12/09/06 Cruise Continued ~ Pirating Bananas DIS Geekorama Part 2

[Jhalkias]

Very nice Jordan, you got the first millenium.

I do agree with Wendy on using points - that's how we used points on our 2004 December cruise. There is something to be said about being able to say - "this 7 day cruise only cost me $75". My biggest beef in this area is that the points for the cruises keep going up and up!

I also forgot to ask while on the cruise, but no one mentioned at the DVC meet on the ship . . . the DVC re-booking discount? Have they done away with that too?

John

 

[Jhalkias]

I just checked on the DVC member website, and BTW, our cruise this year would have cost us 560 points for the three of us in the cat 8 stateroom. That would be our whole year of points plus 10 borrowed. If you can get $10 per point by renting, that is $5,600! That's a whole lot more than our cost to book this cruise with DU.

John

 

[MrsMork]

We have 250 points a VWL and 100 at BCV. We do use ours for cruises as well as for stays at WDW. We banked our points one year, used the points from current year and borrowed a few from the following to take all our kids and grandkids to WDW and on 4 day cruise. I don't think we would ever have saved enough $$ to do that trip. We have never tried renting our points. I am just a bit leary of having strangers using my points and it just seems so much easier to call Member Services and say "book it please".

 

[MrsMork]

John, have you looked at the DCL points for 2006? They actually have gone down a few from 2005. We are using points for DD and DSIL for this cruise and are getting discounted points because I called within 3 days of returning from 2005 cruise. We stay in Cat 11 and will be getting their cabin for 156 points each. We will have to borrow a few points from 2007 to cover 5 days at OKW for 12 of us. We will still have enough points for a WDW stay in 2007.

 

[MrsMork]

Update:

Rebooked Disneyland for December 1-8th...

So if I am not completely broke come December 10th, you just might see me on again..

Until then, I have my 2/18 Eastern to give me a fix...

Will your grandma come with you?

 

[MrsMork]

Well time to hit the hay....See ya in the morning for more football....

Well, your teams may not have done a lot of scoring, but you did! 1000 Way to go, Jordan!

 

[MrsMork]

Hey! I saw the sun yesterday! It only lasted about a half hour, but it was definately there! I even turned off the lights as there was light streaming in through the windows. Of course as soon as I got them all shut off......

 

[Jhalkias]

Angie,

Thanks for the info on your rebooking with points - I actually did NOT notice that the points had gone down a bit. I also forgot about booking within 3 days of cruising, and found it curious that they did not mention it at the DVC meet. If we cruise again in 2007, it may very well be on points. No points chart out yet for 2007 though . . .

We also brought family along once (a 3 day) that we would not have been able to afford if we had to pay for it.

We were discussing what we might do for the next one - no question that there will be a next one - just when. We both agree that the holidays just felt strange this year with the cruise and WDW sandwiched in there. There were other factors too, so we will see how it goes this year. One thing that may influence a future decision is this group - we really had a nice time, and enjoyed the nice company of everyone. It is always better with friends.

We used to take our cruises during value season - January/Feb - and the weather is very similar to these December cruises. It is also good to see the sun and get out of the snow in Ohio during that time. Of course you miss the festive look of the ship and the parks. We'll see.

We may be booking a January/Feb 2008 next time.

John

 

[MrsMork]

John, did you use points for this cruise? The notification about the discounted points if booking within 3 days was in our "Welcome Aboard packet" from DVC. I'm not sure if you can get that if you aren't sailing with points on the current cruise. I was a bit worried that they wouldn't give us the discount because we are booking for DD and DSIL and not ourselves, but member services had no problem with that. We also were 12 months out and can not book until 11 months (MONDAY!!!), but they just noted in our file that I had called within those 3 days and said when I call back in Jan it would still be available to me. Nice company to work with!

 

[dutch_girl_scout]

I've requested the info for DVC to be sent, but don't know much about it. We were thinking that it might be something we'd be interested in doing since we caught this Disney sickness, and our future trips would probably be mostly "off-season" and during the week which I gather takes less points. Is renting points from someone something I should investigate for our two nights pre-cuise? We were thinking about staying at either the Poly or the Beach Club. Both rates were around $300400 per night. Thanks for your input.

 

[Jhalkias]

Angie,

We did not cruise on points this time, so we did not get any of the info in our room. Interesting though . . . on our Dec 2004 cruise, we did call within three days, and it would be noted in our file, etc. I never did use that, but, if I wanted to use points for some future cruise, I wonder if I could still use it at the 11 month window? Wonder if it is still noted on my profile? BTW Angie, have you checked out the member web site lately? You can review your account now, point balance, and vacation plans. Really nice!

Dutchgirl - as to renting points, many people have good experiences doing that. I have only rented points to someone once, when they were about to expire and I had to have them used. It worked out fine. There is a DVC Rent/trade board here that has lots of good info. For the nights you are looking for (I am assuming Thursday and Friday) for a one-bedroom at Beach Club it would be 67 points 45 for Friday, and 22 for Thursday. A Studio would be 34 points, and is similar to a hotel room. It would be 22 points for Friday and 12 for Thursday - a studio sleeps 4. Most would tell you that the going rate is about $10 per point, but I have seen them rent lower - at $7-$8. It's all supply and demand. December

John

 

[pjpoohbear]

Brithday; September 24th, no year, not needed, won't be given, so don't ask, lol.

 

[GoofyFD]

My birthday is May 14th. Emily's is Oct 19.... What would I be looking at if I wanted a one or two bedroom for Spring-brake? I'm scared to hear the answer.
Mark

 

[GoofyFD]

How our all the new dogs in our group?
I just came back from "Obedinece 101" with our four legged D/D. It was a lot of fun! aw:

 

[lbgraves]

Just an FYI...I am not updating the site right now. I do have info for two families but with our current set up in the family room I just can't deal with the website & be sure that the work will be right. Please PM me your bdays because there isn't any paper or pen nearby for me tomake a note of any posts & I know that they will disappear in the thread in a few days.

I mentioned that we decided to paint the room since the furniture was out of it already due to the new carpet? Well, the green paint wont cover with the new paint so we are going to have to put up two coats of primer before the new paint. Here it is in the 40s & 50s & we are painting. OY! LOL! Who knows what I may post with all the paint fumes in this house this week.

 

[Jhalkias]

Mark,

Let me know the exact dates you are thinking about when you say spring break, and I can look at the point charts and give you an idea. If you PM me with an email, I can also email you points charts as a PDF file. Just let me know what resort(s) you want to know about.

We go to our first puppy class - without Lexi - on Tuesday. Tomorrow she has her second vet appointment. She seems to be doing very well with a couple of exceptions - nipping/biting - especially fingers and toes and the bottoms of my blue jeans! I have tried just about everything to stop her - coins (effective for a day) spray bottle of water (she likes getting sprayed in the face), hitting her nose with my open hand when she tries to bite (she thinks it is part of the game). About the only thing that I can do that has been somewhat effective is holding her muzzle, putting her on her back, and staring into her eyes until she stops growling and whines to be let go. Then she leaves me alone and goes on to DS. We will be asking for more ideas on this. Oh, and the "bitter spray" - no effect on her with the stuff that I bought.

Potty training is progressing - just wish it would get cold and stay cold so that all the mud would FREEZE!. Going in and out so much has made a mess of my yard off the deck, mud, mud, and more mud. And when I don't step in mud, I sometimes step in "you know what".

On the plus side, she is a lot of fun. Can already fetch when we throw her toys. And, the next minute after nipping you can be snuggling right up to you.

John

 

[mum of two pirates]

I was just looking at my wdw bok and was woundering if we all could do the grand gatherings page. So it would have everybodys hotels and were they are going to cindys breakfast on which day, if we wanted. The web page is great Lisa, maybe in a couple of days I will get our stuff typed in. I had the boys write up Bios, but are we supposed to send them to your e-mail or p.m. them to you? I havent looked into the page or anything yet but I will see what it is about. Has anyone thought about sharring a limo to the ship yet? Mum of two pirates

 

[lbgraves]

Either way works for me. Just be sure that you get your email to me so that I can send you updates. There are four who I keep getting error reports back on...Darci, Suzanne, dutch girl, & Lisa W. PLMK if you are getting my emails. Usually you just need to add my email to your address book to stop it from refusing it.

 

[LiserAnn]

Either way works for me. Just be sure that you get your email to me so that I can send you updates. There are four who I keep getting error reports back on...Darci, Suzanne, dutch girl, & Lisa W. PLMK if you are getting my emails. Usually you just need to add my email to your address book to stop it from refusing it.

Hey Lisa-that's strange...I added you to my addy book after your first email to me. The last email I received from you was regarding the boys emailing each other. I responded to it and that's all I've seen. I really don't know what else to do?!

 

[MrsMork]

I've requested the info for DVC to be sent, but don't know much about it. We were thinking that it might be something we'd be interested in doing since we caught this Disney sickness, and our future trips would probably be mostly "off-season" and during the week which I gather takes less points. Is renting points from someone something I should investigate for our two nights pre-cuise? We were thinking about staying at either the Poly or the Beach Club. Both rates were around $300400 per night. Thanks for your input.

If you are interested let us know. You can use the name of a DVC member as a referral friend and get a 15% discount until Feb 1. That is quite a savings for you. I don't think the member gets anything, but we would be happy to have you use our name, or John's.