Just did - 7500 points saved me about $1000 on an Alaska cruise.
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 muchJust 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.
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
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.
Yeah, I'm not seeing where 140,000 Honors points is worth $1,500...It doesn’t matter what property you pick, cash is always cheaper than converted HGVC points.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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...