- Joined
- Jul 19, 2007
- Messages
- 7,128
- Reaction score
- 1,886
- Location
- Carlsbad, CA
- Resorts Owned
- Marriott: Maui Ocean Club Lahaina Villas (3BRx5), Ko Olina, Shadow Ridge II, Willow Ridge, Aruba Ocean Club, DC Points HGVC: Flamingo, Sea World, I-Drive, Starwood Bella (x4), SDO, TradeWinds, Worldmark
Good afternoon TUGgers,
I know we have some Tradewinds Club Members here (@Sandy VDH , @klpca , @SciTchr , @RNCollins , to name a few) and I was hoping the information below could be clarified/corrected. I am not actively looking for more timeshares, but I love boats and I am interested in Tradewinds and hope to do an RCI trade into Tradewinds BVI or Bahamas in 2022. Can I ask our TUGgers to review the below? Note: I have now learned that Tradewinds Cruise Club is an older club, and what is currently being sold is called Tradewinds Experiences -- but I believe the rules below are the same. Thank you!
It is my understanding that someone joining TradeWinds will purchase PlusPoints, which are single use points with a fixed life (often 12-years, can be shorter). I saw a post where a TUGger was initially offered 1.2M points for $22K and 4.8M points for $67K. They ultimately purchased 600,000 points for $13.5K when an additional 100,000 points were added as an incentive (so 700K points for $13.5K)
Annually, the Club Member pays a fee to "unlock" some of their points (based on the length of the contract) and it is currently $815 to unlock 100K points. So a 1.2M contract with a 12 year life unlocks 100,000 points annually -- and the member pays $815. They can make reservations based upon the number of points that they have unlocked. If they want to make a reservation which will consume more points then they have already unlocked, then they pay the additional fee to unlock the needed points and can reserve accordingly.
Once unlocked, the points can be utilized to reserve based upon the category of boat and the season of travel, as follows:
Class High Middle Low
Flagship 200,000 150,000 100,000
Luxury 125,000 100,000 75,000 (see note immediately below on Luxury class)
Cruising 100,000 75,000 50,000
Note: per Sandy's note below, this Luxury point requirement is for the Luxury 59' boat and there is a Luxury 60' boat with a 25K higher point requirement. The Cruising category is for a 52' catamaran (there a couple of 50 footers that are being phased out), and the Flagship is a 70'+ boat. Sandy also has the seasons, which are January - April (High), May - July (Mid), Aug-Oct (Low), Nov-Dec (mid) except for the holidays, which are High.
I also understand there is some benefit for last minute travel, but not sure how that works.
There is an All-Inclusive Fee of [$1,075?] per person which covers all food and the booze that is on the boat. Note that when booking through RCI, the AI fee is higher, I believe it is $1,295 per person and RCI has a 1-in-4 restriction for Tradewinds reservations (covering all the different locations, not 1:4 for each location). There appears to be some discrepancy on how strictly Tradewinds is enforcing the 1-in-4 right now.
Locations (per their website at www.trade-winds.com):
Best,
Greg
Edited: Tried to clean up my post based upon initial feedback below -- thanks!
I know we have some Tradewinds Club Members here (@Sandy VDH , @klpca , @SciTchr , @RNCollins , to name a few) and I was hoping the information below could be clarified/corrected. I am not actively looking for more timeshares, but I love boats and I am interested in Tradewinds and hope to do an RCI trade into Tradewinds BVI or Bahamas in 2022. Can I ask our TUGgers to review the below? Note: I have now learned that Tradewinds Cruise Club is an older club, and what is currently being sold is called Tradewinds Experiences -- but I believe the rules below are the same. Thank you!
It is my understanding that someone joining TradeWinds will purchase PlusPoints, which are single use points with a fixed life (often 12-years, can be shorter). I saw a post where a TUGger was initially offered 1.2M points for $22K and 4.8M points for $67K. They ultimately purchased 600,000 points for $13.5K when an additional 100,000 points were added as an incentive (so 700K points for $13.5K)
Annually, the Club Member pays a fee to "unlock" some of their points (based on the length of the contract) and it is currently $815 to unlock 100K points. So a 1.2M contract with a 12 year life unlocks 100,000 points annually -- and the member pays $815. They can make reservations based upon the number of points that they have unlocked. If they want to make a reservation which will consume more points then they have already unlocked, then they pay the additional fee to unlock the needed points and can reserve accordingly.
Once unlocked, the points can be utilized to reserve based upon the category of boat and the season of travel, as follows:
Class High Middle Low
Flagship 200,000 150,000 100,000
Luxury 125,000 100,000 75,000 (see note immediately below on Luxury class)
Cruising 100,000 75,000 50,000
Note: per Sandy's note below, this Luxury point requirement is for the Luxury 59' boat and there is a Luxury 60' boat with a 25K higher point requirement. The Cruising category is for a 52' catamaran (there a couple of 50 footers that are being phased out), and the Flagship is a 70'+ boat. Sandy also has the seasons, which are January - April (High), May - July (Mid), Aug-Oct (Low), Nov-Dec (mid) except for the holidays, which are High.
I also understand there is some benefit for last minute travel, but not sure how that works.
There is an All-Inclusive Fee of [$1,075?] per person which covers all food and the booze that is on the boat. Note that when booking through RCI, the AI fee is higher, I believe it is $1,295 per person and RCI has a 1-in-4 restriction for Tradewinds reservations (covering all the different locations, not 1:4 for each location). There appears to be some discrepancy on how strictly Tradewinds is enforcing the 1-in-4 right now.
Locations (per their website at www.trade-winds.com):
- Abacos
- Antigua
- Belize
- British Virgin Islands
- Croatia
- Exumas
- Fiji
- French Polynesia
- Greece
- Grenada
- Guadeloupe
- Martinique
- Panama
- St. Martin
- Tonga
- St. Vincent & The Grenadines
Best,
Greg
Edited: Tried to clean up my post based upon initial feedback below -- thanks!
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