Traveller Plus..anyone buy a cruise?

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

So my wife and I have been playing with the idea of going on a cruise. The first place I checked was the pointsmart area of bg online.

After a bit of research, I was a bit disappointed. Seems all they have done is linked to the site cruise.com, and raised the prices. I am able to get them cheaper directly from the cruise line.

Anyone know of any reason at all to use this? Even with using 5K points, its only about $100 cheaper (for 2) then what I can find on the internet in general.....

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

no reason. vacationstogo.com does a lot better on price

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

Anyone know of any reason at all to use this?.....

I can think of only one reason. Let's assume you want to take a cruise and if you do, you will use up all of your free time and will then have points that you cannot use. Exchanging the points does not make sense to you because you don't have time to use the exchange week(s). Also, you may not want to mess with renting the points you cannot use. By using your points for a cruise, you at least get something for them.

That being said, based on what every other person has said who has researched cost for cruises with cash vs. with points, I would find a better way to use my points.

Charles

[stevec Member Find all posts View Profile Close stevec]

I did Cruise 2 years ago for exactly the reason Charles mentioned
First I went to RCI what resorts had availability for Europe as I live in the UK and flights to the US are a big cost when taking a vacation.
The guy said there was little to nothing during peak seasons so I decided to use all my points on a cruise.
I checked out all the deals on the UK cruise websites and the prices were comparable only slightly higher.
The Cruise was round the Mediterranean so there were no flight costs involved.

I have limited vacation time so saving points for anything else isn’t an option

[smithiekid Member Find all posts View Profile Close smithiekid]

Stevec,
I am also from the Uk , Have you looked at RCI recently now that it is directly interfaced with BG? UK availability is far greater than RCI Europe and the exchange costs are much less.
A couple of weeks ago I was able to get 2 x 1 bed units in Devon for the first 2 weeks of the summer school holidays (our fixed summer shut down) .... that is unheard of with RCI Europe.

Phillip

[stevec Member Find all posts View Profile Close stevec]

When I was at the update the sales guy was trying to show me how RCI thing worked on the BG website but it was broke.
I am planning another Cruise next year then a return to Florida the year after but I will probably try it eventually.

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

I booked a cruise using TP and my points. There's a number to call. Basically you're using a travel agency to book the cruise and they take the points you want to use to give you a discount.

The cruise rate is the same that you get on any websites. I took a Carnival cruise, of which I'm a past customer, and when I looked up the cruise on Carnival's website with my login it was the same rate - deeply discounted from retail price.

Using points just gives you a discount if you have some points to get rid of. I used 5000 points to get a $200 discount (I think it was $200). Not an economical use of points but if you have some you're not going to use elsewhere, might as well use 'em on a cruise.

FYI - Once you book a cruise using a travel agency, any and all changes must be done using the travel agency - not with the cruise line.

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

I booked a cruise using TP and my points. There's a number to call. Basically you're using a travel agency to book the cruise and they take the points you want to use to give you a discount.

The cruise rate is the same that you get on any websites. I took a Carnival cruise, of which I'm a past customer, and when I looked up the cruise on Carnival's website with my login it was the same rate - deeply discounted from retail price.

Using points just gives you a discount if you have some points to get rid of. I used 5000 points to get a $200 discount (I think it was $200). Not an economical use of points but if you have some you're not going to use elsewhere, might as well use 'em on a cruise.

FYI - Once you book a cruise using a travel agency, any and all changes must be done using the travel agency - not with the cruise line.

The particular cruise I was playing with was available on Carnival website for about 110 pp less than what TP advertised. As I pointed out, they seem to be booking through cruise.com, and they are even higher then those prices.

[stevec Member Find all posts View Profile Close stevec]

You bought a timeshare you should be used to getting shafted by now!
Its not a bad deal, just not a great one.
If anyone has better idea for using points please say!
World hotels aint a great deal either.

On a brighter note when I checked prices for the Fountains on a hotel website for the weeks I just had, it was $600 more than my MF.

[sdwagers Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sdwagers]

I can think of only one reason. Let's assume you want to take a cruise and if you do, you will use up all of your free time and will then have points that you cannot use. Exchanging the points does not make sense to you because you don't have time to use the exchange week(s). Also, you may not want to mess with renting the points you cannot use. By using your points for a cruise, you at least get something for them.

That being said, based on what every other person has said who has researched cost for cruises with cash vs. with points, I would find a better way to use my points.

Charles

I agree. I cruised last December using Points as a discount on my cruise price. The best way to work is when the Cruiselines have specials going (reflected on Cruise.com). If your vacation is going to be a cruise - you might as well use your points and get something for them .

[colin heath Member Find all posts View Profile Close colin heath]

Three years ago points value for a cruise was much better.

Colin.

[justamom2six Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close justamom2six]

This is interesting. We attended a Bluegreen presentation just yesterday! And the salesman told us that he just came from a cruise. He was able to get 6 people on board, 5 days, at $89 a person - TOTAL (with a 5,000 points exchange). They only had to pay their bar bill (for alcohol only). Everything else was taken care of with his exchange.

He also told us that any all inclusive vacation that we would exchange for through Bluegreen, would only cost $14 a day (for owners only!) if exchanged through Bluegreen. We did not buy, but are considering re-sell, if we can get something with owners benefits.

[mofancyfree Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mofancyfree]

The particular cruise I was playing with was available on Carnival website for about 110 pp less than what TP advertised. As I pointed out, they seem to be booking through cruise.com, and they are even higher then those prices.

I do a lot of planning and have found that all cruises are the same price. Some include taxes and port charges and others don't. In the end, they're all the same. The best way is to know exactly what you want and the cost then call Traveler's Plus. It takes 5000 points to save $200. If you consider .0450 per point, then you are losing $25 to use those points. Mine were going to become saved points, so it was best for me.

[Brinkley Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Brinkley]

At our last update at Mountain Loft in December, 2011, we were told by our salesperson that with the new Travelers Plus 3 that you could take any cruise for 5,000 points with NO cash. She told us that we needed to call Customer Service at Bluegreen before the end of the year to request the upgrade, which I did. She even had us log in and check our point smart cruise page to see if we had Plus 3 (which we did not). So far, we have not seen the change but during a call to Bluegreen was told that they saw the request had been submitted. Our agent told us that she had just taken a 12 day cruise for 5,000 points and NO cash. Does anyone know anything about this or have you used this new benefit? I hope she knew what she was talking about...

[stevec Member Find all posts View Profile Close stevec]

If it sounds too good to be true.
Its usualy told to you by a TS salesperson.