Boarder42...Do you mind sharing additional details on how you are doing all of that for $4k? I am very curious...I might be planning my vacations the wrong way if you're only spending $4k for 40+ days of vacationing....
travel hacking with credit cards. (sign up for credit cards for the sign up bonus rinse and repeat)
1.hawaii trip was AA miles, hilton honors points, Starwood Preferred guest points, Hyatt free nights, Barclay card mentioned above offset rental car and a couple activities including a 5 star resort dinner - this trip ended up around 1k including scuba which was 400 of that cost.
2. AA vouchers b/c they botcher our HI flights - 200-300
3. Southwest points and HHonors points 500 (dont ask very unhappy)
4. borrow grandpa's time share going at really low time would be like 40 bucks if we paid him for his points we're spending - theme park tickets could be offset by barclay but likely not (200)
5. camping out of pocket (150)
6. free hotels / southwest flights - 300 for fun and rental est. (hasnt happened yet)
7. initial cruise price 2800 - knocked down to 700 with cards mentioned in first post - flights free AA points - excursions - 700-800 figuring out how to knock this down - ~1500(hasnt happened)
8. 180 bucks - no hacking
around 4130 is what i've got listed here. some costs still variable. working on knocking down the excursion prices on the cruise.