Wow, what an exciting trip! I am not posh at all either, but I loved my stay at PH Vendome in Paris. It is the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in and that itself was a real treat. It is very close to the Opera subway station and many big sights are walkable if you don't mind walking a bit. We walked to the Louvre and Champs Elysses from there. I would absolutely spend 45K for a few nts there if I had the choice.Thought I would update you all that the round the world Disney trip will have to wait...
But that is because we are doing a totally different trip for our 30th Anniversary - going over to Europe and will still get to go to Disneyland Paris!
We finally sold our house in August!I then started vacation planning... the cruise that family was going on from the west coast to Japan went up in price and then sold out, so joining them was out (we started seriously thinking of doing so). DH started looking at other cruises. I think all the hard work the last 9 months made him REALLY want to cruise.
To make a loooong story short we found a great 22 night westbound transatlantic cruise in June 2026 and just had to book it. Here is the map of the itinerary from Southampton to Miami, going up through Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, Canada, and then to the US.
View attachment 1009979
Then we needed to find flights to Europe but then, wth, why not cruise east bound as well? We found an 11 night cruise from Miami to Lisbon in May 2026 at an acceptable price.
View attachment 1009991
Before I could research how to get from Lisbon to Southampton before our TA cruise home, DH suggested we just stay on the ship as it would be continuing onto Southampton from Lisbon. The port of calls looked interesting as well. The cruise fare for this 10 night leg was more than double the TA. We did the math of transportation and lodging for the next 10 nights getting from Lisbon to the UK and it made sense to pay the hefty price. We did downgrade to the lowest inside cabin that wasn't steerage and treat the ship and cabin basically as a floating hotel, as the cruise was also very port intensive.
View attachment 1009993
So, we will be on a cruise ship for 44 nights, starting 5/4/2026 from Miami and ending 7/6/2026 back to Miami.
Here is where I need help planning! We will need to plan for the 18 nights between the eastbound and westbound TA cruises into and out of Southampton from 5/26/2026 to 6/14/2026. I definitely want to visit London and Paris (via the Eurostar) and Disneyland Paris. Any other recommendations of places to visit?
I will need hotel lodging for all 18 nights. DH has the CSR and I have the CSP and we each have about 800k UR saved up for this trip, so about 1.6 mil URs. I have the WOHBiz card with only about 900 points and 2 nights stayed this year (so no status except Discoverist). I downgraded my Hilton Honors Amex card to the no annual fee card last year but I have accumulated 201k points ready to be used.
I looked at the MarriottVacationClub near Disneyland Paris and there is no availability for exchanges into it past late April 2026. I believe that inventory just hasn't been released and loaded into Interval yet and it may be available later on. DH doesn't think staying there without a car to got the DLP makes sense and a week is too long in the boonies. Which hotels are recommended near DLP? I doubt I can use points?
I looked at Paris Hotels using Hyatt points and the Hyatt Etoille or the Madeleine are not available on points for our dates. The Park Hyatt Paris Vendome is available for 45k/night and the Hotel du Louvre is available for 35k/night. I watched some videos on the Park Hyatt and I think the area it is in is too POSH for me? All that designer shopping nearby is wasted on me. My MIL gifted me a LV bag over 25 years ago. I have used that bag twice. I purchase my clothes at Costco!
I thought I would use the UR points for aspirational travel and I do! But I also want to use them to stay at places I would want to if I can afford it and not just to get a good CPP, kwim? Any thoughts on the Hotel Du Louvre? I'm off to watch videos on it after this post.
I am also open to opening new CCs to accumulate other hotel points (maybe to add to the Hilton points I have) or to get some FNC. But time is short because I do want to try to finalize travel and lodging soon. I am so clueless about earning and using FNC. I read all your posts but I kind of skim them because we usually stay at DVC or with family and the only hotels we tend to stay at these past few years have been along the drive to and from NY/FL.
Perhaps I should use some of those URs through the Chase Travel portal for more boutique hotels in Paris and London? But as I understand it, time is of the essence, and I would have to do it asap because the 1.25 boost on the CSP and the 1.5 on the CSR is going bye bye? Any recommendations on hotels? While we want to visit all the sights in Paris and London, I think we just want to wander and soak in the vibes around where we are staying.
We spent a lot on the cruises and will be spending a lot more money on all the excursions, so I am trying to minimize the OOP we need to spend on the 18 nights of lodging we will need. This seems to be the easiest to try to work on. I doubt we can save on spending real money on food or the Eurostar during those 18 days.
ANY help on trip planning those 18 days from 5/26/2026 to 6/14/2026 would be very much appreciated! It is currently still a blank page. Let me know if you need any more information.
I hear you, but when they report their financials, gift card sales are a liability on their balance sheet, not revenue on their income statement (until they are redeemed). So they would rather have me buy an overpriced hoodie than a gift card. They should be indifferent between issuing store credit from a return and selling a gift card but that's more work than buying a gift card and some of us don't want to overcomplicate our lives any more than we already do. But yeah, at this point they need to figure out how to boost their growth.
You can pay the bill early by using your banks bill pay.
Another London suggestion for you - we went in April and stayed at the Hyatt Regency Churchill and had a great experience. Walking distance (5 - 10 minutes) to a few different tube stations (Marble Arch, Bond Street, Baker Street). We also took one of the hop on / hop off bus tours one day, and were able to get on to start our tour at Marble Arch. I transferred Chase URs to Hyatt, for a standard room at 25k per night. I then found someone with status online who was willing to part with a suite upgrade award for $70 (yes, there's a risk of a dishonest person, but worst case scenario I was out $70). Everything worked perfectly, they transferred the upgrade certificate to my WOH account, and we were able to get a guaranteed upgrade to a one bedroom suite (before doing this, you need to check the hotel availability and make sure there are standard suites available - the upgrade awards don't work on premium suites). Being in the suite gave us access to the Regency Club, where we were able to get breakfast every day. Coffee, tea, water, & light snacks were available throughout the day. There was also wine available in the evening, and light dinner foods, but we only went in the evening once. So, for 175000 URS and $70, we spent 7 nights in a suite that was selling for well over $1,000 per night.Thought I would update you all that the round the world Disney trip will have to wait...
But that is because we are doing a totally different trip for our 30th Anniversary - going over to Europe and will still get to go to Disneyland Paris!
We finally sold our house in August!
To make a loooong story short we found a great 22 night westbound transatlantic cruise in June 2026 and just had to book it. Here is the map of the itinerary from Southampton to Miami, going up through Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, Canada, and then to the US.
View attachment 1009979
Then we needed to find flights to Europe but then, wth, why not cruise east bound as well? We found an 11 night cruise from Miami to Lisbon in May 2026 at an acceptable price.
View attachment 1009991
Before I could research how to get from Lisbon to Southampton before our TA cruise home, DH suggested we just stay on the ship as it would be continuing onto Southampton from Lisbon. The port of calls looked interesting as well. The cruise fare for this 10 night leg was more than double the TA. We did the math of transportation and lodging for the next 10 nights getting from Lisbon to the UK and it made sense to pay the hefty price. We did downgrade to the lowest inside cabin that wasn't steerage and treat the ship and cabin basically as a floating hotel, as the cruise was also very port intensive.
View attachment 1009993
So, we will be on a cruise ship for 44 nights, starting 5/4/2026 from Miami and ending 7/6/2026 back to Miami.
Here is where I need help planning! We will need to plan for the 18 nights between the eastbound and westbound TA cruises into and out of Southampton from 5/26/2026 to 6/14/2026. I definitely want to visit London and Paris (via the Eurostar) and Disneyland Paris. Any other recommendations of places to visit?
I will need hotel lodging for all 18 nights. DH has the CSR and I have the CSP and we each have about 800k UR saved up for this trip, so about 1.6 mil URs. I have the WOHBiz card with only about 900 points and 2 nights stayed this year (so no status except Discoverist). I downgraded my Hilton Honors Amex card to the no annual fee card last year but I have accumulated 201k points ready to be used.
I looked at the MarriottVacationClub near Disneyland Paris and there is no availability for exchanges into it past late April 2026. I believe that inventory just hasn't been released and loaded into Interval yet and it may be available later on. DH doesn't think staying there without a car to got the DLP makes sense and a week is too long in the boonies. Which hotels are recommended near DLP? I doubt I can use points?
I looked at Paris Hotels using Hyatt points and the Hyatt Etoille or the Madeleine are not available on points for our dates. The Park Hyatt Paris Vendome is available for 45k/night and the Hotel du Louvre is available for 35k/night. I watched some videos on the Park Hyatt and I think the area it is in is too POSH for me? All that designer shopping nearby is wasted on me. My MIL gifted me a LV bag over 25 years ago. I have used that bag twice. I purchase my clothes at Costco!
I thought I would use the UR points for aspirational travel and I do! But I also want to use them to stay at places I would want to if I can afford it and not just to get a good CPP, kwim? Any thoughts on the Hotel Du Louvre? I'm off to watch videos on it after this post.
I am also open to opening new CCs to accumulate other hotel points (maybe to add to the Hilton points I have) or to get some FNC. But time is short because I do want to try to finalize travel and lodging soon. I am so clueless about earning and using FNC. I read all your posts but I kind of skim them because we usually stay at DVC or with family and the only hotels we tend to stay at these past few years have been along the drive to and from NY/FL.
Perhaps I should use some of those URs through the Chase Travel portal for more boutique hotels in Paris and London? But as I understand it, time is of the essence, and I would have to do it asap because the 1.25 boost on the CSP and the 1.5 on the CSR is going bye bye? Any recommendations on hotels? While we want to visit all the sights in Paris and London, I think we just want to wander and soak in the vibes around where we are staying.
We spent a lot on the cruises and will be spending a lot more money on all the excursions, so I am trying to minimize the OOP we need to spend on the 18 nights of lodging we will need. This seems to be the easiest to try to work on. I doubt we can save on spending real money on food or the Eurostar during those 18 days.
ANY help on trip planning those 18 days from 5/26/2026 to 6/14/2026 would be very much appreciated! It is currently still a blank page. Let me know if you need any more information.
Just paid mine in full- including annual fee about 4 days ago, can see a tile on my acct that says I got 60k points and will be able to use them on 10/25.
Thank you for catching that! I have edited to make it correct in the original post.
I'm new to this thread, so I don't feel like I can give you advice on credit cards, but I am a frequent poster to the Gift Cards thread (found here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/new-disney-gift-card-deals-and-more.3952573/) which will help you score the best deals on Disney Gift Cards (DGCs).
