I'm considering the AMEX Platinum, but does anyone have any thoughts about whether it is worth the hefty annual fee?
It seems to have a lot of perks, including membership rewards, priority reservations, and airport lounge access.
Thanks! :)
Sheri

Hi Sheri, I have had mine for 20 years and always felt that I got my money’s worth with lounge access and hotel room upgrades etc. I would say tho that if you don’t travel at least a few times a year that it would not be worth the annual fee. So as with so many things the bottom line is “it depends”:😀
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Helen

I had the AMEX Platinum for over 50 years but decided not to renew about three years ago because I found the Chase Sapphire Reserve was better for me at that time. Since then, I believe AMEX has adjusted the benefit for air travel to 5 times vs the 3 times for Chase I still continue to use Chase and have found the customer service excellent. The recent refund of my credit balance due to canceled Regent cruise was done with out any issues and was done electronically to my checking account rather than a paper check. Was a fairly large amount.

For the next year or two the benefits from the more expensive cards may not be worth the cost given that travel will be less than in the past.

I have the AMEX card which I use mostly for the cruise benefits ($300,) hotel benefits and airport lounge access. Given the current climate it's probably not cost effective but I'm not going to drop it. If you use Uber there are some additional benefits.

My go to charge card for all spending is the less expensive Chase Sapphire Preferred card. Both cards now offer travel cancellation insurance which is enough to make you think twice about buying any additional insurance. I probably could have saved $2000 by not purchasing travel insurance on my last cruise.

Tom.

How do you get the $300 cruise credit? Do you have to book through Amex travel, or can you book with your TA and just pay with Amex?

AMX $300 you can book with your TA and just all payments must be on AMX. Any AMX card as long as you own an AMX Platinum card. HOWEVER, this is fast becoming almost unusable. With Regent and most cruise lines it is not valid with almost any other offer. Most cruises have some kind of offer so it is rare now we can add the $300 AMX credit.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve is the most popular card with our clients right now.

If you sail on Regent the best bang for the buck now is to buy 100 shares of NCL stock that gets you SBC on every cruise. Amount varies depending on the cruise you take. This is works with almost all Regent cruises. Stock is very low right now as well so a good investment for the future. You have to fill in a form and prove you have the stock but once you do it once it is pretty easy.

Ngaire, I bought NCL stock when things first started to slide (should have waited another month, sigh)
Where do I get the necessary form to get credit on my already booked Regent cruises?
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Helen

Here you go Helen: NCLH form

Thanks, Dave!
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Helen