Best Credit Cards For Cruises

Card Details	The Offer	Is it Worth It?
Pros and Cons	Why 4 Stars?	Fees
Benefits

Card Details

Regular APR:	16.74 – 24.74% (Variable)
Intro APR (Purchases):	None
Intro APR (Balance transfers):	None
Rewards Rate:	Earn 2 points per $1 spent on qualifying purchases with Royal Caribbean and its sister brands Earn 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchase
Credit Needed:	(670 – 850) Good/Excellent
Annual Fee:	None
Card Brand:	Visa

*See online credit card application for details on the terms and conditions.

Offer Highlights

• Click APPLY NOW to apply online
• No Annual Fee or Foreign Transaction Fees. Enjoy the freedom to explore off the beaten path with your Visa Signature card
• Receive 10,000 Bonus Points after making a qualifying transaction in the first 90 days of account opening – worth $100 in onboard credit
• Earn 2 points per $1 spent on qualifying purchases with Royal Caribbean and its sister brands. Earn 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases
• Redeem your MyCruise points for onboard credit, cruise discounts and vacations, plus more
• Use your MyCruise? points for rewards like cruise discounts and onboard credits on all three cruise lines

Is Royal Caribbean Visa Signature worth it?

Royal Caribbean Visa Signature is a solid card for people who take cruises on Royal Caribbean and its sister brands, Celebrity and Azamara. Cardholders earn 2 MyCruise points per $1 spent on qualifying purchases with Royal Caribbean and its sister brands and 1 MyCruise point per $1 spent on all other purchases. The value of the points do not exceed one cent, but are close and sometimes exactly one cent. This is a relatively good rewards rate.

For example, the rewards redemption guide explains that 40,000 MyCruise Points get you an upgrade on a 7 to 8 night Celebrity Cruises Caribbean sailing for two (veranda to minimum available Concierge Class stateroom), and that the value of upgrade may not exceed four hundred dollars ($400 USD value).

On the 8 Night Eastern Caribbean & The Bahamas cruise we evaluated, we found that the veranda base cost was $1699 per person, whereas the Concierge Class base cost was $1999 per person. This put the upgrade value at $300 and the point redemption at $300 / 40000 = $.0075 per point.

Some of the redemptions are more straightforward and as mentioned above have a value of exactly one cent per point, for example a $1,000 discount off any Celebrity Cruises ship itinerary is available for 100,000 points. That’s one cent per point. If you cruise with a guest a few times a year on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, or Azamara cruises and use your Royal Caribbean Visa Signature to book the tickets, you would earn: $1699 ticket price x 2 travelers x 3 cruises x 2 points rewards rate = 20,388 points.

Add in the 10,000 point signup bonus and you?re up to 30,388 points or about $300 of value.

Not bad, but you can’t convert MyCruise points to cash back or statement credit, so unless you like being encouraged to spend more on cruise vacations by accumulating points with Royal Caribbean, our evaluation would recommend you get other cards that get you flat-rate 2% cash back on all purchases like the Citi Double Cash or Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature, or a travel rewards card with a higher than 2x rewards rate that you can use to book your cruises and than redeem the points earned for travel in the form of airfare, car rentals, or in the form of statement credit or cash back.

That said, for people who are loyal to Royal Caribbean and like the idea of redemptions for free upgrades, including a charitable donation redemption option, this is a solid no annual fee card that could be a great fit.

Pros

• Receive 10,000 Bonus Points after making a qualifying transaction in the first 90 days of account opening – worth $100 in onboard credit
• Redeem MyCruise points for stateroom upgrades, cruise discounts, companion fares, cruise vacations, onboard credits or amenities, merchandise and charitable donations
• Comes with Visa Signature benefits
• No annual fee
• No foreign transaction fee

Cons

• Other cards have 2% cash back for all purchase categories or have a higher rewards rate in certain categories, for example on travel
• No redemption for cash back or statement credit

Why 4 Stars?

Regular APR

4 Stars

Intro APR

4 Stars

Fees

5 Stars

Perks

4 Stars

Overall

4 Stars

Fees

Foreign Transaction Fee	None
Balance Transfer Fee	Either $10 or 3% of the amount of each transaction, whichever is greater
Cash Advance Fee	See Terms (has exception)
Penalty APR	Up To 29.99%

Benefits

$0 Fraud Liability

Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver

Baggage Delay Reimbursement

Concierge Service

Emergency Card Replacement

Emergency Cash Disbursement

Extended Warranty Protection

Lost Luggage Reimbursement

Travel Accident Insurance

Price Protection

Purchase Protection

Return Protection

Roadside Dispatch

Travel and Emergency Assistance

Trip Cancellation/Trip Interruption Reimbursement

Trip Delay Reimbursement

Editorial Note: This content is not provided by the issuer. Any opinion, analyses, reviews, or recommendations expressed on this page are those of the author?s alone, and may not have been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the issuer.

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