How to save money on booking a cruise

By Ellen Kennedy

Booking a cruise for a family vacation or romantic getaway? Cruises can be a great way for extended families to enjoy time together, as they offer activities for kids, adults and seniors.

And if you book a cruise strategically with travel rewards credit cards or cash back cards, you can save money and get extra perks for your trip.

Kiplinger editors have found three methods for saving money on cruises.

Using credit card rewards

If you are a veteran cruiser, you know that booking a cruise can be a complicated ordeal, especially if you are trying to earn or redeem credit card rewards at the same time.

“The best strategy is to keep it simple and flexible,” according to Ted Rossman of Creditcards.com.

Rossman recommends avoiding cruisebranded credit cards, which typically deliver meager rewards and lock you in to only one cruise line. Instead, he advises using a flexible travel rewards card or a cash back card.

Booking with a travel rewards credit card can help you get travel-related perks, like travel assistance and no foreign transaction fees. Here are some of Rossman’s favorite travel cards for maximizing the points you earn when booking a cruise:

• The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card earns five points for every dollar booked through its travel portal. And as of the publishing date, the card comes with a bonus offer worth $750 for new cardholders after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of opening the account. (The card has a $95 annual fee.)

Instead of booking directly through the Chase travel portal, you must call a Chase cruise specialist at 1-866-331-0773. Chase works with almost every cruise line (except for Disney) and will match the price of any package you find on a partner cruise website.

• The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card earns five miles for every dollar booked through Capital One Travel and two miles per dollar on all other purchases. It also has a $95 annual fee.

New cardholders can get 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of opening the account. You can also book a cruise without using the Capital One Travel platform and get reimbursed at the rate of one cent per mile.

If the thought of managing points or miles for booking and redeeming travel sounds like a hassle, keep it simple with one of the best cash back credit cards.

• One of the best options for travelers is the Wells Fargo AutographSM Card (no annual fee). Earn unlimited three points back on each dollar spent on travel, restaurants, gas and other categories, and one point back on everything else. Earn a welcome bonus of 20,000 bonus points when you spend $1,000 in purchases in the first three months, worth a $200 cash redemption value.

Wholesale club memberships

If you’re a fan of Costco Memberships, check out the company’s travel discounts.

See BOOK A CRUISE, page 37