Which card?

jhoannam

Planner-aholic
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May 12, 2014
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I'm going to book our Disney 3 day within the next couple of weeks. Which credit card would give me the best rewards?
Southwest
Disney Visa Credit
Discover
Can I book with a Disney Gift card?
Should I use a travel agent?
 
I cant say I know more about the credit card options, but I booked our Disney Dream Cruise with www.vacationstogo.com. Using them; I was able to secure more free On-Board $ Credit than going through the DisneyCruise website directly.
 
Strongly suggest using an agent to score OBB. You can book with a Disney gift card. Using Discover will give you points only. Disney Visa will get you points and no penalty if you pay within 6 months. Southwest will give you frequent flyer point flyer points.
 
I agree with using a TA to get an onboard credit. I use Dreams Unlimited, but there are many different agencies out there and some offer better incentives than others.

Yes, you can use a Disney gift card. There are options for getting additional discounts or perks when purchasing Disney gift cards. Target offers discounts for using your Red Card. There's a thread on this forum on how to get up to 12% off through Target. I can't remember all the steps, but it's worth looking up. I purchase my gift cards at grocery stores that offer discounts on gas for purchases. I pay attention to when they are having specials like double perks on gift cards and buy a bunch then.

Look into the Disney Vacation Accounts. They give you a $20 gift card for every $1000 spent from your account. You can fund the account with gift cards so you can combine the perks of buying gift cards with the extra $20 bonus from Disney.

As for which credit card to use, it really depends on what you want in return and if any of your cards are offering bonuses. The 0% interest for 6 months from the Disney Visa is a nice option if you are putting your cruise on your credit card rather than using gift cards. If you pay your entire cruise fare with the Disney Visa, you also get $50 onboard credit to use towards beverages. Then you have the 1% back in Disney Rewards that you could use towards either towards your cruise fare, excursions, or onboard charges like gratuities or alcohol. If you'd rather have the airline points, then use your SW card. I haven't really worked out if one is a better deal over the other.

Have any of your cards offered you bonus deals lately? Around last Christmas, I received an offer from my SW Visa for 5,000 extra points if I charged a certain amount within a 3 month period. I shifted all my spending onto my SW card and got the extra points. Many years ago, I used to get 5X rewards points offers from the Disney Visa card, but haven't seen one of those offers in forever. Earlier this year, my Chase Freedom card was offering 4% bonus on grocery purchases up to a total of $1500. So I went to Giant Eagle during one of their 20 cent fuel perks promotions and bought $1500 in Disney gift cards using my Freedom card.

There's lots of options here and you don't necessarily have to pick just one. For my last cruise, I paid about half with gift cards and used the Disney Visa for the 0% interest on the other half.
 

We've tried quite a few rewards cards over the years but the one that has given us the best bang for our buck is the Southwest Airlines rapid rewards card. With a little flexibility, we're usually able to find round trip airfare for our family of four for 60,000 points or less to Orlando or Ft. Lauderdale (from Minneapolis). If you wait for them to offer the 50,000 points when you first sign up offer, it doesn't take much more to earn enough for free flights for a family of 4. There is an annual fee that is charged up front (I think it's around $60), and you absolutely HAVE to pay it off each month or you'll get slaughtered in interest. We've had this card for a year now and use it to pay all our bills and all our expenses (groceries, clothes, travel, etc) and you can also earn extra points by shopping through links on their website. So far we've earned enough to cover 6 round trip tickets and 4 one way tickets. No other reward card has given us close to the dollar value in rewards. Plus, you get two bags for free when you fly southwest so that helps with cost too.
 
I agree with using a TA to get an onboard credit. I use Dreams Unlimited, but there are many different agencies out there and some offer better incentives than others.

Yes, you can use a Disney gift card. There are options for getting additional discounts or perks when purchasing Disney gift cards. Target offers discounts for using your Red Card. There's a thread on this forum on how to get up to 12% off through Target. I can't remember all the steps, but it's worth looking up. I purchase my gift cards at grocery stores that offer discounts on gas for purchases. I pay attention to when they are having specials like double perks on gift cards and buy a bunch then.

Look into the Disney Vacation Accounts. They give you a $20 gift card for every $1000 spent from your account. You can fund the account with gift cards so you can combine the perks of buying gift cards with the extra $20 bonus from Disney.

As for which credit card to use, it really depends on what you want in return and if any of your cards are offering bonuses. The 0% interest for 6 months from the Disney Visa is a nice option if you are putting your cruise on your credit card rather than using gift cards. If you pay your entire cruise fare with the Disney Visa, you also get $50 onboard credit to use towards beverages. Then you have the 1% back in Disney Rewards that you could use towards either towards your cruise fare, excursions, or onboard charges like gratuities or alcohol. If you'd rather have the airline points, then use your SW card. I haven't really worked out if one is a better deal over the other.

Have any of your cards offered you bonus deals lately? Around last Christmas, I received an offer from my SW Visa for 5,000 extra points if I charged a certain amount within a 3 month period. I shifted all my spending onto my SW card and got the extra points. Many years ago, I used to get 5X rewards points offers from the Disney Visa card, but haven't seen one of those offers in forever. Earlier this year, my Chase Freedom card was offering 4% bonus on grocery purchases up to a total of $1500. So I went to Giant Eagle during one of their 20 cent fuel perks promotions and bought $1500 in Disney gift cards using my Freedom card.

There's lots of options here and you don't necessarily have to pick just one. For my last cruise, I paid about half with gift cards and used the Disney Visa for the 0% interest on the other half.

Do you know if I use my Disney visa for the final payment, but didn't use it for the deposit, if it will still qualify for the 6 month interest free? tia!
 
Do you know if I use my Disney visa for the final payment, but didn't use it for the deposit, if it will still qualify for the 6 month interest free? tia!

You will qualify for the 0% interest for 6 months for any portion of your cruise fare you put on the Disney Visa. You just won't qualify for the extra $50 OBC if you don't pay the entire fare with the Disney Visa.
 

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