(EXPIRED) 3 New Cruise Amex Offers Valid At 8 Different Cruise Lines

Three new Amex Offers have appeared in the last couple of days that are valid across eight different cruise lines. If you have some degree of flexibility in your plans or live in the right state, these Amex Offers could be particularly rewarding.

The Deals & Key Terms

• Celebrity Cruises – Spend $500+ on cruise reservations & get $150 back or 15,000 Membership Rewards.
  • Offer valid only for qualifying reservations booked directly online at celebrity.com/amex, via the US reservation phone line 1-844-530-3783, through the merchant mobile app, or a Travel Professional between 11/15/2019 and 12/31/2019.
  • Eligible transactions must be made in USD.
  • Excludes international transactions, all onboard transactions, corporate sales and corporate sales gift cards, physical gift cards purchased online, e-gift cards, art auctions, Canyon Ranch Spa, and affiliate brands: Royal Caribbean, Silverseas, and Azamara.
  • Excludes the following Specialty Cruises: Music & Themed, LGBTQ+ VACAYA cruises, and Tie the Knot.
  • Please note that hotels, car rental companies, cruise lines do not accept prepaid cards for charges authorized in advance, although prepaid cards may be used to settle the final bill. Check to make sure prepaid cards are accepted before attempting to use your prepaid card to take advantage of offers for these merchants.

• World’s Leading Cruise Lines – Spend $500+ on cruise reservations with Carnival, Holland America, Princess, Seabourn, or Cunard & get $100 back or 10,000 Membership Rewards.
  • Offer valid only for reservations booked between 11/15/2019 and 3/31/2020 with (1) Carnival Cruise Line at Carnival.com or phone 1-800-764-7419, (2) Holland America Line at Hollandamerica.com or phone 1-877-932-4259, (3) Princess Cruises at Princess.com or phone 1-800-774-6237, (4) Seabourn at Seabourn.com or phone 1-866-755-5619, or (5) Cunard at Cunard.com or phone 1-800-728-6273.
  • Valid only on purchases made in US dollars.
  • Must be booked on the respective cruise line’s US website only.
  • The respective cruise line’s standard booking requirements, policies, restrictions and ticket contract apply. Cruises are subject to availability and capacity controlled.
  • Please note that cruise lines do not accept prepaid cards for charges authorized in advance, although prepaid cards may be used to settle the final bill. Check to make sure prepaid cards are accepted before attempting to use your prepaid card to take advantage of offers for these merchants.

• Uniworld & U River Cruises – Spend $1,000+ on cruise reservations & get $300 back (or 30,000 Membership Rewards?)
  • Offer valid for reservations booked online via US website only for Uniworld and U River, via cruise.uniworld.com/AMEX, via phone at U River (1-800-257-2398) and Uniworld (1-800-246-0285), or your preferred travel professional between 11/22/2019 and 3/1/2020.
  • Offer only valid for transactions made in US dollars.
  • Excludes onboard spend, Uniworld Travel Protection, value add-ons (luggage forward, lounge pass, subscriptions), custom air service, cruise add-ons, charters and incentives groups.
  • Please note that hotels, car rental companies, cruise lines do not accept prepaid cards for charges authorized in advance, although prepaid cards may be used to settle the final bill. Check to make sure prepaid cards are accepted before attempting to use your prepaid card to take advantage of offers for these merchants.

Quick Thoughts

I’ve never taken a cruise, but some of these offers are tempting, especially having just done a little research as to how much some of them will cost.

For example, I took a look at Celebrity Cruises as that gives up to 30% back as a statement credit, or more than that if you value Membership Rewards at greater than 1 cpp. The Uniworld and U River Cruises Amex Offer also offers up to 30% back, but the Celebrity Cruises offer has a lower spend requirement of $500.

I’ve never really understood the appeal of a two night cruise, so I looked at five night cruises and spotted a ‘5 Night Western Caribbean Cruise’ that departs on December 16. It lists the lowest cost as $249 per person, although that doesn’t include taxes, fees and port expenses of $115.65 per person, so I was expecting the total to come to $729.30.

I was able to significantly drop that price though thanks to the fact that the cruise departs from Miami. Although my wife and I move every week, our state of domicile is Florida. Although I’m not too familiar with how cruise pricing works, one thing I’d read in the past is that you can often get cheaper prices if you live in the state where the ship departs. Similarly, it looks like military, police and EMT and those over 55 might also be eligible for discounts.

That dropped the expected price from $729.30 to $520.06 – just above the $500 threshold needed to trigger the Amex Offer. Getting a five night cruise for two people for an average of $104 per night seems like a decent deal, made even better when earning $150 or 15,000 Membership Rewards with that. If using the statement credit version of the offer, that makes the net cost $74.01 per night, or $37 per person per night.

Now, that doesn’t include gratuities, other expenses, excursions, etc., and is based on choosing the lowest category of room, but if you just wanted to get away for five nights and not do much just before Christmas, there are certainly far worse options.

With regards to the Amex Offers themselves, the World’s Leading Cruise Lines and Celebrity Cruises offers both have statement credit and Membership Rewards versions of the offers. I only had a statement credit version of the Uniworld & U River Cruises Amex Offer on some of my cards, but there might be an offer floating around for some people of 30,000 Membership Rewards.

If you’re planning on booking one of these cruises, check Cashback Monitor to see if any of the cruise lines offer cashback through a shopping portal. It looks like most of them don’t, although Princess Cruises and Uniworld both have some portal options offering 3-5% cashback.

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