DVC points for a cruise

[jsolar]

I recently got off of the Fantasy and was introduced to the DVC. While I am interested, I have not been told what the points would be for a cruise. My family only cruises, at least for now, and I wanted to see if it was worth it for me.
Any advice would be great.
Thanks in advance.

 

[CarolMN]

I'm sure you will get lots of replies - most telling you that using DVC for cruises is not the best economic use of points. (FWIW, I happen to agree with that opinion).

Here's a link to the points required to take a cruise on the Fantasy in 2013:

2013 Point Chart - 7 night Eastern & Western Caribbean Cruises

This is just one of the charts, but as you can see, cruising takes a lot of points!

 

[disneynutz]

More importantly, not all cruses are open to be booked with points. IMO Disney wants cash, if a cruise looks like it won't sale full, they offer up cabins for points.

They also seem to offer a few point cabins just to be able to say that you can use your points for a cruise for DVC marketing purposes.

Bill

 

[crisi]

And a third caveat, points for cruises aren't stable - DVC resorts are (for the most part, there is a complicated reason they aren't completely). Next year that cruise might cost you 20 more points per person.

 

[Sandisw]

And when you buy DVC, you are buying the right to stay at your home resort. While I think the likelihood of cruising being completely taken away will be rare, it can be. Therefore I don't think you should buy if your sole purpose is to cruise.

 

[Dean]

Simply for cruising, DVC will cost more than paying cash, there are no guarantees, the plan could go away at any time, the price isn't stable and any portion you pay on cash combined with points will be more expensive than early booking discounts. Also, any cash portion is due up front, there is a $95 fee and a new fee if you make any changes. If you cancel your points are restricted and expire the end of the year. There is no way anyone can make a reasonable case for buying DVC simply to cruise. At best you'd break even some of the time and lose money with many hassles the rest. Not to mention you'd have to pay almost twice as much for the points for this privilege.

 

[BestDadEver]

And when you buy DVC, you are buying the right to stay at your home resort. While I think the likelihood of cruising being completely taken away will be rare, it can be. Therefore I don't think you should buy if your sole purpose is to cruise.

This.

I am in the minority of people that belive cruising would be a good use of points due to it being all inclusive .

But I agree that to do it exclusively to cruise would be a waste . I looked into dvc for the first time before my first ever cruise on june 2 . To see if I can get the points for the cruise, and then the money I put to the cruise would go towrds the dvc membership , that way I would owe that much less for my membership .

That was the plan but it just didnt work cause you a lot of points to cruise . So I think we were going to get close to 200 points, then would have had to bank and borrow , to go on the cruise, then we would have to wait cause we wouldn't have points the following year . The cost was way to much . I ended up buying 100points on the cruise and am kaput with that purchase .

 

[Dean]

This.

I am in the minority of people that belive cruising would be a good use of points due to it being all inclusive .

But I agree that to do it exclusively to cruise would be a waste . I looked into dvc for the first time before my first ever cruise on june 2 . To see if I can get the points for the cruise, and then the money I put to the cruise would go towrds the dvc membership , that way I would owe that much less for my membership .

That was the plan but it just didnt work cause you a lot of points to cruise . So I think we were going to get close to 200 points, then would have had to bank and borrow , to go on the cruise, then we would have to wait cause we wouldn't have points the following year . The cost was way to much . I ended up buying 100points on the cruise and am kaput with that purchase .

The fact that food and other items are included is irrelevant due to the fact that any cruise you take would include those items. The way to compare is cash to points. If you do that at a time where early booking discounts are active, you normally get around $6-6.75 a point return but at times up to $7.50 and as low as $4.50. Cruise availability has been significantly decreased the last year or so and points had always been fluid, usually increasing.

 

[BestDadEver]

The fact that food and other items are included is irrelevant due to the fact that any cruise you take would include those items. The way to compare is cash to points. If you do that at a time where early booking discounts are active, you normally get around $6-6.75 a point return but at times up to $7.50 and as low as $4.50. Cruise availability has been significantly decreased the last year or so and points had always been fluid, usually increasing.

Why would you compare it to another cruise, you would compare it using the points at a dvc resort . I can't use the points for diffrent cruises only dcl .

So you are saying that I should rent/trade and go on a non disney cruise . Then it may make sence .

 

[BestDadEver]

The points for my recent cruise would have been 384 points for 2 adults and child it cost me $4000 if I got the going rate of $10per points I would have $3840 I save $260 using points .

 

[ELMC]

The reason why comparing taking a cruise with visiting WDW at claiming that it is a better deal because it includes all food and entertainment is in accurate is because it is not a direct comparison. Your cruise was not a better value for the points than a visit to WDW. Your cruise was 384 points. For those points you could have stayed in a Boardwalk View studio for close to 24 days. I'm guessing that your cruise was 7 days. So the comparison is 7 days at sea with food vs. 24 days on land without food.

Or, if you want to compare equal lengths of stay, you could use 107 points to stay for a week, and then rent out the other 277 points for $2770, which I'm sure would more than cover the cost of tickets and food.

To say it another way, DCL isn't a better use of points because it includes food. It costs more points than a WDW stay because it includes food.

OP, based on what I've read in your posts on here, I would say that you have a very interesting way of looking at your vacation options. I think that on some level they make sense in that you receive a certain level of comfort from the choices you make. And that's totally cool. But if you want to take a look at it from a strictly mathematical point of view, a lot of what you say does not add up.

 

[CarolMN]

The cruise is all inclusive no matter how you pay for it.

So the real question is how to get the cruise for the least cost. It comes down to how you value DVC points.

Some people value their points for the price they can get by renting or transferring them. Those people usually asign value of $10-$13 per point.

Some people value their points by diving the purchase price by the number of years remaining on the contract and then adding the dues. For example if you bought BWV points in 2012 for $60 per point, then the value would be 60/30 or $2 plus dues ($5.62) or $7.62.

Some people who have had their points for a long time consider their value to be the cost of dues. The consider the purchase price as a sunk cost. (To me that makes sense only if you already have a contract, not if you are considering a purchase).

There are other ways of valuing points,but I think I've captured the more popular ones.


Now if you have a cash price from DCL or a TA, you can compare it with the number of points required to cruise times the value of a point. In many cases, the point cost will be more than the cash cost. Remember, the charts are per person, not per cabin.

 

[BestDadEver]

The cruise is all inclusive no matter how you pay for it.

So the real question is how to get the cruise for the least cost. It comes down to how you value DVC points.

Some people value their points for the price they can get by renting or transferring them. Those people usually asign value of $10-$13 per point.

Some people value their points by diving the purchase price by the number of years remaining on the contract and then adding the dues. For example if you bought BWV points in 2012 for $60 per point, then the value would be 60/30 or $2 plus dues ($5.62) or $7.62.

Some people who have had their points for a long time consider their value to be the cost of dues. The consider the purchase price as a sunk cost. (To me that makes sense only if you already have a contract, not if you are considering a purchase).

There are other ways of valuing points,but I think I've captured the more popular ones.


Now if you have a cash price from DCL or a TA, you can compare it with the number of points required to cruise times the value of a point. In many cases, the point cost will be more than the cash cost. Remember, the charts are per person, not per cabin.

I never thought to look at it like this . My cost per point is $7.44 .

But I look at it a free after my brake even point plus the dues .

I also can't compare 24 day stay to a cruise . IMO I just feel that if I pay 4000 for a cruise vs no out of pocket money is better , cause I already payed for it , and after the brake even point everything is gravy too me .

I understand other peoples veiws . this just my preference .

 

[Dean]

Why would you compare it to another cruise, you would compare it using the points at a dvc resort . I can't use the points for diffrent cruises only dcl .

You missed the point, you compare to DCL with cash vs DCL using DVC points.

So you are saying that I should rent/trade and go on a non disney cruise . Then it may make sence .

I'm not saying you should or should not no anything, they're your points, you can do what you want within the rules. However, from a dollar standpoint, buying points to use for cruising is a losing proposition. One might be better off selling the points than using them for DCL routinely. You could certainly rent and then use the cash for any cruise (DCL or otherwise) but I don't think that's a great option either long term though it's certainly better than routinely using them for DCL. It sounds like you haven't bought yet, if that's the case, do yourself a favor and buy just the points you'd use at DVC and pay cash for the cruise, you'll thank us later.

 

[BestDadEver]

You missed the point, you compare to DCL with cash vs DCL using DVC points.

I'm not saying you should or should not no anything, they're your points, you can do what you want within the rules. However, from a dollar standpoint, buying points to use for cruising is a losing proposition. One might be better off selling the points than using them for DCL routinely. You could certainly rent and then use the cash for any cruise (DCL or otherwise) but I don't think that's a great option either long term though it's certainly better than routinely using them for DCL. It sounds like you haven't bought yet, if that's the case, do yourself a favor and buy just the points you'd use at DVC and pay cash for the cruise, you'll thank us later.

I already bought . I joined on the cruise june 2nd only got 100 points . I am not planning on cruising with it exclusively . And definely plan on using them for DVC stays . You are right I had looked into buying enough point to cruise with before my trip and found that it wasen't worth it to buy enough points to cruise , but if every now and then go on a cruise with banked and borrowed points would seem like a good idea to me .

 

[crisi]

I already bought . I joined on the cruise june 2nd only got 100 points . I am not planning on cruising with it exclusively . And definely plan on using them for DVC stays . You are right I had looked into buying enough point to cruise with before my trip and found that it wasen't worth it to buy enough points to cruise , but if every now and then go on a cruise with banked and borrowed points would seem like a good idea to me .

The big problem we found with this plan for us was that meant we weren't going to Disney. Like you, we have a small number of points (150). We use them to go to Disney every other year - we have kids and like to have a two bedroom. 300 points doesn't go far on a cruise, 450 doesn't go much farther, but we might get the adults paid for. But that means we'd not make it to WDW for five or six years in order to cruise. (worst case: Go to Disney in 2011, using 2011 and 2012 points - bank 2013 points, cruise in 2014 using points from 2013, 2014, 2015, bank 2016 points, go back to WDW in 2017) When we wanted to cruise, our kids were prime Disney age.

So we've paid cash for the two Disney cruises we've taken, and we've gone to Disney with our DVC points.

Now the kids are older and we might not want to go to WDW so often, so using three years of points to cruise and not getting to Disney for six years, or when the kids go off to college and my husband and I can stay in a studio, it might not be a bad deal. But when we looked into it, cash made a lot more sense.

 

[Dean]

I already bought . I joined on the cruise june 2nd only got 100 points . I am not planning on cruising with it exclusively . And definely plan on using them for DVC stays . You are right I had looked into buying enough point to cruise with before my trip and found that it wasen't worth it to buy enough points to cruise , but if every now and then go on a cruise with banked and borrowed points would seem like a good idea to me .

Realistically you won't be able to cruise and visit DVC resorts with only 100 points but I see that as a good thing because you can use that # of points with DVC and look at cash options for cruises and then compare both DCL and other cruise options as well without being tied to one and a the mercy of DVD.

 

[scotte9]

I also was on the fantasy recently and considered the DVC and looked at it from every point of view and there was no scenario in which it made sense at the current pricing even with their current incentives to use it exclusively for DCL. However, when I came home I looked into who was trying to sell their DVC memberships. To my surprise I saw offers that were 50-60% less than if I would've purchased directly from DVC. Obviously there are other factors you need to consider should you decide to purchase from someone other than DVC, but it could be a great option.

 

[Lynne M]

Here's what would stop me from buying points just for cruising:

1. DCL only makes some cabin inventory available for cruising. It's entirely possible that you could be unable to book a cruise on points that is available for cash. Happens all the time.

2. Points required for cruising can and do go up every year. So, it's quite possible that you could buy the large number of points required for cruising this year , and in a few years discover that you no longer have enough points to cruise. Then what?

3. DCL is not part of your ownership in DVC. They could end their participation in DVC exchanges tomorrow. Not at all likely in the near term, of course, but just be aware that there's no guarantee whatsoever that DCL won't further limit the number of cabins available, or eliminate bookings on points altogether, at some point in the future. That DVC contract you'd sign gives you access to the DVC resorts. The exchange stuff is just a perk, subject to change anytime.

 

[disneynutz]

Disney holds all the cards and can do what ever they want for any reason that they want. Karl Holz is the President of Disney Cruise Line, Adventures by Disney, Disney Vacation Club and Aulani.

You would think that DVC would get a wonderful deal on DCL and ABD but that's not what Disney thinks. They are in Business to make money and if cash guests pay more than DVC, cash guests will have availability and DVC will not.

Bill