Just an idea....

[joejo]

I have been researching for our first cruise for a few weeks yet and we have narrowed it down to the cruiseline and the area and are still looking between a few ships. So I checked on my airmiles account what it would cost to charge the ship to airmiles because that is how we are flying to the first port and low and behold.........It's the cheapest price I have seen yet!!! The price is listed in canadian dollars for me and even tells me how much the taxes and extra fees are too. The price is lower by a few hundred than I expected to pay in US$. I have the option of using some, all or no airmiles to book through them and then I get airmiles for any portion I do pay for! This is going to be a huge money saver for us so if any of you are airmiles collectors maybe you should check it out for yourself. I hope this helps!

 

Joanne

[cruisinbuddy]

Thanks for the heads up. I don't have a lot of airmiles, I only seem to get them at the liquor store and hardware store, hmmm kinda makes it sound like my house looks like a drunken contractor's been working on it, LOL. Oh well I guess I have to start hitting the liquor store more often.

[joejo]

hey, we all gotta make some sacrifices to cruise! If it means you gotta make a few more trips to the liquor store to do it, well hey! lol

 

What a fun way to earn a cruise!

 

I was actually shocked at how cheap it was to use a points system as opposed to just paying for it.

[RevSmith]

I just started collecting airmiles when we flew to Canada last summer...thanks for the information. :)

[joejo]

Are Airmiles a Canadian thing?

[SarahQ]

Are Airmiles a Canadian thing?

 

Well...yes and no.

 

The AIR MILES program is run in Canada, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates; however, it is run almost by completely seperate companies in each country - only the name and concept are the same.

 

In Canada the AIR MILES program is run by The Loyalty Management Group headquartered in Toronto, whose parent company is Alliance Data Systems headed up out of Dallas, TX.

 

AIR MILES did actually exist in the US for a couple of years (very early '90s) but failed to catch on (lots of complicated reasons for this - many being the regional nature of things like grocery stores, gas stations etc).

 

FYI for all you cruisers out there, AIR MILES Canada deals only with Carnival and Holland America, but it is a great way to use your AIR MILES to get a 'discount' on your cruise (by combining your reward miles and cash).

[joejo]

Thanks for the info. We have paid for one of us with airmiles and cash for the 2nd. We have also covered our flights with airmiles so we only have to pay the flight taxes and cruise taxes plus one fare. Good deal considering my DH's company pays bonuses with airmiles.

[SarahQ]

We have also covered our flights with airmiles so we only have to pay the flight taxes and cruise taxes plus one fare. Good deal considering my DH's company pays bonuses with airmiles.

 

My company does too (of course, that's beacause I work for Loyalty/Air Miles, which you probably guessed from earlier post ;))...

 

Interestingly enough, I've never used my reward miles for travel so far because I always seem to get a better deal on flights by booking through an online agency and flying out of Buffalo, NY (about a 90 minute drive for us). For example, I just bought air for our December cruise, and I could have paid $150 each in taxes plus 1600 reward miles (which is already a deal due to having a BMO Mosaik MasterCard with Air Miles/WestJet benefits) or pay $300 each total to fly out of Buffalo. Not a difficult decision for us...

 

Even though I knew I could use them for our cruise, I didn't even consider it...but I think I will next time :)

[joejo]

I have the same credit card but I got the flights for 1400 airmiles. Maybe a sale or something. I can't drive to the US from where I'm from or I would take that option too. We are only using part of our airmiles for this trip because we are already planning the next trip and we're bringing our 2 DD's next time. Yeah airmiles!