I Bought a Costco Vacation - Here's Why the Retailer Has Completely Changed ...

[dioxide45]

I wouldn't let the upgrade (upsell) fairly stop you from booking a cruise through a Travel Agent. Often you will get other perks or offers that the cruise line may not be offering directly. A bird in hand as they say... Just book the best rate for the cabin you will be happy to stay in. They can't call everyone to offer the upgrade to and their system for who they select is not known. It is also an upsell, rarely free.

 

[VacationForever]

When I've compared prices I've found II (interval) worth looking at when purchasing cruises.

I'm not saying they'll always have the lowest price, but I've seen very good prices with them, sometimes better than Costco.

Also, their customer service is pretty good. Their office hours are pretty decent, and they answer the phone rather quickly.

II will probably NOT cancel/refund/reschedule your travel reservations in teh event of a weather event though, unless you purchased their insurance. But that is standard across the travel industry.

Was this for an exchange or straight purchase through II? It was a pretty good/decent deal I got for a cruise exchange.

 

[sfwilshire]

How much did you drive in Hawaii??? At a $55 membership cost, and say you save 50 cents per gallon, you would have to buy 110 gallons of gas to break even! At a very conservative 20 MPG, that would mean driving 2200 miles. That's a lot of circles around the island. Even if you saved $1 per gallon, the math just doesn't make sense to me...

Kurt

If I remember correctly, and this has been several years, we saved about $1 a gallon on gas on the first trip to Hawaii. We were in Hawaii for three weeks, and also found groceries cheaper there than at other stores. The last trip, more recent, it was closer to 50 cents discount on gas.

I also noticed they had several stores in the UK when we were there, but was never close enough to one to shop there.

With my membership at home, gas runs from no savings at times to 30 - 40 cents cheaper per gallon. I pay for the more expensive membership (I think it is $110 a year), but so far I seem to be saving enough on rental cars and the few things I buy there to make it worth it, especially with the rebate check at the end of the year. Their new VISA credit card gives me 4 cents back on the dollar for gas and smaller amounts for other kinds of purchases.

Sheila