This past week was not what we had planned.
We were all set to take a trip to Texas—flights, hotel, rental car, everything booked. One of the main reasons for the visit was to return to Schlitterbahn, the iconic water park we enjoy visiting. While the park itself wasn’t directly impacted by the major flooding in the region, there were issues in the local rivers due to the heavy downpours that caused road closures and even led the city to shut off public access to the river altogether. Combined with the broader flood damage in the area, it just didn’t seem like the right time to visit.
We decided to cancel the trip altogether. But with time off from work already approved, it seemed like a waste to sit at home for four days.
Canceling the Original Plans
Fortunately, all of our original bookings were fairly easy to unwind:
- We had booked our flights with Southwest points and used the Companion Pass for one ticket. When we canceled, the points were refunded to our account, and the taxes were returned to our credit card.
- The rental car was booked through Capital One Travel, and canceling it online returned a full refund without issue.
- The hotel was a little trickier. We had a discounted cash rate through Hilton that came with a 14-day cancellation policy. Since we were inside the window, I couldn’t cancel online. I called the hotel—one we’ve stayed at many times—and explained the situation. Thankfully, the agent recognized us as regulars, and they canceled the reservation without penalty. Good customer service still exists!
Spontaneity Isn’t Our Thing—But We Gave It a Shot
We’re not what you’d call spontaneous travelers. We plan. We research. We over-research. But with our Texas trip canceled and four days of PTO just sitting there, we figured—why not try something new?
We started tossing out ideas of places we’d already been and wouldn’t mind revisiting for a short, three-night getaway. I gave myself a boundary: no flights longer than three hours from Orlando. That still left us with a surprisingly large map to play with.
- Tennessee was a contender—maybe a return to Dollywood?
- Key West? A classic Florida escape.
- Cape Cod came up too—yes, a bit far north, but still doable.
- I even checked if there were any last-minute cruises leaving from Florida ports. There were, but none that lined up.
Then I Remembered Something Sharon Said…
While we were still bouncing around ideas, I suddenly remembered an email my wife, Sharon, had sent me after our last Virgin Voyages cruise. It was a link to a place we passed during an excursion in Aruba—a boat ride to a submarine tour, to be exact.
We had cruised past Renaissance Island, a private island owned by the Renaissance Wind Creek Aruba Resort. Sharon pointed it out and said, “That’s the island with the flamingos! I’d love to go there someday.”
At the time, I filed it away as a “maybe someday” kind of experience.
But now? With our trip canceled, a few days to spare, and Aruba well within that three-hour flight radius… the idea had legs. Flamingo legs.
So I started searching.
Dreams of Flamingos…With a Price Tag
The first thing I had to check was whether the Renaissance Wind Creek Aruba had availability using Marriott Bonvoy points. I wasn’t interested in making the trip if we couldn’t access Renaissance Island—the flamingos were non-negotiable.
To my surprise, the hotel did have award availability… but it wasn’t going to be cheap.
For the dates we needed, award nights were priced between 60,000 and 70,000 points per night. And the cash rate wasn’t any better—just under $2,000 total for a three-night stay. That’s before taxes, resort fees, or impulse flamingo snacks.
For a moment, it looked like the plan was dead in the water.
Doing the Math—Points, Certificates & Tough Choices
Just when I thought the Aruba idea was toast, I remembered something sitting quietly in my Marriott Bonvoy account: an 85,000-point Free Night Certificate from my Ritz-Carlton Credit Card.
With award nights pricing around 70,000 points, this was actually a perfect time to use it. Finally—a good redemption that didn’t feel like a waste of a premium certificate.
But that still left me with two more nights to book. And I definitely didn’t have 130,000 spare Bonvoy points just sitting around.
Sure, I could transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards, but let’s be honest—that’s almost always a poor use of UR points. I can get way more value transferring to Hyatt, Aeroplan, or United. Using them for Bonvoy is rarely the play, especially at these inflated award rates.
So now I had a dilemma: one free night secured… but two more to figure out.
From “Bad Value” to Bonus Value
I was almost ready to bite the bullet and pay cash for the other two nights—reluctantly, of course. But then I paused and thought: Wait, are there any transfer bonuses going on right now?
Sure enough, there was. Chase is offering a 50% transfer bonus to Marriott Bonvoy until August 15th—suddenly, transferring Ultimate Rewards didn’t seem like such a terrible value.
Even better? I had just received the 100,000-point sign-up bonus for the Chase Sapphire Preferred. It was like the universe was nudging me toward flamingos.
With the transfer bonus, every 1,000 Chase points became 1,500 Bonvoy points. That meant I could cover the remaining two nights with just under 90,000 Ultimate Rewards points instead of the full 130,000.
In the end, we booked the two remaining nights for a total of 134,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.
Now for the Hard Part: Flights
With the hotel puzzle more or less solved, I told Sharon, “It’s looking like Aruba might actually happen. Flamingos included.”
But there was one big unknown left: flights.
At that point, I honestly couldn’t even tell you which airlines flew to Aruba—let alone whether any of them had flights from Orlando, and on the specific dates we needed.
So I started digging.
- Google Flights – to see what airlines served the route and what cash prices looked like.
- Point.me and PointsYeah – to search across award programs for any hidden sweet spots or good availability.
This was crunch time. We had a hotel lined up, PTO approved, and flamingos in our future… if I could just make the flights work.
Piecing Together the Flights
There weren’t any nonstops from Orlando to Aruba that worked for us, but I found that American Airlines flies from Miami to Aruba. For a second, I considered taking Brightline down to Miami, but once I checked the numbers, it actually cost fewer miles to just fly Orlando → Miami → Aruba.
I had enough AAdvantage miles in my account to book both tickets for 22,500 miles + $15.60 per person. One-way solved.
Now we just had to get home.
And that’s when I got lucky.
I saw a non-stop Southwest flight from Aruba to Orlando with one seat left at the Wanna Get Away Plus level. And here’s where the Southwest Companion Pass came through again—if there’s a seat available to book, I can always add a companion at no extra points cost, regardless of whether the extra seat would be more expensive.
I booked that last seat using 36,000 Rapid Rewards points + $74.46 in taxes, and then added myself as Sharon’s companion for just $74.46 more. We even used the $75 annual credit from the Southwest Priority Card to offset one of those charges.
From Sharon’s Facebook post:
Final Thought: This Trip Shouldn’t Have Happened—But It Did
I’m still in shock that we just returned from Aruba.
On Monday, we were planning to visit Texas.
On Tuesday, we canceled everything and booked a brand-new international trip to a place we hadn’t even researched.
And on Thursday morning, we were headed to the airport, bound for beaches, flamingos, and sunshine.
It’s been one heck of a week.
But here’s the thing: this trip only happened because I was in a position to make it happen.
- I had a free night certificate from the Ritz-Carlton Card, just waiting for the right moment.
- I earned a Southwest Companion Pass from a credit card sign-up bonus.
- I had just received 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, which I leveraged with a 50% Marriott transfer bonus to cover two nights at the Renaissance (134,000 Bonvoy points total).
- I had a stash of American AAdvantage miles left over from sign-up bonuses over the past 2–3 years—enough to book our outbound flights (22,500 miles + $15.60 each).
- We flew home on Southwest using 36,000 points + $74.46, and the Companion ticket was just $74.46.
So while this wasn’t a “cheap” trip by points-and-miles standards, we were booking with one day’s notice. We didn’t have the luxury of waiting for deals to appear or award space to open up. This was about acting fast—and being ready to act fast.
If nothing else, this week reminded me why I collect points. Not just for aspirational travel… but for possibility.
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