TRIP REPORT: My FREE Holland America Cruise (or how I spent ONLY $89/day for this 22 day European vacation)
REVISED November 14, 2024
The Casino Status Match Jackpot has paid off handsomely for me with the cruise offers giving me opportunities to explore some exciting new places and I was especially excited for this third booked comped cruise!!
After poring through all of the options on Holland America (HAL), there were only a few options that really appealed to me (since I had a booked PCL Alaska comped cruise, a significant number of sailings options were eliminated). And when I was finally able to book a Baltics cruise on the MSC Poesia, it narrowed the choice down to one: so I booked the Iceland & Greenland Passage.
This post will be a broad outline of my trip around my Holland America cruise that came from that parlay. FYI: I have some beautiful tips re travel hacking in the itinerary section as well as give some insight into my choices that can show you how to maximize your trip. Note that links will be added for the detailed posts on flights, cruise, and each locale as they are written.
People wonder how I can afford to travel so much so I am peeling back the curtain to show you exactly what I did but as importantly, to show how it’s possible for you to do this as well. The reason why I am so passionate about travel hacking is that it is simply a way that allows you to travel for cheaper, for better and/or more often. As with everything there are levels to it so it can be simple or complex as you want it to be. This trip showcases so many things in action so please don’t be intimated: learn and use what you can!
One thing to note is that the cash price is what I would have paid at the time I booked XX. Take those numbers with a grain of salt because some of the things especially the business class flights or even this cruise are not things I would be taking IF I had to pay the full cash price for them. But they are included because they give you an idea of what travel hacking looks like in action.
So how did I spend less than $2,000 total for a trip to some notoriously expensive locations? Let’s take a look!
FLIGHTS
DEN-BOS (United Airlines Economy)
Spend: $2.13 / Savings from United(UA) travel bank IYKYK.
BOS-ZRH (SWISS Business) + ZRH-CPH (SAS Business)
Spend: 70K AC miles + $73.53 (101.30 CAD) / Savings: technically I only used 58,333 Chase UR points as I took advantage of Chase's 20% transfer bonus to Air Canada
LODGING
Hyatt Place HP Boston/Seaport
Spend: $173.67 (including $10 Housekeeping tip) / Savings: $50 WoH Business Credit card credit & balance on gifted GC & from upgraded room type (also included in other sections for savings:complimentary breakfast including day of check-in!)
Story Hotel Studio Malmö
Spend 15K points + $18* (Housekeeping tip) / Savings from upgraded room type (also included in other sections for savings:complimentary breakfast + free drink vouchers)
Residence Inn Copenhagen
Spend 42K points + $8* (Housekeeping tip) / Savings: (was not honored at check-in but given on 6/29) and late check-outno upgraded room type (also included in other sections for savings:complimentary breakfast)
Hilton Reykjavík Nordica
Spend 120K points + $209.08 ($26* Housekeeping tip) / Savings from upgraded room type: Exec level ocean-view & $60 AMEX Hilton Business quarterly credit (also included in other sections for savings:complimentary breakfast & executive lounge access & comp spa access)
*My aim is to leave the equivalent of $10 (USD) for housekeeping/night. But because I always leave a cash tip in the local currency, so this doesn’t always work out to the amount especially in countries when I never use cash.
HAL COMPED CRUISE
Cruise Details: Holland America Line Nieuw Statendam 11 Nights Iceland & Greenland Passage
Spend $808.01- including additional tips ($130/stateroom attendants + $1-10/other staff) / Savings: $730 from AARP Gift Card & AMEX Offer & Gratis stateroom upgrade & Wifi part of HIA*
- Want to know how I booked my HAL comped cruise? check out this post.
- Want to know more about what this “free cruise” really cost? Read this post
- Review of this comped cruise coming soon!
*Have It All components were accounted for up to $650 (the amount I paid for the package) but if I had tracked and accounted for all of the drinks on board including espresso drinks, smoothies, sparkling waters, the overall savings would have been greater.
Note: there will not be separate posts for the sections before the itinerary and any worthwhile mentions will be with the apprsopriate flights, cruise or location detailed posts.
FOOD
Spend: $259.46 / Savings: $786.93 on meals & drinks including on business class flights & lounge access at all airports - for arrivals + departures + layovers (from credit card benefit/flying business class) & comped breakfast at all four hotels & HAL HIA package*: 2x specialty dining/drinks & Hilton executive lounge access
TRANSPORTATION
Spend: $173.34 / Savings: $60.25 AMEX Uber credits & Biz Gold monthly $20 benefit
ACTIVITIES
Spend: $154.26 / Savings: $359.92 HAL HIA $200 excursion credit + Viator Rewards + Hilton Spa Access
MISCELLANEOUS
Spend: $123.73 Souvenirs: magnets + cash (bills) & sea sickness pills (while I was upgraded to an Oceanview, it was on the lowest deck and at the very front of the boat so I was worried I might get sick – it was fine but I like to be prepared.)
ITINERARY
Welp I had chosen this cruise specifically for the itinerary and the chance to explore Greenland…but some pesky icebergs in the water lead to the (very prudent) but disappointing decision that the ship could not safely travel there. Luckily Holland America made the necessary arrangements to alter our itinerary significantly rather than keeping the itinerary and hoping that conditions would improve (since they didn’t, that course of action would have resulted only in more sea days)
The old Itinerary for the cruise is displayed first with changed port information following as applicable.
Days 1-2: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Beautiful tip ~ consider flying out of another city to open up award availability AKA repositioning.
BUT you must build in a time buffer since your flights are not on the same itinerary (ie as opposed to one booking, the second airline has no obligation to get you on a different flight if your repositioning flight is delayed).
With travel being so chaotic now, I personally opt to fly in the night before. Because of that, I use these repositioning flights as a chance to visit friends or a new city. To further maximize my time, I will fly in as early and then fly out as late as possible.
Day 3: Zürich, Switzerland (then late flight to CPH)
Beautiful tip: flexibility + urgency are needed when booking award flights.
Case in point: I couldn’t decide on which flight to take to maximize my time in Zürich and lost out on the chance to fly directly from Denver!
Taking all these cruises has warmed me up to the idea of taking long layovers and checking out another city. Some things to look at when considering this: what leaving the airport entails, luggage storage options (especially if you’re also #teamcarryon), distance/time/ease of getting from airport to city, what can you realistically see/do when you get to city and don’t forget time needed to go through airport security again.
Days 3-6: Malmö, Sweden
Beautiful tip: flexibility is key to maximizing your points but be aware that there are often trade-offs
While I love Hyatt and try to use them whenever possible, one of the major downsides is that there are many places that don’t have an Hyatt option if I want to use points (sometimes there are Mr & Mrs Smith properties: which look like incredible places to stay but offer poor redemption values) or at all!
The Story Hotel popped up when I searched for choices in Copenhagen so I decided part of the time would be spent exploring another city.
Flexibility was being open to use this as a base to explore CPH (but know that there would be travel time) or being open to changing hotels. I actually had one night with overlapping point bookings at this hotel and a Marriott property as I wasn’t sure which I would want to do and figured that once I was in Malmö, that I would have a better idea which would be the better choice.
Day 7: Copenhagen, Denmark
Beautiful tip: diversification is always a good idea with all things financial
I decided that using some Marriott points would be better than trying to commute from Malmö to the cruise port the day of embarkment. It was nice to be able to have that option.
Day 8: Copenhagen, Denmark: Embark HAL Nieuw Statendam
Beautiful tip: Using Viator is a pro move – here’s why I use it to book shore excursions whenever possible.
Day 9: at Sea
Day 10: Ålesund, Norway
Day 11: at Sea
Day 12: Husavik, Iceland -> Runavik, Faroe Islands
Day 13: Ísafjörður, Iceland -> at Sea
Day 14: at Sea -> Djúpivogur, Iceland
Day 15: Nanortalik, Greenland -> Akureyri, Iceland
Day 16: Qaqortoq, Greenland -> Akureyri, Iceland
Day 17: at Sea -> Ísafjörður, Iceland
Day 18: at Sea -> Reykjavík, Iceland
Day 19: Reykjavík, Iceland: Disembark HAL Nieuw Statendam
Days 20-21: Reykjavík, Iceland
Beautiful tips: diversification is always a good idea with all things financial + loyalty pays
Hilton treats me really well as a Diamond member (which funny enough I have only because of my AMEX Aspire credit card!) I am a big fan of this property which takes the sting out of having to use points here
Days 20-21: Reykjavík, Iceland / Travel Day to Athens for my Virgin Comped Cruise
Beautiful tip: my award bookings allow me to save money especially as I am so apt to change travel plans
This trip illustrates my impulsive nature and why award bookings save me so much money in so many ways – especially with changing my flight to Athens three times!
