Disney Park Passes

Did you know that you can purchase Disney World, and Disneyland park tickets through Airmiles.ca?

You simply go into the Dream Rewards section and choose your desired passes. They will cost you around 3000 Air Miles per pass.  The current retail price is over $300 US or about $400 Canadian funds.

There are a few other amusement parks who also offer tickets through Air Miles. Just make sure you give yourself 3-4 weeks to receive the passes in the mail, prior to your trip. Though, the last time I purchased Disney passes this way, they were delivered in 9 days so I had plenty of time.

When the Canadian dollar is weak, and you still want to make your dream trip a reality, I encourage you to think creatively and use rewards credits like this. I would book my flights and hotel and pre-pay in Canadian funds, use Air Miles for the park passes and limit my souvenir purchases. Eat bigger lunches and small dinners and your dream trip can still come together at an affordable price.

If you have any other tips on saving money in the USA without skimping on the family fun, please add them in the comments. Thank you!

Cheaper than a stay-cation!

Broke? Tied to work? Even if you can't go anywhere, with a little imagination, you can make your own home feel like a fancy hotel. Delight the kids or dazzle your next house guests.

This can work for your cabin, your first apartment and even your RV.

Here are 5 easy ways to make your imagination, stay-cation a 5 star delight for $25 or less!

1) Afternoon tea like the Fairmont. Use the good china or picnic plates, it won't matter.... just invite your guests to join you at 3pm. Cut your sandwiches into triangles. Have veggies and dip. Put Pot of Gold chocolates or brownies on dessert plates. Place a candle on the table.  And of course, drink tea!  But give it a fancy name. "Would you like some raspberry marigold catillion tea? Why yes!"  If you're serving iced tea, make sure to add fruit as garnish and little drink umbrellas.

2) Play some elevator music. Something instrumental. It makes everything seem fancy!  Or play steel drums or Caribbean tunes if you've got an island theme.

3) Buy some sample sizes in shampoos and lotions.  New toothbrushes too. Set them out for your guests. You could even roll your towels and tie them with ribbons.

4) Post an activity schedule.  4pm badminton on the front lawn. 5pm movie trivia. 6pm cocktails on the deck. 9pm storytime by the fire.

5) Serve room service on a tray. Add a single flower from your garden, in a bud vase to emulate the elegance of a Westin hotel.

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Your Dollar Store Shopping List: 

Napkins & matching plates

Note cards or invitations 

Bud vase

Candles 

Serving tray

Tiny cups or ramekins

Grocery Store: 

Strawberries

Chocolates

Colourful veggies

Shoppers Drug Mart/Superstore/The Body Shop:

Sample size shampoo, lotion. 

Toothbrushes

Wow yourself in Europe

There's a new budget airline on the market and they are out to WOW you, literally.

Wowair.com is a new airline from Iceland that is connecting Europe to the United States, through 2 east  coast cities. They are flying direct to several European destinations from BOS (Boston) & BWI (Baltimore) airports.

Their introductory prices are burning up the Internet. $99 from Boston to Amsterdam?  Wow!
They are also showcasing their fares in really nice visual graphs to show you at a glance when the best deals are. I definitely like the ease of finding the bargain fare. It's like they want you to find it.... which is, of course, quite contrary to the big airlines and how they present their deals.

There are low cost add ons for insurance and extra baggage.

But Cathie... I don't live in Boston!  These deals aren't relevant to me. 

Well, did you know it only takes 2500 Airmiles & $150 to get a roundtrip ticket from Winnipeg to Boston? Maybe you'd like to add an NFL football game to your itinerary while you're in Boston?  Now you're thinking like an adventurist!

Where do you want to go now?

Disney Cruise: Part 7... The Finances

My quick rule of thumb is that you need $5K to take a family 4 to Disney for a week. Roughly the same costs whether it's a cruise or a park adventure. For me, that includes air fare to the destination. If you can get it down to about $1000 per person, you've nabbed a bargain!

Your prices will vary based on a few things:

1) time of year
2) age of children
3) on board activities
4) port adventures
5) discounts being offered by Disney
6) your spending habits

While I am all about researching trips on-line, I generally choose to book the package with the operator. Meaning.... if I want to fly Westjet, I'll book through Westjet, regardless of where I spied the price. When it comes to booking a Disney package, I have always done it through the specialists at CAA Travel. They do more Disney than anyone!

Each agency, or booking method can and will offer you an incentive. (Think of it a perk in exchange for their commission.)  When I booked the Wonder cruise, which we took in November 2013, I booked it in June. There was an incredible bargain that I spied on-line, and my regular agent was able to secure that for me. I paid $689 per person for the 7 night cruise.

We chose the balcony room, knowing that I would want to be in the room at all times with my son, but wanted a little freedom to have coffee and fresh air on the balcony while he slept. If I was travelling with younger children, or a second adult, I would definitely choose a less expensive, port-hole outside room (no balcony). A second adult to supervise would enable you to leave the stateroom and enjoy fresh air and deck chairs in numerous other public areas on the ship. Though as safe as possible with a plexiglass base on your deck railing, I wouldn't want a toddler anywhere near a balcony on a ship.

Because there were only 2 of us, the "child" had to pay an "adult" fare. However, if we had travelled as a family of 4, there would have been 2 adult fares and 2 reduced child fares (Approx $450 per child) as we would have been staying in the same stateroom.

The CAA Travel service provided us with a $200 on board credit, PLUS a package of 7 professional ship-board portraits of our choosing. So, in practical terms, there was a $300 incentive which made my budget stretch even further.

The on board credit can be used for anything, but it is non-refundable. I used mine to cover the costs of our 2 port adventures, plus a couple treats at the gift shop.

The mandatory gratuities charged to your ship account are $12 per person, per day. Yes, even toddlers and babies pay the mandatory gratuity.

Typical prices on board are $20 for a photo, stuffed animal, or drink in a souvenir glass. $40 for a bottle of wine, a t-shirt or bingo hour. $60 for a port activity, princess dress or arcade pass.

There is a spa on the ship. The services start at $100 and a mandatory 18% gratuity is in addition.
Be advised that any specialty beverage you purchase, even a child's smoothie will have a 15% auto gratuity added. You will have to sign for the charge, and the slip will ask for an ADDITIONAL gratuity on top of the auto-grat.

You can see how things can add up quickly, if you aren't mindful of the expenses. It would be easy to run up a bill as the ships are CASHLESS. Everything is charged to your stateroom with the swipe of your Key to the World Card.  Without fail, the night before the cruise ends, there is a very long line at Guest Services with people questioning their room charges.

That being said, our week cost us each just $110 in room charges and $84 of that was the mandatory gratuity. CJ and I were not big drinkers. LOL And all of our "spa" time was spent up on deck 10 playing soccer.

Another ship sailing by our balcony. 

5 Ways to Fly for FREE

Absolutely, positively legit ways to fly for FREE, or next to free. This is how I stretch my travel budget. You can do it too.

1. Travel rewards credit cards. You pick - every bank has one whether it's RBC Avion, or Capital One Sky Miles or CIBC Aerogold. MoneySense magazine ranked them last year. Only you will know which card is best suited to your life. Read the fine print. Some cards will charge you taxes or booking fees for your "free flight" other cards, such as TD Infinite will allow you to cover 100% of your trip (flight, hotel, taxes, etc) with their travel points/dollars. That would make your flight 100% FREE.

** An average user, should be able to net a free flight at least every 2 years.**

2. Gas, grocery and on-line purchases with Air Miles or Aeroplan can add up. This could net you a FREE flight, or cruise, or hotel certificates.  Some redemptions require that you pay the taxes.

**An average household could accumulate $400 in free travel every 2 years or more. A "gold" collector or an aggressive points collector should be able to do the same every 12-15 months.

3. Fly flexible with Delta Airlines.  Delta Airlines is notorious for overbooking flights. This, in my opinion, is not a bad thing for the bargain traveller.  The last 4 out of 5 flights I have taken with Delta, they have asked (through the check - in kiosk) or at the counter, for VOLUNTEERS to wait for the next flight. Upon accepting, you are offered travel vouchers anywhere from $200 to $600, PLUS meal stipend and perhaps even hotel.  Indeed I have done this with very pleasing results. Follow my math on  this example: I paid $283 (per person, round trip, tax in - unreal seat sale) for a flight to the Bahamas. En route Delta offered a $600 future flight voucher to "bump" and take the next flight out.  We accepted (a party of 4 - yes, that's $2400)  and 6 months later used the vouchers for 1.5 flights each. ($400 to California and $200 towards Vegas/Denver etc.)  So, we got 2.5 flights for $283 cash out of pocket, or about $500 for 3 round trip flights per person. Thank you Delta!!

**The key to this is to pick a popular route, with less popular flight times to follow. This ensures that you have excellent odds of still making it to your destination same day. Also, be polite and aware at the gate. Be prepared to volunteer and then spend time chillin' at the airport.**

4. Ask for Air Canada gift cards from Santa.  You'll fly for free once you have enough cards saved. This is NEW for the airline industry. Air Canada just started offering them 3 months ago. Westjet does not offer gift cards.... yet. Air Canada gift cards are available at any Canada Post outlet or online at AirCanada.com

5. Win your flight! More and more charity auctions are offering travel prizes. Plus, there are numerous on-line contests. Somebody has to win. Why not you? I personally know 2 people who have won such prizes in the last year or so.  Maybe you'll be lucky #3!

YWG to HNL $583

Many dates & length of stays available.

United Airlines has some pretty sweet prices to Honolulu right now. Flying out of Winnipeg, (YWG) and with only one connection (Denver) you can be on a beach same day.

The connections are great and I'd jump at this change of scenery if I needed a beach break right now.

Hotels are reasonably priced and easy to come by this time of year.

If you prefer to rent a condo on the beach and just pay for your flights, I'd encourage you to go through the United.com site itself. Don't forget to sign up for their points/miles/priority club first. There's a lot of miles between YWG and HNL and you don't want to miss out on those! (Each traveller has to register seperately. Even children can sign up and collect miles. - Just ask my CJ. He's going to have platinum status before he can ever buy himself a drink!)

As a package, Expedia.com is offering October 2-8th at $850 tax, hotel & flight. Yes, out of Winnipeg. Yes. This is a very good deal.  This sample price does not include meals. Hotels/resorts in Hawaii are rarely all-inclusive like Mexico.

$583 for a return flight , taxes incl is about $100 less than an average good flight price. $800-900 is a typical fare.  During holidays you can pay upwards of $1200 for the same route.

Hawaii is lovely year round. Another must see destination!