Paris France onto 9 Day Royal Caribbean Mediterranean Cruise
Trip to Paris and 9 Day Mediterranean Cruise
Wow! After a fantastic trip to one of our dream destination in 2016 to Hawaii, who knew we would soon eclipse that in as far as retail cost when we traveled to Europe. Our cash outlay was considerable less than retail cost because of our Award Travel know how! This was still a getting out of the box type experience on what was possible with points and miles because we were using them to book a cruise. A lot of the travel blogs currently out there didn’t have a whole lot of information on this process. Nonetheless, I wrote some blog posts to explain this process to some degree and I have provided links to those below.
Award Travel is achieved when, either points/miles or cash, you wish to redeem are in amounts sufficiently at or above a company’s loyalty program redemption criteria for item(s). You instead choose to substitute additional cash or credit outlay from you by redeeming points/miles or cash for one or more reward flight(s), cruise(s), hotel(s) accommodations, car rental(s), entertainment, or sponsored products/services. Points/miles or cash be accumulated through bank, airline, hotel, and/or other company’s loyalty programs via credit card spending, dining programs, shopping portals, referral, and paid services.
Os
Yes and Yes
The trip to Hawaii was an affirmation that ‘yes’ this is possible and ‘yes’ we (everyday people) can do this and do it quite well. On my wife and I first ever trip to Europe, we flew into Manchester, England onto London, and then for a brief 3 day stay in Paris, France. Then we flew to Barcelona, Spain to get onto the newest Royal Caribbean ship at the time, Symphony of the Seas, for 9 day cruise down Western Mediterranean Sea.
We Did That!
This was more touristy type trip because we scheduled to visit some of the historical places and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Though this happened in 2018, this was another — we did that moments! As I embark now on this journey to be a full-time content creator, this reminder as to my ability is crucial for my self confidence that I can do this as well. The retail cost for that trip could have been anywhere from $12,000 to $16,000 for two people and that’s being conservative. We only paid around $2,000 out of pocket for excursions and food for the both of us. So, talk about value add or making your money go further! That’s over $10,000 saved or a trip we may have never taken otherwise.
Teamwork Make the Dream Work!
Teamwork can make the dream work and my wife’s good credit enabled us to sign-up for additional credit cards and get a lot of the bonuses that contributed directly towards the success in booking this trip. When I think of traveling now, I think do we have points, miles, cashback, or some combination of those three and/or can I get them so as to get us there? If so, even better when redemption values are good, let’s plan on going and enjoying our lives and having new experiences in places that extend outside of America. Also, helping us have a different perspective of how people live all around the world.
In Closing
The iMovie captures our incredible experience as we hit airport lounges in the airport and traveled from place to place in Europe. These are the posts which I wrote to give context on the plan and execution of that plan to get us there and back.
Lofty 500,000 Points Goal for 2 Vacation Cruises
How To Book Cruise With Points
Flying To Europe with Points/Miles For A Cruise
