Best method for final payment

[Pearl64]

Curious which method of payment is the best way to make the final payment--a check to my travel agent? put on a credit card with low foreign fees and then put the cash onto that account? I didn't know if there were any benefits for putting it on a credit card in case something went wrong. My travel agent is affiliated with AAA so possibly some backing there? We did take out travel insurance with AAA for the cruise and separately for the air as we booked that independently. I guess all of this volcanic ash has made us cautious. I certainly do not want to lose all that money and not get to cruise. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

Pearl

[LHT28]

--a check to my travel agent?

 

NEVER ... only if payable to the cruise line

put on a credit card with low foreign fees and then put the cash onto that account?

Pearl

A credit card is usually the best way but check your card agreement to see if they charge a fee for the offshore banking done by Oceania.

 

Lyn

[StanandJim]

Curious which method of payment is the best way to make the final payment--a check to my travel agent? put on a credit card with low foreign fees and then put the cash onto that account? I didn't know if there were any benefits for putting it on a credit card in case something went wrong. My travel agent is affiliated with AAA so possibly some backing there? We did take out travel insurance with AAA for the cruise and separately for the air as we booked that independently. I guess all of this volcanic ash has made us cautious. I certainly do not want to lose all that money and not get to cruise. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

Pearl

 

Pearl-

 

What you want to do is to pay with a credit card that:

 

#1. Has some kind of a rewards program (miles, points, or cash back) that has some value to you, or to your family

 

#2 Does not charge a "foreign transaction fee" when a charge that you make is processed by a bank abroad (Oceania processes payments through a bank in Ireland).

 

Hope this helped-

 

Jim & Stan

[Pearl64]

No, the check would be made out to Oceania and not AAA. I do not have a credit card that gives rewards. Are there good ones out there that do not charge hefty yearly fees? That would probably negate any advantage. Just ignored those as it did not seem that the rewards were worth the trouble. Perhaps we were wrong. We tried to go with the lowest interest rate. We do have a credit card that has just a 1% charge for foreign transactions. We do not use credit cards for everyday items so we did not think points would add up. Again, perhaps we were wrong.

 

You have given me food for thought.

Pearl

[caribbeansun]

If you're using O's air and your CC has travel insurance, trip interruption, baggage delay, etc, etc, that would be a good reason to use a card rather than check.

 

Hefty fees are relative to the reward - on our next trip to Italy our air into FCO, a week in Rome before the cruise and 3 nights in Venice afterward - all points. Estimated total value $8000-$9000 - not bad for two cards with $120 fees.

 

Points are your friend :D

[happy cruzer]

right now, unless I get the another CapitalOne credit card. I too probably will go the check route to avoid the foreign transaction fees. Let us know how that works out.

[Jancruz]

Curious which method of payment is the best way to make the final payment--a check to my travel agent? put on a credit card with low foreign fees and then put the cash onto that account? I didn't know if there were any benefits for putting it on a credit card in case something went wrong. My travel agent is affiliated with AAA so possibly some backing there? We did take out travel insurance with AAA for the cruise and separately for the air as we booked that independently. I guess all of this volcanic ash has made us cautious. I certainly do not want to lose all that money and not get to cruise. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

Pearl

 

The very BEST advise I can give you is NEVER pay for any (cruise line or travel company) trip with cash or a check made out to anyone, TA or travel company np matter who it is, ALWAYS put your payment on a credit card..in case of a problem if you have paid by cash or check you have ABSOLUTELY NO recourse. I cannot stress this enough!!

Jancruz1

[digby]

I can't imagine paying such a big amount using cash/check! You would have absolutely no one to back you up if something goes wrong. Shop around and you'll be able to find a way to avoid the foreign transaction charge. If not, "O" usually will refund it in some way or other. Try some of your local credit unions for good cc deals.

[Pearl64]

Wow! This is exactly why I asked here on CC. I will need to pursue this more. Something told me that we should use the credit card. I need to figure out which credit card I used to make the deposit because there was no foreign transaction fee unless somehow AAA took care of it.

 

Carribean Sun, I am just amazed that you were able to get your airline tickets just from using points. Do you mind my asking which card gave you those perks?

 

I guess I am just old school and use checks for everything. I will need to educate myself. (I do know I have lots of folks with me though that use checks and not credit cards.)

 

Again, thanks everyone.

Pearl

[Jancruz]

I can't imagine paying such a big amount using cash/check! You would have absolutely no one to back you up if something goes wrong. Shop around and you'll be able to find a way to avoid the foreign transaction charge. If not, "O" usually will refund it in some way or other. Try some of your local credit unions for good cc deals.

 

Digby you would be shocked at the amount of people that pay with cash/check!!

Jancruz1

[StanandJim]

Wow! This is exactly why I asked here on CC. I will need to pursue this more. Something told me that we should use the credit card. I need to figure out which credit card I used to make the deposit because there was no foreign transaction fee unless somehow AAA took care of it.

 

Carribean Sun, I am just amazed that you were able to get your airline tickets just from using points. Do you mind my asking which card gave you those perks?

 

I guess I am just old school and use checks for everything. I will need to educate myself. (I do know I have lots of folks with me though that use checks and not credit cards.)

 

Again, thanks everyone.

Pearl

 

Once we learned about the Starwoods Preferred Guest program which is offered through American Express, we have made a point of charging absolutely everything possible through this card.

 

Until you get to Platinum status, there is an annual fee ($45, I think, although the first year is free), but the advantage is that the points NEVER EXPIRE and can be used for Airline tickets AND Hotel Stays.

 

We make a point of always charging everything; gas, groceries, fast food, even movie tickets, so the rewards build up very quickly.

 

In years where we build the charges up over $30,000 (did you know that you can charge both car payments AND your mortgage?), we earn points at an even faster rate.

 

If you are going to spend the money anyway, you might as well take advantage of these programs.

[Ontario cruise duo]

I have an American Express card and live in Canada. For some reason not all stores here take American Express, but I do use it wherever I am able, just for the reason alone of racking up POINTS. I do not pay an annual fee, nor have I paid any interest on this card in a few years. When I charged something on this card, I come home and via internet banking am able to pull money right from my bank account and post it against my recent purchase and in any event the balance is always paid by the end of the month, so no interest is ever owing. You do have to be very disciplined about doing this or the POINTS rewards would outweigh any interest that you would pay.

[Paulchili]

We make a point of always charging everything; gas, groceries, fast food, even movie tickets, so the rewards build up very quickly.

 

In years where we build the charges up over $30,000 (did you know that you can charge both car payments AND your mortgage?), we earn points at an even faster rate.

 

.

 

I agree with everything you say and SPG Amex is also my preferred CC for that same reason (I usually convert points to miles for business class travel).

The only thing I cannot figure out is how to charge my mortgage with a CC (not for lack of trying).

Can you tell me how do you manage to do that?

[lord of the seas]

I guess all of this volcanic ash has made us cautious.

 

If you see any will you let me know.I live in the UK and I haven't seen any yet.

[cruzmaven]

I've usually use my Amex card for cruise deposits and final payment and have never been charged a foreign transaction fee for charges to O. Am I doing something wrong (right)?:confused:

[caribbeansun]

We have CIBC Aerogold (Canadian) and that has covered many, many trips for us. For hotel points I use Starwood Amex.

 

We optimize our point usage to get the best value ie. first class to Rome and Sydney, many other trips where the tickets > $1,000 a ticket.

 

Hotels - a week at the Grand Bretagne in Athens, week in Westin in Rome, couple days at Westin in Venice.

 

We also understand the best way to maximize point accumulation as well ie. Aerogold pays 1.5x on gas, groceries but 1x on other items. Amex pays 1x on everything but we can convert 20,000 SPG points to 25,000 Aeroplan points if we need to.

 

It sounds like a lot of work but it really isn't - pick a plan and use it.

 

Carribean Sun, I am just amazed that you were able to get your airline tickets just from using points. Do you mind my asking which card gave you those perks?

[tropicalkerry2002]

I, too, have used my Canadian(for 1st cruise) and US(for 2nd cruise) AmEx cards and never been charged a foreign transaction fee.

 

I am a firm believer in paying the annual fee and charging EVERYTHING, as long as I know I won't incur interest charges. I'm sure most people on this board would easily get at least the minimum reward offered by Aeroplan (15,000 points) annually, and no flight costs only $120! We have both AmEx and Visa Aeroplan cards, so we don't miss out on any points where AmEx isn't accepted.

 

From Toronto,in 20 years or so,we have done Europe twice in business class, Hawaii once, numerous trips to western Canada, California, Arizona, and a couple to Florida(don't like to use my points for places I can get to FAIRLY cheaply, so usually pay for FL! Usually fly out of Buffalo, way cheaper!)

 

I'll do anything to collect those points, but alas, utilities and university tuition(oh, the points we could have had THERE!), and a few other places still won't take credit cards!

[WesW]

Agree with Starwood AMX as best CC now available...pls see this post from my favorite

Frugal Traveler:

 

#5: The best all around travel credit card, year after year is the Starwood Preferred Guest card. Earn 10K sign up bonus, no annual fee the first year, and the opportunity to earn 15K more points with a $15K spend in the first six months. Apply at either one of the two ads on this page. Click Here to see my reasons why I love this card.

 

Using his site, for the last 18 months (link below) since I retired (and do much less travel for Business) and following his frugal tips we have earned over 500,000 ff miles in four ff programs--a big chunk of these miles (at least half) has been from CC sign up bonuses when first using the card (Delta AMX, Citi AA, BA Visa (100K miles), Virgin Atlantic (AMX) and another 100k from the Starwood card and 5k bonus after 20K spend.

 

http://frugaltravelguy.blogspot.com/

 

 

We normally pay our cruise deposits with AMX platinum and final pay with our starwood (as Stan & Jim point out, large payments quickly earn you lots of points, and starwood points are the most flexible to use of any US card on the CC market) Plus, with a half dozen cruise lines (alas oceania is not one of them) when you deposit with AMX-P, and make final payment with another AMX you get cruise benefits ($300 SBC, tour of bridge, premium champagne--have done this over a half-dozen times). FDR did tell me recentlh, that Oceania does not plan to partner with AMX tho.

 

Finally, from flyertalk.com here are two useful credit card threads that I check daily for super deals (American Express, and then Other credit card programs)

 

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-express-membership-rewards-410/

 

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other-credit-card-programs-599/

 

 

r/wes

[happy cruzer]

The very BEST advise I can give you is NEVER pay for any (cruise line or travel company) trip with cash or a check made out to anyone, TA or travel company np matter who it is, ALWAYS put your payment on a credit card..in case of a problem if you have paid by cash or check you have ABSOLUTELY NO recourse. I cannot stress this enough!!

Jancruz1

 

I understand that there is a limited window of credit card recourse, 60 days or so from the charge. So if you make your final payment 90 days what recourse do you have? Not arguing, just trying to understand. Thanks.

[StanandJim]

I understand that there is a limited window of credit card recourse, 60 days or so from the charge. So if you make your final payment 90 days what recourse do you have? Not arguing, just trying to understand. Thanks.

 

The sixty days applies to the charge card holder disputing the transaction with the Credit Card Company.

 

As with everything else in the "Good Old Boys Banking Club", those rules don't apply to the Credit Card Company disputing the transaction with the merchant.

 

Particularly in cases where the Card Holder is willing to testify that the services contracted for were not provided, the Credit Card Company has a great deal of leeway.

[shedevil]

I agree with everything you say and SPG Amex is also my preferred CC for that same reason (I usually convert points to miles for business class travel).

The only thing I cannot figure out is how to charge my mortgage with a CC (not for lack of trying).

Can you tell me how do you manage to do that?

 

We too use the AMEX card but are part of the Hilton awards program. We have a condo/timeshare through Hilton Grand Vacations and are able to convert the points to Hilton Honors points. We are staying 9 nights in Italy prior to our June 5th cruise on Insignia with a 10th night following the cruise and all are paid with HH points.

 

In addition to the AMEX card we use a Chase Visa which is a United Miles card. We live in the middle of nowhere and United regional is the only carrier for our little airport. We booked our own air for this cruise and our business class flight for the Italy trip is on United Miles.

 

And other thing folks don't think about, is the perks you can get if you check in at a Starwood or Hilton property and are part of their "frequent" guest program. Things like upgraded rooms, free newspaper, and free bottled water might not seem like much but every thing free means more $$ left to pay for the fun things.

 

The key is to pay for everything you can with the AMEX or Chase but then pay it off in full ...just like you would have when paying by check......each month.

 

And AMEX does have a program where you can pay your mortgage by AMEX ....only problem is that it is through the AMEX mortgage program. You do earn points but you have to pay a set-up fee of $395.

[shemp2000]

..... Are there good ones out there that do not charge hefty yearly fees? .....

 

Our Costco AMEX did not charge a foreign transaction fee when we made final payment with it. It has no annual fee and gives 2% cash back

 

For daily use I have a Bank of America Worldpoints VISA card that has no annual fee, and we have compiled enough points on it over the years (12) to pay for 2 round trip tickets to Europe + pay for half of our next cruise

[Paulchili]

And AMEX does have a program where you can pay your mortgage by AMEX ....only problem is that it is through the AMEX mortgage program. You do earn points but you have to pay a set-up fee of $395.

 

Totally agree with you.

For the Amex mortgage program, do you have to transfer your mortgage (in my case Citi) to their mortgage or just set up a payment plan? If the latter is the case, the $395 fee would be well worth the points I could earn.

[Paulchili]

 

Plus, with a half dozen cruise lines (alas oceania is not one of them) when you deposit with AMX-P, and make final payment with another AMX you get cruise benefits ($300 SBC, tour of bridge, premium champagne--have done this over a half-dozen times).

/wes

 

Wes,

Thanks for that tip. I thought that you had to use the AMX-P for the entire payment (deposit & final) to get those benefits. I prefer using the SPG AMX for the points so from now on I'll use the Platinum for deposit and SPG for final.

[WesW]

Paul, you're welcome. I learned this tip from Host Dan of lux CC boards about two years ago and changed

payment method for precisely the reason you list. Love the Starwood AMX..got both

the personal and biz, as did my wife (and the 25K bonus miles with each)