Travel During the Great Coronavirus Reopening

Cities, states, and even countries are reopening to tourists. Not all, but many. 

On June 15, most European countries opened their borders to residents of its member countries. Spain waited until June 21. And on July 1, the Europeans will tentatively open their borders to international tourist for the first time in four months. 

While there are stipulations like your country's infection rates have to be held in check, sorry U.S., they are allowing tourist.  Similar to the U.S. where certain states are blocking other states domestic travelers. Key West authorities arrested a woman and sent her back to Florida for trying to visit. New Mexico said they love tourist, just not right now.

And cruise lines? Oh, the poor cruise lines. Spain has said no cruise ships can dock in any Spanish port for the foreseeable future. Norwegian cruise lines said all cruises are suspended at least through September. That is the entire summer season. Although they are making exceptions for the Pacific Northwest. And a week ago, the first Danube-Rhine river cruise made it without mishap.

https://www.cruisetradenews.com/first-european-river-cruise-resumes-sailings-post-coronavirus-recovery/

However, Greece welcomed one of its first international flights a couple of weeks ago from Qatar - 12 people on board tested positive for Coronavirus.

We are not out of the woods yet.

Last week, I cancelled my family's 3-week Spain trip that was to depart July 8. I poured over news reports daily about the  Europe's reopening. But with a potential quarantine for travelers, U.S. infection rates increasing, the need for reciprocal travel arrangements (the U.S. is still blocking travel from Europe), and my airline change my flight where I would have to literally time travel backwards three hours to make my flight, I figured it was time.

Fortunately, I was able to cancel everything and get full refunds except one hostel in Spain. Somehow I overlooked their no cancellation policy. If that was all it cost me, plus my hopes and dreams, I was ok with that. 

Are you planning on traveling?

Take care.

Posts Tuesday and Saturday

Review: Chichen-Itza Highlight Tour plus Xcaret

Experiencias Xcaret is a large well-thought out tour company with numerous tours and adventures.

We booked the Xichen/Xcaret combo to save money versus booking individual Chichen Itza and Xcaret trips: $166.10 vs. $187.10.

The Xichen Clasico Tour was very good for what it was - experiencing all things Mayan in one day on a 48-person tour bus. You hit a shopping area, swim in a cenote, have a Mexican buffet, and spend a couple of hours visiting amazing ruins, and drive through a colonial town.

I said it was very good because the tour bus was very comfortable, the guides were very friendly, informative and helpful. The buffet was better than expected with multiple dishes to choose from (you have to pay for drinks.) Having read mixed reviews ahead of the cenote ahead of time, I wasn’t sure about it, but it turned out to be a highlight of our trip. (the faster you eat lunch the more time you have to swim and jump off the ledge). I also purchased the $30 waterproof case that floats they sold on the bus so I could take pictures in the cenote, at Xcaret and kayaking during the rest of our trip. I know I probably paid too much, but it was so worth it. Pictures came out great. Finally, the guides got us through the Chichen Itza line pretty quick and gave a good, but brief, tour.

Be forewarned about four items on this trip. By knowing about them you will not be disappointed.

First, you are

only at Chichen Itza about an hour and forty-five minutes. After the 45-minute guided tour, you have about an hour of free time to get back on the bus. Walking fast, I only saw about three-quarters of the site with not time to stop and read signs. I was taking pictures of signs to read later. If you are looking to spend more time here, reading all the signs, relax, get artsy with your camera, you might want to book another tour. Of course, my teenagers were fine with the brief amount of time here.

Second, there is a 45-minute tourist trap souvenir stop. I knew this was coming having read reviews of the tour before I booked it, but my wife didn’t and wondered why we were wasting time here. I think most people would much rather spend an extra 45-minutes at Chichen Itza where there are other souvenir stores than at that place. I know they talk about supporting education and writing your name in Mayan, but at Coba store there gave the same pitch.

Third, you are on a 48-person tour bus. The way Experiencias ran this tour is they either meet you at your hotel or you meet them at a designated pickup location.  Their bus will then take you to their central bus depot where you’ll either pick up more passengers or have you to change to another bus.  That process was a little frustrating as we watched other buses leaving for Chichen Itza while we waited for the rest of our “designated group” to arrive. For guests at the Hampton Inn, you have to take a 15-minute taxi ride to the Pasteleria restaurant at the Mall of Americas to pick up the first bus.

Finally, the tour is conducted in both English and Spanish. They spend a couple of minutes speaking in English, then a couple in Spanish. At Chichen Itza, they did split up the group into a English speaking only group and a Spanish speaking only group which I was very happy about.

I would recommend the Xichen Clasico Tour keeping in mind, you will see a lot, fast. This was perfect for my kids. For me, I would have liked to have spent more time at Chichen Itza, but for the family as a whole, it worked out well.

For Xcaret, you are really just paying for the entrance fee and transportation with the combo package. Once you are in the park, you are on your own until do decide to leave at 4:45 or 9:30 - the only two times you can leave. Pickups and drop offs were on time on their trademark signature snake buses.

Cancun Part 3 - 4 Tickets for Cancun $276!

After spending $4,000 within 3 months, Chase awarded us 100,000 Chase Sapphire points to either book travel through their website or transfer it mileage rewards program partner.

If you use the points on their website, Chase provides a 50% point bonus. This means Chase will remove $1,500 from whatever travel related purchase booked on their website.

We booked 4 plane tickets on Aeromexico to Cancun for $1,736.00, or $434.00 each. After spending the $4000 to meet the mileage bonus requirement (any amount you spend on the card translates into more points), the amount charged to my Chase card was $126.00. 

Adding the $150 annual fee, the total cost for the tickets is $276.00. (I reduced the annual fee by $300 as you also receive a $300 travel credit with the card.)

To sum up, the total cost to stay in Cancun for 8 nights, all breakfasts, food at the Ziva for four days, and airfare was: $198+198+$150+$126 = $672.

If anyone has suggestions on places to go and things to do, please post in the comments section.

Finally, as stated in the first Cancun post, please check with all the credit cards mentioned regarding their latest signup bonuses, fees and fine print as they change all the time.

Cancun, here we come!

Cancun Part 2 - Using the Hotel Certificates

Now that we were armed with our points and certificates we booked the hotels first.  The reason being hotel nights can be canceled with no penalties up to 24 hours to a week before hand.  Airlines however tend to have "no cancellation" policies, so if the flights did not work we could always move the hotel days or even the vacation destination. 

First we booked, the Hyatt_Ziva for four nights.  This hotel looks amazing on the web site, has great reviews, and more importantly is all-inclusive so I do not have to worry about a massive food bill from feeding two teenage boys. Looking at the Hyatt website, the prices in June run $906 per night!

Hyatt Ziva from cancun.ziva.hyatt.com

Being so amazing, we were fortunate that we were able to book four nights that fit into our vacation plans.

The Hilton's reward_program is a little trickier.  As mentioned in last week's post, the certificate's have to be used with a category one 1-to-4 hotel and used on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night.

In January 2017, when I first looked Hilton had no hotels in Cancun. Amazing, I know.

But on April 1, a Hampton_Inn opened in downtown Cancun.  Not only was it part of the Hilton family of hotels, it was a category 2 hotel.

Hampton Inn Cancun from hamptoninn3.hilton.com

I immediately called and booked three nights (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). I also used 23,000 points I already earned to book the fourth night - Monday night.

I could have booked the Ziva Monday through Thursday night and then the Hampton Inn the Friday night before we left if I wanted to only use certificates to book our stays, but for me, it was not worth the hassle to switch hotels. Even if I didn't have enough points, the Hampton Inn as of this writing was relatively inexpensive at $104.00 per night and I would have paid for the one night versus lugging our stuff between hotels on our last day.

So, while the Hampton Inn was not as an amazing deal as the Hyatt Ziva, I feel paying $200 for four nights in Cancun is still a deal. It even includes free breakfast.  Our plan is to do most of our traveling while we're at the Hampton Inn and laze around when we're at the Ziva.

Next week: booking the flights - patience

Cancun 8 nights hotel and air under $700

Part I: Maximizing Mileage Programs

Using credit card mileage programs, I booked a flight and eight-night hotel stay for my family of four in Cancun for under $700.

Here's how I did it:

First, my wife and I applied for separate Citibank Hilton Honors Cards. The sign up bonus provided 2 free weekend nights (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) at category 1-4 hotels in the Hilton portfolio. Annual fee $99. Link to Citibank Hilton HHonors Card

Total cost 4 nights hotel: $198.00.

Then we both applied for the Chase Hyatt Card. The sign up bonus provides 2 free nights at almost any hotel in the Hyatt portfolio. Annual fee $99. Link to Chase Hyatt Card

Total cost 4 nights hotel: $198.00.

Finally, my wife applied for the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card to use specifically to cover our airfare. The signup bonus provided a $300 travel credit and 100,000 Chase Points to make travel purchases on their website. The fee for this card is $450. With the $300 travel credit, I view the total cost for this card to be $150.00. Link to Chase Sapphire Reserve Card 

The Sapphire bonus point award recently dropped to 50,000. However, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card also provides 50,000 points, but with no annual fee. 

It is important to check with all the credit cards mentioned regarding their latest signup bonuses and fees as they can change at any time. This also includes how much you have to spend within a specified amount of time to earn the signup bonuses.The information is based on the personal experience of my wife and I when we applied for cards between November 2016 and January 2017. 

The Points Guy website was a great resource to help me narrow the list of credit cards I planned to apply for to fund my trip.

Next Friday, I will detail how we used the points and miles we accumulated for the trip.