1. A “fixed” rate is not fixed. That’s the simplest way to say it! A credit card company can raise its rates with no reason and a written notice. If you see “fixed rate” on any agreement, and you are counting on that rate, you are gambling. One major card DOUBLED its “fixed” rate this year, even for card members who followed the rules. This can cost plenty if you carry a large balance and don’t have a reserve to pay it off!
2. Some low interest promotional offers backfire if other charges are made, creating a second balance which accrues interest at higher rates. Payments can be applied to your low interest balance first while interest adds up on the other purchases until your promotional offer is paid to 0! This is usually explained in the fine print somewhere, but is easy to miss. To avoid this, cancel any automatic payments, get your balance to 0 and put the card in a drawer BEFORE you take advantage of a promotional rate!
3. Some good low interest offers will allow you to keep charging and apply your payments to your higher interest balance so you avoid finance charges. This is a great deal, but don't miss a penny in your payments and don't be late!
4. A low interest promotional offer with Deferred Interest must be paid IN FULL by the Applicable Expiration Date. Retroactive interest all the way from the date of purchase will be added to your bill if you get your dates wrong or don’t pay in full. OUCH! If you pay in full by the due-date, though, all the accrued interest is removed.
5. Some low interest promos can have tricky wording for the Applicable Expiration Date, so you don’t realize the promo has expired. Applicable Expiration Date is a tricky concept. If your promo expires the first cycle that INCLUDES January 1^st, but that cycle BEGINS on December 1^st, your true expiration date is December 1^st. You must ask the representative two questions: 1: "What is the exact date that STARTS the cycle when finance charges begin?" and 2: "What is the exact date to pay my balance to 0 in order to avoid charges?" If the answer to these two questions don’t match, you don’t have the date you need. If you are given a phrase that includes a date, but requires interpretation, you are not safe. (This sounds silly, but people I advised to ask these questions endured plenty of scripted double-talk before they got the dates. Be persistent!) Once you get the exact date, mark it on your calendar. If the date is on the first of the month, make sure your mark is at the end of the previous month to avoid calendar page flipping shock. If your card uses two cycle billing, (below) this is an even bigger expense!
6. Here’s how Two cycle billing takes away your grace period and can cost you interest for up to four months.
    - Your card balance was paid to 0 on January 1^st.
    - You charge your $5000 Disney family trip on your card on January 2^nd.
    - Your February statement does not show interest, since the previous balance was 0.
    - You send $200 payment on time for February payment, but leave a balance.
    - March statement surprises you with two months of interest charges back to January 2nd!
    - You pay down to 0 immediately and cut up your card.
    - Your April statement comes and STILL charges interest on the average balance of the previous two months.
    - You pay that interest to 0 and, with a second month with no balance, you are finally free at a cost of about $200 if your interest rate was 12% and you made no other charges. If your rate is 24%, the cost goes up big time for the benefit of delaying payment for a short time.

(Check out Cheryl's recent article on Palo for Dinner in the November 21, 2007 issue!)

Having just got your taste buds watering with thoughts of dinner at Palo, the Disney Cruise Line’s adults only restaurant, feature columnist Cheryl Pendry now takes you on a culinary tour through their other offerings...

Dinner at Palo is a delight. Hopefully by now you’re convinced of that, but dinner isn’t the only meal you can enjoy at this beautiful restaurant.

If you’re lucky enough to be enjoying a cruise that’s longer than three nights, then you can sample the Champagne Brunch, which is generally held on days when you’re at sea. Before we first tried this on our cruise around the Mediterranean, we had heard great reports about this – and we could quickly see why.

The second you walk into the restaurant, you’re greeted by a complimentary glass of champagne. If you don’t drink alcohol, then you can always request a freshly squeezed orange juice instead.

The next thing you notice is the amazing array of food on display. There’s so much of it that you’ll be glad that your server is there to take you on a guided tour of it! With different sections for fish, meat and bread, there’s also a dessert section that seems to go on forever. This is not the place to come to if you’re trying to stick to a diet, as there are literally hundreds of temptations waiting for you.

As if that wasn’t enough, your server will then take you through all the hot dishes that you can order a la carte, alongside the buffet items. The choices when we were there included a selection of pizzas, including a dessert pizza featuring a very unusual combination of jelly and peaches on a sweet dough. It sounded as if it shouldn’t work, but somehow it did. Fish, meat and vegetarian items rounded out the choices and they were just as good as anything that’s served up at dinner.

You come away from your tour of the buffet, really wondering where on earth you start. It’s a daunting task, but someone has to do it! We sampled as much as we could, but we both found ourselves quickly filling up and, by the time it came to those wonderful desserts, there wasn’t much room left. Be warned – you really need to come here with an empty stomach to fully enjoy what’s on offer here and one thing’s for sure, you won’t leave here hungry.

Something else well worth sampling at Palo is the High Tea, traditionally offered on the 7-night and longer sailings, whether you’re a tea fan or not. As a Brit, I love my cup of tea morning, noon and night, but I’m very much a traditional tea drinker. If it’s not my beloved brand of PG Tips, then it’s not a proper cup of tea to me, but bravely I ventured forth to sample some of the unusual blends of tea that they have on offer. It’s a daunting task, trying to pick one, when you really have no idea about the different types of tea, but our server was really helpful and found one that I was able to drink, although truth be told, it didn’t come close to my PG Tips!

There’s more to this experience than just tea though. This is a traditional afternoon tea and you can expect to be served up with finger sandwiches with some wonderful fillings. The cream cheese and cucumber, smoked salmon and sour cream and prawn sandwiches are exactly what you’d expect to be presented with at this type of meal, but the chicken and curry one is a bit of a surprise.

Then it’s on to the scones, complete with your choice of cream and jam, and if there’s any room left after all that lot, then desserts await you. The chocolate éclairs are lovely, but the real winner for us was the trifle. Never before have we had such a great trifle. In fact, it was so good that we went back for seconds. And that’s the beauty here. At either the Champagne Brunch or the High Tea, if you want more, then all you have to do is ask and your server will bring more out to you.

Both meals are a real treat and fit in perfectly with the wonderful theming of both the Disney Magic and Wonder, allowing you to almost take a step back in time to days when these experiences were more commonplace.

Like the dinner at Palo, you do need to book in advance for these meals. If you’re in staterooms category 1 – 3, then you can book online at 105 days out, while Castaway Club members can book up to 90 days in advance. For everyone else, reservations can be made at 75 days out. There may also be reservations available when you board, but be sure to check that out as soon as you get on board.

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