Frequent flyers and savvy travelers love nothing more than getting flights and hotel stays for free, usually because they booked using airline, hotel or credit card loyalty points. If you’re a cruise fan, you likely want to know if you can also book a cruise with points and get a free sailing.
The answer: It’s complicated. Most cruise line loyalty program points only apply to status and can’t be redeemed for purchases. Carnival Cruise Line will be among the first to adopt a more airline-like model when its Carnival Rewards program launches later in 2026. There are ways to redeem airline, hotel and credit card points for cruises, but you might not want to.
“I’ve redeemed millions of points and miles on award travel over the years — and I've sailed on dozens of cruise ships — but I have never once used points to book a cruise. The value proposition is just too low,” says Andrea Rotondo, director of Content Operations for The Points Guy.
Still, if a free cruise is what you want, we’re not going to get in your way! Here are the main ways you can book a cruise with points. Whether you’d rather apply those points to your pre-cruise airfare and hotel stays for better value is up to you.
How to book a cruise with credit card points
Many credit cards have travel portals that let you use the points you’ve accrued to pay for travel purchases, including cruises. You can book cruises through American Express Travel or Chase Travel and pay for all or part of your sailing with Membership Rewards or Chase points.
If you have a Capital One card that earns miles, like a Venture or Venture X Rewards card, you can’t outright book a cruise and pay with miles. However, you can book a cruise through your cruise line or an online travel agent, and then use your miles to pay yourself back at the rate of one mile for every one cent of travel expenses.
You’ll likely need hundreds of thousands of points or miles to pay for a cruise, but many credit cards will let you cover some of the cost with points or miles and pay for the rest.
But is it a good idea to use your points this way? Rotondo says that in most cases, you’ll get more value from booking a flight with points than you would from booking a cruise.
“You can use Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book a cruise, but the redemption is pegged to one to one-and-a-half cents per point (depending on the credit card you have),” she explains. “Instead, transfer those same points to a participating airline loyalty program and book business class flights to and from the cruise. You’ll often net a per point value of two cents or higher … a much better deal than using the points to slightly defray the cost of your cruise fare.”
Another way to book a cruise with points is through a cruise line's co-branded credit card. These include the Royal Caribbean Visa Signature card and the Norwegian Cruise Line World Mastercard, among others. Disney offers the Premier and Inspire Visa cards that apply to cruisers as well as theme park fans.
While these cards don’t sync up with onboard loyalty programs, you can use the points you accrue to book cruises. With Royal Caribbean’s card, you can redeem your points for stateroom upgrades, cruise discounts and cruise vacations (350,000 points will get you a seven-night cruise). With Norwegian, you’ll spend 137,900 to 227,900 points for a seven-night Caribbean or Mexico cruise, depending on cabin category.
Disney fans can either transfer their points to a Rewards Redemption Card and use that to pay for a cruise or book a cruise directly with Disney Cruise Line and then use their card points to offset the charges with Chase’s Pay Yourself Back program.
How to book a cruise with airline miles
If you accrue airline miles, either through a co-branded credit card or by flying, you might be able to book a cruise with those miles through your airline’s travel portal. Both United Cruises and AAdvantage Cruises allow program members to redeem miles for cruises. Check with your preferred frequent flyer program because not all travel portals that allow you to earn miles for cruise bookings also allow you to redeem them.
With United and American, you can choose whether to pay for all or part of your cruise purchase with miles. But because the mileage cost is typically tied to the cash price of the cruise multiplied by a conversion rate, usually one cent or less per mile, you won’t necessarily get as much value from the booking as you would by redeeming your miles for flights.
How to book a cruise with hotel points
Recently, several hotel programs have teamed up with cruise lines or launched their own cruise brands, giving frequent travelers more redemption options for their hotel points.
The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, like its namesake hotel brand, is part of the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program. You can redeem Bonvoy points toward a cruise booking at the rate of 180,000 points for the first $1,000 and 90,000 points for every subsequent $500 of the cruise fare.
Hilton Honors and Explora Journeys, a luxury cruise brand, recently announced a partnership that will begin in summer 2026. From that point forward, Hilton loyalists will be able to redeem points for Explora Journeys sailings. Details have not been released about redemption rates and whether guests can book cruises with a combination of points and dollars.
How to book a cruise with Carnival Rewards
Carnival Cruise Line is in the midst of revamping its loyalty program to make status and rewards allied with money spent rather than days cruised. While the change has been controversial among fans, it does align your cruise spend with your Carnival credit card spend, giving you more options for turning points into free cruises.
The new Carnival Rewards program launches on Sept. 1, 2026, at which point the Carnival World Mastercard will become the Carnival Rewards Mastercard and existing Fun Points will convert into Carnival Rewards Points. Cruisers will then accrue points on all their Carnival spending (cruise bookings, onboard spending and credit card purchases) and can redeem these points to pay for their cruise deposit or the entire cruise fare. Carnival Rewards members will be able to book cruises using all points or a combination of points and miles.
The bottom line
So now that you know all the ways you can book a cruise with points, the question remains whether you should. Here’s my personal opinion as a miles and points collector who usually redeems them for economy flights: It can take time and effort to find the flight and hotel sweet spots that let you get outsized value from your accrued points and miles. Not everyone has the flexibility or patience to play that game. Better to use your points to get something for free than sit on them, waiting for the perfect redemption that never arises.
