Royal Caribbean just announced an increase in its automatic gratuities. Starting November 11, 2023, the automatic gratuities per person per day will be: Standard cabins: $18/person/day (up from $16) Juniors suites and above: $20.50/person/day (up from $18.50) The last time Royal Caribbean raised gratuities was September 2022. Guests who already booked a cruise or who […]

This is a re-post from last Halloween. In honor of Halloween, let’s talk about something fun: travel nightmares. And by this I don’t mean bad things that actually happened; I’m talking about bad dreams that are travel-themed. These two dreams are ones I remember from the past few weeks. Am I the only one who […]

  Southwest Airlines Extends Flight Schedule: Yesterday, Southwest Airlines extended its flight schedule through August 4, 2024. Now’s the time to book those early summer flights. Southwest Credit Cards Elevated Bonuses: Speaking of Southwest Airlines, the three Chase personal Southwest credit cards (Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier card, Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus card and […]

Miles and points give my family a lot of “free” travel. But, “free” is always in quotation marks. Because as we all know, we still incur cash expenditures on trips. It’s not just the taxes on a flight awards. We spend money on things like airport parking, pet sitting, excursions, food, etc. In order to […]

In 2023, I’ve booked no less than 10 trips for this calendar year. Some trips include my entire family, and some are just me or parts of my family. That’s a lot of flights, hotel reservations and dates to remember! How do I keep it all straight? Multiple Calendars In our laundry room, we have […]

Recently, a reader asked me to help lay out a credit card strategy for booking a family of 4 from Austin, TX to Switzerland using miles and points in 2025. First of all, I’m a huge fan of Switzerland! In case you missed my trip report from 2022, you can read it here. Secondly, I’m […]