HGVC Cruising Again

[pianodinosaur]

We will be leaving out of Galveston this weekend on Mariner of the Seas. This will be our 4th cruise together paid with HGVC points. We will rejoined by family and friends for my 59th birthday party at sea. We will also be joining a Royal Caribbean Cruise Critics Mix & Mingle as well. We will spend the night prior to the cruise at The Hilton Galveston Island Resort. Hilton allows cruisers to park their vehicles at the hotel and has a complimentary shuttle to the port of embarkation.

I know cruising is not the most economical use of HGVC points, but we like the variety. I am bring our personal TUG Banner with us. I wonder how many of the Cruise Critics are also Tuggers.

 

[hurnik]

I'm on cruise critic as well. But I've used my HGVC to exchange into SFX via their diamond rewards for cruising. Not sure if it's a better deal or not (I have to run the numbers).

 

[weaselwatchr]

We are also Cruise Critic members and like the freedom to use HGVC points for our cruises. Hope you have a wonderful cruise and Happy Birthday!

 

[chriskre]

So how exactly does this cruise option work for us?
I'm seeing for example that a 3 night on the Disney cruise for Jan 2013 is 4500 points. Is that 4500 for the whole cabin or per person.
What is the exchange fees or are there any?

That doesn't seem like a bad deal if it's 4500 for the whole cabin.

 

[kckreardon]

Disney Cruise with HGVC points

We used our points for a Disney Cruise last year. We ended up calling the cruise partner to work the details. It was a ton of points to be honest but it allowed us to take our kids on a cruise we would never have paid the total cost for out of pocket at this point.

I would guess given our points cost that the 4,500 you see is a per person not per cabin rate.

So, not the most economical use of points in our opinion but it did work well and we loved the cruise.

 

[Janann]

You can use a mix of points and cash if needed. We used HGVC points to pay for part of a Disney cruise, and I was careful to set aside enough HGVC points so that we could take a regular vacation the next year.

 

[Adrienne]

What's the point of all these point$? Bargain? No bargain? Who cares?? Have a great time!

 

[yumdrey]

Have fun!
And don't forget to post pics after your cruise!!

 

[dougp26364]

I hope you have a wonderful time on your cruise. We've used our HGVC points twice for cruises. As you said, it's not the most economical usage for timeshares but, HGVC does offer better value than most and like you, we enjoy a little variety.

FWIW we also are cruise critic members but, since we haven't been cruising for a while, I haven't been on the cruise critic site. It's likely to be another couple of years before we cruise again due to medical issues.

 

[pianodinosaur]

Just got back from the cruise yesterday. We had a pretty good time. Mariner of the Seas is a beautiful ship. The tours were very nice as well. I will try to get some photos and movies upon snapfish in the near future.

 

[pianodinosaur]

I have uploaded photos and videos on snapfish that document much of our trip. There are very few photos of me. You may check them out at this link:

http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/t...otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

 

[Remy]

If you're looking for the math, CruisesOnly through HGVC is giving you 10 cents per HGVC point.

If you're paying $700 in MF for 7,000 points, then you're breaking even on using 7,000 points for a cruise. If you're paying $1000 in MF for 4,800 points and use all those points toward a cruise, then you're paying twice as much for the cruise as folks paying cash. Taking into account the fees for forwarding points into another year adds even more math to the equation. In summary, I, Captain Buzzkill, proclaim cruises a generally bad redemption of HGVC points.

But onto more fun topics, me and my significant other did the Sea Trek dive certification last week on Liberty of The Seas on our way down to Belize from Port Everglades. We're now certified through PADI for diving to 12 meters and have begun the search for an underwater camera/case. If you live inland, dive certification can be significantly more expensive than it is on the cruise ship and they do the whole thing very efficiently with no hidden costs. All you bring/buy is the snorkel and mask. Everything else is provided including two dives. I highly recommend it if you're into seeing the underwater sights.