cruiselovin00 Posted June 28, 2017 Report Share Posted June 28, 2017 Hello Everyone, Just wanted to share something I learned last week regarding getting my American Express Platinum benefits added to two of my upcoming cruises. After debating the merit of the annual $550 fee, I decided to get the card earlier this month to take advantage of the airline benefits and now monthly Uber credit. After trying to find out whether or not my regular travel agent could add the benefits since Amex only advertises they work by booking through Amex Travel, I just asked my travel agent to try and see what happened. I had previously booked a cruise on a Memorial Day sale for Oasis of the Seas sailing next February so my travel agent was able to refund my $500 deposit from my previous CC and then charge it to my Amex Platinum without changing my previous booking rate. I had no idea you could retroactively change the deposit like that! My travel agent then also used the benefit to apply to a cruise I was booking then for a Navigator of the Seas sailing in November 2018. Couple things I learned: OBC in the amount of $100 - $300 Shipboard Credit per stateroom for sailings 5 nights or longer (depending on category booked): $100 for inside/oceanview, $200 for balcony, $300 for suites plus a complimentary bottle of wine or champagne no matter which cabin category. Your travel agent should have the ability to log into an Amex system to get a tracking number to apply the obc to your cruise, and can even be done retroactively to a cruise deposit previously booked provided you are not past final payment date. Amex benefit is not combinable with many promotions. For my Oasis sailing I lost a $50 obc from Royal Caribbean (but kept the other stuff from my travel agency), but I got the $200 obc for the balcony cabin (boardwalk category) instead for a net $150 gain. Amex benefit is not combinable with C&A balcony discount so I lost my $100 balcony discount on the Navigator sailing, but again gained $200 obc for a net $100 gain. I was able to see the Amex $200 obc immediately in my cruise planner for my Oasis February sailing. Do the math to see whether the benefits lost are less than the Amex obc. Hope this helps shed some light on how the American Express Platinum benefits might be able to work for you since there's really not a huge amount of information on other forums. Daniel KristiZ, whitsmom, sk8erguy1978 and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocLC Posted June 28, 2017 Report Share Posted June 28, 2017 AMEX tends to have a lot of OBC pets with a lot of the cruise lines. Thanks for posting the information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitsmom Posted June 28, 2017 Report Share Posted June 28, 2017 With our Am Ex with Delta skymiles we were able to book round trip flights for all 9 of us for our Oasis cruise (July 16th) for $11.22 per person total and that includes 1 checked bag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mworkman Posted June 28, 2017 Report Share Posted June 28, 2017 23 minutes ago, whitsmom said: @whitsmom I bet you used a lot of mile for that trip. whitsmom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLA Posted June 28, 2017 Report Share Posted June 28, 2017 24 minutes ago, whitsmom said: With our Am Ex with Delta skymiles we were able to book round trip flights for all 9 of us for our Oasis cruise (July 16th) for $11.22 per person total and that includes 1 checked bag. I have the Delta Skymiles card for that reason - I've been able to get a couple flights to and from port thanks to that.... and also thanks to some work travel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted June 28, 2017 Report Share Posted June 28, 2017 Interesting, so you were able to leverage the AmEx platinum card benefits without using their TA? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiselovin00 Posted June 28, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2017 8 minutes ago, Matt said: Interesting, so you were able to leverage the AmEx platinum card benefits without using their TA? Yes, I was pleasantly surprised. Amex only advertises this benefit through their travel agency, but my TA explained that most agencies have a system they can log into to get the Amex obc applied. The trick is just figuring out whether that makes sense given the other benefits that are not combinable. Given I only take about 2 RCI cruises a year and combined with all the other CC benefits I'm a lot more comfortable with the $550 annual fee now. Definitely not a CC for everyone but if you fly a lot and use Uber regularly, it can make sense. https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/card/platinum/ Matt and whitsmom 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianAlt Posted June 28, 2017 Report Share Posted June 28, 2017 Interesting. I'll have to take a look at this. I know my TA is an AMEX agent too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisK2793 Posted September 1, 2019 Report Share Posted September 1, 2019 Same with us, we also have Amex Platinum and are booked in suites on our cruises ...... all booked through a TA that is NOT Amex ....... every one of our currently booked 7 night cruises has a $300 OBC that our TA was able to add on thru Amex after the cruise deposit was paid as it immediately showed as an OBC on our updated statement. This alone made the Amex platinum yearly fee worth it for us, but it also comes with many other money saving benefits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sk8erguy1978 Posted September 1, 2019 Report Share Posted September 1, 2019 I'm a Chase Sapphire Reserve customer and was concerned about the overlap and another big yearly fee, but maybe I'll look closer. Do you have to use a travel agent to move the deposit from one CC to the next? I have a booking for next December but no agent tied to it and might be past the *give to an agent without a fight* period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karl_nj Posted September 1, 2019 Report Share Posted September 1, 2019 4 hours ago, sk8erguy1978 said: I'm a Chase Sapphire Reserve customer and was concerned about the overlap and another big yearly fee, but maybe I'll look closer. Do you have to use a travel agent to move the deposit from one CC to the next? I have a booking for next December but no agent tied to it and might be past the *give to an agent without a fight* period. Chase Sapphire Reserve has travel insurance that is more limited then a separate travel insurance policy, but I find it's OK in some circumstances (e.g. if I'm not flying to the port). Amex Platinum doesn't have any travel insurance benefits. So if you have both cards, then you may need to also add in the cost of a separate travel insurance policy. Something to factor in when "doing the math" to figure out what is best for a specific booking. I've had much more luck using the Amex Cruise Privileges Program for my bookings on Cunard, compared to my bookings on Royal. sk8erguy1978 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sk8erguy1978 Posted September 1, 2019 Report Share Posted September 1, 2019 1 hour ago, karl_nj said: Chase Sapphire Reserve has travel insurance that is more limited then a separate travel insurance policy, but I find it's OK in some circumstances (e.g. if I'm not flying to the port). Amex Platinum doesn't have any travel insurance benefits. So if you have both cards, then you may need to also add in the cost of a separate travel insurance policy. Something to factor in when "doing the math" to figure out what is best for a specific booking. I've had much more luck using the Amex Cruise Privileges Program for my bookings on Cunard, compared to my bookings on Royal. Yes. The health coverage has me wondering if I should just get cheap insurance just for that. We shall see, whatever the wife wants lol. The interesting thing, Chase representative said I don't need to pay for cruise in full with the card for the benefits. Curious how that works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karl_nj Posted September 1, 2019 Report Share Posted September 1, 2019 6 minutes ago, sk8erguy1978 said: Yes. The health coverage has me wondering if I should just get cheap insurance just for that. We shall see, whatever the wife wants lol. The interesting thing, Chase representative said I don't need to pay for cruise in full with the card for the benefits. Curious how that works. I don't believe Chase has any health coverage. It does have Trip Cancellation/Interruption, lost luggage, etc. My understating is it would cover up to what you charge on the card. Citi had health coverage, but they just got rid of all of their credit card insurance benefits. Amex Cruise Privileges Program requires the entire cruise to be paid for with an Amex card. sk8erguy1978 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sk8erguy1978 Posted September 1, 2019 Report Share Posted September 1, 2019 56 minutes ago, karl_nj said: I don't believe Chase has any health coverage. It does have Trip Cancellation/Interruption, lost luggage, etc. My understating is it would cover up to what you charge on the card. Citi had health coverage, but they just got rid of all of their credit card insurance benefits. Amex Cruise Privileges Program requires the entire cruise to be paid for with an Amex card. They have health but it's very minimal. https://www.chase.com/card-benefits/sapphirereserve/travel karl_nj 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karl_nj Posted September 2, 2019 Report Share Posted September 2, 2019 1 hour ago, sk8erguy1978 said: They have health but it's very minimal. https://www.chase.com/card-benefits/sapphirereserve/travel Thanks, I guess I mixed up Citi and Chase. The coverage Chase has is actually pretty good if you have, say, a high deductible health plan that does cover you when you are out of the country. sk8erguy1978 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sk8erguy1978 Posted September 2, 2019 Report Share Posted September 2, 2019 (edited) 2 minutes ago, karl_nj said: Thanks, I guess I mixed up Citi and Chase. The coverage Chase has is actually pretty good if you have, say, a high deductible health plan that does cover you when you are out of the country. Exactly. It'll help cover the deductible. I'm actually going to call and ask my insurance company about coverage. I personally don't worry about medical but the costs can quickly add up, worth it. This will be one of the first cruises without a third party coverage. Edited September 2, 2019 by sk8erguy1978 Add stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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