Cruising - Is it best to use points?

[Hockey Mom KQ]

We are doing the 3 night cruise on the wonder in a few weeks and now I am wondering if I did the right thing by using my points? We are staying for 5 nights at the resort, which I just paid for, then going on the cruise through my points, then staying at the Boardwalk on points. Did I do the right thing? We are looking at a 7 day cruise for next year, and I am wodering - points or cash or should I rent points?

 

[fers31]

I hate to say this but it never makes sense to use your points for a cruise. You can always find a cheaper deal online for cruises. They're very point heavy. VERY.

 

[Hockey Mom KQ]

I got that impression after reading several posts, but since this is all new to me, DIS boards and DVC, I am just trying to get my brain wrapped around it. Thanks

 

[DisneyWhirled]

It is more expensive to use points. Some people equate a point to about $10.

So, if a 4 night Wonder cruise is 504 points, that equates to about $5,040. You can likely get a Wonder cruise for less by booking cash.

HOWEVER-

It comes down to personal preference. We used our points to book our cruise because we don't have an extra $4-5K to pay for a cruise.

Using points allowed us the flexibility to go for a land/sea stay and not have to pay for the cruise (itself) at all. That worked best for our family.

When booking through MS, the great rep reminded me that we could always do split points/cash for future cruises.

I know there is also the option of renting points and using the cash, but I don't want to rent to someone I don't know.

You have to do what is best for your family.

 

[kerickson]

We are going on a 7 night DCL this Oct on points. We used our Developer Points for a vacation in '08, then banked our '08 SSR points and are using those and the '09 points for a cruise. I agree that it depends on your personal preference.

With a cruise we don't have to pay for park tickets and meals, that's over $2,000 in savings right there!

 

[Donna M]

We used our points for the cruise and plan to do the same on the new ships because we have already paid for the points and don't want to bother renting to someone we don't know.

If we take another trip with the points we saved by renting them out we then have to pay for airfare again.

Do what you feel good about.

 

[Pakey]

Doing the math, it's a very bad use of points (I'm a finance person, can't help myself) and I would never do it. However, everyone has the freedom to use their points however they wish. It's no different than buying an economy car vs a luxury car when both serve the same utilitarian purpose.

 

[Muushka]

One huge problem using points on the cruise (setting poor value aside) is the cancellation policy. We book most cruises many months in advance. Anything can happen. If you need to cancel your cruise, the points cannot be used at DVC resorts, further devaluing them. Plus the booking fee.

 

[jco_direwolf]

It depends on how you want to figure it out.

If you say your points are worth 1/50th of your point cost lets say $2/pt ($100/50 years) + say 3.50 for the MF for this year. That means your points are worth 5.50. (This I would consider to the be the floor.)

If you want to say your points are worth $10/pt but you have to put the time into "selling" this year on the trade board (so what's your time/energy worth?)

I don't track it, but I suspect more and more people are trying to sell points this year, and with the insane buy 4 days get 3 days free promotion comes to mind. But I suspect that with everything else going on, the price is on the decline.

So 500 pts at $10 it's $5000 at 5.50 its only $2,750. And if you compare that to say use it or lose it.

Would I today use my points for a cruise? No. But I can see why people would. Cruises are expensive, DVC points are sunk costs. It it works for you then it's a good deal.

Can't you get trip insurance for cruises bought on DVC points?

johno

 

[Inkmahm]

Doing the math, it's a very bad use of points (I'm a finance person, can't help myself) and I would never do it. However, everyone has the freedom to use their points however they wish. It's no different than buying an economy car vs a luxury car when both serve the same utilitarian purpose.

Same here (I'm a CPA). Except I'd say with buying different cars, you actually get different products so it may make sense for one person to buy the luxury car and another to buy the economy car. Wiith the cruise, the person paying cash or paying the higher price with points are getting the SAME product.

For those who don't want to rent points, I'd suggest doing a transfer to a fellow DVC member instead.

 

[owensamo]

We've done it - gone on 2 January cruises on points, and have booked back2back cruises next year (4night+5night) on points as well. My DH even got talked into adding on at BLT on our cruise this past January in part to support our cruising habit!

We purchased DVC to provide us with pre-paid vacations until it expires. We only have a limited number of vacation days per year, so we take the vacations we want to take. Using DVC points on our cruises allows us to pay less than we would pay cash (since we have to pay the MFs anyway) and get the vacations we want. We can effectively cruise on $95 - who can beat that?

The January cruises we got $8-$9 per point - the week we went was one of the least expensive points weeks in the year (barring hurricane season), and we figured it would be more bother than it was worth to rent the points out. We had them, we needed to use them at some point, so it worked for us.

The Back2Back we have booked is in part on developer's points from our add-on. Since we added on on the cruise, we could use our DP for a cruise and have an extra year to take it (could use the points by 10/3/2010 instead of 10/3/2009).

My DH is completely convinced that we may rent points in the future to support either cruising or travelling somewhere other than WDW. He's not at all enamored of BLT - I think the Contemp is his least favorite resort on property! So I have a feeling that we'll be renting out BLT reservations at some point so we can do other things. Being BLT, hopefully the reservations will be in demand enough that maybe we can get an extra dollar or two per point on the rentals!

Amanda

 

[jco_direwolf]

We purchased DVC to provide us with pre-paid vacations until it expires. We only have a limited number of vacation days per year, so we take the vacations we want to take. Using DVC points on our cruises allows us to pay less than we would pay cash (since we have to pay the MFs anyway) and get the vacations we want. We can effectively cruise on $95 - who can beat that?

I would argue that it's $95 effectively. It's effectively cruise * (contract/50+ MF) + $95. Your contract cost I doubt was zero, and I your MF should not be zero unless you are one that won that the SSR points for the Years of a million dreams.

Now you can use some more elaborate estimation of the price, like future value of money, or look at the market price of the points (which seems to be about $9-10/pt.)

johno

 

[edk35]

I have never cruised but when we purchased 2 years ago..our guide said that using points for a cruise is not the best use of your points however they are our points to use. He did say that if you are going to use them....use the developer points and try a 3 night cruise and pay for the kids I think is what he said back then.

 

[Anal Annie]

We used points to cruise in July 2008. Booked a 4 nighter in an "inside deluxe" Cat 10 bcuz we were able to snag one of the "secret porthole" cabins. Then we booked the 3 nighter following it on cash (in the same cabin). We booked it 16 months out in order to snag that room. Since DCL uses tiered pricing, by the time we sailed, the cash price for the 4 nighter was up to approx. $4,000. So by using points did keep $4,000 in our bank account. However, it cost us 392 points. We only have 250 points. So those 4 quick nights used over 1 1/2 years worth of our points!! We ended up HATING being out of points and took 2 trips to WDW using the DVC cash discount for our accomodations. NOT the wisest move we've ever made. If we hadn't blown the points on the cruise we would've had the points to book our rooms.

Since the 2008 point charts, they have restructured and re-allocated the cruise charts. That same 4 n cruise in July has gone up by 81 points for 2010 to I think 473 points!! And this is for an INSIDE cabin remember for only 3 people. Personally, I am no longer a fan of cruising on points. For us, that would only be 27 points shy of 2 whole years worth of points!! For only 4 nights...not worth it to me. We could have 4 whole VACATIONS for that!! NOW, they HAVE made some "seasons" more reasonable to cruise if you can go in an off peak time. But if you can only go in the summer, like us, not such a good deal.

OK, that said, if you have a bunch of developers points to burn then I'd say go for it. No harm done. But if it's coming out of your OWN points you'd better consider the value carefully.

We love DCL tho so we re-booked onboard last summer with a dummy res. for the cash discount and OBC. The re-booking discount is 10%. That can amount to A LOT of money on a longer cruise in a better cabin (verandah). A 7 nighter in the summer with a balcony could easily run $8K so that would be $800 off which would help a great bit. Plus I think the OBC was an additional $200. I'd still rather just plan to spend the cash. That way we can use our DVC points to add some land days to the trip before or after.

 

[owensamo]

I would argue that it's $95 effectively. It's effectively cruise * (contract/50+ MF) + $95. Your contract cost I doubt was zero, and I your MF should not be zero unless you are one that won that the SSR points for the Years of a million dreams.

Now you can use some more elaborate estimation of the price, like future value of money, or look at the market price of the points (which seems to be about $9-10/pt.)

johno

I know my math is fuzzy - my DH does the math and accounting in our family!

We pay our MFs regardless of whether we use the points to cruise or use them to go to WDW, etc. So for us, that's a wash - money we're going to pay regardless of the vacation we take. I know the total cost isn't $95, but out of pocket, over what our current existing expenditures are (i.e. costs we've already got figured into the budget), it's only $95. That's where that number came from.

Could we cover at least that amount by renting the points and paying cash? Probably - and in the future we might well be doing that. But for now, and for the difference in overall value ($8-9 per point vs. $10 which was average rental), it was worth it to use the points on the cruises.

Amanda

 

[rdp007phd]

It does cost alot of points. But it is a great alternative and I think it is worth saving your points up to try out, it is a very nice experience. Points are paid for, you can use your cash for something else. We used points, and I don't regret it.

It will be a wonderful experience, if you've made your reservations, its water under the bridge, sit back and look forward to a fabulous time.

 

[Muushka]

I think it is better to save your money up for a cruise rather than points. Especially if you end up paying cash to stay at WDW. But if you have a bunch of points to get rid of, I would probably rather use them for a cruise than rent them out.

 

[Inkmahm]

I would argue that it's $95 effectively. It's effectively cruise * (contract/50+ MF) + $95. Your contract cost I doubt was zero, and I your MF should not be zero unless you are one that won that the SSR points for the Years of a million dreams.

Now you can use some more elaborate estimation of the price, like future value of money, or look at the market price of the points (which seems to be about $9-10/pt.)

johno

It's more simple than that. It is really the opportunity cost which is probably points for the cruise x $10 or $11.

That's what you COULD be receiving if you transferred the points to a fellow DVC member and got cash to use to pay for the cruise at a cheaper price instead. You'd end up with the cruise AND cash left over to help pay for excursions, etc. Or, you'd have points left that you didn't need to cash in to pay for the cruise so you could bank them or use them for another trip (or days before/after the cruise at WDW like we do.)

Again, I wouldn't ever bother to rent my points to anyone. But transferring I have done and will do again, both in and out of our account.

It amazes me how many people are willing to overpay for their cruises just because they don't think of their points as an alternate currency. They ARE cash equivalents, not just points.

 

[Ed T]

We book cruises all the time using points. We just booked a 7 night Western Caribbean with 2 stops at Castaway Cay in a category 6 with balcony. the cash cost was almost $ 4300. and we are using 460 points. So it is slightly less paying cash however the effort of selling points/renting points is not worth it for me. Of course we have a second house now in Poinciana so we have to burn the 500 points a year somewhere else. Great foreclosure prices in the Poincinana/Kissimmee area.

 

[Anal Annie]

We book cruises all the time using points. We just booked a 7 night Western Caribbean with 2 stops at Castaway Cay in a category 6 with balcony. the cash cost was almost $ 4300. and we are using 460 points. So it is slightly less paying cash however the effort of selling points/renting points is not worth it for me. Of course we have a second house now in Poinciana so we have to burn the 500 points a year somewhere else. Great foreclosure prices in the Poincinana/Kissimmee area.

See, the value really depends on when you can go and for how many people. Is that for a whole family or for just 2 people? What time of year? In my previous example, a 4 night cruise in July 2010 for 3 ppl is up to 473 points in an inside cabin (Cat 10). That is more points than in your personal example and for 3 less nights. However, July is a peak period. Not everybody can travel then because of school etc. Lastly, you obviously have a sufficient number of points to cruise on a regular basis. Some of us, who are "points challenged" with only 250 / year find cruising to no longer be such a great option. (Do you also live in FL where you would have no airfare to deal with too??)

Cruising on points is relative to your point weath (i.e. how many you own). Like I said in my orig. post - if you have some Developer points to burn then go for it. Otherwise I don't think it's such a great value unless you can go in an off season.