Rare sambamama Posted February 5, 2016 #1 Share Posted February 5, 2016 I booked a 15 night TA HAL cruise sailing November 4 from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale. My TA got a good rate with the drink package for around $2000-that was as a single at 100 single supplement. Later she found a casino rate of $1000 , and rebooked me. Then AMEX had a HAL promotion where if you paid $1000 or more for your cruise, they credited your AMEX card $250. I get $50 shipboard credit from a future cruise credit, and $250 from Carnival stock. I had 50,000 AA miles and booked a one way nonstop business class flight from JFK to Barcelona for the miles and $5.60. I am staying 5 nights in Barcelona, and will stay at the Four Points Diagonal for free on SPG points. I have Jetblue points to fly home free from Fort Lauderdale and a number of hotel points I can use if I decide to stay another day or two in Fort Lauderdale. I am sure that this is the cheapest vacation I will ever go on! Thank you, credit cards and my TA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul929207 Posted February 6, 2016 #2 Share Posted February 6, 2016 Well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted February 6, 2016 #3 Share Posted February 6, 2016 Nice. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KirkNC Posted February 6, 2016 #4 Share Posted February 6, 2016 Good job, what type of Amex do you have, mine does not have that offer but I have seen others comment on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plane2port Posted February 6, 2016 #5 Share Posted February 6, 2016 I believe the OP has the American Express Platinum card. It has some other travel benefits as well as the cruise credit, including lounge access in Delta Sky Clubs, Centurion Clubs, and Priority Pass lounges. The annual fee is $450, but you can get $200 worth of airline credits each year, and a $100 credit for Global Entry. If you are thinking of getting it, you may want to wait until they offer a large bonus on Membership Reward points. I got mine about six months ago with a bonus of 100K points. They offer both personal and business versions. Good job OP on stringing it all together to get a wonderful value on your trip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare sambamama Posted February 9, 2016 Author #6 Share Posted February 9, 2016 I do have the AMEX platinum and have had it for 5 years and always book my cruises on it as I get extra shipboard credit from it. However, the shipboard credit from that was lost when I got the casino rate. I also have the AMEX gold card, but the $250 credit was not on either of those cards-it was on my AMEX everyday card-which is free. Go figure! I found out about the AMEX deal for HAL on the HAL board, but had to search all four of my AMEX cards to find it. (I also have an AMEX business platinum card-but that is from so long ago, there is no fee for it, and AMEX does not offer it anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cruisequeen4ever Posted February 20, 2016 #7 Share Posted February 20, 2016 That is awesome!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Scrapnana Posted February 26, 2016 #8 Share Posted February 26, 2016 Isn't it great when everything comes together like that? Hope the cruise will be wonderful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted February 28, 2016 #9 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Good news story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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