DVC member thinking of cruisin

[nykidatheart]

Any DVC members out there? i was thinking of cruisuing with my DH and DD in 2007 maybe an eastern carib for 7 days. If i want to bring along 2-4 other people does it work the same as when you invite people to stay at a villa with you?(i.e. you pay the points for the room that will accomodate the amount of people you have with you?) I was thinking it would be nice to have a couple with kids come with us and share the magic

 

[WDWLVR]

Sorry - it does not work the same way. The points charts for cruises are per person and show points for both the first two people in the room and any additional.

Also DCL charges the first two people in a room as adults regardless of age.

Remember that with a cruise you are paying for a lot more than just a room. You are also paying for their meals and entertainment as well.

 

[ZerasPride]

I had similar wishful thinking when I realized I could use our DVC points for a cruise. I was hoping that the points were per cabin like a DVC villa, I found out the hard way that this is not so.

I am looking forward to booking a trip with another DISer for July 2007 but it will have to be on cash. We are points poor right now and couldn't afford a cruise on points for our family of 3 for 7 days. I am almost tempted to do an add on instead of paying cash for the cruise with the justification that it's easier to make the monthly mortgage and dues payment than to come out of pocket for our cabin but DH isn't buying it!

 

[nykidatheart]

so what you are all saying is that i have to pay points for EACH person on the cruise? wow thats alot of points? hmmm i have 200 points. if i bank 2006 and borrow from 2008 i could have 600 points in 2007 for a cruise. wonder how many people that would buy me. i'll have to check out the points chart. thanks for your help.
irene

 

[WDWLVR]

Irene - many people who want to cruise rent out their points and use the cash for cruising. We've never done it, but others have.

If you go to the DVC Member Site there is a points chart for DCL. How many points depend on which cruise you go on, what time of year, and what category. There are many many options.

 

[ZerasPride]

As Mary said, the number of points needed depends on a few things, including time of year. I called MS because I can't get the dvc site to let me on (sigh) and got a quote of 234 points each for the first and second person in the cabin for a July 2006 sailing. I have no idea what the points will be for 2007 but I'm sure they will be even higher. We only own 170 points and I've already borrowed for our trip coming up in December/January. I think we need to stop being so "generous" in giving our friends and family "free" vacation villas! It's been fun sharing with them but I find we are paying cash for ourselves some nights to give them the "free" DVC experience. Oh well, live and learn! We are really looking forward to cruising (first time) in 2007!

 

[ashman]

I am currently looking at DVC (I thought it might be a good way to supplement/take care of my growing cruising addiction! ) Here is the 2005 Reservation Points per person charge taken from the promotional materials for the 7 night Eastern

Stateroom Cat Value Regular Peak Holiday
11 141 196 241 246
10 148 204 249 250
9 165 219 263 290
8 187 234 278 305
7 200 263 332 357
6 214 277 346 371
5 228 291 360 385
4 273 350 427 455

¾ person Charge

Cat 9-11
Age 13+ 97 143 188 188
Age 6-12 67 113 158 158
Age 3-5 65 110 156 156

Cat 8
Age 13+ 113 158 203 203
Age 6-12 82 128 173 173
Age 3-5 80 125 171 171

Cat 4-7
Age 13+ 128 173 219 219
Age 6-12 97 143 188 188
Age 3-5 95 141 186 186

Charge for child 2 and under all categories is 26

I know that as a DVC member you can access the member only site and more up to date amounts for 2006 but I thought this info might be helpful to those like me on the outside looking in to consider this as a possibility.

At the end my conclusion was if I do DVC it will be for the land accommodations not to help fund a DCL trip. Based on my calculations it would take about 4-7 years to “recoup” my initial timeshare fee in “savings” by using DVC resorts with points instead of paying for it out right. That recoup time blossoms to about 16-20 years if I use the points for cruises instead. Even though as it has been pointed out here already with the cruise you are getting more than just accommodations, it just didn’t seem to make sense to me.

I hope this is helpful to someone.

 

[nykidatheart]

i checked the members only site and by my calculations for 4 adults and 2 children under 5 and one over 5 i would need 604 points (cant remmeber now what season and room type but the total i came up with was 604 points. i will only have 600 points so i guess i will still need to rent 4 points! i dont think thats the best value for your points is to take only cruises i dont think it really pays in the long run although it is all inclusive so all meals are paid for.

as a side note do any one these rooms accomodate 4 adults and three kids or would we have to get two rooms? (i guess the calculation would change if two rooms right?

 

[DoeWDW]

We're going to use our points for a 7 day Western cruise next June. Did you know that you DON'T have to use points for each person? DVC will also allow you to pay for some of the passengers in cash. We will be doing a combination - paying for one adult and one child with points and then paying for the other adult and other child with cash, all in the same cabin.

This definitely helps stretch your points!

 

[uncgsweetz16]

Hi Everyone! My DH and I are going on a 3 night cruise this October. I am not big on being in WDW on Friday and Saturdays (plus it is more points!) so we are flying down on Sunday and staying till Wednesday in WDW (Saratoga here we come!) We are doing the 3 day cruise because we have never been on the Disney cruise and before we book a 7 we would like to try the 3. Anyways the cheapest room was 75 points or something close to that which isn't too bad (I think). It departs on a Thursday and gets back in on Sunday. So it is something that can be done! It costs 75 dollars on our end, but thats it. Also something to remember I have read that the smallest disney room on the cruise is still 25% larger then any of the other cruise lines! Keep that in mind. If you want to see the water, get up and go see it! Its just not worth the points/money (my opinion!) Good luck!

 

[nykidatheart]

how much does it cost on average to pay cash for these cruises?

 

[DisneyBill]

how much does it cost on average to pay cash for these cruises?

You may want to check www.allseastravel.com to get an idea what the cruise can go for in the market, or of course www.disneycruise.com.

The last time I priced a cruise through DVC, for a cat 4 Western in July '04, it was 318 points for the first person and 5900&change for another adult, 17 y.o. & 11 y.o. I booked that cruise through All Seasons for 6695, so DVC was really only allowing a value of 1700 for 318 points. Hope this helps.

 

[minievicky]

Just an FYI. Watch out when inviting non-DVC members and you book on points. My SIL did just that for a friend of hers for the fall members cruise. She ended up using banked, current and borrowed points and guess what, friend cancelled on her a month ago. DVC cannot return points as it was borrowed. So just beware.
Vicky

 

[jcbohon]

I just booked as a new dvc member, we decided to use points for my husband and i and pay cash for the kids.. sailing in january so that is a relatively cheap time to go...........total of 298 points for us on a 7 day cruise + cash pay for the kids.
good luck on your decision.

 

[nykidatheart]

I just booked as a new dvc member, we decided to use points for my husband and i and pay cash for the kids.. sailing in january so that is a relatively cheap time to go...........total of 298 points for us on a 7 day cruise + cash pay for the kids.
good luck on your decision.

if you dont mind me asking how much cash did you may for thekids?

 

[jcbohon]

NO i dont mind.. for a 6 and 11 year old.. it was $533 each.. for the 7 day eastern cruise.. that was the DVC price I was quoted.

 

[Popovich]

We went on our first DCL cruise last Nov. for the 7 day Eastern and LOVED it. We rented our points for $10 per point and paid cash for the cruise. We shopped the cruise price at All Seasons Travel and Dreams Unlimited. That saved a few hundred dollars off Disney's price (for a cat 6). It worked out so well, we rebooked onboard for this Dec. for the Western. We rented points again to the same family as last year and will pay cash for the cruise.

Our family really loved cruising. The kids (DD7 & DS5) had a great time and we all had pen pals from the Dis which made the trip extra special. We had an instant group of companions. I'd highly recommend the cruise and using the cruise meet site to get to know your fellow cruisers.

Gailyn

 

[barkley]

we are the "odd duck' dvc members. we bought into dvc in 2000 and have only used points for a wdw stay once! why? we LOVE to cruise with our kids (best family vacation ever). so we bank and borrow and have done the 7 day, the alaskan and will be doing the 7 day again in november.

we know all of the arguments against using dvc points for cruising, but at this point in our lives we simply could not afford to come up with the cash for the cruising (if i set the same amount aside in a bank account that i pay for my monthly dvc mortgage there would always be a household need or emergency that would come before vacation saving). so we do it up BIG every couple of years.

this is not to say that we won't use our points at wdw, we live on the west coast so when we cruise we try to add a healthy chunk of time at wdw. we also did a wdw only trip of 15 days on dvc points one year.

we don't look at it as points are worth x amount of dollars-we bought in so that we could do a variety of vacations for 42 years. the trade out properties outside of disney are always top knotch (or disney would'nt contract with them), and making that monthly dvc payment ensures we can travel to great place we otherwise could not afford.