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Cruise? Cruise? Did someone say cruise? While that word makes my ears perk up, Sharon’s not so enthusiastic when thinking about the idea of sitting on a ship in the middle of the ocean for days at a time. There are some things that will help me get her onto a cruise boat.

Some Royal Caribbean ships have Flowriders. That alone could be a selling point, because Sharon has this odd enjoyment of Flowriders (Note from Sharon: Yes, I do! See the girl in that picture above? I can do that!).

If there’s a possibility that we’ll be going on a cruise, I needed to see if getting the Royal Caribbean Visa Signature credit card featuring MyCruise Rewards makes sense.

I first learned of this card when we received a mailer for a “special offer.” Yes, I do read my junk mail; you never know what types of offers you’ll get. As it turns out, this offer wasn’t special at all and was actually the regular offer from the Bank of America website.

The Royal Caribbean Visa Signature^® Card

Here are the details:

Annual Fee

The Royal Caribbean Visa Card has no annual fee.

Sign Up Benefit

You earn 10,000 bonus points after you make a qualifying transaction in the first 90 days of account opening

Spending Bonus Categories

• 2 MyCruise Points per $1 on qualifying purchases with Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises
• 1 MyCruise Point per $1 on all other purchases

$50 Air2Sea Airfare Discount

You’ll get a $50 credit for airfare booked through the Air2Sea program after spending at least $3,500 within the first 90 days of account opening (student accounts are not eligible.) The discount expires 18 months after the issue date.

No Foreign Transaction Fees

The Royal Caribbean Visa Signature Card doesn’t charge any foreign transaction fees.

What’s a MyCruise Point??

Here’s how Royal Caribbean explains MyCruise points.

You’re on your way to earning MyCruise® Rewards and enjoying the incredible benefits of your Royal Caribbean Visa Signature® card. We are excited to offer you a bold range of redemption options to take your next adventure to the max — from onboard credits and amenities, to cruise discounts and merchandise, even FREE cruises that live up to the hype. The possibilities are endless — but adventure is guaranteed.

You can use your points to redeem for any number of cruise related expenses (or Royal Caribbean merchandise)

Some 5,000 point redemptions are:

• Upgrade on a 3 or 4 night Royal Caribbean sailing for two, (minimum available oceanview stateroom); value of upgrade may not exceed fifty dollars ($50 USD value)
• Fifty dollar ($50 USD value) Royal Caribbean or Celebrity Cruises onboard credit toward onboard purchases i.e. spa, shore excursions, gift shop, bar, etc. (multiple onboard credits may be applied to a reservation if earned)
• Two Royal Caribbean robes delivered onboard ($100 USD value; available only on Royal Caribbean ships)

For 10,000 points (The value of the sign up bonus) you can get:

• One hundred dollar ($100 USD value) Royal Caribbean or Celebrity Cruises onboard credit toward onboard purchases i.e. spa, shore excursions, gift shop, bar, etc. (multiple onboard credits may be applied to a reservation if earned)
• Royal Packet — includes 2 Royal Caribbean towels, towel clips, and beach bags ($100 USD value); delivered to the address provided
• Royal Wear – includes 2 Royal Caribbean Polo Shirts and 2 baseball caps ($100 USD value); delivered to your address provided

If you manage to get 50,000 points, here are your choices:

• Five hundred dollar ($500 USD value) Royal Caribbean or Celebrity Cruises onboard credit toward onboard purchases i.e. spa, shore excursions, gift shop, bar, etc. (multiple onboard credits may be applied to a reservation if earned)
• Five hundred dollar ($500 USD value) discount off any Royal Caribbean or Celebrity Cruise
• Upgrade on a 9+ night Celebrity Cruises Caribbean cruise, (veranda to minimum available concierge class stateroom); value of upgrade may not exceed five hundred dollars ($500 USD value)
• 3 or 4 night Royal Caribbean cruise, (minimum available oceanview stateroom); value of cruise vacation fare may not exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000 USD value)

If you want to redeem your points for something of cash value, like an onboard credit, discount or upgrade, the value of your point is $0.01. 10,000 points = $100. 50,000 points = $500. If you are using your points for upgrades or companion fares, you can get a value of close to $0.02 per point.

Is it worth getting?

Since the card has no annual fee and will give you enough points for a $100 onboard credit, you wouldn’t be losing anything by applying…or would you? Instead of applying for this card, you could apply for the Chase Freedom Unlimited card which is currently offering a $200 bonus if you spend $500 in the first three months. You’re already $50 ahead and you can use that $200 in cash to pay for your cruise. If you were going to spend the $3500 for the $50 airfare discount, the same amount of spending on the Freedom Unlimited card would earn $52.50 cashback.

Since the only bonus category for spending with the card is 2 points per dollar on Royal Caribbean cruises, there are better travel credit cards that provide from two to three points per dollar on travel expenses like the Chase Sapphire Preferred or AMEX Green Card.

This card might have been worthwhile to get if it provided any additional benefits on Royal Caribbean cruises, but it doesn’t. At least a similar card like the Disney Visa card gives you some perks even if it isn’t great to use for spending.

I can’t imagine when it would be a good idea to apply for this card. Even if you only want to use your rewards to go on Royal Caribbean cruises, there are better cards to get for higher sign-up bonuses and extra points for travel spending.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary