points by that time for the "Free Cruise for Two". However, DH will not have enough vacation time to do 3 weeks worth of cruises! Of course, we know that we would have to pay the difference for both a balcony upgrade and the extra basic fare.