Cash or Points for Cruises? + Magical Beginnings Questioin

[PKay]

Are there any strong opinions out there whether it is better to just spend cash for crusies vs. points? For us, it would take two years of points, and maybe more for a cruise and we'd forgo a lot of time at a resort -

I am also thinking that we should not have told Disney that we'd rather have the matching bonus points for joining vs. them buying them back at $10.00 per point (or in effect - $10.00 off the initial purchase price per point)

Any strong opinions out there????

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by PKay
Are there any strong opinions out there whether it is better to just spend cash for crusies vs. points? For us, it would take two years of points, and maybe more for a cruise and we'd forgo a lot of time at a resort -

I am also thinking that we should not have told Disney that we'd rather have the matching bonus points for joining vs. them buying them back at $10.00 per point (or in effect - $10.00 off the initial purchase price per point)

Any strong opinions out there????

Using points for cruises is really a personal decision based on how you value your DVC points. Those that do not use points for cruises say that you can come out ahead by renting your DVC points (going average is $10 per point, but you may get less and you may get more). They say that if you use the cash obtained from renting your points to pay cash for the cruise, you come out ahead, money-wise. Paying cash also allows you to book earlier than 11 months ahead and thus may enable you to get a "better" cabin. It also enables you to take advantage of the early booking discounts and some of the "on board credits" are reportedly not available to DVC members who use points. Some of the higher cabin categories are not available to book with points.

All that said, using points can be very convenient and many do not want the hassle of renting out points. If you think of your DVC membership as a prepaid vacation plan and consider that your vacation budget, it may make sense to use DVC points rather than spend more $$ on vacations in order to "save" your DVC points. In summary, it just comes down to your personal values and vacation choices.

MB is pretty much the same thing - if you want and can use the first year points, then MB may not be for you. If you already took your vacation for the year and can use the "price break" then it can be just the thing. My advice is not to second guess yourself. I'm sure whatever you chose will work out just fine.

Enjoy your membership and WELCOME HOME!

 

[Dean]

I have a very strong opinion that it is not a good value but the decision is totally up to you to decide what to do with your points as everyone's situation is differetn.

 

[trishy]

We've used points for the past 2 cruises. The next one, we used points for 2 adults, paid cash for kids. Next time we're paying cash unless DVC comes up with some really impressive discounted point cruises (highly unlikely). It's just too many points to cruise now. We originally purchased our points based on the decision we wanted 2 weeks at DVC and a 7 day cruise, but the points for DCL have gone up a lot. Now we'll just have a ton of points to use at the resorts.

Here's an example of point usage:
Cat 6 (2 people) July 7 day - Western
494 points
$3,867 (w/$100 rebate DU offer)

if the points are valued at $10/pt. then that same cruise is costing $4,940. DVC does not offer stateroom credit/rebate type discounts, early booking savings, discounted booked cruises (like you hear with DU - when a booked cruise price goes down, the savings is passed along. DVC will not "refund" points if the cruise cost comes down). The other variations include the number of cash discounted cruises - point discounted cruises are rare.