Using HGVC points for Disney cruise

[mjh8955]

Has anyone experience doing this? Or using HGVC points for any other cruise for that matter? Any comments would be appreciated. Our kids would be 13 and 16 and I'm not sure which cruiseline would be the best for them.

 

[TnRobin]

I am not sure how Hilton handles this. I wasn't aware that it was an exchange. If you find out more details, please fill us in.

 

[ivanova]

I did it!! I did it!!

I love HGVC!!

Anyway, the only way I could convince DH to cruise was by using our HGVC points in 2003 for a 4 night on the Wonder. He LOVED it and we ended up using points again for another 4 nighter in 2004.

I now have a cruise with NCL booked through HGVC for next March.

It was very easy to book. And you can combine points with cash too.

Let me know what info I can provide for you...

 

[mattmommy]

Hmmm. We looked into using our HGVC points for our last 7 day and it was a lot so we just paid with a cc and used our points to stay in FL another week.

How many points for the 4 day? I think we have 5,000 points and it seemed to use 2 years of points for 7 days on DCL and less on others.

 

[mjh8955]

It's possible to do, but it wasn't clear how to do it on the HGVC website. These were the instructions I received when I made an inquiry. I just used the link at the bottom. Looks like you can book many different cruises using the points.
................................
To look up cruises, please proceed as follows:

1. First - Click on the tab entitled "MEMBER BENEFITS"

2. Second - Click on "CLUB PARTNER PERKS"

3. Third - You will see the tab entitled "CRUISES"

A shortcut to this would be to click on the tab entitled "USE POINTS NOW" and then check the box labeled "TAKE A CRUISE" once you submit this option, it will automatically take you to the Cruise page. You will need to contact us at 1-800-932-4482 option # 4 to find out about total cost for a specific cruise and to reserve it.

For your ready reference, you can also click on the following link:

http://hgvcp.cruisesonly.com/

 

[mjh8955]

For anyone interested... just so I would have a comparison, I priced a 4 night Carnival cruise for my family of 4 ($1880 in an oceanview cabine) and then called HGVC to see how many points the same cruise would take (13,271 points plus $510.80). That would include almost 3 years worth of points (we have 4800 a year to work with). I am thinking a week at a nice resort would actually cost between $1500 and $2000 (approximate). I know our favorite beachside condo at St. George Island is $1730 for a week during the high season. A cruise can be had for about that same amount, dollarwise. So in my opinion, HGVC is charging almost triple the points for a cruise that it would cost for a week at a very nice resort. Hardly a good deal in my opinion. I know others use their points for cruises repeatedly; they must have a ton more points to work with than we do. Still the exchange rate just doesn't seem equitable to me.

 

[ivanova]

We've found that the dollar to point exchange rate with HGVC is about $10 per point (your Carnival quote confirms that).

It's been hard for us to confirm the dollar value of condo rentals, because the point rate is probably based on a rack rate ... and no one almost ever pays full rack rate for a hotel or condo rental when paying cash.

We've done the points & cash for a cruise when we haven't had enough cash alone to pay for it ... have done it three times now ... we either have to use 2 years worth of points (we have 7,000 per year to work with) or we've used bonus points (that we received when we upgraded with HGVC).

 

[rcostello1]

Ouch that seems like a lot of points for a cruise. I've only used mine for HGVC or deposit to HHonors. When I stay in a $600/nt room in NYC I feel better about it when it's free . I tend to just use Hilton for Vegas anyway. I use DVC for anything Disney.