II Exchange for Cruise?????

[mdurette Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mdurette]

I gave my parents on of my AC's to use for their 40th anniversary next year along with the II resort book and told them to pick a few areas of interest. Well of course they come back with Alaska. I'm new to this - but I can already see an ongoing request for the only TS in Alaska even a year out is a VERY BIG LONG SHOT!

So - that got me thinking to cruisess. I called II and yes, I can trade a unit for a cruise (well actually a cruise credit). Anywhere from $200 to $800 depending on what I give them.

Already this doesn't seem like any great bargain - $200 why bother! Anyway, anyone else have any insight - do you see any value in this?

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

''Cruise exchanges'' are almost always of poor value. Often the cash portion, in addition to surrendering a timeshare week, is more than the total cash cost through a cruise discounter.

There is a list of cruise discounters with clickable links on the Links Directory of TS4MS, which is under ''Website Navigation'' at the top left.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

I gave my parents on of my AC's to use for their 40th anniversary next year along with the II resort book and told them to pick a few areas of interest. Well of course they come back with Alaska. I'm new to this - but I can already see an ongoing request for the only TS in Alaska even a year out is a VERY BIG LONG SHOT!

So - that got me thinking to cruisess. I called II and yes, I can trade a unit for a cruise (well actually a cruise credit). Anywhere from $200 to $800 depending on what I give them.

Already this doesn't seem like any great bargain - $200 why bother! Anyway, anyone else have any insight - do you see any value in this?

Did they tell you they'll also charge you the international exchange fee? Even at $800, why bother?

Most of the time you'll be lucky if the discount is close to your MF's and then you have to pay to be a Gold member (appears you're already a gold member) and have to pay the exchange fee.

One more thing, that one timeshare in AK was having financial trouble a year or two ago. I'd make sure it's still open before putting in any exchange request. I think it's time to educate the parents on the realities of timeshares. Just because you see it doesn't mean you can get it. Pick a variety of places of interest and hope for the best.

[mdurette Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mdurette]

Did they tell you they'll also charge you the international exchange fee? Even at $800, why bother?

Most of the time you'll be lucky if the discount is close to your MF's and then you have to pay to be a Gold member (appears you're already a gold member) and have to pay the exchange fee.

One more thing, that one timeshare in AK was having financial trouble a year or two ago. I'd make sure it's still open before putting in any exchange request. I think it's time to educate the parents on the realities of timeshares. Just because you see it doesn't mean you can get it. Pick a variety of places of interest and hope for the best.

Yes, I did give them some insight and had them make some other wanted choices. The picked Jackson Hole, Yellowstone and Naples FL. I put the request in for Island Park for Yellowstone, not sure for Jackson Hole and I think the FL should be an easy one.

Thanks for the insight on the cruises - basically it was what I thought.

[idofabric Member Find all posts View Profile Close idofabric]

I called II to ask about cruises a few days ago. I was told that for 30000 points I would get a credit of "about" $1000! I am thinking that this is not the best use of points... inless I had that many points sitting around that would get lost for some reason! I declined the chance to try and book a cruise with them. And I will check the links given in this thread.

[jericap Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close jericap]

An RCI rep called me the other day and offered a cruise and 1 week vacation for 2495.00 and you have 2 years to use it. No trade in necessary. The cruises companies they use are all the majors and the week vacation could vary from a studio to a 2 bd. This was not per person, but for the week. The only thing you had to pay additionally was for the port charges. Taxes were included.
I didn't get into it much with them as I wasn't interested, but I should have asked what type of resorts they were using.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

An RCI rep called me the other day and offered a cruise and 1 week vacation for 2495.00 and you have 2 years to use it. No trade in necessary. The cruises companies they use are all the majors and the week vacation could vary from a studio to a 2 bd. This was not per person, but for the week. The only thing you had to pay additionally was for the port charges. Taxes were included.
I didn't get into it much with them as I wasn't interested, but I should have asked what type of resorts they were using.

Sounds like you'd be paying full price for the cruise, depending on the cabin type, time of year and destination and then they throw in a week they couldn't rent otherwise (does RCI still do exchanges?) for a nominal fee.

I bet if you really looked into it, it wouldn't be worth the effort or the money. No real discount and nothing you couldn't get on your own and probably for less. All it amounts to is a sales gimick that "sounds" good.

[jericap Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close jericap]

Not only that, but what am I going to do with 2 more weeks of vacation on top of the 9 weeks I have currently?

I did state to him that the cruise price was not a deal and that I could get the same or better from a cruise site such as Cruise411.
I also suggested that maybe it's not such a good idea that RCI get into the cruise business.

[bnoble Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bnoble]

It's important to remember that many companies in the timeshare industry base business decisions on the observation that they have a ready-made customer base that fell for a line of BS once. Perhaps it will work again!