Maximizing Rewards Points (for Cruise Lovers)

🚢 Pro Tip for Cruise Lovers: Maximize Your Navy Federal Flagship Rewards Card 💳

For anyone who cruises regularly, here's a strategy to rack up serious rewards points with the Navy Federal Visa Signature Flagship Travel Rewards card:

The Strategy:The card earns 3X points on ALL travel purchases. Here's the key: when you charge casino activity to your stateroom on a cruise, it codes as a travel expense because it's billed by the cruise line.

How It Works:

Link your Navy Federal Flagship card to your stateroom account
At the casino tables or slots, charge chips/credits to your room instead of using cash (avoiding ATM fees)
Play throughout the cruise (whether you win, lose, or break even)
Cash out at the casino cashier before disembarking
All charges post to your card as a single travel purchase after the cruise
Deposit the cash and pay off the card - you've just earned 3X points on the entire amount

The Math:Let's say you run $3,000 through the casino over a 7-day cruise. Even if you break even at the tables, you'll earn 9,000 points (worth $90 in statement credits) just for using this card instead of cash.

Important Notes:

Some cruise lines charge a convenience fee for casino room charges (Royal Caribbean waives this at Prime status - 2,500 points)
No separate casino charge appears - it's all billed as one cruise line travel expense
This works because cruise lines have a specific merchant category code that banks classify as travel

This pairs perfectly with the card's welcome bonus (35,000 points for $3,500 spend in 90 days) and free Amazon Prime membership.

I'm Prime with Royal Caribbean so I don't get charge anything to take cash at the tables off of my stateroom, so just imagine if you pull not $3k, but $5k or $10k+ over that week. You could really add to your points (or cash back).

👍 if you like this and/or will try it!

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Maximizing Rewards Points (for Cruise Lovers)