How to book a cruise with points

Many of you have written in asking about how to book cruises using points. I have to admit that I don’t know very much about the subject. I’ve only ever been on one cruise in my life, and it was as a hired musician after my freshman year of college (let’s just say I spent a little more time enjoying the lower drinking age than I did making quality music…).

 

Well, it turns out there is a really good way to book cruises with points. To make things better, the stars have aligned with a few different deals to get a huge discount on a points cruise for two.

 

Virgin Voyages, the cruise arm of the Virgin travel ecosystem, currently has a promo where you can book a 7-night Mediterranean cruise for two for 115,000 Virgin Red points.

 

Here are the important details:

Now I know what your next question is: What the heck is Virgin Red and how do I get these points in the first place?

 

That’s the fun part.

 

Virgin Red is basically the points pool for all of Virgin travel. You can use these points on Virgin Atlantic flights, Virgin hotels, or in this case, Virgin Voyages cruises.

 

Getting these points is super easy. You can transfer them from Capital One, Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou points, and Bill rewards. 

 

Right now, however, I’d recommend using Amex MR points specifically. That’s because they currently have a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin. This means that you could book this two-person, 115,000-point cruise by transferring only 88,000 Amex points.

Given the scarcity of points-bookable cruises, I’d say this is an AMAZING offer to jump on if you have been considering booking a cruise. If you aren’t able to take advantage of this offer because of the impending departure deadline, they also have the following options in the Caribbean:

 

 

Both of these Caribbean cruises still need to be booked by September 30th, but you can leave as late as December 22, which may give you some more time to plan (and save money on European airfare).

If you aren’t familiar with Clear, it’s basically an alternative to TSA Pre-check. It allows you to scan your eyes or fingerprints and jump to the front of the security line.

 

Unlike TSA Pre-Check, Clear operates outside of airports as well at things like sporting events and concerts, making it a little more versatile.

 

This versatility does come with a price tag of $189.

 

But right now, Clear is offering a $75 Uber credit for signing up. For most of us, $75 of Uber credit is as good as cash (especially if you use it for UberEats).

Still, the “net” cost of $114 might be a little intimidating. Luckily, there’s a way to get rid of the $189 fee altogether by using an annual perk offered on a certain credit card from American Express.

 

This card allows you to purchase Clear for $189 and receive full reimbursement of $189, making it free.

 

This means that if you own the card, you should sign up for Clear even if you never plan on using it because you’ll essentially get $75 of free Uber rides or meals in exchange for paying $0. If you do end up going to the airport once in a while (which I would hope you do), then even better.

 

This is one of those rare opportunities to get really solid value for little to no investment and only a minute of your time. Click here for the direct link to the promotion.

Well, I guess Air Canada read my newsletter last week about the effect of air travel on the environment because they just announced that they will be buying 30 ES-30 Electric-hybrid planes. Maybe I should write about their 50% delay and cancellation rates and see if they do something about that, too 😏

 

These tiny planes will have a capacity of just 30 passengers and a range of 200km, making them viable on only a handful of regional routes.

The manufacturer is called Heart Aerospace, a Swedish company that Air Canada invested 5 million dollars into… So I guess it would be a little awkward if they didn’t commit to buying some planes 😬 The battery-operated planes can also be fully charged in only 30-50 minutes. And here I am with my iPhone on 10% after plugging it in for an hour… 

 

Set to launch in 2028, this marks a huge step forward in the world of sustainable travel. We are seeing more and more airlines taking these types of steps to lower their carbon footprints, and 2028 isn’t that far away for something this big. Overall, I think this is a really exciting piece of news.

That’s all for today, folks! I know a lot of you wrote last week asking about my around-the-world trip. I responded to a few of you, but after my fingers started bleeding from typing so many responses I decided that it deserves its own write-up either here in the newsletter or on our website. So stay tuned for some tips on planning an epic around-the-world trip.

 

Have you ever been on a cruise? Do you think cruises are a good use of your points? Would you fly on a tiny electric plane? Let me know by responding to this email or reaching out on social media.

 

Have a wonderful day!