Time-Share Cruising? (merged discussion)

[BroncosFan2010]

I recently was told about time-share cruising, and I swear this sounds like a scam to me. Apparently, you pick the itinerary, and the ship and everything else is up to the discretion of the company?

 

Has anyone ever heard of this who can explain further?

[Captain Jake]

I recently was told about time-share cruising, and I swear this sounds like a scam to me. Apparently, you pick the itinerary, and the ship and everything else is up to the discretion of the company?

 

Has anyone ever heard of this who can explain further?

 

 

I saw a story on the Travel Channel once on a ship called the World where you can buy or rent luxury cabins on a cruise ship

 

http://www.aboardtheworld.com/

 

 

:cj

[BroncosFan2010]

I saw a story on the Travel Channel once on a ship called the World where you can buy or rent luxury cabins on a cruise ship

 

http://www.aboardtheworld.com/

 

 

:cj

 

I am familiar with this, but this was not what the person I was talking to was telling me about.

 

Apparently, you can buy a time-share, and pick itineraries, and cruise on different lines. She has sailed on RCCL and Carinival, but is restricted to certain times of the year, certain restrictions, and interior rooms. Does not sound like a good time to me. It sounded fishy, and I was wondering if anyone had hear of this?

[Captain Jake]

I've seen others that claim what you are talking about but I agree you could probably do as well on your own

 

 

:cj

[camofwilliamsburg]

None that I know of that let you sail other lines. The ones I know sail out of Ft lauderdale to the Bahamas. They give you a floating hotel to stay on plus the destination of an island or two.

[USNUZULOOSE]

Hello, this is the first time on this side of the board. Just to let you know the time share that my husband and I have we can use it for cruises as well. But we have not done it as of yet. But yes you can do it with time shares. Hope this answers your question. Have a great day! Jo

[ehfl]

Most of the major time-share resorts allow you to use your points at other resorts as well as cruise ships. This may be what you're talking about. I've never heard of a program specifically for cruises, but most of the time-share ownership programs do let you use your points towards other travel destinations as well as cruises.

[knitlady037]

I am familiar with this, but this was not what the person I was talking to was telling me about.

 

Apparently, you can buy a time-share, and pick itineraries, and cruise on different lines. She has sailed on RCCL and Carinival, but is restricted to certain times of the year, certain restrictions, and interior rooms. Does not sound like a good time to me. It sounded fishy, and I was wondering if anyone had hear of this?

http://www.residentialoceanliners.com/cruise_resorts.htm

This may be what you are looking for

[cottagemama]

We have owned time share for many years and the first time we cruised we traded our week for a cruise plus paid a some of money (can't remember the abount) . the good thing was we got hooked on crusin but the bad thing looking back was if the price of your cruise drops you can't change the amount that you paid . Then one other time we purchased a package from the time share exchange company that gave us a 1 week resort stay anywhere we wanted to stay plus a 1 week cruise. We chose a 12 day cruise to Northern europe and a balcony room and the difference we paid was not much . Overall this was a much better deal than a staight exchange for your week or points you own with your time share company. Now I book my cruises directly with the cruise line and if the price drops I get the benefit of calling the cruise line to get the better deal. Hope this helps

[dougp26364]

There was one ship I was aware of (Windjammer sort of cruise if I recall) where you could buy (timeshare) sailings in advance for a number of years (in timeshare lingo, right to use or RTU) but, I haven't seen much about it and, if I recall correctly, there were enough limitations (itenerary) that it wouldn't interest me.

 

As others have mentioned, you can exchange a regular timeshare for a cruise vacation. In general, it's a bad trade from a money stand point. First, you must buy the timeshare, then you must pay yearly maintence fee's, then there are exchange fee's and, in the end, the discount you get on a cruise (it rarely pays for the cruise in entirety) is often LESS than the yearly maintenance fee's you have to pay + exchange fee's + exchange club membership fee's et..... In addition to all the expense, you MUST use their TA and, they don't discount the price.

 

A few examples, we own two Marriott timeshares. Those timeshares are worth 100,000 Marriott rewards points each year if I choose to not use my timeshare but exchange it for rewards points. The maintenance fee's on those two timeshares are in the $1,300 range (that figure goes up around 5-7% every year). If I want to use my Marriott timeshares for cruising, I pay a $79 fee to exchange for points then, I need 145,000 points for a $1,000 cruise voucher that must be spent through a dedicated TA with one particular TA. As you can see, I would need to exchange 3 years worth of timesharing (300,000 points) to get $2,000 (290,000 points) in cruise discounts. IOW, I'd spend $3,900 plus $237 in exchange fee's to save $2,000 on a cruise.

 

With Diamond Resorts International it's a little more straight forward if you're in their internal exchange points program. Essentially, your maintenance fee's are 10 cents per point plus a minimum of $255 in management fee's. If you want a cruise discount you'll get 5 cents per point plus pay an exchange fee based on your level of membership in their club.

 

HGVC has a similar program but, you must call their dedicated TA to see what the value of your points are for a particular cabin catagory and then they'll tell you how much additional you must pay. Again, there is an exchange fee to make this transaction. The value varies from cruise and cabin but, you still lose money on the deal.

 

Both the major timeshare exchange companies have programs where you can exchange any timeshare for a discount on a cruise but, the value is about the same or worse.

 

In general, cruise timesharing just isn't worth the expense or effort.

[BroncosFan2010]

Thank you so much for your responses. I figured this was not all the girl hyped it up to be. I love the way DH and I cruise now, and would not change having the control to pick out ship, itinerary, line, excursions, etc. I have never thought time shares would be a good idea, and using it for cruising (the only vacation we prefer) just seems like a waste of money.

[petesweet]

Most of the major time-share resorts allow you to use your points at other resorts as well as cruise ships. This may be what you're talking about. I've never heard of a program specifically for cruises, but most of the time-share ownership programs do let you use your points towards other travel destinations as well as cruises.

 

It always seemed to me that using your points for a cruise and then having to pay a bit in addition made for quite an expensive cruise--at least the times I looked into it. I can find a cruise for a whole lot less without using my time share points.

 

But this doesn't seem to be what OP is describing anyway. I've never heard of the type program she mentions.

 

Kathy

[petesweet]

http://www.residentialoceanliners.com/cruise_resorts.htm

This may be what you are looking for

 

Why do I smell bankruptcy in that kind of deal?

Kathy

[TahoeBob]

I recently was told about time-share cruising, and I swear this sounds like a scam to me. Apparently, you pick the itinerary, and the ship and everything else is up to the discretion of the company?

 

Has anyone ever heard of this who can explain further?

 

I think part of the mix up is that rci.com is a timeshare exchange company. For a short time I worked in the timeshare industry (about 11 years ago) and from time to time I was asked where our cruise ships went to and how do I buy a time share on them. Different dept than I worked for.

[STEVE-O]

A good friend of mine wants to meet with my wife and I to discuss an "amazing" opportunity he and his wife found out about....

 

He only hinted on the subject matter but it sure has the "feel" of some type of cruise time-share....

 

IF such a program exists, I've never heard of it.....

 

Anyone in CC land ever hear of such a thing??? If so, have any of you signed up....what's your opinion of the program??

 

Thanks......

[Sue L]

I have seen posts in the past and most were problems posts though I don't remember any of the specifics. I do remember the company name was similar to Royal initials like RCI or something.

[kyriecat]

I looked at one of them 4 or 5 years ago that was part of a vacation condo exchange (Interval) but there were so many restrictions on sailings and cabin types plus the additional fees that it didn't make financial sense for me. If I am remembering correctly, you turn over your week at your vacation condo and get $300 or $400 towards the cruise. You are responsible for paying any taxes and fare more than that. They also don't give you price drops or allow coupons/C&A benefits because you have to book through their agent. The program might be different by now. It didn't appeal to me at the time so I haven't bothered to look again. I haven't heard of anything that was only for cruises.

[boulders]

There are quite a few programs out there. They range from ResidenceSea to RCI (Resorts Condominium International) and many others. If you knew some details about what exactly the program was, I could give you more info. Just like cruises, cruiselines and cabins, different programs suit different people, but they don't suit everyone.

[sandravb79]

I think you can cruise DCL on DVC points.

[Guest nhrich]

A good friend of mine wants to meet with my wife and I to discuss an "amazing" opportunity he and his wife found out about....

 

Any time I hear about an "amazing" opportunity, the bells & whistles go off, and the red flags go up.

[STEVE-O]

NHRich.....I'm REALLY in the same boat ( pun completely intended!) with you on this one......

 

My thinking is....if there's something out there that's better than sliced bread..I'd have read about it on Cruise Critic a long time ago!.......

 

Thanks, all!

[dougp26364]

The place to ask would be http://www.tug2.net , which is the Timeshare Users Group. They have forums that are to timesharing what Cruisecritic is to cruising. For what it's worth there's only one true cruise timeshare I'm aware of and IMHO, it's a rather limited opportunity that doesn't include sailing on any cruiseline you choose. At this point I can't recall the name of it.

 

As mentioned there are many different timeshare exchange programs out there that will allow you to exchange a timeshare for a discount on a cruise vacation. I have yet to see one that will allow you to exchange a timeshare for a cruise straight up.

 

There is a deal called ICE (international Cruise Exchange), which touts that they'll exchange your timeshare for a cruise without additional exchange fee's. We looked into them a couple of times but, you have to own a timeshare and their costs for the cruises were ridiculous IMHO.

 

We own 7 timeshares and have been in timesharing since 1998. I have never seen a good deal where the words timeshare and cruise come together. I would be EXTREMELY leary of any opportunity that someone could explain over the phone but had to come to my house to give a presentation. Huge red flags would go up if they insisted that I had to make a decision right now and not think about it for a few days.

[KuffMUp]

I was a member of RCI and Interval International. At one time, we traded our week vacation for a week on Carnival. I don't remember the total specifics but there were trade fees (just like there is if you exchange through RCI or II on a land based swap). Had to pay the taxes. Ours was a point based company so it just "cost" us more points to get different rooms (inside versus outside or balcony). We have since given up the timeshare so I don't know what is available today.

[LookingForward2]

I think you can cruise DCL on DVC points.

 

It wouldn't be DVC - Disney Vacation Club - because they do not sell 'door to door' style like other timeshares do.

but, yes you're correct, you can trade out your points through DVC to use on a DCL cruise

[WendyinOC]

I have a Disney Time Share (Disney Vacation Club) and I can trade my points for a cruise so it is possible.