2005 DCL Points Chart is out!

[WolfpackFan]

IMO DCL sure values it's cruises highly. I guess they can pretty much get whatever price they wish. We've been on a number of cruises and I would be hard-pressed to book a DCL cruise; not when you can get comparable or better cruises at much cheaper rates on other cruise lines, regardless of whether you are using points or paying cash.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Overall, I think Disney cruises are well worth the cash price. In most cases, I do not think they are worth the points cost. I really can't imagine that at this point in the game, I would ever want to use points to cruise -- especially when looking at booking 7-day cruises.

Aside from that, the $75 fee for booking and every change can get costly. On top of that, the gamble you are taking when using points (if you need to cancel) is too much of a risk for me.

I am almost certain I will continue to pay cash for the cruise...even if I don't rent our points to pay for the cruise.

 

[RLAlden]

I too am disappointed to see the points increase, however, that just makes the decision to pay cash and rent the points easier. I do however disagree with the comment saying other cruise lines are the same or better than DCL at lower price.

We have been on over 10 cruises the last 15 years with several cruise lines. Our findings are that without a doubt DCL is the best for a family. Yes, you may pay more, but you are getting more. All of us could save serious dollars by staying offsite when we visit Orlando, but we all realized the benefit of staying on the grounds and felt that difference was worth getting into DVC for.

And seriously, if you've never been on a DCL, don't knock it. It is SO much better than Royal Carribbean, Carnival, ...when it comes to kids (and we have ages 3 -16).

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

Originally posted by CarolMN

While I respect your opinion, I do not share it. DVC members do not have to use points for cruising. I reserve my "Mooooooo's " for situations when I don't have a viable choice for something that is a necessity. Neither condition seems to apply here. [/B]

I reserve my moos for situations were Disney is obviously gouging DVCers for the point or cash price for an exchange or "special event". IMO, Disney views DVCers as the ultimate cash cow, and therefore they don't have to offer any incentives to DVCers to encourage particpation. They believe we are such big Disney fans, we'll pay twice the going rate for anything "Disney". With each trip we are getting better at giving Disney less and less vacation money.

First Member Cruise---Moo

Member Homecoming---Moo, Moo

Cost for a DC exchange year after year---Moo, Moo, Moo, Moo

Cruising on points year after year---Moo, Moo, Moo, Moo, Moo

No AP discount---Moo, Moo, Moo, Moo, Moo, Moooooooooooooo!

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

duplicate

 

[AnnaS]

aop157 - Wendy, I think it's time to give DCL a call about the summer 05 point/chart. See what they say again. They might have points only for the months that are available for '05. That is sure a big increase in points. More thinking.

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

Originally posted by CRSNDSNY
Overall, I think Disney cruises are well worth the cash price. In most cases, I do not think they are worth the points cost. I really can't imagine that at this point in the game, I would ever want to use points to cruise -- especially when looking at booking 7-day cruises.

Aside from that, the $75 fee for booking and every change can get costly. On top of that, the gamble you are taking when using points (if you need to cancel) is too much of a risk for me.

I am almost certain I will continue to pay cash for the cruise...even if I don't rent our points to pay for the cruise.

Well said Melody..........

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

Out of curiousity, I looked up some old Member Guide books the pts for cruising on the 4 day Wonder during Regular season........

This is for a catagory 6 with verandah........per person for the 1st 2 adults.

2000-135 pts each
2002-150 pts "
2004-169 pts "
2005-195 pts "

So in essence it has gone up 60 pts per person in 5 yrs. With a 26 pt increase for 2005.

 

[msdis]

Well, we did find using our points to be a worthwhile adventure but it is looking more and more like not such a good value, esp. as dues increase too. Nick, thanks for the comparison. While we have been on 2 DCL vacations, one points, one cash, both were on special and were a great value. To us a vacation dollar is a vacation dollar, points dues included, and we don't mind spending them on the cruise. But as someone else pointed out, it takes so many points to start with, you end up in points debt for years. Although we will agree DCL is the best we have experienced, for the cost difference we may look elsewhere too. We don't have kids so I can see how some can favor DCL anyways, they do have fantastic kids programs. I had someone at Disney recently tell me that DCL is sold out most weeks. Supply/demand. Unless the market changes, the cash and point prices will not come down. As long as people are willing to pay one way or another it is only good business sense to get what people are willing to pay.

I wonder how much DVC really gets when we trade out? Do people really pay rack rate cash for our rooms? Not too many of us would, that is why we own. With the points increasing in almost every option, every year, it makes me wonder if our trade outs really hold top value, if they discount and break even, or if they end up going empty losing money. Maybe the trades are not looked upon as a good value on the other end from people who trade in. I know there has to be info and stats on this but things like increases in dues and points make me think. When both go up we kind of pay twice. When you see rooms going for such drastic discounts they don't discount points too. Not to start any debates as I already know and appreciate the value of DVC (we have only traded out once & that was for DCL), but there are just some things to wonder about. We know many people who have timeshares and trade all over the world and each trade is pretty much the same. Somehow I feel like we pay the most when you compare what the points cost to purchase a 2br for a week and the dues every year but when you trade you would almost think you would pay less since there is more value in DVC. It just seems like we still pay more. Anyone else see what I am trying to say?

 

[LIFERBABE]

I definitely don't see cruising on points as a viable option for my family.

As said often, DVC points are best used at DVC Resorts. Cruising on points is almost punitive, and really should not be used as a selling point.

 

[new_yawka]

Having not yet been on DCL, I will only assume that it is wonderful (so much so that we will be paying cash for the February 13th Wonder 4 day cruise).

Regardless of the remarkeably wonderful aspects of the cruise, the use of points to pay for that experience is simply not a rasonable value. We will be paying $1777 for a room that would cost 286 points. I would prefer not to lay out the cash, but I am inclined not to give points away. So we will bank next year and have a whole heap o points for 2005 (might include DLP and WDW vacations).

Although it is dissappointing to see this type of increase, overall it is simply a reminder that DVC is only truly a value when used at the DVC resorts. As I said before, at least as far as DCL is concerned, options for trade outs seem to be getting more limited.

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

I also got a quote from Dreams Unlimited for 3 adults for Feb 20,2005.......

Catagory 6 with verandah for 3 adults is $2985. If I were to use pts it would be 454 pts(with discounted pts). I will probably rent 300 pts and use cash also now.

Would also not have to pay the $75 booking fee either.

 

[Dean]

You guys will have to forgive me if I find this thread amusing. The cruise was of questionable value at best at the lowest points totals. The current changes only reinforce my belief all along, that using points for the DCL cruise is only of value in certain situations. These would include points you would lose, short notice trips where the costs are high assuming you were willing to pay that much anyway and possibly higher cabins that are not discounted or special cruises. Even then it looks like they jacked up the price for the 10 day cruise to prove my original point.

 

[AOPI57]

Anna S- I called MS and they said no cruise points for summer 2005 are out yet but will be released shortly- whatever that means. Can't wait to see how much those points for the 7 day cruise have gone up!

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by Dean
You guys will have to forgive me if I find this thread amusing. .....(snip).....

They'll have to forgive me as well. I stand by my earlier post.

The ability to use points for non-DVC options is a convenience. It is not free - those who think the "point cost" is too high have other options and should choose one of them instead of complaining about it.


To me, using DVC points for a non-DVC option is like buying a brand name item at (insert your favorite high-end store name here) because you have a credit card there - and then complaining about the cost. The exact same brand name item is available elsewhere for a lower price, but you can't use the credit card there.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

Increasing exchange costs are worth complaining about when they are 1) dramatic and 2) occur with absolutely no explaination. The "DVC no communication policy" just leaves members to make assumptions as to why. These types of point increases do negatively affect the overall DVC vacation program options/flexibility.

When looking at the Disney Collection point increases over the past years, one would have to assume that the DVC resort's values are drastically declining while resorts like CS and POR are increasing. OR...maybe Disney is just charging a bigger "handling fee" for the exchange.

I vote for the latter.

 

[shelly3girls]

Has anyone compared the point increase to the actual cash cost increase? I remember when the prices for 2005 were first released many people on the cruise board were complaining about a HUGE increase in cost for 2005. I surely do not know the comparison of the two, but IF the cash cost increased as much (although that does seem unlikely) then the points increases are in line.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Originally posted by shelly3girls
Has anyone compared the point increase to the actual cash cost increase? I remember when the prices for 2005 were first released many people on the cruise board were complaining about a HUGE increase in cost for 2005. I surely do not know the comparison of the two, but IF the cash cost increased as much (although that does seem unlikely) then the points increases are in line.

I am not able to give you actual numbers to quantitatively analyze, but I can tell you that I only saw a noticable increase in cash cost during holiday and summer seasons. Other seasons seemed to stay the same or change only slightly.

edited to add
I'd be so curious to find out comparitively the number of DVCrs who cruise on cash vs. points. It's all supply and demand. If they keep increasing the point cost and we keep using points to cruise, they'll keep increasing the point requirement.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by CarolMN
They'll have to forgive me as well. I stand by my earlier post.

The ability to use points for non-DVC options is a convenience. It is not free - those who think the "point cost" is too high have other options and should choose one of them instead of complaining about it.


To me, using DVC points for a non-DVC option is like buying a brand name item at (insert your favorite high-end store name here) because you have a credit card there - and then complaining about the cost. The exact same brand name item is available elsewhere for a lower price, but you can't use the credit card there.

In a way I guess it's nice to have choices even if they have little or no value. OTOH, offering choices of so little value is insulting to the members, IMO.

 

[BillPA]

Just checked www.allseastravel.com to price this because we are looking at that exact sailing too. You can buy through them for $2077 without paying the $75 exchange fee. 334/2077 = 6.21 value per DVC point. Gee back out your annual dues and you'd only be getting about $2.00 for your investment. Guess I'll go cash.

I agree with DisneyBill, I can't see why anyone would use points for a cruise. My points are worth more than $2 to me.

A real NO BRAINER.