Cruising on DVC Points

[MamaCrush]

Has anyone used their DVC points to "pay" for their cruise? If so, how many points did you use? We're contemplating buying into the vacation club and was just wondering. Thanks.

 

[oybolshoi]

my husband and I joined the vacation club a little more than two years ago. We are using our 2004 and 2005 point allocation for a 5-year anniversary trip next month that includes 4 night at the Beach Club Villas and a 7-night Western Cruise (we wanted a room with a verandah so we splurged and used the points for a category 6 stateroom).

For the two of us we feel like we got a great deal for this trip. And I love the vacation club - we've used our points for Concierge Collection hotels, too and it's great! If you're a big Disney fan and you like lots of travel options I think you'd get a lot value from the vacation club. Of course the best value for your points is at a vacation club resort, but I can tell you that we would never have booked a Disney Cruise if we didn't have our vacation club memebership.

Hope this helps a little!

Oybolshoi


PS - I just realized you were also asking about points. We have 250 points per year and for the entire trip with a 1-bedroom vacation home at the Beach Club Villas and a 7-night Western Cruise in a category 6 stateroom we used 497 points. The cruise itself was 394 points (value season so it was the least expensive time to cruise).

 

[dotterson]

Hi,

We seem to have lots of points, so we used them for our next cruise (and the last 2!)

We have 350 points each year and it wasn't a sacrifice since we usually visit DW every other year though we did it sooner the last 2 trips.

The cruise was 328 points for a Category 5 with Verandah. There's only 3 of us. Hope that helps.

Next trip we are doing the Poly Concierge for 2 days and the BCV 2 bedroom for 3 days. We tend to spurge on the accommodations, but that's what the extra points are good for!

d

The trick is to find a time of year when the points are less. We happened to be going the week before the holidays.

 

[wdwoldtimer]

We've used DVC points for the cruise, despite the fact that many people said it's not a good idea, the reason being, the required points tend to be on the high side and you can usually get a better deal paying cash (and renting points out if necessary).

We used points for the 4 night and it was a littler more than if we rented the points for the typical rate and paid cash. The points vs. cash difference is even greater for the 7 night cruises and is definitely not worth using points for in the busy season.

I'll have to check on the points...I think it was in the 400 range for a family of three in a Cat 6 verandah room for the 4 night, during the high season.

 

[MrsMork]

Dec 2003 we used points to take ourselves and all our kids, inlaw kids, and grandkids on a 4 day cruise with 4 nights at OKW. We banked our points from one year and had to borrow a few from this year to accomodate all of us. We have 350 points. We booked 2 cat 10 and 1 cat 11 room. There is no way we would have been able to pay cash for all 12 of us. So if using points was not the wisest financial decision, it certainly was the most fun decision for us. We had a wonderful time. I spoke to my son who lives in Phoenix a couple of days ago and he said that the night before we talked he had a dream that he was again on the Disney Cruise. That's worth it!

 

[texanlvr]

We used points for our Eastern cruise last August23, 2003. We stayed one night at the villas at Wilderness Lodge and three nights at Beach Club villas then on to our 7 day cruise. We would have never been able to ever take a Disney Cruise using cash. We are two adults and two children and we borrowed from the following year. It was well worth it and now I am trying to plan our next cruise vacation for next summer(3 or 4 day) or wait for 2006 for a 7 day. We love the vacation club!

 

[Mary Anne]

We just did the extended 7 day 8/28 cruise. It cost us 470 points for an inside delux stateroom for 4 people. I cannot tell you how many DVC people we met onboard and every single one of them booked on points.

We would do it again in a couple of years. fyi we have 400 points per year to work with.

 

[Jimbo]

We are also DVC members, and are cruising next month. But we chose to rent our points out and the DVC Rental board instead of using them directly. We found that if we used the points to book the cruise, DVC was essentially "paying" us about $6-to-$7 per point. But you can fairly easily rent those same points for $10 per point on the Rental board.

There's is a little work involved in renting. It's doesn't have to be risky, though, at least not for you. And we saved enought to pay for our airfare to Florida, and to rent a limo for our transport.

How much you save depends on how far ahead you book. DVC's prices are fixed, but if you book a year ahead, you can easily save a lot of money this way. And booking far ahead gives you a better choice of cabins, too.

 

[Hygiene99]

Originally posted by Jimbo
We are also DVC members, and are cruising next month. But we chose to rent our points out and the DVC Rental board instead of using them directly. We found that if we used the points to book the cruise, DVC was essentially "paying" us about $6-to-$7 per point. But you can fairly easily rent those same points for $10 per point on the Rental board.

There's is a little work involved in renting. It's doesn't have to be risky, though, at least not for you. And we saved enought to pay for our airfare to Florida, and to rent a limo for our transport.

How much you save depends on how far ahead you book. DVC's prices are fixed, but if you book a year ahead, you can easily save a lot of money this way. And booking far ahead gives you a better choice of cabins, too.

I would Just like to Echos What JIMBO has Said..




The way I look at it is Why not have Tip money and Some spending Verses having to pay that Also... plus the $75.00 Fee


Renting is Easy.....

 

[LenDVC92]

We are also long-time members of the Vacation Club. We've cruised twice on points, but for our cruise next month chose to pay cash.

As others have mentioned, you have to consider each trip individually. The number of points for each cruise is fixed and set over a year in advance. It does vary by stateroom category and season, but over the years the number required has continued to increase. For example, in July 2002 my wife and I sailed on a seven-night eastern cruise. It cost us 448 points for a cat. 5 stateroom. In July 2004 it would have cost 506 points. This year our Western cruise in Oct. would have been 420 points. Instead I paid about $3700 when I booked it through Dreams about six months ago. Plus I was able to take advantage of other incentives by using my Disney Visa.

Again, it depends on what season you cruise, how far in advance you book, how many points you have available for the use year in question, etc. You will always get the best value for your DVC points by using them at a DVC resort. I wouldn't buy into the DVC if your main intent is to use the points for crusing or other trades. There are much cheaper ways to do that.

You'll find a lot of discussion of this topic in the DVC forum on this site.

Len.

 

[Muushka]

I'm also with the 'pay cash and rent the points' crowd. We did a 7 day eastern this past March. We rented out 104 points and that contributed towards the cruise. It would have cost a bundle in points. We don't have a lot of points so we use them sparingly.

 

[DVCajun]

I looked into all of our options when we made our reservation. Initially we were going to use points because we wouldn't have been able to afford the cruise otherwise (all of our money is in points! ), but after looking into how many points we would need it ended up being much smarter for us to rent our points out and use the cash we got to pay for our cruise. We were able to get a stateroom with a verandah by paying cash instead of using points.

 

[Sarahsal]

We used 402 points for 4 people, cat. 9, on the 8/21/04 Eastern. Before we booked I checked around for the best cash price. While we certainly didn't get $10 a point, we did OK. It all depends on when you book. Had we booked a year earlier, I'm sure we would have done cash, but in our individual situation the difference between points and cash wasn't worth the hassle of renting. Just MHO.

 

[pogopossum]

does anyone know if i can use the voucher that i am getting from last weeks cruise, which i paid points for, to pay cash on rebook and then rent points, or will i have to use points with the voucher?

 

[JanDave]

My DH and I bought 180 points (we have no young children). We cruise on the 9/18 Magic which we paid cash since we are cruising in off season and got a deal as we booked on board when we were on the Wonder in July 2003. We used DVC points for the July 2003 Wonder cruise by banking and borrrowing points. The reason we did this is that we took our best friends and their daughter, Alyssa, who has Down Syndrome. We could never have afforded to pay cash for both staterooms and using DVC points worked for us. It was worth it to see the glow in her eyes -- seeing her hug the princesses, dancing with Dopey in the atrium, swimming in the Mickey pool, and dancing with Goofy at the sail away party. Wonderful memories. We also used points to stay at Wilderness Lodge one night after the July 2003 cruise.

On my way to the Magic in a few hours!!!

Jan