Booking Luxury Cruises with Points: The Complete Guide for Belgian Travellers

Honestly: for a long time I thought cruises weren't really my thing. Too crowded, too many buffets, too much children's entertainment when all you really want is to quietly sip a gin and tonic with a view of the horizon. But then you start digging into the luxury cruise segment — think Silversea, Regent Seven Seas, Oceania. And then the picture changes quite a bit.

What changes the picture even more: you can (partially) pay for those cruises with points. Specifically with Membership Rewards points, the loyalty programme of the Amex Platinum. And as a Belgian traveller, you're in a pretty good position, even though the path isn't always straightforward. That's what this article is about.

How exactly does booking a luxury cruise with Amex points work?

There are two main routes to use Membership Rewards points for a cruise. The first is directly through the American Express travel portal. You book your cruise there just like at a travel agency, and you pay (part of) the amount with points instead of euros. Simple, but not always the best deal.

The second route is a bit more creative. You transfer your points to one of the airline or hotel partners of Membership Rewards, and then use those points within that loyalty programme. It sounds roundabout, but it often delivers more value per point. Let me explain.

Through the travel portal, you typically get a value of around €0.008 to €0.01 per point. That means: a cruise costing €3,000 will set you back around 300,000 to 375,000 points. Not bad, but not spectacular either. Through a smart transfer to, for example, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club or Emirates Skywards, you can sometimes get €0.012 to €0.015 per point. The difference on a €3,000 booking? That can easily amount to 75,000 points.

Honestly, the best route depends on the timing, the cruise line, and availability. There's no one-size-fits-all. But it's worth calculating both options before you book.

Which cruise lines can you book with Membership Rewards?

Through the Amex travel portal, you have access to a fairly wide range of cruise lines. Think Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Silversea, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line and Holland America Line. For those specifically looking for luxury cruises: Silversea, Regent and Oceania are the names to remember.

Silversea is owned by Royal Caribbean Group but operates as a separate ultra-luxury brand. Everything is inclusive: drinks, gratuities, excursions (with certain suites), and often even flights. A 10-day Mediterranean cruise in a Veranda Suite easily costs €5,000 to €8,000 per person. Sounds like a lot of money. It is. But with a solid points balance, you can take a big chunk out of that.

Regent Seven Seas calls itself "the most inclusive luxury experience". Complimentary business class flights with suites, unlimited drinks, shore excursions included. Prices start around €6,000 for a week and easily run up to €15,000+. When you can use points here, you truly start to appreciate how much Membership Rewards can be worth.

Oceania is the entry point into luxury cruises. Slightly more affordable, with a focus on culinary excellence. A 10-day Mediterranean cruise starts around €3,500 per person. That's the segment where points make the difference between "too expensive" and "achievable".

The maths: how many points do you need for a luxury cruise?

Let's get specific. Suppose you book a 10-day Oceania cruise through the Mediterranean. Departing from Barcelona, arriving in Rome. Cabin category: Veranda. Price: €4,200 per person.

Via the Amex travel portal, at an average value of €0.009 per point, you need 466,667 points to cover the full cruise. That's a lot. But you don't have to pay for everything with points. You can also pay partially: for example, use 150,000 points (value: ±€1,350) and pay the rest in cash. Then you still pay €2,850 out of pocket. Still not cheap, but a lot more achievable.

Now for the more interesting route. Suppose you transfer your points to an airline partner that has a collaboration with the cruise line. Emirates Skywards, for example, has had deals with cruise lines in the past. Or you transfer to Hilton Honors (ratio 1:2, so 100,000 MR = 200,000 Hilton points) and book your pre-cruise hotel via Hilton, thereby increasing your cash budget for the cruise itself. Creative combining is the key.

The welcome bonus of the Amex Platinum via the TravelLux.be referral link is 150,000 points. Depending on how you use them, that's worth €1,200 to €2,250 in value. Enough to make a serious dent in the price of a luxury cruise.

Smart combining: cruise + Fine Hotels and Resorts before and after

This is where it gets really interesting for me. Most luxury cruises depart from cities where you'd want to spend a night or two anyway. Barcelona, Rome, Miami, Bangkok. And the Amex Platinum gives you access to Fine Hotels + Resorts, a programme with more than 14,000 luxury hotels worldwide.

Per FHR stay you get: complimentary room upgrade, early check-in, late check-out, daily breakfast for 2 persons, and a welcome gift worth approximately €100. The total added value per stay can amount to €650. That's nothing to sneeze at when you need a hotel anyway.

We did this ourselves for a trip to Florida. Two nights at an FHR hotel in Miami Beach before we drove to the Keys. The room upgrade was a suite with sea view, breakfast was included, and the welcome gift was a spa treatment. That honestly already felt like a holiday before the holiday began. For a pre-cruise stay, this works exactly the same way.

Suppose you book a Mediterranean cruise departing from Barcelona. You book two nights at the W Barcelona or Hotel Arts via FHR. You save €400 to €650 in benefits. You combine that with your points booking for the cruise itself. And you have a trip that on paper costs €6,000+, but for which you effectively pay €2,000 to €3,000 less. That's the power of smartly stacking benefits.

Transfer partners that are relevant for cruise travellers

Not all Membership Rewards transfer partners are equally useful when you're specifically looking at cruises. I'll list the most relevant ones for Belgian travellers.

For flights to cruise departure ports, Brussels Airlines (Miles & More), Air France-KLM (Flying Blue) and British Airways (Avios) are the most logical choices from Brussels Airport. A return flight in Business Class to Miami with Flying Blue miles costs around 90,000 to 120,000 miles. You can fill those miles with Membership Rewards points, at a 1:1 ratio.

Emirates Skywards is interesting if your cruise departs from a destination in Asia. Bangkok, Singapore, or Australia. Emirates flies from Brussels via Dubai to all those destinations, and points transfer at 1:1. For those considering a cruise in Australia or Southeast Asia: this is a strong option.

Hilton Honors deserves a special mention. The transfer ratio is 1:2 (1 MR point = 2 Hilton points), which makes Hilton a good destination for point transfers if you want to book pre- or post-cruise hotel stays. 50,000 MR points become 100,000 Hilton points, good for 1-2 nights at a premium Hilton hotel in a cruise port.

Marriott Bonvoy is another option (ratio 1:1, but with less value per point). The advantage of Marriott is the enormous network: you'll find hotels in virtually every cruise port in the world.

Practical tips for Belgian cruise travellers with Amex points

A few things I've learned myself, and that you won't read in any glossy brochure.

Book early. Luxury cruises, especially Silversea and Regent, fill up quickly. If you want to pay with points via the travel portal, the cruise needs to be available at that moment. Book 6 to 12 months in advance. This is especially true for popular routes like the Mediterranean in summer or the Caribbean in winter.

Keep the Booster option in mind. The Amex Platinum offers an optional Booster for €10 per month with which you earn 4 points per €1 instead of 1. If you know you want to book a cruise in 8 months, and you spend €2,000 per month on your Amex during that period, then with the Booster you accumulate 64,000 points instead of 16,000. That difference of 48,000 points is worth around €400 to €700 on a cruise booking.

Don't forget the travel insurance. The Amex Platinum automatically provides travel insurance when you pay for the trip (or part of it) with the card. Trip cancellation, lost luggage, medical expenses abroad. For a cruise of €5,000+, that's a serious peace of mind. I've never had to make a claim myself (touch wood), but the fact that it's there makes the difference.

And don't forget the lounge access for your flight to the departure port. With the Amex Platinum you have access to 1,550+ lounges worldwide via Priority Pass, plus the Fast Lane at Brussels Airport. If you're flying early from BRU for a cruise departing in Barcelona or Miami, it makes the journey a lot more comfortable. And it's free, because it's included with the card.

One more tip that's often overlooked: no currency conversion fees. If you book something extra on board a cruise (an excursion, a spa treatment, a bottle of wine), and the cruise line charges in dollars or pounds, you pay no currency conversion fees with the Amex Platinum. Over a two-week cruise, those costs can otherwise add up considerably.

Is it worth it? An honest assessment

The Amex Platinum costs €780 per year. That's not nothing. The question is always: do you earn that back? For cruise travellers, the answer, in my experience, is fairly clearly yes, provided you actively use the card.

Let's do the maths. The welcome bonus of 150,000 points is worth €1,200 to €2,250 in cruise value. FHR benefits for a pre-cruise hotel: up to €650. Priority Pass lounge access (value: ~€500/year). Fast Lane Brussels Airport (value: €169/year). Travel insurance you'd otherwise have to purchase separately: €100 to €200 per trip. Dining for 2 in Belgium (3x per year): up to €300. No currency conversion fees on foreign spending.

Add that all up and you quickly exceed €2,500 in concrete value in the first year. Even if you only use half of those benefits, you're well above the €780 annual fee.

Admittedly: you do need to be the type of traveller who makes use of this. If you go to the Côte d'Azur once a year for a week by car, this card is probably overkill. But if you fly regularly, book the occasional cruise, and enjoy travelling comfortably without always paying full price, then the Amex Platinum is a tool that pays for itself. On TravelLux.be we've made more calculations for different traveller profiles.