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

[simonsayz]

The limit is 5 credit cards and 10 charge cards (Green, Gold, Platinum). You may have some charge cards or are one of the few who can get 6 credit cards.

Oh I see. Yeah I have 5 credit cards and 1 Plat. Hmm I will have to see if I apply for another one and see if I get accepted or rejected lol
Actually I just realized I do have 6 cc and 1 Plat. I just never registered one of the cc to an online account. whoops.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

The limit is 5 credit cards and 10 charge cards (Green, Gold, Platinum). You may have some charge cards or are one of the few who can get 6 credit cards.

I can't remember, do AU cards count? My first Amex card was as an AU oh DH's blue card that we used for groceries for many years before we started churning

 

[MsOnceUponATime]

I second this. We lost our dear Luna to heart cancer two weeks ago today. I'm glad her brother, Apollo, was able to know what happened to her and so he won't be looking for her to return.

I wish I had known to do this so my other two cats could have closure. I feel so bad for them because I just don’t think they understand where Callie went. Willie Nelson is 18 years old now and has been in our family since he was a tiny kitten. We had Callie for 9 years, but she was 12 years old. Then we have Zoey, who is only about 5 years old. I just know they are worried and they both keep talking to me constantly, which makes me wonder if they are asking where Callie is. It truly is devastating to lose our pets. I don’t know how I will handle it when it’s Nelson’s time to go. He’s the same age as my daughter.

A coworker of mine put it well for me recently: "a dog or cat will give you some of the best days of your life, but also one of the very worst days."
Yes, it's devastating. I wish they all would live a lot longer! We have to hold on to the happy memories and the love we gave them and they gave us

I wish that I could give hugs to you all who are heart sick like me. Your responses mean a lot to me and have made me tear up (although I'm probably going to cry at everything today).

We have a mobile vet coming to take care of him at home. We're going to do it in our back yard where he likes to go and hang out with us on the patio. He's such a great orange tabby dude... he might even think that he's a dog based on his personality. <3

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I can't belive that I forgot, but before I booked the Antarctica trip with A&K, I had a $5k deposit on a trip with Nat Geo Expeditions on their new ship, the Endeavor. I cancelled the NG trip, but retained a $5k credit with them. I called them on Tuesday to see about how I can use the credit -- was hoping I could put it towards a land journey, but they said it has to be on one of their expedition ships. I don't want to spend a fortune (they have a single supplement of up to 1.5% on their cruises), so I'm looking at possibly booking the Galapagos in October, 2025 (least expensive and has a solo cabin available). I am not a huge fan of open water (afraid of sharks and have long, thick hair that is near impossible to brush through after a swim), nevertheless I am seriously considering booking the trip. Has anyone been to the Galapagos that can sell me on the trip? It would be on the NG Islander II, which holds 48 passengers and looks really nice.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

So the BFs AC died last night. I'm thinking I need to be looking at Amex, and it needs to be a biz card. Right now all I'm getting is the Amex Plat Biz for 200k but spend $20k. Is that the current best? We're hoping for a lower spend. Even w/ an A/C unit, $20k will be really hard to hit!

Scratch that, got 250k for $20k to pull up. But again, $20k is too hard in 3 mos.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I wish that I could give hugs to you all who are heart sick like me. Your responses mean a lot to me and have made me tear up (although I'm probably going to cry at everything today).

We have a mobile vet coming to take care of him at home. We're going to do it in our back yard where he likes to go and hang out with us on the patio. He's such a great orange tabby dude... he might even think that he's a dog based on his personality. <3

Virtual hugs to you and your family! It will be a tough day for sure. You gave him the best life he could have had.

 

[hsmamato2]

E

I was going to buy a Ring water sensor since I have a Ring alarm.

EVen better- I just bought little cheapies that alarm in the house

 

[LynnTH]

Had DD23 apply for the SW Card. She was approved instantly. Then I had her send me a referral link. Applied for DH and he was approved. Now it DD can find a friend to use her referral link, then she would earn the CP with the SUB and 2 Referrals. Hoping one of her friends might want to get some points too. I can't get the card right now, as going for an Ink with Mailer at the end of the month.

But that would be an easy way to earn CP.

 

[AJruns]

Has anyone been to the Galapagos that can sell me on the trip? It would be on the NG Islander II, which holds 48 passengers and looks really nice.

Though not on a cruise, I have been to the Galapagos and definitely think it’s worth the trip! As someone who does not like to swim in the ocean I was devastated to be sick the day my friends snorkeled with penguins… there are a few things that would get me in the water and that’s one of them

 

[wanderlust7]

I can't remember, do AU cards count? My first Amex card was as an AU oh DH's blue card that we used for groceries for many years before we started churning

No, AU cards don’t count.

 

[KPK02090]

I'm looking at booking Swan for a November trip, but only a King room is showing up for points. I would prefer 2 Queens. It's for me and my 16 year old daughter and my sister might join as well. Anyone have luck booking the king on points and getting them to give you a two queen room?

 

[calypso726]

I can't belive that I forgot, but before I booked the Antarctica trip with A&K, I had a $5k deposit on a trip with Nat Geo Expeditions on their new ship, the Endeavor. I cancelled the NG trip, but retained a $5k credit with them. I called them on Tuesday to see about how I can use the credit -- was hoping I could put it towards a land journey, but they said it has to be on one of their expedition ships. I don't want to spend a fortune (they have a single supplement of up to 1.5% on their cruises), so I'm looking at possibly booking the Galapagos in October, 2025 (least expensive and has a solo cabin available). I am not a huge fan of open water (afraid of sharks and have long, thick hair that is near impossible to brush through after a swim), nevertheless I am seriously considering booking the trip. Has anyone been to the Galapagos that can sell me on the trip? It would be on the NG Islander II, which holds 48 passengers and looks really nice.

Yes. I did the Galapagos on the Celebrity Flora last year. However, I have also done the NatGeo/Lindblad expedition cruise to Antarctica.

The Galapagos was simply amazing! I have an irrational fear of sharks and rarely will get in the water beyond my knees. The few times I have faced that fear and gone snorkeling in deep water were as follows.

In 2002 in Australia, DH aka PlanePrincess decided to do a guided dive around the great barrier reef. I was convinced he'd be killed by a shark and this made it ok for me me to risk my life to see one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. I snorkeled for less than 5 minutes, terror stricken the entire time and looking for the shark that would cause my impeding doom. Obviously, nothing happened and I have fleeting memories of the Great Barrier Reef.

The next time was in the Galapagos in January of 2023. I forced myself to watch shark diving videos for a whole year before that trip to desensitize myself and maybe have the chance of doing the right things should I see one and avoid it's interest. The first day was a beach visit and a swim out to the reef for snorkeling. I did not do this. I was told by my friends there was a shark in that area but it stayed way down deep and was not interested in seeing any people. I stayed on the beach and enjoyed being in shallow water with sea lions all around the place. A few days later, I managed to do what the guides said was an easy snorkel. The waves were calm and I saw many beautiful fish, blue footed boobies up close and lots of sea turtles. Fortunately, no sharks. I did an afternoon dive the same day and swam with sea lions, penguins and turtles. I did not see any sharks, but I did wind up having a panic attack about 20 minutes in and just got back on the zodiac and enjoyed watching from there. There were folks who did not go snorkeling and just did the hikes which were amazing too.

Last June in French Polynesia there was a tiny reef right off the shore of the beach at the Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort. It's knee to thigh deep for me and I'm 5 feet tall. I made PlanePrincess play lookout while I stuck my face in the water and floated for about 60 seconds at a time before panicking and standing up and looking around just to be sure. It was very enjoyable for me despite my intermittent panicky moments.

When I visit Aulani, I am ok going next door to Paradise Cove and swimming there because of the rock barrier between the cove and the open water. It's not too deep and there are fish, sea turtles and the occasional monk seal but nothing big and scary looks like it could get through.

As for deep water, only the GBR and Galapagos. Despite my fear. I still highly recommend doing at least one snorkel in the Galapagos. I am certain that was my last ever snorkel, outside of Paradise Cove. We did the Egypt ABD this past January and there is a day of snorkeling in the Red Sea. I stayed behind and went dry snorkeling on the pier and just stuck my iPhone in the water and took pictures of fish while laying facedown on the pier LOL

I love the NatGeo/Lindblad collaboration trip we did with Antarctica and I would not hesitate to book another expedition with them. I'd also be very happy to visit the Galapagos again. I'm not sure that is in the cards, nor am I sure I'd be able to snorkel again, but I'd be tempted and I am so glad I did it when I did.

 

[platamama]

I wish that I could give hugs to you all who are heart sick like me. Your responses mean a lot to me and have made me tear up (although I'm probably going to cry at everything today).

We have a mobile vet coming to take care of him at home. We're going to do it in our back yard where he likes to go and hang out with us on the patio. He's such a great orange tabby dude... he might even think that he's a dog based on his personality. <3

I'm so sorry, it's such a difficult thing. It's been years since I had to put down my orange tabby boy (they're the best!) and I still tear up at the thought of it. He really was the best. I also had a mobile vet come over to do it, and that's the most comfortable way in my opinion (I've had 3 cats and 2 dogs, my 3rd dog is still with us). I made a little "coffin" with a cardboard box that I decorated with leaves and a photo of him and with a soft liner so that the vet had a good way of transporting him out of the house. I put up a memorial on https://www.rainbowsbridge.com/ and it was unexpectedly comforting to have random strangers offer words of support. Hugs to you on this difficult decision and sad time. You gave him a good life.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I can't belive that I forgot, but before I booked the Antarctica trip with A&K, I had a $5k deposit on a trip with Nat Geo Expeditions on their new ship, the Endeavor. I cancelled the NG trip, but retained a $5k credit with them. I called them on Tuesday to see about how I can use the credit -- was hoping I could put it towards a land journey, but they said it has to be on one of their expedition ships. I don't want to spend a fortune (they have a single supplement of up to 1.5% on their cruises), so I'm looking at possibly booking the Galapagos in October, 2025 (least expensive and has a solo cabin available). I am not a huge fan of open water (afraid of sharks and have long, thick hair that is near impossible to brush through after a swim), nevertheless I am seriously considering booking the trip. Has anyone been to the Galapagos that can sell me on the trip? It would be on the NG Islander II, which holds 48 passengers and looks really nice.

Spoke to NG again and they say they refunded me $3.5k and gave a voucher for $1.5k towards another expedition. This was in 2019, which is relevant because they say the voucher was good for 1 year and we all know what happened in 2020. I don't even know how currency can expire (any form of legal tender can't expire in Canada because it's considered cash). I kindly asked for a supervisor to call me back, haven't had a call back yet. I am not sure how far I'd want to pursue this, but I will definitely be asking AmEx for statements in 2019 to be sure that I got the $3.5k credit. Would just suck to lose $1.5k, especially after taking a liking to the idea of a Galapagos cruise (and I have that same of fear @calypso726, but did manage to snorkel on the GBR and also in the Maldives last year, but both were on reefs, mind you I did see a reef shark in the Maldives).

 

[disneybirds]

We recently got back from a 2 week trip to Italy and had an amazing time thanks to all the support and info on here! We went to Venice, Florence, Pompeii, Amalfi, and Rome. It was definitely a whirlwind trip but we had a great time with our 2 adult daughters. We spent lots and lots of points, so know I am trying to build back up our balances. My UR balance is probably the lowest it has been since I started in this hobby.

When we got home I had a mailer from Amex for 200K for $15K in spend. I knew that there was a $250K offer out there, but was only seeing 150K in my account. I googled AmEx Business Platinum to refresh my memory on all the details and a 250K for $20K in spend showed up when I clicked the amex link. @LilSweetPeaPhoto also posted about the 250K offer earlier today. I had the Biz Plat back in 2018 with a different EIN, so I thought I would try today. Got the popup (for my first time ever!) that I had had the card before. I went back and forth before applying with the mailer code, but decided to go for it and was approved. Definitely will come in handy with paying estimated taxes this month.

Also thinking of refer DH to the CSR as well. We typically go back and forth with who has the CSR and my AF will appear this month, so it is his turn. He first applied in 2019 so we are outside the 48 months. He has the CF, CIU, and CIP (applied in January), so hoping his chances are pretty good. I take a pretty slow approach with his apps, so he has only applied to 2 business cards in the last 2 years. I will update if I apply.

 

[AmyAnne]

I just found out that my 14 year old doggie probably has a carcinoma pushing into her bladder. To confirm if it's cancer, they need to do a specialized test on her urine sample from last week, which will cost $400.00. This is after her $700.00 u/s yesterday. Poor girl. She has been drinking and peeing excessively. I am not ready for anything to happen to her -- she's been such a huge part of our lives for the past 14 years .

I'm so sorry to hear about this. I'm sadly dealing with something similar with our 9 year old cat. I dropped $5k on him about 3 weeks ago at the animal ER (inclusive of x rays, ultrasounds, bloodwork and a blood transfusion). Then the animal oncologist that we went to a two days later wanted to "aspirate" his stomache mass, but did not have anyone there until the next week. We decided to do comfort care with steriods. We are NOT ready to let our boy go. He's my daughter's unofficial emotional support cat and when it is his time we are all going to be a total mess. He really is the best boy.

I will say though, that he's been on prednisone for the past 19 days and he's still acting normal, with the exception of seemingly tired more often-- but he is a cat! He has started gaining some weight back. That was my trigger to take him to the vet suddenly and they told told us that he was too anemic to diagnose and treat him and they wanted us to go to the ER immediately. The prednisone has seemingly (I hope)started to put that (what they think is) cancer into remission as they said it would. We are taking him outside several times each day now because he loves going outside with us, and we're giving him any food that he wants (as much as he wants) and loving on him 24/7.

I am thinking about you. You are seen... <3

I am catching up on the last month here so I am very behind, but I am sorry to hear about your cat's health. I completely understand how hard this is. We had to put our 12 year old cat down last week and it was so hard on our whole family. The vet said there was nothing more they could do for her and she was just suffering with every breath so we made the hardest decision. Our cats are such an important part of our lives. It is hard to come home each day and have a piece of our heart missing. Our other two cats seem like they are looking for her all the time. I let them say goodbye to her, but I don't know if they understood. It's just been so awful.

I second this. We lost our dear Luna to heart cancer two weeks ago today. I'm glad her brother, Apollo, was able to know what happened to her and so he won't be looking for her to return.

I'm so sorry, it's such a difficult thing. It's been years since I had to put down my orange tabby boy (they're the best!) and I still tear up at the thought of it. He really was the best. I also had a mobile vet come over to do it, and that's the most comfortable way in my opinion (I've had 3 cats and 2 dogs, my 3rd dog is still with us). I made a little "coffin" with a cardboard box that I decorated with leaves and a photo of him and with a soft liner so that the vet had a good way of transporting him out of the house. I put up a memorial on https://www.rainbowsbridge.com/ and it was unexpectedly comforting to have random strangers offer words of support. Hugs to you on this difficult decision and sad time. You gave him a good life.

Virtual hugs and good wishes to everyone facing the loss of a pet. Our two cats are 13 years old this week and it makes me teary just thinking about having to let them go.

 

[djmeredith]

I returned home from Pearl Harbor and Japan last week using points for most of the trip. HaleyR and I were actually in Tokyo and Disney at the same time. I haven't had a chance to really reflect on my trip yet to do any sort of trip report, but wanted to share a tip. I tried SO hard to do carry-on only this time. I failed again! I decided to bring my big suitcase and use it for a "few" things for both of us. Plan was to leave room for souvenirs. Also a major fail! It was completely full by the time we left our first hotel in Japan. I started looking for another cheap suitcase to buy but I couldn't find anything cheap. We happened to pass an IKEA, so I decided to check there on a whim. I was able to buy one of their big blue duffle/backpacks for $2.50! It wasn't the biggest one, because we didn't need one that big but it was pretty big. We put a bunch of dirty clothes in it and checked it with a lock on the zippers to keep it closed. It made it home without any problem. Cheapest "suitcase" ever!

 

[mom2febgirls]

We recently got back from a 2 week trip to Italy and had an amazing time thanks to all the support and info on here! We went to Venice, Florence, Pompeii, Amalfi, and Rome. It was definitely a whirlwind trip but we had a great time with our 2 adult daughters. We spent lots and lots of points, so know I am trying to build back up our balances. My UR balance is probably the lowest it has been since I started in this hobby.

When we got home I had a mailer from Amex for 200K for $15K in spend. I knew that there was a $250K offer out there, but was only seeing 150K in my account. I googled AmEx Business Platinum to refresh my memory on all the details and a 250K for $20K in spend showed up when I clicked the amex link. @LilSweetPeaPhoto also posted about the 250K offer earlier today. I had the Biz Plat back in 2018 with a different EIN, so I thought I would try today. Got the popup (for my first time ever!) that I had had the card before. I went back and forth before applying with the mailer code, but decided to go for it and was approved. Definitely will come in handy with paying estimated taxes this month.

Also thinking of refer DH to the CSR as well. We typically go back and forth with who has the CSR and my AF will appear this month, so it is his turn. He first applied in 2019 so we are outside the 48 months. He has the CF, CIU, and CIP (applied in January), so hoping his chances are pretty good. I take a pretty slow approach with his apps, so he has only applied to 2 business cards in the last 2 years. I will update if I apply.

I am hoping to plan a trip to Italy next fall and would love to hear how your trip went and what points you used for hotels/flights <3

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

I need to vent!!! I had DH open the IHG card with my referral and the SUB was 4 free nights which we assumed was 40K per night x4 resulting in 160K points. Nope, he has 4 free nights, just like the anniversary nights. Should be fine, but we are finding them impossible to use! We want to book 4 nights in Paris in Sept. and the hotel we are looking at is 40K per night (this is the average with the 4th night being free), but since all but one night are over 40K points on their own, it won't let us book that way. I've chatted with an agent twice and they will not convert the nights into points. Ugh, so frustrating! The only "free" nights are way outside of the city which we definitely do not want. Any tips? Do we just say screw it and use these nights elsewhere and book another hotel with real money?

I made the same mistake on my first Bonvoy 5 FNC offer, thinking it was points. It happens, but you live and learn.

1. No agent will convert them to points. The promo you signed up for was 4 FNCs.
2. The 4th night free applies to points. You aren't booking with points, you are booking with FNCs or as IHG calls it, a reward night. So you will not get the 4th night free when using certificates/rewards nights/free nights.
3. I've never booked more than one FNC at a time, but try booking just one at a time. You book it by going to your rewards wallet (click on your name and scroll down to rewards wallet). You should see "You have 4 free Nights." Click there and book one night at a time. See if that allows you to top off the points.

Let us know if this works for you.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

So ended up booking two weeks in Portugal for early January!

Getting there via CDG. There was an option to have an hour and half layover at CDG before going to Lisbon and another for a 5 hr layover. Decided 1.5 hrs was too tight for CDG, it's such a massive airport

We are headed to Portugal in August. Where in Portugal are you planning to go in January?