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So this was how I got $847 in cash back/OBC for a Disney Cruise

 

First sign up or use your ebates account to book online.

If you have never heard of ebates. They offer cash back for online booking at many stores. They have been around for years. Cash is paid to paypal or they can send you a check.

 

As of this writing - Expedia was offering 10% cash back, Orbitz was offering 9% cash back and Travelocity 10% cash back. When I booked back in February Expedia was offering 14% cash back. It changes frequently depending on what they are pushing. I paid for my cruise in full at the time of booking to ensure I got the maximum cash back.

 

My Disney cruise was eligible for on board credit of $300 when booking through Expedia. That offer is replaced with one that is not as good right now (you only get $200 for the same spend), but it changes. It has terms and conditions (at the time I had to book with a master card, now it doesn't seem to be the case).

 

I booked with my Sam's Club MasterCard which gave me 3% cash back on travel purchases.

 

In total:

$437 cash back from ebates (after I cruise - excludes taxes and fees)

$300 Onboard Credit

$110 back from my credit card (will get rebate next year as Sam's pays it out only once a year)

 

Total $847. My TA could not touch that for a Disney Cruise

 

If you are willing to consider ebates click the link below. Full disclosure - I may get a bonus for referring you. But you will also get a $10 cash in your ebate account after purchasing more than $25 (I think) through their links. If you don't want to use the link below then just go to ebates directly and sign up. If you do then I thank you :)

 

https://www.ebates.com/r/JSPUBL2?eeid=28187

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I'm pretty similar to Jayce... I use Ebates and a credit card that offers a 3% cash back (there are other cards that offer point or miles for travel but I prefer cash back). I booked my last NCL using Expedia through Ebates. That was 10% cash back, so I ended up with 13% cash back.

 

I also am the party of 1, but I won't pay a supplement that I think is ridiculous (I just cannot pay double the price or near double). I watch out for last minute cruises or specials, and book the bare basic room with nothing included like drinks or on board credit. Frequently NCL has either a waived single supplement fee or grossly reduced making it something I consider it reasonable. Cruising isn't my preferred choice of travel but when I get a deal I consider cheap, it is :)

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  • 3 months later...

Most of the trips I take are on the short side (3-5 days) and as a solo traveler, I don't typically spend much as I'm usually going for the "experience." I can usually get away with booking a short, inexpensive trip and airfare on the spot; HOWEVER....

 

I have a low-limit credit card that I use solely for travel; I can only rack up $500 on it so even if I maxed it out I could pay it off with one paycheck and avoid interest fees. I tend to use it more on land trips, but even this month on my 1st cruise it was helpful for charging our excursion (not through the ship), buying souvenirs for friends back home, and filling up the gas tank for the trip to/from the airport.

 

I opened a new savings account solely for vacation funds, as I have been heavily eyeing some longer cruises and if I plan to go solo... a bit pricey! Not gonna touch it for anything else (unless it's a true emergency, as in I lost my job or have a serious health issue).

 

Anything that saves you $, gives you rewards points, etc - I live by it. To be honest, I don't make a lot of money. I can afford to travel (among other things) because I live a thrifty lifestyle. It was born out of necessity but as I got more established in my adult career, I kept a lot of those habits. I cook at home, I only live 7 blocks away from work so I walk (although it's starting to get cold so I may change this soon lol), I'm actually quite a homebody so no nights out on the town...

 

And of course, overtime. Certain times of the year (like now) we are mandated to work overtime; other times it's voluntary. I take advantage of as much of it as possible, but don't always spend the extra $ right away. That's definitely going into the new savings account from now on!

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We also opened a savings account in a credit union over 10 miles from our house. We don’t have an ATM card. If we need the money it takes some effort to go get it We also have an automatic payroll deposit so we never see the money until we need to pay for a vacation.

 

 

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We also opened a savings account in a credit union over 10 miles from our house. We don’t have an ATM card. If we need the money it takes some effort to go get it We also have an automatic payroll deposit so we never see the money until we need to pay for a vacation.

 

Dang. I should probably not activate my ATM card. That's a smart idea.

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Most of the trips I take are on the short side (3-5 days) and as a solo traveler, I don't typically spend much as I'm usually going for the "experience." I can usually get away with booking a short, inexpensive trip and airfare on the spot; HOWEVER....

 

I have a low-limit credit card that I use solely for travel; I can only rack up $500 on it so even if I maxed it out I could pay it off with one paycheck and avoid interest fees. I tend to use it more on land trips, but even this month on my 1st cruise it was helpful for charging our excursion (not through the ship), buying souvenirs for friends back home, and filling up the gas tank for the trip to/from the airport.

 

I opened a new savings account solely for vacation funds, as I have been heavily eyeing some longer cruises and if I plan to go solo... a bit pricey! Not gonna touch it for anything else (unless it's a true emergency, as in I lost my job or have a serious health issue).

 

Anything that saves you $, gives you rewards points, etc - I live by it. To be honest, I don't make a lot of money. I can afford to travel (among other things) because I live a thrifty lifestyle. It was born out of necessity but as I got more established in my adult career, I kept a lot of those habits. I cook at home, I only live 7 blocks away from work so I walk (although it's starting to get cold so I may change this soon lol), I'm actually quite a homebody so no nights out on the town...

 

And of course, overtime. Certain times of the year (like now) we are mandated to work overtime; other times it's voluntary. I take advantage of as much of it as possible, but don't always spend the extra $ right away. That's definitely going into the new savings account from now on!

10% cash back is fantastic!

The total commission received by an agent is normally 10-12%

How can the cashback be utilised for those who live outside North America?

 

Sent from my Lenovo P2a42 using Forums mobile app

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I'm pretty similar to Jayce... I use Ebates and a credit card that offers a 3% cash back (there are other cards that offer point or miles for travel but I prefer cash back). I booked my last NCL using Expedia through Ebates. That was 10% cash back, so I ended up with 13% cash back.

 

I also am the party of 1, but I won't pay a supplement that I think is ridiculous (I just cannot pay double the price or near double). I watch out for last minute cruises or specials, and book the bare basic room with nothing included like drinks or on board credit. Frequently NCL has either a waived single supplement fee or grossly reduced making it something I consider it reasonable. Cruising isn't my preferred choice of travel but when I get a deal I consider cheap, it is :)

10% cash back is fantastic! The total commission received by an agent is normally 10-12%

How can the EBATES cashback be utilised by those who live outside North America?

 

Sent from my Lenovo P2a42 using Forums mobile app

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  • 2 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Every paycheck I get I allocate different amounts to different savings goals, emergency funds, charitable, etc. Part of that is a vacation fund that usually allows us to do two vacations a year (as long as they aren't too exotic). I have a bit of a bean counter personality, so am very careful to just book vacations that work with our budget. I usually, though, have a little left over after all these regular goals though too, so if there are things that bring me a little above budget -- cool excursion, great show, etc. we would like to do I can usually with advanced planning and knowing how much extra, budget for those too and have the monies set aside ahead of time.

 

The fun part is deciding what to do with the fun/frivolous vacation money - a favorite splurge. We aren't cruising in 2018, but we will be doing a mini trip to Key West at the end of this month (February 2018 - decided I wanted to do that instead of a cruise this year) and we're attending a week long family reunion in Sedona, AZ later in the year (We like to go out west in the summer almost annually too). In 2019, though, we will be doing a NCL cruise on the Getaway (January) and a trip to the Blackhills in South Dakota in Sept. 2019.

 

For a credit card, I have the Southwest one which has a pretty good flight schedule from our airport. Points can mean free flights for some family members freeing up some of the vacations funds too.

 

Somethings that I'm sure help out with our budget -- pretty decent salaries for both me and DH, our house is paid off, we don't have any debt, we drive our cars for 10 years and always pay cash for them, we just have one son vs. lots of kids, so a little family with fewer airline tickets, etc. to buy when we do travel.

 

I like cruising, but it's not like I want to do that all the time instead of land vacations. It's a good option to put in the vacation mix, though, from time to time. Cruising is a favorite now though for my dad who is 81 and now has some mobility issues (with so much all there on the ship and a nice balcony room it works quite well for him). As we do enjoy traveling with my mom and dad on occasion, this makes a cruise a good choice for an extended family trip, especially as my son loves cruising too.

 

In general, we almost always opt for two vacations a year vs. just one. DH for example was thinking about Hawaii (we have been twice before) one time and a trip to Germany (private tour) one time. When I crunched the numbers, though, and showed them to him he changed his mind, decided he'd rather do shorter or less exotic trips and do the two trips a year thing. Often too for expensive places like Key West in the winter, our upcoming trip, we are able to keep in budget by flying down on a Monday and flying back on a Friday (keeping it short here four nights - three days). With the weekends off and being off a work a full week, it will despite being short really be a nice break.

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Do you have a special saving system, a money making hobby, a sugar daddy? How do you save up during your land life to pay for time on the open seas?

 

I have a Carnival Master Card. I charge the cruise on it whereby I earn 2 points for every dollar spent on a Carnival purchase. I usually book about a year ahead of time so I take the balance owed and divide it by 12 (or however many months until final payment is due) so that it is paid for before I go. Thereby I get the advantage of earning the reward points and pay it off as well. Has worked fine for me many many times.

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I just learned about the carnival gift cards thru AARP.

 

10% off the cost of $500 or $100 gift cards.

 

Only possible drawback: You pay with gift card and cancel cruise, you will receive refund in gift cards.

Solution to that drawback: Plan another cruise :)

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  • 4 months later...

Small item..but I have a free cash back credit card. Rewards accumulates slowly, but I plan on cashing the rewards at some point and using it towards one of our excursions.

 

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 5 weeks later...

We have a Chase Sapphire card and we pretty much never have to pay for flights anymore. I use it to pay for everything and we pay it off every Friday. You can transfer the points to several airlines and we generally fly Southwest so we only end up paying $20 roundtrip for both of our flights. Its so expensive to fly from Seattle to Florida so we really have to watch out for deals! I work a ton of overtime leading up to vacations so I can have that extra cash and by the time I leave work I am more than ready to spend it. My husband has a pretty demanding job that requires someone to always be on call so they rotate all the time but he will generally take the duty phone on holidays/weekends that other people usually want off. Its typically double overtime. He did that over 4th of July and a few other weekends this year and it payed for about half of our cruise to Mexico in January. I will be taking on some extra hours during the Holiday season that I will use to pay for anything extra. We try to only use our overtime money for vacations.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have a budget I set myself for lunch, and daily spending. So at the end of the day anything I didn't spend I pay on my cruise, I book 2 or 3 a year. They are never super fancy cruises, usually 6 or 7 days, but I get them paid off in time, just paying 10-15 dollars a day towards the balance, and I never really miss that money.

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