I love credit cards so much! v6.0 - 2023 & 2024 (see first page for add'l details)

[Maryrachel713]

We have chase cc and a checking account but the checking account is in the name of our trust. I have no idea if this is also individual but I’m guessing I can’t try for the chase deal. Anyone know otherwise?

Going to have my mom sign up though!

 

[elgerber]

How was the Opal Sands? I have stayed at her sister SandPearl on our first visit to Clearwater and loved that hotel! HR is just easy with Hyatt points and they are terrific at recognizing Globalist status.

We are not hotel snobs at all, but we thought it was really nice. We splurged this time, for 3 nights right by the water. Used Cap One points for it. Having the pantry on each floor with large bottles of water 24/7 and cookies every afternoon was nice. Bed was comfy, the couch was super comfy. Nespresso coffee maker in the room. Nice glass shower.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

To people who have opened the Chase 900 bonus accounts, when you are asked to log into your existing accounts, did you log in with your personal account credentials or your combined login (which is actually the business credential). I am trying to avoid the errors that have happened to some people because there is no branch near me where I can try to get it fixed lol.

I used personal credentials as I was concerned the other might somehow push me into a business account.

Very easy to open, got email confirming I was working towards the $900 bonus, and can see accounts in the combined credential account now that they're open.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I got back from 4 nights at the WA Cabo late Saturday night. It was a long way to travel for just 3 full days; I decided that if I go again it will be for at least 5 nights!

What an ordeal getting there turned out to be. I had booked YYZ --> ORD --> SJD on AA using one of dh's SWU. There was a 2 hour layover in ORD, so I never thought I'd have an issue. My flight left was scheduled to leave at 6:30am and I had received an e-mail from AA at 3:45 stating that my flight was on time. I spent a bit of time in the PP lounge, then headed to the gate shortly after 6am. Force of habit, if there is a line, I seem to join, which turned out to the best thing this time. It didn't take long to realize that no announcement was being made about the flight and the 2 gate agents were furiously working away with customers. I saw a young lady being told to run for a flight to LGA and didn't think too much about it, until the girl behind me in line said that the flight was cancelled. The board said it was on time, as did the AA app. I asked who told her that and she pointed to an AA employee at another gate. I quickly ran over to her and asked her if the flight was indeed cancelled and she confirmed that it was, this despite the board saying it was on time. Since the line wasn't moving, I immediately called AA CS and was told that the flight was indeed on time; when I told the CSR that I had been told the flight was cancelled and boarding hadn't started, she told me to ask the gate agents, which I did. The gate agents confirmed that the flight was cancelled.

The CSR on the phone tried to find me another flight but said there was nothing available for that day. This is when knowing every flight that AA makes to SJD paid off (I tend to over-research my travel). I asked her if there was anything through Dallas and she said that there was! There was a flight to Dallas leaving at 6:44am (it was 6:20 by this time); I asked if there was an open seat and she confirmed that there was and also that there was a seat from Dallas to Cabo. So I made a (very) mad dash to the gate for the Dallas flight.

When I got to the gate for the DFW flight there was a huge line of passengers boarding. I went to the gate agent and asked if there was room on the plane, after explaining what had happened to my flight to Chicago. Y'all she has to be the rudest employee that AA has (I'd be shocked if there was a ruder agent). She looked at me (almost in tears from the stress) and said "I am not here to sell people tickets". I explained that the CSR on the phone (who was lovely) told me that there was an open seat and that she could provide me with boarding passes for the flight to DFW and then on to SJD. She said that I should call AA and have them re-book me because it "wasn't her job". Now some people might give up at this point, but I knew that I wouldn't be getting my 120,000 pts back from the WA, so I begged and pleaded with her to please, please, please help me. She then told me that the flight was oversold and I'd have to be put on the standby list. She then told me to "go and have a seat and pray that a seat opened up".

After the line of boarding passengers had whittled down and everyone had boarded, she called me up and very grudgingly handed me 2 boarding passes. Of note is that the flight from DFW --> SJD had a 50 min connection time. When I went to board the same gate agent told me that I'd have to check my carry-on because the bins on the plane were full. I asked if she meant gate check and she said no, check all the way through to Cabo.

At this point I had no choice but to hand her my carry-on to check through. When I got to my seat (which was in the exit row, yay!), the FA asked if I had a bag to put in the overhead bin -- I told her that I had to check my carry-on and she was very surprised because there was enough room in the bins for my bag. Oh well. I knew that trying to argue with the gate agent wasn't going to get me anywhere because she was so rude.

The lady in the middle seat overheard me telling my story to the FA and she then told me that her and her husband were on the same ill-fated flight to Chicago. They were told that some of the crew were no shows and they didn't have adequate crew for the flight. Anyways, her and her husband were returning to Sydney, Australia after 2 weeks in Toronto. She told me that the gate agent was also incredibly to her and her husband. I will be reporting her without doubt (I have to call anyways because I booked a biz class seat and ended up in economy for both legs).

I was able to make the connecting flight to SJD and there were plenty of empty seats. No exit row for the final leg, but there was an empty middle seat and the passenger in the window seat was a lady about my age. We started talking and ended up chatting all the way there. She was staying with a friend in a time share just outside of town. We ended up exchanging information and she invited me all the activities they had planned for the week! I did go horseback riding with them, but declined the other activities because I wanted to enjoy the resort. So I guess that is a silver lining. After all the chaos I was certain that my bag wasn't going to make the 50 min connection in DFW, so I was very pleasantly surprised when my bag arrived safely!

What else could possibly go wrong? More to follow........

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I agree with your DH. Years ago we would adjust dates to accommodate others who wanted to come with, even though it was more expensive. After having people back out twice with set dates, we stopped accommodating dates. It became here is when we are going, come or don’t.

Sometime down the line, we learned the lesson of not accommodating plans for others who insisted on coming with us. It was more stressful and then we felt like we didn’t get to do some things we wanted, in order to make things feasible for the entire travel party.

Travel with family is like herding cats sometimes and mine doesn’t do the points and miles game. So we stick to the annual big family Disney trip Thanksgiving week. This is more manageable since DH and I handle everything and they are just responsible for driving to WDW and their meals.

We also have a group of friends we travel with often and some of them do a little bit of points and miles. Sometimes we are all able to do the same thing, same place, same time on a trip like the recent Galapagos one and there were 9 of us.

Sometimes on some trips we do some things together and sometimes we do our own thing. We’ve got a group of 12 going on our med cruise and DH and I are staying at Le Meridien with a FN cert from BonBlah before the cruise, one couple is at a Hyatt on points and some are at an Air BnB paying cash. After the cruise some are heading to Normandy, some of us are at DLP for 2 nights and some 3 nights, some are staying in Paris and some going home and we are going to Wales. Everyone is perfectly ok with this. Our friends group trip to Egypt with ABD is shaping up to be about the same scenario. Different plans pre and post stay.

We keep the group posted In a chat we have and keep everyone up to date on what we are doing. They can decide if they are in or not. Of course I always hep them with using their points and miles to book fights and hotels.

So yeah, I agree with the others who said show them the real money cost, tell them what your doing and then let them decide.

Oh and Happy Lunar New Year everyone!

I agree, your system sounds nice and agreeable for everyone.
Happy Lunar New Year to you and yours also! We are celebrating with beef lo mein and homemade dumplings. DH also made mooncakes (wrong holiday, but we ordered the molds which didn't come in time for Mid Autumn Festival)

Thanks guys. Exactly the moral support I needed, lol. Sometimes I tend to bend over backwards for my only sibling, the “baby” of the family. I think we’re just going to have a serious convo with them, and give them the option to either stay with us for $150/nt or find their own accommodations. I think once they start searching on their own, they’ll realize it’s not the cheapest area.

As a side note, we’re going in December, so Southwest flights won’t come out til awhile from now. Is availability at Los Altos pretty good about 6 months out, or does it frequently fill up? We’re not going around Christmas… more like first week of December, potentially Dec 2-9. Can I wait to book til we secure flights? Obviously we want to fly on whatever the cheapest days are on points, and I won’t know what those are til the schedule is released for December.

I booked both Andaz Papagayo & Los Altos for March '23 in June '22. In September I noticed a different room open for Andaz and was able to adjust from king to 2 queen room via chat. Los Altos does seem to book up faster than Andaz but I can't say I recall either being totally booked 6 months out. I would consider booking your most likely dates and then adjust if need be after flights are booked. I've been able to call and add or subtract a day even when I wasn't able to do it online.

 

[reliev]

I agree, your system sounds nice and agreeable for everyone.
Happy Lunar New Year to you and yours also! We are celebrating with beef lo mein and homemade dumplings. DH also made mooncakes (wrong holiday, but we ordered the molds which didn't come in time for Mid Autumn Festival)

I booked both Andaz Papagayo & Los Altos for March '23 in June '22. In September I noticed a different room open for Andaz and was able to adjust from king to 2 queen room via chat. Los Altos does seem to book up faster than Andaz but I can't say I recall either being totally booked 6 months out. I would consider booking your most likely dates and then adjust if need be after flights are booked. I've been able to call and add or subtract a day even when I wasn't able to do it online.

I just booked my aa flight took 3 hours of my day, what a terrible site, I ended up using AMEX travel to get the same 3 seats the price varied a lot and was ridiculous, they added an abbreviation for my middle name vs my full name and im fine with that. I would go delta but it was too long of a flight (and overnight) I don't know how 3 flights could add so much money anyway it's solved now—looking forward to the trip. If you're going back it has to be good right?

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I booked a return transfer with Cabo Airport Shuttle for $135.00 (the WA wanted $150.00 each way!). After a short wait a Cadillac Escalade arrived. The driver offered me either cold water or beer. The drive was about 40 minutes (we took the scenic route along the ocean).

I arrived at the resort around 2:30pm, which was around the time my original flight was supposed to land. Got the keys to my room, changed and headed to the beach for a half hour.

I had booked dinner at El Farallon a 5:45, though I have no idea why I thought this was a good idea after waking up at 3:15am EST for the flights. The food was delicious, but I was tired to the bone and found it hard to stay awake after they kept bringing more and more food!

I passed a live band on my way back to my room and immediately noticed that it was playing not to far from my room (building 2, 2nd floor), with music piped through speakers to the patio below my room. I am fairly sure that I have mentioned before that I am cursed with being a very light sleeper. I was hoping that my room had amazing sound-proofing. Alas it did not -- the bass was making the balcony doors in my room vibrate and trying to sleep with the boom boom boom of the bass proved impossible, despite how tired I was. The front desk told me that the band would be playing until 10pm, yippee. No sleep for me until they packed up for the night. I was offered a room change the next day, which I politely accepted, because I do enjoy my sleep.

I suppose the best thing about coming from the east coast is that one never misses a sunrise in Cabo. I was up before 5:30am got dressed and headed to the gym!

I found service to be hit and miss here. Without exception the restaurant staff was excellent, as was the food. The food was seriously delicious. When I asked the front desk when I could move rooms, I was told they would be in touch with me when the room was ready. Around 2pm I hadn't heard anything, so on my way to get ready for horseback riding I asked again. I was told that I would hear from someone "shortly". After I returned to the hotel from riding I changed clothes and headed to dinner. After dinner I still hadn't heard anything about the room change, so I went to the front desk again. The manager came out and apologized and said he had a room ready for me in the building next door. Their housekeeping staff moved my items (I normally wouldn't be okay with this, but I was tired and thought I'd give it a try -- happy to say that they did an excellent job (I went back to the old room to clear out the safe). It was dark so I wasn't able to see the view, but the manager assured me that it was even better than the last room. When I woke up at 5:30am and threw open the curtains I was surprised to have a fantastic view of the rooftops of the beachfront villas. Ugh. Headed off to the gym again and was showering upon my return when I noticed that there was no soap or shampoo in the shower. Has anyone ever tried to wash themselves with conditioner? I don't recommend it. The same manager I had spoken to the night before saw me on my way to breakfast and stopped me to ask what I thought of the room. I told him that I didn't like the view and he offered to move me again. I thought about it again because I don't like to move rooms, but he said he had a room with a fantastic view in building 1 that would be ready later in the day, so I agreed. This time I packed up my stuff and grabbed the keys to the new room around 4pm. Got into the room and was shocked to find a bag of garbage on the table in the hallway. Gross. Yuck. I called down and they sent a bellboy to pick it up (I did take a picture first).

Sometimes I feel like my travels are cursed lol. The USB outlets by the bed didn't work and maintenance had to come and replace the outlet. The a/c wasn't working properly and maintenance had to come to the room to repair the control on the wall, then reset the compressor. The lighted makeup mirror wasn't working, so that had to be replaced. However I could hear the waves crashing against the rocks when I was lying in bed, which I really enjoyed.

I am happy to report that after the above issues with my 3rd room were resolved the next day there weren't any issues. I really enjoyed the resort and loved that it was so close to town, yet felt like it was a world away. I loved that it was hot, yet the constant breeze made it feel like the perfect climate. There were a few times that whales were visible from the pool. I also saw whales from my balcony a few times, though they were quite far out (the binoculars on the beside table are a nice touch).

I am not convinced that I would return. It's mostly because of the distance -- if I was on the west coast and there was a direct flight I would absolutely go back. It's just not that easy from here and though AC does have a direct flight it's on one of their dreaded Rouge planes, which are awful (we flew Rouge in "biz" class -- not even close to a biz class product -- to Lima and it was horrible).

 

[punkin]

I booked a return transfer with Cabo Airport Shuttle for $135.00 (the WA wanted $150.00 each way!). After a short wait a Cadillac Escalade arrived. The driver offered me either cold water or beer. The drive was about 40 minutes (we took the scenic route along the ocean).

I arrived at the resort around 2:30pm, which was around the time my original flight was supposed to land. Got the keys to my room, changed and headed to the beach for a half hour.

I had booked dinner at El Farallon a 5:45, though I have no idea why I thought this was a good idea after waking up at 3:15am EST for the flights. The food was delicious, but I was tired to the bone and found it hard to stay awake after they kept bringing more and more food!

I passed a live band on my way back to my room and immediately noticed that it was playing not to far from my room (building 2, 2nd floor), with music piped through speakers to the patio below my room. I am fairly sure that I have mentioned before that I am cursed with being a very light sleeper. I was hoping that my room had amazing sound-proofing. Alas it did not -- the bass was making the balcony doors in my room vibrate and trying to sleep with the boom boom boom of the bass proved impossible, despite how tired I was. The front desk told me that the band would be playing until 10pm, yippee. No sleep for me until they packed up for the night. I was offered a room change the next day, which I politely accepted, because I do enjoy my sleep.

I suppose the best thing about coming from the east coast is that one never misses a sunrise in Cabo. I was up before 5:30am got dressed and headed to the gym!

I found service to be hit and miss here. Without exception the restaurant staff was excellent, as was the food. The food was seriously delicious. When I asked the front desk when I could move rooms, I was told they would be in touch with me when the room was ready. Around 2pm I hadn't heard anything, so on my way to get ready for horseback riding I asked again. I was told that I would hear from someone "shortly". After I returned to the hotel from riding I changed clothes and headed to dinner. After dinner I still hadn't heard anything about the room change, so I went to the front desk again. The manager came out and apologized and said he had a room ready for me in the building next door. Their housekeeping staff moved my items (I normally wouldn't be okay with this, but I was tired and thought I'd give it a try -- happy to say that they did an excellent job (I went back to the old room to clear out the safe). It was dark so I wasn't able to see the view, but the manager assured me that it was even better than the last room. When I woke up at 5:30am and threw open the curtains I was surprised to have a fantastic view of the rooftops of the beachfront villas. Ugh. Headed off to the gym again and was showering upon my return when I noticed that there was no soap or shampoo in the shower. Has anyone ever tried to wash themselves with conditioner? I don't recommend it. The same manager I had spoken to the night before saw me on my way to breakfast and stopped me to ask what I thought of the room. I told him that I didn't like the view and he offered to move me again. I thought about it again because I don't like to move rooms, but he said he had a room with a fantastic view in building 1 that would be ready later in the day, so I agreed. This time I packed up my stuff and grabbed the keys to the new room around 4pm. Got into the room and was shocked to find a bag of garbage on the table in the hallway. Gross. Yuck. I called down and they sent a bellboy to pick it up (I did take a picture first).

Sometimes I feel like my travels are cursed lol. The USB outlets by the bed didn't work and maintenance had to come and replace the outlet. The a/c wasn't working properly and maintenance had to come to the room to repair the control on the wall, then reset the compressor. The lighted makeup mirror wasn't working, so that had to be replaced. However I could hear the waves crashing against the rocks when I was lying in bed, which I really enjoyed.

I am happy to report that after the above issues with my 3rd room were resolved the next day there weren't any issues. I really enjoyed the resort and loved that it was so close to town, yet felt like it was a world away. I loved that it was hot, yet the constant breeze made it feel like the perfect climate. There were a few times that whales were visible from the pool. I also saw whales from my balcony a few times, though they were quite far out (the binoculars on the beside table are a nice touch).

I am not convinced that I would return. It's mostly because of the distance -- if I was on the west coast and there was a direct flight I would absolutely go back. It's just not that easy from here and though AC does have a direct flight it's on one of their dreaded Rouge planes, which are awful (we flew Rouge in "biz" class -- not even close to a biz class product -- to Lima and it was horrible).

Very eventful trip!

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Is there a way to use this gift card with the monthly credits that we get on the chase cards?

Including @havaneselover, who I think was also interested. So the answer is yes and no, but probably won't be ideal for the infrequent Instacart user. So once you get a digital gift card, you can load it to your Instacart account. Then you check a box indicating if you want to use it or not. So it's YES or NO, but you can't specify an amount.

Like @CyndiLouWho , I almost exclusively shop at Aldi using Instacart. So I'm spending around $100 each week. So these GCs work well for me when I have a smaller amount left on the GC and then I'll use one of my Chase cards for the difference.

For peeps who are primarily only using Instacart to take advantage of the credits, consider buying Instacart GCs at Kroger in $25 increments when they are running a 4x fuel points promo, like they are now. Only load $25 to your account. I know my Aldi has a $35 min spend for free pickup, so then you can put the difference on a Freedom and get your $10 Freedom credit. After your 14% fuel points savings and free $10, $35 worth of groceries will only cost you $21.50, so you'll be saving almost 40% between fuel points and Chase savings. Plus you can earn a few Delta points if you've linked your accounts.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

I got back from 4 nights at the WA Cabo late Saturday night. It was a long way to travel for just 3 full days; I decided that if I go again it will be for at least 5 nights!...

What else could possibly go wrong? More to follow........

I was following along with bated breath! That sounds crazy stressful. Sorry to hear about needing to move rooms so many times; not relaxing at all! I agree that it's a long trip for us who are further north.

 

[DogCat]

I just successfully opened the Chase 900 bank accounts online. What I did: first I cleared all cookies from my browser. Then I logged into DH Chase personal accounts and made a payment. Then I logged out of Chase. Next I opened the email with the offer, clicked on the 3rd button (to open Both) — thanks @KPK02090 — and then it asked if DH was an existing customer and to log in. He logged in using personal credentials and had to enter his drivers license number and then was asked quite a number of security questions. Honestly a couple of these were very hard cause they asked about stuff a long while ago. One was the year an account was opened and options were like 1992 1994 or 1996. I checked credit karma and they had a different year that wasn’t one of the options lol. So we guessed and it must have been right because it allowed us to finish. Now we just have to get the funds transferred to meet the requirement. Hope that helps others!

Also I saved screenshots of the initial screens that had the bonus details.

 

[georgina]

I just successfully opened the Chase 900 bank accounts online. What I did: first I cleared all cookies from my browser. Then I logged into DH Chase personal accounts and made a payment. Then I logged out of Chase. Next I opened the email with the offer, clicked on the 3rd button (to open Both) — thanks @KPK02090 — and then it asked if DH was an existing customer and to log in. He logged in using personal credentials and had to enter his drivers license number and then was asked quite a number of security questions. Honestly a couple of these were very hard cause they asked about stuff a long while ago. One was the year an account was opened and options were like 1992 1994 or 1996. I checked credit karma and they had a different year that wasn’t one of the options lol. So we guessed and it must have been right because it allowed us to finish. Now we just have to get the funds transferred to meet the requirement. Hope that helps others!

Also I saved screenshots of the initial screens that had the bonus details.

Weird. No DL info or security questions were needed for ours. Glad you got them opened!

 

[jujubiee4]

I appreciate any insight from forum members.

Thinking about going on Alaska cruise this year and next. I prefer early morning nonstop and only
AirCanada is offering that from Calif. Flights are between 250-400. Looks like aeroplan points are
20-25k each. I have Chase UR's and Cap1 miles available. I won't get my new Amex Platinum sub for
quite a while. Does it make sense to get Aeroplan card? Wait for flight prices to drop and just pay cash?
Transfer points? What really irritates me is the 30 baggage fee. I see no way around that.Except card. Plat wont take care of that.

So i will need 4 tickets this summer and maybe 3 for next. 210 in baggage fees.

Thank you.

 

[Princess Michele]

I appreciate any insight from forum members.

Thinking about going on Alaska cruise this year and next. I prefer early morning nonstop and only
AirCanada is offering that from Calif. Flights are between 250-400. Looks like aeroplan points are
20-25k each. I have Chase UR's and Cap1 miles available. I won't get my new Amex Platinum sub for
quite a while. Does it make sense to get Aeroplan card? Wait for flight prices to drop and just pay cash?
Transfer points? What really irritates me is the 30 baggage fee. I see no way around that.Except card. Plat wont take care of that.

So i will need 4 tickets this summer and maybe 3 for next. 210 in baggage fees.

Thank you.

We have an Alaska cruise this summer so I opened the Aeroplan card last September to use the points for our flights home. With the Aeroplan card you receive a 10% bonus when transferring Chase UR's to Aeroplan. There was also a bonus transfer offered in November which worked for us. Maybe there will be another one later this year.

If you have a CSR the annual travel credit should work for the baggage fee if you have not used it before your trip. I am planning to use that for our second bags when my travel credit resets in May.

The Aeroplan card also has PYB now at 1.25% for travel purchases including flights. I am thinking about using it for some of the taxes or seat selection charges to use up my remaining points since we will probably not fly Air Canada again anytime soon.

I was going to spend the amount of the MSR anyway so I decided the card was worth it to use the points for the flights and the free checked bag for the 5 of us.

 

[reliev]

I booked a return transfer with Cabo Airport Shuttle for $135.00 (the WA wanted $150.00 each way!). After a short wait a Cadillac Escalade arrived. The driver offered me either cold water or beer. The drive was about 40 minutes (we took the scenic route along the ocean).

I arrived at the resort around 2:30pm, which was around the time my original flight was supposed to land. Got the keys to my room, changed and headed to the beach for a half hour.

I had booked dinner at El Farallon a 5:45, though I have no idea why I thought this was a good idea after waking up at 3:15am EST for the flights. The food was delicious, but I was tired to the bone and found it hard to stay awake after they kept bringing more and more food!

I passed a live band on my way back to my room and immediately noticed that it was playing not to far from my room (building 2, 2nd floor), with music piped through speakers to the patio below my room. I am fairly sure that I have mentioned before that I am cursed with being a very light sleeper. I was hoping that my room had amazing sound-proofing. Alas it did not -- the bass was making the balcony doors in my room vibrate and trying to sleep with the boom boom boom of the bass proved impossible, despite how tired I was. The front desk told me that the band would be playing until 10pm, yippee. No sleep for me until they packed up for the night. I was offered a room change the next day, which I politely accepted, because I do enjoy my sleep.

I suppose the best thing about coming from the east coast is that one never misses a sunrise in Cabo. I was up before 5:30am got dressed and headed to the gym!

I found service to be hit and miss here. Without exception the restaurant staff was excellent, as was the food. The food was seriously delicious. When I asked the front desk when I could move rooms, I was told they would be in touch with me when the room was ready. Around 2pm I hadn't heard anything, so on my way to get ready for horseback riding I asked again. I was told that I would hear from someone "shortly". After I returned to the hotel from riding I changed clothes and headed to dinner. After dinner I still hadn't heard anything about the room change, so I went to the front desk again. The manager came out and apologized and said he had a room ready for me in the building next door. Their housekeeping staff moved my items (I normally wouldn't be okay with this, but I was tired and thought I'd give it a try -- happy to say that they did an excellent job (I went back to the old room to clear out the safe). It was dark so I wasn't able to see the view, but the manager assured me that it was even better than the last room. When I woke up at 5:30am and threw open the curtains I was surprised to have a fantastic view of the rooftops of the beachfront villas. Ugh. Headed off to the gym again and was showering upon my return when I noticed that there was no soap or shampoo in the shower. Has anyone ever tried to wash themselves with conditioner? I don't recommend it. The same manager I had spoken to the night before saw me on my way to breakfast and stopped me to ask what I thought of the room. I told him that I didn't like the view and he offered to move me again. I thought about it again because I don't like to move rooms, but he said he had a room with a fantastic view in building 1 that would be ready later in the day, so I agreed. This time I packed up my stuff and grabbed the keys to the new room around 4pm. Got into the room and was shocked to find a bag of garbage on the table in the hallway. Gross. Yuck. I called down and they sent a bellboy to pick it up (I did take a picture first).

Sometimes I feel like my travels are cursed lol. The USB outlets by the bed didn't work and maintenance had to come and replace the outlet. The a/c wasn't working properly and maintenance had to come to the room to repair the control on the wall, then reset the compressor. The lighted makeup mirror wasn't working, so that had to be replaced. However I could hear the waves crashing against the rocks when I was lying in bed, which I really enjoyed.

I am happy to report that after the above issues with my 3rd room were resolved the next day there weren't any issues. I really enjoyed the resort and loved that it was so close to town, yet felt like it was a world away. I loved that it was hot, yet the constant breeze made it feel like the perfect climate. There were a few times that whales were visible from the pool. I also saw whales from my balcony a few times, though they were quite far out (the binoculars on the beside table are a nice touch).

I am not convinced that I would return. It's mostly because of the distance -- if I was on the west coast and there was a direct flight I would absolutely go back. It's just not that easy from here and though AC does have a direct flight it's on one of their dreaded Rouge planes, which are awful (we flew Rouge in "biz" class -- not even close to a biz class product -- to Lima and it was horrible).

sorry to hear that, I hope the CR hotel isn't like that, I also am a light sleeper I freaking value sleep above almost every room and or resort amenity.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I appreciate any insight from forum members.

Thinking about going on Alaska cruise this year and next. I prefer early morning nonstop and only
AirCanada is offering that from Calif. Flights are between 250-400. Looks like aeroplan points are
20-25k each. I have Chase UR's and Cap1 miles available. I won't get my new Amex Platinum sub for
quite a while. Does it make sense to get Aeroplan card? Wait for flight prices to drop and just pay cash?
Transfer points? What really irritates me is the 30 baggage fee. I see no way around that.Except card. Plat wont take care of that.

So i will need 4 tickets this summer and maybe 3 for next. 210 in baggage fees.

Thank you.

There is a loophole with AC cash flights (I've never done it, but have read about many that have). Book the flight; if you want to cancel the flight, call CS and ask to upgrade to a latitude fare (which is refundable). You see where I'm going with this....after the fare is upgraded you can cancel with no penalty. Make sure that whatever fare you book is upgradable.

Not sure that I'd recommend the AC card; I signed up last year and received a pass that gave me 50K pts + 70K (I think) back on any worldwide fare. I used this pass to take my first class Lufthansa flight in the fall (fantastic deal at 100K pts less 50K). However I see that it is now just 70K points. If you don't mind tying up the 5/24 spot and really want the free checked bags, then I suppose it might be worth it. With the $95.00 AF you aren't saving that much.

 

[mmmears]

I booked a return transfer with Cabo Airport Shuttle for $135.00 (the WA wanted $150.00 each way!). After a short wait a Cadillac Escalade arrived. The driver offered me either cold water or beer. The drive was about 40 minutes (we took the scenic route along the ocean).

I arrived at the resort around 2:30pm, which was around the time my original flight was supposed to land. Got the keys to my room, changed and headed to the beach for a half hour.

I had booked dinner at El Farallon a 5:45, though I have no idea why I thought this was a good idea after waking up at 3:15am EST for the flights. The food was delicious, but I was tired to the bone and found it hard to stay awake after they kept bringing more and more food!

I passed a live band on my way back to my room and immediately noticed that it was playing not to far from my room (building 2, 2nd floor), with music piped through speakers to the patio below my room. I am fairly sure that I have mentioned before that I am cursed with being a very light sleeper. I was hoping that my room had amazing sound-proofing. Alas it did not -- the bass was making the balcony doors in my room vibrate and trying to sleep with the boom boom boom of the bass proved impossible, despite how tired I was. The front desk told me that the band would be playing until 10pm, yippee. No sleep for me until they packed up for the night. I was offered a room change the next day, which I politely accepted, because I do enjoy my sleep.

I suppose the best thing about coming from the east coast is that one never misses a sunrise in Cabo. I was up before 5:30am got dressed and headed to the gym!

I found service to be hit and miss here. Without exception the restaurant staff was excellent, as was the food. The food was seriously delicious. When I asked the front desk when I could move rooms, I was told they would be in touch with me when the room was ready. Around 2pm I hadn't heard anything, so on my way to get ready for horseback riding I asked again. I was told that I would hear from someone "shortly". After I returned to the hotel from riding I changed clothes and headed to dinner. After dinner I still hadn't heard anything about the room change, so I went to the front desk again. The manager came out and apologized and said he had a room ready for me in the building next door. Their housekeeping staff moved my items (I normally wouldn't be okay with this, but I was tired and thought I'd give it a try -- happy to say that they did an excellent job (I went back to the old room to clear out the safe). It was dark so I wasn't able to see the view, but the manager assured me that it was even better than the last room. When I woke up at 5:30am and threw open the curtains I was surprised to have a fantastic view of the rooftops of the beachfront villas. Ugh. Headed off to the gym again and was showering upon my return when I noticed that there was no soap or shampoo in the shower. Has anyone ever tried to wash themselves with conditioner? I don't recommend it. The same manager I had spoken to the night before saw me on my way to breakfast and stopped me to ask what I thought of the room. I told him that I didn't like the view and he offered to move me again. I thought about it again because I don't like to move rooms, but he said he had a room with a fantastic view in building 1 that would be ready later in the day, so I agreed. This time I packed up my stuff and grabbed the keys to the new room around 4pm. Got into the room and was shocked to find a bag of garbage on the table in the hallway. Gross. Yuck. I called down and they sent a bellboy to pick it up (I did take a picture first).

Sometimes I feel like my travels are cursed lol. The USB outlets by the bed didn't work and maintenance had to come and replace the outlet. The a/c wasn't working properly and maintenance had to come to the room to repair the control on the wall, then reset the compressor. The lighted makeup mirror wasn't working, so that had to be replaced. However I could hear the waves crashing against the rocks when I was lying in bed, which I really enjoyed.

I am happy to report that after the above issues with my 3rd room were resolved the next day there weren't any issues. I really enjoyed the resort and loved that it was so close to town, yet felt like it was a world away. I loved that it was hot, yet the constant breeze made it feel like the perfect climate. There were a few times that whales were visible from the pool. I also saw whales from my balcony a few times, though they were quite far out (the binoculars on the beside table are a nice touch).

I am not convinced that I would return. It's mostly because of the distance -- if I was on the west coast and there was a direct flight I would absolutely go back. It's just not that easy from here and though AC does have a direct flight it's on one of their dreaded Rouge planes, which are awful (we flew Rouge in "biz" class -- not even close to a biz class product -- to Lima and it was horrible).

Thanks for sharing your experience. I appreciate all reviews, not just the positive ones. I'm sorry your trip got off to a rough start, and I agree with you that 3 days is too short considering how long it takes you to get there. For us, 3 days worked out but it was a direct 3 hour flight to get to Cabo. We booked the transportation through the hotel, got really lucky and were put in bldg. 1 with an amazing view from the beginning, loved having a private plunge pool, and thought the resort and service were stellar. I wish you had a similar experience with the WA but I know that it doesn't always work out. We've had our share of mediocre hotel stays, too.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

sorry to hear that, I hope the CR hotel isn't like that, I also am a light sleeper I freaking value sleep above almost every room and or resort amenity.

Seriously the worst hotel stay I can recall was at Universal RP. Our room was ground floor, behind the elevators. The outside entrance was there, people coming and going all night and the elevator "ding" every time its doors opened. I swear I didn't sleep more than 2 hours that night.
I'm sure I have stayed at worse hotels but that one sticks out because of lack of sleep.

 

[Haley R]

Seriously the worst hotel stay I can recall was at Universal RP. Our room was ground floor, behind the elevators. The outside entrance was there, people coming and going all night and the elevator "ding" every time its doors opened. I swear I didn't sleep more than 2 hours that night.
I'm sure I have stayed at worse hotels but that one sticks out because of lack of sleep.

We had a room at animal kingdom lodge one time that was right next to the stairwell and it was the same thing. We heard that door slam all night long. Luckily they moved us the next night. It was horrible

 

[Haley R]

We finally got our 106k URs back from chase! It feels good to see those in our account