New Amex offer could get you hundreds of dollars in points for booking a Royal Caribbean cruise

If you’re considering booking a Royal Caribbean cruise soon, you might want to use your American Express card.

Many American Express cardholders are seeing a new offer for 20,000 bonus Membership Rewards points when spending $1,000 or more on a Royal Caribbean cruise.

The exact offer seems to vary depending on who the cardholder is, but if you have an American Express card, it is worth checking out if the offer is for you. 

Based on points calculators we found online, 20,000 points is worth about $400, which means you’d get back about 40% of that $1,000 cost.

It’s also important to know you must enroll in the offer before making the purchase for the Amex Offer to be redeemable.

In addition, this offer can only be used with one American Express Card and it’s valid only on cruise bookings made online at RoyalCaribbean.com, by calling 866-562-7625, using American Express Travel, or through a travel agent. Reservations must be booked on U.S. websites only.

The $1,000 spending threshold excludes onboard purchases, e-gift card and physical gift card purchases made online, transfers/transportation to the ship, MGM Resort International Joint Vacation and Royal Wedding Packages.

This offer only works for Royal Caribbean International, and does not work for Celebrity Cruise, TUI Cruises and Silversea brands.

The offer expires July 31, 2023.

Typically, Amex offer statements appear on your statement within a day or two, it can sometimes take several days for the statement credit to hit your account. 

Not every AmEx cardholder will get the offer, but we’ve seen it so far across these credit cards:

• The Platinum Card from American Express
• Blue from American Express
• American Express Gold Card

A few of our RoyalCaribbeanBlog writers also reported seeing the offer, which seems to point to it being fairly well-distributed.

How much are 20,000 AmEx Membership Rewards Points worth?

Getting 20,000 points sounds great, but what kind of a benefit is that to you?

There are many ways to possibly redeem your points, especially depending on which American Express card you have.

According to a NerdWallet analysis, AmEx points value is between 1 cent when used to book travel directly and 2 cents when transferred to partners.

The Points Guy estimates Membership Rewards points are worth 2 cents each.

Using your points for airfare is typically the best value, while redeeming them for cash to erase eligible charges from your statement is widely considered a poor value.

How to activate the offer

Before you can utilize an Amex Offer, you generally have to activate it on your account, so before paying for anything, be sure to do that. By using your credit card at a qualifying merchant, you can instantly take advantage of the discount, credit or bonus by using your American Express card there.

Simply log into your American Express account on their website or via their app.

Look for the Amex Offers & Benefits section, which is usually located towards the bottom of the main page.

Categorized under “Travel”, you should see the Royal Caribbean offer there.

How to use this if you use a travel agent

You may notice in the fine print for this offer it states you can use a travel professional with this offer, which means you can still support your favorite travel agent.

You could simply book this offer with them, or book it on your own and transfer it to the agent immediately afterwards.

Even after booking a cruise with Royal Caribbean directly, you have up to 30 days to transfer it to a travel agent after initial booking. It must be outside of Final Payment and the booking is not paid in full.

I would recommend informing your travel agent what you are doing first, so they can be prepared for the necessary paperwork to transfer it to them.

All you have to do is complete this online form and the booking gets transferred to the agent.