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

[leeniewdw]

Thanks for your info regarding GE. I was curious if your husband is now officially approved. I am in a similar situation where my GE has been pending review for an extended amount of time.

As far as I know, yes. We both got the email about the “update to our application” email but I’ll be honest, neither of us opened it yet or logged back into the site yet. We don’t have another int’l trip on the schedule yet, so who knows when we’ll use it. But the man told him he approved it.

I had the AF on my vanilla Plat coming up so I chatted with Amex for a retention offer. Got 30K MR/$3K/3 mos. I also had a physical letter from Amex saying there had been a technical issue with my being able to enroll in POT on that same card for 20K MR (I don't recall ever getting that offer on that particular card; I did have a problem with the 20K MR on POT for my Gold card and that just never ended up happening despite my numerous calls to Amex) and I could call in to have it activated. I accepted the retention offer, then called for the 20K MR for POT. Strangely enough, just like my Gold POT offer, the Amex rep couldn't find that offer in my account (I have the Amex letter dated 6/13/23 in my hand ) so they activated POT and sent the request for 20K MR to the "back office." We'll see if that ever shows up. If it does then I'll have gotten 50K MR on this card for the next year and that's good enough for me to hold onto it another year. Fingers crossed.

I SM’d today about mine (AF posted on June 7). I tried to be direct without just saying “is there a retention offer”, but they still reviewed the benefits and I told them what I used and what I didn’t. They did say they were “checking for offers” and then came back and said there were none at this time. I may (probably) will end up keeping it another year, but I’ll give a retention offer another try when it’s closer to July 7. I don’t have another AMEX (other than Delta Blue) so they can clearly see I have 190k MRs I haven’t used and know I’m not going to cancel w/o a downgrade, which I’d prefer not to do.

 

[wanderlust7]

I think the ship is nice, but I can understand the Love / hate camps for the design. I appreciate the smaller but more plentiful venues. Love the cabin! We're balcony snobs and our regular 'ole balcony is like the size of a mini suite. All the seating around the ship in the complimentary areas has the resort feel. Once you get some timing down you can beat or avoid crowds, so halfway through I'm digging it.

We absolutely missed Isafjordor! They informed us like 10 days before they were cancelling and adding an overnight in Akureyri. So mad. Akureyri is cute, and we enjoyed a Friday night in the city center. But I'd have liked to see a different part of Iceland. NCL has become notorious for port cancellations, but we thought we had escaped. If I hadn't arrived a few days early to explore on our own, that's all we would have seen.

But otherwise we're following the itinerary and being cleared within a few minutes of port arrival and departing within a few minutes of schedule. You getting on in Southampton? Will we be ships passing in the night through the cruise terminal? Or you hopping on the next Reykjavik sailing?

We will be like ships passing in the night lol!

I’m most worried about getting a loud creaking cabin. Sounds like yours is okay? Has the seas been rough?

Have you found a good time to go to Indulge Food Hall? Is it possible to order on the iPads if there’s no seating and just take the food elsewhere?

 

[miztressuz]

We will be like ships passing in the night lol!

I’m most worried about getting a loud creaking cabin. Sounds like yours is okay? Has the seas been rough?

Have you found a good time to go to Indulge Food Hall? Is it possible to order on the iPads if there’s no seating and just take the food elsewhere?

I'll try to find a red rose to wear

Haven't heard any creaking, we're on 13, starboard, mid ship. Just the hangers tapping on closet door since someone doesn't know how to measure and they're a hair breadth away from the inner slider. Which does remind me, no room for long dresses/jumpsuits type stuff. Just shirts, pants, and mid length coats. (Also check the temps, it's been mid sixties up to 70 all week. Aside from the windy sea day into Norway which was chilly but calm seas, it's been very mild. So layers are definitely a friend) Anything long you'd have to drape around the hanger or puddle it on a shelf. So a bit of a con I'll give the hate crowd.

No rough seas so far, knock wood. Been like a lake.

Indulge does have take away! There's a pad at each station you can use for a take out order. We did it once and found tables outside when it was packed, but we saw people take it elsewhere on the ship. Tonight it got a bit windy so they took the outdoor iPads in and after you would just go inside to order, bring out your food, and someone would just bus the tables. At this point we're going to try at open and little before close, if we go again. Also if you can spare some port time, less crowded tonight before sail away.

 

[wanderlust7]

I'll try to find a red rose to wear

Haven't heard any creaking, we're on 13, starboard, mid ship. Just the hangers tapping on closet door since someone doesn't know how to measure and they're a hair breadth away from the inner slider. Which does remind me, no room for long dresses/jumpsuits type stuff. Just shirts, pants, and mid length coats. (Also check the temps, it's been mid sixties up to 70 all week. Aside from the windy sea day into Norway which was chilly but calm seas, it's been very mild. So layers are definitely a friend) Anything long you'd have to drape around the hanger or puddle it on a shelf. So a bit of a con I'll give the hate crowd.

No rough seas so far, knock wood. Been like a lake.

Indulge does have take away! There's a pad at each station you can use for a take out order. We did it once and found tables outside when it was packed, but we saw people take it elsewhere on the ship. Tonight it got a bit windy so they took the outdoor iPads in and after you would just go inside to order, bring out your food, and someone would just bus the tables. At this point we're going to try at open and little before close, if we go again. Also if you can spare some port time, less crowded tonight before sail away.

Thanks for the info! Hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise!

 

[leeniewdw]

Our Ireland Redemptions:


BOS-DUB Aer Lingus Business Class 50k Avios pts + ~$130 per person (from Chase Aer Lingus cc SUB of 100k for $6k spend)

SNN-BOS Aer Lingus Economy 20k Avios pts + ~$136 per person (xferred needed remaining pts from URs)

RDU-BOS/BOS-RDU booked on Black Friday for $100 off per ticket, netting $250 pp, paid cash

Totals for whole itinerary per person:
70k Avios for Biz Class on overnight flight + economy on return
~$500 cash/pp

Perhaps not the greatest redemption but my first ever int’l booking and did it a year ago, so I’m not going to judge myself too much.


Hotels:

Boston: Hyatt Centric, 23k Hyatt pts (xferred from UR). As other have said…it’s fine. Very convenient downtown location. We added this night because this was a positioning flight.

Most Hotels in Ireland (when we weren’t using AirBnBs) were booked using VentureX travel portal and points, had no issues with these bookings. There were only independent hotels in the areas of Ireland we were going, and Cap 1 portal seemed to have the better ‘rates’ when booking with pts.

Athlone: Radisson Blu on Shannon River. 15k Cap1 pts. Pretty downtrodden place, but not a lot going on here, we just needed a crash spot after flying overnight not too far from DUB and semi-convenient to Ashford Castle the next day for our Hawk Walk. Definitely wouldn’t recommend or stay here again, but it was fine for our needs. We felt like the only non-Irish people in the town, so walking to the pubs that evening was fun.

Cork: At the last minute we decided to attend The 1975 concert in Cork on one of our nights in Ireland. We used URs to book The Kingsley, 27k URs (rack rate $350). Nice room and view of River Lee, but the A/C was not working properly on arrival and barely when we returned from the concert (they gave us a fan). It was unseasonably warm that day for sure.

Baltimore: Casey’s of Baltimore. 20k Cap1 pts. Quaint historic hotel in a seaside village, lovely setting and comfortable room and bed.

Ennis: Old Ground Hotel. 22k Cap1 pts. Another quaint historic hotel with spacious room. We used this as our “night before flying home” hotel.

Add’l nights (10) were all in AirBnbs/Apt Rentals booked using either GCs purchased during Fuel Pts bonuses or used Cap1 pts to cover charges. We loved all of the places we stayed. Most had too much room for just the 2 of us, but it was also nice to have 2 bathrooms when most bathrooms were very small with only 1 sink. We used a local rental agency for an apartment in Clifden (3 nights), and Airbnbs in Doolin (1 nt), Dingle (3 nts), Kenmare (3 nts, tho we only used 2 due to the Cork/concert trip).

Car Rental:
Enterprise for 2 weeks, total charges were $1300 which included the gas refill. We had the CSP letter showing we were covered for CDW and they had no issues with it, didn’t even put a hold on the card. We did add “road side assistance” which was about $100 for the whole 2 weeks. Thankfully we didn’t need to use any of it, but boy there seemed like a ton of close calls on those crazy roads with those crazy drivers! We got a Toyota corolla automatic hybrid. I don’t think we even spent $100 on fill-ups for the trip.

My advice for visiting Ireland. Go to small towns/villages and avoid the larger cities. We had lunch in Galway and Killarney and felt like they were just so touristy…at least compared to the other places we went (which are also tourist destinations of course). Spend your time in towns near their gorgeous coasts/beaches. Slea Head drive (Dingle peninsula) was insanely gorgeous and not to be missed imo. Helped that our whole trip had amazing weather.

 

[calypso726]

i wanna go to churchill let us know how it is. I didnt book etoile myself i thought it was too far out of the way but great value.

It seems to get good reviews on Flyertalk. As for the Etoile, it is further than I'd like, but friends who stayed recently felt it wasn't that far out of the way and even booked it again for their next Paris trip in a few months. More importantly, I was able to book a suite using an SUA. The Paris Hyatt Vendome did not have suite availability, so I put it off for a future trip.

 

[mmmears]

May I ask what US airport you flew in/out of? I’m looking to book flights to Paris, and home from Rome next Summer and curious where you found availability out of. I’m assuming your BA flight was booked with Avios?

I’ve found some availability on AF out of ORD, but my challenge is from Rome back to the US.

We flew out of SFO, so only useful to those on the west coast. It's a really long flight from here. Jealous of those of you who are closer to Europe... Finding anything out of Rome was tough and we were looking online when the flights dropped so it's not that others booked it and there was nothing left. Italy is really crowded this summer - the tour guides and hotel staff told us they've never seen anything like it before. If you're going there make sure to book stuff (like the Vatican) far in advance.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

So in January we stayed at the Hyatt managed Rancho Pescadero near Todos Santos in Mexico and I reviewed it here. If you've been following along, in the past week two Americans died here, with the Baja California Sur Attorney General confirming today it was due to carbon monoxide poisoning. OMAAT has excellent coverage of what has transpired thus far. It's heartbreaking for this couple and their family.
Former employees have reported that Hyatt management turned off the carbon monoxide detectors because they kept going off and disabled them so they wouldn't disturb the guests. Employees are also reporting that they reported the smell of gas multiple times and that their reports were ignored. Note a gas leak and CO poisoning are different things, however the above allegations, if true, indicate a wanton disregard for guest safety. Guests and travel agents are reporting that they stayed or arrived during the time period of these guest passing, and were not informed in any way and if they found out, they were assured there were no issues with the resort's infrastructure.

I am kicking myself as we do have a portable carbon monoxide detector, but I do not recall using it on our January trip. I am angry that anyone would circumvent such a necessary safety element as CO detectors and frustrated that this was occurring during our stay, allegedly.

The kicker: We have a trip planned (several rooms) for Rancho Pescadero in 4 weeks.

Staff were demonstrating outside the resort over their safety and these preventable deaths. The resort finally stopped accepting reservations until July 3. I have zero confidence in their safety protocols or any assurances they might make. We will likely have to move to the nearest Hyatt, the Cape, which is over an hour away in Cabo and a completely different experience. I feel Hyatt owes us some consideration for their previous disregard of our safety and our future inconvenience. I don't have any Hyatt status, so no Hyatt concierge. Any idea who I might contact? I don't want to deal with a run of the mill customer service agent.

 

[IFlossU]

We flew out of SFO, so only useful to those on the west coast. It's a really long flight from here. Jealous of those of you who are closer to Europe... Finding anything out of Rome was tough and we were looking online when the flights dropped so it's not that others booked it and there was nothing left. Italy is really crowded this summer - the tour guides and hotel staff told us they've never seen anything like it before. If you're going there make sure to book stuff (like the Vatican) far in advance.

Thank you. We are in AZ so I would prefer to leave from SFO.

 

[nlenguyen]

This may have already been answered before but if I get an Amex card, do most of their cards qualify you to get Amex offers? I am looking into getting a hotel branded card and want to see if these are eligible to see the offers and to get towards statement credits

 

[calypso726]

So in January we stayed at the Hyatt managed Rancho Pescadero near Todos Santos in Mexico and I reviewed it here. If you've been following along, in the past week two Americans died here, with the Baja California Sur Attorney General confirming today it was due to carbon monoxide poisoning. OMAAT has excellent coverage of what has transpired thus far. It's heartbreaking for this couple and their family.
Former employees have reported that Hyatt management turned off the carbon monoxide detectors because they kept going off and disabled them so they wouldn't disturb the guests. Employees are also reporting that they reported the smell of gas multiple times and that their reports were ignored. Note a gas leak and CO poisoning are different things, however the above allegations, if true, indicate a wanton disregard for guest safety. Guests and travel agents are reporting that they stayed or arrived during the time period of these guest passing, and were not informed in any way and if they found out, they were assured there were no issues with the resort's infrastructure.

I am kicking myself as we do have a portable carbon monoxide detector, but I do not recall using it on our January trip. I am angry that anyone would circumvent such a necessary safety element as CO detectors and frustrated that this was occurring during our stay, allegedly.

The kicker: We have a trip planned (several rooms) for Rancho Pescadero in 4 weeks.

Staff were demonstrating outside the resort over their safety and these preventable deaths. The resort finally stopped accepting reservations until July 3. I have zero confidence in their safety protocols or any assurances they might make. We will likely have to move to the nearest Hyatt, the Cape, which is over an hour away in Cabo and a completely different experience. I feel Hyatt owes us some consideration for their previous disregard of our safety and our future inconvenience. I don't have any Hyatt status, so no Hyatt concierge. Any idea who I might contact? I don't want to deal with a run of the mill customer service agent.

I read about that on OMAAT yesterday. Scary stuff. I bought a carbon monoxide detector to travel with after being inspired from the Travel Fashion Girls group on FB. Lots of great tips there for travel. The one I got was giving false alarms every so often. After the article yesterday and your post, I went ahead and purchased another one that is more in line for industrial use, like the multi gas detector units used when I am teaching a permit required confined space OSHA class.

 

[calypso726]

This may have already been answered before but if I get an Amex card, do most of their cards qualify you to get Amex offers? I am looking into getting a hotel branded card and want to see if these are eligible to see the offers and to get towards statement credits

Yes. I currently have and have had several of the Hilton and Marriott cards with Amex. They do get Amex offers that will earn statement credits.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I read about that on OMAAT yesterday. Scary stuff. I bought a carbon monoxide detector to travel with after being inspired from the Travel Fashion Girls group on FB. Lots of great tips there for travel. The one I got was giving false alarms every so often. After the article yesterday and your post, I went ahead and purchased another one that is more in line for industrial use, like the multi gas detector units used when I am teaching a permit required confined space OSHA class.

Do you mind sharing a link to the unit that you purchased? One of them will be accompanying me on future travels.

I've never mentioned this, but my dad's only sibling was in the DR for his 75 birthday and passed away suddenly. He had cut his foot on the cement of the stairs leading into the pool, thought nothing of it. After a day or two the area was swollen and looked infected. He and my aunt went to the resort doctor who prescribed antibiotics. Another day or two go by and the area is looking nasty, so the doctor advises them to go to the local hospital. They admitted my uncle and told my aunt he would be fine, she could back to the resort, shower and eat and come back in a few hours. When she got back to the hospital he had passed -- a blood clot had developed, traveled to his heart and he died from a pulmonary embolism. It was very sudden, totally unexpected and devastating for my dad and my aunt and their kids.

So in January we stayed at the Hyatt managed Rancho Pescadero near Todos Santos in Mexico and I reviewed it here. If you've been following along, in the past week two Americans died here, with the Baja California Sur Attorney General confirming today it was due to carbon monoxide poisoning. OMAAT has excellent coverage of what has transpired thus far. It's heartbreaking for this couple and their family.
Former employees have reported that Hyatt management turned off the carbon monoxide detectors because they kept going off and disabled them so they wouldn't disturb the guests. Employees are also reporting that they reported the smell of gas multiple times and that their reports were ignored. Note a gas leak and CO poisoning are different things, however the above allegations, if true, indicate a wanton disregard for guest safety. Guests and travel agents are reporting that they stayed or arrived during the time period of these guest passing, and were not informed in any way and if they found out, they were assured there were no issues with the resort's infrastructure.

I am kicking myself as we do have a portable carbon monoxide detector, but I do not recall using it on our January trip. I am angry that anyone would circumvent such a necessary safety element as CO detectors and frustrated that this was occurring during our stay, allegedly.

The kicker: We have a trip planned (several rooms) for Rancho Pescadero in 4 weeks.

Staff were demonstrating outside the resort over their safety and these preventable deaths. The resort finally stopped accepting reservations until July 3. I have zero confidence in their safety protocols or any assurances they might make. We will likely have to move to the nearest Hyatt, the Cape, which is over an hour away in Cabo and a completely different experience. I feel Hyatt owes us some consideration for their previous disregard of our safety and our future inconvenience. I don't have any Hyatt status, so no Hyatt concierge. Any idea who I might contact? I don't want to deal with a run of the mill customer service agent.

After reading this and about the sexual assault of a solo traveler at the RC Fari Islands in the Maldives yesterday I am finding myself questioning my safety traveling solo. Many of you here know that I stayed at the RC Maldives last year and have another trip planned for September and I will be solo. I will be even more cautious now than I was before; I will also be asking for a female Aris Meeha (I had one last year, but will ask in advance of my stay so as to not leave anything to chance). What worries me is how both the Hyatt and RC handled these situations by trying to sweep them under the carpet -- that is extremely alarming. My prayers are with the families of all involved.

 

[nlenguyen]

Yes. I currently have and have had several of the Hilton and Marriott cards with Amex. They do get Amex offers that will earn statement credits.

Thank you. For someone who is just starting out with hotel branded cards, would you suggest to start with the Hilton Honors base card with no annual fee? I was looking at the Aspire and heard that they might be changing some of the rewards around so not sure I want to spend $450 on something that could change before I get to use the perks

 

[sky13]

Not quite sure if this fits in this thread, but in case this information is of use to anyone (since I couldn't find it before I paid)... I signed up for a runDisney race yesterday using a Mastercard debit card. My bank tells me that the transaction went through as runDisney with a merchant category code/MCC of 7941. Which translates to "Athletic Fields, Commercial Sports, Professional Sports Clubs, Sports Promoters" - which makes sense for runDisney!

(Debit card here as I'm not in the USA and didn't want to deal with FCY fees for this transaction when I wasn't sure if I would get points on my credit cards! Which is why I checked for the MCC code for future reference...)

 

[Judique]

Got an offer yesterday on my Chase Ink (CIC) to spend $5000 get an extra 5000 UR's and can do three times. Started May 1 and goes through July 31. My lucky day - in May and June I bought $4400 at Staples. May have to run in and spend $600 today.

Also found 2 amex offers - 10% off insurance up to $30 on my old SPG (Bonvoy personal) card and $15 off $75 at Office Depot on my Bonvoy Amex Biz. That works as I have to go redeem a couple of 10% Chase offers as well. Yay for me and small change....

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Do the Staples near you all require ID for GC purchases above $200? I was told this yesterday. Wanted to use an offer on DH's card for 10% back on $220. I'm hoping it was just the one lady because I had planned to go back tomorrow to get fee-free MCs with DH's new ink. If I have to wait until he's available we're never going to meet that MSR!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Do the Staples near you all require ID for GC purchases above $200? I was told this yesterday. Wanted to use an offer on DH's card for 10% back on $220. I'm hoping it was just the one lady because I had planned to go back tomorrow to get fee-free MCs with DH's new ink. If I have to wait until he's available we're never going to meet that MSR!

Ours definitely doesn't. My husband has definitely done the $1600 in VGC on a card that's in my name without anyone saying boo.

Last time, his card failed the first time and he tried it again. They didn't even ask for his ID before he reran it. (That time, he did happen to have his own card, so he would have been fine.)

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Ours definitely doesn't. My husband has definitely done the $1600 in VGC on a card that's in my name without anyone saying boo.

Last time, his card failed the first time and he tried it again. They didn't even ask for his ID before he reran it. (That time, he did happen to have his own card, so he would have been fine.)

Ours never used to. I hope it was just this one employee and that it's not a new thing. I will try a different Staples if it doesn't work, though.

 

[calypso726]

Do you mind sharing a link to the unit that you purchased? One of them will be accompanying me on future travels.

I've never mentioned this, but my dad's only sibling was in the DR for his 75 birthday and passed away suddenly. He had cut his foot on the cement of the stairs leading into the pool, thought nothing of it. After a day or two the area was swollen and looked infected. He and my aunt went to the resort doctor who prescribed antibiotics. Another day or two go by and the area is looking nasty, so the doctor advises them to go to the local hospital. They admitted my uncle and told my aunt he would be fine, she could back to the resort, shower and eat and come back in a few hours. When she got back to the hospital he had passed -- a blood clot had developed, traveled to his heart and he died from a pulmonary embolism. It was very sudden, totally unexpected and devastating for my dad and my aunt and their kids.



After reading this and about the sexual assault of a solo traveler at the RC Fari Islands in the Maldives yesterday I am finding myself questioning my safety traveling solo. Many of you here know that I stayed at the RC Maldives last year and have another trip planned for September and I will be solo. I will be even more cautious now than I was before; I will also be asking for a female Aris Meeha (I had one last year, but will ask in advance of my stay so as to not leave anything to chance). What worries me is how both the Hyatt and RC handled these situations by trying to sweep them under the carpet -- that is extremely alarming. My prayers are with the families of all involved.

Oh how awful and I am so sorry to hear about that tragedy.

Also pretty scary traveling solo as a woman. Best to take all the precautions you can.

Here is the one I bought to replace the cheap on that was defective.

https://www.amazon.com/Sensorcon-In...2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfbXRm&psc=1