RCCL Visa Card: another fallout from the C&A changes?

[muladybug]

My RCCL Visa card was my universal charge card, used for just about anything I could charge. It has been great to rack up OBC from all my charge purchases. I was slowly but steadily making my way toward Diamond status, and it was a win/win deal for me as I only sailed RCCL ships. Now that has changed.

 

I am no longer exclusively loyal to the RCCL brand so I am now going to be looking for a replacement credit card that has some other rewards that are more benificial to me. Where do I start?

[ChevyCruiser]

My RCCL Visa card was my universal charge card, used for just about anything I could charge. It has been great to rack up OBC from all my charge purchases. I was slowly but steadily making my way toward Diamond status, and it was a win/win deal for me as I only sailed RCCL ships. Now that has changed.

 

I am no longer exclusively loyal to the RCCL brand so I am now going to be looking for a replacement credit card that has some other rewards that are more benificial to me. Where do I start?

 

Take a look at the American Express card tied to Hilton Honors program. It's our first card of choice and we use the points to pay for hotel and resort stays within the Hilton brand.

 

PLUS - within the last year, Hilton has been even more generous with their perks, not cutting back like RCCL. Hilton KNOWS how to hang onto a loyal customer, not run them off!

[firefly333]

I dont charge that much, so everything I charge on my RCL VISA will go toward whatever next RCL cruise I booked, no change here.

 

I already booked with other cruiselines, why give up my RCL VISA card?

[will work to cruise]

I dont charge that much, so everything I charge on my RCL VISA will go toward whatever next RCL cruise I booked, no change here.

 

I already booked with other cruiselines, why give up my RCL VISA card?

 

Same here. I charge my cruises, airfare, and hotels on the RCI VISA card and end up with a decent OBC.

[dclark]

I dont charge that much, so everything I charge on my RCL VISA will go toward whatever next RCL cruise I booked, no change here.

 

I already booked with other cruiselines, why give up my RCL VISA card?

 

Because the point schedule isn't so hot. I have three cards- Choice Rewards Visa (Quality Inn, Comfort inn, Econo) Hilton Visa, and Starwood Amex (Sheraton).

Bottom line is that they give you more return that RCL Visa. Not only that, when you get a free room, you are saving up t0 $20 or more by not having to pay exhorbitant rooms taxes. You like RCL OBC? Great, fine, but would you rather have free nights at the Embassy Suites, with their "managers reception"?

Factor in the room tax benefit and the return is about 3% with a hotel card. I think RCL is 1% return.

[Benita]

Here's another vote for the Starwood Amex. We used to charge everything on the RCL Visa card, but the free cruise benefit went from giving you 2% of the points towards the price of the cruise, to a maximum of $2500 for 125000 points. Then the deal changed to a credit of the price of the cheapest oceanview, which is often pretty low.

The Starwood Amex lets you use the points for both the Delta and American Airlines frequent flyer programs, as well as stays at Hotel chains affiliated with the program - mainly Sheratons, but a lot of boutique hotels as well, for very few points. We stayed at the Sheraton at the Amsterdam airport for only 10000 points (which was given to us as a reward for getting the card) and it would have cost us almost $300 - pretty good return.

[printingchick]

I find this ironic in a way.

 

I used to carry a credit card that was backed by an on-line cruise travel website. It was a tremendous deal and I saved a TON of $$, sailing on any cruise line I wanted to. All I had to do was book through their agency, and they always offered good prices. I signed up for the card after taking my first cruise. If you look at my signature, you'll see I booked five out of six of my Carnival cruises with that credit card.

 

The card first cut back the benefits. Points were worth less. There was a cap on how many points per cruise you could trade in. I shopped around and couln't find a better deal. I was disappointed about the reduced benefits, but I kept the card.

 

Eventually, they eliminated the plan entirely. The last Carnival cruise I took was a short, 4-day trip because I had to use or lose my accumulated points.

 

In searching for a replacement card with cruise points, Royal's Visa was the closest I could find. They were offering a very reasonable interst rate for a rewards card and the plan was very similar to the other credit card's point system, only my points were ONLY good on RCL cruises.

 

I figured I'd give it a try and I switched. We booked our first RCL cruise and have never looked back.

 

I have no intention of switching credit cards. It is my one and only credit card and I charge everything to it.

 

Why mess with success?

[BroncosFan2010]

My RCCL Visa card was my universal charge card, used for just about anything I could charge. It has been great to rack up OBC from all my charge purchases. I was slowly but steadily making my way toward Diamond status, and it was a win/win deal for me as I only sailed RCCL ships. Now that has changed.

 

I am no longer exclusively loyal to the RCCL brand so I am now going to be looking for a replacement credit card that has some other rewards that are more benificial to me. Where do I start?

 

 

I am in the same boat as you. I am looking at other lines, and think that something that earns flier miles is going to be the best option. The cost if flying is often more than the cost of the cruise! I am leaning towards American Express, but so many places do NOT accept it! Since I am thinking of doing Celebrity next, I am checking out Celebrity's Visa card.

[internetwhiz]

We love our Priority Club card. Points are good for anything in the Holiday Inn family, from HI Expresss, to several of the hotels with "extended stay" provisions. Also, you can use your Coke rewards points to get points toward a room as well. That Visa has NO annual fee. we also have a Northwest airlines card (probably will be changed to a Delta one?), and we often fly free to get on a cruise, and then stay free the night before.

We stayed free two nights in Vancouver before doing the Alaskan cruise at 10,000 Holiday Inn points a night. The rooms were $160 a night there, so it was a good use of points.

 

My RCCL Visa card was my universal charge card, used for just about anything I could charge. It has been great to rack up OBC from all my charge purchases. I was slowly but steadily making my way toward Diamond status, and it was a win/win deal for me as I only sailed RCCL ships. Now that has changed.

 

I am no longer exclusively loyal to the RCCL brand so I am now going to be looking for a replacement credit card that has some other rewards that are more benificial to me. Where do I start?

[cruiseguy1016]

I don't understand why people use so many "rewards" cards. We use only the RCI Visa so that all of our points go to one place. I suppose $20 off "X" hotel and $20 off "Y" car rental and $20 off "Z" restaurant is okay for some but I'd rather pool all of my points to one place so I can get my free cruise or free room or free car rental. I have hotel rewards cards to earn points when I stay at the various chains but I do not have their credit cards to earn points. All of my purchases go on my RCI Visa.

[Scoobydobe7]

I don't understand why people use so many "rewards" cards. We use only the RCI Visa so that all of our points go to one place. I suppose $20 off "X" hotel and $20 off "Y" car rental and $20 off "Z" restaurant is okay for some but I'd rather pool all of my points to one place so I can get my free cruise or free room or free car rental. I have hotel rewards cards to earn points when I stay at the various chains but I do not have their credit cards to earn points. All of my purchases go on my RCI Visa.

 

 

I think the intent of the OP is that if you are not going to cruise with RCL anymore what good are the points. I believe they were asking what other programs are out there, to get the maximum benefits out of their charges.;)

[temple1]

We use a Discover card for gas, it racked up a lot of dividends when DH was driving a lot. We have a lot of unused points we are trying to spend. Our everyday card is our RCCL VISA. It is our family checking account. We have used points for a number of different cruises and are planning to splurge next year on an Alaskan cruise.

 

One thing to remember on a lot of the points cards are the annual fees.

 

We've had other rewards cards in the past and we are keeping our Marriott card active because DH accumulated almost 300,000 points when he traveled a lot and we're saving for a big trip when we have time.

 

For our one or two night stays we use Holiday Inn Priority Club points - DH stays weekly at one of their hotels and we accumulate stays or I book through PriceLine. If I can get a hotel in FLL for $50 or less - I don't worry about the points - just go with the cheap price.

 

To answer the OP's question - the Capital One No Hassle card is pretty good - you can use your points for any airline. I don't know the percentage of spending to reward - the only bad thing there is an annual fee.