Travel and Cruise Rewards Offered By Credit Cards

Travel and Cruise Rewards Offered By Credit Cards.

What’s in your wallet can be as important as what’s in your suitcase if you plan to use a major credit card to purchase your next sea cruise.

Most major credit cards offer travel rewards but the following list of cards and programs cater especially to the cruise line industry.

Capitol One teamed with Carnival cruise lines to offer card holders the new Carnival MasterCard.

One unique feature of this card is that if you’ve already made a down payment on a cruise prior to getting the card, you can still apply the outstanding balance to the card, and earn one reward point for every dollar spent on other purchases.

The Visa SeaMiles reward card entitles the card holder to 5,000 bonus miles with their first purchase, triple SeaMiles when you book a cruise through SeaMiles or a bonus partner, and one SeaMile for every dollar spent on all other purchases.

Bank Of America offers the Norwegian Cruise Line Platinum Plus MasterCard entitling the card holder to earn reward points redeemable for rewards on Norwegian Cruise Lines.

Princess Cruise Lines also has an incentive program called the Princess Love Boat Loan.

Although not a traditional credit card, the loan is arranged by MBNA America, a large bank credit-card lender, and works similar to a credit card with annual rates from 14.99 percent to 26.99 percent.

An interesting aside - Olivia Cruise Lines offers the first credit card catering to the lesbian market, partnered with MBNA America Bank (a subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation).

The new Olivia card allows customers to earn points redeemable for Olivia dollars, which can be used to get upgrades, or even purchase entire vacations.