ICE Platinum Rewards

[badman222 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close badman222]

Hi everyone and thanks for all of the great info on here.

This is my first post.

Did anyone else receive a mailing from Diamond with a $1200 savings for your next vacation or cruise using platinumrewards.com?

I tried to sign up, but it keeps kicking me back to enter my personal info. I am hesitant to call.
Has anyone activated their account yet?

[dale7 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dale7]

Hi everyone and thanks for all of the great info on here.

This is my first post.

Did anyone else receive a mailing from Diamond with a $1200 savings for your next vacation or cruise using platinumrewards.com?

I tried to sign up, but it keeps kicking me back to enter my personal info. I am hesitant to call.
Has anyone activated their account yet?

I have not gotten this yet if you are not sure then do not enter any personal info I would call DRI first to check and if you don't want to call make sure it is a DRI site.

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

I had some sort of offering in each of my maintenance fee bills with some sort of points for ICE. Unfortunately they could not be aggregated.

Hi everyone and thanks for all of the great info on here.

This is my first post.

Did anyone else receive a mailing from Diamond with a $1200 savings for your next vacation or cruise using platinumrewards.com?

I tried to sign up, but it keeps kicking me back to enter my personal info. I am hesitant to call.
Has anyone activated their account yet?

I have not gotten this yet if you are not sure then do not enter any personal info I would call DRI first to check and if you don't want to call make sure it is a DRI site.

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

DRI has been associated with ICE for maybe 10 years now. IMO, it's a waste of time if you're wanting to book a cruise. It might come in handy if you're wanting to rent one of the timeshares that they essentially steal from customers who exchange their timeshare for one of their cruises.

If you shop for cruises you'll find out how much that $1,200 voucher is really worth. Essentially, it's worth the paper it's printed on and nothing more. Every once in a while I'll get curious and call about it. So far they've never beaten the deals I've found using online TA's that discount cruises.

[badman222 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close badman222]

Thanks

Thanks for you replies.

I guess I will just use the other cruise deal websites.

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

Thanks for you replies.

I guess I will just use the other cruise deal websites.

You might want to check the other cruise deal websites and then compare the ICE offering that was mailed to you. Just because the particular cruises I was looking at were bad deals doesn't mean that every offer will be a bad deal. It's always good to compare for yourself, just to be certain. In 10 years time and 7 cruises I've just never found them to be a viable option.

[seattle12345 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close seattle12345]

ICE Platinum Rewards is garbage. It doesnt trade your timeshare week for another resort or cruise. It only trades your timeshare in for "points", which you then use "towards" a cruise or tour. So it will become a discount for a cruise or tour, and now for resorts. It is a waste of money and a scam. DO NOT sign up with them. The lady Suzanne fed me all this crap on the phone, saying this is a one-time offer to get a great membership. You will be able to get points to use towards paying for hotel and even car rentals. I just got off the phone with her now, she just plainly said "that is not what I said". I was not happy with this, but she said "you passed the 10 day period, sorry" and hung up.

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

Ice Platinum

Ice can be a good venue if you are looking at cruises. I've found their prices better than most..

However- generally any time you trade your timeshare for another service (be it hotel points, credit card points, etc) you are generally getting less value. Consider this to simply be another opportunity if you can use it- but it should not be something you do regularly.

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

DRI has been associated with ICE for maybe 10 years now. IMO, it's a waste of time if you're wanting to book a cruise. It might come in handy if you're wanting to rent one of the timeshares that they essentially steal from customers who exchange their timeshare for one of their cruises.

If you shop for cruises you'll find out how much that $1,200 voucher is really worth. Essentially, it's worth the paper it's printed on and nothing more. Every once in a while I'll get curious and call about it. So far they've never beaten the deals I've found using online TA's that discount cruises.

Completely agree!! I once received ICE free for 1 year and found it to be worthless for cruise vacations since you can get better deals through any cruise wholesaler without having to give up a timeshare week.

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

Ice can be a good venue if you are looking at cruises. I've found their prices better than most..

However- generally any time you trade your timeshare for another service (be it hotel points, credit card points, etc) you are generally getting less value. Consider this to simply be another opportunity if you can use it- but it should not be something you do regularly.

If you're finding good deals than you're more the exception than the rule. Every time I've compared ICE they've been the highest price out of the batch. For the record, I've shopped Travelociy, Cruise Compete (asks for bids from several different online vendors), Cruises Only, Cruisequick and Vacations to Go. ICE just hasn't ever been in the ballpark.

But hey, if you get the membership for free, then it's never a bad idea to compare them with other options. But if you have to pay to be a member then it's best to take a pass on any "special" offers.

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

If you're finding good deals than you're more the exception than the rule. Every time I've compared ICE they've been the highest price out of the batch. For the record, I've shopped Travelociy, Cruise Compete (asks for bids from several different online vendors), Cruises Only, Cruisequick and Vacations to Go. ICE just hasn't ever been in the ballpark.

But hey, if you get the membership for free, then it's never a bad idea to compare them with other options. But if you have to pay to be a member then it's best to take a pass on any "special" offers.

at least you can use/start with ICE to set the high par to beat. you will likely feel good about yourself in the end saving yourself xxxx amt of dollars over this.

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

We received a free membership a few years ago and found it useless. All they wanted was for you to exchange your week for a cruise and the price was still higher than most other sights.

Lynn

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

If you're finding good deals than you're more the exception than the rule. Every time I've compared ICE they've been the highest price out of the batch.

I've used them twice- both were seven day cruises out of Florida. On the first they were about $200. less per person than Cruises Only, and on the second they were about $80. less per person. I've never tried Travelocity for a cruise- but I'll check there next time!

It seems like over the past few years- cruise prices have gotten much more consistent through all the vendors. Regardless- always shop around! They are all selling space on the same boats- and regardless of where you buy- you can still eat yourself sick at the chocolate buffet!

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

I've used them twice- both were seven day cruises out of Florida. On the first they were about $200. less per person than Cruises Only, and on the second they were about $80. less per person. I've never tried Travelocity for a cruise- but I'll check there next time!

It seems like over the past few years- cruise prices have gotten much more consistent through all the vendors. Regardless- always shop around! They are all selling space on the same boats- and regardless of where you buy- you can still eat yourself sick at the chocolate buffet!

If you know the type of cabin, cruiseline et... and don't really need a TA's help, I've found Cruisequick to be the most reasonably priced online TA. However, they are internet only and all dealings are by E-mail. I've never had an issue with them and they've always responded promptly to our E-mails. Most of the time responding faster than leaving a message and playing phone tag with other online agencies. But, they are strictly a discount wholesaler. You MUST know what you want as they are not there to give advice. If you have trouble, it's like booking on your own. You'll do all your own leg work. They are NOT there as a support system. They are only there to sell cruises at the lowest price possible.

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

Don't even think about going with ICE or platinum rewards. I purchased a 3 year contract from them because their service sounded great. I tried to plan my trip through them and was looking forward to their guaranteed lowest rates. They always come up with some stupid reason why I can not get the discount. They also have a $25 charge if you cancel/change your hotel reservation. A fee a gladly paid on most of the properties I booked since Choice Hotels prices were generally that much better and I get a $50 gift card per 3 stays. I've been told "Contact me tomorrow, I have to go to a BBQ (on Memorial Day). You can hear people talking in the background. Very unprofessional business. I would rate them as scam even. I hope GAIL gets to read this as she is one of the supervisors there.

I spent 10 minutes and compared their cruise prices and found out they are not cheaper unless you add in their discounts that you already paid for in some other way.