Disney Cruise and points

[wanderlust72]

Does anyone have any experience with using your points for a Disney Cruise? Do you feel it's worth it? How many points is a typical 7 days cruise for a family of 4?

We do the cruising more than the resorts, and I am trying to figure out if it would be worth it...

 

[CarolMN]

The best value of DVC is using the points to stay at a DVC resort.

Don't buy DVC if you plan to mainly use it to cruise - you'll be much better off paying cash for the cruises & booking it in advance.

Unlike the DVC resorts, the points required for a cruise can (and have) changed every year. Most of the time they go up.

Cruising on points is a nice option to have for a change of pace, but it's just not a good value to do it on a regular basis by using points.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Carol stated in correctly. Buy DVC if you want to stay in DVC resorts. We have been members for nearly 11 years. We did the four night cruise once on points, way back when it wasn't nearly as points-high for the trip. But we used up all our points for two years to do it. We are a family of three and we had a Category 6 stateroom with veranda.

It's okay for once in a while, but until they get a DVC ship (that's not even in the books that we know if, but it would be nice), not the best use of your points.

 

[iloveokw]

We used our points for the NYE cruise this past December. The only reason we did it was because I had messed up and were going to lose ALOT of points. For the three of us in a Catagory 6 (balcony) stateroom it was OVER 900 points - plus the $95 booking fee. It is not a good use for your points unless you have ALOT to just burn.

 

[SnowWhite2]

We just got back last month from a trip booked on points. It was a cat 8 for 4 of us. We had an on-board booking for $4200. The points were 472. The cost of purchase and dues for those points averaged less than $6/point or about $2800. Yes, I could have sold those points for about $4720 but the extra $500 in hassle was not worth it to me. I think I had an excellent use of points for this trip.

I'm trying to use points for a NYE 09 cruise to burn my developer points. I have an on-board booking for a cat 11, two people for $3500. The point total is 510. I will have to use 350 real points for this cruise plus my developer points. The kicker is this room for my kids. I still have a cat 8 room booked for DH and me. This is not a good use of points. I might just wave goodbye to my developer points.

 

[Dean]

If you're trying to decide about buying, that's easy, don't buy to use points for cruises. It's a poor deal usually netting you a value of between $6-7 per point compared to usual early booking discounts. It can and has changed in the past, usually to be more expensive. And the option could be discontinued at ANY time. It you did book on points and wanted to do part on cash, you have to pay in full at the time of booking. If you booked using points and later cancelled, the points are no longer DVC points and can't be used for DVC options, only some of the trade options like DCL, DC, CC. The only exception might be if you're on the cruise already and book the next trip. Just look at the hard comparisons of cash vs points and decide for yourself. But you could still buy in with less points and take advantage of DVC.

 

[Anal Annie]

We have a 4 n. cruise booked on points for July 20, which is a peak season. It cost us 392 points for the 3 of us in a Cat. 10 (inside deluxe stateroom - no verandah). BUT we booked way early and managed to snag one of the 6 "secret porthole" cabins (that's DIS code talk for "obstructed view"). Anyway, I just checked the DCL website - our exact cash price as of 5 minutes ago would be $3,823.44 for this same category - but I think at this point we'd really be in an inside cabin. OK, but so if I divide that price by 392 (points) it works out to $9.75 / point. Not too bad of a deal in my book - not to mention that it is keeping that $3,800 in our bank account!

So it's sort of to each his own on this one. IMO that's a lot of CASH for 4 n. too. But that's DCL........it ain't cheap! (BTW, the lowest verandah category is a Cat. 7 (which only sleeps 3) and the cash price for that now is $4,443.44 compared to 480 points and a Cat. 6 (to sleep 4) was $4,803.44 or 510 points.)

Only you can decide if you have that much cash to spend VS enough points to use.

 

[Starr W.]

Actually met some local DVC'ers . Have kids at the same elementary school as mine. They bought their points for cruises!

Luckily they don't know anything about this message board!

 

[wanderlust72]

Actually met some local DVC'ers . Have kids at the same elementary school as mine. They bought their points for cruises!

Luckily they don't know anything about this message board!

Why is that?

 

[wanderlust72]

Thank you all for your replies! i figured DVC points for cruises wasn't the best value, but it's nice to hear it from people who have knowledge of it first hand!

 

[eva]

We've done two cruises on points and two on cash. A few years ago it used to be a bit better deal. So that right there is one good reason you should not buy points mainly to cruise with. Because the number of points it takes to cruise today will not be the same 5 years from now. That doesn't mean we might not do it again. But I sure wouldn't buy in to do it.

 

[Starr W.]

Why is that?

Most here believe it's not the best use of your points(better off renting your point and paying cash for a cruise). Sometiimes those threads can get rather ugly.

 

[wanderlust72]

Most here believe it's not the best use of your points(better off renting your point and paying cash for a cruise). Sometiimes those threads can get rather ugly.

Aaah, I hear ya...

 

[bsusanmb]

I used points to cruise and I have now rented points to cruise...problem is that I have all of these points that are paid for, so I used them to pay for the cruise. I rented my points, and it was not a fun time. But I did make a lot more money renting points than using them to book a cruise.

I guess it depends on your patience with renting points. I think if you have established relationships with renters, it works well with repeat renting. But I was new to it and it was really a nightmare...and still is. I have some really great folks who rented, but some I continue to beg money from...

Love the cruise, love the DVC. Like someone else said, the price of the cruise will continue to rise.

 

[LoveMyDisneyCats]

Using points for the first time for 4 day this summer....always paid cash before....

This time we had Dev. points and 07 points to use (that we just got when we added on last month). So we went ahead with it- not the best deal, but with all of our "regular" points and new points coming in August, we're fine.

The only thing that I had a hard time with was it's peak season so it's almost double what it would have cost in points to go in Jan. or Feb. like we usually do. Unfortunately, because of future baby issues and other stuff, I could wait to use them next winter and didn't want to lose them!

 

[bmalonef45]

We used points for a 3 day a couple of years ago. They were developer points we received when we bought in so we didn't feel the pinch. It was good to be able to cruise without shelling out the points but a cat 8 for 3 days at 384pts seemed like a lot. We rebooked on board using cash and I feel like it was better not to spend so many points at once. We booked far enough ahead that we could pay it off and then we still get a trip to WDW in the same year! They are your points so spend them how you want is the way I feel but I do see the logic in saving them for resorts and not the DCL.