I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[CyndiLouWho]

Need your help again. Planning on an Alaskan cruise summer of 2020. Just starting to research. So confusing. From reading I know we should do a cruise that goes through Glacier Bay. And lots recommend starting or ending in Vancouver and not Seattle. So trying to figure out my options for airfare. Would be flying from MSP.

Is Alaska Air a good option? I see I could get the business card and get 40,000 points and you get a companion pass on your anniversary date, which you can’t use points for. So could pay cash to Anchorage on one flight and get the other just for taxes and then use the points for the Vancouver portion. Only bad thing is that I can’t use the companion pass for a year so wouldn’t be able to book that flight until only a few months before cruise. So not sure if that would work. I am one to book flight the moment they are released. Any suggestions on this?

Other points I currently have:
UR - 450,000 with 50,000 more from DH’s Ink business card we just got
MR - I have about 95,000 and DH has about 35,000 ( could cash these out for Carnival gift cards 1:1 ratio and use for Princess Cruise)
Delta - about 70,000 points
AA - I have about 130,000 and DH about 50,000. Going to work on getting more
Cap one - have $850 available
Bonvoy- have about 450,000 points but don’t think they would do much.

I am at 5/24 with 2 cards falling off in May and June. So can only get non Chase business cards right now. Will also be getting 2 SW cards end of year to get companion pass again.

DH is at 4/24 with a card falling off in May. Just got him the Ink Business Card and almost have the spend done.

We both have 2 CIP cards already.

Sorry this is so long. Looking at what cards we should get. Is Alaska card a good option and does the Business card report to the credit bureaus or not.

Also any tips on what to look for when booking an Alaska cruise. Would be nice to book cruise using URs with CSR but that option is not available for 2020 right now. Hoping it is temporary. Thanks everyone.

grAAvy train for flights? If AA works for you, it might be easiest. TBH flights from Chicago were pretty cheap when I booked as they opened. I booked ORD to YVR for 25k per person, then 15k per person return. The return fares were actually so cheap I used miles for 2 and paid $160 cash for the third.
As for the cruise, we booked DCL with bank bonuses, cashback and discounted Disney GCs so I can’t help much with that. But if you get on the grAAvy train for flights you will save your other points for the cruise if possible. I was able to book excursions through the UR portal and use URs for those. I didn’t book any thru DCL.

 

[afan]

@DisneyMandC I think we found our next suitcase on Grand Tour this week

 

[speedyfishy]

W. T. F.?! That dessert is what Steakhouse 55 is KNOWN FOR! Moreso than their eponymous steak. Disney has done Disney Parks Blog posts about it, a video about it, it’s all over social media. What are they thinking???

I’m writing an email tomorrow. lol I can’t believe it I’m not a cake fan but that thing was good lol.

 

[chattadisser]

Slow churners here too...I got the Citi Biz AA and DH took the upgrade to the Hilton Aspire. Both of those MSR's are basically done thanks to summer camps. Not sure what the plan for Q2 will be yet. Both of us will go under 5/24 this quarter. One of us will probably stay under so we can do the SW companion pass late 4Q and 1Q20 so we can have it for 20 & 21.

 

[castoral]

Maybe I’m just in a boo boo mood but I’m feeling discouraged! We took a cruise for Spring Break and due to several factors it just wasn’t great. We had all been looking forward to it for well over a year. The best part was our 4 hrs in Jamaica at Jewel Grande.

So my mind instantly thinks...gotta plan another amazing trip since this was a let down. I’ll have 100k UR, 150,000 Hilton, 220kish Marriott in the next few months. Feels like it should be decent. The only thing I can figure out we could “afford” is a 35,000 pt property around the Caribbean and use our two SPG free night rewards. The biggest buster is we’re a family of 6. Sometimes we’ll sneak kids into one room (which honestly I know it’s wrong but it’s bigger than our camper) but if it’s AI or even has a kids club, then that obviously won’t work. I’m back to the AirBNB option and thinking we just use our Barclays for the next year and redeem what we can. (We both already have Barclay and Capital One Cards)

 

[lexmelinda]

I just did our taxes and looks like we're going to owe. Even with a "convenience fee" to pay with a credit card, I think it would still be worth it to try to get a sign up bonus with a new card. I'm looking at Barclay World Elite which has a 70K bonus. Any thoughts, advice, recommendations?

 

[Oscar Madison]

Beautiful. Rained a couple hours Wednesday morning which deterred neither us nor crowds.
I’ll hope for smaller crowds for you. The lines were bad. We had a plan going in but were forced to change on the fly a few times. One morning we got to MK at RD but found a huge wait at BTMRR which is usually walk on at that time. So we changed course and did a bunch of stuff with shorter lines. Then another day we were in line for BTMRR (posted wait 50 minutes) when the wait ballooned to 2 hours. It’s pretty hard to get out of that queue so we ended up missing FP for 7DMT. OTOH we managed to catch Soarin with a 40 minute wait last night (it had been 80-100 minutes every other time we were there)
Overall it was still a good trip. About halfway through I had this feeling of “I think we’re done with WDW trips, I’m tired” but the next day was good again.

What times did you set your FPs on RD day?

 

[Oscar Madison]

The weather was chilly (for me) our first couple days here but yesterday and today have been so nice! Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer. Yay! Spent half our day today at the pool

Oh nice, usually our spring break trips are hit or miss on the pool. Feels fine under the water, but then can be chilly otherwise.

 

[chattadisser]

I've always liked to skirt the edge of rules like this and play in the grey area to make it work for me.

Once I was out of elementary, and probably early elementary, none of my teachers required reading outside of the books we read in class so it didn't matter if I was reading Sweet Valley High or something at a higher level. But I also remember back then it being a teen section in the library rather than young adult. The lines are blurred so much now with that level it's hard to figure out what they mean and what's appropriate. In the end reading should be fun and stuff like this doesn't seem to make it fun.

I like your attitude...I alway say why ask for permission when you can ask for forgiveness later??

I LOVED reading Sweet Valley High, I was thinking about them the other day. I'm so glad that both of my girls like to read and their teachers don't care what they read as long as they are reading. My oldest DD and I read a lot of the same books. It makes for an interesting conversation to see her perspective on some of them.

 

[wendow]

I saw cute ones at the Disney Warehouse on Friday. Not Spaceship Earth though.

I saw a couple too (was there on Friday as well lol!) but not one I really wanted.

 

[wendow]

Oh nice, usually our spring break trips are hit or miss on the pool. Feels fine under the water, but then can be chilly otherwise.

We’ve only been at BC pool. One side is heated and feels great. Other side feels like they added ice cubes!

 

[JAMIESMITH]

Any experience with the Frontier Airlines Barclay card? It looks like we could get enough points to fly to Disney if my husband and I both get the card. Of course it appears that seat assignments and baggage are extra. Frontier actually has direct flights from our home airport on Mondays and Fridays. We have been driving 3 hours to get closest Southwest terminal.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I saw a couple too (was there on Friday as well lol!) but not one I really wanted.

When we were there in March...Arrived at the Character Warehouse before they opened before heading home .....you could tell the eBay or wherever resellers...they ran to that rack and scooped up what I’m assuming are the popular dresses leaving the others....I was not looking for dresses so no big deal but if the one you want is popular...unless they put more out during the day...it looks like you need to be there before it opens

 

[Alexle2007]

Maybe I’m just in a boo boo mood but I’m feeling discouraged! We took a cruise for Spring Break and due to several factors it just wasn’t great. We had all been looking forward to it for well over a year. The best part was our 4 hrs in Jamaica at Jewel Grande.

So my mind instantly thinks...gotta plan another amazing trip since this was a let down. I’ll have 100k UR, 150,000 Hilton, 220kish Marriott in the next few months. Feels like it should be decent. The only thing I can figure out we could “afford” is a 35,000 pt property around the Caribbean and use our two SPG free night rewards. The biggest buster is we’re a family of 6. Sometimes we’ll sneak kids into one room (which honestly I know it’s wrong but it’s bigger than our camper) but if it’s AI or even has a kids club, then that obviously won’t work. I’m back to the AirBNB option and thinking we just use our Barclays for the next year and redeem what we can. (We both already have Barclay and Capital One Cards)

Which cruise ship were you on? We are RCCL Harmony of the Seas for Spring Break next year.

 

[castoral]

Which cruise ship were you on? We are RCCL Harmony of the Seas for Spring Break next year.

Carnival Dream 7 day cruise. We had done a 4 day Bahamas Mar ‘18 and LOVED it. But this was like the exact same cruise stretched out over 7 days. We were so bored with 5 ship days we just felt trapped. Staff was just ehhh so my kids fought us to go to Ocean Club. Missed a port Id been looking forward to. Broke my tooth on lobster. Just not an ideal trip. We’re tan lol. That’s about it haha!

 

[disneybirds]

Dh and I have only gotten the capital one venture for Q1. We slowed way down since last year.

I’m thinking we will go for our second CIPs next (while that’s still an option) but we will most likely wait until we know what’s going on with dh’s work situation. He has two phone interviews Monday (one for Denver and one for Alpharetta). They aren’t with the same company either. He’s just been applying to basically everything.

Good luck to your DH on the interviews! Alpharetta is a great area and is in driving distance to Disney!

 

[Haley R]

Good luck to your DH on the interviews! Alpharetta is a great area and is in driving distance to Disney!

I grew up near Alpharetta and my dad worked in Alpharetta so I would love that area. I’m not getting my hopes up though

 

[disneybirds]

Has anyone used their Hilton Biz Card Gold Status free breakfast benefit for the whole family? Does it work for everyone in the room or does it only apply to the card holder?

Our experience has been that it depends on which Hilton brand hotel. For Embassy Suites and Hampton Inns, everyone gets breakfast but those hotels typically have free breakfast for everyone. For Hilton Garden Inns, it has varied. Some places will give us 4 breakfast certificates for everyone on the reservation and some places only give us 2. The price of the breakfasts isn't too bad in most HGI, so will just pay for the extras. When we stay in a Hilton, we usually only get 2 certificates per day. On those occasions, we only go every other day since breakfast can run $25 per person. Here is a link with the benefits. Just click on Gold at the bottom and it shows the benefits by brand. https://hiltonhonors3.hilton.com/en/explore/benefits/index.html

 

[WVMomof3]

Before I hop on the GrAAvy train for flights can someone help me. It looks like I can fly United for 30,000 points one way with $5.90 in fees. I just looked between Washington DC and Belgium. I believe I can get 5 economy flights all with points with no problem. Does that sound right? Because if I can't get all 5 on points then that will be a problem as 1 way prices are astronomical. When I looked at AA I was seeing 30,000 points plus like $250 in fees. Is this right? Am I doing something wrong? Because if that is the case it will be silly to try to get AA points for "free" tickets.

ETA if you are going to help me please don't use "metal" in your explanation. lol Because when I see someone (usually @Albort) talk about flying on such and such metal on such and such points my eyes just glaze over and I don't know what in the $#%$& you are talking about. Thanks!

 

[Disney Princess]

Joining in after lurking for a while. Sorry in advance, but this will be long. Looking for advice from those of you who have been playing the game longer than I've even known about it! If I leave out information that you need - please let me know. I am pretty sure we are each authorized users on each other's cards - except the Chase Sapphire Reserve. We do not carry a balance on any card, but pay in full when we receive the statement. We use the Sapphire and my Blue Sky as our daily cards, but do make a point to use each card for a small purchase every 6 months. We typically spend between $2500-3500/month.

We aren't opposed to closing any cards - I am embarrassed to say we aren't utilizing the rewards fully - except that many of them have been open for a long time and that gives us "age of credit" points, right? And they don't have annual fees, so they aren't hurting us, right? My concern if we *don't* cancel anything is if we'll be given more credit. We have an ungodly amount of available (130k), yet unused, credit right now. Will they just keep giving us more?

2 players - me and DH. We are also lurking on the FIRE thread - we own a duplex (well, we mortgage a duplex) and both sides are rented out as short term rentals on AirBnB/VRBO. We can certainly use this for "business" card purposes. We currently have a Chase bank account for that business and just use the debit card. I don't know when, but we will be looking to buy more units in the future, so we need to keep that in mind. We are preparing to make some large purchases this month, so we can meet minimum spends easily.

I also sell on Etsy. Also using a Chase debit card to fund these needs. Figure this also qualifies us for business cards.

Dumb Question #1 - can we use the business cards for non-business purchases in order to meet minimum spend requirements? Is that frowned upon?

These are the cards we currently have:

P1 (DH)
1) Citi AA Platinum Select World Elite - AF $95 since 2005
2) Chase Sapphire Reserve - AF $450 (obviously with travel credit) - since October 2016
3) BOA MLB MC - no AF since 2001
4) Capital One Platinum MC - no AF since 2007
5) Disney Rewards Visa - no AF can't find exact date - prior to 2012
6) Macy's store card - spring 2018

p2 (Me)
1) Citi AA Gold World Elite - AF $50 since 2009
2) American Express Blue Sky - no AF - since 2007
3) BOA Cash Rewards World MC - no AF - (can't find date - since before 2009)
4) Capital One Sony Card - no AF (can't find exact date - prior to 2010
5) Capital One Quicksilver - no AF since 2010
6) Disney Rewards Visa - no AF since 2000

We also each applied for the Delta AMEX in spring 2016 - we used the points for an anniversary trip and then cancelled the cards in 2017 before the AF.


To add to the fun, my husband works for Hilton hotels, so we can stay on employee rates, depending on availability of course. This means that without travel rewards, we can stay at Hiltons/Doubletrees/Embassy Suites for $45/night, Hilton Garden Inn/Hampton Inns for $35/night. I'm not sure if hotel points/cards are "worth" us earning on since we have this benefit.

We live in Lubbock, TX, so our airline choices are limited to AA, SW, and United. We are 5 hours from Dallas, so we could technically drive, but it would have to be REALLY worth it to make that drive appealing. We have 4 kids (only 3 currently need seats as the baby is 2 months old). We have family in the Spokane WA (GEG airport) and Memphis, TN areas. So that is where we would travel most when not going on vacation for fun.

We have no current major travel planned, but want to be earning points wisely. I am so sad and embarrassed that we didn't realize how many benefits we've been missing out on. Please give us advice on what *you* would apply for in our situation.

Based on my lurking, I'm thinking the Chase Ink for business? Meet the minimum spend, then refer the other player? We can combine those points into one account since we are married, right? They'll link to my husband's Chase Sapphire Reserve? Should I have a Chase Sapphire? And maybe do the double dip travel credits between us?

If you've read this long, I thank you!!! I don't know if I can keep up with how fast you all move, but I appreciate all the advice and help.