I'm new here - question for the pros

[Ecjc]

We've been looking into timeshares for a few months now. We usually visit Disney once a year with the kids and then My husband and I like to do a Caribbean vacation every two years in addition to the Disney vacation. Is the DVC a good option for us to use for both types of vacations (exchange a portion of points to Caribbean every other year)? Thanks!

 

[Liljam]

Points don't change much for the DVC resorts if ever, but for DCL and the other vacations, the points can change. It doesn't seem like a bad idea IMO for you to be a DVC member if you go to Disney that often and you can use some of your points for a cruise if that's what you want to do. You would want to check the points for the resort you are looking in to for your home and see what type of room and travel time is right for your family and buy points accordingly. Then you might want to consider having the extra points above what you need for your DVC WDW trip to cover all or a portion of your cruise.

 

[JimC]

Welcome to the DIS!

If you enjoy Disney each year, like to stay in moderate/deluxe resorts and can plan ahead for vacation, then DVC may very well fit for you.

For the Caribbean vacation every two years, I would probably look to rent something. Look into Redweek.com, a site where owners can list their own weeks for rent or sale. There are other sites as well. Personally I think that while there are great exchange options for DVC members, it is not the best use of the points.

 

[Dean]

DVC is NOT a good choice alone for this plan. What is your family size, age of any children and when do you travel to Disney and to the Caribbean? What islands do you prefer. Would you include Cancun in your Caribbean grouping as II does? You may be better off buying something in the islands and renting it out off years then buying the number of DVC points you actually need to Disney trips.

 

[gkrykewy]

Exchanging 160 points for a high-level Interval resort every two years doesn't seem a terrible deal to me - a better use of the points than a DCL fare would be, for example. Westin St. John, Marriott Aruba x2, etc. These are quality (expensive) places, assuming the exchanges would be available.

 

[Dean]

assuming the exchanges would be available.

And there lies the problem. Top resorts during peak times are rarely available for exchange and when they are, usually with an ongoing search which may not work out with air, etc. The only way to guarantee a caribbean week is to buy one. The next best option is to buy a resort that gives you a preference getting to where you want to go. For off season including summer, most anything that cost you a few hundred $$ will get you into most of the Caribbean excluding the two Westin resorts, the Marriott's in Aruba and possibly the Reef Resort.

Actually for many the reverse strategy may actually be better and cheaper for many. That is owning the Caribbean resort you want and trading in to DVC.

 

[Ecjc]

Thanks for the info. My kids are 10 and 6. We typically visit Disney in September and we like to visit the Carribean in May (Aruba, Cayman Islands). We have considered buying a timeshare in Grand Cayman and trading into DVC but we visit Disney more often. Can't decide what to do.

 

[tjkraz]

I'm sure owning a single timeshare would be simpler, but I agree you're just better off buying the DVC points you need for your Disney trips and looking for another solution for non-DVC vacations.

 

[gkrykewy]

For off season including summer, most anything that cost you a few hundred $$ will get you into most of the Caribbean excluding the two Westin resorts, the Marriott's in Aruba and possibly the Reef Resort.

Could you please clarify what you mean by this?

 

[CarolMN]

Could you please clarify what you mean by this?

I'm not Dean, But I'm sure he means that it is easy to trade into the Caribbean during its offseason, which includes the summertime.

 

[RobDoc]

Could you please clarify what you mean by this?

There are many timeshares available - less costly than DVC - that would trade well into much of the Caribbean during the off-season. If you want Westin, Aruba Marriott's and possibly the Reef, you will need a more valued exchange, likely from within those systems, in order to have good chance for a successful trade. It can be done thru DVC at times, but usually needs the luxury of time to benefit from an ongoing search for the more popular exchanges.

All of the exchanges on the DVC World Passport list can be traded into but , just like with DVC , it's all based on availability. Most of the more popular resorts in the system also have an internal exchange system where owners within that system get first pick before those resorts are released into the II system and become available for DVC exchanges.

Dean has commented in the past and I agree that it would be nice if DVC, thru the Buena Vista Trading Company, would negotiate direct exchanges with some of these timeshare systems (Westin, Marriott, Sunterra, etc.) rather than the current system where DVC members get the leftovers placed into the II program.

 

[gkrykewy]

Ah, thanks for the clarifications. My confusion was due to misreading "excluding" as "including." Still, this is all good info.

 

[Dean]

Thanks for the info. My kids are 10 and 6. We typically visit Disney in September and we like to visit the Carribean in May (Aruba, Cayman Islands). We have considered buying a timeshare in Grand Cayman and trading into DVC but we visit Disney more often. Can't decide what to do.

For what you want your cheapest option would be to buy a cheaper but well rated timeshare that trades with II Assuming you can generally do with a 1 BR. You can esily trade into DVC in Sept and can easily trade into the Caribbean in May. You may want to look at one of the points systems that will allow both. Bluegreen would do that if you are comfortable with La Cabana in Aruba and would allow you to join II for possible DVC trades with a bonus week in many cases as well as giving you direct access to some 50 resorts and RCI as part of your membership. A cost comparison, a membership in BG costing you $4000 with maint fees of $600 plus 10 years of exchanges every year, half to DVC (extra fee) and membership in II would be somewhere around $12000 for a 10 year period. For that you'd get 10 exchanges ignoring bonus weeks. DVC for 160 points would be more in the $24000 cost with 5 trades during that time. In this case you'd pick up the possibility of trading into essentially every single timeshare in the world, bonus weeks and online plus direct access to RCI and II for roughly half the price.

There are other points systems and are timeshares that are even cheaper than I quoted so there are many options to approach this. UNLESS you buy a caribbean week that gives you a trading preference in some way that directly applies to your situation OR one you will use without trading consistently, I'm not sure I'd even worry about buying in the caribbean for May you might be better off buying elswhere anyway due to trade power and inherent value. OTOH, you could buy a week in Aruba or Cayman's you could use and less DVC points and not even belong to an exchange company. The one thing that might sway you to using DVC points alone or in combo for this plan would be if you don't normally stay a week avoiding weekends or if you anticipate just getting a studio or if you anticipate needing a 2 BR or changing when you travel.

And those bonus weeks I mentioned, I've stayed at DVC in a 1 BR or larger about 6 times in the last 3 years using them either in a 1 or 2 BR. Aruba will be easier and cheaper to buy than the CI. You might also consider buying Marriott as that will give you other great options plus an easy trade into Aruba most years.

 

[Ecjc]

This is all good info. We were in Grand Cayman 2 weeks ago and met with a timeshare salesman. We have been seriously considering it but we think we'll only visit the Caribbean every other year and not only Grand Cayman. We would like to visit Aruba again and other destinations (Hawaii etc). The price is about the same as the DVC and maintance fees are also the same. The good thing about Grand Cayman is we can enroll in II and have the access to exchange in their 2,000 resorts. The bad thing is that we are buying a timeshare for a resort we know we will not visit every year (bad idea?) and CI is very expensive (and we can fly to Orlando so cheap). We know we will visit Disney every year. I think our biggest thing is that we want good trading power so we can travel wherever we desire. Or maybe we just want Disney and the Caribbean. I'm starting to think we may need the DVC and another timeshare. Can anyone tell me what it's like exchanging in or out of the Reef Resort in Grand Cayman? I'm wondering if it's harding to trade out or to trade in.

THanks!

 

[Dean]

The good thing about Grand Cayman is we can enroll in II and have the access to exchange in their 2,000 resorts.

That is not unique to Grand Cayman, many timeshares will give you access to II OR RCI and sometimes both.

The bad thing is that we are buying a timeshare for a resort we know we will not visit every year (bad idea?) and CI is very expensive (and we can fly to Orlando so cheap). We know we will visit Disney every year. I think our biggest thing is that we want good trading power so we can travel wherever we desire. Or maybe we just want Disney and the Caribbean. I'm starting to think we may need the DVC and another timeshare. Can anyone tell me what it's like exchanging in or out of the Reef Resort in Grand Cayman? I'm wondering if it's harding to trade out or to trade in.

I'm not sure how easy it is to exchange into that specific resort as it's pretty small but if you look for May, can take a 1 BR and incllude the Grand Caymanian as well, you should be successful most years if you open yourself up to the entire month.

It seems you are still learning so you may want to step back and get some additional info over the next few months before making final decisions. But the way I see it is you must decide between a somewhat guaranteed option vs a much cheaper one that sounds like it will work fine from the info you've presented. Starwood has St John and Atlantis, Marriott has Aruba, St. Kitt and St. Thomas.

 

[FLYNZ4]

There are lots of incredible deals in the timeshare world as Dean is describing.

We are heading to BWV tomorrow (Fri) for 14 nights. I had originally booked into a 2BR using my DVC points... but I ended up getting an II exchange for the first week into BWV using one of my other timeshares. Total cost for the exchange is about $500 (including all fees) for a 1BR unit for 7 nights. I could not touch that rate using my DVC points.

The downside of course... is that I had to settle for a 1BR unit for the first week... then we will have to change rooms. In return I got to save 314 DVC points from my original reservation.

My current plan is to own DVC for reserving my units in advance... and securing airfare. Then, if I can exchange in for less money, I will do so and cancel my pre-existing DVC reservations to save the points.

/Jim