Disney Cruise

[studog]

Hello
I'm still debating on buying. I see that you can sail on a cruise with your points. My question...In addition to the points, is there any cash needed as well such as transfers from the airport, port fees etc...


Thanks
Ken

 

[KLR-wlv]

I'll be the first to chime in here....The points for cruising go up about 10-15% every year....We bought more pts this year - thought Oh - maybe a cruise - and points went up - and we didn't have enough once again...They are a really poor return for your pts - you don't get much more value over your maintenance fees in some cases. BUT - if you were planning on buying over 300 pts and you just didn't go to Disney every year - and wanted to have that as a very once-in-a-while option - then that would be certainly be an option. I just think buying to cruise regularly would be a big waste of money and you'd have to keep buying pts to keep up with the increases. AS to your other question - you pay a $95 exchange fee and that is it - the pts cover everything except trip insurance. If you don't have enough points to cover everyone in your party - you have to pay the DVC negotiated rate for extra people which, from what I've heard, is higher than if you priced it paying cash thru a travel agent - so that's another issue.

I think others will agree - it only makes sense to buy into DVC if you plan on staying at the DVC resorts maybe 80% of the time or more. The other options allow them to tout the "flexibility" of DVC - but it doesn't make financial sense to buy for that reason - and those "options" are not written in stone and can go away at anytime. Only the ability to stay at DVC resorts at the current point structure is guaranteed. (They can re-allocate the points season to season - but the overall points can't go up). I still haven't used pts for anything but DVC - when I think about a Concierge club stay - and think about using 50 pts or so per night for a hotel room - when for 50 pts I could get a 2 br in high season at a dvc resort - I just can't do it!

Don't get me wrong - we have no regrets into buying - but we bought to stay at the dvc properties mainly- and we love every one of them...

 

[DisneyBill]

Tax & port charges, exchange fee, and ground travel costs can all be paid for during your booking with MS. The other items like alcohol, tips, photos, excursions will all be billed to your stateroom account on the ship. Hope you've read this current thread on this board...
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=528662
Enjoy your cruise!