HGVC Points for Cruise - review and actual cost

[Cricket072007]

I just went through a very painstaking process to book a cruise through HGVC. There is no doubt using points for a cruise is a
poor use of points in all scenarios. In my case I have points that I was very likely not to use and the MF were already paid. I
considered Hilton Honors but really didn't need the points. Fully understanding HGVC's rental policy I made the decision to "burn"
52000 points for 2 short cruises. This is what I found in the process:

1)this is not a process you can complete online - The numbers you see on the HGVC website for cruise costs are not accurate. In all cases there is a $159 booking fee that is not referenced anywhere on the website and in many cases the number of points needed is not calculated properly either.

2)The cruise department that handles these requests is extremely inefficient and it took more than 10 calls and getting Elite supervisors involved just so I could
use the points I had available for the cruise. I lost the type of cabin I wanted 3 times and ultimately spent more points than I wanted due to their inability to facilitate
what should have been a simple booking

3)Overall value is extremely poor but made sense for me in this one specific instance. I used these points to gain Elite status with Princess cruises by booking 2 short(2 day and 3 day) cruises
in a full suite on a double loyalty credit promo they currently have. In my case there special promo is giving my their top level of loyalty status for life in return for my use of these points.

In my case the return on the points was as follows:

58k points used - $108 in taxes I could not pay with points - $318 in reservation fees that were required. At standard Princess Cruise website pricing these 2 cruises should have cost ~$4200.
Last year my MF cost was ~.08 per point (Scotland). Adding the $426 I paid in fees it cost me ~$5000 to make a $4200 reservation but I used points I didn't have a direct need for. I am getting an elite Loyalty benefit that will provide me years of benefits long term on a cruise line we use regularly. This is the positive outlook on these costs. In a more realistic view of how much it cost me to make this reservation through HGVC I could have secured at minimum $600 in OBC for making these reservations with my preferred travel agent on top of negotiated group pricing that was $500 less as well. Mind you this would have been an out of pocket cash cost that I would not have done.

For me if you just look at standard pricing I got about 84% of my MF back to use towards a cruise. If you looked at it with other resort points with a higher MF and the cost concessions I did not get for using HGVC instead of a discount travel agent this return could easily be closer to 50% return on your actual MF $.

I posted this as everyone hears that HGVC options like RV, cruises.... are poor uses for your points . I thought I would just share that this is a very accurate statement and provide an example of what this return really looks like.

BUT - sometimes circumstances dictate you need to use points differently and in this case I am very happy with the return I got.

Very informative information. Thank you for putting it together. If you need to unload points it's a good way to go, otherwise, no dice as only the corporate entity (in my case Marriott) makes out, not you the customer.

 

[tdietvorst]

We did once use points for a catamaran trip around Greek Islands. Financially it didn't make sense. Experientially we still talk about it some 20 years later. I don't know why we wouldn't have booked it directly. It, like some of our RCI exchanges, may not have made sense financially but turned out priceless in other ways.

 

[rc51]

Coylumbridge - former HGVC affiliate resort that now has an uncertain future for HGVC use long term.

Oh, that's funny. I stayed there a couple weeks ago!

 

[90_Min_Sales_Pitch]

The real benefit here is the promo doubles standard credits and work like this:

double occupancy equals 1 credit per guest.
single occupancy equals 2 credits for 1cguest
single occupancy with full suite equals 3 credits

i booked 2 full suites - (2 day and 3 day) for just me with the required princess plus
each of these cruise will give me 6 credits and raise me from Ruby to Elite

In all Honesty the smarter way for me to have done this would have been to book 2 inside cabins solo
collected 8 credits and just forced the additional 4 credits we needed prior to our Europe trip in to our travel plans for 25/26. This was doable but killed our flexibility . This would have only cost about $1100 Cash or 19k points and $400 in reservation fees.

This is not a strategy for most as it will require points, solo travel without my wife , burning some frequent flyer miles and a couple of long weekends where I will be working from the cruise for part of both. WeHave all heard of mileage runs - well apparently cruise credit runs are now a thing also . I know of several people doing this under the current promo.

People have been doing this for years on Princess. It has to be one of the only cruise lines that rewards loyalty by number of cruises rather than days at sea. Some view this method as "cheating", when they've earned elite status the hard way, as opposed to others who sail between Seattle and Vancouver multiple times, upgrading to a suite and/or sailing solo. Princess knows people are doing it, and it is priced into these fares, so why not? I wasn't aware that there were promotional periods to utilize this option.

I probably would have gone for a longer cruise paired with a shorter one, and sailed in a cheaper cabin, trading a longer cruise vacation in exchange for quicker elite status. Either way, it doesn't seem like an awful redemption when you had no use for the HGVC points anyways.

Maybe we'll try one of these short cruises sometime paired with the shoulder season, and give Princess a try!

 

[SmithOp]

Nor Cal here so I understand the west coast cruising limitations


there are 1-2 Vancouver to LA options 4-5 day in September / October that would qualify that are cheap. If you could casino book those could be nice options Also for a 2point package or 4 point package solo. I have been studying the casino game and am tempted to to try and chase the offers but we book so far out that the 6 month window kills my use for it. we have several friends that do it and are just rolling cruise to cruise off of their gambling. So far they are coming out ahead vs paying cash but they have a large time commitment in the casino that we typically would not want to do.the discount junkie in me though loves the idea

I just confirmed with my Princess cruise rep that my November cruise qualifies for the double up promotion, woohoo.

We just took the 5 day repositioning from LA to Vancouver in May, spent a few nights at the Embarc for Mother's day, it was a nice time to visit. I ran up about 2000 player points in the casino and they gave me a free balcony cruise certificate that I'm using in November. I just had to pay for the Plus add on. The Vancouver cruise was all sea days, so it wasn't that big of a time commitment in the casino. My wife gambles lower amounts, she ran up about 1000 points and her offer was an inside cabin. They also throw in casino credit, so that gives me a bankroll to start with, but won't get player points on the credit.

We are definitely slot junkies, we are off today for a 2 night stay to play a slot tournament. We are so close to the LA port we tend to book within the 6 month limit, so it works for us. The local native American gaming venues all give out cruise certificates at least twice a year. We are enjoying that more than long range timeshare stays as we get older.

 

[MattnTricia]

People have been doing this for years on Princess. It has to be one of the only cruise lines that rewards loyalty by number of cruises rather than days at sea. Some view this method as "cheating", when they've earned elite status the hard way, as opposed to others who sail between Seattle and Vancouver multiple times, upgrading to a suite and/or sailing solo. Princess knows people are doing it, and it is priced into these fares, so why not? I wasn't aware that there were promotional periods to utilize this option.

I probably would have gone for a longer cruise paired with a shorter one, and sailed in a cheaper cabin, trading a longer cruise vacation in exchange for quicker elite status. Either way, it doesn't seem like an awful redemption when you had no use for the HGVC points anyways.

Maybe we'll try one of these short cruises sometime paired with the shoulder season, and give Princess a try!

This will likely be the only 2 short cruises I ever take barring us tacking one on to something longer down the road. . As I mentioned this is strictly a "Cruise Credit" run and not anything else.

 

[dandjane1]

Totally agree with the OP.
Did a Panama Canal cruise using Wyndham points, and more recently a W. Europe cruise with DRI. Each time I got about 50% of my MFs equivalent.
The only worse use of points is for MFs.