Hello, folks. I haven’t posted here in a long time but I pop in once in awhile to see what’s up. Now that we have a RSSC cruise planned for this summer, I’ll be visiting a little more often. I have some information that I have not seen addressed although, I may have just missed it.

Since Goldpoints are now useless, I wanted to pay for my cruise with my Discover card. They are offering a 5% cash back bonus this quarter for travel like, cruises, hotels, airfare. Well, according my travel agent, RSSC no longer takes Discover. That came as a complete shock to me as we paid for our first cruise that way (before we joined goldpoints).

OK, now I haven’t traveled since Radisson became Regent but I did do 2 Radisson cruises. In 2002 , we went to Tahiti and did a post cruise with Radisson. We did a Panama Canal cruise over the holidays 2004-2005, just before the world cruise started.

We live in Lubbock, TX that is not, nor has it ever been, a Regent (or Radisson) gateway. So when we went to Tahiti we paid a flight deviation and got flights thru Radisson to/from Lubbock and staying for the post cruise. It was $50 per person which covered both deviations – place and time.

For the Panama Canal cruise we did not do any pre or post cruise and just got a deviation to go to/from Lubbock. It cost $100 per person. No big deal, prices rise and I was not surprised.

Well, this summer we are going on the Voyager from Stockholm to Copenhagen for 7 days with a 3 day pre cruise in Stockholm and 3 days post cruise in Copenhagen. I am doing the pre and post arrangements myself to keep costs down. When I asked about flight deviations I was not surprised to find that it is $100 per person to arrive a few days early and leave a few days later. But in order to get flights from Lubbock, I would need to pay an additional $250 per person for the round trip to/from Dallas. I was surprised that it now costs 2 flight deviations when it used to only cost one.

Needless to say, I am flying from Dallas not Lubbock. I did some research and found a web site that helps you find hotels where you can spend a night and then leave your car before taking a flight and I thought all the world travelers on this site might find it useful.

http://www.parksleepfly.com/

I was able to book a night before the trip, a night at the end of the trip and can leave our vehicle for 2 weeks for under $200. I had to pay a $22 refundable deposit and can cancel up to the day of check in. There is also a non-refundable $5 fee to book thru that web site. You could probably avoid that by calling the hotel directly. Gas to get to/from Dallas will probably be in the $100 range.

I just wanted to share the info about the Discover card, the flight deviations, and the web site I found. Hope it helps someone else.

Anyone going to be on the Voyager Aug 9 – Aug 16?

Colleen

Good research, Colleen. If I understood that all correctly, you will pay about $300 (plus some extra travel time) rather than $700 plus airport parking for the two of you to deviate your flights on your upcoming trip. As an added bonus, you won’t have to worry about making connecting flights.

I’m not too surprised to hear about Regent not taking the Discover card. I was surprised in a local store last month when I heard them tell another customer that they do not take Master Card, only Visa or Discover. I guess it shows that every industry (at least in the US) is feeling the money pinch and are looking at their best ways to manage.

Have a great trip!

Actually we are still paying $100 each for flight deviations due to arriving a few days early and leaving a few days later. But we don't have to fly out of Copenhagen at 7am to make the connection in DFW to Lubbock. Our flight is at noon - much more reasonable time to fly.

Yes we have added 2 days of travel time but it is about a 6 hour drive to Dallas and it's not a bad drive. And we don't have to park our car at the Lubbock airport at $6 a day.

We used park and fly (cruise)a couple of years ago when we took a 35-day cruise RT from Boston and were very pleased.

We stayed at a so-so hotel for one night, had included breakfast, and they drove us to the pier.

Upon return they picked us up at the pier and took us to our car - all for about half the cost of just parking at Black Falcon pier.

Only downside was we brought too much stuff - because we could - airports were not involved.

Colleen,
Yes, RSSC stopped taking Discover Card sometime in January. It was while we were on the Circle South America cruise. We had paid our deposit a year prior on Discover to get that 5% cashback on travel. We paid most of our cruise fare with Discover a year later for the cashback as well. We all used Discover Card when we checked in for the cruise for our shipboard charges for the same reason. We got a phone call from the Reception Desk mid-cruise to let us know that RSSC would no longer take Discover as a result of their bank changing when Apollo purchased them. Like you we feel the loss of our Goldpoints, and the loss of our Cashback bonus! Clay and I got over $400 back on that CSA cruise. We were very disappointed that RSSC will no longer accept it. When Clay took new credit cards to register at the front desk, they told him to check back before we left the ship and maybe it would happen that Discover Card would be accepted again. But, we checked and it was not and at that point the desk staff were not hopeful that it would be accepted again. Have a great cruise anyway, Debbie

Colleen, I could be wrong but I think Capital One also has a card where you get cash rebate. BTW, welcome back to LCT.

Peter uses a Motley Fool visa card that also gives back...it's about $1% but something is better than nothing!!

I just got a Chase Visa to replace the goldpoints. It gives 1% back and then on your 3 highest categories it gives 3% back but travel is not a category. Go figure. Anyway, if you wait to cash in until you have $200 dollars you get $250 so that's another 1/4%.

Marcie, I haven't really been away, just lurking. Today was one of those days when I felt I actually had something to contribute.

Debbie, I can't believe they made you do that in the middle of a cruise. What if you haven't brought another card with you?

Colleen, Believe it! Well, I guess if suddenly all their banking is done through a different bank, they have no choice. I guess they assumed that everyone onboard had multiple credit cards or enough cash on hand!! I mean I don't think they were going to kick anyone off the cruise over it half way round South America. But, Colleen remember the fine print on the Discover 5%. Last 2 years it has been on the first $1000 in charges or $50. This year the fine print is on the first $800, so you're really only out $40! If that helps, Debbie

Debbie, Actually on the new quarter coming up - April to June - it is only on $400 in charges. Oh well, the games we play with our credit cards.