Has anyone else booked an Arosa River Cruise by trading in a timeshare week?

I just traded my timeshare week for an Arosa Rhine River cruise from Cologne, north to Amsterdam and Belgium for June 19, 2015 through Interval International. Has anyone else booked a river cruise this way? I would love to hear of your experience.

Very interesting! Other than the redemption fees, was there a daily supplemental fee? Did you book the least expensive cabin?

We used our II points to book our Rhine cruise this spring.

The points didn't go very far but you do get at least something for them in terms of a discount off the fare. For us, it was worth it because the points were expiring and at least we could use them for something.

One week of points for a relatively standard timeshare (~2100) got us a little over $1000 off the fare. I think. But then you pay $180 or so to process the exchange. And you have to be an Interval International Gold member ($59 per year) to do this. But still better than full price.

The only real negative about it was that we had to use one of II's TAs instead of our long-time personal one. The one from II was comparatively less responsive to our questions and took days to get back to us (once we'd booked). Though she pursued the booking vigorously... :rolleyes:

I just traded my timeshare week for an Arosa Rhine River cruise from Cologne, north to Amsterdam and Belgium for June 19, 2015 through Interval International. Has anyone else booked a river cruise this way? I would love to hear of your experience.

Frankt18 - we are considering this same cruise on A-Rosa in 2016 - wild love to hear your review when you return!

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I traded my lock-off unit at Marriott Grande Vista in Orlando. In return, received a C class cabin with a French balcony on deck 2. I paid a $180 exchange fee and have to pay $320 extra per person for the unlimited all-inclusive meal plan. $820 for a 7 day river cruise for two with a French balcony seems like a pretty good deal.

By the way, I am not an II gold member and I booked it directly online through Interval's website, no TA involved.

Well, I was totally off-base with the cost of the trade! It actually costs $320 per person per day! Wow, that is some miscalculation!! But all in all, it still seems like a pretty good deal.

This is a scam !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Interval is a scam . The meal package is just a rip off !!

This is a scam !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Interval is a scam . The meal package is just a rip off !!

Welcome to Cruise Critic and gee your 1st post.

Care to tell us your story?

My husband booked on interval and we knew there was a cost for meals but was shocked it was 325.00 a day per person !!! That is really expensive . More then if just booked on website. we knew there would be a meal plan charge but wow !! This is after exchange also, and about 400.00 in fees for booking. it does make me wonder if Arosa is a bad company also. Just sleazy. No refund when we canceled either. I wonder how much they make on this alone. Just a big scam to me !!!!!

Arosa has nothing to do with it, I would think the timeshare exchange is the bad guy in all of this! Arosa has an excellent reputation .

Who did you give money to? Initial deposits are often not refundable. But most everyone purchases Travel Insurance to protect from unexpected cancellations.