Disney cruise on Points

[marley]

I am trying to decide whether to use points or pay cash (or partial cash for the 2 kids to save points) for a 3 night cruise next year. I called and got rates today from Member's Services but when I went on-line to disneycruise.com the actual cash rates that Member Services gave me for my specific cruise date were higher than if I booked the cruise directly on-line through Disney. I feel like if I use my points, I will be ripped off. Has anyone else used their points for the cruise and felt like they were getting a value or at least not getting ripped off Thanks!

 

[Dean]

Welcome to the convenience of using your points for non DVC options. Your experience is usually the case. You should look specifically at each option because the reverse will be true when there are no discounts to be had for what you desire. Higher cabin, holidays, etc. This also holds true for DC, CC and to a lessor degree, II exchanges. DVC agrees to the price ahead of time and it's essentially a discounted rack rate.

 

[crazyaboutdisney]

we have done two 3-day cruises, paid once (before becoming a dvc member) and used points once (paid cash for one child). I realize that using points for the cruise is not the best use of points but that is one of the reasons we joined. We probably won't cruise for 3 years now.Planing ahead and borrowing points for the cruise really helps. We will use points for future cruises!!

 

[Doctor P]

We are going to use our points for a cruise in summer 2003--we are really looking forward to it and think it is a good use of our points (recognizing that the points may go farther at WDW DVC resorts).

 

[TnRobin]

We are scheduled to take our 4th cruise on Disney this coming May. We have used cash twice and a combination of cash and points on the third one.

Was the kids price that I paid higher than what was offered under fall fantasy. YES (DVC and DCL have a prenegotiated price for cash persons which is comprable with EBS, but can not compare to any promotions that are offered subsequent to the contract date)

Was my cruise worth the points and cash I paid - DEFINITELY YES. I paid $524 for my 7 day cruise. ($459 for DS and $75 trade fee).

Were the points worth it? YES. I had the points. I had one week vacation to use them. Yes the accomodations were smaller than what I would have gotten at DVC, but they also included Food, Entertainment, Transportation to exotic places.

If I had vacationed at WDW, the amount of money spent for food, tickets, shows would have been far more than $524.


I would also like to stress one thing about the price we pay for cash on the cruises. It is based on the best price available at the time the contract between DVC and DCL is negotiated (Early Book Special). If DCL decides to offer other specials like Fall Fantasy, Sunshine Getaway, etc, DCL is not obligated to extend those special to the DVC members as they already have the contract signed.

 

[ES0412]

I'm glad you threw this question out there because we'll be taking a 4 night cruise in May and then over to GF for 3 nights! We had to borrow points from next year to accomodate the whole trip but I think it's worth it. It's nice to have the flexability to be able to do it and not really have to pay anything for it. This will be our 1st cruise and by what I've been reading, probably not our last. Enjoy the trip!

 

[Olaf]

Right now DCL is running some of the best deals on cruises that I've ever seen. So it's difficult to do a points vs. cash comparison at the moment. Overall, I think you get more bang for your buck paying cash, but if you have the points, go for it.

 

[EROS]

We're taking a 4 day cruise in April with points. I would agree that generally one would do better paying cash. However, "our points" are basically our "vacation allowance" each year..........so we're not that concerned about absolute value comparisons. We used points to stay at the Trapp Family Lodge in Vermont last summer and had a great time............ of course, we could have stayed MORE nights for the same # of points at WDW, but we wanted to use I.I. for variety.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We just got back from a 4-night cruise on points. We borrowed points from next year to do this. Now we just stay in studios instead of one-bedroom accomodations. It was worth it to us. We had a great time. I didn't really check out the cost by looking at what we used for points. We wanted to do this. We had a great time. It was worth it. Now our son wants to do the 7-night cruise.

 

[IslandHap]

We took a DCL cruise in April 2000, before I seriously looked into DVC. We're now waiting to buy at BCV.

If I had used the April 2000 cruise money for a down payment to buy at BWV, and then booked a cruise on points, I'd be way ahead of the game, as opposed to where I am now.

Now the points are higher $'s, and their is no further return on the money spent on the 2000 cruise.(except for treasured memories)

All though points are probably not the "best" way to cruise, for me the option makes it a nice incentive to buy into DVC, as we are planning a 7-day DCL cruise in the future.

 

[leanne2255]

I agreee that points are probably not the best value for cruising, however, I figure that it is less money out of my pocket to pay for the cruise, if I use the points, which I am already paying monthly for. I used points to cruise in Nov 2000 and if I paid cash the cruise would have cost over $3,000. I actually only spent $600 in cash for the "non-included" items. That's $2400 I did not have to take out of my bank account. Will be booking again for Nov 2002. Taking this kids this time, and will pay cash for them, since I don't want to use up all my points.

 

[scott.campbell]

We will be taking a 3 day cruise in July followed by a stay at Vero then the Boardwalk, after some great help from Mackenzie (Member Services), she suggested a fee of $408 which would pay for my son on the cruise. This saved me 50 points which allowed us all to upgrade two categories on the cruise itself.

IMHO a combined points / cash makes a lot of sense.

 

[Towncrier]

You might want to PM Jhalkias for his experiences using points for a cruise. We used points for our cruise in August 2000 since there were no discounts available at that time and we figured it was a good value. We are cruising again in 6 weeks and this time paying cash. Other than the fact that we don't have any points left in our account, the decision to pay cash was based on the special rates that DCL has for winter cruises. Since DVC has to contract with DCL a year in advance for the transfer costs, these cruise specials are not always reflected in the points necessary to cruise. Jhalkias realized this a little too late and found that it was actually less expensive to rebook his January 19th cruise using strictly cash and to discard the points rather than to stick with his initial booking that was a combination of points/cash. You cannot blame DVC for this situation. As I stated earlier, DVC and DCL decide on transfer costs at least a year in advance and any downturn in the economy that would necessitate DCL discounting ticket prices to fill the boats cannot be predicted.

FYI - Jhalkis rebooked and is using the points to stay at a deluxe WDW resort the day before and the day after his family cruises, so everything worked out in his case.