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Trading Timeshare Condos for Cruises?
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Question: Another question for the braintrust:
My wife and I travel to New York quite often. We recently acquired a
timeshare "urban condominium" which will allow us to have access to high
quality midtown accommodations anytime we like for 7 days a year. We were
not initially interested in using it for a "timeshare", but the condo is an
RCI member and is rated among their most desirable "trades".
Anyway, I was surfing the RCI website and it hit me that we could trade the
week in NYC for a cruise on virtually any line or itinerary we choose.
Like anything else that sounds too good to be true...it most likely is. Have
any of you folks had any good or bad experiences doing RCI timeshare trades
for cruises? If it sounds good, we will give it a twirl...if not, we still
have a great condo in midtown.
Answer: Do not bother. By the time you pay your yearly HOA fee, trading fee and the
charge that RCI will levy for food, it is cheaper to buy a cruise yourself.
I also have a timeshare and am an RCI member and we have avoided trading for
cruises, because frankly we get a much better deal just booking a cruise.
When you add up the cost of one week (and we inherited our timeshare, so we
have no mortgage) yearly maintenance plus RCI fee plus the exchange fee, plus
the extra charge for booking a cruise is more than I would pay for a cruise.
Of course YMMV. The RCI trades are for outside cabins, and my husband and I
always start with an inside guarantee.
FOr what it is worth, we;ve owned the timeshare for over 10 years and RCI is
clearly a reputable, real company. I'm just not sure a timeshare swap is the
best and cheapest way to get a cruise.
Comment:
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