II Exchange for Cruise:o

[travelbuff]

We have an abundance of II banked that we want to use this year. My husband in the worst way wants to go on a cruise. I know, I know it doesn't look like a good idea to use an exchange , can anyone give me an example where it worked well for them? Thanks

 

[MommaBear]

I have done this twice now and found that I saved just a little more than my maintenance fees. It was worth it to me to do this because I couldn't use the week I had banked in any other way and I wasn't willing to reserve, then attempt to rent my week then turn around and then spend that rental money on the cruise.I traded a one BR SDO for a two week 14 day cruise on Royal Caribbean and a one BR SVR for a 4 day cruise on Celebrity.

The web interface to look at different cruises is clunky. What I did to get the best value was to first go on a discount cruise site, pick out 4 or 5 possible cruises and their best price, then go into II to see what those cruises would cost with using my week. I found that I got no more money off the cruise using a 2 bedroom than I did using a one bedroom trade.

You will hear from others that you can get just as good a price using a discounter than using II and your week. That is certainly true with certain cruise lines and itineraries. I was also be surprised how much money I still had to pay towards the cruise, but justified it because I did not have to pay for food or entertainment.

 

[Passepartout]

Someone wrote in another thread that II has some cash discounts (no exchange required) that beat the cruise discounters. You can test this by selecting a cruise from somewhere like www.vacationstogo.com then calling II and asking what their price is on the same cruise/cabin category cash vs exchange.

I have no II experience, but have done the above test using RCI, and found that unless one is booking multiple cabins (RCI allows 4 discounted ones on one booking), one is just about throwing away the cost of their TS MF. In other words the cruise costs nearly the same in cash as it does using your exchange too.

Your husband is probably right. He wants to take a cruise in the worst way.

Jim

 

[maggiesmom]

Looking at same cruise with Disney & II

On my computer(tower)I was looking at the Disneycruise.com vs II on my laptop ,for same dates,cabin,category.


7-Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Disney's Fantasy
2 Adults only.
Sept 21,2013
Ship: Fantasy

Disney's:
Cabin 9010 / Deck 9 /Cat 08B
Deluxe FamilyOceanview -1 Large Porthole window with Seating/Sleeps 3-5

$2,911.20 with ALL taxes and gov fee,transferrers & insurance

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
II's :
Cabin 9510 (right across from 9010) / Deck 9 /Cat 08B
Deluxe FamilyOceanview -1 Large Porthole window with Seating/Sleeps 3-5

$2,745.40 taxes- did not state: gov fees??/transferrers??/no Insurance- 2 people runs additional $167.96.Not sure if the fees come on after you put in your cc info.
_________________________________________________________________
I did not try an exchange, because I was not sure if I could to a dumbie test. But I would have like to see what kind of $$ discount II would have given me for an Exchange. Anyone know what a 1bd SDO exhange discount be??

maggiesmom

 

[travelbuff]

Cruise

Thank you, that makes sense, maybe not money sense but happiness sense!

I have done this twice now and found that I saved just a little more than my maintenance fees. It was worth it to me to do this because I couldn't use the week I had banked in any other way and I wasn't willing to reserve, then attempt to rent my week then turn around and then spend that rental money on the cruise.I traded a one BR SDO for a two week 14 day cruise on Royal Caribbean and a one BR SVR for a 4 day cruise on Celebrity.

The web interface to look at different cruises is clunky. What I did to get the best value was to first go on a discount cruise site, pick out 4 or 5 possible cruises and their best price, then go into II to see what those cruises would cost with using my week. I found that I got no more money off the cruise using a 2 bedroom than I did using a one bedroom trade.

You will hear from others that you can get just as good a price using a discounter than using II and your week. That is certainly true with certain cruise lines and itineraries. I was also be surprised how much money I still had to pay towards the cruise, but justified it because I did not have to pay for food or entertainment.

 

[krj9999]

You can check prices in II for cruise exchange even if not Gold member (which you need to be to book). I'm showing same cabin (9510) is $1855.21 including taxes, but you would have to add the exchange fee yet.

So the net delta vs. checking on II under the Travel tab is ~750 (with my 1BR SDO plat week).

On my computer(tower)I was looking at the Disneycruise.com vs II on my laptop ,for same dates,cabin,category.


7-Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Disney's Fantasy
2 Adults only.
Sept 21,2013
Ship: Fantasy

Disney's:
Cabin 9010 / Deck 9 /Cat 08B
Deluxe FamilyOceanview -1 Large Porthole window with Seating/Sleeps 3-5

$2,911.20 with ALL taxes and gov fee,transferrers & insurance

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
II's :
Cabin 9510 (right across from 9010) / Deck 9 /Cat 08B
Deluxe FamilyOceanview -1 Large Porthole window with Seating/Sleeps 3-5

$2,745.40 taxes- did not state: gov fees??/transferrers??/no Insurance- 2 people runs additional $167.96.Not sure if the fees come on after you put in your cc info.
_________________________________________________________________
I did not try an exchange, because I was not sure if I could to a dumbie test. But I would have like to see what kind of $$ discount II would have given me for an Exchange. Anyone know what a 1bd SDO exhange discount be??

maggiesmom

 

[Beefnot]

You can check prices in II for cruise exchange even if not Gold member (which you need to be to book). I'm showing same cabin (9510) is $1855.21 including taxes, but you would have to add the exchange fee yet.

So the net delta vs. checking on II under the Travel tab is ~750 (with my 1BR SDO plat week).

Is the price the same no matter if you use 2br instead of 1br? Can one use multiple units to further whittle down the price? Looks like if one has a cheap MF unit, then exchanging for a cruise could make sense.

 

[wvacations]

I booked an Alaskian cruise on NCL for this June using a 1BR from dsv II white week. Compared to all the discount sites,II exchange price came out $780 lower. Had I used the whole 2br the discount was only $850. Studio only resulted in a $450 discount.

So I used the 1br and kept my studio which subsequently was traded for a 2br Marriott Ko Olina in the summer! The kicker at the end of the process is they kick in an international exchange fee. Since I did it all online, that fee was $159. After paying the exchange fee I saved about $600 by giving up the 1br. Total MF were $1024so I got about 60% of the 2br MF but kept the other half of my unit.

To me it was a good trade. Basically a wash on MF, but my vacation budget is heavy with MF on 5 Marriotts, so I need to get some of the fees back for other types of trips.

 

[maggiesmom]

exchange for a cruise

You can check prices in II for cruise exchange even if not Gold member (which you need to be to book). I'm showing same cabin (9510) is $1855.21 including taxes, but you would have to add the exchange fee yet.

So the net delta vs. checking on II under the Travel tab is ~750 (with my 1BR SDO plat week).

Please explain what net delta is - and I own a EOY 1BR SDO(not plat). So I still don't know what the discount would be. Let me know TIA

maggiesmom

 

[Beefnot]

Net delta just means net difference, the difference after accounting for all costs.