Why cheat the system. Is this fair to paying cardholders? If you don't have the card you shouldn't try and use the benefits. If yo are okay sleeping at night knowing you are being immoral thats okay but honestly pay the fee and cancel after the cruise to get a prorated refund. Did you upgrade just to book this cruise then cancel the card? If so its people that do that that make our fees go up and benefits go down. It raises amex cost and they bring in less revenue because you only paid a small fee then used a large benefit.