The Offers
Direct links to offers: No annual fee | $99 annual fee
- Bank of America is offering a sign up bonus of up to $700 towards onboard credit or cruise discounts on the new Royal One Royal Caribbean Group cards. Bonuses as follows:
- 70,000 points after $3,000 in spend on the Royal One Plus within the first 90 days
- 45,000 points after $2,000 in spend on the Royal One card within the first 90 days
Card Details
Royal ONEâ„¢
- No annual fee
- Priority boarding for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises
- $100 anniversary discount if you spend $10,000 within a cardmember year
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 3X points on purchases with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea
- 2X points on grocery, gas, and EV charging
- 1X point on all other purchases
Royal ONE Plusâ„¢
- $99 annual fee
- Priority suite boarding for Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea vacations
- Priority luggage handling with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises
- $200 anniversary discount if you spend $20,000 within a cardmember year
- $120 TSA PreCheck/Global entry credit (every four years)
- No foreign transaction fees
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 4X points on purchases with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea
- 2X points on grocery, gas, EV charging, plus air, hotel, and dining
- 1X point on all other purchases
Our Verdict
When these cards were announced I said the only thing that can save them is a huge sign up bonus and that is exactly what Bank of America has delivered here. Somebody has made a mistake on the Royal One Plus landing page as it says ‘no annual fee’ when the terms say it has a $99 annual fee. Might be able to push to get that waived at least for the first year.
If you ever go on these types of cruises then I think the Royal One Plus bonus is big enough to seriously consider as the credit can be used onboard or for booking. We will add this to our list of the best credit card bonuses.
Hat tip to reader Gil
Got mine today. I was charged the $99 annual fee even though I signed up when it said there was no fee…will try to get it waived.
For what it’s worth, they refused to waive it, even for the first year. She said they would waive it if I closed it.
My assumption is that holders of the current no-fee BoA Royal Caribbean card are not eligible for a signup bonus. Post if you have a counter data point.
Is it worth getting these for me and +1 since we travel this year end ( already booked) on RC 7 night.
I am also curious about point values and whether they stack with other offers. i.e. if I have a casino offer but I still need to pay taxes and fees, can I use these points to pay them?
Any way to convert this as cash or other uses?
I mean, you could always gamble with it as on board credit
Does anyone have any data points on typical redemptions? Does 70,000 points get me a cruise of x duration?
I have the same question. I did a little research and didn’t end up with much data haha
I would assume so. 3-4 day cruises can be had for $400 or less in Caribbean or Mexico.
Found this, might help https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/pdf/rewards-redemption-chart.pdf
1cpp or a 3-4 night cruise for 45k or 5-7 night companion fare for 75k sounds right.
Some more details here: https://www.reddit.com/r/royalcaribbean/comments/1s5fc0p/bank_of_america_credit_card_points_redemption/
Anyone know if you use points for a booking do you apply it through the royal website directly or will they have a redemption site with different rates?
Anyone with experience with this program and the use of points, please let me know your experience.
I applied for the old version of the card in December when I saw a highest-at-the-time bonus offer of 35,000 points. Bonus posted at the end of the first statement.
I did have a bit of trouble finding the landing page where you can actually use the points (definitely not available in the BoA app), but once I did, it was easy to request to use the points for Onboard Credit (OBC) for an existing reservation I had coming up a few weeks later. (I’ve taken 12 cruises already this year, all casino offers, and I used this OBC on offers where I didn’t have OBC or free play already.)
I’m Pinnacle and Masters on Royal Caribbean.
You’re a legend, Josh! I first learned about all these cruising opportunities from you and I’m going to have to bail on my job soon to keep cruising. I haven’t even tried Royal Caribbean yet, but do finally have a short local cruise booked to see what happens.
I literally have 8 weeks of back to back cruises (with only one night break in a hotel when I fly from London to Rome to switch ships) in Europe this summer just because the available offers/itineraries lined up that way. 😀
Hi Josh, can the credit card bonus points (converted to onboard credit) be used in the casino? Will the $700 OBC on the SeaPass card work for slot machines? Thanks in advance.
looks good, tried the prequalify link and did not get prequalified with lol/24 accounts.
will wait for some DPs.
LoL/24, like 10 so far
No debt, 780ish credit. Not prequalified but I when ahead. Got approved but not before the fraud department called me to verify that it was me.
how soon before the fraud department called?
like 5-8 mins after applying and they have a number listed on the end of the pending application 888 230 6262. But they called me when i was in the Q.
was it outsourced or in states that called? i usually get instant approval or approval next day on app but never got a call so soon
888 230 6262 same number called me.
It wasn’t painful it was just an extra step.
interesting, will try my luck
can you buy rcl giftcards?^^