Cruise Options

[khdem Member Find all posts View Profile Close khdem]

Do any of the timeshare companies offer good/beneficial cruise options as part of the membership/ownership?

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

Do any of the timeshare companies offer good/beneficial cruise options as part of the membership/ownership?

Many do offer cruise options. Good/beneficial is subjective. You may be able to use your week or points towards a cruise but the value is not there, you can find better rates yourself. Now, if you had a week or points that you could use because you had to go on a cruise, that's your call.

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

While I assume you are talking about mainstream cruising, it's worth pointing out that there are "cruise timeshares", such as Tradewinds.

The Bluegreen Vacation Club benefit called Traveller's Plus contains a yacht program (cash, not exchange) that makes such a trip affordable. Other systems might have other owner benefits that are not necessary exchanging for a cruise.

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

Many offer some form of cruise exchange but most don't have a great deal of value. For the most part, you'll recieve slightly less than the value of your MF's as a discount off the cruise lines price for the cruise. But, then you have to pay additional fee's to make the exchange.

With I.I. there is the need to upgrade your membership to Gold and then pay the international exchange fee. HGVC charged us a $69 and $29 fee to use two years worth of points for a cruise exchange (we wanted to do a Med cruise and had to many weeks/points of timeshare to use). DRI has a fee based upon what level of membership you own.

The biggest issue is the timeshare/exchange companies price for the cruise. Most charge whatever fee you would be charged if you went straight to the cruise line. With the exception of Royal Caribbean and Celeberity, who don't allow travel agents to discount the price of a cruise or rebate a portion of their comissions to lower the price of a cruise, you can often do better on the price searching for a cruise yourself.

Basically, if you already own a timeshare and you really want to cruise rather than take a land based vacation, there is some very minimal value there. If you're thinking of buying a timeshare and using it as a way to pay for a cruise, then you'll be severly dissapointed. Many timeshare salesmen will tell you great it is to exchange for a cruise. None I have ever met have actually done it or looked at the real numbers. Most give away this ICE cruise exchange program when you buy a timeshare (Lifetime membership). It's a complete waste of time. We've taken 7 cruises and have to more reserved. I quit looking at ICE several years ago as their prices were always to high and the value of the exchange was far to low.