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I have for a long time been posting Delta SkyMiles cruise auction deals when they pop up as a way to possibly get oversized value for your very low value Delta SkyPennies. But just how valuable are these auctions and are they really a good deal? Let’s take a look.
Last month a fantastic Windstar fall cruise closed for just over half a million SkyPennies. Considering a Delta point is worth about a penny they spent $5,260 to win this auction. But did they get a good deal? They really really did. Take a look.
If you were to today book this cruise for two in a Star Balcony Suite cabin you would pay, including daily gratuities and taxes just about $18,000. That means the Delta flyer got a massive and oversized value for their Delta points of 3.4 cents PER POINT! And considering Delta is now charging around that many points to fly one way to Europe in Delta One – here you are getting 11 days of complete luxury for two for a similar price.
I did try to win this one but I don’t have as many SkyPennies as I once had. I think I would have maxed out my bid around 400,000 either way so I would not have been the final winner even at such an oversized value.
Now I hear all the time from readers that these auctions are a real pain the backside because they can, near the closing, extend the auction as much as they want – by hours or even by days. Yes, that is true but to me not a deal breaker if you want to get stunning value from your Delta points and you like cruising.
There are also a few things to keep in mind with these auctions. While they do include taxes they do not include your daily gratuities nor a drink package. For the above if you wanted to add both of these to your cruise you would have to pay nearly $2,000 (for two people) on top of the bid. Even so you are still paying with points value and cash only about 40% of the list price for this voyage.
Bottom line – Skymiles Auctions has its challenges, not least of which is you have to have a big pile of Delta points, but there is real value to be had with these offerings and a way to get massive value out of your SkyPennies! – René
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
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I don’t think I was aware of these. Thanks, Renee!
I never get notifications for these auctions. DO you sign up for alerts via Delta.com??
@dee – Delta will not tell you but if you subscribe here on the blog I will always post about them.
Thank You!! I would love to try and bid on one of these cruises…
@dee – I would have LOVE to have won that one but it has to be the right price as I always harvest REAL value from my SkyPennies vs the sheepell that just blow them for tiny value!