I love credit cards so much!

[miztressuz]

Hi lurker here. I'm hoping someone can help me with the best use of points on an up coming trip. I want to start off by saying I haven't been on a plane since 1996. I live in New England so our family vacations have mostly been local or cruises out of Boston and NY. But my DH wants to go to Alaska really bad so we booked an Alaskan Cruise on NCL Bliss in 2019 from Seattle. We would like to fly out of Boston on Jet Blue. We will need hotel rooms. One night in Boston and two nights in Seattle. This is what I have for points so far. UR points 80,000 and SPG 30,000.
DH has the following cards opened within the last 24 months. CSP, Freedom Unlimited, BOA Cash Rewards, AmEx Pers SPG. I have CSP (1 yr anniversary June), CIC, CIP, and Home Depot opened in the past 24 months. We also have a Chase Disney opened a few years ago. He is primary and I'm a card holder. So I am wondering how should I go about getting more points and what's the best use? From what I understand the cruise itself is difficult to use points on. Should I focus primarily on the flights and hotels? Can my UR points be transferred to JetBlue?
Flying Southwest is also an option out of Manchester. But I would prefer a direct flight.

Edited to add: I forgot about the Barclays (He has Ring and I have Arrival Plus) opened within the past year.

I'm in the same boat, figuratively speaking, we're going to book the Jewel for next fall. I agree discounts on NCL are limited, but there are some ways to use points on it. But my master plan had us using our vaca budget to pay for the cruise and then points/cashback and other discounts for everything else (the hotels, flights, taxis, meals, excursions, etc) That might be easiest.

Ways I know to discount NCL cruise (not exhaustive, and not in any particular order):
1. Find a good TA, they sometimes have discounts on the cruise fare or at least give OBC.
2. Norwegian credit card gives 10k point sign on bonus, worth $100. Earns 3x points on Norwegian charges.
3. Book through the Chase TA (Cruise and Tours department) and use UR points
4. Charge the cruise to a CC with travel credits or points that can be used for statement credits.

Not recommending any of them, but something to consider as you formulate your plan. If you booked with a TA already it can be harder to switch to another TA because the first one has to agree to release the booking (and forfeit commissions etc). Which is also why some cruise lines have limitations on transfers to a TA, like Disney, if you want to transfer a booking made with Disney it has to be within 30 days of booking else they won't release it. Not sure what NCL's policy is, I haven't actually booked direct with them so I didn't look it up. If you're not set on the cabin you picked and there's still availability in your category then you could cancel and rebook with someone else, most likely with no penalties (suites have different rules, I haven't looked at the latest cancellation chart since we're not doing a suite this time) if you come up with a better deal.

Discover has a travel agency partner that gives cashback, but if you don't already have a Discover card it's not worth going down that road (IMO) as the cashback is deposited after the cruise so that's not very helpful right now. Like Costco, if you were already a Costco member or wanted to be one then their cashback on Costco gift card is good but I think you also only get that after the cruise.

So you could look at using your UR to discount the cruise and the would leave you with cash to pick the flight of your choice, or look at what airlines you can move your UR to or book with to see if any of that works. Then once you decide a direction for what you want to do with the points, since you are at 3/24, you can decide what other CC might be worthwhile to focus on. And also decide if you want to keep DH open for Chase cards or just screw it and start trucking towards LOL/24 for him. (but I don't think you'll need to do that )

ETA: Totally forgot my last thought
Not sure where you are with your Chase cards in terms of timing, but if you're not looking at a shutdown scenario, the Marriott card has the 100k sign up bonus for a little while longer. After Aug 1 when the SPG and Marriott programs merge that would give you 190k points when they combine your accounts. With Marriott you can book hotels on points without having the points available until closer to your trip (I think it was as little as 8 days before at one point, not sure if it still is) so you can scout and reserve now for Boston and Seattle.
But you guys are Chase heavy so look into the risk factors before looking at another Chase card.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

So, just remember that we're just a family of 3 compared to your 6. I don't know if Sheraton will impose any kind of limit on lounge access while the SPG Biz still has this perk. Practically speaking, once the front desk agent keyed our cards for lounge access, the keycard got us into the upstairs lounge and no one up there counted or questioned us. (Keep in mind that other guests pay for lounge access by booking a club level room, and I don't think there's any way hotel employees can tell -- at least up at the lounge -- whether you're club level or got the perk from your credit card.) I think the front desk agent gave us a paper card that might've had the number of guests written on it, which we had to show when checking into breakfast. (We never had to show this piece of paper when using the lounge.)

The lounge has bottled water, juices and milk in a refrigerator, a coffee machine, tea and hot water, a soft drink fountain, wine and hors d'oeuvres during evening happy hour, and a continental breakfast in the mornings. You can use your keycard to access the lounge at almost any time during the day, but breakfast and hors d'oeuvres are served at only certain hours; other times, you can still enjoy the refreshments.

Alternatively, we were also offered a hot breakfast in the morning that included bacon and sausages, scrambled eggs, country potatoes, pancakes, muffins, made to order omelettes, fruits, coffee and juice. Typically, I believe this is served in the ground floor restaurant, but that was under renovation so they served breakfast in a small ballroom.

And @wendow, we've "known" each other on this board for, what? Three years or more? Since the good ol' days of the Target/eBay churn? A lot of you guys are like @disneymagicgirl says, old friends rather than strangers.

Since I've been posting about different Disneyland Resort-area chain hotels, I edited together a little map to help visualize what I'm writing about. Tagging @DisneyMandC, @SBWB48, and @disneymagicgirl too.

The bright green dotted line is the walking path from the Sheraton to DLR. For those thinking about staying at the Hilton, I've also added a (harder to see) darker green dotted line from the Hilton garage out Hotel Way, up Katella, and merging onto Harbor. The bright blue dotted line is the walking path from the Sheraton to the Toy Story Parking Lot's shuttle stop. The darker blue dotted line is from the Hilton main entrance up the driveway before merging at the crosswalk on Harbor. The solid bright blue line is the Toy Story shuttle route as best as I can remember it (it's been a few years since I rode it) -- just remember where the "x" marks the shuttle stops, drop-off, and pickups, and the shuttle will get you where you need to go.

You can also see I also highlighted the locations of Marriott's SpringHill Suites and Residence Inn, Hyatt House, and Hilton's Homewood Suites, which were all mentioned as alternatives. There's also the location of CVS and Walgreens, which have decent pricing if you need to buy something on vacation. And most importantly if you're staying at Hyatt House, the Starbucks.

Hope this helps!

We are staying at the Sheraton Park for our trip in November. We stayed there in November 2016 as well and really liked it, so we thought, why not again. I didn't realize that the Toy Story Lot was so close. This time around we will have DD, who will be 13 months. I don't think we will take the shuttle to DL in the mornings, but I think taking it back in the evenings might be a helpful alternative if we are really tired. Thanks so much for this map!

 

[AmyAnne]

We stayed at the Four Points LAX in March. No free breakfast but has a shuttle. I wrote about it in the hotel thread here.

Thanks. It looks like the same rate is available for our date -- $150 or 10,000 starpoints. I'm wondering if I should think about using URs instead. I've stayed in a fair number of Four Points and they are usually pretty nice -- however, DH has become a fan of free breakfasts so I might see if there's a Hilton option.

 

[mmmears]

We've got a bunch of Hyatt points to use up, and I'm thinking about trying to use them around DL. Is there a card that would let us get a Disney rewards room for part of the trip? (GCH or DLH). I am working on formulating my goals so I can figure out how to ask which card would be best for us.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Do you guys use your CIP topay for anything or stick to business related things only. When DH CIP comes in i was thinking of paying our Disney trip with it.

The sw bus Card I had never got questioned. I put everything on it.

Got the CIP and never got questioned till a couple weeks ago.

 

[Albort]

The sw bus Card I had never got questioned. I put everything on it.

Got the CIP and never got questioned till a couple weeks ago.

they questioned you? what did they ask?

 

[speedyfishy]

We've got a bunch of Hyatt points to use up, and I'm thinking about trying to use them around DL. Is there a card that would let us get a Disney rewards room for part of the trip? (GCH or DLH). I am working on formulating my goals so I can figure out how to ask which card would be best for us.

Any Chase UR card. Can you spend 8k in three months? If so I’d get the CSP/CSR on the same day. It would give you 100k UR points and should be enough for 2-3 nights on site. You can use your travel credit with the CSR to help cover ticket costs too.

I know you said you weren’t ready for a business card but the CIP if you are comfortable would be even better. If you and your DH each got it it would be 190,000 UR for 10k spend. 80,000 UR for you 20k UR when you refer your husband 80k UR for him and at least 10k UR for the spend. You can get a 100k UR offer if you go in branch but since you have a “business” I’d apply online. I got approved for the CIP stating $5 in buisness revenue. I’d try to do more than that though.

 

[mmmears]

Any Chase UR card. Can you spend 8k in three months? If so I’d get the CSP/CSR on the same day. It would give you 100k UR points and should be enough for 2-3 nights on site. You can use your travel credit with the CSR to help cover ticket costs too.

I know you said you weren’t ready for a business card but the CIP if you are comfortable would be even better. If you and your DH each got it it would be 190,000 UR for 10k spend. 80,000 UR for you 20k UR when you refer your husband 80k UR for him and at least 10k UR for the spend. You can get a 100k UR offer if you go in branch but since you have a “business” I’d apply online. I got approved for the CIP stating $5 in buisness revenue. I’d try to do more than that though.

Thanks. Now that makes it much more interesting. Would love to get to DL next year and Disney's prices have just been climbing and climbing.

There is likely no issue with the spending since we have a big trip coming up, but would have been easy if I found this thread a month ago before we paid off our cruise. We buy enough cross country domestic flights each year that the travel credit will disappear very quickly (likely 7 RTs in the next 12 months) and each one is above the $300 credit.

Still not comfortable with the idea of a business card but you make it sound really appealing. When talking about the CS cards would recommend us getting one set or two?

 

[miztressuz]

Someone was looking to open a Chase bank account I think.
Chase $500 bank bonus is back (300 checking, 200 savings) with online sign up. DoC's update here: Chase $500 Checking and Savings Bonus Publicly Available Online

Email yourself a coupon code first. If something goes wrong during sign up or they pull the offer early, you can use your emailed coupon code to apply the offer to the account via SM or use it to open in branch (if you have one available). All details are in DoC's post, which is now lengthy!, but I didn't want anyone to miss that tip.

No CC funding Just a good checking bonus if you can direct deposit.

 

[speedyfishy]

Thanks. Now that makes it much more interesting. Would love to get to DL next year and Disney's prices have just been climbing and climbing.

There is likely no issue with the spending since we have a big trip coming up, but would have been easy if I found this thread a month ago before we paid off our cruise. We buy enough cross country domestic flights each year that the travel credit will disappear very quickly (likely 7 RTs in the next 12 months) and each one is above the $300 credit.

Still not comfortable with the idea of a business card but you make it sound really appealing. When talking about the CS cards would recommend us getting one set or two?

DL prices are insane, but idk I think it’s worth the premium. I haven’t stayed offsite anytime I have gone to Disney (either world or land) so I don’t have an objective opinion, but staying at the Grand Californian was perfect. We are excited to try the Disneyland hotel in August, but I’m worried it is a little too far from the parks lol.

With all those flights and paying out of pocket the Amex Plat makes a lot of sense since you get 5x points.

For the Sapphire cards if you can I would open two sets. But wait until you can generate referral links so you can refer your DH. You would get 10k UR for each card.

 

[SBWB48]

@Lain

Thanks for the awesome map! We are two adults (lived in the city for a few years and still working in one, so a few blocks is ok usually), so here’s to hoping we will still be ok walking to and from Hyatt House in less than a month! The proximity of Sheraton to the shuttle, particularly for the evening, makes me constantly wonder if I should have gone with that (esp before lounge access is poofed) over Hyatt House. But I’m a sucker for ‘new’. Why? I don’t even know since we are at the parks all day. Sigh

We will have one day in between park days to use for exploring and a dodgers game...

My feet will probably hate me

 

[nhgirl]

Wow you guys are so awesome! Thanks for all the feedback!

I opened CIC in Apr 2017 and CIP in July 2017. I booked the cruise directly with NCL because I was getting in on the reduced deposit thing ($150) but I would not have any problem with cancelling to rebook with Costo. We do not have a Costco membership yet but I’d love to have one. We booked an inside cabin and we are already wishing we booked a balcony. I did a quick comparison between Southwest and JetBlue this morning but for June of 2018 just to see the difference. Southwest was about $2600 RT for the three of us with a stop in Chicago. JetBlue was $2200 with no stop.

I’m very thankful for all the tips everyone contributed. I wrote them all down. I am so excited about this trip. How sweet it is to be able to cut the cost.

 

[pillow]

You guys seriously keep me entertained here.

Yes! @Lain 's comment made me burst out laughing!

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

For those that are LOL/24, this might be of interest. DOC reports that you can apply for the new Chase Biz Unlimited card through a BRM in branch.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/new-way-bypass-chase-524/

 

[gottalovepluto]

For those that are LOL/24, this might be of interest. DOC reports that you can apply for the new Chase Biz Unlimited card through a BRM in branch.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/new-way-bypass-chase-524/

Just to add: BRM MUST do a “paper app”. Most BRMs understand that but some people are assured by their BRM a paper app is being done only to be denied almost instantly because the BRM typed everything into the computer and submitted it online. (I have not tried this myself as I’m too scared of a Chase shutdown, good luck to anyone here who does though!)

 

[pillow]

Plastiq+Masterpass promo went from $500 --> $250... im pretty sure this wont last too long lol.

I'm kinda impressed that they sent out emails notifying people of the change vs pulling the plug. Seems as long as you schedule payments prior to 6/1, you can still do $500's. Not sure why they lowered the limit though. Now they will have to process double the amount of payments for those of us who don't mind sending multiple checks.

 

[mmmears]

DL prices are insane, but idk I think it’s worth the premium. I haven’t stayed offsite anytime I have gone to Disney (either world or land) so I don’t have an objective opinion, but staying at the Grand Californian was perfect. We are excited to try the Disneyland hotel in August, but I’m worried it is a little too far from the parks lol.

With all those flights and paying out of pocket the Amex Plat makes a lot of sense since you get 5x points.

For the Sapphire cards if you can I would open two sets. But wait until you can generate referral links so you can refer your DH. You would get 10k UR for each card.

Thanks for all the advice. I'll talk to my DH about all of this and see if I can get him on board. Since this will be a pain to track I don't want to push him into it if he's not ready. As for all those flights, that's what we get with a "kid" in college on the other side of the country I guess. One more year to go. We always stay on site at Disney but I'm thinking we could add a few days to a short DL trip if I used points elsewhere. DLH looks nice. I keep wanting to try it but always end up at GCH since it's closer and we are used to staying there. Last year the rates were so high we went to WDW instead even though that meant spending a lot on airfare. With an overseas cruise on the horizon I know our travel funds will be very low for the next couple of years so any tips that will help pay for a quick trip makes me very thankful.

 

[pillow]

There is a new Amex Delta Gold cc offer - either business or personal. 60K points with only $1k spend + $50 statement credit with Delta purchase in first 3 months + waived first year fee. I was able to get this by logging into DH's Delta account. No lifetime language on this one either. This was a no brainer for us since the business version won't count toward 5/24. Sadly, no referral links for this one.

 

[mmmears]

Oops - one more question if it's ok. If we get the CSR (and maybe also the CSP) cards how long do we need to keep them? Is there a minimum like one year? I can see us keeping one longer term, but probably not both (and esp. if we end up with 4 of them ).

 

[pillow]

@Mopedmom1 Did you get your points transferred?