What type of credit card do you use when booking cruises?

[Stateroom_Sailor]

I'm curious what % of people look for general rewards, miles, cash back, brand loyalty, or prefer not to use credit cards at all (Dave Ramsey approved).

 

Edited January 21, 2020 by Stateroom_Sailor

[Joebucks]

Chase Sapphire Reserve every time. 4.5% back towards more travel, included insurance, no foreign exchange fees.

[DarrenM]

No option for a stolen one?

[DarrenM]

I dont actually use my credit card at all. It's there for emergencies only.

[dd likes to cruise]

I have a couple that offer decent Travel rewards. So that is is what I use. 

[denmarks]

BofA Cash Rewards gives 3% back when the travel category is selected. I also get a 75% bonus due to account balances. That gives 5.25%

[clo]

2 hours ago, Joebucks said:

Chase Sapphire Reserve every time. 4.5% back towards more travel, included insurance, no foreign exchange fees.

Absolutely. We're newbies to the CSR but the points just rack up, don't they? And booking through the portal makes it even better. I first learned about this through The Points Guy but folks here, probably including you, helped me. I can be a bit overwhelming at first.

[iancal]

We use a card that does not charge a premium on FX conversion.  That translates into a 3  percent saving over our usual cards.   The card carries no annual fee.

 

We only use the card when traveling outside Canada  or buying any product or service on line that requires payment in a foreign currency.   It also provides some insurance coverage and until this year gave us a one percent rebate on foreign purchases.

Edited January 21, 2020 by iancal

[klfrodo]

3 hours ago, Joebucks said:

Chase Sapphire Reserve every time. 4.5% back towards more travel, included insurance, no foreign exchange fees.

What he said.

Mostly for the no foreign exchange fees and the included travel and rental car insurance.

[2wheelin]

3 hours ago, Joebucks said:

Chase Sapphire Reserve every time. 4.5% back towards more travel, included insurance, no foreign exchange fees.

I have seen several references to CC insurance. Curious as to what that usually covers. Mine covers rental cars but for a trip, would others cover the monetary outlay for the trip only or is there med or cancelation coverage?

[klfrodo]

20 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

I have seen several references to CC insurance. Curious as to what that usually covers. Mine covers rental cars but for a trip, would others cover the monetary outlay for the trip only or is there med or cancelation coverage?

CSR covers up to $75K in rental car insurance to include Loss of Use which most exclude. Even your personal auto coverage doesn't include Loss of Use when rental car involved. It includes Cancellation, Trip Delay, Trip Interruption, Baggage delay, Lost baggage, and up to $100K evacuation. There is no medical coverage. If you need medical, just go to a brokerage website for travel insurance and input a cost of trip value at $1. That way you get the medical but none of the comprehensive coverage. Cost would be in the neighborhood of $30

 

For more explanation of benefits

https://www.chase.com/card-benefits/sapphirereserve/travel

Edited January 21, 2020 by klfrodo

[clo]

I'm just curious why you formatted this in the way that you did rather than just asking the question. And people seem to just be answering the question. Also what's with the question mark in front of it?

[klfrodo]

1 minute ago, clo said:

I'm just curious why you formatted this in the way that you did rather than just asking the question. And people seem to just be answering the question. Also what's with the question mark in front of it?

If you actually vote, then the poll numbers come up.

[clo]

2 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

For more explanation of benefits

 

Thanks for including. Because it offers so much I found I really needed to read it more than once. And continue to dip into it at times. For instance my husband and I each got the card last year for the bonus but we won't renew mine. If we want I can transfer my points to him - but only because we constitute a "household."

[clo]

1 minute ago, klfrodo said:

If you actually vote, then the poll numbers come up.

But it seems that people are interested in the words and not the #s. I want to know WHY not HOW MANY. And what's with the question mark?

[2wheelin]

5 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

CSR covers up to $75K in rental car insurance to include Loss of Use which most exclude. Even your personal auto coverage doesn't include Loss of Use when rental car involved. It includes Cancellation, Trip Delay, Trip Interruption, Baggage delay, Lost baggage, and up to $100K evacuation. There is no medical coverage.

 

For more explanation of benefits

https://www.chase.com/card-benefits/sapphirereserve/travel

Thank you. Valuable information and undoubtedly a good choice for frequent travelers. Pretty hefty annual fee for me. I get most of those benefits except the trip coverage from my free CC. But worth keeping in mind if circumstances change.

[clo]

4 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

Thank you. Valuable information and undoubtedly a good choice for frequent travelers. Pretty hefty annual fee for me. I get most of those benefits except the trip coverage from my free CC. But worth keeping in mind if circumstances change.

Actually that fee gets reduced by $300 when you charge the first $300 of travel. But I would say, yes, if you don't do a couple of big trips or a lot of small ones then it might not be for you. Plus 3X on dining, even drive-thru McDs 🙂

[DarrenM]

I know this will irk some of you but life really is too short to use a credit card because I might save a few pounds/dollars somewhere sometime  in some random eatery.

 

I just dont care that much that I might 0.02985% cash back over 300 years.

[iancal]

We always paid attention to the rental car insurance on our cards.   Not so much to the medical since we always have out of country medical/evac.  Seldom to the trip interuption or cancellation because we have never experienced any in 50 years of travel.

 

This past year we did have to cancel a China trip for medical reasons.  Looked on our account and found that we had charged it on a premium card that had cancellation insurance.  Put in a claim, expecting some push back.   Opened the mail one day and there was a refund cheque for the full amount.... processed within ten business days of our submission with no questions asked.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

1 hour ago, denmarks said:

BofA Cash Rewards gives 3% back when the travel category is selected. I also get a 75% bonus due to account balances. That gives 5.25%

 

I am currently using this for excursions and hotels outside Marriott and Wyndham.   We have ours set to online shopping, which of course isn't as effective on the fly, in person.  This is definitely my Plan B for booking an entire cruise, especially when we reach the 75% bonus.

 

We've booked our first cruise with the American Express Platinum, earning 1X, $300 OBC, which I calculate to be roughly 6.5%.  Even more lucrative would be a 5 night coastal in an inexpensive suite.  My understanding is that this card includes evacuation coverage, but not medical, and will also require additional travel insurance.

[klfrodo]

2 minutes ago, DarrenM said:

I know this will irk some of you but life really is too short to use a credit card because I might save a few pounds/dollars somewhere sometime  in some random eatery.

 

I just dont care that much that I might 0.02985% cash back over 300 years.

Doesn't irk me in the slightest.

What works best for DarrenM is the direction DarrenM should go.

 

[Toofarfromthesea]

Credit cards are a great tool for people who are financially responsible.  They are also really the only prudent way to pay for something substantial in the future, as you are protected against bankruptcy of the carrier.  People found that out the hard way back when airlines were going belly up. 

 

And done properly you get a lot more than the mocking "0.02465%" nonsense.  There are other good ones, but I happen to use CSR, which on top of the 5% repeat customer discount I get on my favorite cruiseline, and the 8-10% discount/OBC I get from whichever TA I use, gives me an additional 4.5% in points and booking portal - as well as a whole host of other valuable benefits.  That translates into free domestic first class flights to get to the cruiseport, for me.  Or free Business Class to Europe.  Just for doing all my normal spending activities on the card.

 

Now if someone is not financially responsible then by all means they should follow the Dave Ramsay advice and eschew credit cards.  But for those who are financially responsible, using a credit card is a complete no-brainer, IMO.  To do otherwise is just throwing away money - a lot of money.  Then it just comes down to which one fits you best.

[thinfool]

42 minutes ago, DarrenM said:

I know this will irk some of you but life really is too short to use a credit card because I might save a few pounds/dollars somewhere sometime  in some random eatery.

 

So sad...things must be different in the UK.

In the US, use of a credit card includes serious protection from fraudulent use if the card is stolen or a merchant reneges on a purchase or a product is defective and the store refuses to make you whole.  Paying cash makes a lot of the above difficult or impossible to accomplish.  I would never send cash to my TA to pay for a cruise.  While he is an honest man, the postal system may not have the same ethics.

And, your bookings include some level of travel insurance, ours do not, so we have to buy insurance....some credit cards include such insurance as part of their product offering.

[Roz]

5 hours ago, Joebucks said:

Chase Sapphire Reserve every time. 4.5% back towards more travel, included insurance, no foreign exchange fees.

 

I thought I read somewhere on Cruise Critic recently that Chase Sapphire Reserve dropped the travel insurance feature or greatly reduced it.

[klfrodo]

23 minutes ago, Roz said:

 

I thought I read somewhere on Cruise Critic recently that Chase Sapphire Reserve dropped the travel insurance feature or greatly reduced it.

Nope, that was Citi