RCI Visa Rewards

[piislanders]

I seem to get conflicting information each time I call and ask. Has anyone ever booked a free cruise with a travel agent and used the rewards credit? I read nothing in the small print say that you can not but was told that you can not because the agent will not get there commission so they would most likely not book the cruise for you.

Any info will help

 

Bill

[sn2792]

We have used ours when we booked with a TA. We used one for $500.00 towards cruise fare and another that was a free OV for two. We upgraded to a balcony cabin.

 

Our TA took care of sending in the reward coupon and followed up to make sure it was credited before final payment.

[phoenix1181]

Since a TA earns based on what you pay, it could be an issue.............. If you have a relationship with a good TA, I'm sure there won't be a problem. If you don't have anyone that you work with regularly, you may have to do it yourself.

[clott]

i have a crusie booked for oct 2010. could someone tell me how to apply my points toward the cruise fare. I thinkd we have about 60,000 points. thanks

[waterbugohio]

clott,

 

you can the number on your BOA credit card statement. (1800-421-2110) Just remember you are calling BOA not royal, so you have to use their terms. Ask to redeem your points. Tell they you want as many certificates for Royal that your points will buy. They come in different increments, I know 25000 ($250) in one of them, so you could order two of them and then two 5000 ($5), I don't think they come in 10000. Then it will take two week or so to receive them from BOA. You then follow the instruction on the back of the certificates and fill them out. On my certificates there was not a space for "discount off cruise" I just called Royal and they said to just write in the dollar amount and "discount off cruise" Make copies and mail in. In another two weeks call this Royal number 1-888-305-4326 and ask if it has been applied. Some will say that they apply the credit in the order the ship sails and with yours being two years out, it may not get applied right away. But if you call and tell them to check it so you can figure out what you still owe, they should do it within a day or two. Then you will have your balance due.

 

Just remember, if you order the certificates NOW, don't put them in the drawed and wait to send them it. They expire in 6 months. Order them from BOA and fill them out and send them in right away, or wait till closer and order about a month before you have to make final payment.

 

We got the BOA card last year Oct when booking our first ever cruise. Used it for everything (paid off every month) And with the free points we got for signing up and everything we used we redeem for $300 off the cruise, $300 OBC. Now I just sent in for another $100 OBC, we sail in three weeks.

 

I think getting $700 FREE was well worth it and want to thank everyone on this board that helped me along the way.

[carbon]

I have 95,000 points on BOA. We cruise in March 2009 and I want to book my free cruise for 2010. I should have my 125,000 points by then. How should I book this free cruise. Thanks in advance for any pointers.

[carbon]

Can anyone answer this?

[vickiw0318]

So far as I have heard, you just book it the same way you would any other cruise. You are just using the BOA points to pay for it. I would think you just order the certificate from BOA and send it in to pay for the cruise.

 

Didn't one of you CCers say that you need to pay at least a dollar to get a cruise credit?

[laseiber]

Just make sure to use your VISA points within 5 years of earning, or they start to dissapear. Like the other posting remember they expire within 6 months of ordering coupon. We booked our cruise for 2 free directly with cruise line for May 2009. Will order coupons in January before they start to expire in February. You have to read the fine print. We also upgraded from window to balcony for about $200, but well worth the upgrade. Also it is hard to get a straight answer on what the actual value of the visa points are towards the free 5 or 7 day cruise is, so everyone probably pays something when they turn them in for use.

[MNfamilycruiser]

So far as I have heard, you just book it the same way you would any other cruise. You are just using the BOA points to pay for it. I would think you just order the certificate from BOA and send it in to pay for the cruise.

 

Didn't one of you CCers say that you need to pay at least a dollar to get a cruise credit?

I would agree to book it like any other cruise. Keep accumulating points, and send them in when you have enough.

 

We got enough for a free companion OV fare - but we are booked into the RFS. They applied the value of the free companion fare to the cabin we actually had booked.

 

This was a much better deal than taking several smaller OBC amounts BTW. Our companion fare was reduced by over $1,000 for a 75,000 point certificate.

[jmezmom]

I have 95,000 points on BOA. We cruise in March 2009 and I want to book my free cruise for 2010. I should have my 125,000 points by then. How should I book this free cruise. Thanks in advance for any pointers.

 

A tip...always BOOK the room you want to stay in. For example: free oceanview for 2 but you want a balcony....book the balcony. When you send in the certificate they will take off the price for 2 oceanview passengers.

 

If it is a free inside and you want a balcony BOOk the balcony.

[karena1]

So far as I have heard, you just book it the same way you would any other cruise. You are just using the BOA points to pay for it. I would think you just order the certificate from BOA and send it in to pay for the cruise.

 

Didn't one of you CCers say that you need to pay at least a dollar to get a cruise credit?

 

Yes, that is what we did. We cashed in enough points to get a buy one/get one on a 3 nighter. For DH to get his credit, they charged him $1 for his trip.

[karena1]

I have 95,000 points on BOA. We cruise in March 2009 and I want to book my free cruise for 2010. I should have my 125,000 points by then. How should I book this free cruise. Thanks in advance for any pointers.

 

You book your cruise like any other, in whatever cabin you want.

 

Then you call BofA and redeem your point value and get your certificate. On the certificate, you mark what you want to do - i.e. free cruise. Make a copy then mail the original. What happens is this - you will get whatever the value of the redemption is, off your cruise total. This is what we did for our Serenade April 2009 trip:

 

Booked a balcony on Deck 8. Then we cashed in 75k points for a buy one/get one free OV (minimum available OV). So our balcony room at the time of booking was $1129. The minimum available OV at the date of booking was $949. So we received the $949 amount off the cabin and DH's cabin is now $180.00.

 

So you book whatever you want and then the certificate is applied to your booking at the value of the cabin on the date of your original booking. Hope that makes sense.

[trolleydolly]

Have just had an e mail inviting me to apply for an RCI credit card and you get 10000 free points.

 

Just wondered if its worth applying for it. How quickly do you build up points and do you think its a better deal than using another credit card??

 

Thanks

[Elizanessie]

Have just had an e mail inviting me to apply for an RCI credit card and you get 10000 free points.

 

Just wondered if its worth applying for it. How quickly do you build up points and do you think its a better deal than using another credit card??

 

Thanks

 

:( Sorry but it isnt available in UK it is only for those in USA.

[shaqattaq]

either this program is exponentially increasing in popularity, or the people who apply the reward points are completely inept.

 

i'm traveling on the Liberty on 1/10/09. final payment date 11/1/08. i sent in my 125,000 certificate in mid august, and they have yet to apply the points. they keep saying "they're very busy" when i call and inquire about the status. i've paid everything except the value of the 125,000 points. they expect me to pay the remainder of the balance and trust them to credit me that money back "when they get around to applying my points". f&^% that. i'm completely disgusted with the service.

 

when i used a 125,000 certificate a couple years ago, it went flawlessly.

[MIcruiser99]

I wonder if is different coupons that cause problems. We redeemed points for a free companion fare and we sail Jan. 2009 also. I looked at our account online and saw that the coupon was applied within a couple of weeks.