Going through costco
I love cruising as well. But I think of those as relax-breaks, rather than travel. I am a slow traveler and the short amount of time available at port destinations is not enough to qualify for travel, for me. I mainly look for quality of the ship and entertainment. Ports, if they have good ‘things’ to offer, are bonus.
And I also agree that for relaxing, nothing can beat the value a cruise offers.
Your deal on NCL was awesome BTW. I personally like NCL entertainment better than a lot of others.
Most owners will also list on VRBO. Airbnb fees are killer but some hosts will usually discount the rate if you can contact the owner directly.
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Yes, Sometimes the port times are limited. We have been lucky enough to do overnights before in Bermuda (3 full days) and we did 2.5 days in St. Petersburg Russia.
When we went to Alaska we would be in port from 6:30am to around 8pm. but other times I’ve been to Puerto Rico from 12pm to 6pm. Unfortunately, it’s just the luck of the draw. It’s definitely possible to have a sightseeing cruise but it just depends on how you book it.
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I got 2 SW cards each for my wife and I. Enough for companion status for 2 years. So 4 of us can fly with 2 paid tickets (paid with free bonus points) I timed it to so that I can get max time within 2 years. That was back in Feb 2020. Then pandemic hit! So could not use the benefit as much as I would have liked. But I at least have all those points so not too bad.
Is it a package or just the Hotel. I went last year on Thanksgiving and it was like 500 per night with the points on a 1 bedroom Villa.
you can sometimes find VRBO and AirBNB’s on the Chase Ultimate Rewards site to book with UR points…just a heads up.
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Ok.
I’m a deal junkie so here goes.
Free cruises and free Atlantis stay from mlife and total rewards. Get to platinum and Diamond, can get there without gambling by matching certain hotels.
Book flights with UR or AA points, transfer to airlines when applicable, cash when not. Have AA card for free luggage. Use ITA matrix for dates. Book in local currency for hotels with travel card that has no foreign exchange rates.
Some of my tips.
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dont think so.
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Can you be more specific about what you’re looking for? Domestic vs international, length of stay, type of stay (Hawaii vs Cancun vs Tokyo etc) all are factors. When starting off from scratch, it’s a good idea to have a “goal” of sorts in mind.
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having a goal helps a lot when accumulating points. you can plan and apply for credit cards as per your goal and instead of having points in many programs, you will have just what you need.
Not anymore if you’re utilizing flights correctly- ita got acquired and flights is the consumer facing successor
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How do you find and reach out to the owners outside of Airbnb?
I would like to know this as well.
I did book directly with the owner on my subsequent stays at same place a couple of times, with quite a bit of saving to me and owner.
Even if you find the contact of the owner, unless you know them somehow and trust them, it might be risky to book directly. Would hate to run into issues and then having to find something more expensive on the day of, IMHO.
ITA has some other tools that haven’t found their way into GF.
For example, I occasionally need to know the Fare Code before making a purchase. I use ITA for that.
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Airfare and hotel included
Can also use ITA to force specific “weird” routings, and then tools like BookWithMatrix afterwards to book
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AMEX, the new coupon book.
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