I first wrote about this unique opportunity last month and the bidding for this trip to Antartica ends tomorrow so this is your last chance! You can still use points for a trip to Antactica – Starpoints and even Marriott or Chase points! But, it has gone up quite a bit so get ready to pay a lot (of Starpoints) for the opportunity!
Use Points for a Trip to Antarctica
Read: What You Need To Know About SPG Auctions
Below are the details that I had written about last month on this. This auction ends tomorrow, October 11, at 11AM EDT. I had mentioned in the original post that the auction could still be a great deal if it went up to 500,000 Starpoints (it was at 215,000 when I wrote it) and it is getting close! It is currently at 478,500 Starpoints!
Could Be Easier Now!
Transfer points instantly between Marriott and SPG accounts
But, one big thing has happened since I wrote about this – the Marriott/SPG merger. Now you can move Ultimate Reward points to Marriott and then move those to SPG at a rate of 3:1. These transfers happen immediately. If you need 200,000 Starpoints, it will take 600,000 Marriott or Ultimate Reward points but it might be worth it if you really want to go to Antarctica! Think about it – even if you could use Ultimate Reward points to book this cruise and you had the Chase Sapphire Reserve (for the 1.5 cents redemption rate), 600,000 Ultimate Reward points would “only” give you $9,000 towards this package – a far cry.
Points for a Trip to Antarctica
It is an SPG Moments Auction and it does not end until next month. It sounds like a fantastic trip and one that is coming up pretty quick (November). Here are the details of this opportunity to use points to travel to Antarctica:
- Access for two (2) to a 14-day Antarctica adventure, “Journey to Antarctica: The White Continent,” with Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic departing on 6 November and returning on 19 November 2016
- Departs from Santiago, Chile
- Link for more information on the trip
The bidding information for this auction is:
- Bidding ends 11 Oct 2016 – 11:00 AM EDT
- Starting Bid: 25,000 Starpoints
- Bid Increment: 500 Starpoints
- Current High Bid: 478,500 Starpoints
- Auction Link
Yes, you saw it right – bidding is currently over 200,000 Starpoints for this package. But, considering that this package costs at a minimum of $26,000 for two people, it is a fantastic redemption at the current price. If the package goes up to 500,000 Starpoints, this is still getting a minimum of 5.2 cents per point which is still excellent. BUT, you need to have 500,000 Starpoints! That is a lot of credit card bonuses, especially when you can only get one sign-up bonus per card per lifetime now!
This is an awesome redemption but unfortunately I don’t have 500k starpoints. :/ Since the cruise is 14 nights, another way to think about it is as a 35k starpoints/night redemption.
That is not an amazing redemption. You can easily get 50% off Antarctica cruises if you know how to hack it. On my blog, I have outlined the steps to get an Antarctica cruise for ~$5K/person.