I love credit cards so much! v4.0 - 2021 (see first page for add'l details)

[Laurawill]

Looking for advice again

P1 last 24 mos:
11/2020-Chase Sapphire Preferred
04/2021-Chase Ink Unlimited

P2 last 24 mos:
11/2020-Chase Sapphire Preferred (authorized user-I know better now)
06/2021-Chase Sapphire Preferred

Current monthly spend=$2500-$3000, paid in full monthly
P1 has a side hustle business; P2 doesn't have and won't have a business

Airports: We live an hour and a half from 4 major airports, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland; we are open to flying out of any of them
No FF pref-United or Alaska can get us non-stop to MCO, Southwest we can get companion pass, Delta and/or American are good for flights to help ailing father, basically I want all the points
No hotel rewards program preference
Current Rewards Include
-Around 150k UR's
-60k Hyatt points (plus 60k that are currently reserving a couple nights for our anniversary at Alila Ventana in Big Sur)
-24k RR's
-6k Hilton points

Churning/travel goals for the next few years:
-Party of 4 travel to Disneyland in January 2022 (not planning on using points to pay for this trip, it will just be an opportunity for some extra spend, lol)
-Party of 4 to travel to Disneyworld in January 2023, considering a stay at Swan or Dolphin or SDReserve if Extended Evening Hours are still a thing and seem to have reasonably lower crowds
-Still deciding between Hawaii land trip or Alaska Cruise for 2 adults & maybe 2 teens-sometime in the next 1-2 years
-My dad has a health issue that could require regular travel to help him, best airlines that serve his area are Delta and American, I can pay for tickets if I need to, but I do prefer the flexibility of using points to pay when I can

Cards I have been recently considering are:
American Express Platinum with 125k SUB and 15x for dining and small business spend ($6k MSR, $695 annual fee)
American Express Bonvoy Business 125k Marriott point SUB + 2 free night certs ($5k MSR, $125 annual fee--Could go to pay for DW for January 2023)
Chase United Quest or Explorer
Or 2 new SW business cards to get the CP and a nice stash of RR's again,

I haven't jumped into the Amex game yet. I am hesitant because I don't know how much of my spend accepts American Express and I am nervous when I hear about needing to keep my spending up to maintain my relationships with them. I am also not sure I am ready to spend for the premium card yet, but the 15x has me . I am also a little hesitant because my business is small (i.e. annual revenue under the MSR type small) and I am a little worried if that will affect my business card ongoing eligibility for Chase or AE. I just know I need a MSR to be working on! What would your next move be???

 

[becauseimnew]

Looking for advice again

P1 last 24 mos:
11/2020-Chase Sapphire Preferred
04/2021-Chase Ink Unlimited

P2 last 24 mos:
11/2020-Chase Sapphire Preferred (authorized user-I know better now)
06/2021-Chase Sapphire Preferred

Current monthly spend=$2500-$3000, paid in full monthly
P1 has a side hustle business; P2 doesn't have and won't have a business

Airports: We live an hour and a half from 4 major airports, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland; we are open to flying out of any of them
No FF pref-United or Alaska can get us non-stop to MCO, Southwest we can get companion pass, Delta and/or American are good for flights to help ailing father, basically I want all the points
No hotel rewards program preference
Current Rewards Include
-Around 150k UR's
-60k Hyatt points (plus 60k that are currently reserving a couple nights for our anniversary at Alila Ventana in Big Sur)
-24k RR's
-6k Hilton points

Churning/travel goals for the next few years:
-Party of 4 travel to Disneyland in January 2022 (not planning on using points to pay for this trip, it will just be an opportunity for some extra spend, lol)
-Party of 4 to travel to Disneyworld in January 2023, considering a stay at Swan or Dolphin or SDReserve if Extended Evening Hours are still a thing and seem to have reasonably lower crowds
-Still deciding between Hawaii land trip or Alaska Cruise for 2 adults & maybe 2 teens-sometime in the next 1-2 years
-My dad has a health issue that could require regular travel to help him, best airlines that serve his area are Delta and American, I can pay for tickets if I need to, but I do prefer the flexibility of using points to pay when I can

Cards I have been recently considering are:
American Express Platinum with 125k SUB and 15x for dining and small business spend ($6k MSR, $695 annual fee)
American Express Bonvoy Business 125k Marriott point SUB + 2 free night certs ($5k MSR, $125 annual fee--Could go to pay for DW for January 2023)
Chase United Quest or Explorer
Or 2 new SW business cards to get the CP and a nice stash of RR's again,

I haven't jumped into the Amex game yet. I am hesitant because I don't know how much of my spend accepts American Express and I am nervous when I hear about needing to keep my spending up to maintain my relationships with them. I am also not sure I am ready to spend for the premium card yet, but the 15x has me . I am also a little hesitant because my business is small (i.e. annual revenue under the MSR type small) and I am a little worried if that will affect my business card ongoing eligibility for Chase or AE. I just know I need a MSR to be working on! What would your next move be???

Since you want to stay at a Marriott in Jan 2023 I would go for the Marriott Biz, but I wouldn’t meet the MSR until January so the certificates don’t expire Jan 2023 maybe Feb 2023 depending on how fast the certificates post. I would also get the Platinum card, for P2 since the MSR is 6 months but I would try to hold of until late November to triple dip the benefits in case you want to cancel/downgrade the card after the first year.

 

[Killer Fish]

Glad to hear it was a 150k offer....I definitely only did a 100k from the call in so no longer worried.

 

[Lain]

Glad to hear it was a 150k offer....I definitely only did a 100k from the call in so no longer worried.

Adam was doling out 100k offers in 2019. Yes, the shutdowns reach back to as early as 2019. Looks like his entire book of business is, or will soon be nuked.

I can only reiterate what @SouthFayetteFan already said, Adam is not among the list of contacts we shared on DISchurners. So if you applied with someone off that list, this current wave of shutdowns is unlikely to affect you.

 

[Killer Fish]

I used a comment from DOC not dischurners.....Can't find the comment of course or anything about what name it was. The offer was in 2020 at 100k for 10k spend.

 

[Bozni]

Since you want to stay at a Marriott in Jan 2023 I would go for the Marriott Biz, but I wouldn’t meet the MSR until January so the certificates don’t expire Jan 2023 maybe Feb 2023 depending on how fast the certificates post. I would also get the Platinum card, for P2 since the MSR is 6 months but I would try to hold of until late November to triple dip the benefits in case you want to cancel/downgrade the card after the first year.

Is the cert expiration a travel by date or a book by date?

 

[Psychodisney]

Anyone done the grand canyon?

opinions on el Tovar vs the kachina lodge. El Tovar is the classic lodge, but more expensive and no view from a 2 queen room.

kachina lodge is less expensive, has partial canyon views, but no ac, only evaporative cooling, whatever that is.

I currently booked el tovar because there were only 2 rooms left, but can change.

We were there 2 weeks ago. We stayed at Thunderbird Lodge. It reminded me of an old college dorm. We only stayed one night so it was fine. We realized we were paying for the location and the experience. Bathroom was tiny and a bit smelly. Beds were pretty awful.
El Tovar at least has the charm and history. We had dinner (appetizers) on the porch of the bar which was lovely. The restaurant was booked until 8pm...make a reservation in advance

 

[becauseimnew]

Is the cert expiration a travel by date or a book by date?

Travel by.

 

[amcc]

Booked the NCL Prima for 2023! I'm such a sucker for new ships lol. Goes from Southampton to Bruges, Amsterdam, Norway, Iceland, and ends in Reykjavík. There are 2 ports in Iceland that we didn't get to on our land trip, so that's perfect.

I was able to get the Amex plat cruise perks added to my booking. It's $200 OBC for balcony and dinner for 2 at Le Bistro. First time using the program since I didn't know how it worked before. You don't have to book with Amex Travel, a TA that's part of the program can do it too. On Cruise Compete, I saw that the agency I was going to book with anyways listed that as something they can do. From what I gathered on the Cruise Critic forum, the entire amount needs to be paid with Amex, but not necessarily a plat. Not too sure about the deposit, I did end up putting it on a plat.

I always feel like such a noob asking questions here - I promise I've traveled alot all over the world. I've never been on a cruise but this cruise sounds fabulous and I'm thinking of booking it. The NCL website has a bunch of offers - free open bar, free premium dining, free excursions and free wifi plus 30% off each fare, reduced deposits. I would love to get the Amex Plat cruise perks in addition. Will a travel agent be able to get those offers plus the Amex plat cruise perks? It doesn't seem that there is any negative to booking now for $500 deposit for 4 of us. The ship is gorgeous and I think my kids would love both the ship and the ports of call.

 

[Alexle2007]

I always feel like such a noob asking questions here - I promise I've traveled alot all over the world. I've never been on a cruise but this cruise sounds fabulous and I'm thinking of booking it. The NCL website has a bunch of offers - free open bar, free premium dining, free excursions and free wifi plus 30% off each fare, reduced deposits. I would love to get the Amex Plat cruise perks in addition. Will a travel agent be able to get those offers plus the Amex plat cruise perks? It doesn't seem that there is any negative to booking now for $500 deposit for 4 of us. The ship is gorgeous and I think my kids would love both the ship and the ports of call.

I looked at it too and thought it looked fabulous!

 

[Hoosier John]

I always feel like such a noob asking questions here - I promise I've traveled alot all over the world. I've never been on a cruise but this cruise sounds fabulous and I'm thinking of booking it. The NCL website has a bunch of offers - free open bar, free premium dining, free excursions and free wifi plus 30% off each fare, reduced deposits. I would love to get the Amex Plat cruise perks in addition. Will a travel agent be able to get those offers plus the Amex plat cruise perks? It doesn't seem that there is any negative to booking now for $500 deposit for 4 of us. The ship is gorgeous and I think my kids would love both the ship and the ports of call.

I think the answer is yes, you can get Amex perks on top of agent & ship perks (but I’ve never used Amex for a cruise)
There are a lot of great perks going on right now. Great time to book, especially if everyone is vaccinated. Cruise lines down to each cruise ship have ratings (to give you a general idea of average quality). Being well traveled, the itinerary might be more important to you though.
Be prepared to book again onboard, if you love the cruise. Good deals onboard, too. We just took a RCCL, and rebooked another onboard

 

[wanderlust7]

I always feel like such a noob asking questions here - I promise I've traveled alot all over the world. I've never been on a cruise but this cruise sounds fabulous and I'm thinking of booking it. The NCL website has a bunch of offers - free open bar, free premium dining, free excursions and free wifi plus 30% off each fare, reduced deposits. I would love to get the Amex Plat cruise perks in addition. Will a travel agent be able to get those offers plus the Amex plat cruise perks? It doesn't seem that there is any negative to booking now for $500 deposit for 4 of us. The ship is gorgeous and I think my kids would love both the ship and the ports of call.

NCL offers these kinds of promos basically all the time, it's not as great as it might sound lol. The 30% off is off of some inflated rate that I don't think anybody pays. Drinks package, you have to pay about $22 in gratuities per person per day. If you take it, the first 2 people in the cabin have to take it (can't just do it for 1). The specialty dining, you get 3 for 7 days cruises and 4 for the 11 day I'm doing. Gratuity is $23/person (total not per day) for the 4 restaurant package. Only the first 2 people in the cabin get it. Though last time, the kids were able to order off of the kids menu (same menu as at the main dining rooms). The "free excursions" is only $50 off for the first passenger, you can use it once per port. We had this last time and didn't even use it since ship excursions are so overpriced. I think it would only be useful if there was some special excursion that you had to go through the ship.

I did a Cruise Compete quote. Ended up being about 12% off of the base fare for first 2 passengers (kids was some small discount). $150 OBC that wasn't on the quote was a nice surprise. Plus the Amex plat perks. All stacks!

Fully refundable. If price drops, you can ask for a refare. They're offering free air for the second passenger now. So I find usually that means they inflate the price some. So it might go down. But then new ship, so maybe not. We didn't take the free air since you can't control the flight times and can only stay 1 or 2 nights pre and post cruise.

ETA: The Amex plat perk doesn't work on the sailaway rate and might not work on group rates. My parents' cabin was going to be a group rate for a slightly better price, but then the TA ended up switching to the regular rate since it worked out better. I think you do have to pay the deposit with a plat. Feels like it works the same as FHR - pay deposit with plat, then can pay rest with any Amex.

 

[elgerber]

I have never had an AMEX plat, so I am all good on any potential issues

 

[becauseimnew]

so Amex has been giving me a 35k FNC for the last 3 days in a row. should I book something and hope they never notice??

 

[LynnTH]

Has anyone done the AMEX Kabbage Checking? $300 Bonus after 5 Debit Transactions. Seems pretty easy - just wondering if I am missing something. May sign up an account for me an DH. Seems like an easy $600??

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Anyone done the grand canyon?

opinions on el Tovar vs the kachina lodge. El Tovar is the classic lodge, but more expensive and no view from a 2 queen room.

kachina lodge is less expensive, has partial canyon views, but no ac, only evaporative cooling, whatever that is.

I currently booked el tovar because there were only 2 rooms left, but can change.

We stayed at Kachina Lodge in early June. The evaporative cooling worked like ac to us. Full canyon view, right on the trail. We checked in at ElTovar which seemed very dark although we didn't see any rooms. Kachina rooms were basic and slightly dated and dorm like but we only stayed 2 nights. It was perfect to be up and right on the canyon. View from room

 

[mom2febgirls]

If I book a flight through the Chase Travel Portal and my plans change can I get my points back? That is my favorite thing about flying on SWA. I want to try another airline but I'm nervous about booking early and possibly losing points.

 

[LynnTH]

If I book a flight through the Chase Travel Portal and my plans change can I get my points back? That is my favorite thing about flying on SWA. I want to try another airline but I'm nervous about booking early and possibly losing points.

It all goes by what the airlines policy is. If you would get a refund direct from the airline, then you would get points back. If you would get an airline voucher then you would get a voucher. It should state specifics when booking.

 

[gottalovepluto]

so Amex has been giving me a 35k FNC for the last 3 days in a row. should I book something and hope they never notice??

Are they actually showing in your marriott account?

 

[gottalovepluto]

If I book a flight through the Chase Travel Portal and my plans change can I get my points back? That is my favorite thing about flying on SWA. I want to try another airline but I'm nervous about booking early and possibly losing points.

No experience with SWA but in my experience with other airlines they abided by the airline policies and right now it's usually you get your money back as a voucher. Essentially if Chase can't get cash back from the airline you can't get UR points back.