I recently read an article from a travel concierge (I forget who, so no link) that brought up a really great idea, especially for family travel. Since we now travel as a three, with a toddler, having a Suite is something that has gone from something fun to post on twitter, to a real game […]
What I learned from MS at Sea
We’re back from our cruise now, and I wanted to give a quick update on how the MS aspect went. Here’s the original post, for cave dwellers, and some Q/A from the comments there, along with some things I learned:Commenter: startspreadingthelove I think its more than “2minutes” there are alot of things involved. I’d love […]
Bidding for upgrades on NCL
NCL has introduced a upgrade system. The system works on a bidding system, and they have a fancy dial telling you ‘how good your offer is’. There were lots of really amazing suites on offer through the bidding process. Interestingly, they all had a minimum and maximum range, so the most exclusive was a minimum […]
Introduction to Today’s Manufactured Spend: at Sea Edition
Trevor just gave us a quick state of the union on MS today. Since, we I’m heading off on a cruise next week, I thought to share the ‘At Sea’ version. I really enjoy at Sea MS because it involves walking up to a machine wearing your favorite hawaiian shirt sipping on chilled beverage, typing in […]
Spending Kohl’s Cash
Edit – per the comments, you can’t discount via the Coupon then use Kohl’s cash, so ignore that part of the post.Kohl’s cash is a wonderful thing. For the uninitiated, it’s a bit like real cash, but you can only spend it at Kohl’s. Generally, you earn $10 for every $50 that you spend, though […]
Three Ways to Deduct a Cruise
Here’s three different ways that you might be able to deduct the cost of a cruise. When dealing with taxes we must remember that this is always a positional argument. We hope to find a part of the tax code that supports us, and must remember that the IRS can challenge that position in exam. […]
How I use data to support negotiation
We’re looking forward to our first cruise on Celebrity next month, where we will get to enjoy 4th of July at Sea, and then head on to enjoy some good food and drinks in Mexico. I thought this a good example to share how I book and negotiate things, and where I elect to bring […]
The Perplexing Case of an extra $137
I recently posted about my upcoming travel booking needs, I’ve had a bit of luck since then, as I’ll have 4 Marriott Nights rather than two (they reset in June) and I snagged roundtrip airfare for the three of us from NY to Miami for 14.5K Delta miles a pop, non stop. I was already […]
In the weeds booking travel
I’m in the weeds with my travel plans at the moment. A phrase I learned in kitchens where you just can’t seem to catch up with things. In this case, it is self inflicted, as I realized to get the best value out of a lot of concurrent needs, it helps to have them overwhelm […]
Trip Report: Paris and Provence on (mostly) points & miles
We’re on our way back from 6 nights in France split between Provence and Paris. Although most of our prior trips to Europe have been in the summer I’m glad we visited in April. Perhaps we lucked out with hardly a cloud in the sky our entire visit, temperatures warm enough to swim in a […]