🛳️ How to book a cruise with points

Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 10 seconds

☀️ Good morning and welcome back to Daily Drop — the newsletter equivalent of a carry-on: light, efficient, and somehow still overstuffed with value..

Let’s get started:

• 🛳️ Book a luxury Virgin Voyages cruise with points

• ⚾️ Win up to 1 million AA miles every time the Cubs win

• 🔐 How I stopped losing my mind over Wi-Fi abroad

• 🤦‍♂️ Vegas minibar drama (and a quick tip)

🛳️ Book a luxury Virgin Voyages cruise with points

Virgin Voyages is adults-only (18+) and known for its sleek ships, award-winning dining, and elevated onboard atmosphere.

You’ll find everything from boozie brunches to live music to fitness classes on deck — all wrapped in that signature Virgin flair.

You can actually book Virgin Voyages cruises entirely with points through Virgin Red.

For example, a six-night, one-way Caribbean cruise from Miami to the Dominican Republic, St. Maarten, British Virgin Islands, and San Juan currently costs 160,000 Virgin Points per cabin.

Redemptions are priced per cabin (for one or two people), and that specific example is a Sea Terrace cabin — meaning you get a proper balcony and hammock, not some windowless closet at sea.

Right now, there’s also a 30% transfer bonus from ThankYou points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

If you link your Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Red accounts (which takes about 30 seconds), you can instantly move those Virgin Atlantic points into your Virgin Red balance — and use them to book a cruise.

That effectively drops the cost of this sailing to just 124,000 ThankYou points, and it covers nearly everything onboard:

• All taxes and fees for the cruise fare

• All meals and dining venues

• Entertainment and nightlife

• Fitness classes and group workouts

• Complimentary Wi-Fi

The only thing you’ll need to pay out of pocket is gratuities, which now run about $20 to $22 per person per night (this used to be included but changed earlier this year).

It’s still an incredible value for two people, especially when you factor in the all-inclusive experience and the fact that Virgin Voyages routinely ranks among the most luxurious cruise lines in its category.

And if you’re not ready to book just yet, keep this in your back pocket — transfer bonuses to Virgin show up every couple of months from most major banks, often ranging from 25% to 40%.

So if you’ve ever dreamed of sipping champagne in a hammock while sailing through the Caribbean, this might be the perfect reason to put your ThankYou points to sea.

And if you’re curious about other ways to get value from your ThankYou points, check this out:

⚾️ Win up to 1 million AA miles every time the Cubs win

If you’ve ever found yourself yelling at the TV during baseball season, here’s a reason to actually care about the score — even if you’re not a Cubs fan.

American Airlines, the official airline of the Chicago Cubs, is giving away 1 million AA bonus miles every time the Cubs win a game this month.

That means for each Cubs victory, one lucky AAdvantage member gets a million miles.

You don’t need to attend the games, and it takes about 30 seconds to enter. Just fill out the form on American’s site once per day (yes, you can enter once per day) and cross your fingers.

It goes without saying that a million AAdvantage miles are insanely valuable… Whether you want long-haul business-class deals, short hops around the U.S., or niche sweet spots abroad, AA miles are some of the best you could have.

So go register, and check out our guide to AA if you want to start prematurely daydreaming about your million-mile trip. 😉

🤦‍♂️ Vegas minibar drama (and a quick tip)

Reddit’s losing its mind over a photo from a Vegas hotel minibar that charges guests if they move an item... 😑

That’s right — In Vegas, you can commit to a relationship faster than you can inspect a can of Pringles in this minibar.

It’s funny, but also kind of terrifying: those minibars use pressure and motion sensors to detect when something’s been picked up, and charges get added instantly to your room. Even if you were just curious about the $14 water bottle with a gold cap.

Because nothing kills vacation vibes like explaining to the front desk that you didn’t actually drink the $18 mini-vodka… you just admired it.

That’s all for today, folks! If any of you become AA millionaires, I expect a 10% cut — so don’t forget about me (kidding…. sort of).

Anyway, have a great day, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

59.4370° N, 24.7536° E

With contributions by Alison Carrico, Tiffany Eastham, McKay Moffitt, and Benji Stawski