Princess Gift Cards, Kroger Fuel Points, and a Real Way to Save on a Cruise

During Kroger 4x fuel points promotions, every dollar spent on qualifying gift cards earns four fuel points.

That means a $250 Princess Cruises gift card can generate 1,000 fuel points, which can translate into meaningful gas savings if you are able to maximize the fuel discounts.

The gift card itself is not discounted. The savings come from the fuel points earned from purchasing it.

If you were already planning to pay for the cruise anyway, it can become a very effective way to lower the real overall cost of the trip.

We ended up buying about $8,000 in Princess Cruises gift cards over a relatively short period of time.

The biggest challenge was not buying the gift cards. It was figuring out how to use all the fuel points before they expired.

Fortunately, we had several people helping use the points:

• Our niece who drives a lot for work
• Our son and daughter-in-law
• Us
• The moving van and second vehicle during their Denver-to-Charlotte move

That move ended up making a huge difference because it gave us a way to maximize large fuel discounts across multiple large fill-ups.

We often filled two vehicles at the same time to get closer to the full gallon limit allowed during the fuel point redemption.

During the Denver-to-Charlotte move, we were also filling both the moving van and another vehicle, which made the fuel point savings much more substantial.

Without the move, we probably would not have been able to use all of the fuel points nearly as efficiently.

While driving through Tennessee, Kroger had a promotion that allowed more than the normal fuel point redemption amount, up to 4,500 fuel points in a single fill-up.

We filled twice during the move, once with the moving van and once with the second vehicle, for less than 1 cent per gallon.

Each of those fill-ups saved roughly $150.

That was not part of the original plan, but it significantly improved the overall savings once we added everything up.

We currently have a Princess Northern Europe cruise booked for next July, sailing from Copenhagen through several Norway ports and ending in Iceland.

As the cruise gets closer and Kroger runs more 4x fuel points promotions, we will likely start buying Princess gift cards again to help pay off the cruise.

This time, though, we will probably spread the purchases over 4 to 6 months instead of buying so many gift cards in a shorter period.

We were lucky the Denver-to-Charlotte move helped us use all the fuel points the first time around. Without that, we likely would have had a much harder time maximizing all the savings.

As travel agents, we can help apply eligible Princess Cruises gift cards toward bookings.

That means travelers may still be able to book with us while taking advantage of gift card promotions and fuel point opportunities.

Our goal is not just to help people book cruises. It is to help them look at the full picture and identify every reasonable way to lower the real cost of the trip.