I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[Haley R]

Florida can be annoying that way....When we moved to Tampa from Southern California ours skyrocketed. I remember seeing some list that had Tampa as something like the 8th highest city in the country for Car insurance. Oh well I will deal with that cost for every other advantage over SoCal.

The lady told us the initial cost is more but the yearly fee should be less. My car yearly is only $28 which I think is pretty cheap

 

[miztressuz]

Ahem, I stock the beverages!

Right, but you just got back so not sure what the state of those are yet

 

[tink1970]

ABD...

The entire trip was at DD's request to do the Danube River Cruise for her graduation. I am fairly neutral about the ABD product -I really enjoyed some of the guides and I like that there are other teens/young adults for DD. If I do a tour, I am just as happy to do Tauck (you can pay extra for small groups, more options, more adult only tours), but anyway...

There were several multigenerational groups and for the most part the 134 people on board got along well (there are always a bad apple or two, and unsupervised annoying children but in a large group, you can identify them and avoid them, which we did). We met several lovely people and the ship and its crew were amazing. I could do without the Sound of Music focus on the Salzburg day and the heat was oppressive...ABD can do something about the former but not the latter I do think it's a great product for our situation-3 generations celebrating and spending time together. There were several graduation/anniversary groups on board.

The days with the smaller groups were best for me. Day 1 was a choice of the Lazar Equestrian Park or a food tour- I was one of ten on the food tour and it was very enjoyable. It's also easier to get to know your fellow travelers that way. We also went to Mondsee instead of the salt mine and due to timing, didn't get to spend much time there but it was still a nice (albeit brief) visit to that lovely town.

I enjoy the river cruise format and the AMA ships/crew are wonderful-I'd likely return to them. Viking is very popular but they appeared to be a slightly older demographic-AMA and other ships have bicycles for passengers to use, Viking does not, for example.

 

[Haley R]

I saw a slinky fp for today at 2. Too bad that won’t work for us lol

 

[tink1970]

Final thoughts...

It was a good trip, albeit long. We flew rt from MUC-PRG and hiring a driver would have made more sense, I think. I used a spend $1k on Air France, get 20K MRs so that's why I did it. Those extra days of flying were just hard, though.

ABD is a good product for our needs on this trip, but I'm not wed to them.

Hiring good guides for city tours was easy and worked well for us, but it was also nice to have part of the 2 weeks mindless-ie, letting ABD make the plans. I don't think I'd enjoy 2 weeks of being Julie McCoy!

The heat was unfortunate-I did slightly less because of it AND I hadn't packed as many clothes, not expecting to change clothes during the day. Also, I won't be a cheapskate again if laundry services are available (I'd only had a few things done, then had to do sink laundry twice to have enough to wear ).

Two weeks is a long time to be away from the house and the dogs. DF and DH did a good job, but worrying is my job so I did worry a bit about them. That said, I plan to enjoy the heck out of London/Paris/DLP ABD in October and Oz/NZ in Feb.

United Polaris is pretty sweet!

If y'all have any questions, I'm certainly no expert but am happy to help if I can

 

[afan]

New reports about the onsite cc holds and magicband charging. Looking like the $100 hold is still done but they aren't charging cards at 5 nights butnat the end of the trip again. One poster was told this when they asked and a couple others have has it happen this way but didn't ask. I've been keeping up with the thread on the resort board so I can figure out how I want to pay for stuff next month.

 

[wanderlust7]

Does Southwest charge each ticket separately? Since the Amex airline credit is not working for GC, thinking I might try a sub-$100 flight. Flight coming back from DL from LAX is the cheapest at $70. Flying with DD (age 7), so I can't buy them separately (without using a work-around). If the charge processes as $140, it won't work. If it processes at $70 x 2, maybe.

 

[Alexle2007]

.

 

[Alexle2007]

Does Southwest charge each ticket separately? Since the Amex airline credit is not working for GC, thinking I might try a sub-$100 flight. Flight coming back from DL from LAX is the cheapest at $70. Flying with DD (age 7), so I can't buy them separately (without using a work-around). If the charge processes as $140, it won't work. If it processes at $70 x 2, maybe.

Yes, SW does. Two flights booked together, you would see two separate charges.

 

[spacerangerqueen]

My Marriott free night cert finally posted!
Annual Fee posted May 10th. Was wondering if it was ever going to show up.

 

[iujen94]

I got the CIP in February (automatic approval) with a $5k credit limit. I just got an email from Chase that my limit has been increased to $8500 (I didn’t request the increase, they just gave it to me). Any thoughts on whether that’s good or bad in terms of future applications? I’m planning to apply for the SW personal and business cards in January/February 2020. Thanks!!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Uh Oh... I got in trouble with Daddy AK...

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I got the CIP in February (automatic approval) with a $5k credit limit. I just got an email from Chase that my limit has been increased to $8500 (I didn’t request the increase, they just gave it to me). Any thoughts on whether that’s good or bad in terms of future applications? I’m planning to apply for the SW personal and business cards in January/February 2020. Thanks!!

Hey there! Have you thought about going for another CIP now? It would be great timing in between your previous one and your SW cards in late fall... You could refer yourself and get 80k + 5k + 20k out of 1 signup!

I don't think the credit increase is a good thing or a bad thing. You can always call and ask them to exclude you from future credit limit increases and you can adjust your credit limit at any time back down if you want.

 

[Alexle2007]

Instant approval for DH on the Hilton Biz! I decided to use my Biz Gold referral for the 20k MRs since I’ll be closing that account when the AF comes due.

 

[snugglebug]

Wells Fargo $400 posted with Ally ACHs (pushed from Ally). Bonuses seem to post Wed after fulfilling the requirements. As always you never know when this might change.
4/22 opened
5/29 $3001
6/18 $3001
7/1 $3001
7/3 $400 bonus
@disneymagicgirl @Nick6300 @StephPlum

This isn't cumulative, correct? I could do $1500+ in, then out and back in again to meet the $3000+?

 

[striker1064]

Uh Oh... I got in trouble with Daddy AK...

View attachment 413946

This dude could use a new hobby.

 

[amalone1013]

Finally hit 3 years for AAoA I think it's been 2 something since I started churning

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

This dude could use a new hobby.

Seriously he got banned from the sub and instead of just creating an alt and moving on (ie rejoining the conversation) he continues to lurk in the shadows, read everything and then call people out in PMs. It's super strange...

 

[nickle831]

Apparently there’s a glitch (or a well disguised intentional flash sale to generate buzz) on the RCCL site and a bunch of people have been able to book the deluxe beverage package for under $20/adult/night including taxes and gratuities. I barely drink alcohol and DH has at most 2-3 a day but this was actually cheaper than the soda only package and included specialty coffees and fresh juices. I was able to get the package for our July 2020 sailing. So if anyone has a future RCCL cruise it might be worth checking out. I don’t think it will be up for very long.

I am so sad I missed this deal for our cruise next June. Hopefully they will still have a decent black friday sale.

 

[mmmears]

The heat was unfortunate-I did slightly less because of it AND I hadn't packed as many clothes, not expecting to change clothes during the day. Also, I won't be a cheapskate again if laundry services are available (I'd only had a few things done, then had to do sink laundry twice to have enough to wear ).

Two weeks is a long time to be away from the house and the dogs. DF and DH did a good job, but worrying is my job so I did worry a bit about them. That said, I plan to enjoy the heck out of London/Paris/DLP ABD in October and Oz/NZ in Feb.

Thanks for all the reviews today - I'm finding them really informative. Also, welcome home!