Bank of America and Royal Caribbean have launched two brand new credit card products, the Royal One Card and the Royal One Plus Card. Both cards offer potentially intriguing welcome bonuses, and points can be used for cruises with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, or Silversea.
The Offers & Key Card Details
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $408 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates 45K points Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. We always present the best offer even when it means less revenue for Frequent Miler 45K points after $2K in purchases in first 90 daysNo Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: Points are worth $0.01 each toward onboard credit or cruise purchase with Royal Caribbean, which could make this a worthwhile option if you have an upcoming cruise booking. Earning rate: 3x Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea ✦ 2X eligible grocery, gas, and EV charging stations ✦ 1X everywhere else Card Info: Visa Signature issued by BOA. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Annual $100 cruise discount after you spend $10,000 on purchases within the prior anniversary year Noteworthy perks: Priority boarding line at check-in terminal |
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $538 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates 70K points Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. We always present the best offer even when it means less revenue for Frequent Miler 70K points after $3K spend in first 90 days$99 Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: Points are worth $0.01 each toward onboard credit or cruise purchase with Royal Caribbean, which makes this an attractive introductory bonus for anyone with an upcoming Royal Caribbean booking. Benefits like priority boarding/luggage handling and the TSA/Global Entry reimbursement are nice adds for the $99 annual fee, though they probably won't make this card a keeper for most folks. Earning rate: 4x Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea ✦ 2X eligible airline, hotel, dining, grocery, gas and EV charging stations ✦ 1X everywhere else Card Info: Visa Signature issued by BOA. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Annual $200 cruise discount after you spend $20,000 on purchases within the prior anniversary year Noteworthy perks: Priority suite boarding ✦ Priority luggage handling ✦ Up to $120 in statement credits every four years to use toward your TSA PreCheck® and Global Entry |
Quick Thoughts
Either of these cards could be intriguing for someone with an upcoming Royal Caribbean cruise.
The no-annual-fee Royal One card offers a relatively competitive introductory bonus of 45,000 points, worth $450, after spending $2,000 in the first 90 days. The card is light on benefits, offering priority boarding and the chance to get a $100 cruise discount if you spend $10,000 within a membership year. Still, for a relatively low spending requirement, that could be a great discount on an upcoming cruise.
The Royal Caribbean One Plus card has a $99 annual fee but offers a bonus of 70,000 points after $3,000 in purchases within the first three months. That’s worth $700 off a Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, or Silversea cruise. The card adds priority suite boarding through the suites lane at the cruise terminal, priority luggage handling, a Global Entry/TSA Precheck credit once every four years, and an annual $200 cruise discount after you spend $20,000 on purchases within the prior anniversary year.
Neither card offers a terribly compelling bonus category, with the best of the bunch being 3X on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea purchases on the Royal One card or 4X on the Royal One Plus card. Both cards offer some 2X bonus categories, which might be of use when spending toward the introductory spending requirement. However, long-term, you’re probably better off with a card that earns 2% cash back or better in those categories.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
I don’t know who in the right mind would put $10k on a card to get a 1% return of $100, when there are a bunch of cards paying at a minimum $200 for the same spend. Hard pass. And we cruise a lot.
Does either card include Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance? If not those with cards that include that benefit (i.e. Amex Platinum) may be better of booking a cruise with that card. The Amex Platinum also offers the Cruise Privilege Program benefit.
Do you know if you can transfer points btwn accounts?
Son wants to do an Icon ship and with P1/P2 this might be intriguing.
Neither card looks compelling unless you do a lot of business with Royal. Honestly, I’d rather have a 2% cash back card than either of these. It’s a shame that neither card gives you any kind of Crown & Anchor Society status.
‘ The card is light on benefits, offering priority boarding and the chance to get a $100 cruise discount if you spend $10,000 within a membership year. ‘
Light? It is barely registering gravitationally. If you spent that $10,000 with Bilt you would get at least 30,000 points worth approx. $450.
But initial great offer for those who love RCCL.
I don’t think that the target market for a card that offers an intro bonus worth $450 off a cruise with no annual fee is the same as the target market for a card with a $495 annual fee, no way to use points at $0.01 each toward cruises, and a significantly more complicated earning structure. I’m not saying that the Bilt Palladium card isn’t a better card — it is — but it’s not a fit for someone who just wants $450 off a cruise this year and who might be happy with gaining Priority Boarding on top of the intro bonus. There’s definitely not much long-term, and it isn’t a card for me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t imagine the crowd for whom it is a fit.
Nick – this is where I will disagree with you. Lots of older folks are intrigued by this kind of offer but would be better off putting their limited spend somewhere else. In my view, these kind of offers are sucker deals aimed at seniors.
My parents are the kind of folks who will get sucked into these cruise offers. My dad will call me and ask me whether he should sign up for a Princess card or Celebrity card or whatever cruise deal gets emailed to him cause they cruise a lot.
But, he is willing and able to play the points and miles game if instructed, and the answer for him is a resounding, “no” cause he can do much better elsewhere with his small amount of spend. He has low expenses so he needs to be careful that he allocates his spend thoughtfully to get the most bang for his buck.
On less than $35k in credit card spend per year, in the past year, he has earned enough points for 2 free roundtrip tickets to Iceland via JetBlue for his upcoming Iceland cruise (on Celebrity), Companion Pass and the 135,000 Southwest points that come with it that he has used for flights to Chicago (3X), Cancun, San Juan, and positioning to Minneapolis for the Iceland flight, 4 free nights at his preferred Marriott in Cancun, and several free Hyatt stays (positioning in MCO prior to Cancun, San Juan prior to a cruise, Minneapolis for positioning to Iceland, and the Exeter Hotel in Reykjavik prior to the Iceland cruise).
There may not be a ton of overlap between this offer and the audience for the Bilt Palladium Card due to the annual fee, but there’s a ton of overlap between this offer and a bunch of much better offers: the recent Hilton No Annual Fee offer, recent Surpass offer, the current Boundless offer, the Atmos Ascent offer, or the Delta Gold offer, all of which require a similar amount of spend and a similar annual fee. For those with limited spend, there are much better ways to allocate that spend to get them more of a return.
Sounds like your dad has done well out of his spend!
He’s okay with planning a year+ in advance and very good at following instructions!
Used to be only $300 which I wouldn’t do, but for $700 it Is worth it to many of us. Some of my family and friends did it for $300 when I told them that offer wasn’t worth it.
I mean…this card is for a very different audience than a Bilt card. Apples and oranges.
Yes. The Bilt card is only worth $600 – read the Frequent Miler card valuations.
Aww, Nick looks so happy in that photo. Great smile!
‘try reimbursement are nice adds for the $99 annual fee‘. But just above you say no annual fee. Cut-and-paste laziness?
I’m not sure where you’re copying that from. There are two cards here, the card with no annual fee, and a card with a $99 annual fee that adds global entry or TSA precheck reimbursement.
I see, the display is missing the $99 annual fee underneath the introductory bonus. I will fix that, thank you.
Also says 2k spend instead of 3k. Think it’s a great offer compared to the previous one. Thanks!