Costco has earned a loyal following for its bulk bargains, but its Costco Travel division is still a bit of a sleeper hit, especially for couples planning a getaway. From Hawaii packages to European river cruises and adults-only beach escapes, Costco Vacation Packages promise bundled savings, member-only perks and an almost concierge-like booking experience.
Yet the real question for couples is not simply whether Costco offers vacations, but whether those vacations genuinely deliver better value, flexibility and romance than alternatives like booking directly with airlines and hotels or using online travel agencies. That question only makes sense once you understand Costco Travel packages in detail, before weighing how well they align with a couples-focused trip.
How Costco Vacation Packages Work for Couples
Costco Travel functions as a full-service travel agency that is only available to Costco members. Its vacation packages typically bundle flights, hotel or resort stays and often extras such as breakfast, ground transportation, resort credits or a digital Costco Shop Card.
For couples, that can mean a single, streamlined booking instead of juggling multiple reservations. While the inventory is not as vast as a giant online travel agency, Costco focuses on brand-name hotels, major cruise lines and well-reviewed all-inclusive resorts that appeal to mainstream travelers.
Every Costco member, regardless of tier, gets access to the same baseline travel pricing. Executive Members do not always see lower sticker prices for the same package, but can receive extra benefits like resort or spa credits, shipboard credits or digital shop cards that effectively reduce the overall cost of the trip.
Costco also emphasizes value over pure rock-bottom pricing, favoring properties that have strong reputations for service and cleanliness. For couples, this can reduce the research burden, because the worst offenders in a destination are largely filtered out.
Costco Vacation Packages are most commonly associated with classic leisure destinations like Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe and theme park hubs. Within those, couples will find everything from adults-only seaside resorts to boutique Maui hotels marketed specifically under “Adult Escapes.”
These curated collections highlight properties that focus on quiet pools, elevated dining and more upscale atmospheres rather than family-oriented amenities. For partners looking for an easy, romantic week away, that curation can matter more than saving the last dollar.
Membership Tiers, Rewards and What They Mean for Your Trip Budget
To book any Costco Vacation Package, you must hold at least a standard Gold Star or Business membership. As of late 2025, a Gold Star membership costs about the mid-double digits per year while the Executive tier costs roughly twice that amount.
The crucial difference for travelers is that Executive Members earn an annual 2 percent reward on qualifying Costco purchases, including eligible Costco Travel bookings once travel is completed. That reward is not issued instantly, but it appears as a certificate around the time your membership renews and can be redeemed in warehouses or converted into a Costco Shop Card that can offset future travel costs.
Importantly, all Costco members see the same base travel prices. The extra value for Executive Members comes from that 2 percent reward plus Executive-only extras that Costco periodically layers onto select packages. These can include daily breakfast for two, resort credits that function like onboard cash, complimentary room upgrades when available, waived resort fees or sizable digital Costco Shop Cards. For a couple booking a multi-thousand-dollar vacation, the combined effect of these perks can be meaningful, often covering several dinners or a chunk of the next trip.
Whether it is worth upgrading from a standard membership to Executive specifically for a vacation package depends on your total annual Costco spending. If you are already close to breaking even on the higher fee through regular shopping, adding a large travel purchase can easily push you into clear savings territory.
For example, a couple spending several thousand dollars on a Costco cruise or all-inclusive resort can see a reward in the low hundreds from that one trip alone, in addition to whatever they earn on household shopping. If Costco is only an occasional stop in your life and this is your one big travel purchase of the year, the math becomes more marginal.
Where Couples Tend to See the Biggest Value
Costco Vacation Packages are not designed for every kind of traveler, but for certain couples they are particularly compelling. One clear sweet spot is adults-only beach resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean. Costco’s “Adult Escapes” portfolio highlights resorts where children are not allowed, and packages frequently roll in airport transfers, all-inclusive dining, premium-brand drinks, spa credits and digital Costco Shop Cards.
For a pair that wants a predictable, no-surprises price for a week of lounging, eating and spa time, these bundled inclusions can outcompete many do-it-yourself itineraries once you add up all the line items.
Hawaii is another area where Costco frequently shines for couples. Packages often pair well-known hotels on Maui, Oahu, Kauai or the Big Island with daily breakfast, resort or food-and-beverage credits and sometimes waived resort fees.
For couples who prefer to explore during the day but appreciate the convenience of included breakfasts and on-property amenities, these extras can provide hundreds of dollars in added value without raising the package price. When airfare is bundled, Costco’s contracted rates sometimes undercut booking flights and hotels separately, though that is destination and date dependent.
Cruises also tend to be strong value plays. Costco partners with major cruise lines and often adds its own onboard credit or digital shop card on top of whatever promotion the cruise line itself is running.
Couples who enjoy cruising will recognize that onboard credit can pay for specialty dining, shore excursions or spa treatments that make a romantic sailing feel more indulgent. Because the base cruise fares are usually in line with or slightly better than other large agencies, these layered benefits can tilt the overall value in Costco’s favor.
Where the Packages Fall Short for Certain Couples
Despite the advantages, Costco Vacation Packages are not the ideal choice for every couple. One of the biggest drawbacks is limited customization compared with building your own itinerary. Packages typically offer a finite set of hotels, room categories and flight options.
While you can often tweak travel dates and departure airports, more intricate requests such as multi-city open-jaw flights, boutique independent properties or extended stopovers can be difficult or impossible to configure inside Costco’s system. Couples who prize ultra-tailored adventures, such as combining several off-the-beaten-path regions or booking small guesthouses, may find Costco’s structure too constraining.
Another limitation is that Costco tends to focus on mainstream leisure destinations and well-known hotel brands. If you and your partner are searching for lesser-known islands, remote eco-lodges or hyper-local city neighborhoods, you may not find them in the Costco portfolio.
Similarly, if you are chasing niche experiences like high-end expedition cruises, small-group trekking in emerging destinations or highly customized wine and culinary tours, a specialist travel advisor or direct bookings may serve you better than a mass-market package provider.
Flexibility can also be a concern, particularly for couples whose schedules may change. Like most package providers, Costco Travel is bound by the change and cancellation policies of the airlines, hotels and cruise lines it uses. Its own terms emphasize that revisions and cancellations can incur fees from suppliers and that some air tickets are nonrefundable or have strict change rules.
While hotel-only bookings often have more lenient policies, full air-and-hotel packages are usually not as flexible as separately booked, fully refundable components. Couples who want the ability to shift plans with minimal cost should carefully review cancellation windows and consider adding trip protection.
Pricing Transparency, Protections and the Booking Experience
Costco’s reputation for straightforward pricing largely carries over into its travel arm. Package prices are usually quoted per person based on double occupancy, with clear breakdowns of what is included and what is not. The fine print typically notes exclusions such as resort fees where applicable, gratuities, optional insurance and certain taxes or surcharges that may be paid on arrival.
For couples, that transparency can make it easier to compare a Costco package with a do-it-yourself itinerary, provided you take the time to match inclusions like transfers, breakfasts or resort credits on both sides of the comparison.
Booking through Costco Travel offers an additional layer of consumer protection versus stitching together a trip purely through disparate websites. If there is a schedule change, an overbooking situation or a problem on arrival, you have an established company to advocate on your behalf.
That can be reassuring for couples, particularly on milestone trips such as honeymoons, anniversaries or long-haul vacations where the financial and emotional stakes feel higher. Customer support is generally available by phone during extended business hours, and agents can assist with modifications within the constraints of airline and hotel policies.
However, booking with Costco means relinquishing some of the instant fine-tuning possible on do-it-yourself booking engines. While the Costco website continues to improve, some modifications or special requests still require a phone call, and agent wait times can vary during peak seasons.
Expedia-style interfaces often allow granular control over each flight leg, room type and add-on; Costco sometimes prioritizes simplicity over total control. For couples who enjoy the planning process as much as the trip itself, or who like to micromanage every detail, that streamlined model can feel limiting rather than liberating.
Comparing Costco Packages to DIY and Online Travel Sites
To judge whether Costco Vacation Packages are worth it for couples, it is essential to compare real-world scenarios. When you price an adults-only all-inclusive resort in Mexico for a week in high season, for example, Costco’s base package price might be similar to or slightly lower than what you could assemble by booking flights and hotel separately through a big online agency.
The difference often emerges in the bundled adds: airport transfers, daily spa or resort credits, included breakfasts or digital Costco Shop Cards that effectively act as cash back. Those extras, layered on top of a competitive rate, can nudge Costco into the better-value column.
On the other hand, there are situations where DIY wins. Highly competitive airfare sales, especially on routes with low-cost carriers, may not be fully reflected in Costco’s packaged pricing. If you snag an exceptional flight deal independently and pair it with a promotional hotel rate, you might beat a Costco package in pure dollars, particularly if you are willing to trade down slightly in room category or location.
Travel hackers who juggle airline miles, hotel points and elite-status perks can sometimes assemble packages that deliver luxury at a fraction of the retail cost, something Costco cannot replicate within its standardized offerings.
There is also the question of loyalty program benefits. Some hotel chains are inconsistent about honoring elite perks like upgrades, late checkout or points accrual on third-party package bookings.
While many couples will not notice or care, frequent travelers who value elite recognition may prefer to book directly with hotel brands to ensure those benefits apply. Costco’s focus is on tangible, upfront value, but it may not align with a long-term points and status strategy that some couples pursue together.
Best-Use Strategies for Couples Considering Costco Travel
For couples who are open to using Costco Travel, a few strategies can maximize value. First, focus on trip types where Costco’s strengths are clear: adults-only all-inclusive resorts, mainstream cruises, Hawaii and other popular resort destinations.
These are the categories where Costco’s negotiating power tends to secure high-value extras and where the convenience of bundling flights, hotel and transfers is most pronounced. For complex, multi-stop itineraries or deeply offbeat adventures, reserve Costco for the parts of the journey that fit its model, such as a pre- or post-cruise stay in a major city.
Second, run the numbers with your membership tier in mind. If you already hold an Executive Membership or routinely spend enough at Costco to justify upgrading, treat the 2 percent reward on travel as a discount that will arrive later. For a couple booking a sizable trip, that deferred savings is not trivial, especially if you redeem your reward toward routine Costco shopping.
If you rarely shop at Costco outside of travel, be realistic: chasing rewards may not offset the higher membership fee unless you are planning a particularly large or repeated series of trips.
Finally, compare apples to apples when shopping around. When you pit a Costco package against a DIY itinerary or an offer from an online travel site, make sure you include all taxes, fees, resort charges, transfers and the monetary value of any credits or shop cards.
Also consider intangibles such as the time you will spend piecing together the trip versus the convenience of a one-stop booking. For busy couples with demanding jobs or family obligations, the time saved and the peace of mind of having a major company stand behind the booking can be worth as much as a modest price difference.
The Takeaway
For many couples, Costco Vacation Packages represent a pragmatic sweet spot between budget-conscious travel and effortless planning. They are rarely the absolutely cheapest way to travel, nor are they designed for highly customized, edge-of-the-map experiences.
Instead, they excel at delivering solid four-star-style vacations and cruises to popular destinations at fair prices, enhanced by extras that feel disproportionally generous compared with relying solely on hotel or cruise line promotions.
If you and your partner gravitate toward adults-only resorts, classic beach getaways, mainstream cruises or stress-free Hawaii trips, Costco Travel is often worth serious consideration, particularly if you already hold or plan to leverage an Executive Membership.
Couples who delight in designing complex, bespoke itineraries, or who live and breathe points and elite status, may find better value elsewhere. Ultimately, Costco Vacation Packages are worth it for couples who prioritize reliability, bundled value and straightforward planning over extreme bargain-hunting or maximum personalization.
FAQ
Q1: Do Costco Vacation Packages actually save couples money compared with booking everything separately?
In many cases they do, especially for adults-only all-inclusive resorts, cruises and Hawaii packages where Costco layers in extras like resort credits, daily breakfast or digital shop cards at competitive base prices. However, there are scenarios where a carefully constructed do-it-yourself itinerary, particularly one using fare sales or travel points, can come out cheaper, so it is wise to compare at least one alternative quote.
Q2: Is an Executive Membership necessary to get good value from Costco Travel as a couple?
No, standard Gold Star and Business members have access to the same core travel pricing. An Executive Membership mainly adds the 2 percent annual reward on qualifying purchases and occasional extra perks such as resort credits or upgrades on select packages. Those benefits can significantly enhance value for couples who already shop at Costco regularly or who are planning a high-cost trip, but they are not a requirement to benefit from Costco Travel.
Q3: Are Costco Vacation Packages good for honeymoons and anniversaries?
They can be, particularly if you are looking for a hassle-free, romantic stay at a well-known resort or an upscale cruise. Costco’s adults-only and “Adult Escapes” offerings are tailored to couples and often include perks like spa credits, champagne on arrival or room categories with better views. For ultra-customized honeymoons that involve multiple off-the-grid locations, though, a specialist travel planner or direct bookings may serve you better.
Q4: Can we still earn hotel or airline loyalty points when we book through Costco Travel?
Airline miles on flights are usually still earned as normal when your tickets are issued in your names, but hotel and cruise loyalty treatment is more mixed. Some hotel brands may not award points or recognize elite benefits on package bookings made through third parties. Couples for whom elite status, upgrades or point accrual are a high priority should confirm policies with the specific brand before deciding to book through Costco.
Q5: How flexible are Costco Vacation Packages if our plans change?
Flexibility depends heavily on the underlying airline and hotel cancellation policies attached to your package. Costco’s terms note that changes and cancellations can incur supplier fees, and some air tickets are nonrefundable or have strict change rules. Hotel-only bookings tend to be more forgiving than full air-and-hotel packages. Couples who anticipate possible schedule shifts should scrutinize penalty windows, consider travel insurance and potentially pay more for flexible options when available.
Q6: Are Costco Vacation Packages suitable for couples who prefer boutique or off-the-beaten-path destinations?
Generally, Costco focuses on mainstream leisure destinations and recognizable hotel brands, so its offerings are less suited to boutique guesthouses, remote eco-lodges or very niche locations. If your ideal trip involves small locally owned properties or obscure islands and villages, you may find Costco’s inventory too limited. In that case, you might use Costco for a portion of your travel, such as a city stay or cruise, and book the rest independently.
Q7: What kinds of extras do couples typically get on Costco packages?
Common extras include daily breakfast for two, resort or spa credits, complimentary room upgrades when available, digital Costco Shop Cards that function like cash back, included airport transfers and sometimes waived or reduced resort fees. On cruises, couples often receive onboard credit that can be used for specialty dining, drinks, shore excursions or spa treatments. The exact mix of extras varies by destination, season and membership tier.
Q8: Are there hidden fees we should watch for in Costco Vacation Packages?
While Costco is generally transparent, couples should still read the fine print. Exclusions can include resort fees, certain local taxes, tips and gratuities, optional insurance, checked baggage fees and paid activities not specified in the package. Make sure you factor those into your overall budget when comparing against other booking options, and verify whether the quoted price is per person or total for two based on double occupancy.
Q9: Is Costco Travel a good option for a quick couples’ weekend rather than a long vacation?
It can be, particularly for hotel-only deals in major cities, beach destinations or popular resort areas where Costco has negotiated favorable rates and occasionally includes extras like breakfast or parking. However, the biggest relative value often appears on longer, higher-priced trips where credits and rewards add up. For a simple weekend, you may find similar pricing by booking directly with the hotel, especially if you have loyalty status, so it is worth checking both.
Q10: How should couples decide if a specific Costco Vacation Package is worth it?
Start by pricing out the same or very similar trip on at least one other platform or through direct bookings, matching dates, room categories and flight times as closely as possible. Then place a dollar value on Costco’s extras such as breakfast, transfers, credits and any Executive rewards you expect to earn. If Costco’s total effective cost is lower or roughly equal while offering more convenience or better protections, it is likely a good deal. If not, you may be better off constructing the trip yourself or exploring offers from other travel providers.