Disney cruise or down payment on DVC

[Policehorse1]

We may be in the position soon to book a Disney cruise. I am torn between booking a cruise or putting that money towards a DVC contract. What would you fellow Disney family do if you were in my shoes. I am leaning towards one already, but want to get your opinion. Thank you.

 

[RichVIII]

Like many have posted in various forums, many of us wished we purchased sooner. Prices continue to rise and contracts only get shorter. I would put the down payment on DVC. You could always rent out your points for cash and use that towards your cruise. You would still get something and have many more years of DVC.

 

[Policehorse1]

Like many have posted in various forums, many of us wished we purchased sooner. Prices continue to rise and contracts only get shorter. I would put the down payment on DVC. You could always rent out your points for cash and use that towards your cruise. You would still get something and have many more years of DVC.

Yes I forgot about renting out points and using that money for a cruise. Thank you for the reminder.

 

[MICKIMINI]

We have never taken a DCL cruise, however we have been DVC since 1996. I'd buy that contract and have decades of Disney!

 

[Jimmy Geppetto]

We may be in the position soon to book a Disney cruise. I am torn between booking a cruise or putting that money towards a DVC contract. What would you fellow Disney family do if you were in my shoes. I am leaning towards one already, but want to get your opinion. Thank you.

Buy a loaded DVC contract via resale… Rent the double points and take that cash and book a cruise. You’d get to enjoy both worlds in one shot!

Your DVC contract will likely appreciate in value.

 

[Brian Noble]

I am torn between booking a cruise or putting that money towards a DVC contract.

For starters, coming here to ask that question is a lot like going to a NASCAR fan board and asking whether it would be a good idea to spend this weekend watching people drive fast and turn left. So if you are looking for reinforcement for your lean to buy DVC, you are certainly going to get it. If you ask on the Cruise boards, you will probably get a very different answer.

The big distinction between these two: One you can buy, enjoy, and not worry about or benefit from future commitments. The other is something you are committing to in both time and money, but will bring benefits over time. They are really apples and oranges.

The answer to that has lots of factors, and only you know the answers. How certain are you that you want to go back to WDW at least every other year (or more often) for at least a decade? When you go now, do you always stay onsite and mostly in Deluxe rooms but never in Value ones? Do you have the spare cash to make the payments on the loan or, better still, have the ability to pay it off quickly, or do you have to stop doing something else aside from the cruise to make this happen? If you need to pay this off over time, how stable is your income?

 

[ldo]

We had this same decision 10 years ago. I asked my tweens--are you getting tired of WDW or will you still want to go in high school. They both said WDW! We applied the price of a spring break cruise ($8500) to a 160 AKV points resale contract and have not regretted it one bit!

 

[RoseGold]

I wouldn't buy DVC at all if you are financing it, because of the math. I'd just rent points. The math on buying vs renting has gotten very slim in current inflated pricing.

I certainly wouldn't finance it to rent it out to book a cruise. What on earth.

 

[sethschroeder]

One is the base cost you can likely get back out of the product. The other is a cost that you won't recover but will have certain memories.

I would go DVC and look at a cruise in the future (or go with a cruise other than Disney).

 

[DonMacGregor]

One is the base cost you can likely get back out of the product. The other is a cost that you won't recover but will have certain memories.

I would go DVC and look at a cruise in the future (or go with a cruise other than Disney).

Plus, if someone is really looking to book a Disney cruise, they may want to wait a couple of years for the completion of Lighthouse Point.

 

[Policehorse1]

I wouldn't buy DVC at all if you are financing it, because of the math. I'd just rent points. The math on buying vs renting has gotten very slim in current inflated pricing.

I certainly wouldn't finance it to rent it out to book a cruise. What on earth.

Sorry should have said money towards DVC not down payment.

 

[mlayton14]

If you are fairly certain you will enjoy a decade plus of Disney vacations (annually) and can afford (and willing to spend) the much larger ancillary costs over that period like food, transportation , and tickets DVC probably a better buy. With that being said , we’re you planning a $35k cruise ? You can’t buy much DVC direct for the cost of a cruise unless it’s the Greek isles cruise this summer

 

[Twohsieh]

Honestly, it depends on your family's vacation philosophy. If your family enjoys frequently going to WDW and other DVC resorts, then putting the money towards a DVC timeshare makes financial sense (if not financing) than using the funds to go on a one time DCL cruise.

If at any time you don't want to use your points for the year, you could be rent out your points through an online broker or some people rent them out themselves for a higher price/point. The money from the rental of your points can go towards a DCL cruise or any other type of vacation.

We own two DVC timeshares and we have been on three DCL cruises (we don't like to book with our DVC points). We have been very happy with our DVC contracts as they have been very helpful when we plan our upcoming Disney vacations, as well as gifting my brothers and their families trips to the resorts.

We enjoy going to the DVC resorts but if we plan a non-Disney vacation for the upcoming year, we just rent our points out to use the proceeds towards our upcoming vacation. We have always had success renting out our points within a couple of weeks of our postings.

 

[perchy]

I’m cruising in April since all cruises I’ve previously booked from Jan 2019 have not happened because of COVID.

Or at least I’m hopeful I’m cruising in April.

I also just bought my first resale dvc contract.

If we don’t cruise this time, maybe then I will decide to buy more points.