RCCL Credit Card Free Cruise + C&A Discount?

[cruislovin]

Has anyone used the "free cruise" from the RCCL credit card from Bank of America? How do you pay for the cruise - book it, deposit it, use free cruise for final payment, or what?

 

Also, do you receive the Crown & Anchor discount on the booked cruise as well? We are Diamond so normally we get a discount on some cabins.

 

Any tips on the best way to use the free cruise for maximum value :D

[Clarea]

Has anyone used the "free cruise" from the RCCL credit card from Bank of America? How do you pay for the cruise - book it, deposit it, use free cruise for final payment, or what?

 

Also, do you receive the Crown & Anchor discount on the booked cruise as well? We are Diamond so normally we get a discount on some cabins.

 

Any tips on the best way to use the free cruise for maximum value :D

One thing I've read here is to upgrade your cabin in order to get a cruise credit. In other words, if your Visa points get you a free cruise in an OV, and you cruise in the OV, then you don't get a cruise credit. However, if you pay some money to upgrade the free OV to say a balcony, then you get a cruise credit.

[RN7997]

Cruislovin....

Hi I am wondering how many points do you have??? Enough for a 7 night cruise or a 4 night??? Extras too??? I just did this for a 7 night cruise...its easy. First of all pick your date and call and book it and you'll have to pay the initial deposit of $500.00 (assuming this is a double occ). Now let me back up a nd say the "free cruise" just covers the basic cost of your room BEFORE taxes, port fees, and tip.....so you will still haev to pay for that. Also you need to make the decision as to what kind of room you want. The "free cruise" will cover the WHOLE base rate for the LOWEST OCEANVIEW CAT STATEROOM avail at the time you book. What I did was booked a balcony and then I had to pay the upgrade difference. SO MY AOS cabin was 1069.00 pp at time of booking and my Free Cruise credit took 849.00 pp off my bill. Make sense??

 

Once you book you need to call Royal Rewards (number should be on your credit card statement) and tell them you want to cash in points...........for a 7night cruise yo will need 125,000 points, but if you have extra you can cash in more for an onboard credit. Every 5000.00 is worth $50 onboard credit. They will send you the vouchers and then you just fill them out...make copies of the front and back for yorself and there will be an address to submit them too......it can take a while till you see them posted. Then at final payment if yo have a balance pay the rest off then.

[cruislovin]

Chrissy,

Wow, thanks for the great details! Yes, we have enough for th 7 night cruise for 2. One ? - where did the $849 come from? Is that the price for the OV? I thought the free cruise pays up to $2,500 but maybe that's only if that is the current price of the OV?

 

Clarea,

Yes, that's important to get C&A credit for the cruise. We definitely need that :)

 

 

Does anyone know if you also get the C&A credit on the cabin too?

[RN7997]

I am sorry......yes the 849.00 was hte price Per person for an OV at the time I booked soooooo 1698.00 was deducted form my bill.

 

As far as your coupon for C&A I forgot to mention earlier that I have combined that savings before as well. What I did was told the agent right at booking that I had them and they were applied...never had a problem with that...even when cashoing in a free cruise.

[karena1]

Here is another tip - IF the value covers the entire base cost of your cabin, have them leave $1 on the fare. Then you DO get the cruise credit. We have done this twice now on a buy one/get one. We leave $1 on the cruise we are getting for "free" so that both of us get our credits. Just make sure to tell them to do that and they will.

 

But yes, like the others have said, book what you want and then apply the points. The "value" of the certificate is whatever the minimum avail cabin was at the date you booked the cruise.

 

So on our Serenade we are taking in April, the minimum OV was $849 and our fare for our balcony was $949, so DH has a $100 balance on his fare to pay for our buy one/get one certificate.

 

Works so easy, we have cashed in points a number of times for the buy one/get ones and always has worked really easy.

[pmshirl]

I have used the 125K points for the free fare for 2 on the Liberty in 2007. I booked a Balcony and received $2500.00 off the price of my cruise, along with the C&A Balcony discount. We did have 3 in the cabin.

 

The price was $1249.00 p/p ( for the 2 free fares), and that is why I got the $2500.00. I think now you only get the lowest OV fare when you apply the certificate. I will find out next month, since I will be cashing in 125K points again for my June AOS cruise. I already have the cruise booked, received the Diamond Balcony discount, and have 3 in the cabin, so will be paying additional money for the upgrade and the 3rd person.

 

All 3 of us are Diamond, so since one is still in the cabin after the 2 free, I am sure the Balcony discount will still be applied.

 

Good Luck!

[patnolen]

I'm looking at cashing in some of my visa points for a cruise and I don't see a maximum amount that I can use for an 3/4 OV room. Is there a maximum or can you use it on any 3/4 night cruise and get the companion fare for free no matter what the price is?

[cruislovin]

Great information and thanks so much to everyone for your help!

 

Does anyone know if the free cruise has to be in the Caribbean? Can it be used for Alaska or other destinations?

[bridedoll1026]

The free cruise is for Caribbean or Mexican Riviera only. Beware of what RCCL tells you about combining discounts. We booked our "free" cruise & upgraded to a balcony using our Diamond balcony discount. We took advantage of several price drops & a C&A discount coupon that was mailed to us. By the time RCCL decided to apply our "free cruise" certificate, 5 months later, the OV price was higher than our upgraded price!:eek: Sooo instead of us having a really free cruise, RCCL removed our Diamond discount & denied us the military rate that we qualify for (offered on this sailing)! :eek::(:mad: Our price now is a few bucks more than initially agreed to!! We sail in 2 weeks & I'm crossing my fingers that maybe RCCL will do the right thing & offer us an upgrade to a suite. I doubt that they will, but it would be good customer service to do so. We would have actually been better off to redeem 100,000 points for $1000 off our cruise & then combine our discounts & save 25,000 points to build on for the next time.