Cruising for "Free" on Repeat with Back-to-Back Cruises Out of NYC

In Ohio, you can count on a few weeks of truly awful weather in winter. Usually it starts in mid-January with a heavy snowfall that is never entirely cleared. It packs down on low traffic roads, forming an uneven terrain on sidewalks. Eventually parts of it harden or change to ice, and it becomes difficult to walk anywhere.

The goal of this trip was simply to be somewhere else, somewhere nice, when that happened. So back in summer, with a few expiring offers for free cruises, I booked the two longest I could find, running from January into February.

Booking the Essentials

Landing a Free Cruise

Cruise ships have casinos and they are always looking for players. If you have casino status, you can often parlay that into a “free” cruise where the cabin is free, but you pay port fees, gratuities and any extras like wifi or drink packages. Getting additional free cruise offers will depend on activity at the casino.

Flying United via United Travel Bank

Most premium American Express travel cards come with an annual $200 airline incidental credit. This is intended to be used on things like paid meals, seat upgrades, wifi or lounge access. You’re not supposed to be able to use it on airfare, but you can use it on United Travel Bank.

Travel Bank is essentially a United gift card balance with a lot of restrictions and a 5 year expiration. Most importantly, you can use it to purchase flights on United. Some Chase cards, like the IHG Premier give you a $25 biannual United Travel Bank credit that expires after six months.

As a result, many travel hackers have a healthy United Travel Bank balance. I used mine to book a round trip flight in first to New York for $348. This isn’t free money, but it’s probably reasonable to think of it as costing 40% less (ie. $209 out of pocket).

First Cruise

Getting to the Port

The cruise terminal is on the west side of Manhattan between 48th and 52nd street, which mark both entrances. Google will tend to lead you toward the 52nd street entrance but 48th was much, much better. This might depend a little on where your particular ship parks, but I imagine 48th is likely to be best for Carnival cruises. For context, Venezia was docked right next to the Intrepid Museum.

The Ship

Carnival Venezia is a nice, mid-size ship, with an Italian theme, and presumably part of the Costa acquisition. It aims for a European style with the bathrooms being relatively ornate and the lido marketplace (buffet) sort of modelled after a cafe. The stairwells have large paintings of 18th century masquerades where people wear silly costumes.

Overall, it was a typical Carnival experience, but I will say the food was notably better than my previous two Carnival Journeys cruises.

Princess Cays, Eleuthera Bahamas

Our first stop was Princess Cays on the isle of Eleuthera in the Bahamas. This is a Carnival Resort on a small section of the much bigger island. It was ok, but I’d prefer something a lot less, or failing that possibly a little more, resorty. Long lines for food, long waits to come ashore.

If you like a crowded sandy beach with lifeguards and people watching, head left after landing. If you’d rather sit alone on a quiet beach, and don’t mind rocks and corals mixed with sand, head right and there will be 1/20th the number of people.

Because you need to take a water taxi, getting to land and back can be an ordeal. To bypass this, I’d recommend purchasing a shore excursion, any excursion for Princess Cays will do. Carnival routinely offers 10% off wifi or other purchases when bundled with a shore excursion so I bought a $10 locker rental “excursion” for Princess Cays and saved $20 on my Wifi package. I didn’t even use the locker.

Grand Turk, Turk and Caicos

When I said Princess Cays needed to either be a lot less or a little more resorty, Grand Turk filled the bill as a little more. It had easy access to the boat, perfect swimming beaches, a variety of pools and various activities. There was enough to do that it never felt too congested in any one spot. I went out and walked the beaches for a while then went back to the boat to get snorkeling gear. Saw a lot of fish, several urchins, and a very few live soft and hard corals. I think the main reefs are on the other side of the island. One thing that makes this spot interesting is that the floor of the ocean drops about 10-15 meters when you get out of the swimming area. This is kinda neat whilst snorkeling and also how the boat can get so close.

Amber Cove, Dominican Republic

Amber Cove was a disappointment. I had been looking forward to visiting the Dominican Republic for the first time and the resort felt a little too much like a compound. Despite a beach being a literal stones throw away, everything was walled off and getting to it was an uncertain two-mile hike out to a highway and back. I started to head that way and was turned back by a couple that had tried to go that way and been dissuaded, either by the guards or the road condition.

Puerta Plata, likely the oldest European settlement in the New World, was only five miles away, but this was a carefully orchestrated $70 round trip by taxi. They were serving $13 Nathan’s Hotdogs in the resort and this was really one of those times I felt more like the product than the customer.

That said, the resort did have a lot of shopping, pools, water slides, bungalows, a zip line, equipment rentals, and a pretty good excursion and transportation setup. I heard some cruisers say it was their favorite port.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

This was really one of my favorite ports in my brief time cruising. I like it because there is no resort, you just walk off the boat, and you are in a new, tourist friendly city with interesting history, architecture, lots of public spaces and some novel wildlife. I’ve been to nearly all 50 states and this had its own flavor. During our brief time there, I walked down around the point, to the fortress, and back through town. It’s a place to which I’d like to return sometime.

That said, if you’re looking for a resort beach experience, this is not the port for you.

You can walk around the outside of Castillo San Felipe del Morro, but once you pass the San Juan Gate, it’s 1.5 miles without any shade and rather a lot of steps. If you happen to arrive at the fortress after 5pm, you may need to turn around and walk back. That said, I recommend this walk, especially if you would like to see some Iguanas. I probably saw about a dozen, several quite large.

Second Cruise

Miami, Florida

Miami is one of the more colorful cities in America. It’s nice to see it at night and during the golden hour. Luckily, we sailed in around 6am and left at 5pm after high tide, catching it at both sunrise and sunset.

During our stop I explored the city on foot, walking to Wynwood Walls and then back to the ship, a total of around 8-9 miles.

The Walkway of Cats and Dogs is a new installation in Miami about 1.5 miles walk from the port. It was fairly controversial when it went up, but it seems to be getting fairly healthy foot traffic. There are 52 unique sculptures, 26 dogs and 26 cats. Most range from three to six feet tall, but the labrador at the entrance is a full twenty feet tall.

Wynwood Walls is a street art gallery that has gained international fame since opening in 2008. Some say it’s the most instagrammed place in America. I think when it opened, it was in a pretty shady neighborhood, but one already known for street art. Now it’s very tourist friendly.

Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

Unfortunately, as we approached Half Moon Cay, the weather started getting rough. Our tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew, the Venezia would have been lost. Maybe. At least, it would have been a really unpleasant ride to shore in the water taxis.

With high seas and higher winds, Carnival cancelled the port and issued a partial refund of port fees in ship credit. Royal Caribbean kept their port itinerary despite the bad weather and ended up having to recall guests in dangerous conditions.

Nassau, Bahamas

Nassau is a major destination for pretty much every cruise line. There’s almost always 3-4 ships in port and the local economy benefits enormously from cruisers without being wholly dominated by them. The area is very tourist friendly, and you can shop, dine, book an excursion, visit a beach or head off to a resort. There’s something for everyone.

I took a walk through town and down the shore, passing by public beaches and a cricket field. Then I turned inland and followed side streets up the hill to Fort Charlotte. While not as impressive as Castillo San Felipe del Morro in San Juan, this fort was more accessible and felt a little more personal. You could explore more areas of the fort and very little was off limits. It also wasn’t very crowded and they offered personal guides to everyone that stopped by.

Freeport

Freeport is definitely an excursion port. The pier itself is situated in an industrial shipping area with little around it. One-way, it’s a 4-5 mile walk to town and the nearest public beaches are only a little closer. They do have a little compound with shopping stalls, music and restaurants, but it’s honestly a little sad compared to what you’ll likely find if you head into town or out on an excursion.

After exploring the facility, I went back aboard and enjoyed watching container ships unload in the port.

New York City

With the cruise starting and ending in NYC, I enjoyed two extra nights in the city, at the start and end of the cruise.

Midtown and Central Park

Most of this I spent wandering around midtown up through Central Park. The weather was very mild for February, with a light drizzle off and on throughout the day.

AKC Museum of the Dog

To dodge the rain, and to experience the greatest collection of art in the world, I also stopped by the AKC Museum of the Dog. Located on the east side, this museum features a mix of paintings, sculptures and drawings, all of dogs.

Lodging

One should always arrive the day before a cruise, or earlier. I booked this first night in the newly renovated Kimpton Theta for just 20k IHG points, a shockingly low price for an upscale IHG brand considering IHG will sell you 20k points for $100.

My platinum status (IHG Premier card) would have given me free breakfast and just enough of a late checkout to not have to worry about luggage between the hotel and my boarding window. It was also conveniently located a few blocks south of Central Park and a few blocks east of the cruise terminal.

Unfortunately, the city scheduled a mandatory electricity shutdown from 7am to 7pm on the day of checkout. There would be no power in the building, including no elevators. Although there was a manager’s note buried in a welcome email from a few days before, I missed it and I don’t believe they tried to call or anything.

To make up for it, Kimpton transferred displaced customers to their “sister” hotel, Romer Hell’s Kitchen, just two blocks away. My room in Romer was a basic room on a middle floor, big for New York, but nothing special overall. I missed out on potential room upgrades, free breakfast, late checkout, welcome points and an elite night. However, I also dodged a $40 destination fee, so I’d say it worked out ok.

For my last evening in the city, I stayed in Hyatt Dream Midtown.

Despite some lackluster reviews, I chose the Dream for a few reasons.

• Good cash rates for New York.
  Booked at $194, then captured a price drop to $182.
• Walkable to the cruise terminal.
  And Central Park.

As a Globalist, I would get a few extra benefits.

• Guaranteed 4pm late checkout.
  Ideal for my evening flight.
• Free breakfast in the attached Serafina.
  Serafina participates in InKind which commonly offers huge discounts on Amex cards.
• Waived resort fee.
  Dropping the price to $150.
• I could apply a $100 gift card milestone reward.
  Dropping my out-of-pocket to just $50.

Lastly, I’d never stayed at a Dream hotel and Hyatt has a brand explorer program where you get a free night after every 5th new brand. Dream is an uncommon and often expensive brand, so staying at this one cheaply brought me 20% closer to a free night.

As a category six hotel, the award price for the Dream Midtown is a shockingly high 25,000 Hyatt points, points which most would value around $500. Given a cash rate well under $200, this is an exceptionally bad deal on points and an absolute steal for just $50 out-of-pocket (while earning 2,000 points).

Overall the hotel was fine, but nothing special and certainly nothing to warrant the jaw dropping 25,000 points for a Category 6. Rooms were a typical size for New York and the bathrooms were more than a little snug. On the positive side, it was probably one of the most comfortable beds I’ve slept in.

Closing Thoughts

My first two cruises were a 22-day Transpacific and a 16-day Panama Canal transit, both part of the Carnival Journeys program which focuses on longer cruises usually with smaller ships.

Comparing the nine and ten day Venezia Caribbean cruises to my previous Carnival Journeys cruises, I think there were really four key differences.

• Passengers had much shorter vacations and were there to party.
• Itineraries place all the ports in the middle and sea days on the end.
• Ports are often private resorts, or defined by the cruise industry.
• Lines were four times longer.

Personally, I find the more laid back Journeys cruises to be a lot more fun, especially if you are working while traveling and want to see the world, instead of just kicking back poolside with a Mai Tai.

Would I do it again? Probably, but I’d do a little more research on ports and the overall itinerary, or arrive ready to rumble.

Cost Summary

First Class Flights to and from NYC

• $348 in United Travel Bank Credit

2 Nights in NYC Hotels

• 20k IHG Points.
• $50 + $100 gift certificate.

19 Nights of Cruising

• Free ocean view cabins courtesy of casino offers.
• ~$700 for port fees and gratuities.