Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Cruisin' on a Sunday Afternoon....

Need a break?  Want to get away?  Does the thought of TSA rummaging through your personals make you ick though?  Sick of Canada-grade weather in Texas?  Sounds like you need a cruise.  And you're in luck my friends!


American Airlines sent me an email today that's got us looking to the high seas.  And there are miles involved.  (insert girly squeal here)  Now through March 10th, cruises you book through AA.com will earn you up to 25,000 AA miles!  Uh oh, up to.  Yeah I thought that was a bad sign and depending on what cruise you plan on booking, it can be.  Here's how American is breaking down the bonus miles:

Book your cruise before Mar 10, 2011 and get up to 25,000 miles to pay for a second trip! Enjoy a relaxing, all-inclusive cruise vacation and start planning how to spend your 25,000 AAdvantage bonus miles now! Applicable on all 2011 sailings. 3-5 night balcony sailings receive 1,750 bonus miles. 3-5 night suite sailings receive 2,500 bonus miles. 6-12 night balcony sailings receive 7,000 bonus miles. 6-12 night suite sailings receive 10,000 bonus miles. 13 night or longer balcony sailings receive 17,500 bonus miles. 13 night or longer suite sailings receive 25,000 bonus miles.

 The good news is that you can travel anytime this year, a very nice gesture on American's part.  Yes, you must book by March 10th but hey, that's a month to plan a trip! :)  I thought the 25,000 mile bonus would be for really expensive trips, over $10k, since you must book in a suite for 13 nights or more, HOWEVER, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they're not as bad of a sting as you may think.  They're not cheap, but if you're already budgeting for a cruise, why not earn miles while you're at it! :)

Breakdown of a few cruises to show you how this works.  For the purpose of these, I am planning based on using a Starwood Amex card to earn 1.25 miles per dollar for maximum mileage potential.

3-5 night cruise, Suite- earn a 2500 mile bonus
Royal Caribbean Eastern Caribbean cruise- Miami-Grand Turk-Half Moon Bay, Bahamas- Nassau, Bahamas-Miami
$779 per person for a Suite, total
Earning 1 AA mile for booking through AA.com, additional 1.25 for using Starwood plus 2500 mile bonus = 4253 miles total for this booking.  That means you are "paying" $.18 per mile! 

7 Night cruise, Suite- earn a 10,000 mile bonus
Carnival Cruise Line Exotic Western Caribbean cruise- Miami-Cozumel-Belize City-Roatan, Honduras-Grand Cayman-Miami
$929 per person for a suite, total
Earning 1 AA mile for booking through AA.com, additional 1.25 for using Starwood plus 10,000 mile bonus = 12, 090 miles total for this booking.  That means you are "paying" $.07 a mile!



Interested in a transatlantic cruise?  You might be after this! :)

16 Night cruise, Suite- earn a 25,000 mile bonus
Carnival Cruise Line Transatlantic Westbound cruise- Barcelona-Palma De Mallorca, Balearic Islands-Malaga, Spain-Canary Islands-Galveston
$2849 per person for a suite, total
Earning 1 AA mile for booking through AA.com, additional 1.25 for using Starwood plus 25,000 mile bonus = 31,412 miles total for this booking.  That means you are "paying" $.09 a mile!

While these may not be the BEST way to earn miles, it's certainly something to look into if you're already planning on cruising this year.  Why not earn extra miles on a trip you already planned to book! :)  For more information, click on the link below and book your cruise today! 

http://aa.cruises.com/promotion/fpp_specials/cru_event.asp

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