Marriott Points for Cruise

[Darlene]

We have used points before for a cruise. The Marriott rewards program has now changed, and you can trade points for a cruise certificate to be redeemed by a travel company on any cruise line. Anyone had any experience with this new program? Any comments or observations would be appreciated.
Darlene

 

[Penny S]

Hi--

We just returned last week from a cruise we booked using our Marriott points. We had previously used points to cruise on Holland America and we had booked directly with the cruiseline.

The travel agent at the agency was wonderful to work with, and she handled everything including requesting our rewards certificate. I had done research myself before I called, so I knew what I wanted.

I am already looking to use points for a cruise next year.

Penny

 

[Dave M]

It's disappointing that Marriott has discontinued offering completely free cruises for X number of points. Although not as good a deal as the air-hotel Travel Packages, those Rewards, especially the Alaska cruise on Holland America, provided decent value.

The new program, a cruise certificate worth $250, $500 or $1,000, equates to a maximum per-point value of only about 7/10 of a cent, depending on which certificate one gets. That's a horrible deal!

 

[mariawolf]

We used this new method to do a 11 day Mediterranean cruise--we used 450,000 points and had to pay about $1k--mainly due to port charges/insurance. The good thing was you weren't limited to a few cruises but could use the points/cash equivalent for any cruise the travel company had.
It worked well for us.
I want to say each 150,000 points was equal to a thousand dollars--that may not be absolutely the figure but it is what I recall.
That being said we decided cruising was our thing although we now we could not have done all the ports we did if we hadn't been cruising.
We went on the Celebrity Century and had an outside cabin.

 

[Darlene]

We used points in 2004 to book a cruise, and for our airfare. We did a Carnival Cruise to the Carribbean for all 5 in our family. Since the kids were younger then, we were able to all stay in one cabin that we paid to upgrade to a room with a balcony. I thought it to be a great bargain. When I saw how the program has changed, well it looks like horrible deal now. I am also concerned about there policies if you have to cancel. It looks like you loose not only your money, but the points.
Darlene