DVC Chit Chat Thread

[VGCgroupie]

You sure you want to go on another cruise over a WDW Trip?

Yeah I’m 75% sure. September is still pretty hot and airfare is pretty high right now. I wouldn’t fly to FL to cruise over going to WDW, leaving out of SD is more doable.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

Yeah I’m 75% sure. September is still pretty hot and airfare is pretty high right now. I wouldn’t fly to FL to cruise over going to WDW, leaving out of SD is more doable.

It is, and we’re doing one this fall, but even though SD is an easy drive from our house, we feel a huge part of the overall value proposition is Disney’s private islands in the Bahamas. If they start slashing prices on SD departures, we would probably do a few more to accelerate the journey to Pearl.

 

[Cyberc1978]

My husband has unlimited PTO. It's ok. He has a great boss who really stresses work/life balance so taking off hasn't ever been an issue. But it's inconvenient in that there's not a set number of days off in our heads to use up every year so I'm pretty sure he takes off fewer days now than he did at his last job (granted, he had a generous amount of PTO there).

I'm from Europe, and I know our working conditions are different that of the U.S, but forgive me for say, without knowing if you have 10 or 20 days off per year, why not just ask for it?

Yearly I have 35 days off, with pay, weekends not including in those days. I can get more, but without pay. My experience is if you don't ask you don't get anything. My vacation days are written into my contract, so even with a new boss, they can't take it away.

 

[pks_domer]

It is, and we’re doing one this fall, but even though SD is an easy drive from our house, we feel a huge part of the overall value proposition is Disney’s private islands in the Bahamas. If they start slashing prices on SD departures, we would probably do a few more to accelerate the journey to Pearl.

We're east coast and not yet done a cruise. Our default will be to just do the Bahamas, for the private islands. But I've been intrigued by west coast/Alaska options as an excuse to see other parts of the country before/after the cruise, instead of just going back to FL again.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

We're east coast and not yet done a cruise. Our default will be to just do the Bahamas, for the private islands. But I've been intrigued by west coast/Alaska options as an excuse to see other parts of the country before/after the cruise, instead of just going back to FL again.

DCL Alaska Cruises for this summer are currently on sale, FYI

 

[Brian Noble]

without knowing if you have 10 or 20 days off per year, why not just ask for it?

I think there are three main reasons.

Two are cultural differences. First, a good part of US culture is still grounded in the puritanical attitudes of the colonizers founders, and a big part of that was work before play. Second, the US' political economy is farther towards the private end of the collective/private spectrum of capital, and so one's "value" as a person here is more closely tied ot their economic productivity than it typically is in the EU.

The third is more pragmatic. We have a much weaker social safety net and things in the EU that would be provided by the state are provided by one's employer---this includes (some of) one's retirement income, and (more importantly) access to affordable health care. If one loses one's job, healthcare costs become an immediate and major concern. So there is a (largely unspoken/unacknowledged) fear: "If I take too much time off, I'm going to be in the next round of downsizing, and I can't afford to lose my health insurance." Even the state-provided retirement income is contingent upon one's employment history and earnings record.

My daughter's health insurance was through the University of Wisconsin; while she was a graduate student instructor, her monthly cost was quite reasonasble, as the University subisidized it. She graduated in December, and has been on the job market since then. During that time, she has had to pay the full cost of her insurance policy, and will until she starts at her Assistant Professor gig this July. Luckily, she has access to financial resources---her mom and I are picking up the tab for the part that UW used to pay for. But, if she did not have access to those resources, she would have spent that six months uninsured, paying the full cost of any necessary health care out of pocket. That's a gamble that thankfully, she did not have to take.

I'd have a lot more to say about all of this, but this is not the controversial topics board.

 

[AstroBlasters]

DCL Alaska Cruises for this summer are currently on sale, FYI

Do you book direct through Disney or through a travel agent?

 

[Brian Noble]

Speaking of my daughter: Proud Dad Moment! Her doctoral regalia arrived yesterday. #OnWisconsin

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Do you book direct through Disney or through a travel agent?

I book through Dreams. I prefer having control of reservations myself but put up with it for the onboard booking credit.

We got two of the Inspire CCs and put the welcome bonus toward the cost of the cruise, which was already discounted as we booked the guaranteed rate for an oceanview (would recommend verandah for first time in Alaska but we've been before). So spent $2K on each card to also get the $200 yearly credit, then paid the rest (about $800) with DGCs. Haven't been on the Magic so that was another incentive!

 

[Brian Noble]

would recommend verandah for first time in Alaska

Strong second. It's spendy, but we thought it was money well spent, especially on the Glacier Day.

 

[AstroBlasters]

I book through Dreams. I prefer having control of reservations myself but put up with it for the onboard booking credit.

We got two of the Inspire CCs and put the welcome bonus toward the cost of the cruise, which was already discounted as we booked the guaranteed rate for an oceanview (would recommend verandah for first time in Alaska but we've been before). So spent $2K on each card to also get the $200 yearly credit, then paid the rest (about $800) with DGCs. Haven't been on the Magic so that was another

Did you get the 0% for 6m financing?

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Did you get the 0% for 6m financing?

Yup. Always with any Disney CC when booking DCL. Also, 3% back with the Inspire cards

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Strong second. It's spendy, but we thought it was money well spent, especially on the Glacier Day.

And for going through the Inside Passage! However, for folks who are happy to be in the public areas a lot of the day to take in the scenery it might not be necessary... It's just really nice to have one's private lookout space.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

I'm from Europe, and I know our working conditions are different that of the U.S, but forgive me for say, without knowing if you have 10 or 20 days off per year, why not just ask for it?

Yearly I have 35 days off, with pay, weekends not including in those days. I can get more, but without pay. My experience is if you don't ask you don't get anything. My vacation days are written into my contract, so even with a new boss, they can't take it away.

I see what @Brian Noble wrote and would agree the office culture mentality is real. Also, in his particular position, there is no one else who can do his job. Deadlines don't change if he has to miss, so it means extra work ahead of time to prepare.

My husband likes to tell me that one of the reasons he's glad he married me is because I push vacations and rest time. It's one of the reasons DVC was such a beneficial purchase for us, it forces the issue.

His last job had 20 days off, not including holidays or sick leave. Knowing that was the number to meet caused us to mentally plan better than just the open ended "unlimited" (which is really just corporate speak for we don't want to have to pay you for unused vacation if you leave the company). This year I've encouraged him to take more random days off as it's easier to miss for 1-2 than a whole week.

**Editing to add an analogy that I just thought of that helps explain the mentality here (at least for us, I can't speak for everyone). If someone handed you a $100 bill at a restaurant to use for dinner, you'd probably use as much of that as you could. If that same person said "get whatever you want!" we would be inclined to not appear greedy and would probably order a nice meal, but odds are it would cost less than the $100 bill meal.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

DCL Alaska Cruises for this summer are currently on sale, FYI

We cruised DCL Alaska last year and it was hands down our favorite vacation EVER.

I did hear that hotel rooms in Vancouver might be hard to come by or more expensive for a few weeks because of the World Cup so be prepared for that.

We will never cruise without a verandah again. We love to sit and relax in the mornings and evenings while kids sleep. Glacier Day under a blanket with a mug of hot chocolate without having to keep a super close eye on what the kids were doing was a core memory for me.

 

[Sandisw]

It is, and we’re doing one this fall, but even though SD is an easy drive from our house, we feel a huge part of the overall value proposition is Disney’s private islands in the Bahamas. If they start slashing prices on SD departures, we would probably do a few more to accelerate the journey to Pearl.

I am doing the Disney Destiny in August and can’t wait to do both private islands in the same cruise!!!

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

I am doing the Disney Destiny in August and can’t wait to do both private islands in the same cruise!!!

Same, I insisted on an itinerary with both locations for our next cruise. We have to wait for 2027 but I'm excited!

 

[Brian Noble]

It's one of the reasons DVC was such a beneficial purchase for us, it forces the issue.

This is true of timesahres in general, and was definitely a factor in why they served me so well. Without the forcing function of use-it-or-lose-it assets, it would have been hard for me to prioritize vacations.

 

[Cfabar1]

if my kids were older I'd pick the cruise over WDW if the dollars punched evenly just about every time...

But, with the younger kids we aren't quite comfortable yet doing two staterooms, which means as soon as the kids go to bed we sit in solemn silence in the dark in our prison...

The 2 BR villa nicely solves for that equation!

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

We're east coast and not yet done a cruise. Our default will be to just do the Bahamas, for the private islands. But I've been intrigued by west coast/Alaska options as an excuse to see other parts of the country before/after the cruise, instead of just going back to FL again.

I we’ve done DCL about 13x- 1 Northern Europe, 1 California/Baja, and the rest out of FL to private islands (we tried to do Adventure in Singapore in Jan but it was cancelled). We’ve also done 20-30 cruises on other lines (mostly pre-kids), including 2 trips to Alaska. I highly, highly, recommend Alaska (and would love to do a repo cruise from So Cal to Vancouver or Seattle), but if I was doing Alaska I would probably stick to another line unless there was a huge discount on Disney pricing. If I was only going to Alaska (or Europe) once, I’d pick a line where I wasn’t tempted to spend so much time in the D Lounge and random trivia rooms.

I also echo what everyone says above about balcony being worth it—especially as it can be cold, it’s so convenient to be able to pop in and out of your own balcony instead of having to and from the room if you forgot something, need more coats, etc.

We cruised DCL Alaska last year and it was hands down our favorite vacation EVER.

I would love to hear from someone who has done Alaska with Disney and also other premium cruise lines how the experiences compare/contrast.

We will never cruise without a verandah again. We love to sit and relax in the mornings and evenings while kids sleep. Glacier Day under a blanket with a mug of hot chocolate without having to keep a super close eye on what the kids were doing was a core memory for me.

For us, we use the balcony this way at night…I also think a standard stateroom on any ship feels a little tight, especially on a 5+ night sailing, but the balcony makes it much less claustrophobic and allows for more flexibility of different people having space to do different things.