Sapphire Reserve credit card by Chase

[CaveDiving]

There has been an interesting discussion on the Holland American Board concerning the new Chase Sapphire Reserve card. I am posting this here because I believe the subject may be of interest to others here on Cruise critic. I have nothing to do with Chase, other than as a card holder.

 

The negatives of the card are that you need a reasonable credit score, and there is a $450 yearly charge for the card. However, the positives, IMHO, far outweigh the negatives. IIRC, There is a $1,000 signup bonus if you spend at least $5,000 on the card in the first three months (which is pretty easy when talking about cruising.) In addition, there is a $300 yearly rebate as long as $300 has been spent on Travel expenses (including cruising.) So with $5,000 spent on cruising in the first three months, there is a rebate of $1,300 which is $850 better than the $450 charge for the card. Both Karen and I have cards. We have now been given by Chase over $2600, which is a bunch better than the $900 total we needed to pay for the two cards. So we are over $1700 ahead.

 

It’s not often that the card user comes out ahead in banking transactions.

 

And also, there are some pretty significant cruising insurance benefits complementary when using the card.

 

I thought others might be interested in the card.

 

Scott & Karen

[Hlitner]

We have been following (and participating) in that other discussion. Yes, it is an interesting card. So we pose a related profound question. If one has an AMEX Platinum Card (also $450 a year) should they drop that card in favor of the Chase Card. We suspect this is just what the Chase folks had in mind when they designed their benefit package. So, the next move is up to AMEX and it will be interesting to see if they take up the challenge. For some folks, the clock is ticking :).

 

Hank

[easyboy]

This is interesting to follow. I have the Amex card.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Queen of DaNile]

"INTRODUCING CHASE SAPPHIRE RESERVE 100,000 BONUS POINTS

after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening* — that's $1,500 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®."

[buggins0402]

When DH got his it had the 100K point signup that Queen of DaNile mentioned. When did they change to the cash back/$5K spend?

 

We are ok with the 100K sign-up. I try to get over $.015 value out of miles, so it should end up a win for us.

 

But, I'm also wondering how crowded the Priority Clubs will be now that there are so many Reserve card customers?

[beanerab]

For those of you that have the card, we are looking to sign up and would like to transfer our reward points from our other card and then use those reward points to pay for our excursion (getting the 1.5 pt bonus). Does anyone know if this will work?

[Philob]

For those of you that have the card, we are looking to sign up and would like to transfer our reward points from our other card and then use those reward points to pay for our excursion (getting the 1.5 pt bonus). Does anyone know if this will work?

 

Assuming your current card is with Chase it's easy to check on line. On line check your card balance and somewhere on the top there's a button to check your rewards balance/redeem. Click on it and it'll redirect you to the rewards site.

 

If your card is part of Chase's Ultimate Rewards program then you're good and can transfer your points between cards. When you get your Reserve card and it shows up along with your old online you'll need to go to the rewards page and link them; there's a verification process to do. If you apply at the branch they probably can link them for you.

 

I have the Chase Freedom, Ink, and Reserve cards and have been transferring my points regularly to the Reserve since we have a trip coming up.

[Lookingforfacts]

I'm pretty sure the 100K sign up offer is history. Earlier this year, after the 100K offer expired online, you could get the 100K offer if you applied for the card at a Chase branch.

 

The car offers some good travel benefits. Rental car coverage is primary. Benefits are provided, if some restrictions, for medical evacuation, trip cancellation even some coverage for medical expenses. The benefits aren't as extensive as benefits typically included with travel insurance. The coverage may be adequate, for those people who have coverage with their regular health policy.

[tbmrt]

Took the Reserve Card go get the 100,000 miles last year. Considering all the perks, we're happy with it. Liked the Priority Lounge Pass, Global Entry, travel perks, $300 per year credit on any travel, etc.

 

However, we were disappointed yesterday when we tried to use these points to pay toward a cruise that we had booked on board Celebrity last year and then transferred to my travel agent.

 

I guess I misunderstood, but I thought that these points could be applied to all travel at the higher $ value for the points. I found out that one can only get the higher travel percentage if one actually books travel through Celebrity's travel agency. So in my case, since I booked through Celebrity directly, I could only get the lower percentage/$$ applied to my cruise. (In my case this was $1,333 vs. $1,970.)

 

I thought about cancelling and re-booking to get the higher amount, but the rate for our cruise from Celebrity's agency at this time was ridiculously higher than what I booked at onboard last December.

 

Hopefully, if we book sooner in the year for our yearly December cruise, 2018, Celebrity's travel agency's charges will be more comparable to online travel agencies.

[Lookingforfacts]

Booking through the Chase travel portal gives you the opportunity to use fewer points to book. I thought the portal is your TA and you'd get the same perks as booking directly with the cruise line. Your TA perk is reduced number of points. Shop and see if paying cash with a different TA gives you a better deal. Using your example $600 in savings might be as good as getting TA perks

[Stateroom_Sailor]

We don't use the transfer partners often enough, for this card to interest us. Instead I use the Delta Platinum and SPG for airline & hotel points. As great as it was, I don't even pay attention to sign up bonuses when considering.

 

My question is, how are prices on the Chase Portal? If I book though hotels.com the Bellagio in Las Vegas for $149, on July 4th, would it reliably cost me 9,933 reward points through Chase?

[Toofarfromthesea]

You can use Ultimate Rewards points in ways other than through the Chase portal.

 

One benefit of this card that no one has brought up is that you get 3x for whatever you spend on travel. So paying for, say, a 3000 dollars cruise you get 9000 UR points. At a value of $.015 per pt, that is 4.5% of the cost of the cruise, a pretty nice perk on top of anything you get from the cruise line and whatever TA you use.

[tbmrt]

You can use Ultimate Rewards points in ways other than through the Chase portal.

 

One benefit of this card that no one has brought up is that you get 3x for whatever you spend on travel. So paying for, say, a 3000 dollars cruise you get 9000 UR points. At a value of $.015 per pt, that is 4.5% of the cost of the cruise, a pretty nice perk on top of anything you get from the cruise line and whatever TA you use.

 

Thank you for this information. I didn't know this.

[lostchild]

We don't use the transfer partners often enough, for this card to interest us. Instead I use the Delta Platinum and SPG for airline & hotel points. As great as it was, I don't even pay attention to sign up bonuses when considering.

 

My question is, how are prices on the Chase Portal? If I book though hotels.com the Bellagio in Las Vegas for $149, on July 4th, would it reliably cost me 9,933 reward points through Chase?

 

Chase UR Portal will usually have the same hotel prices as most major hotel booking sites like hotel.com, travelocity, expedia, etc... If it shows $149 on Chase UR Portal, then yes it would be 9933 UR points. You have to be more careful when booking airline tickets on Chase UR Portal. Lately Chase will only show economy tickets with Basic Economy (the lowest price ones). That means you don't get to take a free carry on....or choose a seat. There may not be an option on Chase portal to pay a little more for Economy, because those tickets are not showing up.

[clo]

It's just been announced that beginning in April the annual fee will go up to $550. 

 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/significant-changes-confirmed-for-chases-sapphire-reserve-card/

[RocketMan275]

31 minutes ago, clo said:

It's just been announced that beginning in April the annual fee will go up to $550. 

 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/significant-changes-confirmed-for-chases-sapphire-reserve-card/

I hope you're as happy as I am to get a 15% discount on free bike and scooter rentals each month (including Citi Bike in New York).  

[clo]

1 minute ago, RocketMan275 said:

I hope you're as happy as I am to get a 15% discount on free bike and scooter rentals each month (including Citi Bike in New York).  

My sentiments exactly. And I had to google the food delivery thing. We NEVER have food delivered. We're almost positive that we're going back to the Chase United Club Card. 1.5 points per dollar spent, free checked bags, UA lounge access etc. And it sounds like we can get a 50k bonus. We can move our points out of the Chase portal to UA, which is really the airline we most travel. With Star Alliance it takes us just about anywhere.

[crystalspin]

We love our Reserve card. At $450 it was a no-brainer (after it was explained to us) and now in our second year -- I've finally figured out how to use the Ultimate Rewards points to get their greater value, it's still a win-win situation. When it's time to re-up in October, we will do it happily.

[clo]

1 hour ago, crystalspin said:

We love our Reserve card. At $450 it was a no-brainer (after it was explained to us) and now in our second year -- I've finally figured out how to use the Ultimate Rewards points to get their greater value, it's still a win-win situation. When it's time to re-up in October, we will do it happily.

We have never tracked if it's a good deal for us. With 1-1/2 points per dollar on everything and we put every possible thing we can on our card(s), it would likely be close. Priority Pass has really meant nothing so far. And that's pretty much it. Free checked bags on UA is good. And lounge access. Some of you travel WAY more than we do so that 3X probably does work out for you. And if we can get 50k bonus by going back that may settle it. And, to tell you the truth, I'm honestly annoyed that I only found this out through The Points Guy and it goes into effect in a few days.

[Joebucks]

I remember when this first came out and I said no way will I ever pay $450 for a card. I could kick myself for that one.

 

It's been great paying off cruise fares completely on points at the 1.5 value.

[clo]

6 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

It's been great paying off cruise fares completely on points at the 1.5 value.

So you pay from the portal so it's 1.5 plus the 3X?

[Hlitner]

4 hours ago, crystalspin said:

We love our Reserve card. At $450 it was a no-brainer (after it was explained to us) and now in our second year -- I've finally figured out how to use the Ultimate Rewards points to get their greater value, it's still a win-win situation. When it's time to re-up in October, we will do it happily.

We had the same thoughts and, in fact, we dumped our AMEX Platinum in favor of getting the Chase Sapphire Reserve.  When an AMEX rep asked why we were downgrading our Platinum we told them the truth, that the Chase Sapphire Reserve offered a lot more for the money.  We also could not take full advantage of the AMEX tie in with Uber.   So now, Chase is doing something similar to AMEX Platinum.  We shall wait and see all the details of both cards and decide which best suits our travel habits.  Currently, there are no other cards even close.

 

Hank

[clo]

11 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We had the same thoughts and, in fact, we dumped our AMEX Platinum in favor of getting the Chase Sapphire Reserve.  When an AMEX rep asked why we were downgrading our Platinum we told them the truth, that the Chase Sapphire Reserve offered a lot more for the money.  We also could not take full advantage of the AMEX tie in with Uber.   So now, Chase is doing something similar to AMEX Platinum.  We shall wait and see all the details of both cards and decide which best suits our travel habits.  Currently, there are no other cards even close.

 

Hank

Here's what we may return to:

https://creditcards.chase.com/travel-credit-cards/united-mileageplus-club?CELL=6C4M

 

But as I said, we don't travel as much as some of you so that 3X can be a big deal.

[Hlitner]

3 minutes ago, clo said:

Here's what we may return to:

https://creditcards.chase.com/travel-credit-cards/united-mileageplus-club?CELL=6C4M

 

But as I said, we don't travel as much as some of you so that 3X can be a big deal.

You make an excellent point.  The higher end (more expensive) affinity cards are not for everyone.  For what they cost, folks should be careful to look at the option and choose what best fits their own travel profile.  For folks who do not do a lot of travel, it is likely that none of the higher cost cards are worthwhile.  For us, we are caught in between AMEX Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve.  Both cards are expensive but have much to offer the frequent traveler.  We eagerly watch the "battle of the credit cards" and continue to evaluate our best option.

 

Hank

[clo]

2 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

You make an excellent point.  The higher end (more expensive) affinity cards are not for everyone.  For what they cost, folks should be careful to look at the option and choose what best fits their own travel profile.  For folks who do not do a lot of travel, it is likely that none of the higher cost cards are worthwhile.  For us, we are caught in between AMEX Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve.  Both cards are expensive but have much to offer the frequent traveler.  We eagerly watch the "battle of the credit cards" and continue to evaluate our best option.

 

Hank

The Chase United Club Card is $450/yr. but is probably the way to go for us. What it offers for us likely works out better for us. And an extra 50k points isn't chump change 🙂 We still need to talk about it.