Originally Posted by
lkar
Is 10k the best bonus on the royal caribbean visa? I'm not sure I want another card just for a $100 on board credit. I guess if you have a $5,000 cruise coming up and you purchase it on the card, it's another 10k points for another $100 in on board credit, but for a spend of 5k I'd like to think I can do better on another card (e.g., the starwood card) than a $100 on board credit.
We cruise enough to be mid tier elites on both Princess and HAL lines and low tier on RCL but we dont have a single cruiseline-branded card. I think this is enough to tell the story how much worth the cruiseline cards are.
What you really need is an excellent, cruise-only Volume agent who can give you a very competitive pricing, as well as shipboard credits that often are part of the incentive programs offered to volume agents. (you would be booked as part of an "invisible" group, thus enjoy group perks).
Being shareholder of CCL and RCL also provide shipboard credit benefit. 100 shares would do.
Finally if you would cruise at least once every couple years, ALWAYS purchase the Future Cruise Open Booking onboard - a measly $100 per person that can be used for your next cruise with the line, allows you to book with very reduced deposit (that $100), AND shipboard credit based on length of cruise.