# HGVC exchange points to RCI for a cruise..? Anyone has done this?



## elleny76 (Feb 9, 2018)

Just read RCI has cruises as well to exchange. Has anyone done this? thanks


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## tschwa2 (Feb 9, 2018)

Rci offers discounts for using points.  I doubt it would be a good use of your points.


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## alwysonvac (Feb 10, 2018)

Keep in mind, the best use of HGVC points is for timeshare stays.

All other options are just allowing you to use your timeshare towards the cost without really saving you anything. In most cases, your out of pocket cost will be higher for a cruise exchange _(when comparing the discount offered against the cost of the week you're giving up)_.

I'm not sure if the RCI cruise exchange option is available to HGVC members since HGVC has their own cruise exchange program. If I remember correctly, RCI gives a discount for up to 4 staterooms with one exchange but the discount is generally very low (see link for examples - rcitravel.com)

However it's always better to use your HGVC points than to lose them. So if you're seeking to do a cruise exchange, you'll probably get a better deal with HGVC's Partner Perks which gives you approximately $1 for every 10 points.
For example: 7000 points would reduce your overall cruise cost by $700 approximately (see link - https://club.hiltongrandvacations.com/en/club-membership/clubpartner-perks/cruise).


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## Shmiddy (Feb 14, 2018)

Just did - 7500 points saved me about $1000 on an Alaska cruise. Not the best use of points I know but I looked at rolling them over or converting to HHonors and this was the best option for us. The Cruiseonly HGVC page allows you to plug in the amount of points you want to use and shows you what you save - each cruise/line was different when we checked so shop the site. We did find that the base cruise rate was close to online sites as well as Costco travel. 

Note - wait to call the 800 number until you know exactly the cruise you want.


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## CalGalTraveler (Feb 14, 2018)

Shmiddy said:


> Just did - 7500 points saved me about $1000 on an Alaska cruise.



Thanks for sharing. That doesn't seem too bad if you have 7k Vegas points, pay a maintenance fee of around $900, and don't have a better use for the points - it's $1 per point use of the maint. fee.

Much better than a 20:1 Hilton Honors conversion which would only get you 140,000 points which is about 2 nights in a Hampton.

Of course, if you pay more per point in pricier locations, then it is not a good use of the points. This is where your mileage may vary.

What percent of the total Alaska cruise is the $1000 discount?


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## Shmiddy (Feb 14, 2018)

Saved me about 15% - essentially paid our upgrade to a club class suite


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## alwysonvac (Feb 14, 2018)

That’s terrific and on Valentine’s Day too 

Any tips on using the site to locate the better deals?

From what I briefly saw, it looks like the discount is applied at the end allowing you to use any combination of points and cash for the cruise booking. How did you locate the right combination (ship, travel date and stateroom type) to give you the better conversion rate ($ per point)? Or are you including the value of some type of bonus offer in the $1000 savings?

Does HGVC’s Club Partner Perks fee of $104 apply to cruises exchanges too?


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## alwysonvac (Feb 15, 2018)

I would like to refer back to your experience when others ask about HGVC’s cruise option in the future.

Can you provide details (total cost breakdown)? 
Which Alaska cruise did you book? (at least Ship, length of cruise and departure port).

Thanks


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## elleny76 (Feb 15, 2018)

Shmiddy said:


> Just did - 7500 points saved me about $1000 on an Alaska cruise. Not the best use of points I know but I looked at rolling them over or converting to HHonors and this was the best option for us. The Cruiseonly HGVC page allows you to plug in the amount of points you want to use and shows you what you save - each cruise/line was different when we checked so shop the site. We did find that the base cruise rate was close to online sites as well as Costco travel.
> 
> Note - wait to call the 800 number until you know exactly the cruise you want.


Awesome information . I didnt even know we have HGVC_cruises  which its better than RCI for sure. Can you please advice how to do it, notes? tips? links?  thanks so much


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## Shmiddy (Feb 15, 2018)

We checked with a local travel agent as well as different sites on prices. Because of my work schedule we needed to be specific on the cruise date plus we are traveling with friends and wanted to make sure we could get rooms close to each other so we didn't do the last minute value cruise thing. There is a link to the HGVC cruise site on the HGVC website - it's https://hgvc.cruisesonly.com/. When you choose the package there is a calculator that shows the discount based on how many points you want to apply - was different by cruise line as well as sailing date and cabin type so shop around on the site.

We chose the July 1st sailing on Princess - we'd cruised Princess before and wanted a mini suite. Looking at all the packages they were fairly close in price with some differences in perks - I called the HGVC line to ask for help and the lady we got at first was no help at all, what I wanted to get from her was how to best use points and she was zero help so we did our research, picked a sailing and cabins from the site and simply called to book (you have to call in if you want to use points). We haven't picked our excursions yet, you can through the cruise line direct of through CruisesOnly.

Again - not the best way to use points but was a use or loose situation, I am not a fan of RCI so was not looking to bank points and I have more HHonors points than I can use at the moment. Plus the conversion would maybe get me a few days somewhere - would rather get the upgrade on a cruise.


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## PClapham (Sep 26, 2018)

Im trying to do this right now-put information on the HGVC cruise web site, and I can't find any place to put points or cash?  The person on the HGVC cruise line didn't appear to know anything about it except how to find a cruise- nothing about points etc.  We would also like to sell or give our week to a child the end of the year and we need to know if that works with a cruise in 2019 after ending ownership.
Any information appreciated...
Thanks
Anita


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## Shmiddy (Sep 26, 2018)

If you are on the hgvc.cruisesonly.com site you allocate your points at the end when the pricing is done and you are ready to check out. There is a sliding scale at the bottom where you select how many points you want to use. Sometmes you need to call the HGVC cruise desk to book but you can have everything selected from the site including your room - then just confirm over the phone, that's what we did.


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## PClapham (Sep 28, 2018)

I looked for the  final total but can't get it- it says to call Oceania and the cruises only guy varies on the amount of points and isnt allowed to tell us their real value.   Another problem-we have 6 k points with rci (moved from HGVC last year) and they insist that they have no cruise connections- shifts me to cruises only (HGVC) and the guy-Donnie- says he doesn't know anything about rci and can't use their points.  I think we are being pushed into using rci points on cheaper choices than cruises.  Does anyone have any advice?  I'm ready to leave this catch 22 of points!
thanks
Anita


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## hurnik (Oct 1, 2018)

PClapham said:


> I looked for the  final total but can't get it- it says to call Oceania and the cruises only guy varies on the amount of points and isnt allowed to tell us their real value.   Another problem-we have 6 k points with rci (moved from HGVC last year) and they insist that they have no cruise connections- shifts me to cruises only (HGVC) and the guy-Donnie- says he doesn't know anything about rci and can't use their points.  I think we are being pushed into using rci points on cheaper choices than cruises.  Does anyone have any advice?  I'm ready to leave this catch 22 of points!
> thanks
> Anita



Anita, what cruise are you looking for?  Be specific (just so I can see if I'm seeing the same thing).  Like:
Oceana BLAH BLAH, sailing on date such and such from port such and such for X days.

I've not see this on any of the cruises I've looked up, but I've stuck mainly to Carnival, MSC, Royal, and Disney.  Not saying it's not true (I've seen it before with some cruise lines even booking "Normally" that you have to call).

I did a very quick search and just grabbed the very first Oceana cruise that showed up and got this:

"
*Book Your Cruise - Call 800-364-3656*
Some cruise lines do not allow online bookings and in other instances a sailing date may be so soon that the cruise is not bookable online. Whatever the case, the experts at Hilton GVC Retail will get you the best vacation experience at the best price. Just give us a call at 800-364-3656 and we'll be happy to assist you."

Now, keeping in mind, I've only ever checked this out on Disney, Carnival, MSC, and Royal Caribbean, but the "points" were a static value.  It's entirely possible that Oceana may have contractual requirements that only allow for X discount.  When I checked:

It appears that *currently* the discount is a fixed $0.103/point discount. So, 5,000 points = $515 discount. 7,000 points is a $721.00 discount.


Now, for RCI, AFAIK, with the RCI account that Hilton has, there is no cruise option.  You'll have to use those RCI points for RCI weeks or "points" stays.

Your best use of your points is using Club stays, IMO.


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## rjp123 (Oct 1, 2018)

CalGalTraveler said:


> Much better than a 20:1 Hilton Honors conversion which would only get you 140,000 points which is about 2 nights in a Hampton



Why do people always choose the lowest possible value when looking at Honors points?

140,000 Honors points is worth about $1500 US$ at the Conrad Maldives. That is probably on-par with most peoples maintenance fees and is a very good use of points.


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## SmithOp (Oct 1, 2018)

rjp123 said:


> Why do people always choose the lowest possible value when looking at Honors points?
> 
> 140,000 Honors points is worth about $1500 US$ at the Conrad Maldives. That is probably on-par with most peoples maintenance fees and is a very good use of points.



It doesn’t matter what property you pick, cash is always cheaper than converted HGVC points.







Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro


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## PigsDad (Oct 1, 2018)

SmithOp said:


> It doesn’t matter what property you pick, cash is always cheaper than converted HGVC points.


Yeah, I'm not seeing where 140,000 Honors points is worth $1,500...

Kurt


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## dayooper (Oct 1, 2018)

rjp123 said:


> Why do people always choose the lowest possible value when looking at Honors points?
> 
> 140,000 Honors points is worth about $1500 US$ at the Conrad Maldives. That is probably on-par with most peoples maintenance fees and is a very good use of points.



If you are happy with that set up, than it's a great use of your points.

I, on the other hand, think it's a waste of points. I can take my 7000 points ($1011 + $170 club fee) and spread that out over multiple vacations or take a trip that would cost much more than what my $1011 MF's and $170 Club Dues would cost. Then again, some people think elite status is worth buying from a developer for. Maybe it is and I'm missing out on the fun.


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## hurnik (Oct 2, 2018)

rjp123 said:


> Why do people always choose the lowest possible value when looking at Honors points?
> 
> 140,000 Honors points is worth about $1500 US$ at the Conrad Maldives. That is probably on-par with most peoples maintenance fees and is a very good use of points.



The hhonors points valuation is between $0.004/point and $0.006/point according to Flyertalk, TPG and other sites.  The two times I've redeemed my points it's been at the $0.005/point (the average between the two).  Key West Casa Marina during "low season" and Embassy Suites Waikiki during "high season" (feb over Valentine's day)

So 140,000 HHonors points would value between: $560 and $840
IF you had a "low" cost 7k point HGVC, your MF may be very close to the "break even" of the $840 valuation. 

Granted, you won't be getting a 2 BR with kitchen for 1 week for 140,000 points either.  So for me, that's more important than the cost savings, unless I need a few extra points to "top off" and take advantage of the 5th night fee and all that jazz.

I won't say it's a horrible redemption, (again assuming max valuation) "break even" of a possible low MF.


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## PClapham (Oct 2, 2018)

hurnik said:


> Anita, what cruise are you looking for?  Be specific (just so I can see if I'm seeing the same thing).  Like:
> Oceana BLAH BLAH, sailing on date such and such from port such and such for X days.
> 
> I've not see this on any of the cruises I've looked up, but I've stuck mainly to Carnival, MSC, Royal, and Disney.  Not saying it's not true (I've seen it before with some cruise lines even booking "Normally" that you have to call).
> ...


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## PClapham (Oct 2, 2018)

We are interested in the Oceania cruise for July4, 2019 ldaving from Venice and returning to Athens, one of the few that still stops in Turkey., fits our calendar.   It is totally waitlisted, which appears to be part of the problem.  We had to contact Oceania to get that much info since the HGVC person said all sold out.  We could book a higher category than we want and were told that if anything lower comes available we can change.  The guy also said that he was not allowed to say the value per point so very glad to get that much information!  Thank you very much!.

Anita


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## hurnik (Oct 2, 2018)

PClapham said:


> We are interested in the Oceania cruise for July4, 2019 ldaving from Venice and returning to Athens, one of the few that still stops in Turkey., fits our calendar.   It is totally waitlisted, which appears to be part of the problem.  We had to contact Oceania to get that much info since the HGVC person said all sold out.  We could book a higher category than we want and were told that if anything lower comes available we can change.  The guy also said that he was not allowed to say the value per point so very glad to get that much information!  Thank you very much!.
> 
> Anita



Ah, I can see that's why they wanted you to call.  Although very odd that they couldn't tell you how much your points were "worth".  Although maybe the Cruises Only folks truly don't know and it's all within the "system"?

Glad it worked out (sorta).  Hopefully your desired category will become available.


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## 1Kflyerguy (Oct 2, 2018)

hurnik said:


> The hhonors points valuation is between $0.004/point and $0.006/point according to Flyertalk, TPG and other sites.  The two times I've redeemed my points it's been at the $0.005/point (the average between the two).  Key West Casa Marina during "low season" and Embassy Suites Waikiki during "high season" (feb over Valentine's day)
> 
> So 140,000 HHonors points would value between: $560 and $840
> IF you had a "low" cost 7k point HGVC, your MF may be very close to the "break even" of the $840 valuation.
> ...



I was was thinking about this thread, and sort changed my stance a bit.  In the end, the main point of a vacation is not really to get the maximum value, but instead i think the point is to have fun and do something you want to do.  So while i would not recommend that someone buy into HGVC or buy another deed just so they can get Honors points.  I think if you really want to go on a cruise or visit a hotel resort like the Maldives, and converting HGVC points helps make that possible then great.

Personally i has tons of honors points from business travel and my Amex card so i don't see myself converting, but i can see the attraction.


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## dayooper (Oct 2, 2018)

1Kflyerguy said:


> I was was thinking about this thread, and sort changed my stance a bit.  In the end, the main point of a vacation is not really to get the maximum value, but instead i think the point is to have fun and do something you want to do.  So while i would not recommend that someone buy into HGVC or buy another deed just so they can get Honors points.  I think if you really want to go on a cruise or visit a hotel resort like the Maldives, and converting HGVC points helps make that possible then great.
> 
> Personally i has tons of honors points from business travel and my Amex card so i don't see myself converting, but i can see the attraction.



I think this is spot on. If however you use your points makes you happy, that great. I am of the opinion that purchasing more HGVC points or using most of your points to convert ho HHonors is not a good use of your points. Just my opinion.


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## rjp123 (Oct 3, 2018)

SmithOp said:


> It doesn’t matter what property you pick, cash is always cheaper than converted HGVC points.



You're not taking into account 5th night free on points.



PigsDad said:


> Yeah, I'm not seeing where 140,000 Honors points is worth $1,500...



5 nights @ Conrad Maldives is 380,000 points.  You can buy the same for $3500-$4000 US$ cash money depending on the time of the year.

This makes 140,000 points worth $1300-$1500, which again is on-par with most people's maintenance fees (and probably more for those who are at low fee resorts in Vegas/Orlando).


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## dayooper (Oct 3, 2018)

rjp123 said:


> You're not taking into account 5th night free on points.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Do you get the 5th night free if it's partial points and the rest cash? Does the entire stay have to be on points? I don't know.


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## rjp123 (Oct 3, 2018)

dayooper said:


> Do you get the 5th night free if it's partial points and the rest cash? Does the entire stay have to be on points? I don't know.



The 5th-night free benefit is only valid on Standard Room Rewards, booked directly with Hilton for 5+ consecutive nights at the same property. The 5th night free doesn’t apply on paid stays, points and money rewards, premium rooms or upgrades.


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## 1Kflyerguy (Oct 3, 2018)

rjp123 said:


> You're not taking into account 5th night free on points.
> 
> 5 nights @ Conrad Maldives is 380,000 points.  You can buy the same for $3500-$4000 US$ cash money depending on the time of the year.
> 
> This makes 140,000 points worth $1300-$1500, which again is on-par with most people's maintenance fees (and probably more for those who are at low fee resorts in Vegas/Orlando).



Your absolutely correct with that.  I just did a sample booking for May 2019, and the points and dollars came in as you suggested.  I think your MF valuation works, though for many people its two years of points to get 380K Honors points. Thus trading 14 + nights at an HGVC resort, for 5 nights at the Conrad.  

That said, i do still read of many people on FB converting and using their points at the lower end properties.


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## tdietvorst (Oct 7, 2018)

In 2014 we took a Catamaran cruise through the Ionian Greek Islands with http://www.trade-winds.com/  I thought we used RCI but I am not sure. I don't know if such trips are still available. Here it is 2018 and we still talk about it. It is not necessarily something we will do again - I got a bit claustrophic in the cabin at night toward the end. It stands out as something we would not have done had the exchange not been available and I assume Trade-winds was in a building mode. Could we have gotten a better deal with cash? No doubt. We are about done with HGVC - and it pushed us out of the door to try things we would have otherwise not tried. How do you value that? My business school son reminds us constantly - when we let him - how foolish our investment in HGVC has been. And for us there has been a value there that we can't use a calculator to calculate.


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