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

[DisneyMandC]

Anyone ever have parking comped as part of the status at a Marriott? I stayed three nights at a Marriott earlier this week and should have been charged for parking every day. I took my parking ticket to be validated at the front desk and everything, yet I wasn't charged for it my final bill. I'm a gold member. Another coworker, who is platinum with Marriott, also mentioned that she wasn't charged for parking. Everyone else we work with was.

 

[speedyfishy]

Got really excited as I've been checking hotel dates for our trip... right now I have a standard room at Pop at rack rate. I saw AS Movies come up under the Gift of Magic offer.. preferred room... only $10 less total than Pop. Nevermind...

I would switch lol. I hate Pop. I stayed there twice one time dirty sheets and dirty towels. The other time they sent us to a room that was occupied and our magic bands worked. That was kinda scary.

 

[amalone1013]

I would switch lol. I hate Pop. I stayed there twice one time dirty sheets and dirty towels. The other time they sent us to a room that was occupied and our magic bands worked. That was kinda scary.

Oh no! We love Pop, the only bad thing we ever had happen was our magic band reader on the door died... but that would have happened to someone no matter what lol. Just luck of the draw for us.

I do see Movies std room for $100 less with AP discount. I am cheap, what can I say.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I would switch lol. I hate Pop. I stayed there twice one time dirty sheets and dirty towels. The other time they sent us to a room that was occupied and our magic bands worked. That was kinda scary.

Oh man, I love Pop! We're looking forward to staying again in September.

 

[MrPTato]

I was at Cumberland Farms last night and saw VGCs...I was able to get one for $500 with a $4.95 fee ($1 cheeper than the usual grocery store) and used my Discover. Do we know if it will code as gas for this quarter being it was not pay at the pump? I figured I could check when it posts, but would like to get 2 more so that I finish my quarter bonus, and thus the 10% for the first year bonus...I have until May 1 to finish my year.

 

[amalone1013]

Ok I've decided I will splurge and stick with Pop and a renovated room with Queen beds

 

[DisneyMandC]

Ok I've decided I will splurge and stick with Pop and a renovated room with Queen beds

That's another reason I love Pop. DH and I do NOT fit in a double bed together! I'm going to request a king room for our stay in September, but at least I know that we won't be sleeping separately for a week if we do end up with two queens

 

[MrPTato]

We stayed in the Pop a couple years ago to bridge a DVC stay altered by Irma...there were hundreds of little flying bugs on the wall in our room. We were able to switch but...eww.

 

[havaneselover]

Oh man, I love Pop! We're looking forward to staying again in September.

I love Pop too!

 

[miztressuz]

whatttttttt..... I just learned something new today! I can't believe I didn't know this before! SO would the t&c on back of the gc state those terms if it is usable like that?

It's relatively recent, I think I only noticed the change last year. Before that I only ever saw the Carnival brand GC's listed.
It should list the brands that it works on either on the front or back of the card. The picture I keep seeing shows them all on the front. I don't think it has that whole sentence, but it'll look like those restaurant GC like Darden's that list multiple restaurants on them. I pulled that sentence from the T&C you agree to on the AmEx site when you order the GC.

 

[amalone1013]

That's another reason I love Pop. DH and I do NOT fit in a double bed together! I'm going to request a king room for our stay in September, but at least I know that we won't be sleeping separately for a week if we do end up with two queens

Everything I've read about the new murphy bed setup is that it's just as comfortable as the other bed, same mattress, etc. Not that we've tried it... When I was telling ILs all of this I can tell they don't believe me but I know MIL and Aunt will make FIL sleep on the murphy bed. I have a feeling he will also have so sleep on the sofa bed on the cruise...

 

[speedyfishy]

Oh no! We love Pop, the only bad thing we ever had happen was our magic band reader on the door died... but that would have happened to someone no matter what lol. Just luck of the draw for us.

I do see Movies std room for $100 less with AP discount. I am cheap, what can I say.

Oh man, I love Pop! We're looking forward to staying again in September.

I’m definitely in the minority here. Management gave us $100 gift card both times for our issues which was great but the only problem I had at all my All Star stays was a dirty plastic cup left from the pervious guest on the floor. I found it funny and didn’t complain or anything.

SO says he has out grown the values now. He is just too tall for the showers. I really loved staying at Disney for $100 a night.

 

[LynnTH]

The ones on the MR site are good for Carnival Corp, which includes the HAL and Princess brands. I looked into it as we like to sail Princess and never see GCs for them. I can't remember if the ones at Target are the same or they are the Carnival brand only. It might have been Swagbucks that got the umbrella ones instead and I just wanted it to be Target. But there are ones out there that are supposed to work at all the brands.

EDIT: Found it! It's in the T&Cs for the AmEx rewards card agreement "THIS CARD MAY BE USED ONLY FOR GOODS AND SERVICES AT 1) PARTICIPATING ESTABLISHMENTS WHICH ACCEPT AMERICAN EXPRESS® CARDS AND OPERATE UNDER THESE CARNIVAL CORPORATION BRANDS: CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE, PRINCESS CRUISES, HOLLAND AMERICA LINE, SEABOURN OR CUNARD, OR 2) THE CORPORATE CARNIVAL CAFÉ (“MERCHANT”). "
So it's not all brands like I misremembered, but a good portion of them.

Exactly. And the cashout rate for MR's is 1:1. So, I will have almost all of the cruise paid for with MR point / giftcards. I would use UR's with the CSR but they are not taking any cruise booking right now after 2019, so not sure what is going on with that. Used that for my last Carnival cruise - cashed out 200,000 points and got $3,000 towards cruise.

 

[havaneselover]

My citi biz was approved 4/4 and I still have not received it but I did get an envelope several days ago with a bunch of stuff about the card/terms/etc. Should I be concerned? My temporary card expires Sunday.

 

[elgerber]

.

 

[amalone1013]

My citi biz was approved 4/4 and I still have not received it but I did get an envelope several days ago with a bunch of stuff about the card/terms/etc. Should I be concerned? My temporary card expires Sunday.

I think ours just showed up Monday and we app'd 3/29 and 3/30... I also got the information envelopes the Thurs or Fri before...

 

[elgerber]

.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Everything I've read about the new murphy bed setup is that it's just as comfortable as the other bed, same mattress, etc. Not that we've tried it... When I was telling ILs all of this I can tell they don't believe me but I know MIL and Aunt will make FIL sleep on the murphy bed. I have a feeling he will also have so sleep on the sofa bed on the cruise...

My BIL will be sleeping on that in September, but he's used to terrible rollaway beds at crappy horse show hotels, so I'm sure he'll be fine with it. I've always heard good things about Disney sofa beds in general, so I can't imagine it's bad.

I’m definitely in the minority here. Management gave us $100 gift card both times for our issues which was great but the only problem I had at all my All Star stays was a dirty plastic cup left from the pervious guest on the floor. I found it funny and didn’t complain or anything.

SO says he has out grown the values now. He is just too tall for the showers. I really loved staying at Disney for $100 a night.

I honestly think Pop is the only value I'd stay at. Well, I'd stay at AoA, but I don't consider $300/night to be value pricing. The All Stars just don't appeal to me.

When we do our 2021 trip for the 50th anniversary, I'm hoping to do a deluxe stay again. Four years ago today, we were checking in to AKL for our honeymoon!

 

[LynnTH]

I booked the trip to Aruba today on points. DH was on board with it ( I have 4 trips in the works right now - I love points...). Will use a partial Christmas Gift for the kids.

I got the AA Saver Award for flights. So, 15,000 points each way per person. So, 120,000 points total. That was a steal. And it let me choose my seats and there were plenty of free seats available together. Very happy about that. It also let me put the trip on "HOLD" until the 17th. Hoping one of my new CC's comes in the mail. There is about $350 in taxes/fees so could use that on an MSR. These tickets would have cost over $4000 if paying cash.

I then booked the Aruba Marriott Stellaris for 50,000 points a night (1 night free). So, 6 nights for 250,000 points. Extra fees was $21. I called Marriott to make sure that there was no extra Resort Fees or any fees for more than 2 adults in the room as kids will be 18 and 20. She said there normally is but she couldn't find anything either. So, we did it like a cash booking to see what would come up - over $1000 in taxes/fees. So, paying on points covered all that. And I put down there were 4 adults in the room Total for the room would have been over $5,000.

Total cash cost over $9,000. That is crazy. I am so excited. I will wait another week or 2 and upgrade my AMEX Marriott card so then we can use the $300 credit there and I will get 100,000 more points. No brainer now that I have somewhere to use the credit. The 100,000 points is definitely worth the extra $150 in fees. Then will most likely cancel it after next AF is due.

Now I have 2 trips I have to keep a secret. This one from the kids and the Alaska one from DH. I hope I can do it....

 

[amalone1013]

I honestly think Pop is the only value I'd stay at. Well, I'd stay at AoA, but I don't consider $300/night to be value pricing. The All Stars just don't appeal to me.

I'm not a fan of the idea of the shared buses there, like it seems like they'd be full depending on which one you were at. And I'm not so big on the themes (except maybe the giant dalmatians statues ). I was okay with them for our waterpark trip but we ended up at Pop anyways.