If you pay in full before final payment date?

[take us away]

Hate to rain on your parade, but IMHO there is no such thing as an "attractive" credit card offer.

 

The only way to make a credit card work for you is to pay it off every month and carry a zero balance. Less than two percent of credit card users can do that. SIZE]

 

No rain on my parade! When my cc offers mega-points, that is a good thing as use those points for hotels, rental cars, air fare.

 

I am also in your 2% that pays off my cc each month even though I charge everything and take long (and thus expensive) cruises.

 

Have also had to cancel a cruise fare when my DH was gone and HAL refunded within a few days of the cancellation with no penalty. It was before final payment and we did not have insurance thru HAL. BTW, my TA also orchestrated a refund of his share of the insurance payment - a complete surprise!

[Scrapnana]

Not sure where that 2% came from. After reading a few articles, the smallest percentage of "transactors" (those of us who pay the entire balance each month) that I could find was 28.7%.

 

If you are a "transactor", I think there are some good deals. I have a card that gives 3% cash back for all travel related expenses and gave me a bonus for getting the card - a good deal for me.

Edited December 20, 2015 by Scrapnana

[Sundagger]

The report splits credit card accounts into three categories: revolvers, transactors and dormants. As you might have guessed, dormants are open accounts with no activity, and they made up 29.8% of the market in Q2, up 0.8 percentage point from the first quarter. Revolvers — accounts with balances carrying over from month to month — make up the largest group, though its share fell from 42.7% to 41.2% in the second quarter. The smallest group is transactors, or accounts paid in full each billing cycle. Transactors made up a slightly greater share in the second quarter than in the first, up 0.6 percentage points to 29%.

[dockman]

I get great deals by signing up for various credit cards and meeting their spending requirements of a few thousand bucks in first three months. Tons of freee miles along with free hotel stays that have saved me thousands of dollars over the years.

 

I've had credit cards as long as I can remember and have never ever paid one penny in interest as I pay them off usually well before even due. I also am not shy about taking a credit card with no annual fee, taking whatever freebies miles/room nights etc they are offering and then cancel the card before the first anniversary.

 

It simply amazes me that more people don't take advantage of the fantastic offers available every day whether on a chase sapphire card or a hilton honors card or many others. Of course you need excellent credit but with that I have never been denied any card that i wanted and 99% of the time it's approved online.

 

You do have to pay attention and time your cards to make sure you meet the spending requirement and also make sure you don't keep more than one or two past the annual anniversary so not to pay the fees.

 

It's really NOT that hard to do and the rewards are fantastic.

[DaveOKC]

I get great deals by signing up for various credit cards and meeting their spending requirements of a few thousand bucks in first three months. Tons of freee miles along with free hotel stays that have saved me thousands of dollars over the years.

 

I've had credit cards as long as I can remember and have never ever paid one penny in interest as I pay them off usually well before even due. I also am not shy about taking a credit card with no annual fee, taking whatever freebies miles/room nights etc they are offering and then cancel the card before the first anniversary.

 

It simply amazes me that more people don't take advantage of the fantastic offers available every day whether on a chase sapphire card or a hilton honors card or many others. Of course you need excellent credit but with that I have never been denied any card that i wanted and 99% of the time it's approved online.

 

You do have to pay attention and time your cards to make sure you meet the spending requirement and also make sure you don't keep more than one or two past the annual anniversary so not to pay the fees.

 

It's really NOT that hard to do and the rewards are fantastic.

 

I understand that lots of people are doing as you do, as it is great idea, but that the credit cards are putting some restrictions on getting their cards based on your past history with them. I know that Chase Sapphire has done this (I read all the disclaimers on the promotion). Good job!

[Tom O.]

There is one problem of paying before the final due date. If the price goes down, you will find it difficult, if not impossible, to take advantage of the lower price. Price drops are very common as your cruise date comes closer. I have a booked cruise that just went down $300 per person, which my TA then rebooked so we can have the lower price. That is a savings of $600 for the both of us. That would more than wipe out any credit card deal. Price drops are not guaranteed though, but I get them at least once on every cruise I have booked recently.

But I book usually a year in advance, and there is a greater chance of a price drop, when you book that early.

[dakrewser]

There is one problem of paying before the final due date. If the price goes down, you will find it difficult, if not impossible, to take advantage of the lower price. Price drops are very common as your cruise date comes closer. I have a booked cruise that just went down $300 per person, which my TA then rebooked so we can have the lower price. That is a savings of $600 for the both of us. That would more than wipe out any credit card deal. Price drops are not guaranteed though, but I get them at least once on every cruise I have booked recently.

But I book usually a year in advance, and there is a greater chance of a price drop, when you book that early.

 

 

Before final payment date there's no difference in cancelling/rebooking whether or not you're paid in full.

[DaveOKC]

There is one problem of paying before the final due date. If the price goes down, you will find it difficult, if not impossible, to take advantage of the lower price. Price drops are very common as your cruise date comes closer. I have a booked cruise that just went down $300 per person, which my TA then rebooked so we can have the lower price. That is a savings of $600 for the both of us. That would more than wipe out any credit card deal. Price drops are not guaranteed though, but I get them at least once on every cruise I have booked recently.

But I book usually a year in advance, and there is a greater chance of a price drop, when you book that early.

 

I thought about this as well, but first, my HAL PCC has been great about getting me the new prices/deals in the past (so I assume he will be able to in the future) and second, I have a very good deal now (due to a special promotion) which I am pretty certain not get any better in the future. In fact, my cabin is now 40% higher than when I booked, plus I have $300 in OBC.

 

Thanks for the thought though.

[Tom O.]

Before final payment date there's no difference in cancelling/rebooking whether or not you're paid in full.

 

I thought that once the final payment is made, you can't get a price drop. Since most people make the final payment close to the time it is due, there would be no difference. But if the payment is made early, I am not so sure.

You could very well be right, as I have never been in that position, as I always make my final payment near the due date.

But I would think the TA and the cruise line would be resistant to changes where a refund would have to be issued. To me it just makes more sense that it would be harder to get a price drop, once the cruise is paid for. But I don't no for sure, since I have never made such a request.

I remember the first time I was given a lower price by my TA on a previously booked cruise. I was so surprised that it could be done - I was used to how airlines did business, and they would never lower the price of a ticket, once purchased.

[cruz chic]

I thought that once the final payment is made, you can't get a price drop. Since most people make the final payment close to the time it is due, there would be no difference. But if the payment is made early, I am not so sure.

You could very well be right, as I have never been in that position, as I always make my final payment near the due date.

But I would think the TA and the cruise line would be resistant to changes where a refund would have to be issued. To me it just makes more sense that it would be harder to get a price drop, once the cruise is paid for. But I don't no for sure, since I have never made such a request.

I remember the first time I was given a lower price by my TA on a previously booked cruise. I was so surprised that it could be done - I was used to how airlines did business, and they would never lower the price of a ticket, once purchased.

 

It more difficult to get a reduction once the real final payment has passed. It should make no difference before that date. At the very minimum the op would be entitled to an obc. If there is a reduction after final a person may get some obc, a cabin upgrade or nothing.

[NMLady]

I'm a 2%-er too ... so we are well over 2% on this thread! ;)

 

Yep. We're 2%-ers too.

[Randyk47]

We typically pay our final payment three to four days before the final payment due date. I think over 20+ years of cruising have had only three or four significant fare reductions/incentives offered before the final payment date. I guess we've pretty lucky and have always gotten the cruise line to honor the reduction/incentive with maybe only one serious exchange back and forth about canceling and rebooking to get the offer. The "applies to new bookings only" fine print can sometimes be a problem though even that can be overcome. After the final payment date all bets are off and, as often reported here, your success in getting the offer or some accommodation varies from nothing to the full offer.

[Quackattackaggie]

I can say there is definitely such a thing as an attractive credit card offer. I have 23 open credit card accounts. I've paid them in full every month. The rewards from these cards paid for trips to maui in first class, DC in first class, California (x2), Denver, Knoxville, panama, and long weekends to the coast in Jamaica (where I live). I've never paid a penny of interest. For all those trips, I've paid roughly 1,500 in taxes and fees. That's it. They also are paying for my family's airfare to our cruise in February and my mom to fly to Jamaica to watch my baby, though I didn't have quite enough points to also pay for the cruise fare that way.

 

 

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Edited December 20, 2015 by Quackattackaggie

[dakrewser]

I thought that once the final payment is made, you can't get a price drop. Since most people make the final payment close to the time it is due, there would be no difference. But if the payment is made early, I am not so sure.

You could very well be right, as I have never been in that position, as I always make my final payment near the due date.

But I would think the TA and the cruise line would be resistant to changes where a refund would have to be issued. To me it just makes more sense that it would be harder to get a price drop, once the cruise is paid for. But I don't no for sure, since I have never made such a request.

I remember the first time I was given a lower price by my TA on a previously booked cruise. I was so surprised that it could be done - I was used to how airlines did business, and they would never lower the price of a ticket, once purchased.

 

Don't confuse making final payment with final payment date. Up until final payment date you can cancel without penalty - even if you've already paid in full.