RCI credit card vs. sky miles

[LVinTennessee]

As much as I love cruising, I think I need a credit card that earns sky miles. We were given a pretty fantastic offer for such a card while on our flight from our last cruise. The only problem was that there was an annual fee (I refuse to pay those). Can anyone recommend a really good sky miles credit card? After all, this TN gal has to fly somewhere to take a cruise. :D

 

However, if you really think an RCI card would be better, you can talk me into it. ;)

 

Thanks for the advice. Tapatalk Doesn't seem to have a search function....

[LVinTennessee]

Hellloooo?

[Grandma Dazzles]

Some airline cards are free for the first year and do give additional perks - free bags for example. Depends how much traveling you do - we have RC card, airline cards and hotel cards (Hilton and Holiday Inn) and use points earned with all of them.

[karinad]

I use the RCC Visa right now, but I do online shopping thru the United Airlines site. We did have Continental Airlines credit card and earned bonus miles for Continental. As you know, Continental and United merged. I applied for the RCC Visa and got 10,000 points right off. When I shop online thru United I use my RCC Visa to purchase. By shopping there, you earn points on United plus points with RCC. Therefore, double-dipping!

 

Sorry if that's confusing, but go to United Airlines and look under the Mileage Plus link and click "Earn Miles."

[sr4mjc]

I use the RCC Visa right now, but I do online shopping thru the United Airlines site. We did have Continental Airlines credit card and earned bonus miles for Continental. As you know, Continental and United merged. I applied for the RCC Visa and got 10,000 points right off. When I shop online thru United I use my RCC Visa to purchase. By shopping there, you earn points on United plus points with RCC. Therefore, double-dipping!

 

Sorry if that's confusing, but go to United Airlines and look under the Mileage Plus link and click "Earn Miles."

 

Awesome. I don't usually fly United but it looks like we will be in Sept to Vancouver. I will definitely be using this!

[leaveitallbehind]

OK - I'll give you our incentive for the RCI Visa card - my wife and I will be on a free cruise for both of us from points in March.

[LVinTennessee]

Thank you, thank you for the info. I will definitely be checking out these options! (btw, I found the search function on Tapatalk and didn't find anything relevant).

[Beth C]

Being Canadian I hear you loud and clear about getting points for travel - that said you have to really look close at the cards and see if you'll reap the benefits. If you don't charge everything to get the points they wont add up very quickly but if you charge everything and anything they'll rack up quickly. I have a friend who's a sales rep and can charge everything on his personal visa... he has enough points to fly around the world 3 or 4 times!

 

For myself I also refused to pay an annual fee on a card but last year realized I was foolish to not. The current card I have gives me air miles and also has amazing travel insurance included with it. Between the 2 of us we only take 2 trips a year each but the annual fee ($60) is less than what we'd pay for cancellation on a single return ticket.

 

Sometimes using the airmiles work out - last year we used 2000 on a FLL return flight that would have cost $700 but sometimes they'd be a waste to use - for this years cruise it would have been 4000 for a single one way ticket to Honolulu that only cost $520 so we paid cash for it and saved our miles and we'll use them on 2 return tickets to FLL.

[critterchick]

IMO the best card for the money is the Starwood American Express card. You can exchange the hotel points for airline miles with many airlines, usually 1:1, although United is 2:1. And when you exchange 20,000 points, Starwood kicks in an addtional 5,000, so you get 25,000 airline miles, enough for a round trip restricted ticket in coach.

[karinad]

IMO the best card for the money is the Starwood American Express card. You can exchange the hotel points for airline miles with many airlines, usually 1:1, although United is 2:1. And when you exchange 20,000 points, Starwood kicks in an addtional 5,000, so you get 25,000 airline miles, enough for a round trip restricted ticket in coach.

I agree with you about the SPG Amex card. I let the card go last yr. because I have the Amex Gold card. I'm thinking I'm going to go back to it when I'm eligible for the free sign-up points. With the SPG points I have enough for one of their 5 star properties in Barcelona, about 24,000. I think their yrly. fee is $65.00, 1st yr. free.

[Deval]

My vote is for the Amex Blue Sky card. It's fee free and you earn $1 for each $1 spent and you can redeem towards travel charges. For each 7,500 points you receive a $100 account credit. I just cashed in 45,000 points for a $600 account credit which paid for 2 tickets to NY (from FL).

[Eng23]

If you have access to SunTrust banks where you live they have a Skymiles check card and a Skymiles credit card. I have the check card and my miles build up pretty quick using it.

[dwjoe]

I prefer cashback credit cards. I find the travel cards to have too many restrictions and too complicated to use, and I dont want to be locked in to one airline's FF program. But you can score some nice sign up bonuses either way. Sites like thepointsguy.com give you a roundup of current offers.

[jmorgania]

I second the American Express Blue Sky card. 1 point per $1 and 7,500 pts gives you a $100 travel credit. No restrictions on airlines, hotels, car rentals, cruises, etc. Simply book what you want on the card then redeem the points for credit on your statement.