disney cruise: points or cash

[spartacus]

Since the disney Cruise has gone up in the amount of points neee for a reservation, wouldn't it be better to pay cash and save the points or rent the points to cover the cash?
Any ideas or other suggestions.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

I think whatever you are comfortable with is what's best for you. I used to always sing the praises of renting and using the cash for the cruise but for a variety of reasons I changed my mind. Financially speaking it is still better to rent your points and use the cash to pay for the cruise but there are many other factors that need to be considered as well. Everything from do you feel comfortable renting the points to total strangers to do you have enough knowledge of the system to rent points to those who will depend on you?

I now tell anyone who will listen to use of your points inh a way that will make you the happiest. It might not be how I use mine but that doesn't matter.

HBC

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

We booked the cruise the second we could then I found the disboards. When I first realized it would have been cheaper to rent and pay cash I was bummed. But as I approach our cruise and realize how hassel free it is to just use the points and be done with it. I think we will book our cruise again with points. It is really so easy.

 

[st92jmdc]

We used points for our upcoming cruise. We didn't want to got though the hassle of renting out our points, and since we recently used a good amount of money for our downpayment on SS, we found that it was easier to just use the points.

But that's just our oppinion / situation.

Others will like to rent their points out.

 

[AEN]

Originally posted by 3DisneyNUTS
We booked the cruise the second we could then I found the disboards. When I first realized it would have been cheaper to rent and pay cash I was bummed. But as I approach our cruise and realize how hassel free it is to just use the points and be done with it. I think we will book our cruise again with points. It is really so easy.

We did the same thing. As an accountant, I wanted to try to rent out the points and pay cash to maximize our dollar. DW just said that she wanted to make it easy and smooth and used the points. Who am I to complain.... She handled everything. And it was great.

 

[maminnie]

Spartacus:

I responded to your thread but created a new thread by accident. It is entitled 'DCL points are getting so high'.

Sorry for the confusion, maminnie

 

[married@wdw]

I was just like AEN's wife. DH and I did a cruise is January and while I knew the points were high (and have gotten higher since), we didn't have the cash and going through renting out our points was just too much hassle for me! I recommend doing what you're most comfortable with.

If you have the time and patience to rent your points, it'll probably save you a nice chunk of money. But if you don't have the cash and don't want to go through the trouble of renting, just use the points. In the end, as long as you get the vacation you want without breaking the bank financially, you'll be happy!

 

[Tiggeriffic]

My family took a cruise and used a points/cash combination back in April of 2003. At that time, it worked out well for us. However, for our upcoming cruise in 2005, it was going to be so many points, that even if I borrowed, I still would only be able to pay for one person with points. Also, when I looked at what I would have to pay for the other 3 people, it was almost as much as I ended up paying for the whole thing when booking with Dreams Unlimited.

My advice is to look at the various options and then make a descision. I compared several of the recommended travel agencies and DCL direct with the DVC points and cash option. I wanted to use our points for part or all fo the cruise, but it didn't work out for us. We're just saving those points so that we can have a bigger vacation next time.

 

[StormalongKay]

We knew we wanted to do the Wonder 4 day Cruise when we were buying into DVC. So we just applied the money we had already saved for the cruise to our deposit for DVC. For us, that worked perfectly even though it wasn't the best "use" of the points economically.

You should run the scenario both ways. For example, get your cash rate quoted to you from the most competitive source and then compare that to the price you would receive from renting the points it would take you to do the cruise. If its only a small difference, why bother? Renting always carries with it some risk/aggravation. Although it seems that points are going for higher dollars recently on the rent/trade board.

Good luck & have a great cruise!!!

 

[DIZNYFAN]

CASH we did the math and it was better to rent out the points and pay cash for it it made us money. We rented out the number of points we would have needed to use for the cruise and paid cash and paid for our dues and still had money left for spending while we are there.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by spartacus

Since the disney Cruise has gone up in the amount of points neee for a reservation, wouldn't it be better to pay cash and save the points or rent the points to cover the cash?
Any ideas or other suggestions.

It always has been, just even more so with the points increase.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

Disney rips DVC members for a DCL trade. It is the perfect example of the DVCer cash cow treatment.

Mooooooooooooooooo!!!

If your comfortable with how DVC works and you plan ahead, rent points and pay cash. Why give Disney hundreds of extra points for nothing??

 

[kellyb2000]

Does anyone mind sharing about how many points it takes for say, a four-day cruise? I know there are many factors that would be envolved but just a ball park amount. Of all the threads I've read about points for cruising, I've never read one that actually has a number. Just curious.

 

[DisneyBill]

In 2004, during regular season, a 4 nite cruise, in a category 6 (verandah) is...

1st & 2nd person 169 points each
13 year old + 84 points each
6-12 year old 77 points each

 

[MommaluvsDis]

June 2005
Cat 11
131 points for the first two and 96 for the third person

 

[kellyb2000]

See if I got this straight....

The going rental rate is around $9/point. (got that just from skimming the other board)

Using the Cat. 11 numbers - the value of a 4 day cruise for 2 adults (262 points) would be $2358?

That's just craziness.

 

[dvcmomdeh]

We are hoping for a cat 8 and cat 11 across from each other. With 4 adult size people, DH, myself, 17 yo DS and 14 yo DD, we need two bathrooms and more dressing space. This will be our 3rd cruise.... We are not interested in the veranda's (cash or points) did that the first cruise and it was underutilized.

We are looking at value season December 2005

This is what we want:

Cat 11 149 pts for 1 person, deck 7 w/cash person at $1112
Cat 8 388 pts for 2 people, deck 7

Cat 11 149 pts for 1 person, deck 7 w/cash person at $1112
Cat 7 426 pts for 2 people, deck 7

The same point/cash options for deck 6 and deck 5

The secret porthole rooms usually go first so I didn't even check amounts for those.

I think this is our best choice:

Cat 9 172 pts per person so 172x4=688 or 172x 3 516 w/$1252
OR
Cat 9 172x2 and cat 10 157x1 and $1252 for a total of 501

I will never charge another vacation. If I can't use points or pay cash we aren't going. I think for the extra 15 points We'll do the two cat 9's.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by kellyb2000
See if I got this straight....

The going rental rate is around $9/point. (got that just from skimming the other board)

Using the Cat. 11 numbers - the value of a 4 day cruise for 2 adults (262 points) would be $2358?

That's just craziness.

Actually $9 pp is a little low. It appears to be more in the $10 pp or just over at present for non distressed points. AN even worse value.

 

[MommaluvsDis]

The cruise cost for 2 with the same stateroom (cat 11) at the same time would be $2,079 according to the Disney Cruise Line web site.

It is costing us 262 points. Now, if you multiply that by the going rent rate of $10 per point that comes to $2620 assuming you do not run into problems selling your points, you get at least $10 per, etc.

Having said that, yes, you would be money ahead by renting out your points and paying cash. And a lot of people go that route. DH and I bought points for the main reason of using them to cruise. That's what we like to do. We're paying for the points anyway so, for us at this time, it's less hassle to do it this way. To each his/her own. I'm sure, as time goes by and I learn more about renting out my points, I very well may go that route. But, for now, this suits us.

 

[Tinkmom]

Originally posted by kellyb2000
See if I got this straight....

The going rental rate is around $9/point. (got that just from skimming the other board)

Using the Cat. 11 numbers - the value of a 4 day cruise for 2 adults (262 points) would be $2358?

That's just craziness.

Well, like many things, it is not that simple. If you happen to book "onboard" (actually within 3 days after a cruise) you could book a cat 11, 4-day cruise for two adults for 71 points each. That is the cost applicable to over half of the 4-day sailings in 2005.

The point chart is really strange to me in that some sailings seem extremely high while others are not bad at all, definitely worth using points for. The chart must be factored in with how far in advance you are booking to determine which sailings are good values. If you are booking well in advance for a busier season then you would nearly always do better to rent your points and pay cash (if you were comfortable renting and wanted to deal with that) but if you were booking shorter notice for value season, especially cat 11, booking on points can be a good deal.