I could get the same rate at Hyatt regency coral gables, but were flying into FLL, arriving at 1am and I’d prefer to crash and burn near the airport rather than schlepping another 45 minutes down the road.
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Definitely. It’s not crazy expensive though. I would use the Hyatt points if it were me.
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I doubt the Hyatts budge much at all. We like the Hyatt Place in Doral a bit further from the airport noise. but that is 15k too and they have some loud room ac units yo. Breakfast is pretty good. Is behind a Canes chicken.
The HR Coral Gables drive isn’t that far down the road really, for 3k more points more the hotel is a much nicer option BUT parking fee is egregious now.
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I looked last night around 10pm and the drive was only 30ish from FLL. Uber and Lyft weren’t too bad. Looked today and it’s about 30 minutes from the Regency Coral Gables, which is only 4 miles from port!
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I didn’t realize you were driving from FLL, I always fly into Miami directly and didn’t occur to me!
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It’s about 4x the points/money to fly MIA instead, and that math doesn’t add up.
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That seems to be true for flying out of MSY as well. MIA is always more expensive than FLL for some reason 
At least when ever I need to fly
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I had to use up my Amex credits up before the end of the quarter. I don’t typically buy stuff from Lululemon, but if it’s free, I’m not gonna say no. Well, technically I did pay for it with the annual fee. I ordered a sling bag, a pair of socks, and this belt bag because it would have been wrong to NOT get this:
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Agreed. 
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Generally out of EWR/LGA, I’ve found FLL cheaper, but every one in a while MIA is the same or less. Managed to score some decent LGA-MIA flights for our trip to Miami Beach next month, and it’s nice not starting a trip with a 45 minute shlep fighting Miami drivers 
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Spirit has decent flights and prices from MSY but they only go twice a week (direct). I haven’t checked in a couple years. But a quick search just now shows some decent MIA over FLL prices. So maybe it’s changing for us! FLL is still preferred for cruises though, right? I thought it was closer…
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Anyone with an Amex Platinum card and playing the coupon book game, welcome to 2026 and a brand new slate of credits to take advantage of!
Most people know there were several Plat credit changes last year that seemed to be a response to Chase releasing their revamped (yet not great) Sapphire Reserve - one of the new credits on the Plat was the annual $200 Oura Ring credit.
I immediately took advantage of a sale on the older generation Oura ring and with the credit it ended up costing me about $20 after shipping. My gym rat DS loves the ring.
With a new credit burning a hole in my pocket, I started looking around to see if there might be any upcoming sale opportunities to get another one to hand off to my DD. Problem is only the new gen rings are out there at a minimum of $349 and I’m not really into spending >$150 for one. Also seems like the only real regular discounts I’m seeing on the interwebs are for Black Friday, which is a long way off.
Welp, turns out there’s a hack right now: Oura has a sale going on with a pretty large discount for those in Canada, UK and EU.
| What if I happened to “be” in, say, Latvia when I surfed to the Oura web site? | |
| Well, surprise, surprise! |
If you add the ring to the cart “from Latvia” then turn off the VPN, the discount sticks in the cart!
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Depends on which port. We’re out of Miami for this cruise but have previously sailed out of Everglades (FLL), both with carnival.
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Background: Our Mom died in late 2024 after a long illness. My sister, @lizzieboardman was the primary helper for my Mom and Dad for 10 years. Since travel reopened after the pandemic, I’ve primarily used my vacation time and points to to spend time in Iowa and help my sister and other siblings with the folks. Since the pandemic, we’ve both changed jobs, had some health issues, and celebrated a milestone birthday.
Many play the points game to maximize the value of every point. We don’t. Our goal was to minimize the out of pocket expenses of the trip, because we needed a vacation like nobody’s business, and wanted to do something different, somewhere else, and what a joy, a mighty joy, that would bring.
@JJT – greatly appreciate the DVC tracker, which helped us locate the DVC rooms. @len – thanks to you, Jim, Becky and Chrissy for info on Disney Dish and in the 2025 Unofficial Guide, which helped us make our choices on resorts, attractions, food and touring plans.
Our 9 days of fun cost us $623 each, out of pocket.
The trip (December 6-15, 2025) included:
The standard point redemptions:
- 2 RT, nonstop, flights on SW (departing from Milwaukee and Providence) — SW RR points
- Alamo Car Rental (Mazda 3 sedan) — Capitol One portal, venX annual $300 credit
- 2 nights at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort (standard room - high floor w/ MK fireworks view) - Hyatt Points
- 1 night at Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport (standard room, runway view) - CSP transferred to Hyatt
We mostly covered these expenses with the pay yourself back w/ points feature with CSP, VX or Amex:
- 2 nights at OKW deluxe studio (DVC Rental Store)
- 3 nights at SSR deluxe studio (David’s DVC Rental)
- 1 night AKL value studio (DVC-Rental)
- Park Hopper Tickets w/ Memory Maker/PhotoPass (we visited the parks on 7 days)
- 2 Extra Evening Hours (Epcot and AK) for Deluxe resort guests
- 2 tickets to Glimmering Greenhouses
- 2 tickets to Merrily We Roll Along ProShot at Universal CityWalk AMC
- ADR: Crystal Palace, Spice Road Table, Jaleo, Kona, Boma, Sanaa
- QS: ABC Commissary, Satuli Canteen (2x), Flame Tree BBQ, Regal Eagle, Contempo Cafe
- LLSP: RISE and GOTG
- LLMP: 2 Days (arrival afternoon at HS & AK/Epcot EE park hop day)
- ~$200 in Merch/Gifts for family & friends
We had a fabulous time — we relaxed and lost track of what day it was. Because we opted to rope drop and limit LLMP, we weren’t stuck in our phones very often. We had 2 resort days and took breaks most days. We explored many resorts, ate dole whip while sitting on the beach at the Poly, wandered through Disney Springs, soaked in a hot tub, learned about the animals, explored the African art, and sat by the fire in the AKL
We visited all four parks at least twice, rode GOTG, Tron, Tiana’s, 7DMT, FOP, Zootopia, SSD, TSM, and RISE (Tiana’s, 7DMT, FOP, TSM, and RISE several times each), experienced a range of shows (Villians, Nemo, Turtle Talk w/ Crush, Lion King) and most of the nostalgic attractions (Dumbo, Tea Cups, Soarin’, Living with the Land, Journey to Imagination, etc.) We aren’t huge coaster fans, and skipped Everest, Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, Rock N Roll Roller Coaster and Test Track.
We did a bunch of character photos (but somehow missed Bean Bunny!!), and visited the Adventurers Outpost at AK way too many times because Minnie reminds us of our Mom. (Friendly with everyone and flawlessly stylish in her khaki skirt, straw hat and sturdy shoes.) The many visits were less about grief and more due to the horrible automatic camera system, which left us with photo after photo of our backsides as we approached M&M. We finally got a good one when a friend stood in line with us and took the photo. Why, Josh and Bob, why? Why do you cut costs at the premier character meet at AK, when all the other AK photo spots had human photographers?
Here’s the breakdown for 9 of fun and 1 of return travel
Rack Rate (if booked in cash through MDE, SW and Hyatt, using seasonal discounts): $9,672
Actual retail cost of trip (using discounted DVC rentals, ticket vendor, etc.): $6,964.
Out of pocket cost, after credits and points: $1,245.50 ($622.75 per person)
Credits & GC — Gift Cards $250, Disney Visa Credit $200, VenX annual credit ($300)
Net Points: 436,746 — Points Used (450,579) less Points Earned (13,832)
Redemption rate: .016 per point (actual costs) or .022 per point using the influencer calculation based on rack rate
This was our first time renting DVC points, and all three bookings were pre-booked dates located through JTT’s site–at or slightly below median prices. (Early December is not a great time to look for cheap DVC rentals.) The process, prices and service at all three DVC rental companies were similar—only good things to say about all of them. The DVC studios were cheaper than the value rooms at Pop we originally reserved, and we enjoyed being at resorts that had more green space and a slower tempo.
In closing, would many points folks think we totally blew it, given the low redemption value and number of points used? Probably.
Do I give a hoot? Nope. We met our goal – we made a big, magical trip to WDW possible and we didn’t worry at all about money during (or after) the trip.
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Sounds like a wonderful trip!
You are very far from blowing those points, love all the redemptions!
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Weird thing I noticed with National Car rental tonight - might be worth checking if you’re planning to rent soon, could be a useful glitch!
When I looked up prices for a potential trip to Miami the end of the month, the Full and midsize cars for a 2 day rental are going for $273…
…but when I scrolled to the usually more expensive bougie vehicles, they were going for $50 less!
When checking, it is worth playing with the pick up and return times to see if the prices change. When I chose a shorter time frame, the premium car prices went UP, but when I added a few hours to the pickup time they dropped!
Playing around with possible February dates I saw the same thing but with less dramatic price differences.
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Are you using your Amex Plat benefits and associated National Executive status? This could be bc Full / Midsize include access to the Executive Aisle where you choose your own car, whereas SUV rental does not. I noticed similar for an ATL rental I booked for next year. Essentially, you aren’t renting a Full/Midsize, you are renting “Executive Aisle”.
I googled and learned the Exec aisle at ATL can be hit and miss as far as SUV availability, so I ended up booking a minivan. Was cheapest way to get elevated driving position wo rolling the exec aisle dice. Ironically, if you truly want a cheap Full/Midsize you can try booking wo your Amex Plat benefits.
Also, for anyone who may not know, you can get your National status upgraded to Executive Elite through a status match of your Hertz President’s Circle status that Amex Plat provides. Even though I never rented a day w/National ever
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Yes, but I always book National with my Plat benefits applied and have never seen this happen before. Usually the premium cars are way down the list and much higher priced, but here they were first and cheapest.
The Exec Elite itself doesn’t change the search results, you just have to book a mid or higher to be able to use the Elite aisle when you arrive.
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I lean this way as well. The value is what I don’t pay out of pocket. It may not be the maximum value but it’s MY maximum value.
That is FABULOUS! I love everything you were able to do with so little out of pocket! You crushed it.
I don’t think so. I thought avg $0.02 per point is decent.
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If you listen to the Frequent Miler podcast, you’ll know they usually have a section in each episode called “What Crazy Thing Has. (insert company here) Done?!”
Here’s a Verizon crazy thing: every month I’ll buy a $200 Verizon gift card with whatever credit card I am trying to hit a SUB or gather points on and then use it to pay most of my monthly wireless bill. (I pay “most” because leaving a small amount to be pulled from our checking account maintains our autopay discount.)
I’ve been doing this for a few years now, so I have gone through a lot of gift cards.
When my latest GC arrived today, I noticed it had a different design - and, it turns out: NO GIFT CARD NUMBER.
I thought I was missing something for a few minutes, maybe they changed to only using the scratched off PIN code? Which of course would be seriously crazy.
Googling around I was getting nowhere until I found a web site in Chinese where another fellow had the same thing happen. (His comparison photos of old and new cards is below.)
As I was reading it occurred to me that I could probably try scanning the bar code - and my Chinese counterpart said he tried the same thing.
A quick barcode scanner install on Google Play and I had the card number. Pretty crazy, tho.
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