Using TYP for a cruise - how does it work?

[Matt]

I was wondering if we could help out @GettingReady by finding a way to reduce the cost of her cruise - I'm really crap at TYP, but thought that they can be used with a bonus, even on a cruise, if you have the right card.

Can anyone confirm:

• If they work for a cruise.
• How the bonus works - IE does it price the pts required differently, or offer a rebate of points or something? I want to know if we can budget the cost of the cruise and then have a goal.

 

[stlcole]

I am unsure about TYP or any value-add way to convert points/miles to cruises, so this answer might not be helpful.

But for cash buyers, Discover Deals has some 5% (Royal Caribbean, Celebrity) and 10% (Norwegian and a few others) deals on cruises if booked through the affiliated travel agency (who was good in my limited experience). I did get a better deal through cruisecompete.com after bludgeoning the TA with cumulative 10% cash back I was going to get via DC, so I ended getting the money discounted on the front end, and didn't have to wait. Anyone who has a new DC will get 2X of the cruise cash-back if the cruise is finished by their 10th, maybe 11th, invoice.

 

[GettingReady]

Thanks, Matt! Currently my dh has 63,810 TYP and I have 53,075 TYP on our Premier cards. I'm sure Simon would be glad to help us spend more money to get more points!

 

[Matt]

I am unsure about TYP or any value-add way to convert points/miles to cruises, so this answer might not be helpful.

But for cash buyers, Discover Deals has some 5% (Royal Caribbean, Celebrity) and 10% (Norwegian and a few others) deals on cruises if booked through the affiliated travel agency (who was good in my limited experience). I did get a better deal through cruisecompete.com after bludgeoning the TA with cumulative 10% cash back I was going to get via DC, so I ended getting the money discounted on the front end, and didn't have to wait. Anyone who has a new DC will get 2X of the cruise cash-back if the cruise is finished by their 10th, maybe 11th, invoice.

Good stuff - but in this case I'm specifically trying to see if we can apply a multiplier to the below balances - it would take care of a lot of the cruise if so.

Thanks, Matt! Currently my dh has 63,810 TYP and I have 53,075 TYP on our Premier cards. I'm sure Simon would glad to help us spend more money to get more points!

 

[Matt]

If people don't know about a cruise - a data point for how it works for AA would be a good start!

 

[bjk497]

If people don't know about a cruise - a data point for how it works for AA would be a good start!

According to this post from Frequent Miler, if @GettingReady (or DH) has a Premier card, you can get 1.25 cents per point towards a cruise. Otherwise it will be 1 cent per point.

http://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/2015/05/28/a-new-comparison-of-citi-prestige-premier-and-preferred-cards/

When I log in to my Citi account, I found the following:
To book your cruise, call the ThankYou Service Center at 1-800-THANKYOU (1-800-842-6596).

 

[Matt]

According to this post from Frequent Miler, if @GettingReady (or DH) has a Premier card, you can get 1.25 cents per point towards a cruise. Otherwise it will be 1 cent per point.

http://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/2015/05/28/a-new-comparison-of-citi-prestige-premier-and-preferred-cards/

When I log in to my Citi account, I found the following:
To book your cruise, call the ThankYou Service Center at 1-800-THANKYOU (1-800-842-6596).

Thanks for the reply. I knew of the 1.25, but wasn't sure if it could pop to 1.6 the way AA does, and how to find that out. It seems to be 1.25 is the max.. perhaps! I got the same issue, so I called them up and priced it out. Prices seem competitive, which was a bit of a surprise.

 

[stlcole]

Just remember when pricing the cruise out, the opportunity costs isn't the actual cruise cost, but the actual cruise cost less either the DC discounts which are high currently, or the OBC which can be significant if booking through cruisecompete.com. (And maybe there are some other ways to skinny the cash cost of a cruise that I haven't found yet).

 

[Matt]

Just remember when pricing the cruise out, the opportunity costs isn't the actual cruise cost, but the actual cruise cost less either the DC discounts which are high currently, or the OBC which can be significant if booking through cruisecompete.com. (And maybe there are some other ways to skinny the cash cost of a cruise that I haven't found yet).

Good reminder.

 

[pier11]

One just call phone of Citi travel agency. And book with points. Only Premier has 1.25x to cruises, not Prestige. 1.6x is via Prestige for AA airfare only.

In my case prices and OBC were the same/similar as on RC website. (I booked some time ago at 1x when were no multipliers yet.)

One can pay just partially for cruise. Not sure if they will let additional payments later with points and multiplier... They should I think.

 

[GettingReady]

Bjk, we both have the Premier card, so it's nice to know the points are worth a little more. Also nice to have a couple data points, Matt's and Pierr11, that the prices are competitive.

Sticole, let me know if you figure out any shortcuts!

 

[GettingReady]

I spoke with a CSR from the cruise booking site with TYP and here's a copy of the notesI made:

Booking Cruise with TYP: no separate number, Ask for “cruise booking” when calling main # 800-842-6596
Hours: 9-9 Mon-Fri, 9-5 Sat., Closed Sun
Cancellation fee: based on NCL not TYP. (14 days non-refundable). Points can be refunded.
Can pay with cash and points. Formula: Points/80 = value
No travel insurance, may be built in with Citi card
Price Fluctuation: Will match price before final payment is made. If you have a balcony and it turns out the mini suite is cheaper, they will also upgrade you if unable to match d/t time frame (kinda confuse on that one)
Availability: usually not a problem if you wait on booking
Redeem Points: Can only redeem x 1, final payment 90 before cruise
Freestyle also available with TYP: specialty dining, drinks, etc but surcharge
Price: Based on 7 day Adriatic Cruise on NCL Jade (different than the one I initially mentioned)
Balcony: 280,000 TYP, Price for 2 seniors (haha): $3,490.10 with port fees, taxes, gratuities included.
Mini Suite: 306,408 TYP, Price $3,830.00 with port fees, taxes, gratuities included.

Essentially, need to keep an eye on prices and figure out the best time to book. In our case we need a lot more points, so won't be booking early. Not even sure if we can make it or not. We have ~120K points. My dh can pick up another 50k with a Citigold checking account. We can also add savings accounts and use the Premier to fund those.

I did come across a citi calculator for points. Probably didn't break up the link right but you can get the gist.

https://online.citi.com/US/JRS/portal/template [ dot] do?ID=TYCalculator

 

[Matt]

Essentially, need to keep an eye on prices and figure out the best time to book. In our case we need a lot more points, so won't be booking early.

This is now a race between getting the points, and losing the inventory... don't forget you could hedge your bets by doing a partial redemption.. eg snag the 50K and lock it in then, even with some cash left to pay. Sometimes, too much perfection (getting 100% of the points) can lead to trouble... such as, you finally get them, and your room has increased in price/sold out.

Tricky stuff.

 

[GettingReady]

Hopefully going in off season will help as far as availability. As far as the Jade, is the mini suite worth the extra $460? And for the math pros here who know how to calculate the value of points and dollars, what reasonable goal on the points would you aim for?

The flights will be covered with AA miles. There's still hotels, meals, train trip from Rome to Venice, flight to Germany, and a land tour that we're planning on doing. We can afford to pay for they trip but would like to utilize miles and points as much as possible to assuage feeling of guilt.

 

[Matt]

As far as the Jade, is the mini suite worth the extra $460?

I never did a mini suite on the Jade, I jumped to a Penthouse (real suite for NCL, with butler). I have been on the Gem in the Minisuite and like it. Basically.. its just a bit bigger cabin (and sometimes a bit bigger balcony) personally ,I just paid to upgrade 2 cruises from Balcony to Minisuite for about that price... but I did so because we have the baby with us and will likely have a pack n play in the room so I feel 30 sqft or so more is worth it. Traveling with two.. balcony is good.

 

[GettingReady]

Thanks, Matt. Appreciate your input.

Babies take lots of room: play yard, stroller, car seat, etc. lol. At one point we had (4) foster two year olds. Not sure what we were thinking. Twenty-two years ago we traveled to EU with a 17 year old and a 7 month old (ours not his). We rented a utility van, they took out one of the seats, and we had the pack n play set up, so the baby could sleep. Back then, high chairs in restaurants were nonexistent. Not sure how things are nowadays.