need help figuring out the best way to pay for my cruise

[djcass4199]

1 hour ago, JerseyGirlJen said:

I would opt against making smaller payments on a credit card.  I did that, and when cruises 2020 and 2021 sailings got cancelled it was a major PITA to track all those small payments and make sure they all got refunded.  In addition...if your card gets compromised you'll get issued a new CC#....eventually the prior card gets purged in the banks system (my bank is 6 months) and then when Carnival refunds those payments on that old card that were purged just float around the "the cloud".  It takes time to properly find them.  

Lesson learned.  I now make my deposit and then make one payment when final payment is due.  

yep! I had a Covid cancelled cruise that was paid on my Carnival Mastercard which I only used for cruises. Didn’t use the Carnival card for 2 years and Barclays closed it on me (fine, no big deal. Carnivals reward points system is s*** compared to most other credit card reward systems). Called Carnival about the refund, which they said had to be credited to the canceled card, they had to wait for it to kick back, then I had to wait for them to mail a paper check.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

15 hours ago, camper49 said:

I was not aware of travel insurance on my Bank of America credit card..

The only BoA card that has the travel insurance is the Premium Rewards Card. It is $95.00 a year. But we do 4-5 cruises a year and the $95.00 is a lot less than buying the travel insurance for us. Cash back for us because we keep the minimum required in our accounts is 3-1/2%. So purchasing the cruise and buying anything while on the cruise pays off nicely.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

After opening it and someone sees the cash and keeps it. What proof do you have you even sent it no less the proof of the amount sent? Never send cash via USPS mail.

[ultrafighter]

Thanks for your input, everyone!  We know there are better credit cards out there, but we don't want to open up any new lines of credit at this time.  I took pencil to paper, crunched some actual numbers, and decided to go with the gift cards.  We'll save a couple hundred bucks that way.  What we would have spent to pay off the Carnival cc installments we'll just save up and use to buy the gift cards later.

[ultrafighter]

No, but final payment isn't until next September so I'm not rushing over to AARP to buy them today.

 

I'm not worried about them going belly up anyway.

[mz-s]

Glad this method works out for you. It is a good way to save some money. Since I book with a TA generally, I can only use Carnival gift cards onboard and I don't usually spend enough to make it worth the effort.

[M4Travels]

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

Glad this method works out for you. It is a good way to save some money. Since I book with a TA generally, I can only use Carnival gift cards onboard and I don't usually spend enough to make it worth the effort.

I, too, use a TA and just give her the gift card numbers when making the deposit and future payments.  Your TA won't accept them for deposit and payment?

[mz-s]

3 minutes ago, M4Travels said:

I, too, use a TA and just give her the gift card numbers when making the deposit and future payments.  Your TA won't accept them for deposit and payment?

 

 

I could make my deposit with Carnival and then transfer the booking to the TA I suppose, but once my bookings are in my TA's hands they only take Visa or Mastercard.

 

I will say the value of booking with my TA outweighs discounts from buying gift cards.

Edited June 20, 2022 by mz-s

[BoozinCroozin]

1 hour ago, Sam Ting said:

Will the gift cards be worth anything if the cruise line goes belly up?  

Yes and that unknown asteroid out there can hit the center of the Pacific ocean devastation 40% of the world population within 24-hours, 30% more within a month, and another 20% due to nuclear winter. Only 10% of the world's population surviving after 10 years. But hey, we are going to the absolute extremes here.

[Ellaleah]

6 hours ago, mz-s said:

Glad this method works out for you. It is a good way to save some money. Since I book with a TA generally, I can only use Carnival gift cards onboard and I don't usually spend enough to make it worth the effort.

I use a Big Box TA and I can use Carnival Gift Cards,

[cynt]

#3. I don't have time nor energy for all these gift cards and money back scenarios. I directly deposit $xxx in my savings account from every paycheck. About 10 days b4 final payment I pay it off with my CC and then payoff my CC the next day. Easy Peasy!

Edited June 21, 2022 by cynt

[Joe817]

2 hours ago, Ellaleah said:

I use a Big Box TA and I can use Carnival Gift Cards,

I do too. The previous 2 sailings was with a big box TA. They can certainly apply those cards to your cruise balance. You just have to call them & give them the number. You have to wait on hold for a few minutes, but they get the job done. Easy peasy.