garycarla Posted February 16, 2023 #1 Share Posted February 16, 2023 There is a great promotion using up all those "valuable" points you have earned via credit cards. Anyone here done this. Good and bad? Details here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aviators99 Posted February 16, 2023 #2 Share Posted February 16, 2023 (edited) It's not a terrible redemption rate. I know many people who are happy with 1-2% return on credit card spend, and this is closer to 3%. Personally, I try for closer to 20-25%, by using it for premium cabin international flights (100,000 points would get me round trip business class to Europe), but I might hop on this. Edited February 16, 2023 by aviators99 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhea98 Posted February 16, 2023 #3 Share Posted February 16, 2023 I'm waiting until 2/19 for the CITI 30% transfer bonus. At that point, if cabins appear to be available on Valiant Lady, I will try for a voucher and attempt to book. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhea98 Posted February 17, 2023 #4 Share Posted February 17, 2023 Well, it appeared that my first choice cruise (March 11, VL) is gone. I grabbed the offer today and hope my second choice (March 25) will still be there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aviators99 Posted February 17, 2023 #5 Share Posted February 17, 2023 3 hours ago, Rhea98 said: Well, it appeared that my first choice cruise (March 11, VL) is gone. I grabbed the offer today and hope my second choice (March 25) will still be there You're not waiting until the 30% bonus? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aviators99 Posted February 17, 2023 #6 Share Posted February 17, 2023 4 hours ago, Rhea98 said: Well, it appeared that my first choice cruise (March 11, VL) is gone. I grabbed the offer today and hope my second choice (March 25) will still be there Let us know how the process goes. I'm probably going to do this in the next 2 days, as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhea98 Posted February 17, 2023 #7 Share Posted February 17, 2023 53 minutes ago, aviators99 said: You're not waiting until the 30% bonus? No, I did not wait.(It was only a loss of 10,000 pts--not the whole 30,000. or whatever it would have been.) After discussing the cruise possibility, DH and I decided we really wanted to take one of the cruises. My first cruise choice was already gone so I moved some pts from AmEx, CITI, and Chase. Hit the REDEEM and about 4-5 hrs later received the key access. I booked the 3/25, 8 day. I'm so unfamiliar with the VV website. the Sea Terrace was not available so I choose Limited View and only a portion of the fee was given. I went back and saw that Central Sea Terrace was marked $0. Whew! I'm expecting the Deep Blue Perks available via status match will apply since the cruise begins before March 31. We are retired (ancient, in fact--at least DH is) and live in south central FL area. I hope you don't remove your "Heart" from my post, but I can understand if you do. I'm not usually such a wimp, but????? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aviators99 Posted February 18, 2023 #8 Share Posted February 18, 2023 10 hours ago, Rhea98 said: My first cruise choice was already gone so I moved some pts from AmEx, CITI, and Chase. Hit the REDEEM and about 4-5 hrs later received the key access. I was hopeful that I would get it as quickly, but it's already been around 8 hours for me and no access key yet 😞 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhea98 Posted February 18, 2023 #9 Share Posted February 18, 2023 It will show up! 🤞 I was totally shocked when it came so quickly. I used those extra hours booking flights from Orlando to Miami and a room for the arrival night. Looks like you won't need to do any of that!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garycarla Posted February 18, 2023 Author #10 Share Posted February 18, 2023 I could be wrong, but somewhere I read that "access key" bookings do not get the Deep Blue status perks. I think these heavily discounted cruises are like those for casino, travel agents, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aviators99 Posted February 18, 2023 #11 Share Posted February 18, 2023 I just noticed that they also have one for the 5-day cruises on SL. Link here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhea98 Posted February 18, 2023 #12 Share Posted February 18, 2023 3 hours ago, garycarla said: I could be wrong, but somewhere I read that "access key" bookings do not get the Deep Blue status perks. I think these heavily discounted cruises are like those for casino, travel agents, etc. All I know is that Deep Blue Perks are listed on my booking under Add-ons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon81uk Posted February 18, 2023 #13 Share Posted February 18, 2023 4 hours ago, garycarla said: I could be wrong, but somewhere I read that "access key" bookings do not get the Deep Blue status perks. I think these heavily discounted cruises are like those for casino, travel agents, etc. The “free” cruises won’t count towards gaining status, so couldn’t be used as one of the two to get sea rover level. But think once you have status you do get the perks on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhea98 Posted February 19, 2023 #14 Share Posted February 19, 2023 (edited) On 2/17/2023 at 1:13 PM, aviators99 said: Let us know how the process goes. I'm probably going to do this in the next 2 days, as well. Well, MAYbe I learned something about how VV website works (although I don't know anyone who's figured out MSC--most certainly no me). This morning (2/19--30% transfer bonus on Citi starts), as I sort of expected, the cruise I actually booked is still available; but, the Mar 11 cruise I had hoped to book but which had disappeared, is back! I also saw this pop-up, but text on previous page says " plus up to $600 in free drinks by booking your 2023 voyage by February 28th." It's all pretty confusing to me even though we're platinum on NCL, diamond on MSC, and have cruise a few on Carnival. I'm sure I would find challenges going to other cruise line websites. I'm not one bit disappointed with how my situation turned out. Have you received your access code? Edited February 19, 2023 by Rhea98 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon81uk Posted February 19, 2023 #15 Share Posted February 19, 2023 25 minutes ago, Rhea98 said: I also saw this pop-up, but text on previous page says " plus up to $600 in free drinks by booking your 2023 voyage by February 28th There is currently a special offer of up to $600 bar tab, this is for everyone who books by end of Feb no matter status. https://www.virginvoyages.com/cruise-deals/our-2nd-most-inclusive-offer-ever 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhea98 Posted February 19, 2023 #16 Share Posted February 19, 2023 16 minutes ago, jon81uk said: There is currently a special offer of up to $600 bar tab, this is for everyone who books by end of Feb no matter status. https://www.virginvoyages.com/cruise-deals/our-2nd-most-inclusive-offer-ever Thanks for the help. I'm pretty sure it's tied to actually "purchasing" a cruise. I think these are the terms. We use alcohol so rarely that it's a moot point for us. We do drink coffee--and some low/no sugar coffee beverages. Heck, I'm just so happy to spend 8 days on the sea--virtually for free--, on a ship/line that sounds very comfortable for us, I don't care about much else. As we have lived for 40+ yrs in persistent hot, muggy FL, we had sworn off Caribbean cruises several years ago preferring transatlantic crossings or Northern Europe/UK (maybe our best cruise ever was all around the British Isles and then up to North Cape, Norway in spring 2018--when Norway and UK were hit with excessive heat 🙄). VV made us an offer we couldn't resist. 🚤 😁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garycarla Posted February 19, 2023 Author #17 Share Posted February 19, 2023 Hard to say if it would get the BarTab deal or not. From VirginWebsite Would love to hear of folks that have done this deal and got the bar tab. - The "Our Most Inclusive Offer Ever” offer is not combinable with the following offers, promotions, discounts, or credits: Incentive and Contracted Circle Programs Casino Rates Interline Rates Internal reduced rate programs Giveaway or promotional reduced rate Access Keys Any other previous offers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhea98 Posted February 19, 2023 #18 Share Posted February 19, 2023 7 minutes ago, garycarla said: Giveaway or promotional reduced rate Access Keys Exactly. It may not be a giveaway, but it's definitely a reduced rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aviators99 Posted February 19, 2023 #19 Share Posted February 19, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, Rhea98 said: Exactly. It may not be a giveaway, but it's definitely a reduced rate. Correct. No perks with the mileage cruise. I did get my access key and booked April 8. You should call and see if you can switch yours to March 11, if that's what you really wanted. Also, for others: Note that the terms are a bit ambiguous about which room type you can book when redeeming miles. It says you can book the Sea Terrace (without the "the" capitalized). They really mean The Sea Terrace, which excludes Central. I found this out the hard way (after redeeming). The great news is that you don't even have to pay port charges or taxes (I found this out the easy way 🙂 )! Edited February 19, 2023 by aviators99 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhea98 Posted February 19, 2023 #20 Share Posted February 19, 2023 (edited) 12 minutes ago, aviators99 said: Correct. No perks with the mileage cruise. I did get my access key and booked April 8. You should call and see if you can switch yours to March 11, if that's what you really wanted. Also, for others: Note that the terms are a bit ambiguous about which room type you can book when redeeming miles. It says you can book the Sea Terrace (without the "the" capitalized). They really mean The Sea Terrace, which excludes Central. I found this out the hard way (after redeeming). The great news is that you don't even have to pay port charges or taxes (I found this out the easy way 🙂 )! We're ok with the one we chose. Thanks for the suggestion. FWIW, I'll repeat my experience posted earlier: "the Sea Terrace was not available so I chose Limited View and only a portion of the fee was given. I went back and saw that Central Sea Terrace was marked $0." That portion of the fee was about $1000 off, iirc. Availability of a specific room type may be a factor. If you don't see the cost of $0 come up, go back to the previous page and see if another is marked $0. I don't think you're "stuck" until you move forward on the booking page. Edited February 19, 2023 by Rhea98 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aviators99 Posted February 20, 2023 #21 Share Posted February 20, 2023 8 hours ago, Rhea98 said: FWIW, I'll repeat my experience posted earlier: "the Sea Terrace was not available so I chose Limited View and only a portion of the fee was given. I went back and saw that Central Sea Terrace was marked $0." That portion of the fee was about $1000 off, iirc. Availability of a specific room type may be a factor. If you don't see the cost of $0 come up, go back to the previous page and see if another is marked $0. I don't think you're "stuck" until you move forward on the booking page. Thanks. Someone else said this, as well. I reached out to my TA and she says she will fix us up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garycarla Posted February 20, 2023 Author #22 Share Posted February 20, 2023 I am confused when you say "only a portion of the fee was give". If this is basically "free" after using your points, what fee is this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aviators99 Posted February 21, 2023 #23 Share Posted February 21, 2023 7 hours ago, garycarla said: I am confused when you say "only a portion of the fee was give". If this is basically "free" after using your points, what fee is this? It's completely free, so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aviators99 Posted February 21, 2023 #24 Share Posted February 21, 2023 On 2/19/2023 at 8:49 PM, aviators99 said: Thanks. Someone else said this, as well. I reached out to my TA and she says she will fix us up. I did get this fixed, and now I'm in a central sea terrace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garycarla Posted February 26, 2023 Author #25 Share Posted February 26, 2023 Friend booked this cruise deal with April sailing. Based on posts above, he will not get the $600 booze deal. BUT - has anyone here booked their cruise using points and the $600 shows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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