Originally Posted by
jasonalanmorgan
I want to take my girls (6 yrs & 9 yrs) and wife on a cruise with points next summer. As of January 2016 it will have been 2 years since we each opened the Barclaycard Arrival + and the Capital One Venture cards. We will close these accounts soon. Is getting those two cards x 2 our best bet for paying for a cruise with points? That would give me over $1,600. Are there other options that are better? It seems that cruises with points are the least covered vacation in points blogs.
Thank you for any help!
That's because cruises are typically poor redemptions compared to using points for other forms of travel. Typically they're a fixed value of anywhere between 1-1.3 cents per points for redeeming. It's no different than redeeming through the banks' online travel portals which give you a slight discount for booking with points through them - except you just have to call to book. I'd say just pick a solid card with a nice signup bonus and that has bonus categories you use the most from either UR, TYP, or MR, and redeem through their travel portal for the discount.
Like StartinSanDiego said, you shouldn't close your oldest cards, as long as they have no annual fee, because it helps your age of credit. I've never heard of the incentives though, except that Amex provides some good ones for it's platinum cardholders.