Carnival SeaMiles

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marknlucy

Guest
As I continue to research and make plans for booking our 11/08 cruise on Carnival Conquest I am receiving promotional material about the Carnival SeaMiles credit card and redemption program. Can anyone share their experience with this program ....one of my favorite titles is "The good, the bad and the ugly". I'd like to get all of that on the SeaMiles deal before I bite!

All the forum questions and responses from more experienced cruisers are a great help to us newbies, so thanks again!
 
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Cruzman

Guest
It's a ripoff in my opinion. You have to charge $50,000 on the card to earn a $500 "cruise discount", but you must book through their TA who will absolutely not discount the cruise in any way. There pricing also excludes any discounts to which you may be entitled, such as past passenger, senior, or military. I've been sitting on such a discount for several months trying to figure how to maximize the benefit. I qualify for several discounts on several different lines but Seamiles will not honor those. I'm thinking of booking on a different line just because of this policy.
 
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LHP

Guest
Sadly, I have to agree. We had the original Carnival Credit card when it first came out years ago and it was great. But it has deteriorated into a Sea Miles mess.

We finally used the last of our points (they only gave us $375.00 for 50,000 because we got a Past Cruiser's discount) and cancelled the card!

Of course, free is free. But there are much better reward programs out there and you might as well get the most for your money.
 
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Don B

Guest
Gotta agree. I keep looking at the discounts, and I can always find a better deal online myself. I will probably use the miles one day and cancel the card as well, since the interest rate keeps me from really wanting to use it frequently.

Hope someone at Seamiles reads these, and talks to the boss to get some policies changed....=huh
 
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cherbeth

Guest
Hi We are actually usuing our for the first time on ari fare. The seamiles rep told us to book the airlines then call them and give airline info and they will send us a check 35,000 seamiles = 175.00
dollars it is better than nothing.
Also the seamile person told us they would give us a one time 35,000
= 175.00 check because I did explain that we had the old program also and could book our own agent. We have booked 12 cruise with the same agent and did not want to change they agreed and said they would do this also. We have not decided which to use cruise/ air fare.
Has anyone use or cashed in seamile at all?

Cheryl

I agree the old card was much better!
 
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Giles612

Guest
I have mixed feelings about SeaMiles. I didn't like the fact that I couldn't use my TA. I did however get a good deal on my cruise using my points and I did get a past guest discount and upgrade on my room. I was a little surprised by that, I knew I would get the discount and upgrade if I booked normally, but I thought it wouldn't apply to a Seamiles redemption. The big thing about Seamiles is that when pricing cruises you don't always get apples to apples with other agencies so you need to do your homework and make sure that their regular pricing matches up with everyone else. Another disappointment I had was that, at first I was excited that I was going to save $500.00 off of my cruise, and it appeared true at first glance, but when I was able to factor in other seasonal discounts and such, all said and done I saved about $150.00 over booking with my TA or other online booking agencies. I was told by a Seamiles rep that if you are a bargain hunter(which I am) and you are trying to find the cheapest deal possible then Seamiles isn't a great way to go, as the discounts aren't that great on say a Riviera inside room. The bottom line is that you will save money using Seamiles but I'm not sure the savings are really worth the hassle. Maybe next time I will buy one of those $100.00 coupons off of ebay for a $1.00 and see if that works! :)
 
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LHP

Guest
The straw that broke the "cruisers" back for us was when we booked a cruise through them to get the $500.00 with 50,000 points. However, because we had received a "Past Cruisers Discount"...they would only give us $375.00 for 50,000 points. As you can tell from our list, we will always get the Past Cruisers Discount....so this was not a good deal for us.

Secondly, Brian (who was the Solutions rep who booked us) blatantly lied to my husband. Brian charged our credit card for cruise insurance without asking us if we even wanted it. Brian never even mentioned it. When we asked him what this charge was for, he said cruise insurance. We told him we did not want cruise insurance and he said (and I quote) "It is required to cruise." Hubby politely told him it was not required and to remove it. This punk continued to try to convince my husband that insurance was REQUIRED!

Sorry, but I don't do business with people who will lie to you!

Hubby told this "youngster" that he had been cruising longer than Brian had been alive and he knew that cruise insurance was NOT required and to remove it from our credit card.

Brian removed the charge...we took our $375.00 and promptly cancelled the card.
 
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electioncruiser

Guest
Thanks, We just started using the card. Thought it might be good but seems our other points reward card is infact better.
Thanks again for all the info
 
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jcarroll

Guest
I am a big fan of Carnival, had the 2 old rewards cards and dropped out when Seamiles came along. I switched to the Norwegain Visa card which gives a true 3% good at any travel agent and with other discounts. $50,000 in spending would get a discount of $1,500 off a cruise. We charge everything, I mean everything, on the card and get about $80. to $100. per month added to our "discount bank". I sure wish Carnival would get back into the game.
 
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LHP

Guest
I have heard on every board that I am on that NCL has the BEST card in the cruise business....

I just wish I could wrap my head around "that Freestyle dining"...but it just will not work for us. We have an autistic son and have to be very careful "when" and "with whom" we eat. We must eat at 5:45 to 6:15 every night and we can't do different tablemates every night. They just upset him to much.

But if someone likes the NCL product..again, this card is the BEST!!!
 
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jcarroll

Guest
Freestyle should pose no problem for you. When your board the ship, you can arrange to have the same table, in the same dining room at the same time every night. This is done for anyone. When you explain your special circumstances, it would be ever easier and more certain.

Get the card, use it and save big on cruising.
 
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janiejuly

Guest
I have a seamiles card, and I find it worthless. I can't get the site to pull up any longer on the Internet. You may want to check into another card. You have to have 25,000 seamiles to help put a dent in cruise fare difference.:X
 
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Cruzman

Guest
[quote jcarroll]Freestyle should pose no problem for you. When your board the ship, you can arrange to have the same table, in the same dining room at the same time every night. This is done for anyone. When you explain your special circumstances, it would be ever easier and more certain.

Get the card, use it and save big on cruising.[/quote]

Sorry, but there are a large number of us who are traditional cruisers that would not cruise "freestyle" if it was free; don't expect that you will understand that, but for many, it IS a problem!
 
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bjm

Guest
just wanted to add
I booked a cruise with sea miles for 5/4/08 back a year ago. as soon as they got my cc number and charged it. when I called to ask to get it paid for right away. they took my call. after they got my money for the cruise. she would not call me back. I called 4 time or more and she just would not call me back, so I call carnival they told me what i wanted to know but told me i should have call seamile, I told them that i did but she would not call me back. Just tried to call on my doc. all i got was her voice mail after two day of trying to get her to call me back, I called carnival again. carnival told me i had to call them . so i call as if i was going to book a new cruise and got to talk to a live person. told him i wanted my doc sent to me. I had to have 50,000.miles for this cruise I booked a inside and that is want we got. people who booked with carnival got a bal for less money. so as soon as i can find a new card this one will get cancel. I you booked the free cruise you might come out ok.
 
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CSTEEVER

Guest
I agree with other sthat the old carnival rewards program was much much better. We used it twice to save 1000.00 off each cruise with only 40k points. With the new cards the discounts for cruises just wasn't worth it. I did use it for a week stay in Vegas on the strip and that was worth it but now they have removed that option and you only get cruise discounts. I hardly use the card anymore. Instead I have a Macy's Visa cards and get $25 certificates (3% back) that I use to buy our clothes etc for the cruise instead and more. I also have the Disney Visa and like it as well, lots of extra perks when going to Disneyland and other great discounts. I wish Carnival would not have made the change:X
 
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Cruiser Boy

Guest
Coming from an employee who used to work for Seamiles (run by a company called Solutions At Sea at the time), the program is TOTALLY not worth it, and I would never use it. The simple fact that it is only for American citizens, made it quite difficult to tell Canadian guests on their cruise vacation, that they "cannot have one". I have also worked for NCL, and their Visa card IS worth it. They offer a great program for people who like to cruise for a nice discount, or FREE. NCL is the way to go, SeaMiles will eventually be gone anyways.
 
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jcarroll

Guest
The NCL program was discontinued in OCT '08. Existing members were allowed to earn points thru Dec. 31. Ban of America converted the program into their Worldpointsprogram. Rewards are not that great.
 
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