I love credit cards so much! v6.0 - 2023 (see first page for add'l details)

[gottalovepluto]

How are you guys getting free cruise offers? I tried the Carnival Fun Match, but all of the offers I get only have inside rooms available (and they aren't free).

Is there another cruise line I should be looking at?

I did the HAL one using my MGM gold & FM’s instructions here. Maybe not great if you want kid stuff though. (Jealous of the person who got a balcony offer, dang. I’m in an inside cabin for my fall New England trip.)

 

[leeniewdw]

I’d only consider it if I could rope it into the Ireland trip, go from Ireland to Miami instead of home. Going home would take too much energy & effort. I would also be stressed about travel delays causing me to miss the boat between the two trips. (I have fam caught up in the UA debacle, supposed to depart Thurs, now won’t be able to depart until Sat.) The time change thing wouldn’t concern me much, it’s not like you’re driving or cleaning or cooking on a ship. I’d say book a hotel with Landry available for use to wash some stuff between trips but idk how much clothing overlap there would be between Ireland & the Caribbean.

I was going to say, having just returned from Ireland, that if you could avoid the process of getting TO the cruise, a cruise might be a relaxing follow-up to the trip. We were in Ireland for 2 weeks and I didn't want to go anywhere for the rest of the summer as we were headed home, lol. But I think your trip is shorter so maybe you'd feel differently. But the add'l air travel would be my hesitation. We didn't struggle with the time change much coming home.

 

[orangecuse]

How are you guys getting free cruise offers? I tried the Carnival Fun Match, but all of the offers I get only have inside rooms available (and they aren't free).

Is there another cruise line I should be looking at?

The base Carnival offer for a "free cruise" is $100pp plus $200 OBC to offset the pp cost. Taxes and port fees will never be waived so the final cost can vary from $325 to $450 depending on length of cruise and ports. Factor in the $200 OBC (can be used for gratuities if nothing else) and typically $50-$100 in free play depending on your offer, and that cruise is maybe $75-$150. Pretty good for a week vacation for 2 people! Now, we will pay the extra few $$ to bring our kids unless my husband also gets a comp offer soon and we book 2 rooms on that.

As for state room- Carnival seems to offer at random. My current Carnival offer is good up to a balcony, but not every cruise. I can get a balcony on the transatlantic, but only an inside if I choose the holiday Caribbean. A few blogs discuss Carnival will usually sweeten room types as you wait, but you run the risk of them stopping offers too.

 

[orangecuse]

I did the HAL one using my MGM gold & FM’s instructions here. Maybe not great if you want kid stuff though. (Jealous of the person who got a balcony offer, dang. I’m in an inside cabin for my fall New England trip.)

HAL only gave me an interior too! Im using that offer to go with a friend and we paid $185 a piece for taxes and fees, and I got $200 in free play offered. This is a week Caribbean cruise in Dec. They only gave me offerers for 2023.

 

[reliev]

I have a delta skymiles platinum card. I met the spend requirement at the end of May. How long does it typically take for the miles to post on my account? Also, I just got TSA precheck. That is listed as one of the perks of the skymiles platinum. When do they erase that charge? My husband paid for his TSA precheck through his chase unted card and the charge erased immediately.Thanks!

a week after the closing date.

 

[Judique]

Question about the CSP $50 hotel credit:

Someone mentioned booking a room and 'last year's' credit being used up.

I just booked a room for next April and I'm curious how you determine that last year's credit was used.

It's a room I'm going to use. My Sapphire is a November card. I've not used a credit yet.

And, when does the credit post? The charge is now pending.

The website just tells me when a new cardholder becomes eligible.

The point of this question is to try to determine whether I can book another room for use prior to November

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

I posted my saga on FB and one of my friend's is doing SB on Carnival too! But her ship didn't show up as free. I trust this friend (I've gone to Vegas w/ her, I know her style) and she said the ship I picked is a fun time. Older, but one she actually is cruising on in December. So that is making me feel a lot better. So I think I might bite the bullet, LOL. We'll see. I need to price flights.

We are about to book ours now! Ours is giving a ton of summer options for 2024 so thats what we are looking at. $400-$450 for 2 people (but $200 OBC) for most of our options , but a huge difference in what the extra charge is to add our kids. 7 days on their brand new ship is the cheapest option amazingly ($900 for 4 people all fees/taxes included- still a great deal!). My husband is theeeeeee most indecisive person on the planet though so I am waiting on him to decide which one we take and I gave him a deadline of this weekend haha

How long is your cruise? $325 is less than you spend on food and drink for 5-7 days anywhere else! We've done a lot of different lines and IMO Carnival has by far the best deck food.

What "summer" options are you getting and from where? I swear there was NO summer availability when I searched. What's the code you have? I'm assuming we all get the same code, LOL. I can't search anymore cruises right now. I'm guessing it's because I booked something. IDK. It's an 8 day cruise.

How are you guys getting free cruise offers? I tried the Carnival Fun Match, but all of the offers I get only have inside rooms available (and they aren't free).

Is there another cruise line I should be looking at?

I went to AC and did all the casino matching, then did the cruise matching.

I’d only consider it if I could rope it into the Ireland trip, go from Ireland to Miami instead of home. Going home would take too much energy & effort. I would also be stressed about travel delays causing me to miss the boat between the two trips. (I have fam caught up in the UA debacle, supposed to depart Thurs, now won’t be able to depart until Sat.) The time change thing wouldn’t concern me much, it’s not like you’re driving or cleaning or cooking on a ship. I’d say book a hotel with laundry available for use to wash some stuff between trips but idk how much clothing overlap there would be between Ireland & the Caribbean.

Ireland is my daughter....Cruise would be my son. Plus I have to teach the 2 days in between. I'm already pushing it using 3 personal days to do Ireland. I'd probably pl
ack for the cruise before leaving for Ireland. Since it's really 2 different types of trips, LOL. Obv if I get caught up in a travel snafu then both might not happen. I'll use my Chase card, though they seem to HATE refunding me. LOL.

HAL only gave me an interior too! Im using that offer to go with a friend and we paid $185 a piece for taxes and fees, and I got $200 in free play offered. This is a week Caribbean cruise in Dec. They only gave me offerers for 2023.

I got the interior too. I'm looking at the dates over Christmas break. I have to decide if I want to be gone over Christmas or New Years basically or the option of both, LOL. I told my daughter I'll take her on that cruise since my son is getting the Carnival freebie.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Ireland is my daughter....Cruise would be my son. Plus I have to teach the 2 days in between. I'm already pushing it using 3 personal days to do Ireland. I'd probably pl
ack for the cruise before leaving for Ireland. Since it's really 2 different types of trips, LOL.

You have to work between?! Heck no would I do the cruise too. I would die lol.

 

[platamama]

I just saw on FB that the CIP MSR has dropped to $8K from $15K; still 100K UR SUB. Of course I just got the Biz IHG card two days ago, ugh.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I just saw on FB that the CIP MSR has dropped to $8K from $15K; still 100K UR SUB. Of course I just got the Biz IHG card two days ago, ugh.

Was just coming to post this. Do the 40K referrals work with the CIP? I was set to apply for a CIC tomorrow, might switch gears now

 

[platamama]

Was just coming to post this. Do the 40K referrals work with the CIP? I was set to apply for a CIC tomorrow, might switch gears now

I don't have a CIP, but from my CIC I can only generate a link for a CIC/CIU/CIPremier. Comments on FB indicate that links from people with the CIP still show the $15K MSR, which could change as time goes on.

ETA: @Duckbug.Ducktales I got a response back from someone with a CIP that indeed their link shows a 40K support.

 

[lsutigers03]

Was just coming to post this. Do the 40K referrals work with the CIP? I was set to apply for a CIC tomorrow, might switch gears now

My CIC and CIU still show $15k.

 

[GZanta77]

I don't have a CIP, but from my CIC I can only generate a link for a CIC/CIU/CIPremier. Comments on FB indicate that links from people with the CIP still show the $15K MSR, which could change as time goes on.

ETA: @Duckbug.Ducktales I got a response back from someone with a CIP that indeed their link shows a 40K support.

Thats weird - I can generate a link for any of the Ink cards from my CIC or CIU. Still shows $15k MSR though - will wait for the referral offer to drop to the $8k MSR before jumping on this.

 

[platamama]

Thats weird - I can generate a link for any of the Ink cards from my CIC or CIU. Still shows $15k MSR though - will wait for the referral offer to drop to the $8k MSR before jumping on this.

Oh, you're right! It was greyed out looking on my screen so I assumed it wasn't a live link for me, but when I actually clicked on the greyed out "Apply Now" button it took me to the application for a CIP. Thanks for alerting me to that!

 

[Liquidice]

With the $15K to $8K spending drop now I have a new dilemma. I have $18K in purchases coming up for a DVC direct purchase, I just applied for the CSP for P2 with the 80K UR (with $4K spend) link that was provided and I just applied for the CIP for myself with the $8K spend and 100K UR points. Should I pivot and try to refer P2 to the CIP so I could get a 40K + 100K bonus and then try to earn the CSP 80K bonus some other way?

Would there be an issue if P2 applied for the CIP shortly after applying for the CSP? IIRC you need 60 days between card applications and I don't have that long before the last DVC payment is due.

 

[hsmamato2]

I've read on the blogosphere that many do take advantage of the points and cash to "buy" IHG points. I have not done it yet. Generally speaking the rule of thumb is not to buy points speculatively. Buy them when you have something planned and will use them if the opportunity arises and you are getting more value than you would with cash on the points purchase and redemption.

I have bought Hilton points now and again over the years when they have the 100% bonus offer and I have something planned for an aspirational Hilton stay. It works out to .005 a cent per point. I will often combine a FN cert stay with a points stay on a property that costs waaay more money than I'm willing to spend and the value is far more than my points purchase.

I'm pretty sure I did see an IHG points sale within the last few months that worked out to .005 per point. I didn't look into to it because I don't have any current plans with IHG beyond using FN certs in WDW and eventually another stay at The Willard in DC on points. I still have enough for that in my stash.

Thanks for the input- in the case of IHG,I love a big stash of those- I always seem to find use for them and need more! So I don't plan to cancel, but since it's a few months out anything can happen. If it goes sideways, at least I know I can use those easily.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Did anyone try to get the Hyatt points on Daily Getaways? I swear bots must be buying them because last year and this year I was on the website at 12:59, kept hitting refresh and when the offer for 80k pts posted it was already sold out. Grrr.

Ds's new car was stolen 2 weeks ago (this is a very common problem here with new cars -- he doesn't have a garage and wouldn't use a club). Once the process works its way through we will be buying him a new car. I was able to put $5,000 on a card when I bought his car less than 2 yrs ago, so am hopeful that I'll be able to do the same again (though it's unlikely we will use the same dealership). I am now deciding what card to get. The Hilton offers are tempting. I'm currently at 2/24 with 1 dropping off in December (I will re-apply for the Chase Aeroplan card as soon as I can), so I could get either the Surpass or regular card. Any thoughts? I was thinking of getting one of the Hilton cards for myself, then one for dd for 2 FNCs.

How can I apply for another Hilton biz card (I've had my current one since January, 2019 and keep it open to earn pts when I stay at Hilton hotels)?

Can I apply for a biz card and Surpass on the same day or a few days apart?

Hopefully the car dealership won't think I'm crazy for putting the downpayment for a new car on 3 different cards .

Last question: does anyone drive a VW Tiguan? I am hesitant to get ds another RDX since his was just stolen. Open to other suggestions for a small SUV (looking for either a 2022 or new 2023).

 

[havaneselover]

Ok. We are seriously thinking about Japan in early May. I only have 475k URs (will have another 80k in a month or so). No airline points. Seems like the best we can do for three seats is economy tickets. I could swing delta comfort plus but I don’t see that in the chase portal. Am I missing something?

I do have 250k Hilton points and a free night certificate and about 250k bonvoy points for hotels. Our plan is Tokyo including Disney sea, mt. Fuji, Kyoto and Osaka (including USJ) over about 8 or 9 days.

 

[Haley R]

Ok. We are seriously thinking about Japan in early May. I only have 475k URs (will have another 80k in a month or so). No airline points. Seems like the best we can do for three seats is economy tickets. I could swing delta comfort plus but I don’t see that in the chase portal. Am I missing something?

I do have 250k Hilton points and a free night certificate and about 250k bonvoy points for hotels. Our plan is Tokyo including Disney sea, mt. Fuji, Kyoto and Osaka (including USJ) over about 8 or 9 days.

I would just make sure you avoid Golden Week if you’re looking at early May

 

[havaneselover]

I would just make sure you avoid Golden Week if you’re looking at early May

We’re looking at arriving 5/8 so we will miss it.