Best use of points?
 

I've got about 450K saved up, I was planning to book a cruise but might not be able to schedule it. Any good ideas what to do with the points? Also, any sense of what an MR point is typically worth? I tend to assume $.01, which seems to be approximately the standard rate for points of any kind.

Thanks in advance!

I agree with jam flyer, the hotel + air are your best bet and second are the hotel samplers. Best to go for 7 night stays when redeeming points for your best value.

Also if you travel to Europe or like to ski, then 7-night stays at category 6 or 7 hotels in the major European cities (London, Paris, Rome, Moscow) yields a return as high as 3.5¢ per point. Vail Colorado during ski season yields a return of 2.7¢ per point for a 7 night stay. Any of these 7 night stays can be used in conjunction with the Hotel Air Travel packages mentioned in the previous post.

You need to plan way in advance for many of these properties like Vail and Rome Flora, and will also need to be flexible. Call the hotel if award nights are not available online or through the normal channels. In order to get 7 award nights sometimes you may have to actually stay more nights, like 8, 9 or 10, and pay for the additional nights (the 7 award nights do not have to be in sequence, but they do have to be during the same stay).

Thanks, those replies are very helpful. It seems like the 7-day European ones are the best match for me.