Best Credit Card for Travel on Regent?

[pappy1022]

I have seen some references to good credit cards to use for travel that come with multiplier points and some that include travel insurance, etc. as part of the benefits but I can’t seem to locate the detailed posts. What credit cards do you feel bring added benefits for travel and maybe even for Regent travel and what significant travel related benefits do you get with that specific card? Thank you in advance.

[WesW]

If your cruise fare is below $15,000 then American express platinum used to pay the entire fare will give you a $300 Ship board credit.  If over $15,000 (most likely) then recommend the Chase Sappire Reserve which will give your 3 points per dollar spent on your cruise fare and inclue $10,000 pp trip cancellation insurance.  So, if your fare is $25,000 you would get 75,000 chase points where you can take $750 cash or use the points for Travel (flights, rental car, hotel).

 

We used the trip cancellation for a cruise I canceled in October two weeks prior to the cruise due to my wife's broken ankle.  Chase card benefits refunded near $10,000

Edited January 7, 2023 by WesW

[forgap]

Listen to Wes!  He is my credit card points guru!

[bitob]

If you and your partner each get a reserve card you will have 40 k Insurance

 

each cardholder insures himself and his travel partner for 10k each so long as you charge the trip using both cards 

 

 

 

[pappy1022]

Wes, I was hoping you would respond because I saw your name mentioned in some threads as far as credit cards are concerned. Thank you for replying so quickly. Hypothetically, if the total cruise cost is $25,000 and the Sapphire Reserve card pays $10,000 for a cancellation, do you then only have to buy travel insurance for the $15,000? Is the credit card trip cancellation for any reason or are their specific reasons that are covered?

[pappy1022]

2 minutes ago, bitob said:

If you and your partner each get a reserve card you will have 40 k Insurance

 

each cardholder insures himself and his travel partner for 10k each so long as you charge the trip using both cards 

 

 

 

$40K or  $20K in total? If i only have 1 card do each of us get $10K coverage? Are you saying that if we each have a card, we each get $10K per each card?

[PhD-iva]

54 minutes ago, WesW said:

If your cruise fare is below $15,000 then American express platinum used to pay the entire fare will give you a $300 Ship board credit.  

My impression (and please correct me if I am wrong) is that the American Express Platinum shipboard credit only applies to certain cruises that have this promotion, not all cruises. Am I mistaken? I hope so!

[forgap]

28 minutes ago, pappy1022 said:

$40K or  $20K in total? If i only have 1 card do each of us get $10K coverage? Are you saying that if we each have a card, we each get $10K per each card?

One card insures $10 K each with a maximum $20 K so, $20 K for the couple.  We then insure the overage if we don’t want to stomach the loss.   Our latest hack is to insure the minimum amount at booking to cover preexisting conditions and to ensure medical coverage and evacuation.  This usually costs under $200.   This worked well for our last cruise and Covid costs were covered completely.  Of course, the cancellation provision only rembourses for the amount you said the trip costs, in the case of my hack just described, it would only reimburse $1000 for cancelation.  

[SusieQft]

I have Amex Platinum and an Amex Green card.  I can charge the trip on my Amex Green card and still get the Platinum $300 OBC, along with the Green 3 points per dollar (same as Chase Sapphire Reserve).  Amex T&Cs say that I have to pay the entire trip on Amex (either card) to get the Platinum OBC benefit.  My TA says that may not be the case, and I can charge part of the cost with another company's card.  I am currently testing this advice to see if it works.

 

The Platinum OBC on Regent is nowhere near as good a deal as it was with Crystal, where I got $500 OBC, per segment.  We usually do B2Bs, so this is a big difference.  Then again, look what happened to Crystal....  I was very glad I had all my Crystal bookings on Amex, though, because Amex came through with reimbursement even though it would have been too late for successful Chase disputes.

 

On Regent, I get $300 Amex Platinum OBC per booking.  Often my TA's consortium will do the same, but I cannot have both.  I have to choose either $300 from Amex or $300 from the consortium, which makes that particular Amex benefit essentially worthless much of the time.

 

The Chase Sapphire Reserve trip cancellation/interruption coverage is up to a maximum of $10K per person, $20K per trip, and $40K per year.  If you have to cancel multiple trips for a covered cause in the same year, you may not get the full $20K for all of them.  Amex Platinum also provides some trip cancellation coverage, but not if I charge the trip on my Green card.

 

My current strategy is to make the deposit on my Amex Green card to get the Platinum OBC benefit (if there is one), 3 points per dollar, and to have the oldest payment(s) on Amex, just in case a credit card dispute is needed in the future.  When it comes time for final payment, I will put up to $20,000 on my Chase Sapphire Reserve card.  I will still get trip insurance, with a company that covers pre-existing conditions even if I don't insure the full cost of the trip with them, but for less than the full cost of the trip, by at least the amount paid with my Chase Sapphire Reserve card.

 

At some point, I will probably rethink whether or not it is worth it to have both Chase and Amex, but for now there is enough benefit to us to justify both cards.

[bitob]

10 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

$40K or  $20K in total? If i only have 1 card do each of us get $10K coverage? Are you saying that if we each have a card, we each get $10K per each card?

20k each if u each have a card and charge 20k on each card  

[-Lew-]

20 minutes ago, bitob said:

20k each if u each have a card and charge 20k on each card  

 

Sounds good if it works.  Have you confirmed two claims will be honored by Chase Card Benefits Services?

[edgee]

12 hours ago, PhD-iva said:

My impression (and please correct me if I am wrong) is that the American Express Platinum shipboard credit only applies to certain cruises that have this promotion, not all cruises. Am I mistaken? I hope so!

I believe it is available on all cruises. I run into an issue when I try and get $300 Amex credit on Oceania where sometimes my TA's travel consortium has included gratuities which on a long cruise are more valuable and not combinable with the Amex credit benefit. Of course gratuities are included on Regent, so not an issue.

[jeb_bud]

15 hours ago, -Lew- said:

 

Sounds good if it works.  Have you confirmed two claims will be honored by Chase Card Benefits Services?

I think the fine print says two cards can’t be used to insure the same trip. I was thinking about signing my wife up for her own Sapphire Reserve card for that purpose and was dissuaded by my interpretation of the card ember agreement. My recollection is that it applied to all Chase products so I could not benefit by charging part of the cruise to my MileagePlus card either. 

[pappy1022]

If I use my Sapphire Reserve card and get $10K each of travel insurance for my wife and I, can I then add a secondary travel insurance for the remaining $10K to get to a total of $30K, which is the cost of the cruise?

[-Lew-]

1 hour ago, pappy1022 said:

If I use my Sapphire Reserve card and get $10K each of travel insurance for my wife and I, can I then add a secondary travel insurance for the remaining $10K to get to a total of $30K, which is the cost of the cruise?

 

Yes...  The secondary policy should also cover expenses Sapphire Reserve does not.

[Carol From California]

On 1/7/2023 at 5:23 PM, bitob said:

20k each if u each have a card and charge 20k on each card  

Actually the insurance through Chase only requires that you put "some portion" of the trip on the card to qualify for the insurance coverage. Whereas with American Express Platinum you have to put 100% of the cruise on the card. The Chase coverage is better besides. 

[pappy1022]

7 hours ago, -Lew- said:

 

Yes...  The secondary policy should also cover expenses Sapphire Reserve does not.

What is missing from the Sapphire Reserve coverage that I need to get in the secondary policy?

[-Lew-]

1 hour ago, pappy1022 said:

What is missing from the Sapphire Reserve coverage that I need to get in the secondary policy?

 

The $10,000 per person limit doesn't go far at all when there is an emergency medical issue.  A secondary policy will normally provide much more coverage for medical than the insured trip amount.

[jeb_bud]

A slight digression…. Has anyone used Geo Blue as a medical supplement?  If so how did that work out for you?

[forgap]

22 hours ago, -Lew- said:

 

The $10,000 per person limit doesn't go far at all when there is an emergency medical issue.  A secondary policy will normally provide much more coverage for medical than the insured trip amount.

This is why buying a policy to supplement CSR is in order.  The minimum amount you can insure is $1000 pp as the trip cost.   This will cost you about $200. Although trip cancellation will be limited to $1000 pp, all other medical, evacuation, delay, lost luggage, etc., will remain at policy amounts.  

[pappy1022]

Thank you for all your responses. I have a plan now and talked to a travel insurance broker mentioned repeatedly on some boards and they guided me through my options. I now better understand the limitations of the included credit card travel insurance and will supplement it with a separate policy to cover the gaps. Friends of ours who are traveling with us on this trip are leaning toward going through Regent for travel insurance under the assumption that they will be seamlessly and better serviced by going through Regent. Is that a good assumption? Is there a benefit of using Regent to get travel insurance? Is it more expensive to go through Regent for travel insurance?

[-Lew-]

20 minutes ago, pappy1022 said:

Friends of ours who are traveling with us on this trip are leaning toward going through Regent for travel insurance under the assumption that they will be seamlessly and better serviced by going through Regent. Is that a good assumption?

 

My personal policy is to NEVER purchase travel insurance offered by a company...or associate of that company...against whom I could possibly have a claim.

 

If your friend were to have a claim against Regent, who do you think their insurance company would favor?  I'm not saying they would never pay a claim, but if it were a close call they may not be happy with the outcome.

 

In addition, who will go to bat for them in the event of a dispute?  You...and I...have an agent who will do just that.

[pappy1022]

Well said Lew. I am letting them know how I am proceeding with a combination of credit card travel benefits plus and independent travel protection broker to fill in the gaps and I will let them decide how they want to get their own coverage. I assume you are a New England Patriots fan given your logo. I am a Buffalo Bills fan because that is where I grew up before moving with my company to Texas. I just can’t root for the Cowboys and I feel sorry for the Texans football team. Buffalo suffered for years trying to beat Brady and the Patriots so it feels good to be on the other side of the score for the past couple of years.

[-Lew-]

1 hour ago, pappy1022 said:

I assume you are a New England Patriots fan given your logo. I am a Buffalo Bills fan because that is where I grew up before moving with my company to Texas. I just can’t root for the Cowboys and I feel sorry for the Texans football team. Buffalo suffered for years trying to beat Brady and the Patriots so it feels good to be on the other side of the score for the past couple of years.

 

We are Patriots fans; however, we became temporary Bills fans when we became friends with a fan and Buffalo native on the Celebrity Edge TA this past fall.  Also it was apparent our Pats weren't going anywhere this season.

 

Buffalo has certainly been through a lot...they deserve to go all the way.

Edited January 10, 2023 by -Lew-

[melbox4]

On 1/7/2023 at 1:08 PM, SusieQft said:

I have Amex Platinum and an Amex Green card.  I can charge the trip on my Amex Green card and still get the Platinum $300 OBC, along with the Green 3 points per dollar (same as Chase Sapphire Reserve).  Amex T&Cs say that I have to pay the entire trip on Amex (either card) to get the Platinum OBC benefit.  My TA says that may not be the case, and I can charge part of the cost with another company's card.  I am currently testing this advice to see if it works.

 

The Platinum OBC on Regent is nowhere near as good a deal as it was with Crystal, where I got $500 OBC, per segment.  We usually do B2Bs, so this is a big difference.  Then again, look what happened to Crystal....  I was very glad I had all my Crystal bookings on Amex, though, because Amex came through with reimbursement even though it would have been too late for successful Chase disputes.

 

On Regent, I get $300 Amex Platinum OBC per booking.  Often my TA's consortium will do the same, but I cannot have both.  I have to choose either $300 from Amex or $300 from the consortium, which makes that particular Amex benefit essentially worthless much of the time.

 

The Chase Sapphire Reserve trip cancellation/interruption coverage is up to a maximum of $10K per person, $20K per trip, and $40K per year.  If you have to cancel multiple trips for a covered cause in the same year, you may not get the full $20K for all of them.  Amex Platinum also provides some trip cancellation coverage, but not if I charge the trip on my Green card.

 

My current strategy is to make the deposit on my Amex Green card to get the Platinum OBC benefit (if there is one), 3 points per dollar, and to have the oldest payment(s) on Amex, just in case a credit card dispute is needed in the future.  When it comes time for final payment, I will put up to $20,000 on my Chase Sapphire Reserve card.  I will still get trip insurance, with a company that covers pre-existing conditions even if I don't insure the full cost of the trip with them, but for less than the full cost of the trip, by at least the amount paid with my Chase Sapphire Reserve card.

 

At some point, I will probably rethink whether or not it is worth it to have both Chase and Amex, but for now there is enough benefit to us to justify both cards.

Do you have to book through AMEX travel for this benefit?