New Sea Miles Program

[SandyBeach]

Jim and I were going to check on our total sea miles (mastercard/Barclay's) this past Friday because we are close to losing some points. We couldn't find the site where he normally veiwed them. Instead we came upon a notice that as of December 15th the sea miles mastercard program ended! In it's place will be the new sea miles Visa by way of Chase. It's suppose to be "bigger and better"...so to speak.

I received an email on the 18th telling me about the change and inviting me to sign up, though I no longer had a mastercard account. My husband didn't receive any kind of notice. However, my notice just told about the new program.

The site does show the actual number of points we had as of the last payment. What disturbs us is that we've been using the card this month and have no idea what is going to happen to the points we've put on the mastercard - either before or after the 15th. (We did stop using it as of the 19th.)

We can sign up for the Visa and book with other cruise lines using our points. I'm guessing with that statement we can only book with Carnival if we don't sign up with Visa. My husband had a cruise picked out he wanted to show me, but now we don't know if it will have the same point value or even be there.

We finally called the 877 number and talked with someone. We were told that a letter was sent out on the 18th informing us of the change and letting us know what to do. The site does has a video where some head guy is to give a statement - but it says "coming soon". So they don't even have that ready yet.

I quickly checked here that night to see if anyone had said anything. I didn't find anything but did read something about Carnival planning on changing the program in a year. (It was an older post.) So....if they knew they were going to change this program why in the world did they not let everyone know ahead of time. There is a possibility there are people out there still using their Mastercards who may not get credit for those points.

I just wanted to let anyone here know about the new and/or old program.

 

[mgrimes]

My wife and I are using the same seamiles card. We are not aware of any changes. I better check on our account. Thank you for the post.

 

[Jeanie]

Card companies are doing this all the time these days. Nuts and not right

 

[MisterD21]

Well... i personally do not participate in any "rewards" programs from any card lender. These programs have been around since the late 80's -early 90's. When they first came out it was a novel idea that was simply another marketing tool for the lenders to gain market share. Lenders have also realized that if they change their reward structures frequently enough they never have to actually pay off on the majority of the rewards. It is lik the old bait and switch methods used to get you into the stores to buy other items at a higher markup.. Which is against the law, and i do not understand why it doesn't apply to "reward" programs. With the only possible reason being that you aren't actually buying anything, but are being "rewarded" for being a customer.

SandyBeach I am afraid you have become another victim of "reward" syndrome... If your are credited your previous points i will be surprised. I will not be surprised if your previous points value will be a fraction of what new points are worth. By the lender restructuring the rewards program most likely the new points will be worth less(meaning more points to achieve rewards). The lender will probably, give you half point value for your old points if they honor them at all. I am sure it is written in the fine print somewhere that they reserve the right to change the "rewards" program at any time, and that the "points" have no monetary value. Being as such, they are ficticious numbers to begin with to which the lender attaches a point value such as .10 per point, or something like that where it takes you spending like 100$ to achieve 5 points. So you see being that the points themselves do not have a monetary value the lender is able to change the point's value, and is not liable to honor previous "reward" program points, or are allowed to assign any value to your old points as they see fit.

It's Just a bad idea for anyone to rely on these "reward" programs. If you get lucky and acrue enough points to redeem then it should be an added little bonus rather than an expected payout.

I'm sorry you had to find out the way you did. The lender should have enough respect for it's consumers to give ample warning of a change in their programs.

BTW... please let us know how they handled your points, I'm curious to find out what happens, and wether or not you had to fight for them or not.

 

[ECUPIRATES]

I spoke with SEAMILES this morning, they stated that Carnival has taken control of our SEAMILES. The new system the man said he thought will be renamed FUNPOINTS and can only be used on Carnival ships.

The old SEAMILES now a VISA card can be used on any cruise ship. He said that you get more bang for your buck with the new VISA. He also stated that he had no idea what CARNIVAL had up there sleeves. As of today CARNIVAL is revamping there website, lets hope they have a new and improved system....

Happy Cruising.

 

[SandyBeach]

My main complaint at present is that they did not inform us of the date of change PRIOR to it happening - by snail mail or email. IF...and we aren't sure yet...they have somehow changed the amount of points it takes to get a free cruise we will be greatly disappointed. We have just reached that amount and were planning on booking one for summer soon as we will shortly lose some of those points to the five years time limit. In fact that is what my husband wanted to show me the day we learned of this change. I usually book our cruises so he hasn't any idea what the different letters mean when it comes to cabins.
(I'm keeping my fingers crossed MisterD21!)

The confusion...
We did receive both an email and a USPS mailing today.

One states: "We are happy to announce that we have upgraded your Carnival Sea Miles MasterCard to the new Carnival MasterCard with FunPoints. This will be a seamless transition for you. Your unredeemed Sea Miles have been automatically converted to FunPoints. Your account number has not been changed. You'll continue to earn 2 FunPoint for every $1 spent on Carnival.....your new Carnival MasterCard will arrive in early January." At the side of the mailing it show New Rewards...Cruise Discounts, Carnival Exclusives, Onboard Credits, Pay Yourslef Back and Air Travel Discounts.

The other states:
"On December 16th, Carnival® and Barclays terminated the Carnival Sea Miles MasterCard® program and created a FunPoints® program. In doing so has also terminated the flexibility of your SeaMiles program and the ability to redeem on Any Cruise Line...Any Time. Protect your flexibility and future value by applying today for your SEAMILES VISA® REWARDS CARD where you will earn 50% faster on every cruise booking and enjoy the flexibility of Any Cruise Line...Any Time, including Carnival."

If I'm understanding this correctly my MC still works but doesn't allow me much flexibility. If I want any flexibility then I need to apply for the Visa. Apparently, Visa will allow you to book on any cruise line and MC will only allow those lines owned by Carnival. Otherwise I can't tell if there is any difference or not. It sure seems like they are pushing the Visa to me.

 

[SandyBeach]

Just and update of sorts... We really don't know too much more than we did. The barclayus.com site is up and has the updated seamiles/funpoints numbers available. I've read a bunch lately, since we needed to book our cruise as soon as possible. It appears that you lose your points if you switch from Mastercard to Visa. I have also learned that our CPVP can now book our cruise which they couldn't before. In so doing we are able to take advantage of discounts (seniors etc.), whereas with seamiles you were stuck with the amount they deemed necessary for the cruise. We haven't totally completed our transaction yet....but if I'm correct in what I've read - but it's not been on Carnival or Barclay sites at least that I can find again - ...for every 5,000 points you get $50.
We also haven't received our new mastercard yet. That is supposed to have additional information on how to redeem your points with it. Our PVP hasn't gotten hers yet either.
CPVPs are working off the same limited information we have...so at the end of our conversation I got a "let me know what happens as you are my first to use the fun points."
We are currently waiting for our cruise transaction to show up on the Barclay card site so we can apply our funpoints to it and see what happens - so to speak.

Oh...we also called the Barclay's info number they gave us and that the CPVP gave us, too, and they didn't know what was going on either. We think we ended up talking with someone in India but we aren't positive about that.

 

[mgrimes]

I, for one, like this new program. Under the old program, the cruise booking was handled by a 3rd party travel agency. The seamiles were never enough to get that so-called free booking. The fares were on the higher side.

This new program is better. You can redeem the points on qualifying purchases of $50 dollars or more when the payment/purchase was a Carnival transaction. I have made 2 payments towards my cruise one was $230 and the other was $200. Both qualify to be redeem by points on the website.

 

[SandyBeach]

Definately go with the new FUNPOINTS program unless you want to travel only on a non-carnival owned cruiseliner. If you prefer Royal C. for example then you may be better off going with Seamiles.

What I can tell you so far, and we don't have all our answers yet, is that it didn't cost us nearly as much for our "free" cruise with funpoints on Carnival as it would have with Seamiles. Now I don't know if that will be true for all Carnival owned companies or not, but as far as Carnival itself the cost is considerably better. Part of the reason is that you can book cruises with discounts - ie. seniors, early saver, etc. So you get the advantage of the reduced rate, something you didn't have with Seamiles as they basically told you how many seamiles it would take for a certain cabin on a particular cruise. And I'm guessing the prices were close to brochure rates. We only used approximately two-thirds of the points Seamiles said we would need for our cruise (no air fare, though you could pay for that, too, with funpoints.) We were amazed! Now we haven't seen the actual credit show up on our card statement yet, but that's supposed to be there within the next couple of days.

This is what you can pay for with Funpoints:
•Cruise discounts on the World's Leading Cruise Lines
•Onboard gifts such as champagne, roses and much more
•Onboard credits for spa and special occasions
•Any Carnival Cruise Lines purchase including Sail & Sign® purchases made with your Carnival MasterCard

We've decided to use some/all of the remaining points for the Sail and Sign card purchases when we return.

We still aren't sure what the actual $ to funpoint ratio is. We still don't have our new Mastercard. But we were certainly pleased with our cruise transaction. In fact all of this turned out to be a blessing and I'm embarassed for getting so frustrated in the beginning!

One other thing...we did read that you will lose your points if you cancel your card.
If anything changes where we are concerned, I'll let you know.

 

[SandyBeach]

Ok...finally got my new card today and here is the "example" of how many funpoints it takes to get what:

Example of Carnival Cruise Discounts:
5,000 points $50 Cruise Discount
75,000 points $1,250 cruise discount

Example of Carnival Onboard Gifts:
3,700 Robert Mondavi Chardonnay, Private Selection
6,100 Champagne with Chocolate delight
6,500 Dozen Red Roses
7,200 Terry Cloth Robe
12,500 $100 Onboard Credit
20,000 $200 Spa Credit


Funpoints for onboard gifts need to be redeemed at least 15 days prior to your cruise departure dte. In the event an item is not available at the time of sailing, an item of equal value will be substituted.

 

[Cruzman]

I am one who got screwed out of 51,000 points under the old Seamiles program. They arbitrarily closed my account for "lack of usage" and I lost the points. I have since learned that there are lots of rewards cards out there that will pay you in good old cash, and I find that a much better alternative.

 

[SandyBeach]

When we first opened our Sea Miles cards we each had our own accounts. So I had points in mine, too - though not as many as you cruzman - and then they decided only one account per household and they closed mine. I could have at least gotten a robe!

 

[lynnol]

We kept our Master Card with the new "fun points" and I could not be happier. We used our points to buy onboard credits - something not available under the old program. The credits paid for everything we did on board. It was the best use of "rewards" that I've ever had.

I am getting ready to use some to pay off the deposit on the next cruise. I highly recommend this program if you use Carnival. I just hope they don't change it again!

 

[SandyBeach]

Lynnol...welcome to cruise addicts! I agree! The new funpoints program is so much better for Carnival travelers than the old seamiles program. The seamiles program was around for at least 5 years. Hopefully Carnival won't change funpoints now that they have more of a part in it.

 

[RatherBeCruising]

Have been comparing these 2 programs and have been trying to figure which one is best for me could use some help!

Here is the info on both that I have compiled.

With Funpoints:

I can redeem for cruises, flights, and onboard credit/purchases.

I can only redeem my points with a Carnival Cruise Line, but that does include the carnival family.

I earn 2x pts for on board purchases, and carnival booked cruises.

Essentially 20000 pts will get me $200 of onboard credit, or partial payment of my cruise to any Carnival cruise, or carnival family cruiseline.

With Seamiles:


I can redeem for cruises, flights, resorts and hotels.

I can redeem points on any cruise line including Carnival.

I earn 2 seamiles for every dollar spent on board, and I earn 4 seamiles for every dollar spent booking a cruise on any line, as long as its booked through 1-877seamiles. which comes with 24 hour guarantee so I am not paying more for my cruise which seemed to be a problem with the old program.

Esentially 20000 pts will get me $250 cash, to use towards any of the above vacation or business travel options.

Flexibility seems to be seamiles top priority, where as carnival is for those loyal carnival cruisers!

My issue is I like many of the cruise lines out there!

Anyone have any more info or experiences they'd like to share?

Don't be shy to correct me on any of the info I have posted either.

I welcome it all!

Happy Cruising!

 

[SandyBeach]

I think it depends on whether you are a Carnival "fan" or not. If that is your cruiseline of choice then the Funpoints are a much better deal than the Seamiles.

One thing I'm not sure you saw was that the points that go towards a cruise (with funpoints) go farther than the points that go towards onboard credit, etc. At least that was what we saw. The more you could put towards your cruise the less points it took - if that makes sense.

For us, as I probably stated previously, we paid for an entire seven day cruise with Funpoints and almost have enough for another seven day cruise left over. Under the old Seamiles program we were going to get one cruise for all the points we had.

However, if you cruise all sorts of different lines and want more diversity then Seamiles may be for you.