I withdraw my BOYCOTT vote!

[buck4568]

AshleysDAD wrote
[ I don't think DVC "owes" me any special rates. Go ahead and flame me for supporting the cruise. Me and the peanut are excited and can't wait to make our reservations. ]

In retrospect, and after letting my initial anger pass I have to agree. We have been somewhat spoiled with the perks that Disney used to offer to members like the free park pass and a few others that escape me right now, lol. But the initial reason we joined was to be able to have a nice place to stay that was bigger than a hotel room, on WDW property. A place that we could use anytime of the year. If you choose to stay on weekends you pay more points for that. If you want to go on a special cruise you pay more points for that.

With 60,000 members I'm sure they will have no trouble filling the ship. We went on the 10th anniversary cruise and had a great time with the 1000 members that made that trip. And if we had not booked a 4 day in May 03 we may have been making the call on Aug 24th.

So, I respectfully withdraw my BOYCOTT vote and to all those who do go on this cruise I wish you all a wonderfull time.




__________________
Dan, Pam, Melissa and Matthew

All-Star Sports 1995
Dixie Landings 1998
DVC members Oct 1998
BWV Thanksgiving 1999
VBR July 2000
BWV Dec 2000
VBR July 2001
Disney Magic 7 day Dec 22, 2001
DVC 10th Anniversary Cruise April 7, 2002
BWV Dec. 20, 2002

 

[sgtpet]

I hope to never here from you in the future on how come DVC doesn't give me discounts. If that is the case I respect you and anybody else who goes.

 

[JudithM]

Keep in mind that when we bought DVC we were not promised discounts on anything. Any discounts DVC members receive are extra - above & beyond.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

Originally posted by JudithM
Keep in mind that when we bought DVC we were not promised discounts on anything. Any discounts DVC members receive are extra - above & beyond.

Yes this is true......but we are being offered the opposite. If discounts are viewed as "above and beyond", how should we view an anti-discount????

 

[rtp-resident]

I agree with Fedora. This is not a matter of discounts or even being charged the same price. DVC members are being charged a premium (above rate)for the "privilege" of being with other DVC members on a cruise in off season!!!

It is your choice..but Disney...don't insult my intelligence by charging me more than your other cruises during the same timeframe. Now if there are true "extras" being added, that is an additional consideration. However, to this point no one has identified any "extra" perks.

 

[sgtpet]

What are the extra's? What is so special? The high price is what is special.

 

[kamgen]

I agree...I feel like they are really insulting us here. I am happy for those who can or want to go. Still, I am not sure what is special about hiking up the costs to your most devoted Disney customers. I seem to recall that DVC in itself isn't cheap.

We are not arguing for a "big discount", we are trying to figure out why the cruise costs MORE.

Sure is special.

Kamy

 

[PamOKW]

IMHO -- The original DVC member cruise was offered as a way to fill the ship at a time when bookings were way off. Member demand for that trip was so great that they determined they could actually fill a whole ship with DVC members. There are over 60,000 member families who could potentially take the cruise.

They have paid a certain price to DCL to charter the ship. They then must determine the number of points they need to rent out for cash to cover those costs. Just like booking a WDW resort on points is generally more expensive than paying cash, there is a premium involved in this trip. It would have been nice if they could have kept the price the same as a regular cruise. However, I am not interested in subsidizing other members' cruises. This trip must pay for itself and not come out of any DVC operating costs.

It seems as if they expect demand for this cruise to be very high. They are setting aside a special day for booking just as they did for Millennium reservations. Chances are that there will be members who are once again disappointed that they won't be able to book the cruise and/or for the category they desire. If a discount were offered for this cruise, that could make the disappointed member even angrier. "I could have afforded the member cruise but I was locked out. I can't afford a regular cruise." This would then bring up the question of whether members are being treated equally. Member anger at being locked out of various member golfing tournaments has caused DVC to just end them completely.

This is an experiment. Members indicated they'd like to cruise with other members and they've arranged to do that. If members don't want to cruise, they won't offer the program in the future.

I understand that people would like to see a discounted cruise. I would also like to see DVC bring down the point cost for staying at Disney resorts. We don't get anything special there and pay a premium. However, I don't think DVC is gouging members. They are passing along the real costs.

From time to time, DVC does arrange to offer discounts on cruises. Keep an eye out for those. This is not a pre-arranged discount. It is a member cruise that was requested by members. We'll see whether it's the first and last or the first of many.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

Absolutely, these special events should not be funded by member dues. I just think that the pricing structure (especially the DVC cash price) is an absolute rip. The Disney corp views DVCers as an endless revenue stream that can be squeezed and squeezed and squeezed. DVC doesn't apparently negotiate these prices at all, they just figure let the members take it or leave it. Any freebies recieved on the cruise are probably paid for from DVD budget as advertising costs, since logos will be plastered all over it. I've metioned on another thread that I'm sure DCL offers discounts to other large groups like AARP, etc.,

Why not DVC?? It's an attitude issue.......

 

[KristinU]

Good points PamOKW. I hadn't thought of the small points increase as "crowd control"

The way I see it is that I bought in to my home resort with the understanding that points can fluctuate from year to year but not the total points within a year - so it will probably cost me the same amount of points each year (well, it did until we stayed in a 1br rather than a studio...but that's a different story!). So the "sure thing" for me points-wise is the DVC resorts. I was never led to believe that trading out would always be cost effective or would not fluctuate. Heck, I'm just happy that there are options with DVC and that we are not stuck at the same place, in the same unit, during the same week every year!

Maybe I'm a Pollyanna...but it is an offering after all, an option not a requirement.

 

[raidermatt]

I agree that there is no reason we should expect discounts.

I happen to think that there are some cases where its probably not a bad idea from a business standpoint, but certainly I'm not owed anything.

With respect to this cruise however, I didn't realize the cost was MORE than normal. If that's the case, I want to change my vote from No to "HECK" NO.

 

[Boo Mc]

Just wanted to pass along what MS told me when I asked why the cruise was more points than a regular cruise -- he said because the ship will be at Castaway Cay for 2 days instead of 1. He said that it costs a lot to fix up the island (redo landscaping that gets crushed, clean up etc.) after the ship leaves and since this ship will be there twice that those costs are doubled. Since I've never cruised, I have no idea how trashed the island gets or how much clean up is required. Just wanted to tell you one CM's explanation for the higher cost.

 

[Hygiene99]

yea oh yea have been to casaway cay, sweep the sand back on to the beach pick up trash, count the MONEY from the BAR STORE>>> and rake the sand so beach is nice i do not see this having a high price tag since they r disney employees who live on the island ........ the poeple who work on the ship provide all services as far as servers and and bartenders and cooks and so on.... double the cost i dont think so ....
if anything disney gets an extra days work out of the people who wirk on the ship.... peter