How You Can Snorkel The Great Barrier Reef Using Points and Miles

 

Wow! The Great Barrier Reef is extraordinary. The blue water, the coral, the marine life is absolutely amazing. It is truly a bucket list experience. So the question is can you do this trip with points and miles? The answer is yes. 

The snorkel day trips out to the reef are EXPENSIVE! You can book the tours through our partner Viator.com. But how can you get the tour for FREE? or can you? Yes, you can using the Capital One Venture X travel erase tool or you can use the purchase to reach a minimum spend for future travel. 

• You can use the Capital One Venture X credit card to pay for this tour. Then erase a portion of it with the Capital One points and travel credit. Plus activate the discount offer when you book through Viator.com
• You can also use the purchase to reach the minimum spend on the credit card you are working on. I used it to reach the minimum needed to earn the Southwest Companion Pass. 

How You Can Snorkel The Great Barrier Reef Using Points and Miles 

So yes, I paid for the trip, but I used the purchase to earn FREE flights for the next two years. 

The tours to the reef leave from Cairns and Port Douglas. You can fly on the budget airlines JetStar or you can use American Airlines miles on Qantas. Both great options. We flew on JetStar due to limited award availability on Qantas. I paid for the flights with my Capital One Venture X card and erased the purchase with points. So it was FREE. 

The unique luggage carousel at the Cairns Airport. So cute! By the way, we flew Qantas from Cairns to Darwin, Australia for a mere 10,000 American Airlines miles per person. So that's a good option for travel within Australia. And Australia is huge!

How You Can Snorkel The Great Barrier Reef Using Points and Miles 

It is actually as big as the United States so you will be flying. Something to consider is the Barclays Aviator Red Mastercard which is offering a bonus of 50,000 American Airlines miles with just one purchase and a $99 annual fee. 

This was the view from the balcony at the Doubletree Cairns. The hotel was offering standard rooms for 40,000 Hilton Honors points per night. If you have Gold or Diamond status with Hilton, then the room comes with FREE breakfast at the buffet. 

The buffet includes breakfast pastries, granola, yogurt, salads, meats, cheese and much more. The hotel is located right on the main road and just minutes away from harbor. You can earn 150,000 Hilton Honors points right now by opening the Hilton Honors American Express Business card. You can read all about it here. 

That's how we do it here at almostFREEfamilytravel.