I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[WVMomof3]

Did you like Raglan Road at least?

Despite how often we go down there we never make it to Disney Springs. Other than a brief field trip to maybe the grocery store and Outlet once we are in the bubble it is easier to just stay there and Disney Springs seems outside of it. There is a beer at Raglan Road DH wants to have again (last had in Ireland) but even that has not caused us to venture out.

Glad you had a good day!

In my opinion the ruined Downtown Disney by renaming Disney Springs and building the parking garages. Now they can fit an ungodly amount of people in there. I told DH we might have a hard time getting into a sit down restaurant, he said but we are here at an off peak time, it was 2:00 on a Sunday. I am like, ummm can you see all the effing people?? lol It was a zoo. We did stop at Homecomin' first and put our name down. They told us 40 min. DH said if we find something better with no wait we are dropping them. Ragland road seated us right away. Food was good, beer was good. Nothing spectacular. But I am not a foody, so don't go by me. lol

 

[wanderlust7]

I haven’t read many reviews but from the ones I read most people liked the buffet and thought the main dining was just okay. I think it will just come down to what we’re willing to pay but also how many points we have by next year. It also will depend on what itineraries are available by the time we’re ready to book.

The buffet was good. That’s one thing other cruise lines have over DCL - the convenience of a dinner buffet. The pastries and desserts were especially good on MSC.

 

[ski_mom]

We've looked at European Cruises in the past, and now with my points hobby, they seems like they could be a reality. One thing I wondered about it the language barrier. Has that ever been a problem for anyone?

 

[570traveler]

Thanks @miztressuz for your help!

I’m dealing with fraud activity on my chase card! Just got email from Best Buy that my order was processed...only I didn’t order anything.
I’ve locked all my cards, deleted my cards from Best Buy account and altered chase to the fraud activity. Is there more I need to do?
I’m also getting bombarded with emails...is there a way to get those to stop (gmail account)????

 

[smmco]

I got nervous about my Citi points posting in time so I went ahead and transferred some Marriott points over. I was expecting it to take at least two days but it posted today. I know terrible redemption. I was thinking maybe I should have just waited and bought the points if needed. Anyway it saves me a lot of stress, My hold would have expired Thursday midnight London time which is 5 pm here. My points wouldn't have posted until at least then and I would have had to deal with it at work. I also have my quarterly check-in with my boss on Thursday. I figure that alone was enough stress for one day.

 

[Haley R]

The buffet was good. That’s one thing other cruise lines have over DCL - the convenience of a dinner buffet. The pastries and desserts were especially good on MSC.

I feel like a buffet might be better with a baby. We really just won’t know anything until we see how the baby’s temperament is. We plan to expose the baby to sit down restaurants pretty early.

 

[GZanta77]

We've looked at European Cruises in the past, and now with my points hobby, they seems like they could be a reality. One thing I wondered about it the language barrier. Has that ever been a problem for anyone?

English has been the default language on all the european cruises I have taken. You might find some of the announcements are made in multiple languages - say English, French and Spanish, particularly on the mediterranean cruises - but I can't remember it being annoying.

 

[PopGirl26]

Do any of you have an opinion on whether Chase will again this January offer the new card offer with the 1-year companion pass as its signup bonus, like they did in January 2019?

I have been at the chase SW game a long time, and I think that would be the best new card for my husband. Just curious if anyone thinks they’ll run it again!

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

With the baby we would most likely pick my dining if it’s an option. We had the second seating and we really liked it. We never felt rushed to get there and it was nice seeing the show before. We always went right to the tube after dinner with the other couple. We just made sure to eat lunch at 2 ish

We always cruise on Royal Caribbean. We do the early seating with our toddler because she can't wait for a late dinner eating. My time dining generally doesn't have seating available as early either. I thought about doing my time once, but everything was 7 pm or later and my daughter would be begging for "yummies" constantly if she had to wait that long.

You will find that when kids enter the picture, what you did as a couple might have to change a bit. The general pace of vacations changes quite a bit. Still love it, but it is a totally different experience than when it was just me and DH.

 

[Haley R]

We always cruise on Royal Caribbean. We do the early seating with our toddler because she can't wait for a late dinner eating. My time dining generally doesn't have seating available as early either. I thought about doing my time once, but everything was 7 pm or later and my daughter would be begging for "yummies" constantly if she had to wait that long.

You will find that when kids enter the picture, what you did as a couple might have to change a bit. The general pace of vacations changes quite a bit. Still love it, but it is a totally different experience than when it was just me and DH.

I just looked up RCL and they don't have any Europe cruises up yet for 2021 so I looked at next summer as a reference. I only saw one cruise to Norway and it's 7 nights which should work fine for us. I didn't see any for the British Isles or Iceland so I think it would have to be just Norway if we did RCL.

I think we would do the traditional dining. I wouldn't want to go wait in line for eating. I'd rather have a set time. If my parents go with I feel like we wouldn't be sat with anyone else. I wouldn't mind either way. My general plan for ports with a baby is to just explore where we get off. I don't want to deal too much with trying to go far and doing crazy excursions.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Are most cruise lines available to transfer to Chase besides Disney?

Yes. You generally need to call Chase directly to book a cruise using UR points rather than booking on the portal. I like it because then they can also apply my loyalty number for Royal Caribbean and get me the suite discounts, etc.

But what we often do is book our next cruise while we are on our current cruise. Then I call Chase within 30 days and have them transfer my booking over to them. This lets me take advantage of the lower cruise deposit for booking with RCI onboard. And then I can pay the entire cruise balance with UR points. Though I usually wait until closer to the final payment date in case the cruise fare drops. If so, then I call Chase and have them adjust the fare price to the lower cost.

 

[Psychodisney]

We got home last night from a fabulous trip to SWFL. We were joking around about flying back down next weekend. Found 99% off with Frontier. Booked it for Sat-Sun! Back to the sun! Great deals if anyone can fly soon . Code: BOOKNOW Fly by 11/25, book today.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

We've looked at European Cruises in the past, and now with my points hobby, they seems like they could be a reality. One thing I wondered about it the language barrier. Has that ever been a problem for anyone?

The crew on Royal Caribbean all speak English and most ports you will not have any problem either. We have taken 2 European cruises to Norway (babymoon) and Italy/Greece/Croatia plus we have one coming up this spring to Spain/Italy/France. We have never had any issues with language barriers.

 

[apollodi]

If anyone else did the First Midwest bank bonus, the bonus posted on 11/8 for me and DH, and it looks like also for a bunch of other people on DoC. Might want to check your account!

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I just looked up RCL and they don't have any Europe cruises up yet for 2021 so I looked at next summer as a reference. I only saw one cruise to Norway and it's 7 nights which should work fine for us. I didn't see any for the British Isles or Iceland so I think it would have to be just Norway if we did RCL.

I think we would do the traditional dining. I wouldn't want to go wait in line for eating. I'd rather have a set time. If my parents go with I feel like we wouldn't be sat with anyone else. I wouldn't mind either way. My general plan for ports with a baby is to just explore where we get off. I don't want to deal too much with trying to go far and doing crazy excursions.

We did the 7 night Norway cruise as our babymoon and loved it! If you are planning for a 1-week trip, then I honestly wouldn't try to include all 3 countries. RCI usually has British Isles cruises, so you could try to do Norway + British Isles over 2 weeks. I have a few friends that did Iceland with their toddlers and they said to make that a 1 week trip just in itself and it didn't seem to lend itself to cruising so well. Iceland is on our bucket list, but I am thinking we will wait til kids are a bit older.

One thing to consider when cruising with a baby/younger child is that most excursions use tour buses. Children aren't safe to sit in these seats on their own until they are 40 lbs. and you can't use a car seat either. It generally isn't safe to hold a baby/toddler in your lap or use a baby carrier either because the baby then becomes your airbag in the case of a crash. For this reason, we have booked private sedan excursions for all of our ports on our upcoming spring cruise so that we can take our car seat and use it for our daughter. Some of the days it is actually cheaper than booking through the cruise (Rome, for example), but some days will be costing us a bit more (Florence/Pisa, for example). In the end, knowing that our daughter will be as safe as possible on the excursions is what matters the most to us.

 

[EACarlson]

Thanks! I was checking Embassy and Homewood Suites across the street out last night as options that would give us more room! I also realized all rooms in LA are just a lot of points & none are at super swanky hotels like you’d expect for the same amount of points in other places.

With my kids now being 7 and almost 4 Embassy Suites is fast becoming my favorite Hilton chain. I can put them to bed in separate beds, close the door and the wife and I can have some decompress time in the other room. Then move one of them and we can all get a decent night's sleep. Being able to close the door is key with getting my kids to sleep.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Our DVC contract documents just arrived. And when I logged into DH's CIP account, it showed 95k UR points pending.

 

[KPK02090]

Did you like Raglan Road at least?

Despite how often we go down there we never make it to Disney Springs. Other than a brief field trip to maybe the grocery store and Outlet once we are in the bubble it is easier to just stay there and Disney Springs seems outside of it. There is a beer at Raglan Road DH wants to have again (last had in Ireland) but even that has not caused us to venture out.

Glad you had a good day!

Is the beer Smithwicks?

 

[Haley R]

We did the 7 night Norway cruise as our babymoon and loved it! If you are planning for a 1-week trip, then I honestly wouldn't try to include all 3 countries. RCI usually has British Isles cruises, so you could try to do Norway + British Isles over 2 weeks. I have a few friends that did Iceland with their toddlers and they said to make that a 1 week trip just in itself and it didn't seem to lend itself to cruising so well. Iceland is on our bucket list, but I am thinking we will wait til kids are a bit older.

One thing to consider when cruising with a baby/younger child is that most excursions use tour buses. Children aren't safe to sit in these seats on their own until they are 40 lbs. and you can't use a car seat either. It generally isn't safe to hold a baby/toddler in your lap or use a baby carrier either because the baby then becomes your airbag in the case of a crash. For this reason, we have booked private sedan excursions for all of our ports on our upcoming spring cruise so that we can take our car seat and use it for our daughter. Some of the days it is actually cheaper than booking through the cruise (Rome, for example), but some days will be costing us a bit more (Florence/Pisa, for example). In the end, knowing that our daughter will be as safe as possible on the excursions is what matters the most to us.

I think I was trying to fit all 3 in just because Disney offers that itinerary. It doesn't seem like that's likely with most other cruise lines. I think we'll either stick with just Norway or the British Isles. I'm not sure if 14 days would be too long or not. Do you have an opinion on that?

That's good to know about the tour buses. I was planning on just walking around or taking a private car like you're planning to do. I didn't even think about taking a tour bus. If my parents go, we might need 2 cars so that could be an issue.

What did you like most about the 7-night Norway cruise with RCL?

 

[KPK02090]

Anyone a Lands End shopper? They are currently having a 50% off sale with code: Preview50 and they are 11% back through Rakuten (today only), plus they take paypal as a form of payment online. I'm stocking up on snow pants and mittens!