Cruise

[rentaweek]

Trading Places Intl Resorts to Ports® cruise exchange program allows to apply our timeshare resort week toward a cruise. Has anyone tried that? Is it a fair deal? I heard RCI cruise program was not a fair trade?

[TimeshareVon]

Originally Posted by rentaweek

Trading Places Intl Resorts to Ports® cruise exchange program allows to apply our timeshare resort week toward a cruise. Has anyone tried that? Is it a fair deal? I heard RCI cruise program was not a fair trade?

I haven't done either, but the best way to figure it out is to see how much your cruise would cost to buy it outright . . . and then find out what the "deal" would be if you use that company and your timeshare week.

I have consistently found that RCI's program is no cheaper than deals you can find relatively easily without giving up your timeshare week.

[BoardGirl]

I've recently seen Alaskan cruises for $499/person. If your maint + exchange fee is that or less, go for it!

Generally, AK cruises are $700+ per person and well more if you're seeking more than 7 days or one of the higher end cruise lines.

Run the numbers on the itinerary you're looking into as it's the only apples to apples answer you can get!

[dougp26364]

Most of the time your "discount" for trading you timeshare week in on a cruise is off the list price of the cruise. Often you can find cruises on most cruise lines discounted further at online travel agencies. Once you look at the lowest price you can get the cruise for and then compare it with your "discount" for trading your week in, the savings is often as low as $200. Since none of my MF's are that low then I don't consider it a good deal.

However, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruise lines no longer allow rebating or TA's returning any portion of their comission's to further discount the price of a cruise. With those two cruise lines you might find that the exchange discount is closer to your MF's.

I know that a couple of years ago, through HGVC, I exchanged our points for a cruise. The discount off the best price I could find for our Royal Caribbean cruise was approximately $25 less than our MF's. Since I was going to be unable to use those points that year (couldn't "rescue them at that point with HGVC), I didn't want to deposit them with RCI and I didn't want to convert them to HHonors points, I felt it was a decent enough deal to take.

When tallying the total keep in mind any fee's that might be imposed such as exchange fee's. With I.I. and RCI that really brings down the benefit or savings of exchanging your week for a cruise.

[wandering gnome]

Board girl,

Where did you find your $499 Alaskan cruises?

[BoardGirl]

I know I just saw it in our local paper on Sunday - I think it was with Princess?

I would expect it's for last-minute sailings this summer, but I didn't investigate. I was just struck by the price!!! WHAT A DEAL!!!

Not too long ago, you could not cruise Alaska for under 4 digits.

[dougp26364]

Originally Posted by BoardGirl

I know I just saw it in our local paper on Sunday - I think it was with Princess?

I would expect it's for last-minute sailings this summer, but I didn't investigate. I was just struck by the price!!! WHAT A DEAL!!!

Not too long ago, you could not cruise Alaska for under 4 digits.

Not likely last minute as Alaskan cruises typically go up in price as time goes on. More likely a May or September sailing in an inside cabin for next year. Inside cabins are the least popular on Alaskan cruise with balcony cabins being the most popular and selling out pretty quickly for the season.

May and Sept are shoulder season for Alaskan cruises and offer the best prices. You're taking the biggest chance on rain and weather. After sailing Alaska twice in July we did a Sept cruise last year and had decent weather. If we go again I think we might try May next time. I like a bargain and don't mind a little rain if it comes along. In Alaska, most of the time it's been more of a mist than a downpour but, I sure heavy rains probably occur more frequently than I think.

[rockedge]

I agree that you don't want an inside for alaska. You will be on deck all the time otherwise. There is soo much scenery to see on the inside passage that a balcony is the way to go. We spent hours there watching whales, sea lions, otters, etc. We even saw brown bears from the ship. But your going to pay a lot more than 499 for a balcony.

[BoardGirl]

Not necessarily.

I bought inside, last September, and got a last-minute free upgrade to balcony. I couldn't afford the extra cabbage and we of course were going to be on deck anyway.

I'm pretty sure the ads I saw were for unsold-out ships this summer. I agree that it usually gets more expensive, but it was definitely for this season, July onward. It was not for 08.

[dougp26364]

Originally Posted by BoardGirl

Not necessarily.

I bought inside, last September, and got a last-minute free upgrade to balcony. I couldn't afford the extra cabbage and we of course were going to be on deck anyway.

I'm pretty sure the ads I saw were for unsold-out ships this summer. I agree that it usually gets more expensive, but it was definitely for this season, July onward. It was not for 08.

In your case you were booking an end of season cruise.

I can't speak for this year since we're taking a couple of years off cruising to realocate the $$ we were spending there on other things plus, I bought enough timeshare I was a little backed up and needed to use some deposited weeks or risk losing them. Alaska put in a new per person tax on cruise lines that may have turned some people off to cruising Alaska. Perhaps that's had more of an effect on bookings than I thought it would.