Happy

The bulk of our cruises are TATLs as a way to get to Europe and then we add land trips after the cruise. They tend to be very cheap on inside, as at $45 a day incl taxes, before daily gratuity. Ours was a 25 days, but literally were 14 days TATl + 11 days Med (primarily Greek Isles) - the Med portion was always much more than TATL but on this particular sailing combo, the Med portion was cheaper than usual. We wanted to go to Sicily post cruise, hence we wanted a cruise ended at Civitavecchia - only 3 ships did that - Holland America had a TATL ended there but it departed too soon. Celebrity had one but its price was way too high. The Princess one worked out well in itinerary, price point and the time. So we ended up with the 25 days with an AVG daily cost of $65 incl taxes before gratuity.

You only need to check prices on Vacationtogo site - from observation, they have all the low fares other OTAs would have AND they have fares only them (and some high volumes cruise only Individual agents have. From what I read, Crucon has upsell options that can be worthwhile, like to full suite.

My cruise agent is top seller across ALL lines and she always can see the lowest shown on Vacationtogo. She is among the top 5 agents in the AMEX Travel Consortium which is made up by many independent agents - many of them work at home. The AMEX Plat card gets some extra perks booked thru this channel when booking higher level cabins. But we are the Inside Guarantee folks unless when booking outside / veranda with much bigger OBC could become equal or even cheaper than an inside.

Sometimes she can discount another 5% sometimes she cannot. The commissionable portion of a cruise is much less than what you see because what you see includes the Port Charges. When my cruise agent sends me the invoice it is directly from the cruise lines (Princess and Holland America, few occasions RCL / Celebrity,) there are breakdowns of the total amount and clearly labled what are commissionable. The invoice is in the amount BEFORE whatever additional discount she could give. I always ask her, do I need to worry about the unpaid balance? (Joking). She always told me not to worry about it. In other words, she and I have 15 or more years agent/client relationship that she does not bother to make up an invoice under her agency's name but just sends me the cruiseline's billing instead.

Another reason I like to work with our agent is, she can split the payment however many ways I want. This comes in very handy when there is a $100 statement credit on $500+ cruise reservation with 4 lines owned by Carnival Corp (Princess, Holland America, Carnival and Costa IIRC). So paying with multiple AMEX cards can save several hundreds. We have seen RCL had this offer last year but not this year. NCL has it both last and this year. MSC has this offer the first time this year.
They show up as AMEX offers just like all other AMEX offers.

oopsz

Hi All,

I booked a united flight using UR points through the portal (for argument's sake, it was 10,000 points). I originally booked it because it was a nonstop flight with times that worked for me - 6 PM departure, 7:30 arrival.

United has cancelled that route and rebooked me with a 35 minute connection in Chicago. It's now a 2 PM departure and a 6 PM arrival. These times don't work for me. I can fly southwest nonstop to a nearby city and drive in less time.

I am certain that I can call United and get them to refund the ticket based on the schedule change. But I assume it will refund to Chase.

Will Chase credit me back my points if they do so? Is there a process by which I can request my points back after the airline refunds the ticket?

Thanks all.

Super Mario

I have tried vacations to go previously. As well as cruise compete. They offered nothing extra for me. Just checked again with the next tentative itinerary I'm looking to book. Still nothing. I should also mention that I don't book or compare "standard rates". I have always waited for a sale/booked early saver through Carnival (on top of off-peak season and cheapest possible room). I suppose I could have more options if I checked vactationstogo when it's at a standard rate. Just recently I went on a 7-night Souther Carribean cruise for $410 a person including taxes and port fees. $58 pp, per day, all in, through Carnival. Also included a $50 OBC. Carnival let me call them direct and split payments just fine. No one could beat that either.

It's not that I don't believe there aren't deals to be had. I'm just not convinced that my current preferences haven't already eroded away most of the mark-up. I am frugal in my travel habits. I don't book expensive flights often. I stay within Spirit and Frontier when possible. My hotels are completely funded by my IHG points and free nights by my two credit cards. That leaves me with a ton of UR points that I don't have a ton of use for. I've given TAs a chance, but none of them so far have been able to touch the value I'd get by using my UR, with the CSR bonus, during a Carnival sale, which also includes free insurance on the trip

philemer

Not sure that cancelling thru UA will get UR returned. I'd call UR (Connexions) first and see what they have to say.

farnorthtrader

Not a flight, however, I had a tour booked with UR points that we cancelled and the points automatically were returned to me. I didn't do anything to make it happen.

philemer

But, did you cancel the tour with the tour provider or with Chase UR (Connexions)?

farnorthtrader

Need

If you cancel directly with United, they will refund to the master credit card used by Chase Travel. You will have to call Chase Travel to tell them to refund your points. I have done this last year with Delta. The process took a while before the points show back up to my Chase UR account.

Try calling Chase travel first to see if they could cancel it. I think that way will see your points coming back faster...

joeljkp

Can anyone give some advice on avoiding unlabeled Basic Economy fares when booking through UR?

The situation is that I'm trying to book an int'l AA flight (codeshare operated by BA) that offers both Basic Economy and Economy fares. Both are clearly labeled on aa.com, but when I book through UR, there's only one fare available, labeled "Economy".

BUT - the fare advertised is exactly (to the penny) identical to aa.com's Basic Economy fare, and the baggage fees are advertised as $60 for a first bag - again, identical to AA's BE rules. I have to assume that I would actually be booking a BE ticket if I booked this through UR.

I've gotten one clued-in UR representative on the phone that knew how to access the Economy fare, but I wasn't ready to book at the time. My last couple of attempts have been with reps that insist that the advertised fare is NOT Basic, when all the clues say that it actually is.

Maybe there are some magic words I need to use with the phone reps to get them to find the Economy fare? Any other advice?

philemer

Welcome to FT. One of our favorite pieces of advice here is to HUCA (hang up call again). That's what I'd do. Also, have the fare you want to book ready, from the AA site, and feed it to the rep. Good luck. ^

good_boy_1234

I am planning to go to Iceland (mainly Reykjavik ) for 5 days and planning to use some of my +240K ultimate rewards points on hotels and car rentals. Any recommendations? On my initial search, I couldn't find hotels in UR partners.

manneca

The only international chain hotels in Iceland are Radisson Blu and Hilton. Since neither are UR partners, you could book with UR points.

mia

Note that it is possible to convert Ultimate Rewards points to Hilton Honors via Virgin Atlantic:

• 10,000 UR
• 10,000 VS
• 15,000 HH

farnorthtrader

philemer

UR site has been down for the last 3 or 4 hrs. Hope it's temporary. I need to spend some pts. Maybe just a Sat. night u/g.