I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[hsmamato2]

My DH is certified and I *tried* so hard when we were engaged to get certified as well. I hated every minute of the pool classes, and when we went out to do the first open water dive I panicked and that was the end of that adventure. I have this thing about being able to breathe! I don't even like then the kids smush stuffed animals against my nose, I get a flash of panic. I can snorkel though.

DH is going to dive in HI next month. I'm taking the kids on another excursion (actually tonight I'm going to try to figure out which one!)

you can get masks etc that are close to your prescription..... most rental places even carry them! works great! I have goggles of my own that are close enough they work well too. less than $30 on Amazon a few years back.

 

[Judique]

Well, I did. Dh decided he wouldn’t mind tagging along for the trip next week.(Next week!) Now, our trip for 2 is a trip for 5!
I drained my SW points, used my Amex gold credit for EBCI and used More URs to cover a minivan vs compact. Our California Grill adr is cancelled and replaced with Crystal Palace. I was actually about to score a few fast passes for Dh and DS around the same times as my FPs.

Very nervous the crowds will make Dh miserable andI’ll regret this choice but I am so happy my whole family will be there to celebrate if I run the half marathon. (Not sure how thats going to go since the weather is calling for high heat and humidity and I’ve been sick all week)

This is my celebrate life trip. No crowds or toddler meltdowns are ruining my trip! One month ago I was crying while meeting with liver transplant teams and now in a week I get to stay in two of my dream Disney resorts with my family. So grateful and excited.(Also very grateful for my Points! No way would I have paid for the flights if I didn’t have the points. They were over double what I paid for DD and myself)

I'll be there on Jan 11 and I'm really hoping to get warmed up! Not that it's super cold here. It isn't. It's just gloomy and rainy but going up to 59 by 1pm. It's already 55.

Here's hoping you and your family can have a wonderful trip and put your recent health scare far in the rearview mirror.

Treasure your family as I know you do and enjoy the marathon whether you participate or not.

 

[calypso726]

I was looking at the Radisson Rewards card for our trip to Copenhagen. I just finished the MSR on the Hilton BIZ for Prague. Due to our Carnival cruise Canceling we're no longer going to Prague we're going to Copenhagen and there's no Hiltons in Copenhagen. There are Marriotts, but there a lot of points.

This card used to be my favorite sock drawer card until the Aspire came about. $2500 in spend gets you 85,000 points. Well really 97,500 since you get 5x on each $ spent. You get gold status for having the card which has always gotten us an upgrade, early check in and late check out. I love that the $75 AF gives each of us 40,000 anniversary points each year and you can pool your points with a household member for no fee too. Whenever we decide to go to Europe we never worry about funds for accommodations. I know there are Club Carlson points sitting there waiting to be used. Year over year our redeeming of these points has continued to outweigh the combined cumulative AFs we have paid on the cards. I may not PLAN to go to Europe every year even though it seems as we have, but I know we are bound to go at least once every 3 years. It's a comfort to know that I have pre paid my hotel stay with the AF and don't need to come up with extra money OOP for some spur of the moment trip.

 

[havaneselover]

Well, DS is 25 days too young to sit in the exit row. Oh well.

 

[StephPlum]

Just saw this in my email f https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/free-national-executive-elite/

We always rent cars on our NP trips as it is necessary. I usually just keep checking Costco to reduce my cost. Don't really look into these loyalty tiers. Maybe I should. I just signed up and got Executive Elite through 2/28/2022 which should guarantee if I pay for mid-size I can pick from the Executive aisle and get an upgrade free.

If anyone is a rental car expert, I would love to hear your ways to get great deals.

 

[StephPlum]

Well, DS is 25 days too young to sit in the exit row. Oh well.

what is the age limit?

 

[Judique]

Checked my reservations on Marriott site and all is well. Than I went on a hotel searching marathon and found a Fairfield Inn that Marriott has listed for 4000 points. Nowhere I'm going, but it is newish and not that far from friends of mine.

It is a category 1 but by the time the weather is nice it will be maybe 10k points.

 

[miztressuz]

Marriott sorta on the ball. The 15 nights for the CC are credited already. Tracker says that we only need 35 nights total to renew Platinum, though.

That'd be awesome cuz we could probably hit that but somehow that feels like a glitch. Unless there's more program changes they snuck in like taking away the meeting nights?



Very contradictory -


The "Platinum at 60 nights" from the app worries me though. I didn't think there was anything at 60 nights. There was a T&C update in Dec, guess I'll be skimming, but I'd have thought an eagle eyed blogger would have highlighted changes by now.

ETA: Move over MCI; in more Marriott math, I only need 7 nights to reach Gold on my account. I can't even fathom that calculation even as a computer glitch. It has it listed correctly at 10 on the overview page but when I look at details it says 7.
Why can't they glitch something useful like giving 15 nights per CC again?

 

[havaneselover]

what is the age limit?

15.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Just a heads up for those opening GSB accounts. When using bill pay, you can only do $1700 in one transaction and $3400 a day total. If you try to do more, they will lock your account and you need to call to unlock...I should so since I just did it. The girl was very friendly and efficient though.

They locked DHs account when I tried to pay 2 real bills and pay me $1500. I had done $1500 before so no idea why this time

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

Dh has been dealing with a lot of work stress for the past year 2 years 5 years, and it was suggested to him that he take a long weekend every other month or so to disconnect from work.

He just said that one of those long weekends should be at Universal

So I need much help

What are our options for hotels? I'd love to stay in one of their 3 hotels with unlimited Express Pass (we did that in 2013, one night for the 2 days of EP), but if using UR to book an offsite and then buying the EP works better, we'd do that. We only have UR and Hyatt points, nothing for Hilton or Marriott yet.

We do not have enough UR to cash out to stay onsite. We'd be using SW RR and CP (good through this year) to get there.

Does Universal have promotions for their hotels? What time of year would be best to go? Currently we have a WDW trip in March, our son gets married May 2, and we'll be in Australia for the majority of September.

I assume Undercover Tourist is the best place for tickets?

 

[Etonduf]

.

 

[StephPlum]

I was helping a friend with SW cards. Not a total expert but I know enough about CP and RR that I was able to walk her through it. Then she said her and her husband want to go to Indonesia. Way outside my expertise but based on what I read here and looking at United, it does look like they could fly there from the west coast on ANA. From my reading on here she would need to book round trip to use award travel on ANA. So now for the really, really stupid question. Does the round trip have to arrive and leave from the same airport in Indonesia? Example LAX - CGK (Jakata); CGK- LAX is definitely round trip. Is LAX - CGK; DPS (Bali)- LAX round trip as well? Thanks for helping a friend.

 

[havaneselover]

Dh has been dealing with a lot of work stress for the past year 2 years 5 years, and it was suggested to him that he take a long weekend every other month or so to disconnect from work.

He just said that one of those long weekends should be at Universal

So I need much help

What are our options for hotels? I'd love to stay in one of their 3 hotels with unlimited Express Pass (we did that in 2013, one night for the 2 days of EP), but if using UR to book an offsite and then buying the EP works better, we'd do that. We only have UR and Hyatt points, nothing for Hilton or Marriott yet.

We do not have enough UR to cash out to stay onsite. We'd be using SW RR and CP (good through this year) to get there.

Does Universal have promotions for their hotels? What time of year would be best to go? Currently we have a WDW trip in March, our son gets married May 2, and we'll be in Australia for the majority of September.

I assume Undercover Tourist is the best place for tickets?

We just stayed at RPR. I was a bit underwhelmed. I think you need to look at the cost for the express passes. I’m pretty sure for us it was cheaper to stay at UO deluxe than offsite and buy express passes (plus you get EE and the convenience of being able to walk to the park).

 

[Psychodisney]

Just saw this in my email f https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/free-national-executive-elite/

We always rent cars on our NP trips as it is necessary. I usually just keep checking Costco to reduce my cost. Don't really look into these loyalty tiers. Maybe I should. I just signed up and got Executive Elite through 2/28/2022 which should guarantee if I pay for mid-size I can pick from the Executive aisle and get an upgrade free.

If anyone is a rental car expert, I would love to hear your ways to get great deals.

I agree with your Costco strategy. I check National but most of the time Costco wins.

 

[Psychodisney]

what is the age limit?

15 years old per Federal Law. Which I'm fine with but I think there should also be an upper limit. I've seen some fairly fragile looking seniors in the exit row.

 

[havaneselover]

Now I really wish we had gotten exit row seats. They closed TPA and we are stuck on the plane at the gate (well they are letting people off which isn’t a great sign). And ds is not happy.

 

[DaveL]

15 years old per Federal Law. Which I'm fine with but I think there should also be an upper limit. I've seen some fairly fragile looking seniors in the exit row.

OMG YES! I was on a Delta flight a few months for work and this old couple was in the exit row. The flight attendant went over the guidelines and said she needed a verbal yes from everyone. She got to the old man and he looks over to his wife and yells "What does this lady want, she's looking right at me?" and the wife responds "Say yes" and he yells again "She won't go away and her lips keep moving, how do I make her go away?" The flight attendant asks again and he yells "Why won't she just go away? Her lips keep moving but she's not saying anything." She then proceeds to start asking around for others that will swap with them and finds a couple to move and goes back to the man and asks him to move and he just yells "Linda, Make her go away she keeps coming over to me."

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

We just stayed at RPR. I was a bit underwhelmed. I think you need to look at the cost for the express passes. I’m pretty sure for us it was cheaper to stay at UO deluxe than offsite and buy express passes (plus you get EE and the convenience of being able to walk to the park).

Thanks--I just looked at the cost of express pass for the last weekend in January and omg it was almost equivalent to the cost of RPR!

 

[3 DD love princesses]

@Haley R congrats on your baby boy so excited for you. As for outings talk with your library they may have enough interest for a baby story time. We did that with the children section and they added a baby story time for 2 weeks- 1 year old. If you plan to breastfeed there might be groups also. We made lots of friends from both. Once DD was 1 we started gymnastics. Then when they were 2.5 dance. Swim lessons we started at 4 since I didn’t want to have to get in with them.