• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $21,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $21 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    60,000+ subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

HGVC Points for a Cruise?

jlm77

newbie
Joined
Jul 8, 2015
Messages
27
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
PA
I would like to know your opinions on exchanging points for a cruise. When we bought our first HGVC (yes from the developer back in 2005), I negotiated enough bonus points to get a cruise--so I never viewed it it terms of point value, but rather a free cruise.

Has anyone done the exchange? Is is worth it? Are some cruise lines better to do a trade with versus others.
 

Passepartout

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2007
Messages
28,462
Reaction score
17,213
Points
1,299
Location
Twin Falls, Eye-Duh-Hoe
There have been dozens of threads about just this. Bottom line, it is a math exercise. Is the discount worth more than the MF on the points, plus the cost of acquiring them, plus the exchange fee? Compare that number against the cash price available at a cruise discounter like vacationstogo or crucon. Also, remember that those discounts are not applicable to every cruise.

There may be exceptions, but usually timeshare points are best used for timeshare stays.

Jim
 

presley

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2011
Messages
6,313
Reaction score
1,121
Points
448
It can be worth it if you don't mind spending time comparison shopping. The good news is that they can take 3 years of points if you plan it out. If you choose a 2016 cruise, they will take your 2015, 2016 and 2017 points if you need that many.

I never booked a cruise that way, but there was one time that I almost did. It was Disney and it was the week the schedule came out. At that time, the cost was comparable to what I'd pay if I paid cash for the cruise. The price went up and up and up after that and wasn't worth it to me to book it later on.

You won't find a bargain, but if you don't plan on using the points for HGVC, it's better than not using the points at all. You factor in the cost of your MFs + whatever extra charges there are for booking. Then, look up same cruise on the cruise ship's website to see what you'd pay if you didn't use points. Many times the cruise ship's website will offer extra specials like free drinks or free gratuities. So, factor those in, also.
 

JSparling

TUG Review Crew
TUG Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2014
Messages
362
Reaction score
17
Points
128
Location
Castle Pines, CO
It is a math exercise.

Ultimately true. But as we've seen with other ways to spend points, bonus points especially, the best way to spend your points as far as "bang for your buck" is with traditional stays booked through RCI or HGVC. You can pay your MF's with bonus points but that's a total waste of money if you compare the value those points could have returned if you used them to stay for a week in Hawaii.

I'd love to do one of the cruises. Especially a river cruise! But it will be tough to pull the trigger one day because I know I'll be giving away value.
 

janckenn

TUG Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2010
Messages
101
Reaction score
4
Points
229
Location
Atlanta
Resorts Owned
HGVC Grand Waikikian x1
HGVC West 57th Street x2,
HGVC Flamingo x2,
HC The District x1
HGVC member since 2007
I have done the HGVC member cruises several times. I use a minimal amount of points (500 points) and then pay cash for the rest. I am very excited about the European river cruise in 2016.
500 points translates into $50 towards your cruise price. Similar conversion rate for bonus points into maintenance fees.
Because the conversion is so low, I use my HGVC points at HGVC resorts primarily or for a great exchange in RCI.
 

venom550pm

Guest
Joined
Aug 5, 2015
Messages
16
Reaction score
0
Points
61
Location
New Hampshire
I've only used points for a cruise once and it was in 2006. We had extra points we were going to lose if we didn't use them so we applied them to our cruise after it was booked. It took some money off the cruise but we believe it isn't worth it in general, but it was better than losing the points.
 
Last edited:

Jason245

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Messages
1,920
Reaction score
171
Points
173
I would like to know your opinions on exchanging points for a cruise. When we bought our first HGVC (yes from the developer back in 2005), I negotiated enough bonus points to get a cruise--so I never viewed it it terms of point value, but rather a free cruise.

Has anyone done the exchange? Is is worth it? Are some cruise lines better to do a trade with versus others.

Your best value for points is stays at HGVC, everything else is generally not the best use of your points and MF dollars. If you can't use it, it might even be better to rent your ownership (value per MF dollar) That being said, sometimes people find value in variaty and lack of hassel.
 

hurnik

TUG Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
1,942
Reaction score
668
Points
473
Location
Albany, NY
So out of curiosity, I went to the website and made a fake booking for the Jan 2016 Celebrity Southern Caribbean Cruise (balcony).

The website (remarkably similar to OVS - our vacation store--which SFX and ICE/Registry Vacations use) came with a total price of about $3,888.00

I then said:
use 5,000 HGVC points. My point cost I estimate to be approx. $0.165/point.

The website came in around $3,000 after the points, so about $890 for the "value" of my 5,000 points.

By my $0.165/point, that is fairly close ($825 vs $890)

So I guess in that case, it's not a "bad" use of points??

Or at least evens out (maybe a little more since I'm not paying the $60 online reservation fee for Hilton?)
 

Jason245

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Messages
1,920
Reaction score
171
Points
173
So out of curiosity, I went to the website and made a fake booking for the Jan 2016 Celebrity Southern Caribbean Cruise (balcony).

The website (remarkably similar to OVS - our vacation store--which SFX and ICE/Registry Vacations use) came with a total price of about $3,888.00

I then said:
use 5,000 HGVC points. My point cost I estimate to be approx. $0.165/point.

The website came in around $3,000 after the points, so about $890 for the "value" of my 5,000 points.

By my $0.165/point, that is fairly close ($825 vs $890)

So I guess in that case, it's not a "bad" use of points??

Or at least evens out (maybe a little more since I'm not paying the $60 online reservation fee for Hilton?)


How much would the reservation cost via alternative means? sometimes other travel agents can get you a better deal than the price of that one.

Any time that you are getting less value then you are paying is a losing proposition.
 

hurnik

TUG Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
1,942
Reaction score
668
Points
473
Location
Albany, NY
How much would the reservation cost via alternative means? sometimes other travel agents can get you a better deal than the price of that one.

Any time that you are getting less value then you are paying is a losing proposition.

My mistake, it was the Sky Suite, for the Jan 9, 2016 Celebrity Summit sailing (S2 level).

Most of the websites I've seen have it for approx. the same list price: $1849/person plus taxes/etc.

I don't know if this is typical or the same for other cruises, I Just picked one at random.
 
Top