OBC: Platinum Amex vs Virtuoso credit

[Dallasgal]

Does anyone have an opinion of which benefit is better option, (wish we could have both.) Both are either $300 shipboard credit, or Virtuoso gives option to have a shore excursion instead of $300 OBC. I know AMEX sometimes includes a Galley tour.

[Pamela1]

Does anyone have an opinion of which benefit is better option, (wish we could have both.) Both are either $300 shipboard credit, or Virtuoso gives option to have a shore excursion instead of $300 OBC. I know AMEX sometimes includes a Galley tour.

 

Hello, there are lots of free excursions with Regent and Regent choice ones at a cost. You can use your OBC toward the paid excursions. Have never done a Galley tour so can't comment on that.

 

I'm sure there will be plenty of people on here to give you good advice.

 

Pam.

[petlover]

I don't use a Virtuoso agent so I'm not familiar with what kind of shore excursion you're referring to since Regent includes excursions in each port? The TA I use gives cash rebate which works best for us. We use the American Express SBC credit towards bingo, premium wine, gift shop and once in a great while a fee charged excursion (not the spa unless we really have a ton of SBC since the services are $$$).

Edited January 25, 2017 by petlover

[Dallasgal]

I was just curious to see if there were any advantages I was missing. The galley tours are fun to see once. We have been on all the ships except for the Navigator which we are doing the LISBON-NYC crossing in Oct.

[Travelcat2]

Does anyone have an opinion of which benefit is better option, (wish we could have both.) Both are either $300 shipboard credit, or Virtuoso gives option to have a shore excursion instead of $300 OBC. I know AMEX sometimes includes a Galley tour.

 

I had Virtuoso and understand their benefits. It is interesting that Virtuoso allows you to have both Amex and Virtuoso credits. Our TA is part of another consortium and they only allow one or the other (whichever is greater). We prefer the Amex benefit because, as you probably know, in addition to the $300 OBC, you get many others benefits through Amex. As you noted, Amex does include a Galley tour.

 

As an aside, we left Virtuoso because we prefer a monetary rebate from our TA (in addition to the Amex OBC's) instead of their excursion and cocktail party (note: some of Virtuoso's excursions were outstanding but still would rather have the money and decide how I want to use it.

 

Hope that this helps!

 

Marcie - thanks for trying to help. In this case, "excursions" refer to those provided by the Virtuoso consortium. See you two months from today in Miami!

Edited January 25, 2017 by Travelcat2

[Portolan]

A few more points:

 

1. Some of the Virtuoso events (i.e., their exclusive shore excursion) have been truly wonderful (a boat trip to a very famous Bergen seaside restaurant for a memorable meal comes to mind). However, the offering needs to be compared to either a solidly good "free" (included) Regent shore excursion or one of the Regent Choice (the extra cost) shore excursion at that port. Since you'd be taking the Virtuoso event in lieu of the $300, that's the effective cost (and, as I said many have been worth that amount). I'd say we are about 50-50 on taking the credit versus the shore event. As others have mentioned, the Cocktail Party (which you'll still get invited to even if you opt for the credit) has been OBE since every night is effectively a cocktail party now.

 

2. The Virtuoso credit is refundable. Unlike Regent-provided OBCs, you can cash out the Virtuoso credit. This may (probably?) be true of the AMEX credit as well.

 

3. One of the "secrets" you learn sometime on an early Regent cruise is that they always (?...at least we haven't ever not had one) have galley tours for anyone who signs up. Sometimes these are very poorly advertised and they are capacity limited. Especially if it is a new ship to us (meaning Explorer for us...8 weeks from now), we will stop by Reception very early in the cruise and ask to sign up for the galley tour. Even when they haven't got it fully organized, they've taken our name and when the date has been arranged they get back to us and tell us we're signed up.

Edited January 25, 2017 by Portolan

[Dallasgal]

Scott, thanks for the added points. Like you, we having enjoyed some of the special AMEX shore excursions on Regent. The Galley tour on the Explorer was more of a "walk through" with the Chef. The tour we had on the Voyager was more in depth, the chef had us sample food in different sections.

Since we are foodie's we loved the Cooking Classes on the Explorer!

[Travelcat2]

Scott, we signed up for the Galley Tour on the Explorer. There were so people that we walked away. Hopefully there will be less on our March cruise.

[rallydave]

There is a bit more to consider when deciding which perk you choose. To get the Amex benefit you have to use the Amex Platinum card to pay the full cruise price while the Virtuoso perk only requires using a Virtuoso TA. You can have the end result of both options by using the new Hase Sapphire Reserve Card which pays triple points for all travel. Since Amex only pays single points while the new Chase Card pays triple so if your total cruise cost is $15K or more, Amex gives you 15K points while Chase gives 45K points or 30K more and you can withdraw points for cash money meaning the difference is $300 which is how much you would get from the Amex card. Anything more than $15K becomes an added benefit. So use the Chase Reserve, get the triple points from a Virtuoso Agency and get your cash plus the Virtuoso excursion. Win Win!!! Almost forgot, the first $300 spent on travel with the Reserve card is rebated as a credit on your account the same day it posts and you still get the 900 points for the payment.

Edited January 26, 2017 by rallydave

[WesW]

If you like the virtuoso experience, and would like much more cash than the $300 SBC AMX-P provides, concur with rallydave, pay with the new Chase Sappire Reserve card. For example on the Voyager now instead of a $300 SBC from AMX-P we have $900 cash from Chase to use. And we get our TA's groups benefit which is not combinable with AMX-P. Moreover, every Jan 1, Chase Sapphire Reserve gives you a $300 travel credit (airline, hotel, cruise expense) so endstate for us on this cruise instead of a $300 AMX sbc, we get $1200 in travel benefits from Chase and $500 SBC from our TA's travel consortium. More than likely from now on we will pay all our cruises with chase.

 

 

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[FloatSomeMore]

If you like the virtuoso experience, and would like much more cash than the $300 SBC AMX-P provides, concur with rallydave, pay with the new Chase Sappire Reserve card. For example on the Voyager now instead of a $300 SBC from AMX-P we have $900 cash from Chase to use. And we get our TA's groups benefit which is not combinable with AMX-P. Moreover, every Jan 1, Chase Sapphire Reserve gives you a $300 travel credit (airline, hotel, cruise expense) so endstate for us on this cruise instead of a $300 AMX sbc, we get $1200 in travel benefits from Chase and $500 SBC from our TA's travel consortium. More than likely from now on we will pay all our cruises with chase.

 

 

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Hello, Colonel. Your information on Chase is timely since we have used AmEx for their travel benefits which have changed in the last year or so. It seems like Chase may be a better fit especially since our AmEx renewal is a few months away. We enjoy using the Centurion Club but the cost benefit of Chase sounds even more attractive.

 

At one time we were using the same TA, are you still working with our friends in NM? Your comment on the travel consortium made me wonder. We have not sailed Regent with them, only Crystal, Celebrity and Azamara. Appreciate your experience/sharing travel benefits (trying to make sure that I don't violate any CC rules).

[fizzy]

If you like the virtuoso experience, and would like much more cash than the $300 SBC AMX-P provides, concur with rallydave, pay with the new Chase Sappire Reserve card. For example on the Voyager now instead of a $300 SBC from AMX-P we have $900 cash from Chase to use. And we get our TA's groups benefit which is not combinable with AMX-P. Moreover, every Jan 1, Chase Sapphire Reserve gives you a $300 travel credit (airline, hotel, cruise expense) so endstate for us on this cruise instead of a $300 AMX sbc, we get $1200 in travel benefits from Chase and $500 SBC from our TA's travel consortium. More than likely from now on we will pay all our cruises with chase.

 

 

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My Amex P is due for renewal in a couple of months also. I think it would it would be a good thought to explore the Chase card.

[rallydave]

Just so you possible converts know the 100K points bonus for getting the card is almost gone. Can still get the huge bonus until march I think by applying in a branch. Applying on line now only a 50K bonus

 

 

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Edited January 27, 2017 by rallydave

[WesW]

Yes dave that's right 50k down from 100K online but if have a chase branch near you 100k offer still available. Floatsomemore, your NM TA will absolutely take wonderful care of you on Regent, the Regent President Jason Montague was in their office a few weeks ago honoring them for their record breaking Regent year

 

 

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[captjohn]

I would like to give a big thank you to Wes and Dave ! I read your post and went down to Chase and got the 100,000 points. They said, that offer will end March 12th for others looking.

Wes we also use the same TA and in your example how do you get OBC from Chase ?

 

John

[rallydave]

I would like to give a big thank you to Wes and Dave ! I read your post and went down to Chase and got the 100,000 points. They said, that offer will end March 12th for others looking.

Wes we also use the same TA and in your example how do you get OBC from Chase ?

 

John

 

I can answer for you captjohn, Wes and I work together on this stuff and Wes is in New Zealand. I also use the same TA. The answer to your question is we don't get OBC from Chase. With the Chase Card, you can redeem points for cash, 10,000 points equals $100. Really easy and they send you a check fairly quickly. Much prefer cash to OBC as can choose where to spend and the OBC from AMEX is not refundable so you have to spend on board while cash can reduce your cruise cost. The other thing that wasn't mentioned is that with the Reserve, you get triple points for travel while Amex is single points.so a $10K cruise gets you $30000 points or the same value as the Amex card, and more expensive gets you more Also $10K per person cancellation/medical and other stuff covered free.Complimentary Veranda for Ocean View Suite or Three Veranda Suite Category Upgrade.

 

Read all the benefits, they dwarf Amex and using the card, as the OP asked can get you both the Amex benefits or more plus Virtuoso. The OP asked for both and this solution gets you both and probably more at the current Regent prices.

 

Good luck with the card and you don't have the 100,000 points as yet, have to spend on the care $4,000 on the card withing 3 months of the card opening, not when you get the card but, when authorized so don't be late with your spend or no bonus.

[Travelcat2]

We have booked cruises for years with the Amex branded card and have received not only $300 OBC for each Regent cruise but have been able to take advantage of their incredible lounges in several states, have purchased computers and many other things with their points. More importantly, we don't spends tons of time figuring it all out.

 

With the card recommended by some posters, spending $10,000 equals $100 (which you can receive in cash). When you pay for your cruise with Amex, you receive $300 OBC which apparently equals spending $30,000 with Chase plus you have points to spend on purchases. IMO, this is a simple way of getting benefits.

 

BTW, I personally have a Chase card that I use for Amazon where I've received 1-3% of my purchases in points for purchases on Amazon. (I've purchased hundreds of dollars worth of goods using this card). However, just last week Amazon changed to another card (not Chase) where we will receive up to 5%.

 

While I cannot comment on "Veranda" upgrades (not sure what they are since all Regent ships - with the exception of a very few suites on the Navigator - ALL ships have verandas/balconies. Regent offers upgrades when they have promotions. I cannot believe that it would be easier to get an upgrade through Chase than through Regent. This is obviously not a benefit that one can depend upon.

 

This thread is sounding like an advertisement for the Chase card (very puzzling). For the two posters that are advertising the Chase card, kindly advise exactly how much the Chase "Reserve card" (or a card that has the benefits described in the last post) costs per year.

 

This is all quite complex. So, you need to spend $4,000 within 3 months of receiving the card? Really? We could easily spend $40K within 3 months if we booked a Regent cruise. And, with Amex $40K points would go a long way.

 

Wes did try to explain this to posters on a Silversea thread -- I got lost about 50% through the discussion. There is something about constantly (or intermittently) applying for new cards that get you a lot of points. I believe that Wes spends a lot of time doing this and I applaud him for his efforts. However, for us, we want to keep it simple.

 

Lastly, the "$10K per person cancellation/medical and other stuff covered free" would not come close to covering our Regent cruises. Our personal medical insurance covers considerably more than that for medical. Cancellation insurance is another issue altogether. Will Chase "cancellation insurance" cover the cancellation of a $50,000 cruise (which is the cost of many cruises in late 2018 and early 2019).?

 

Just want to present the other side of the story.:)

 

captjohn - your post made me laugh (in a good way). You have the points but are not certain how to use them. This speaks volumes. Hopefully, since you have spent the $$$ for the card, Wes can assist you with with your question.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Travelcat2

[rallydave]

Need to offer a mea culpa.I accidentally posted something from something else I was doing into my previous post. There are NO upgrades with the Chase Card veranda or otherwise.. My apologies

[Portolan]

Chase Sapphire Reserve benefits:

 

- Cost - $450/year

- $300 travel credit/year (immediately credited after the first $300 of purchases coded as travel...cruises, hotels, rental cars, air), so effective cost is $150/year

- Those same travel purchases earn 3 points/$...restaurants also get 3 points...everything else gets 1 pt/$

- Points can be taken as cash back, but (to me, at least) worth more when converted 1:1 to frequent flyer miles. United for us and, very conservatively worth 2 cents per mile if you use them for award tickets in business or first. The transfers are instantaneous. So those 3 points/$ are worth 6 cents/$ to me.

- Includes Priority Pass club membership (free admission for 2 at over 1000 airport clubs worldwide)

- $100 credit every 4 years for Global Entry or TSA Precheck

 

And some other less useful things (again, to me) like insurance. You can easily find this on the Chase web site (be sure you are looking at the Reserve card, not the more limited Preferred card).

 

Widely reviewed as the (current) best card for travellers.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Portolan

[Suite Travels]

Unfortunately using miles for first class on international are very hard to use as they only allocate a few seats in F and J class. We rarely fly US carriers international because of the general poor service. For Asia we fly Singapore or Cathay Pacific and the best is Emirates. We need to go to DXB (Dubai) and First Class has only one seat available for awards we need two and today when I checked no revenue passengers are booked in First. EK told me that it is capacity controlled and to check back in a few weeks.

 

Amex Platinum and Centurion offer two for one in Biz or First in their airline program.

[Travelcat2]

Chase Sapphire Reserve benefits:

 

- Cost - $450/year

- $300 travel credit/year (immediately credited after the first $300 of purchases coded as travel...cruises, hotels, rental cars, air), so effective cost is $150/year

- Those same travel purchases earn 3 points/$...restaurants also get 3 points...everything else gets 1 pt/$

- Points can be taken as cash back, but (to me, at least) worth more when converted 1:1 to frequent flyer miles. United for us and, very conservatively worth 2 cents per mile if you use them for award tickets in business or first. The transfers are instantaneous. So those 3 points/$ are worth 6 cents/$ to me.

- Includes Priority Pass club membership (free admission for 2 at over 1000 airport clubs worldwide)

- $100 credit every 4 years for Global Entry or TSA Precheck

 

And some other less useful things (again, to me) like insurance. You can easily find this on the Chase web site (be sure you are looking at the Reserve card, not the more limited Preferred card).

 

P.S. Still do not see how this has anything to do with the OPs question but it is interesting!

 

Widely reviewed as the (current) best card for travellers.

 

Thanks, Scott for making the first post about the Chase card that makes sense to me.

 

Okay - so Amex also gives $100 credit for Global Entry or Pre-check and pays for check-in luggage fees for those passengers that travel in coat.

 

Amex also included the Priority One pass (for one - the other person pays around $27.50) as well as a pass for the Centurion Lounge for two (available in more and more cities every year -- the Centurion Lounge in Dallas includes a free facial or massage)

 

The cost for both cards is the same.

 

So, you receive a credit of $300/year for travel while Amex gives $300 non-refundable OBC's for every cruise you take. On Silversea, Amex also gives you a bottle of Dom Perignon which isn't a big deal to us however, we are able to share our OBC's and other promotions with friends that have an Amex card (not only on Silversea but on Regent as well). For instance, there were six of us on a Silversea cruise -- each couple received $300 OBC's and a bottle of "Dom". We had an amazing dinner in Le Champagne (the restaurant that Silversea charges passengers for) with a lot of champagne.

 

The points for the Chase card sounds better because you can take them in cash. On the other hand, while we might waste the cash, we have an incentive to purchase something with the Amex card (we currently have a ton of points with them). Amex also allows points for upgrades and flights on many airlines. This particular point is still confusing to me. While you r description is no doubt clear to other posters, I am at a loss to understand it).

 

I'm sure that both cards are great and worth the $450/year fee.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Travelcat2

[rallydave]

Amex Platinum and Centurion offer two for one in Biz or First in their airline program.

 

Yes Miles, there is that 2 for 1 however just found out that for one ways from outside the US flights cannot be booked with the 2 for 1; your reservation has to begin in the US. And while 2 for 1 sounds great, the fares you have to book are the full full refundable fares which are in many cases I've investigated are more than double the discount J Business Fare that are non-refundable.If you ar sure you will be going can be less expensive to buy the non-refundable fares.

 

At least for us, we've had the Platinum card for over 20 years and never found a better deal with the 2 for 1. And, for anyone using Amex Points, they are only allowing about 2/3 of a cent per point and that is for items at full retail. At least Chase allows a penny a point. Have yet to find anything priced even close what I can buy for with money. Best use of points is for Business Flight as we just booked by transferring points into sky pesos and got about $.06/point and points were more than double United but, no flights available on United on the first day of flight posting and for 2 weeks after. 4.06

[Travelcat2]

Okay - so some people prefer Chase and others prefer Amex. Thankfully there is plenty of information out there to help us make a decision. Hopefully this off-topic discussion does not go on until the next millennium. :rolleyes:

[Portolan]

Thanks, Scott for making the first post about the Chase card that makes sense to me.

...

Amex also included the Priority One pass (for one - the other person pays around $27.50) as well as a pass for the Centurion Lounge for two (available in more and more cities every year -- the Centurion Lounge in Dallas includes a free facial or massage)

 

Centurion Lounges (I hear) are great, but you'll be paying the $27 for the second person every time you use the Priority Pass.

 

The points for the Chase card sounds better because you can take them in cash. On the other hand, while we might waste the cash, we have an incentive to purchase something with the Amex card (we currently have a ton of points with them). Amex also allows points for upgrades and flights on many airlines. This particular point is still confusing to me. While you r description is no doubt clear to other posters, I am at a loss to understand it).

 

I'm sure that both cards are great and worth the $450/year fee.

 

As I tried to explain, taking the Sapphire points as cash is, I think, the least beneficial use. If you book travel through Chase, they value the points at 150%, i.e., 10000 points ($100 cash) is $150 in travel booked through them...still not a great value. Converting them 1:1 to United and several other programs and using them exclusively for premium award tickets (using FF miles for coach or upgrades isn't a good value) means that conservatively I get 6 cents per $ spent in value. Many/most credit cards do not transfer points to miles at 1:1 and instantly at that.

 

We just made final payments ($25k) for our B2B in Mar/Apr on Explorer (see you there), and the bonus for travel meant we got 50k points/miles more than we got the last time we paid for a similar cruise with our former card (1 mile/$). 50k points converted to 50,000 miles are worth $1000 to me (again, conservatively since, for example, that's just short of the 55k miles which will "purchase" a one-way business award ticket to Buenos Aires for our 2/19 cruise).

 

Another "secret" (explained in the fine print) is that the $300/year travel credit is by calendar year. We got the Sapphire Reserve card in December and immediately charged some travel coded items and received the 2016 travel credit. In January, we were billed for the card fee, and because of some travel coded spend, received the 2017 travel credit. So we are actually $150 ahead on the cost of the card through the first year. Not to mention the (disappearing offer of) 100,000 points (=>$2000 when converted to miles).

 

Enough. I have no incentive to convince anyone that this card is hugely good if you travel as we do...that's an individual decision.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Portolan

[Suite Travels]

About ten years ago points were fairly easy to redeem on most airlines now they are really tight and hard to use for flights or they want a huge amount of miles. We have resorted to operators who will redeem your points for you as they have computer programs that keep searching for those golden seats. These operators do charge a fee but they try and salvage as many points as they can for you. The one thing about them is you need to have some flexibility as to routing and dates. We have been lucky using one when I could not find First or Biz seats on a flight.

 

The other thing we have done is use a ticket consolidator and they can come up with amazing fares and better than the two for one that AMEX offers. I can't mention the vendors we use but you can find them on the internet.

 

The points people do an amazing job and you don't have to be on the computer checking everyday as they will snag those golden seats and you only pay them if you are satisfied with the arrangements. As I mentioned their computers search all the airlines that will work for you. You need to give them plenty of leeway time so don't do this at the last minute.

 

The ticket consolidators at least the one we use has saved us more than 50% in premium class fares. When you learn how to play this game it really works at least it has for us saving is thousands of dollars on F & J class fares.