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On 6/21/2022 at 1:16 PM, mistertomatohead said:

For those that don’t have these offers even after going below 100 offers to add so you see ALL offers, do they pop up later before expiration? It might be hard to tell with them not displaying everything over 100.

 

If you don't see it when you go under 100 available offers, it's not going to show up later.

Which card do you have?

 

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On 7/5/2022 at 8:54 PM, MisterBill said:

Is there any way to purchase OBC for an upcoming sailing and have it qualify for this offer? 

 

I called the gifts number 1-800-722-5443 and purchased OBC of $900 to go over $1000 for my cruise. I got the American Express email almost immediately after the card was charged saying I met the requirements.  The gift certificate I bought earlier came under some other business name so I don’t think that works but the OBC purchase is the same name as the reservation.

I’ll have to see if it holds and I get the $250 Amex credit. I’ll also need to see if I can get a cash refund once onboard otherwise I’ll have to spend it …probably mostly at the casino.

I consider this risky so do it at your own peril. 

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On 7/9/2022 at 9:56 AM, mistertomatohead said:

I called the gifts number 1-800-722-5443 and purchased OBC of $900 to go over $1000 for my cruise. I got the American Express email almost immediately after the card was charged saying I met the requirements.  The gift certificate I bought earlier came under some other business name so I don’t think that works but the OBC purchase is the same name as the reservation.

I’ll have to see if it holds and I get the $250 Amex credit. I’ll also need to see if I can get a cash refund once onboard otherwise I’ll have to spend it …probably mostly at the casino.

I consider this risky so do it at your own peril. 

Yes, gift certificates (even from other companies, Panera for example) are typically sold by a third party and do not qualify for offers that the merchant may have. Easy enough to test this, just add $50 and see if it posts under the same merchant as booking a cruise. If it does, then buy more to redeem the offer. And I think that it's minimal risk. It will definitely be refundable once you get on the ship, since it will be considered refundable on-board credit. You can either cash it out at guest services at the end of the cruise, or it will go back to your credit card on file at the end of the cruise (just don't use the same AMEX card that had the offer, or they may take back the $250). Or load money to your casino account and then cash out and get the money at the cashier.

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I didn't get this on my card, but my sister did.  She said there is a link and you have to pay online.  Is that true? You can't call to pay?  She was going to let me use her card to pay off part of my cruise so I could save money, but it is booked through a travel agent so I can't pay online.

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2 hours ago, sleepy425 said:

I didn't get this on my card, but my sister did.  She said there is a link and you have to pay online.  Is that true? You can't call to pay?  She was going to let me use her card to pay off part of my cruise so I could save money, but it is booked through a travel agent so I can't pay online.

 

Your sister does not understand how the offer actually works, nor did she read all of the fine print (which I have posted below). You do not have to use their link. Any charge that comes from Royal Caribbean will work fine for the offer. And that includes paying online on their website or through a TA, so long as the agent doesn't process the payment themselves, which they shouldn't be doing. 


Also, what kind of AMEX do you have? Do have more than 100 available offers?  Per the earlier comments, only 100 offers are shown, so you need to load some to your card to be able to see others. The app may show more than 100, I forgot if it does.

 

OFFER TERMS

Enrollment limited. Must first add offer to Card and then use same Card to redeem. Only U.S.-issued American Express® Cards are eligible. Limit 1 enrolled Card per Card Member across all American Express offer channels. Your enrollment of an eligible American Express Card for this offer extends only to that Card. Offer valid on cruise bookings made online at https://www.royalcaribbean.com, by calling 1-866-562-7625 or booked through your Travel Professional. Reservations must be booked on US website only. 

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2 hours ago, mistertomatohead said:

By the way, with Celebrity you can buy OBC as gifts (to yourself) online and they did work for the Celebrity AMEX offer. The business name on the statement was the same as the reservation. I even used a friend’s card to double the offer.  (They got to keep the statement credit since I’m such a good friend.)

 

I did not see any way to purchase OBC online in the Cruise Planner on Royal, which is why I asked here. 

That was very nice of you to let your friend keep the offer from the money, although I personally think it's foolish. What benefit is there to doing the offer if you don't get the money back from AMEX? And you even miss out on whatever normal percentage you'd get back for the charge, which could be 1-5%. But I'm not that kind of person, I guess. I wish I had friends who let me charge their stuff to my credit cards and let me keep the rebates.

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25 minutes ago, MisterBill said:

 

Your sister does not understand how the offer actually works, nor did she read all of the fine print (which I have posted below). You do not have to use their link. Any charge that comes from Royal Caribbean will work fine for the offer. And that includes paying online on their website or through a TA, so long as the agent doesn't process the payment themselves, which they shouldn't be doing. 


Also, what kind of AMEX do you have? Do have more than 100 available offers?  Per the earlier comments, only 100 offers are shown, so you need to load some to your card to be able to see others. The app may show more than 100, I forgot if it does.

 

OFFER TERMS

Enrollment limited. Must first add offer to Card and then use same Card to redeem. Only U.S.-issued American Express® Cards are eligible. Limit 1 enrolled Card per Card Member across all American Express offer channels. Your enrollment of an eligible American Express Card for this offer extends only to that Card. Offer valid on cruise bookings made online at https://www.royalcaribbean.com, by calling 1-866-562-7625 or booked through your Travel Professional. Reservations must be booked on US website only. 

Thanks, I will call with her credit card number and pay!

Every day at least once per day I have been selecting a bunch of offers so I will get more and still have not received the RCCL one.  But I keep trying!

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45 minutes ago, sleepy425 said:

Thanks, I will call with her credit card number and pay!

Every day at least once per day I have been selecting a bunch of offers so I will get more and still have not received the RCCL one.  But I keep trying!

 

You need to get under 100 to see all available offers. It isn't that difficult to load a bunch of them quickly. If you're using a web browser, the list keeps moving, and you can keep clicking "Add to card". Start at the expiring first, since those won't stick around for long on the activated list.

If you're under 100 available offers and do not see it, then you don't have it and aren't going to get it.

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1 hour ago, MisterBill said:

What benefit is there to doing the offer if you don't get the money back from AMEX?

I did get the offer but I didn’t pay the cruise off completely. I then bought some OBC to meet the $500 on the remaining amount so my friend can get the bonus too, hence “doubling” the offer. I did the same on the Norwegian offer. I might even triple that offer if I can find someone with the $500 offer since I have over $500 left to pay for that cruise. I’m out of people close to me with AMEX cards though.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Will online purchases of drink or dining packages (and excursions, of course, but not my interest) qualify for this offer? Or am I better off buying OBC, which hopefully will show up as available after I purchase it and not have to wait until I am on the ship, I was planning to buy either the 3 night dining package or the unlimited.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I had a $298 payment to make, so after doing that I ended up buying $705 in OBC over the phone to finish my second deal. Got the $250 credit today. I had hoped for the OBC to show up immediately for use online, but alas it did not (makes sense since this is a gifts thing and those don't show up until you are on the ship. I ended up buying the 3-night dining package, and it's possible that it would have counted towards the offer, or I could have tried to buy it through the phone as well, but I didn't think about it at the time, and I got 5.25% back from the dining package purchase, anyway. And I used $100 of shareholder OBC on the purchase, which I'm sure I also would not have been able to use on the phone, and I have free gratuities and free drinks for being Diamond, so no plans to spend any money other than the dining package.

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  • 4 weeks later...

The $900 OBC credit I bought by calling was refunded as cash while I was onboard the Navigator of the Seas. No issues at all. I even did it the second day instead of waiting till the end. With some other charges to get over $1000 total, I was able to get $250 statement credit. My offer was kind of lame (25% off vs. 40% some people had) but with refunded OBC it's essentially free money. The OBC showed up while I was onboard and showed as refundable in case anyone was wondering. 

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19 minutes ago, mistertomatohead said:

The $900 OBC credit I bought by calling was refunded as cash while I was onboard the Navigator of the Seas. No issues at all. I even did it the second day instead of waiting till the end. With some other charges to get over $1000 total, I was able to get $250 statement credit. My offer was kind of lame (25% off vs. 40% some people had) but with refunded OBC it's essentially free money. The OBC showed up while I was onboard and showed as refundable in case anyone was wondering. 

 

Surprising that they gave you the cash so early in the cruise. I just change my card on file to my Fidelity debit card (the only time I'd ever use a debit card for this purpose), so it goes back there. Can't have a credit card on file because you'll lose points if a credit posts, and I don't feel like traveling with $$$ (although for my Anthem cruise, I will be driving home). And obviously, you don't want a credit going back to your AMEX! I was just on a Celebrity cruise and the excess OBC posted to the card two days after the cruise.

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  • 1 month later...
14 minutes ago, Kerry B said:

@AshleyDillo so 25,000 for each authorized user?

Yup! As long as your authorized user got the offer under their login as well.

It only shows you 100 offers at a time, so if you don't see the Royal offer add some of the other offers to your card and it should bring in some more offers.

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25 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

Yup! As long as your authorized user got the offer under their login as well.

It only shows you 100 offers at a time, so if you don't see the Royal offer add some of the other offers to your card and it should bring in some more offers.

You have to make a $1,000 charge on the authorized user's card number (obvious to some, but not everyone).

It's always good to add a bunch of offers, as many as you can, so you always see the new ones. On the website, if the list keeps moving, so you don't have to move the cursor to keep adding them. Adding in the app is also not that difficult. 

I have the MR offer on two of my cards, but sadly do not have the $250 version on my cards that don't have MR. Would much rather have the cash back, since I already have too many MR points that I haven't figured out what to do with.

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32 minutes ago, MisterBill said:

I have the MR offer on two of my cards, but sadly do not have the $250 version on my cards that don't have MR. Would much rather have the cash back, since I already have too many MR points that I haven't figured out what to do with.

The cash back offer was from earlier this year. I just merged a new thread about the new offer into the old one to keep it all together. The only offer out there right now is the 25K points offer that I've seen going around.

My AmEx lets me cash the points in for gift cards or PayPal so that's likely the way I will go with it once I decide how I'm going to use the offers.

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1 hour ago, AshleyDillo said:

The cash back offer was from earlier this year. I just merged a new thread about the new offer into the old one to keep it all together. The only offer out there right now is the 25K points offer that I've seen going around.

My AmEx lets me cash the points in for gift cards or PayPal so that's likely the way I will go with it once I decide how I'm going to use the offers.

 

They typically offer both the $ and MR versions of the offer at the same time. Which one you get on each card depends on whether it has MR or cash back. I had Celebrity and Oceania offers earlier this year in both versions on different cards on my account, an exception to the AMEX rule of only have an offer once across all cards.

Also, when you redeem MR points for PayPal purchases (can't just get cash), you only get 7/10c per point, which is a poor redemption value, although the same as some gift cards (it makes that 25000 point offer only worth $175). It's not terrible, but it's not $250. Some gift cards are a penny per MR point. And if you use them to transfer to airline FF programs, they can be worth as much as 2c.

That's why I haven't cashed out, analysis paralysis.  

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I had the $500 on $1500 offer earlier this year and just added the 25k MR points on $1000 spend now.  I have about that much left on a cruise we booked for next summer. I have quite a few of those points but more is better, particularly when its something i was going to pay for anyway.

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Check your Amex often! I keep getting Royal, Celebrity, NCL, Holland America  and Carnival offers. I’ve double and triple dipped with my friends’ cards. They don’t seem to care I’ve used previous offers. I don’t even spend that much on my cards. I have two of the cards that don’t require annual fees. My friends have Platinum.

Just make sure you’re seeing everything by keeping the offers available below 100 and using the website instead of app. I didn’t see this mentioned in the blog article.

There are also airline (Jetblue, Delta, Alaska, etc.) and hotel offers out there. It’s kind of ridiculous (in a good way).

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44 minutes ago, Va4fam said:

The only offer I see through my personal AMEX is free specialty dining for a 6 night or longer cruise.

 

Check out the blog post

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/10/24/get-25000-rewards-points-american-express-new-offer

It's part of a specific card benefit called Amex Offers.

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i had to search under offers once i had logged into my account. i know it does not apply to all cards, so it will depend on what type of amex you have.

i am so thankful i meandered over to the RCB to see the post this morning, because i definitely had NOT put two and two together on this and would have missed out on such a great offer!!

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11 hours ago, Mike n Ky said:

The current ads for Amex cracks me up...want something, it's not if, but when so buy it, you have the power with the Amex card. Reality, the bill will come due and they do want you to pay it.

But they offer ways to spread it out over several months. No different from any other credit card.

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9 hours ago, Va4fam said:

The only offer I see through my personal AMEX is free specialty dining for a 6 night or longer cruise.

When you log into your American Express account to pay the bill you will find these offers on the Home tab when you scroll down to the bottom of the screen.  It will show you up 100 offers which you can add to your card.  Once you add an offer, more will populate into the Available tab.  

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