Cruise points

[inloveindisney]

I was suprised at how doable a cruise was. I'm assuming those cruise numbers are for 2 adults? So, if I add on a child, I have to do the add on points at the bottom of the screen? Am I thinking corrrectly?

 

[DVCLiz]

I was suprised at how doable a cruise was. I'm assuming those cruise numbers are for 2 adults? So, if I add on a child, I have to do the add on points at the bottom of the screen? Am I thinking corrrectly?

No, I think those points are per person, so you need to double that number before you add on a child. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news...

 

[alldiz]

I was suprised at how doable a cruise was. I'm assuming those cruise numbers are for 2 adults? So, if I add on a child, I have to do the add on points at the bottom of the screen? Am I thinking corrrectly?

I thought that too.....then I called and found out it is per person
Man that eats a LOT of points.
Kerri

 

[Inkmahm]

Welcome to the real world.

Disney points for cruising are outrageous. I can see how anyone would make the assumption that the points listed MUST be per cabin and not per adult.

 

[PatsMom]

We're tentatively planning a cruise for Spring 2009 to celebrate DD's high school graduation (we've brainwashed her from a very early age to be pro-Disney so that is what she asked for). I decided pretty early in the research process that I would not be using points for the cruise. Even when you consider that the cruise includes meals, it just didn't seem like the best use of our points.

 

[JodyTG]

We took a Disney Cruise with our DVC points, but they were points that we would have lost if not used. (You don't want to know why...it's a long story and still makes me mad to think of people not understanding about the points...)

Yeah...it IS a lot of points, but just ask yourself this: what are you going to use the points for if not the cruise. For us, it was better to use a whole lot of points for a 4-day cruise than to lose them.

 

[inloveindisney]

Ok, I was prepared for that news. I"m thinking that I might be willing to still do it. We must look at points a little differently than most from the sounds of things. Yes, we're paying for them, but to us, it's a really cool vacation and if you have to use up extra points, then so be it-it's a room that's already paid for.

 

[Anal Annie]

The points in the top part of the chart are pp for the 1st two pp in the room. Then you move to the bottom section to determine the age of the 3rd / 4th pp and add those points in pp. They can be shocking!

There are so-o many factors involved in using points to cruise. The length of cruise, the season, the cabin category.... For next year they added a couple of other "seasons" into the charts which made the off-seasons easier to go on points but it made the peak summer & holiday seasons really high! We're going this July on a 4 n in a Cat 10 (inside deluxe - but we were able to snag one of the "secret porthole" rooms by booking 16 months out) for 392 points for the 3 of us... But if we were trying to go in 2009 the points for July went up by 65 to a total of 457 for the same Cat 10 room!! You really have to put some time into the cruise planning if you're trying to plan using points. The lower the room cat. the better off you'll be! If we moved up into a regular porthole room we would've only been able to use points for 2 of us and would've had to pay cash for DS (around $1K).

 

[owensamo]

One thing to remember is you only have to book one person on points in the room - you can book everyone else on cash. We've used points for January cruises - one this year, and one scheduled next year - and we're using under 300 points for 2 adults in the room, and paying $500 for our DD cash. So, with the exchange fee, it's a $600 out-of-pocket 7-night cruise for 3, which really can't be beat.

We figure we have the points, we've paid for them so we can vacation with them how we want to. We're getting $8-$9/point on this specific cruise, so it's really not worth the hassle to rent and pay cash. And I only have 3 weeks of vacation a year anyway, so it's not like if we *did* pay cash instead, we could use the points at another time!

Amanda

 

[tor]

We have done 4 cruises on points the first two were back in the beginning when they offered the discounted points offers in september the last two we found it a much better deal to book through costco and get the cash card and then rent our points to cover the cost of the cruise

 

[Deb & Bill]

One thing to remember is you only have to book one person on points in the room - you can book everyone else on cash. We've used points for January cruises - one this year, and one scheduled next year - and we're using under 300 points for 2 adults in the room, and paying $500 for our DD cash. So, with the exchange fee, it's a $600 out-of-pocket 7-night cruise for 3, which really can't be beat.

We figure we have the points, we've paid for them so we can vacation with them how we want to. We're getting $8-$9/point on this specific cruise, so it's really not worth the hassle to rent and pay cash. And I only have 3 weeks of vacation a year anyway, so it's not like if we *did* pay cash instead, we could use the points at another time!

Amanda

But, if you pay cash for one or more guest with you, you don't get the discounted price that DCL guests pay. You have to pay the DVC negotiated cash price which can be higher.

 

[tidefan]

We're going this July on a 4 n in a Cat 10 (inside deluxe - but we were able to snag one of the "secret porthole" rooms by booking 16 months out) for 392 points for the 3 of us...

Wow, we went on a 7-night this January in a Category 11 for 327 points for the 3 of us. I didn't think that it was that bad of a deal, especially with the extra points we got last year when we bought in...

 

[Anal Annie]

Wow, we went on a 7-night this January in a Category 11 for 327 points for the 3 of us. I didn't think that it was that bad of a deal, especially with the extra points we got last year when we bought in...

Yeah...January is a really cheap time to go if you can go then. Sometimes I wish the shorter cruises left on a Sat - that would really make the 3 n cruises more doable over a holiday weekend! But we won't pull DS out of school for a weeks vacation tho and so far I haven't been able to swallow the price of going anywhere over spring break...so we usually just travel in the summer. It's a peak season but not as high as a holiday season. Last winter DS's school timed a "professional day" with MLK weekend which meant a 4 day weekend for him so we went to WDW. But NEXT year they split it up and they have (2) 3-day weekends in a row. I was bummed...we liked having that extra day so I guess we'll probably just sit home.