Can RCI points be used for a Cruise?

[Firepath]

I know no one is cruising now, but can this be done? Have any of you done it?

 

[escanoe]

You will find people that have done it. You cannot do it at this time. RCI recently shut down being able to use points for hotel discounts .... looks like they don't want to be on the losing end of a lot of people trying to get out of their glut of points.

 

[tschwa2]

You will find people that have done it. You cannot do it at this time. RCI recently shut down being able to use points for hotel discounts .... looks like they don't want to be on the losing end of a lot of people trying to get out of their glut of points.

They actually shut down using points for a discount on cruises ( you could never pay for the whole cruise with RCI points) around October of last year. They advertised the change for months.
They discontinued all points partners for hotel, car or airfare as of January 1, 2020 with no notice. It had nothing to do with Covid they discontinued their relationship with ICE (International Cruise and resort exchange) who administrated the points toward other travel. I believe ICE still administers those types of exchanges for Interval international (hotel exchange and cruise exchange).

You can reserve your home week (during your home week priority) rent that out yourself and then use the cash toward a cruise through the vendor of your choice. It doesn't help with anything already deposited or if you are beyond your ability to reserve during home week priority (13-12 months in advance of check in)

 

[escanoe]

They discontinued all points partners for hotel, car or airfare as of January 1, 2020 with no notice. It had nothing to do with Covid they discontinued their relationship with ICE (International Cruise and resort exchange) who administrated the points toward other travel. I believe ICE still administers those types of exchanges for Interval international (hotel exchange and cruise exchange).

Actually earlier this year they brought back being able to use points to get a discount for hotels, but it went away with the most recent website update.

Here is a thread when people were discussing using points for hotel discounts as late as July. I shopped around, saw that I could, but didn't pull the trigger on anything.

 

[tschwa2]

Actually earlier this year they brought back being able to use points to get a discount for hotels, but it went away with the most recent website update.

Here is a thread when people were discussing using points for hotel discounts as late as July. I shopped around, saw that I could, but didn't pull the trigger on anything.

That is still there. Go to booking and then go to book with points and cash. Not the same as it used to be. Up until last year I could book a single night in a $350 hotel and use about 40,000 points plus a $25 points partner fee. Now If I want to book a $350 hotel I can use a max of 2000 points (up to 10,000 on a single booking of 5 + nights) and get $0-$40 of and still pay $310 for that hotel room. Yes in the past the $350 might not have been the least I could get it for but it usually was $290-$350 on other sites so I could really use the points toward the hotel. The 2000 points per night I can use now is closer to the monopoly money savings dollars for all of the hotels I've seen but maybe you can find some actual deals, it will still cost hour hundreds in cash vs the old $25 but you use fewer points.

 

[tschwa2]

Here is an example
Ocean city Comfort Inn Gold coast 2 adults cheapest room 9/11-9/13
with points plus cash the discounted rate is $109.32 per night which they say is a 23% discount. This would use 8000 points since it is for 2 nights. My total out of pocket would be $247.27 including taxes ( you could use the points partners in the past to pay taxes too so less out of pocket if you had enough points).

I can select the hotel with the hotels tab through rci and low and behold they have a $115.61 per night with my rci platinum discount (no points used) so the total for 2 nights is $261.50 I save a remarkable $14.23 using 4000 points

Through Booking.com and others it was $286 plus 6% tax but fee not due until check in.

Priceline through my interval international platinum account had a $99 rate that was $219 with taxes no points or timeshare used.

Why did I pick this hotel. It is a fairly average/crappy hotel on the bayside. It was the first chain hotel that came up on rci and I knew they would have availability over multiple platforms.

 

[tschwa2]

Also wanted to mention that with rci they show you a single night cost even if you were booking for multiple days. It isn't until you click through that they show you the total cost for the total stay so the person on the other thread who thought they were saving $3000 on a weeks stay may or may not have actually had that type of savings when actually booked.

 

[pedro47]

It is cheaper and better to book a cruise yourself direct with a cruise agent or an agencies that deal directly with a cruise line. Suggestion only, You can ask this same question on the Cruise Critics website. It is free to join and you can ask this question and ask any other concerns question, you have about cruising.
IMHO.

 

[Goldi]

I use cruisecompete.com You will get multiple quotes from several agencies.

 

[pedro47]

I use cruisecompete.com You will get multiple quotes from several agencies.

To the OP, this a good cruise agency to receive cruises quotes . IMHO.

 

[dioxide45]

ICE (International Cruise and resort exchange) who administrated the points toward other travel. I believe ICE still administers those types of exchanges for Interval international (hotel exchange and cruise exchange).

We have booked cruises through Interval International (not exchange for a cruise), and got the impression that those were always booked through Intervals Travel Agency. I can't think of the name right now. Are the cruise exchanges handled differently? I know that ICE works with a lot of the big hotel chains on cruise bookings when you use your hotel points to book a cruise.

 

[tschwa2]

We have booked cruises through Interval International (not exchange for a cruise), and got the impression that those were always booked through Intervals Travel Agency. I can't think of the name right now. Are the cruise exchanges handled differently? I know that ICE works with a lot of the big hotel chains on cruise bookings when you use your hotel points to book a cruise.

I am pretty sure that in 2015 the small print disclosure said that interval options for cruises went through ICE. I don't know that ICE was booking the cruise or just offering to straight monotanize the exchang. They so seem to do it all internally though their owned company WVT worldwide vacation and travel. I can't trace when that change took place but maybe 2016 or 2017.

 

[escanoe]

When you click the link "book with points and cash" does that work for you at this point. It is just pulling up a blank page when I try in chrome. I have cleared my cache and rebooted. The RCI website has seemed especially buggy the last couple of days.

That is still there. Go to booking and then go to book with points and cash. Not the same as it used to be. Up until last year I could book a single night in a $350 hotel and use about 40,000 points plus a $25 points partner fee. Now If I want to book a $350 hotel I can use a max of 2000 points (up to 10,000 on a single booking of 5 + nights) and get $0-$40 of and still pay $310 for that hotel room. Yes in the past the $350 might not have been the least I could get it for but it usually was $290-$350 on other sites so I could really use the points toward the hotel. The 2000 points per night I can use now is closer to the monopoly money savings dollars for all of the hotels I've seen but maybe you can find some actual deals, it will still cost hour hundreds in cash vs the old $25 but you use fewer points.

 

[tschwa2]

It was working for me using chrome. I will try again now.
Points plus cash
Virginia beach 9/18-9/19
Residence Inn Virginia Beach

Oceanfront
Room: Suite, 1 Bedroom, Non Smoking, Oceanfront 1 King Bed Free WiFi, Full Kitchen, Free breakfast, Free valet parking, Breakfast Buffet, Free self parking, Free High-Speed Internet. Rate for 2 people per room

Friday, September 18, 2020	283.35 USD247.14 USD

Total Savings	42.07 USD
Points Used	2000

Room Cost:	283.35 USD247.14 USD
Tax Recovery Charges and Service Fees:	39.97 USD
Total:	329.18 USD287.11 USD

Payment:
Due Now:	287.11 USD

 

[escanoe]

Thanks. Something is flubbed up in my account. I can access it from my RCI Weeks Account, but it just opens a blank page in my RCI Points account.

It was working for me using chrome. I will try again now.
Points plus cash
Virginia beach 9/18-9/19
Residence Inn Virginia Beach

 

[pedro47]

It was working for me using chrome. I will try again now.
Points plus cash
Virginia beach 9/18-9/19
Residence Inn Virginia Beach
View attachment 26447
Oceanfront
Room: Suite, 1 Bedroom, Non Smoking, Oceanfront 1 King Bed Free WiFi, Full Kitchen, Free breakfast, Free valet parking, Breakfast Buffet, Free self parking, Free High-Speed Internet. Rate for 2 people per room

Friday, September 18, 2020	283.35 USD247.14 USD

Total Savings	42.07 USD
Points Used	2000

Room Cost:	283.35 USD247.14 USD
Tax Recovery Charges and Service Fees:	39.97 USD
Total:	329.18 USD287.11 USD

Payment:
Due Now:	287.11 USD

The word is this is a very nice hotel and outstanding location and outstanding ocean front room views.