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Cruising with Disney is a dream vacation for many, and today we’re reviewing how to book a Disney cruise using credit card points!
Calculate the Cost
The cost of a Disney cruise can vary wildly–anywhere between $1500-$5000 depending on when and where you go, and the number of guests and nights. Start by looking at Disney cruises on Disney’s website so you can get a cost estimate.
Ways you Could Book, but Probably Shouldn’t
Through Marriott’s webiste, you could use a minimum of 63,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for a $250 credit towards a cruise, but that’s not a great redemption value for those points; you could also use United miles towards a Disney cruise, which is also not a great use of United points. Here are the best ways to use credit card bonuses to book a Disney
Because most credit card bonuses won’t quite cover the cost of most Disney cruises, a creative way to pay is to finance it through a third party and make each payment on a different card:
FINANCING A CRUISE THROUGH A THIRD PARTY
There’s lots of reasons to make Disney ticket and cruise purchases through a third party like Getaway Today: not only are you supporting a small business, but third parties typically offer discounted rates & refunds, and by booking through them you ensure your cruise will code as “travel,” which matters for some credit card point redemptions. When we contacted Getaway Today, they confirmed that they finance Disney cruises, require a 20% deposit, and allow flexible payments until a deadline of 60-120 days before sailing. Start planning early and make payments on different credit cards over many months, earning and redeeming sign-up bonuses along the way.
With that in mind, we’re suggesting several different cards you could open, make a cruise payment through a third party, and credit the charge off your statement using the sign-up bonus (for all the cards on this blog, our process is the same: open the card, put all our regular spending on the open card–groceries, gas, bills etc.–and always always pay the card off every month):
EARN ~$600 PER CITI PREMIER CARD OPENED
Open a Citi Premier card and earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.. $600 is almost enough for a down payment on a $4,500 four-day Disney cruise in the Bahamas for a family of five. If you have another adult who’ll be cruising with you who can also open a Citi Premier card, you’ll earn $1200 towards your cruise in six months or less, which in some cases will pay for a whole cruise!
If you DON’T finance through Getaway today, you can purchase the cruise through Citi’s Connextions Travel phone agent, making up any difference with cash. Call 1-800-842-6596, say you’re redeeming ThankYou points at the first prompt, select the travel reward option, followed by the fourth presented option (cruises and tours). That puts you in touch with an agent who can help you book a cruise with your ThankYou points (this phone tree evolves over time; just make sure to navigate your way to a Connextions Travel phone agent).
EARN ~$750 PER EVERY CAPITAL ONE VENTURE X OPENED
Open the The Capital One Venture X card and earn 75,000 miles when you spend $4000 within the first three months. This card has an annual fee of $395, but includes a credit of $300 towards travel booked through Capital One Travel (this credit won’t count towards a cruise, but could help cover flights to the embarkation etc.). You’ll all get unlimited Priority Pass lounge and restaurant access for you and all authorized users, plus 10,000 miles annually on your card’s anniversary.
If you and another adult cruising with you both opened the venture x, you’d have $1500 towards the cost of your cruise, which in some cases will cover a whole cruise!
Use your miles to wipe a cruise payment off your statement.
EARN ~$600 PER CAPITAL ONE VENTURE OPENED
Open the Capital One Venture card and earn a 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4000 in the first 90 days of account opening. With only a $95 annual fee, you’ll essentially earn $750 towards your cruise. On a Capital One Venture card, rewards may ONLY be redeemed for travel purchases made on the card, so to make reward qualifying cruise payments on this card, remember to purchase the cruise from a third party site.
Use the 60,000 rewards to credit a $600 cruise payment off your venture statement.
EARN ~$500 PER BANK OF AMERICA CARDS OPENED
Bank of America Preferred Rewards credit cards are even more flexible than Capital One Venture, because they can be used as a statement credit for ANY charge on your monthly statement, not just travel.
Bank of America offers 50,000 bonus points as a welcome offer for opening the Bank of America Preferred Rewards card. With a minimum spend of $3000 in the first 90 days of account opening and a $95 annual fee, you’ll essentially earn $500 towards your cruise.
Use the 50,000 points to wipe a $500 cruise payment off your BofA statement.
USE THE $300 TRAVEL CREDIT ON THE SAPPHIRE RESERVE
Last but not least, here’s a cruise hack using a travel card we used to carry:
If you already have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, the annual $300 travel credit applies to a Disney cruise booked through a third party.
(We don’t recommend opening a Sapphire Reserve card right now, as the Venture X offers even better perks for a lower annual fee).
HOW TO MIX & MATCH THESE CARDS
As you can see, there’s lots of cards to choose from to open and make payments towards a Disney cruise. Use the combo that works for you: for instance, if you open a Venture X, a Venture, a Citi Premier, a Bank of America Premium and used your $300 Sapphire Reserve credit, you’d earn $3,200 towards towards your cruise over the course of up to fifteen months, depending on how fast you regularly spend money (it takes our family of five two-three months to spend $3,000 of regular spending, unless we’re incurring big expenses).
Keep in mind that you might not need $3,200 to cruise. The cost of a four-night cruise in the Bahamas for two people out of Miami in January is only ~$1,600, which you could earn opening a Venture X and a Venture card over the course of nine months or less. A February three-night Bahamas cruise for an adult and two teenagers out of Port Canaveral costs ~$2,000, meaning you’d need to open three cards over a maximum of one year or less, or open a Venture X for the down payment, a Citi Premier for another payment and use your Sappire Reserve Travel Credit for a third payment, over the course of about nine months.
The hefty price tag of a $4000-$5000 cruise makes it trickier to completely book a cruise using credit card rewards; unless your regular spending is super high, it would take quite awhile to open all the cards needed to accrue the points. But get creative and open as many as you can in the time allowed, and you can knock off a lot of the cost using welcome bonus rewards.
Before you Open a Bunch of Cards
Stop! If you are new to credit cards, educate yourself on the bank that will limit how many cards you open across all banks in a two year period:
THE BOTTOM LINE
For more info on how we use points & miles for Disney trips and other travel, check out The Disney Points Podcast:
It’s totally doable to book an entire cruise using reward points; just remember to start early (18 months or so in advance if possible) so you’ll have time to plan, open the right cards, and make your payments before you hit the 60-120 days before sailing deadline. Once you have a plan you can mix and match the card offers in this post and start working towards your free points today!
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