Randy, any chance we could add a category for cruises or even a break down for cruise companies?

I have researched for which airlines offer frequent flyer miles for cruises but came up empty. I have questions about cruise companies but found other bulletin boards to be cumbersome to move around and no search capabilities.

On FT boards, we have gone from airlines to hotels to car rentals to credit cards. Now we just need cruises. I know every one has a comments or questions about specific cruise ships or companies.

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"Fly me to the moon and let me earn alot of miles."

Leaving aside the issue of a board for cruising, UA does have partnerships with cruise lines. You can learn which ones at http://www.ual.com/site/primary/0,10017,1226,00.html

It is unfeasible IMO to have a board for every major cruise line. Perhaps one board for cruise for miles, but even that I think is one board too much. As much as FlyerTalk is for talk about travel in general, it's basis is with points, and points and cruising are barely related, while airlines, hotels, phone companies, and credit cards are intimately related with points. If you want to talk about cruising in general I haven't found a better board than this:
http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic/a/cfrm

AA also partners with a cruise program. Cruiseawards.com, I believe.

aa & ua in senior news letters have cruise
promotions. in statement mailings i get cruise pitches w/ miles bonuses. i think that if you call the line & say what you want- airline etc, it might work

Diners Club frequently has cruise promotions for earning DC points, which of course you can turn into FF miles.

My vote is in for having a forum on cruises/cruising. You should see the BBs and forum sizes on this topic at other Web sites. Lots of interest. It is also a fast growing industry in the travel business.

We could discuss FF award discounts/promos, fare specials, and even how to best plan to save up enough points to get that coveted free week's cruise (how many MHDs is that !!?? )

Hey, we can even have a FT Theme Cruise. Why not? Theme cruises are very popular.
We can exchange luggage tags and make plans to conquer the airline and hotel FF world.

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Got points ? Got smiles !

The next market segment to reward frequent travelers will be cruises. Not certain which companies reward repeat visitors at this time. Good idea however not to break it down by individual companies but we should have one area to post.

Also, thanks for the tips on cruise boards elsewhere which had too much information.
They were too big and not as well organized as FT. It took me some 20 minutes scanning for something on Holland America's Zaandam only to get Alaska cruises.

Lastly, if it wasn't for this thread here on FT about this subject, I would have possibly never learned about cruiseawards.com I am running out of avenues to accrue more AA miles and a cruise could be one of the 20 partners promotion.

the cruise lines that we have used all have ft programs. almost always 5% off, sometimes credit on shipboard account [ boutique, hair, bar, etc ] + specials. also offer ff mi usually thru ff news letter. also, the ft 5% is normally off of whatever the current [special] price.

[This message has been edited by clacko (edited 05-02-2001).]

what unique timing. We have been working on a story on crusing and their tie-ins with frequent flyer programs, both earning and burning miles. I was even thinking of taking a crusie to see what it's all about since my only experience is The Big Red Boat to the Bahamas.....hey, they called it cruising...

Anyway, let me think how this might work, but your points are well taken and give me a much needed place to start....