Do you recommend cruising on points???

[SnowWitch]

We are discussing going on a 7 day cruise next summer, I'm curious if you the majority of DVCers use point/ points and cash/ or just pay cash???? How far in advance can we book a cruise through MS? What is the catagory stateroom that has a veranda that requires the fewest points?

 

[TnRobin]

We are using points for DH and Myself and cash for DS (not enought point to pay for DS)

The cheapest catagory with a veranda is Cat 7. It has an "Enclosed veranda", this means there is a 4 ft porthole (open to the elements) in the wall of the veranda. A Cat 6 is the cheapest open veranda.

You can book a cruise 11 months out.

 

[Rob_b]

I would say it depends on when you go. We used points for a 3 day last year and are using points for a 7 day next year. We always go in value season.

I think it would be cheaper if we used cash. Since we don't have the extra cash we use the points.

 

[Boo]

We used points for the 3-day cruise. Considering you don't have to pay for meals, it felt like a very inexpensive getaway. I would recommend not blowing points on a window, and especially not a veranda. We were hardly ever in the room, and we got bumped up to an outside stateroom anyway without having to waste points on it. Most of the cruising is done at night, so there really isn't all that much to see anyway. Enjoy!

 

[wdwoldtimer]

Thanks for that tip Boo. We are considering using points for the cruise and were wondering if the veranda is worth it.

 

[msdis]

We used points last year for 2 adults cat. 6 verandah, 7-nights on the fall points special. It was pure heaven and well worth it. We are going on 3-day same everything this year and paying cash. A lot of people say to figure the $10 rule per point but everyone's situation is different. Last year we were new members, had 3 years points available to us and with the points sale it just made sense. This year we are in borrowed status and with the Sept. special going on, cash made sense. But something else that worked to our advantage this year is we are staying 1 night(weeknight) before the cruise at VWL and 5 nights(all weeknights) after the cruise. That put a lot of points back into our account by avoiding the weekend since we had initially booked a straight resort trip for 8 nts and now we are staying 6 nts plus the 3 day cruise. I like to figure strictly what my dues cost me per point and figure my cost as that. After all, there is no consideration at all that I would ever rent my points out except for financial hardship reasons, so it is still my points to do with as I see fit and depending what those available points will do for me is how I spend them. To give you an example our dues at BWV on 290 points which is what it cost for that cruise last year was 1110.70 (3.83/pp x 290). The cash special was 1998.00. Since we had already spent that money on dues we would have had to shell out another 1998.00 which was a good deal but we had a lot of points that were not planned for anything else at the time. And the difference we saved by using points paid for our air fare, transfers, $75.00 fee, and then some. Weigh it all out because every situation is different. There are times when even with what you are just paying for dues the price will be almost the same(as we figured for our 3 day cruise) and IMHO I would not want to use my points because they will get me a whole lot more at the DVC resorts. Good luck with your planning!

 

[ILuvDVC]

We are cruising this July 7th in a Category 6 room (I love having the verandah!). I'm a single Mom and it's great having a little escape!

We are using points for this cruise....we got two state rooms, one for my parents, and one for me and my twin sister, and the two kids. I got the inside state room for the parents, although they say they are going to spending time on our verandah!

Anyhow, it is costing me a total of 774 points for the 6 of us. We are all looking forward to it. Also, some on-line friends will be on the cruise with us...I can't wait!

I have paid cash for the cruise before, I like using the points, and as long as I have the points I'll probably use them

 

[CWD]

We are using points for our seven day cruise in December. For us, it was probably the only way we could do the Disney cruise. It is so nice knowing that the only money we have to come up with for the trip is the spending money we will need. Cruising on points is not as cost effective as staying at a DVC resort but when meals are figured into the equation, it is still a pretty good deal. We are in a cat 7 and got a nice bonus of some points being returned to us due to the Fall Fantasy Program. My parents are on the cruise with us in the same category cabin and got their price down about as low as they could with early booking but I know that if we had to come up with the $'s they are paying we could not do it with the monthly expenses going out to DVC as well. Also, We knew we wanted to do the Disney cruise and if we had not used points then our yearly allotment might have gone unused since we can only take one vacation a year right now and really have no need of more points in a future year so banking would have been of little value.

 

[geffric]

We went on the 7day in December and used cash. We wanted to stay at OKW after the cruise and felt that our points were better spent at our home resort than the cruise. DH figured it out and said it was a better deal to $$$ for the cruise and points for the 5 days at OKW.

inkbounc
What ever works, we like to use our points to be at OKW 2 to 3 weeks per year.