Konk Kooler = Add On (Long)

[Regina]

The DVC Member Cruise was FANTASTIC!

We flew in on Saturday and headed straight to the Radisson in Port Canaveral. I highly recommend staying there if a cruise is in your plans.

We arrived late, but still found a few DISer's. Thank you, thank you to Mark and Mary for the pins! These are two of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet.

S.S. Member Cruise 2003 signs and banners were everywhere. We couldn't help but smile to hear "welcome home" from the regular cruise staff.

Each day brought a new surprise gift in our stateroom. Pins, T-shirts, a handy mesh bag and the teapot were unexpected treats. On our second day at Castaway Cay, each chair grouping held a DVC Member beach ball.

My DH was excited when he saw that Scotty Bowman was onboard. He did a signing and DH got a puck autographed by him. DH was also the winner of the Sports trivia contest that they had in the ESPN club. His prize was a T-shirt from this year's superbowl.

The weather was perfect. On our last day at Castaway Cay, DH and I were enjoying the crystal clear water and brilliant sunshine. There we were, floating along when he said those three little words that always gives me such a thrill "let's add on."

We chose to add another 100 points to our VWL contract. I asked why there suddenly was availability. It was explained that Disney originally retained 30% of the VWL because this resort has such a high repeat guest booking rate. It was decided to have VWL at the same 97% DVC, 3% Disney as the other DVC properties. Yay for us!!! We got our same use year.

They were giving out special crystal pieces to the first 100 members who added on. That was never important to us, and we never expected anything by the time that we got around to making our decision. Well..........we are now the proud owners of a DVC chair! I cracked up when our guide gave it to us. It's one of those canvas folding chairs, and I had no idea how we were going to get it home. Fortunately, we were able to carry it on, but I'm sure that our fellow travelers thought that we were nuts.

We were the first group to charter the entire ship. The staff couldn't have been nicer.

Part of me can't wait to rebook if they do this again, and part of me wonders how it could ever be better. It was unimaginably, indescribably great.

 

[KNWVIKING]

.... Did the cruise justify the points ??????

When DVC announced the cruise & published the points,this board was hot- calling for a boycott and such. One thing that has always bothered me about this board & other dis boards is that people will bash something to death before they even know what they are bashing. So, again I ask,was it worth it !?!?!?

 

[Regina]

I certainly wasn't one of those who thought that the extra 6 points was excessive. (That's what it was for the category 6 stateroom that we booked.)

This was our fourth Disney cruise, the first for our DD who will be 18 in April. She absolutely loved it.

Our DVC investment has always been about our family. You can't put a price tag on the memories that we've made over the past 11 years.

Was it worth it? You'd better believe it.

 

[robinb]

Good question, KNWVIKING. I was thinking the same thing. So many people were upset about the prices and that CC was visited twice. Now, I read about all the fun people had, all the goodies, all the "welcome home"s and being made special that I'm even thinking about going next year when my DD will old enough for the kids club.

So, was it worth it? Previous cruisers ... was it different? And lastly, I thought I heard that people were offered 1/2 off thier next cruise booked on points. Is that true?

 

[Regina]

Since I've cruised previously, yes, it was different this time.

We were at the Castaway Cay Member party, and a lovely couple sat at our table. They summed it up when the said that people just seemed "friendlier." It had to be the common bond that we all share.

From what we heard, everyone wants DVC to do it again. Like I said, it will be hard to top this one, but I know that they'll try.

There was a special booking offer, but we didn't look into it. Hopefully someone did take advantage of it and could explain how it worked.

 

[WDWLVR]

Regina,

First let me say to you - thanks for letting Mark and I share time with you, Gary and Tara. You were the first DIS'er we had ever met and I'm so glad we shared the cruise with you. You made that first night at the Radisson a lof of fun and we really enjoyed bumping into you on board ship and in Nassau. Way to go with the add-on!

As to the other questions - yes it was more than worth it in my opinion. We did a category 8 and our point difference was 12 points total for both of us. This cruise was more than worth it. We had the ship to ourselves. The pins, the signs, the DVC CM's (and their special Member Cruise Shirts which were a different color every day - would have loved to have had one of those), the landyards, the gift cards, the gifts, the special panels (we had Disney Imagineers on board, head people from the Collectors Society, Scotty Bowman, Andrea McCardle), oh and of course 2000 some other DVC members to party with!

Was it worth it? YES!

In my opinion DCL and DVC went out of their way to make this the best cruise ever. I agree with Reg, when the next one comes hopefully it will fall at a time when we can afford it (both in points and time) but I don't know if another could ever compare with this one. (But I'm sure they will try very, very hard).

 

[dznymom1]

Congrats on your add on! I was all set to add on myself because the first DVC rep I saw told me they had all use years at HH!! Unfortunately, this was not the case, so I fought off the urge to add elsewhere, since I really want HH or BWV.

Because there were less kids than usual, the kids clubs were nice and mellow for a change. My ds11 loved it, and spent more time than usual in the clubs and got to know some great DVC kids. I made some great new DVC friends, too!

Was this cruise worth the extra few points? YES YES YES!! It was my 4th DCL cruise, and all of them have been fantastic, but the special touches and feeling like we knew everyone on board made this one incredible. DVC really did it right and made us feel very special from start to finish. I can't wait for the next one! Now if I could just find the right add on I'd be sure to have enough points when the time comes