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Save on Cruises with Travel Rewards Credit Cards

January 11, 2016 by Brad 12 Comments  Richmond Savers has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Richmond Savers and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Disclosures.

Cruise Ship ImageOne of the questions we get asked most often is: “Our family is going on a cruise and we want to save money using credit card rewards points.  Can you help?”

Cruises are a popular vacation option for many families, but unfortunately there are no cruise-specific credit cards with significant signup bonuses worth getting (in my opinion).

But never fear, because there are ways to save big on your family cruise with credit card rewards points!

Fixed Value Travel Rewards Cards to the Rescue

The most flexible of all travel rewards credit cards are known as the “fixed value” credit cards where you use these cards to pay for your travel expense and then you log into your card account after the fact to redeem your “miles” for a statement credit reducing your credit card bill.

It could not be easier to do this and cruises are considered travel expenses on these cards. Right now, by far the best fixed value card is the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.

How It Works

Capital One VentureThe Capital One Venture signup current offer is 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months after you open the account. There is a $95 annual fee. The bonus is worth $750 of free, flexible travel.. These miles are INCREDIBLY easy to use, as I explain below…

Other Card Perks

Let’s talk more about why this card is so easy-to-use and great for certain types of travel:

  • You simply “erase” travel expenses you’ve already made by redeeming miles in your online account.
  • This generic “travel” redemption gives you lots of flexibility and allows for using points in situations where you wouldn’t be able to otherwise.
  • No minimum redemption. You can redeem for a $5 Uber ride if you want to.
  • You can partially redeem expenses. (Example: redeem $100 from a $200 hotel stay). There is a minimum for partial redemptions of $25 (2,500 miles).

As you can see, there are lots of great perks here. Again, this is great for beginners, but it’s equally great for anyone whose plans involve general travel (like a CRUISE!!!) that can’t be redeemed with other point programs. For now, this is absolutely the top fixed-value card.

You would simply use this credit card to pay for your cruise and nobody would know that you are using “miles” to save money.  Just find the best deal you can on your cruise, book it and pay for it with this card. Then once you’ve reached your minimum spending requirement and earned your bonus miles you just log into your credit card account, and redeem them against that travel expense which will reduce your credit card bill.

Simple as can be.

Other Tips

Your travel expense can even be part of your original minimum spending requirement, so a family cruise will likely get you most or all of the way to the spending requirement to trigger your bonus.

Cruise line picYou have up to 90 days after the purchase to redeem your miles back against the travel expense, so that gives you time to accumulate even more points.

Keep in mind that each adult can open up a credit card in their name and SSN to further increase the savings.  You would need to split the travel expenses across the two credit cards, but that shouldn’t be a problem since you likely will pay for your cruise in installments and you’ll also have a bill for your on-board purchases.

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Richmond Savers has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Richmond Savers and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

Filed Under: Travel Rewards

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Comments

  1. Marjorie says

    February 27, 2016 at 4:30 pm

    Hello Brad,
    I have question, me and my husband are going to Jamaica Nov 25-29, what should we do? What credit cards??

    Reply
    • Brad says

      February 29, 2016 at 5:14 pm

      Hi Marjorie,
      Thanks for getting in touch! Without more information it is hard to say, but without question you can’t go wrong with the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®:
      Just use it to pay for some of your travel expense — flights, hotels, etc. You and your husband can each open one to double up on the savings.
      The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is another incredibly good card and depending on your travel it could be great for flights.
      If you want to contact me, I’d love to help. brad at richmondsavers dot com is the email address.
      More info on the cards: https://www.richmondsavers.com/top-credit-card-offers/
      Thanks,
      Brad

      Reply
  2. Chris says

    November 21, 2016 at 1:47 pm

    Hi,
    We are looking to book a Disney Cruise in early 2018 or late 2017, would this card be a good way to help pay for that? Last time we went on a Disney Cruise we paid a travel agent in installments but if we can save $500+ with this card would that be the way to go?

    THanks

    Reply
    • Brad says

      November 21, 2016 at 4:26 pm

      Hi Chris,
      You can use the Arrival Plus to pay either a travel agent or to book a cruise, so in either case it would work! 🙂
      Thanks,
      Brad

      Reply
  3. Olesya says

    March 9, 2017 at 4:19 pm

    Thanks for the info, we’re going to use to this to cut 1K off our Disney cruise 🙂

    Reply
  4. Suzanne Boggs says

    August 12, 2017 at 8:48 pm

    Thanks so much for all your great tips!!! Wanting to use the Barclay credit card to pay for our Disney cruise. How long does it take Barclay to issue the travel credit on the card? We do not like to carry any interest on credit cards.

    Reply
    • Thomas says

      August 14, 2017 at 1:15 pm

      Yep–no interest required here 🙂 That is the #1 rule to this hobby for sure… To answer your question you would need to meet the minimum spend first and then the bonus typically posts once you’ve met that spend. Just be sure to take advantage of the credit/reimbursement soon, as only purchases within the past 120 days are eligible.

      Reply
  5. Darya says

    August 13, 2017 at 8:48 pm

    Amazing advice! Wow! I’m super impressed! When I go to book my next Disney Cruise, should would you recommend getting the card first? Or the reservation? I usually book 1 1/2 years in advance. Do you ever book with Expedia & Ebates as well? I’m interested to know how to sail again for less!
    Thank you,
    Darya

    Reply
    • Thomas says

      August 14, 2017 at 1:16 pm

      You’ll want the card before any payment is processed. Using ebates/Expedia could be a nice added bonus too. Since the final purchase would be through Expedia, that should code as travel and still be an eligible expense.

      Reply
  6. Jim F says

    September 15, 2017 at 5:07 pm

    I’m confused about the 120 day rule. We’re using our Arrival plus almost exclusively for purchases, saving up points for a Disney cruise in December 2018. Are the points we accrue prior to 120 days before December 2018 (i.e., August 2018) not applicable for this trip?

    Reply
    • Thomas says

      September 18, 2017 at 11:32 am

      Hi Jim, points are applicable, but you can’t wipe away charges that were 120 days old. If you’re saving up for a cruise in the future, that shouldn’t be an issue. Once you pay for the cruise expenses on this card, you’ll have 120 days to redeem your points for those expenses. Hope that helps!

      Reply
      • Jim F says

        September 18, 2017 at 4:42 pm

        Yes, thanks. I spoke with a Barclay rep and she said the same basic thing

        Reply

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