Has anyone used points (Marriott or Hilton) to book a cruise?

[63 Super Sport]

We are looking at a Celebrity cruise and have enough Marriott points to cover the cost. Has any one used points to book a cruise? If so, what are the pros and cons? Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks.

[dkjretired]

I did it with Wyndham resorts points (timeshare) and had no problems, we dealt with regular Travel Agent and had great service.

[Moneyscruise]

As Hilton Grand Vacation owners, we have used our points to book with Celebrity (7 day to Alaska in 2016 and currently booked on a 2019 12-night British Isles).  Using our Hilton points has saved us thousands on the cost of the cruise itself, plus the agency gifted us with OBC to our account and sent a bottle of champagne to our cabin!   

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Just as an FYI - Hilton Honors point redemption program for cruises ends today, you can still earn points for cruises booked through them.  The Hilton Grand Vacation redemption program for cruises remains unchanged.

 

With Marriott your points are converted by the agency to e-certificates with $ off amounts corresponding to the amount of points you are redeeming, regardless of cruise line or room type.  You may mix and match e-certificate denominations.  You still will receive any and all pricing/promotions available from the cruise line itself, and the agency that handles the points redemption may have contracted rates on certain sailings/dates/room types as well.  Only you can decide if the point value for the $ off is worth using them towards a cruise vs a hotel/resort.

Edited October 29, 2018 by AtlantaCruiser72

[63 Super Sport]

Thanks for following up. According to both Hilton and Marriott I must use their travel company (Mr Cruise Only) and could not use my regular TA. When I started asking questions about the points - they stated I had to use the points when I booked not at final payment time. I asked what if I cancelled the cruise and they were vague on how I would get the points back. Any advise?

I appreciate your feedback.

[63 Super Sport]

10 minutes ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

Just as an FYI - Hilton Honors point redemption program for cruises ends today, you can still earn points for cruises booked through them.  The Hilton Grand Vacation redemption program for cruises remains unchanged.

 

With Marriott your points are converted by the agency to e-certificates with $ off amounts corresponding to the amount of points you are redeeming, regardless of cruise line or room type.  You may mix and match e-certificate denominations.  You still will receive any and all pricing/promotions available from the cruise line itself, and the agency that handles the points redemption may have contracted rates on certain sailings/dates/room types as well.  Only you can decide if the point value for the $ off is worth using them towards a cruise vs a hotel/resort.

Thanks for the info and update on Hilton.

[paulh84]

I've never looked into it but calculate your points per dollar carefully. Often times the redemption value can be really low and you are better off using the points elsewhere. 

[travel1light]

Kind of lost on this one. How do I use my Marriott points to book a cruise? Thanks.  

[AtlantaCruiser72]

27 minutes ago, 63 Super Sport said:

Thanks for following up. According to both Hilton and Marriott I must use their travel company (Mr Cruise Only) and could not use my regular TA. When I started asking questions about the points - they stated I had to use the points when I booked not at final payment time. I asked what if I cancelled the cruise and they were vague on how I would get the points back. Any advise?

I appreciate your feedback.

If you cancel outside of cruise line penalty, and the inital deposit to the cruise line was fully refundable, you get all the points used to cover cruise fare back provided you pay their cancellation fee ($100).  If any points were used to pay things like their processing fee or trip protection offered by the agency then you would have to pay that $ amount to the agency before they refund the correlating points back to your account.  If you cancel inside the vendor penalty period your points will be held as a penalty unless you pay the agency the $ amount of the associated points/penalty value, then they will refund. 

 

In short - whether points can be refunded, and whether any $ penalties have to be paid depends on how they were used and when you cancel and each case is slightly different.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

9 minutes ago, travel1light said:

Kind of lost on this one. How do I use my Marriott points to book a cruise? Thanks.  

look at the Marriott Rewards consumer webpage and find the section on cruises - it will link you to the travel agency that provides their cruise bookings.  You can only redeem the points by booking through their partner agency

[travel1light]

23 minutes ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

look at the Marriott Rewards consumer webpage and find the section on cruises - it will link you to the travel agency that provides their cruise bookings.  You can only redeem the points by booking through their partner agency

Thanks. 

 

Next question, what does 500,000 Marriott points convert to in e-certs for cruises?  

[AtlantaCruiser72]

There is a redemption grid on their webpage with redemption amount and e-certificate values.  I don't want to post anymore here as I think we are on the verge of posting violation rules with this discussion :)

[Italy52]

5 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

Just as an FYI - Hilton Honors point redemption program for cruises ends today, you can still earn points for cruises booked through them.  The Hilton Grand Vacation redemption program for cruises remains unchanged.

 

With Marriott your points are converted by the agency to e-certificates with $ off amounts corresponding to the amount of points you are redeeming, regardless of cruise line or room type.  You may mix and match e-certificate denominations.  You still will receive any and all pricing/promotions available from the cruise line itself, and the agency that handles the points redemption may have contracted rates on certain sailings/dates/room types as well.  Only you can decide if the point value for the $ off is worth using them towards a cruise vs a hotel/resort.

Where did you see the information about Hilton Honors ending the cruise purchase option?  We are members and haven't seen anything and I just looked at their website and didn't see anything either (unless I missed it).

[AtlantaCruiser72]

6 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

Where did you see the information about Hilton Honors ending the cruise purchase option?  We are members and haven't seen anything and I just looked at their website and didn't see anything either (unless I missed it).

I got an internal email from our sales management team on it last week and we got a reminder email today that the redemption program ends at midnight tonight.  This is coming from Hilton Corporate, and we had short notice of the discontinuance of redemption's.  I'm not sure what if any information has been sent by Hilton to Honors members, or posted on the Hilton website.

[Italy52]

 

 

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.  Good thing for us that we had the opportunity to use our points for our upcoming June 2019 cruise.