If you have cruised on points or points/cash, your opinion please

[Rock'n Robin]

Please don't move this to the cruise board as I need DVC opinions.
I am considering a 4 night cruise for 2003 (I know, don't we all plan ahead like this? ). Of course the point schedule is not out.
I have 2 adults, 3 kids, need a cat. 4 as a result. Going in July due to work schedule. (It's that or Christmas--not much price difference!)
I have this cruise quoted at $5100 on the Disney site, $4600 through Dreams Unlimited.
I don't have enough points to pay for all of us, unless I give up our 2004 trip and don't do any parks with the cruise. I can pay for one adult or all 3 kids with points, cash the rest.
What is most economical? I know there are no discounts when booking on points. Should we just bite the bullet and pay cash for the whole cruise, or pay for some of it with points?
Robin M.
Poly 6/2000
BWV 6/2001
Poly 12/2001
BWV/VWL 7/2002

 

[marley]

I just had this same dilemna booking our first cruise for October 2002. After MUCH deliberation, we decided to pay one adult in cash and the 2 kids and myself with points. YES, there are good deals out there right now for the cruise (although I don't know about July), but, as several on this board pointed out to me, I already have paid for my points and if I'm not planning on making more than one trip to Disney next year (which I'm only plannning 4 days in April), that it made sense to use my points and not put out even more cash. After looking at the deal I could have gotten paying all cash, I figure the most I could have saved (if you look at one point costing $10) is $374. As it stands now, I still have some points left over and have invested only $874 for the cruise and will enjoy vacations in both April and October.

 

[gscott8075]

You might want to check out two adjoining Cat 9's - it might might) be cheaper.

Dean and I respectfully disagree on the subject of points and DCL. If you perceive the value of a point to be $9-10, and the math works, you should consider it.

I used points for the grownups and the DVC child price was $170 lower than the DCL price.

July is regular season and there will not be any cash deals.

You can only book 11 months out.

Good luck!

 

[Jhalkias]

Robin,

From a fellow Buckeye, all I can say is WOW to that price. We are taking a 7 day this January (19th), and paying only $2700 for a cat 4, with two adults, a teenager, and a 23 month old. The original cost with using points (198) for one of the adults was about the same. We originally had the cruise booked that way, and then cancelled the DVC reservation and used the points for our stay at WDW before and after the cruise.

Since you are going in July, I agree that you will probably not find a great many deals out there, so it may be OK to just do that combo of points and cash.

Since we usually go off-season, I have vowed never to make another Res during that time of year except with cash and through DU, which has treated us GREAT each time. Using your points at the DVC resorts is the best use of your points.

In addition, you cannot make that Res until 11 months out. If you decide to do it that way, by that time (June 2002) they may actually have the 2003 points chart out - the needed points may go up or down.

 

[BWVDenise]

Robin,
I've looked into this also (family of 5) and I just wanted to mention that you must use points for one adult and then you can use cash or points for the others in your family. You can't just use points for the kids.

Happy planning!
Denise

 

[CaptainMidnight]

Where is Perrysburg?

 

[hoosiergirl]

Perrysburg is a "suburb" of Toledo--and about 20-30 minutes north of Bowling Green. We live in Holland--a western "suburb" of Toledo. (We've only been here 1 1/2 years so I'm still a Hoosier at heart!)

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Hoosiergirl is correct--we are just across the Maumee river from Toledo and from Maumee, another western suburb and my hometown . I teach in Oregon, OH, an eastern suburb. Teaching is why I can't go on a cruise in February when it's cheap (sob!). I tried to call DVC today to get an idea on cash prices for the 4 day but they closed at 4 for a "special event".
Robin M.

 

[JimB.]

We recently booked a 7 - day Magic cruise in a Cat 5 Stateroom. We used points to pay for the adults & cash for the 2 kids.

I don't know if it was a deal or not, except for the fact that it is costing is MUCHMUCHMUCH less $$$ out of pocket.

It took 440+ points for the 2 of us, & I was not crazy about that until my DW, in her sweet way said "Look, Bonehead, we got the points so that we could use them for othes things if we wanted. If we use the points, we go. If we don't, we're gonna' stay home!!! "

What choice did I have but to comply????

But if you try to book 2 cabins with points, they make you pay for at least 1 ADULT in each cabin with points.......

 

[Rock'n Robin]

By my figures, I can use all my 2002, 03, and 04 BWV points and still have to pay cash for part of it AND have to pay for a room, unless I also use my 2004 VWL points, in which case I won't be able to go in 2004 at all. INcluding the estimated cost of a deluxe room, the cost will be about $2200. Still better than the $4600 for the cruise on cash!
If I do the 4 day I will probably go that route, pay cash for a room, since the points are so much higher on the weekend.
I will still have my 04 VWL points so we can go back in 04.
Since we can't book a July 03 cruise until August 02, I can start saving my $$ now!!
I even bought a DCL poster on EBay to put up by my treadmill for inspiration!!
Robin M.
Poly 6/2000
BWV 6/2001
Poly 12/2001
BWV/VWL 7/2002
Poly/cruise 7/2003???
VWL 6/2004???

 

[EROS]

I'm with Commander Jim's wife . We're going on a 3 night cruise in April (Cat 5) and are using points rather than cash. The DCL quote was $2866; our point total (one child) will be 328 points.

If you value the 328 points at $10/pt (via the rental board) ,then cash would seem the way to go. However, we bought the points TO USE THEM!!!!!!!!!!......... not always to get the best deal.

I instead cost these points out at a little over $5/pt for my dues and equity contributions. Thus, I see the cruise costing us only $1540.

 

[RickW]

Well, we have cruised on points, but our next cruise is cash.

We recently went on a 7 day cruise, and when we originally booked it, it was for a Cat 7 for about 330 points (two adults). A few months later, the Fall special came up and we were able to not only drop down to 290 points, but we also upgraded to a Cat 5. I felt that this was a pretty good deal.

This coming September, we are taking a 3 day cruise. The cash price is $1137 (minus a $50 rebate from DU, and a $25 onboard credit). This cruise would have cost 188 points (94 points per person).

I usually use two values for comparing Cash and points:
1. $10 per point. (This is a good value to use because it is about what you could rent them for. In other words, you could argue that I could rent 188 points, get $1880, pay the $1100 for the cruise and have about $800 left over. Of course, you have to take the hassle into account)

2. $8 per point . (This is how much the points "cost" me. I arrived at this value by calculating how much each point cost originally adding 8% interest and adding manitence. We bought an OKW resale for $55 per point in 1999. We figure that we have about 42 years to use it. If you go into Excel and use the following formula: =PMT(0.08, 42, 55) inserting your own values, you can find out how much your original purchase costs including interest. In other words, taking into accout the time value of money. Anyway, this gives me a value of $4.58 per point. If I add in maintence of about $3.25 per point, being a bit generous, I get a value of $7.83 per point. I just rounded this to $8 for convience.)

Anyway, using the $8 value, our 7 day cruise only cost $2320 (not including the $150 onboard credit that we got), but the 3 day cruise would have cost $1504. In this case paying the $1100 in cash was a much better deal.

Of course, one other thing that you always need to consider is your ability to come up with the cash. I agree with JimB's wife, and one of the reasons we bought DVC now while we are still childless and have two incomes, is that at some point down the road we know that we will be shorter on cash and we don't want to have to give up our vacations no matter how bad of a "deal" the points might be for that particular trip.

 

[EROS]

Rick, I followed the whole calculation except for the 8% interest. Was that your interest cost on your loan?? It seems a little high for the time value of money unless you're considering stock investments vs. CDs.

 

[RickW]

The reason that I chose 8% is that it seems to be a fairly common rate that is used when talking about long term investments. The financial planner that I go to, for example, uses that rate to calculate how much he expects my investments to increase over the long term, so he can tell me how much I should be saving now if I want to retire by the time I am 55. (I need that extra 10 years for Disney trips )

Anyway, DVC is a long term deal, so consider that I had a choice with what to do with that $55/point. I could use that money to buy DVC, or I could have invested it and probably made 8% interest over the long term.

(Note that 8% may seem a bit high with the way the stock market has been recently, but we are just making up for all those years when you could get 12%-14% in the stock market without breaking a sweat.)