Check out the picture to the right. That’s my wife and I enjoying a 5 day Caribbean cruise just last week. We had a blast visiting Haiti and Jamaica, and other then the full layer of skin that peeled off my face, I’d say we had a good time.
Now why do you care right?
Recently I wrote about why you should have a credit card. I got a little bit of backlash because it’s unconventional advice. What I’m suggesting to you is the positive side of being smart with your money, and how you can use a financial tool that can be the cause of some of the poorest financial situations, to your advantage.
Let me share with you how my credit cards paid me to go on a tropical vacation.
Free Flights for Both of Us
Late last year there was a credit card offer circling around the internet from Southwest Airlines. They were offering 50,000 bonus points to new card holders, and I fit that profile. They were also offering 50,000 bonus points to new business card holders, which profile I fit as well. So I got them… both of them.
Those points alone were enough to get us both there, easy, but I learned about something called a “companion pass” which would essentially let my spouse travel free with me for a full year. Pretty sweet deal huh? I needed 110,000 points to get the pass and I was just short.
That’s when I learned about transferring points. A Marriott Rewards card offered me 50,000 points, 30,000 of which equalled 10,000 Southwest Points. So I got the card, transferred the points, and used the remaining 20,000 to book the hotel room the night before our cruise left the port. Oh ya, and I also got a bonus free night with the card that we used on our Anniversary. Not bad…
When I booked the flights, I only ended up using 25,000 points to get us to Fort Lauderdale, so I still have around 85,000 points I’d like to use before the end of the year. Needless to say we’ll be having another vacation or two.
Booking the Cruise
So I had a great way to get there, but still needed to book the cruise. This was easy as well since Chase had just offered me two cards. One at 50,000 bonus points, and one at 25,000. These equated to a $750 credit to my account, which I used to book the cruise. I waited and found a great deal on one of Royal Caribbean’s largest ships, the Liberty of the Seas, and booked it.
All in all I ended up covering the entire cost of the cruise, which I would normally borrow from my life insurance policy. And the best part of it is, I’ve still got another 2 or 3 flights in points to use for future trips.
Moral of the story- credit cards are just another financial tool. Use them wrong, and you’ll probably be sorry, use them right, and you’ll get a few extra perks you might not have otherwise had.
Garrett February 19, 2013 at 5:42 pm
That’s pretty cool you actually did it all. I’ve seen the offers and ways to do it, but wondered if it were truly doable or if there was a catch. Did you have to spend money to get the points?
Jake February 19, 2013 at 5:46 pm
I know what you mean. I kind of wanted to do it to prove it to myself that it could be done.
I think I had to pay a $65 annual fee for both Southwest cards, then had to spend
$1,000 on each card to get the points. For the Marriott and Chase I only had to make one purchase.
The key is to look around. You can find offers for the same cards with different requirements. You don’t always have to spend a ton of money on the card to get the points.
Elizabeth @ Simple Finance February 23, 2013 at 6:45 pm
I’m going to London in a few weeks, and I’m using perks from my credit card to pay for a lot of it. Like you, I use my credit card as a tool, and don’t abuse it.
Jake February 25, 2013 at 3:51 pm
Thats the way to do it! Did you get most of the points from bonuses or did you just get them from using your cards?
Brick By Brick Investing | Marvin February 27, 2013 at 8:25 am
Sounds and looks like you guys got a fantastic deal! We are currently racking up credit card points for a vacation we take 2 years from now.
Jake February 27, 2013 at 10:42 am
thanks Marvin! It’s true we got a great deal. I’m certain we can’t repeat what we did every year, but it was fun to take advantage of it while we could.
At this point we are basically doing what you are doing, just using our credit cards to slowly build points that we will use down the road.