I love credit cards so much! v4.0 - 2021 (see first page for add'l details)

[hsmamato2]

what is the minimum CL on a CiC or CiU I can manually drop it to?

 

[Haley R]

Congrats! Sounds like they got back to you quickly! Enjoy your stay!

Thanks! We’re very excited!!

 

[Shannon G]

Question about using URs for flights. If a flight is changed to a time that no longer works for us, can I cancel & get points back? I need to get DD from Burlington, VT to MCO for a long weekend in October. Trying to minimize the classes she will miss (sophomore at UVM), so had booked an evening flight on Delta, by transferring URs to Delta miles. Delta flight times have changed & the new flight leaves too early, so I have to look at other options now (and will now have Delta miles to be used up at some future time). I’d hate to transfer more URs to another airline, only to have the same thing happen again. So, I’m wondering what happens if I booked with URs and there are flight changes - can I get the URs back?

 

[GusGus16]

Question about using URs for flights. If a flight is changed to a time that no longer works for us, can I cancel & get points back? I need to get DD from Burlington, VT to MCO for a long weekend in October. Trying to minimize the classes she will miss (sophomore at UVM), so had booked an evening flight on Delta, by transferring URs to Delta miles. Delta flight times have changed & the new flight leaves too early, so I have to look at other options now (and will now have Delta miles to be used up at some future time). I’d hate to transfer more URs to another airline, only to have the same thing happen again. So, I’m wondering what happens if I booked with URs and there are flight changes - can I get the URs back?

Once you transfer UR's to a rewards partner like an airline it is not refundable to UR, so no. But you could book a flight through the UR portal and then if it is able to be cancelled receive a refund in UR's.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Question about using URs for flights. If a flight is changed to a time that no longer works for us, can I cancel & get points back? I need to get DD from Burlington, VT to MCO for a long weekend in October. Trying to minimize the classes she will miss (sophomore at UVM), so had booked an evening flight on Delta, by transferring URs to Delta miles. Delta flight times have changed & the new flight leaves too early, so I have to look at other options now (and will now have Delta miles to be used up at some future time). I’d hate to transfer more URs to another airline, only to have the same thing happen again. So, I’m wondering what happens if I booked with URs and there are flight changes - can I get the URs back?

Are there any other flights with Delta that do work? When they change your flight on you, you can change it to something else without a penalty. I had to do that in January, kept going back and forth until something finally stuck for us.

 

[calypso726]

Been a minute and I haven’t caught up but did notice some posts about the CSR $550 AF.

I thought I'd post this, which I've posted in the past for you (in case you missed it previously) and others who may be new to this thread in case they have not seen it before. I’ve also updated the math to account for the $550 on the CSR.

PC strategies to avoid annual fees are one thing and may work if one doesn't have an emergency, need to book asap and can't PC back for whatever reason. The topic of keeping a high AF card like the CSR comes up fairly often and for those newer to the game will cause a knee jerk reaction and people assume that keeping a lower AF card like the CIP/CSP is more cost effective. That well may be true in some cases. However, I think it is important to look at the big picture because it may actually cost a person more to keep the lower AF card if they are redeeming for paid travel in the UR portal. Below, I have copied, pasted, edited and added to one of my previous posts:

I see quite often where folks can get sticker shock when it comes to the AF of a card, especially one as high as the CSR. I think it is important to look well beyond the bonus and that high AF before passing judgement with a knee jerk reaction as you may wind up paying more for not having it in the long run.

The CSR is $550 and comes with a $300 travel credit that can be triggered for a number of things. Merchants in the travel category like airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares (DVC dues), campgrounds, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots, garages, etc.

If your household spends $300 per year in any combination of these categories then the travel credit will be triggered and the CSR will be a $250 AF per year card because you were spending that money anyhow with or without the card. For me, it's tolls for work and I spend well over $300 a year on those. Fortunately, I do get reimbursed on it so it is "free money" in my case. I also have DVC so even without the tolls, I am spending over $300 each year in a travel category for annual dues. Assuming that you wish to keep either a CIP or CSP for use at .0125 cpp in the UR portal or to transfer to an airline or hotel you are paying $95 per year for that card. The difference between that and the CSR after factoring in the $300 credit you were spending anyway is $155.

Math: $550 AF on CSR - $300 travel credit you are spending anyway = $250. Difference between $250 CSR - $95 CIP/CSP = $155.

The important thing to look at is what does it cost you per year to redeem your UR points through the travel portal? It is very possible that keeping a CSP or CIP over a CSR is actually costing you more money. This is especially true for those who are redeeming for paid seats on flights via the UR portal. More often than not it costs fewer points to redeem coach airfare via the UR portal over transferring points to an airline.

Let's say you are going to redeem a $500 RT flight for a party of 2. That's $1000. If you hold a CSP or CIP that should cost you 80,000 UR points. If you hold a CSR those flights would cost you 66,667 points. That is a difference of 13,333 points which is equivalent to $166.66 in the CSP/CIP UR portal. So holding the CIP or CSP over the CSR just cost you $166 in points. When you factor in the $155 difference then it still costs you an additional $10 to keep a card with a "lower AF" over the higher AF card. That is just one redemption example. How much is it costing a family of 4 to keep the lower AF card? How much does it cost folks who are redeeming well beyond $1000 annually via the UR travel portal?

When I originally posted this the difference was much greater since the CSR was $450. However my numbers still stand. If you are spending $300 in travel categories anyway each year, then the decision to keep a CSR over a CSP is still are you redeeming $1,000 or more annually via the UR portal in points. If the answer is yes, keep a CSR if it is no, keep the CSP/CIP. Happy churning y’all!

 

[georgina]

Been a minute and I haven’t caught up but did notice some posts about the CSR $550 AF.

I thought I'd post this, which I've posted in the past for you (in case you missed it previously) and others who may be new to this thread in case they have not seen it before. I’ve also updated the math to account for the $550 on the CSR.

PC strategies to avoid annual fees are one thing and may work if one doesn't have an emergency, need to book asap and can't PC back for whatever reason. The topic of keeping a high AF card like the CSR comes up fairly often and for those newer to the game will cause a knee jerk reaction and people assume that keeping a lower AF card like the CIP/CSP is more cost effective. That well may be true in some cases. However, I think it is important to look at the big picture because it may actually cost a person more to keep the lower AF card if they are redeeming for paid travel in the UR portal. Below, I have copied, pasted, edited and added to one of my previous posts:

I see quite often where folks can get sticker shock when it comes to the AF of a card, especially one as high as the CSR. I think it is important to look well beyond the bonus and that high AF before passing judgement with a knee jerk reaction as you may wind up paying more for not having it in the long run.

The CSR is $550 and comes with a $300 travel credit that can be triggered for a number of things. Merchants in the travel category like airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares (DVC dues), campgrounds, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots, garages, etc.

If your household spends $300 per year in any combination of these categories then the travel credit will be triggered and the CSR will be a $250 AF per year card because you were spending that money anyhow with or without the card. For me, it's tolls for work and I spend well over $300 a year on those. Fortunately, I do get reimbursed on it so it is "free money" in my case. I also have DVC so even without the tolls, I am spending over $300 each year in a travel category for annual dues. Assuming that you wish to keep either a CIP or CSP for use at .0125 cpp in the UR portal or to transfer to an airline or hotel you are paying $95 per year for that card. The difference between that and the CSR after factoring in the $300 credit you were spending anyway is $155.

Math: $550 AF on CSR - $300 travel credit you are spending anyway = $250. Difference between $250 CSR - $95 CIP/CSP = $155.

The important thing to look at is what does it cost you per year to redeem your UR points through the travel portal? It is very possible that keeping a CSP or CIP over a CSR is actually costing you more money. This is especially true for those who are redeeming for paid seats on flights via the UR portal. More often than not it costs fewer points to redeem coach airfare via the UR portal over transferring points to an airline.

Let's say you are going to redeem a $500 RT flight for a party of 2. That's $1000. If you hold a CSP or CIP that should cost you 80,000 UR points. If you hold a CSR those flights would cost you 66,667 points. That is a difference of 13,333 points which is equivalent to $166.66 in the CSP/CIP UR portal. So holding the CIP or CSP over the CSR just cost you $166 in points. When you factor in the $155 difference then it still costs you an additional $10 to keep a card with a "lower AF" over the higher AF card. That is just one redemption example. How much is it costing a family of 4 to keep the lower AF card? How much does it cost folks who are redeeming well beyond $1000 annually via the UR travel portal?

When I originally posted this the difference was much greater since the CSR was $450. However my numbers still stand. If you are spending $300 in travel categories anyway each year, then the decision to keep a CSR over a CSP is still are you redeeming $1,000 or more annually via the UR portal in points. If the answer is yes, keep a CSR if it is no, keep the CSP/CIP. Happy churning y’all!

I agree, hopefully travel will pick up this year and we will get back to using URs for that. Last year was rough for us with cancellations.

We have several credits to use, it has not been easy booking through the Chase travel portal to use these. I have called to inquire about using my DD's United credit, which went through 2 cancelled bookings, and they always have the wrong amount and we have to go through a whole process to prove the credit is $450 not $230. It has not worked out so far to use it though. My DS's Alaska credit seems more straightforward, even though his went through 2 cancelled bookings also, hoping to use that for December flights home for him.

 

[havaneselover]

Busy morning before I had to pick up the puppy in about an hour. I hit up Staples for $1000 in Visa gift cards, used my WF rewards offer (15% back at HD and BB&B) to buy $800 in Disney gift cards, and went to Kroger to take advantage of 4x fuel points.

And my 14 year old Havanese is doing really well and honestly this cooling diet is working wonders. I haven't slept this well in ages (she typically wakes me up 2-3 times per night panting and needing water and since I switched her food we are both sleeping like babies).

 

[calypso726]

I agree, hopefully travel will pick up this year and we will get back to using URs for that. Last year was rough for us with cancellations.

We have several credits to use, it has not been easy booking through the Chase travel portal to use these. I have called to inquire about using my DD's United credit, which went through 2 cancelled bookings, and they always have the wrong amount and we have to go through a whole process to prove the credit is $450 not $230. It has not worked out so far to use it though. My DS's Alaska credit seems more straightforward, even though his went through 2 cancelled bookings also, hoping to use that for December flights home for him.

Some cancellations were rough on us too. The NY and DC trips were pretty straightforward and easy. Canceling the Al Maha was easy and we didn’t get Bonvoyed. Giraffe Manor took some firm refusals to re-book before they refunded. The Fairmont Masai Mara didn’t give us any issues. Getting UR points back for Ashford Castle took several days of phone calls back and forth between the hotel and the Chase UR team. Those got refunded eventually. Emirates airline miles and the taxes and fees took months to get back after we cancelled. Thank goodness for screen shots!

For the record I did cancel my CSR after transferring points to DH’s CSR because it’s been over 48 months and picking up the CSP for 100k is too good to pass up. My points just posted! Yay! I’ll upgrade it to a CSR next year and then PlanePrincess can cancel his CSR to pick up the CSP for whatever the bonus will be at that time.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

what is the minimum CL on a CiC or CiU I can manually drop it to?

Not sure what the minimum is but I have dropped mine to 1k

 

[hsmamato2]

Not sure what the minimum is but I have dropped mine to 1k

thanks

 

[pinkxray]

Can someone refresh my memory regarding
SW business cards?
I had the Performance in Jan. 2020. Can I get the Premier and get the bonus now?
I am not ready to get a personal card yet so that’s out.

 

[wisconsinmom]

DH applied for a SW bus card using my referral. He got this message at the end? What the heck does this mean? I don't want to apply again and do duplicate apps.

 

[Shannon G]

Once you transfer UR's to a rewards partner like an airline it is not refundable to UR, so no. But you could book a flight through the UR portal and then if it is able to be cancelled receive a refund in UR's.

I get the part that points can’t be transferred back from a partner. I’m just trying to figure out if I’m better off to book directly with URs rather than transferring to a partner, and wasn’t sure if URs could be refunded if flights changed. I transferred to Delta for the flights I booked, which now don’t work, so I’m left holding Delta points that I don’t know when / if I’ll be able to use. I’d rather not have that happen again with another airline.

Are there any other flights with Delta that do work? When they change your flight on you, you can change it to something else without a penalty. I had to do that in January, kept going back and forth until something finally stuck for us.

Unfortunately, no. The flight they moved her to is apparently the latest Delta flight that will get her to MCO that night. I could fly her into TPA on Delta, but that will mean a longer drive to get her (I’ll already be at the Poly with my mom & younger DD), and a very late night getting back.

 

[platamama]

Question about using URs for flights. If a flight is changed to a time that no longer works for us, can I cancel & get points back? I need to get DD from Burlington, VT to MCO for a long weekend in October. Trying to minimize the classes she will miss (sophomore at UVM), so had booked an evening flight on Delta, by transferring URs to Delta miles. Delta flight times have changed & the new flight leaves too early, so I have to look at other options now (and will now have Delta miles to be used up at some future time). I’d hate to transfer more URs to another airline, only to have the same thing happen again. So, I’m wondering what happens if I booked with URs and there are flight changes - can I get the URs back?

I booked UA Polaris flights back in 2019 for a summer 2020 international trip (that obviously didn't happen) using URs. When the airline canceled the flight, I had to contact Chase to get my URs back; it definitely was not automatic. But, cancellations are one thing and flight changes are another. Each airline has its own definition of what counts as a flight change that qualifies for a refund, and those terms definitely were altered during the pandemic such that airlines gave themselves more leeway to make flight changes without having to issue refunds. So there's legwork to be done in your case, where you need to find out what those policies are on the airline you're looking at. My concern would be that the flight change window is so wide that the airline would say they're within their boundaries to not issue a refund or voucher. And if they don't, then you don't get your URs back (and it would be true with using cash as well).

Been a minute and I haven’t caught up but did notice some posts about the CSR $550 AF.

I thought I'd post this, which I've posted in the past for you (in case you missed it previously) and others who may be new to this thread in case they have not seen it before. I’ve also updated the math to account for the $550 on the CSR.

PC strategies to avoid annual fees are one thing and may work if one doesn't have an emergency, need to book asap and can't PC back for whatever reason. The topic of keeping a high AF card like the CSR comes up fairly often and for those newer to the game will cause a knee jerk reaction and people assume that keeping a lower AF card like the CIP/CSP is more cost effective. That well may be true in some cases. However, I think it is important to look at the big picture because it may actually cost a person more to keep the lower AF card if they are redeeming for paid travel in the UR portal. Below, I have copied, pasted, edited and added to one of my previous posts:

I see quite often where folks can get sticker shock when it comes to the AF of a card, especially one as high as the CSR. I think it is important to look well beyond the bonus and that high AF before passing judgement with a knee jerk reaction as you may wind up paying more for not having it in the long run.

The CSR is $550 and comes with a $300 travel credit that can be triggered for a number of things. Merchants in the travel category like airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares (DVC dues), campgrounds, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots, garages, etc.

If your household spends $300 per year in any combination of these categories then the travel credit will be triggered and the CSR will be a $250 AF per year card because you were spending that money anyhow with or without the card. For me, it's tolls for work and I spend well over $300 a year on those. Fortunately, I do get reimbursed on it so it is "free money" in my case. I also have DVC so even without the tolls, I am spending over $300 each year in a travel category for annual dues. Assuming that you wish to keep either a CIP or CSP for use at .0125 cpp in the UR portal or to transfer to an airline or hotel you are paying $95 per year for that card. The difference between that and the CSR after factoring in the $300 credit you were spending anyway is $155.

Math: $550 AF on CSR - $300 travel credit you are spending anyway = $250. Difference between $250 CSR - $95 CIP/CSP = $155.

The important thing to look at is what does it cost you per year to redeem your UR points through the travel portal? It is very possible that keeping a CSP or CIP over a CSR is actually costing you more money. This is especially true for those who are redeeming for paid seats on flights via the UR portal. More often than not it costs fewer points to redeem coach airfare via the UR portal over transferring points to an airline.

Let's say you are going to redeem a $500 RT flight for a party of 2. That's $1000. If you hold a CSP or CIP that should cost you 80,000 UR points. If you hold a CSR those flights would cost you 66,667 points. That is a difference of 13,333 points which is equivalent to $166.66 in the CSP/CIP UR portal. So holding the CIP or CSP over the CSR just cost you $166 in points. When you factor in the $155 difference then it still costs you an additional $10 to keep a card with a "lower AF" over the higher AF card. That is just one redemption example. How much is it costing a family of 4 to keep the lower AF card? How much does it cost folks who are redeeming well beyond $1000 annually via the UR travel portal?

When I originally posted this the difference was much greater since the CSR was $450. However my numbers still stand. If you are spending $300 in travel categories anyway each year, then the decision to keep a CSR over a CSP is still are you redeeming $1,000 or more annually via the UR portal in points. If the answer is yes, keep a CSR if it is no, keep the CSP/CIP. Happy churning y’all!

Wholeheartedly agree with your reasoning, and why I've held onto my CSR since 2017. Although I put the UR redemption at 62000 to break even, so anything higher than that means the CSR wins:
$250 - $95 = $155
$155/0.0025 = 62,000

The 0.0025 comes from the difference in redemption multiplier: 0.015 - 0.0125 = 0.0025

I value the CSR for the travel protections, which are stronger than the Plat, so all flights get partially paid on the CSR. Which keeps me tied to the CSR as I make future travel plans since I have to at least hold onto it until the trip happens. That's fine. I cycle DH in and out as an AU as needed (he's the one with Globalist), which doesn't affect his 5/24 status since the card is older than 24 mo.

 

[iujen94]

I know we’ve got a lot of Hawaii travel coming up in this group - we are here now, so I thought I’d give my resort review (1st of 3 resorts we are staying at). Right now we are finishing up our stay at Wailea Beach Villas in Maui.

Pros - the rooms are GORGEOUS. We are in a 2 bedroom condo with a full living room, kitchen and washer/dryer. It’s seriously nicer than my house at home! Tip - it’s a Hyatt property and you can book through the Hyatt website, but you can’t pick your specific room. There are several other websites where you can see and book a specific room. We used Destination Hotels, but I also saw that Exotic Estates has them listed too. I’m sure there are others. We are in Penthouse 306, and the location is PERFECT. The first number is your floor number - I don’t think I’d want to be lower than 3. The Penthouse is the main building with the lobby, a fitness center (super nice equipment) and a game room with a pool table, ping pong table and shuffleboard. It’s the farthest building from the beach - maybe a 4-5 minute walk. There are “villas” closer to the beach. I think there are maybe 8 of those buildings, with maybe 4-6 units in each? I think the unit sizes vary from 2 bedrooms to 4 bedrooms.

Other pros - the location. Right on Wailea Beach next to Grand Wailea (which is insanely huge-looking - we haven’t explored there). And the main building is literally a one-minute walk to Shops at Wailea, which is a really nice outdoor shopping and dining complex. Everything from high-end stores like Prada, to Banana Republic, to an ABC convenience-like store. And tons of restaurants. In two days, I think we’ve walked over there at least 4 times to eat or grab things we needed. No place is closer than Wailea Beach Villas. We are also walking distance to Grand Wailea and Wailea Beach Resort (Marriott), so you’ve got easy access to their restaurants. There is also a stand at the Marriott to rent kayaks, boogie boards, and snorkel gear. I assume that’s open to everyone but I’m not positive. (A con for Marriott - it’s NOT on the beach. It overlooks rocks and is a bit of a walk to a sandy beach. Not a far walk, but it is NOT beachfront).

The beach isn’t huge (I’m used to North Carolina beaches!) but it is nice and not insanely crowded. They’ll set up umbrellas and chairs for you (free).

Cons - it’s not a true resort in that there are no restaurants or bars on-site. The restaurants aren’t a huge deal because Shops at Wailea is so close, but it would be nice to have a beach or pool bar to get drinks. There is a food truck at Grand Wailea that you can access, but it’s very limited in their drink selections -a handful of beers and maybe two cocktails.

There are two pools and they are really small - an adults only (18+) pool near the beach, and a family pool near the lobby (a decent uphill walk from the beach - maybe 4-5 minutes?). Both have hot tubs. No slides or anything like that. BUT, even though they are small, because the resort is so small, we’ve never seen them crowded at ALL. No problem getting chairs and umbrellas any time of day.

I think that’s it? Tomorrow we move to Hyatt Residence Club in Ka’anapali for 3 days, and then Hilton Hawaiian Village in Oahu for 4 days.

For excursions, we’ve done - Haleakala Bike Trip (not the sunrise one - that required a 1:30am departure from our hotel, but the morning one), through Bike Maui. Not for the faint of heart. As a nervous parent of fearless teen boys (15 and 17), it was pretty terrifying for me (I would have loved it if we were adults only - I was busy worrying about my kids the whole time!). I can’t imagine taking kids much younger than mine on that trip.

Molokini and Turtle Town snorkel trip on the Calypso -we did this this morning, and it was a blast. The boat is the biggest in Maui and has a jumping platform and two slides (my kids love that stuff, so that was why I picked this boat). The crew was phenomenal. The snorkeling at Molokini was pretty disappointing given the build up - we saw a lot of fish but not much variety. And we had to cancel Turtle Town because of swells and went to an alternate spot where we didn’t see much of anything. But even with that, I’d highly recommend Calypso - most of the boats go to the same spots, so you won’t get much variety there, and Calypso was a fun boat with a great crew.

Oh, and for anyone going to Hawaii anytime soon or even not soon - make excursion and restaurant reservations NOW. Everything is and has been booked up solid for weeks (thank goodness I’m a crazy Type A planner and booked everything 6 months ago)! Some restaurants are walk up only - expect 60-90 minute+ waits, even if you go early (5:30ish). Take out is your friend - even the really high end restaurants are doing take out, which saved us our first night here - another reason we love having the Villa with so much room and a full kitchen.

I’ll be back with more later! Happy to answer any questions.

Oh man - I LOVE a pool bar, so definitely hoping that’s open! We don’t have any status, so at least the lounge and breakfast thing can’t negatively impact me.

Here now, and the pool bar at the Lagoon pool is NOT open. Not sure about any other pool bars.

 

[Albort]

I get the part that points can’t be transferred back from a partner. I’m just trying to figure out if I’m better off to book directly with URs rather than transferring to a partner, and wasn’t sure if URs could be refunded if flights changed. I transferred to Delta for the flights I booked, which now don’t work, so I’m left holding Delta points that I don’t know when / if I’ll be able to use. I’d rather not have that happen again with another airline.



Unfortunately, no. The flight they moved her to is apparently the latest Delta flight that will get her to MCO that night. I could fly her into TPA on Delta, but that will mean a longer drive to get her (I’ll already be at the Poly with my mom & younger DD), and a very late night getting back.

calculate the CPP and see which one nets higher.

also, im not sure how ur transferring UR to Delta. they arent partners... now if its MR to Delta, then that would make sense...

 

[iujen94]

More Hawaii thoughts!
Today we left Maui and head to Oahu, where we are staying at HHV in Waikiki. Thought I’d give some final thoughts on Maui activities and restaurants.
I already mentioned that we did the Haleakala (not sunrise) bike ride down from the crater, and the snorkeling trip on Calypso.
We also did:

Waterfall and rainforest hiking adventure through Hike Maui. This one I randomly stumbled across while poking around on the Chase travel portal, and it was awesome! If you don’t want to mess with the ordeal of the Road to Hana (we didn’t, and teen boys DEFINITELY didn’t), this seems like it might give you a nice little taste with a lot less effort. We hiked about 3 miles total (the hike was more strenuous that I anticipated, but in a good, enjoyable way, as far as I was concerned - just be prepared for that!). We visited 4-5 waterfalls, and all but one were deserted except for folks from our Hike Maui group (we accessed them by going through private property that Hike Maui was allowed to use). At 3 of the waterfalls, we got to jump from cliffs into the pools at the bottom, which my boys absolutely LOVED. We went to Black Rock later in the week, and I’m glad they got their fix of “jumping off stuff” on our hike, because Black Rock was a lot more effort and way more crowded.
Helicopter tour through Blue Hawaiian - we did the complete island tour. I booked this also as an alternative to doing the Road to Hana. It was cool, but our pilot was a bit of a dud (I like lots of chatter and fun facts). And I’ll say - if you’ve ever done a helicopter tour in Kauai (which we were lucky enough to do when we came to Hawaii 4 years ago), don’t bother going on a helicopter tour anywhere else, because nothing remotely compared to Kauai. It was also super expensive. While I enjoyed it and I’m glad we did it, if I had to do it over again, I probably would have saved the money and skipped it.
Zipline tour with Kapalua Ziplines - this was really cool. We’ve ziplined a lot of places, so I’m as much about zipping through really cool scenery as I am about big, fast ziplines, and this was a great combo of both. I agonized when trying to choose a zipline company before our trip, and I think we chose really well! HIGHLY recommend.
Restaurants - I mentioned Humble Market Kitchin before, and they remained my favorite of the trip. Last night we went to Fleetwood’s on Front Street in Lahaina (owned by Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac), and I think that was the favorite of my husband and two sons (I also loved it, but loved HMK more). If you want a reservation - put your FP skills to work. They open reservations on OpenTable at midnight Hawaii time 30 days in advance, and they go FAST. You definitely want a rooftop table - the views are amazing!

We also ate at Hula Grill in Ka’anapali - amazing views and good food. And they take reservations, which is a huge plus! The hula pie is worth the calories.
We are about to land in Oahu to begin the last part of our adventure. More later!

It's so funny that you posted that because I was talking to my DH about where we're going to eat while we're there, etc and he said if nothing else we can just grab something from the ABC store!



Thank you for the suggestions! We'll definitely check those out!

No, I haven't shown them any videos but that's a great idea! I haven't looked up too many myself as I kind of like an element of surprise. I will say as it's getting closer they are getting a little more excited so I'm feeling a little better about it. Also I was researching the covid testing at Walgreens and they have a rapid test that Hawaii accepts (results in 1 day or less) so I'm less stressed about the kids getting their results back in time.



Thank you so much for the info! Monkeypod sounds great, I think we will have to go to happy hour! I've seen Leoda's Kitchen pop up in online searches and thought it sounded good too so glad to hear you enjoyed it!

I think I just need to remember that everyone vacations differently and we don't have enough time to do everything so we need to keep my family in mind and do what works for us and just relax and have fun. I'm sure we will have a wonderful time if I do that.

Glad to hear you were happy with your pics! Here's hoping we get at least one good one!

We tested at Walgreens and it was SUPER simple! You may already know this, but if it’s available in your state, you want the rapid test that’s NOT the rapid antigen test (it’s marked on the Walgreens website with a red dot). We got results back in about 2 hours. There is an awesome Facebook group - Maui Covid Travel Testing - that is super helpful. One of the admins is a TSA agent at Maui airport, so there’s also lots of updates on airport crowds.

Edited to add: All Things Maui Hawaii and All Things Oahu Hawaii have also been invaluable Facebook groups!

 

[magickingdomprincess]

We tested at Walgreens and it was SUPER simple! You may already know this, but if it’s available in your state, you want the rapid test that’s NOT the rapid antigen test (it’s marked on the Walgreens website with a red dot). We got results back in about 2 hours. There is an awesome Facebook group - Maui Covid Travel Testing - that is super helpful. One of the admins is a TSA agent at Maui airport, so there’s also lots of updates on airport crowds.

Edited to add: All Things Maui Hawaii and All Things Oahu Hawaii have also been invaluable Facebook groups!

Thanks! Yes, I did know we don't want the antigen test but thank you for the heads up! And I will check out those facebook groups, thank you for suggestion!

 

[Alexle2007]

what is the minimum CL on a CiC or CiU I can manually drop it to?

$500 as long as you have no balance, even a negative balance.