Live from the 2008 DVC Member Cruise!

[MarkRG]

For those of you thinking of next year(and there's a very good chance there will be one), here's your opportunity to see how they go.

Things are going very well, everyone's onboard, lots of welcoming to go around.

There is a live thread rolling on the Cruise forum here:

Live from the 9/21 DVC Member Cruise!

still busy getting settled in, but some teasers for you all right now, with more details tonight.

 

[RobDoc]

Thanks, Mark!

If you get a chance, please see what offers/incentives might be offered for those purchasing BLT on the cruise.

Have a GREAT time!

Bon Voyage!

 

[rutgers1]

I am new to DVC. What is the DVC cruise? Is it only for DVC members? Is it cheaper than your normal Disney cruise?

 

[moredisneyplease]

keep the live feed coming for us saps sitting at home!

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I'm jealous--can't cruise during the school year since I teach, and I''d LOVE to do the DVC cruise.
Robin M.

 

[CarolA]

I am new to DVC. What is the DVC cruise? Is it only for DVC members? Is it cheaper than your normal Disney cruise?

DVC cruise is a cruise generally held annually about this time for DVC members and friends(I think each member can book two cabins?)

Is it cheaper?? No actually it's MORE!

Now they give you free stuff and include the tips, but they have it during hurricane season. IT's a trade off!

 

[Verandah Man]

Here is a link to all 24 photos that I captured as the DVC Members Cruise on the Wonder sailed away today 9-21-08.

http://community.webshots.com/album/567250545SRCtna

 

[keishashadow]

thanks for sharing, looking forward to more

re onboard BLT incentives for addons, also curious; since we'll be taking a short cruise next month & guide told me on Saturday that the only deal is the current offering

 

[MarkRG]

Doc, will do, Mary's at the presentation right now, I am sure there's some financial incentives, there is also a guaranteed cabin on next year, and I suspect a big fig we saw last night.

Cheaper? Nope. For me the gifts are just icing on the cake. But on a regular 4-day you don't get guests like Art Linkletter, Roy Disney, Richard Sherman of the Sherman brothers and many, many more we've seen, and even met some in person since we started sailing on these events since '03. You can't buy tickets to presentations by most of the Disney people we've seen. Read up: http://monorailgreen.info/DVC.html

 

[jekjones1558]

Curious: How much does Disney charge for internet access onboard?

 

[WDWLVR]

Member Cruise

Just back from the DVC meeting on the Member Cruise. This is the sales portion of the cruise and usually has good incentives and some nice raffle prizes as well. This year was no exception. The incentives listed below are ONLY available to those sailing on this cruise and you must add while on the cruise. They said over 50 families have already added on and were in line when they opened the clubhouse yesterday.

Here are the incentives:

BLT points good until 2060, AKL points good until 2057. Base incentives for booking - $5 per point off of Bay Lake Towers (which is selling for $112 per point before this reduction) or $8 per point off of Animal Kingdom Lodge (which is selling for $104 per point before the production. This is good for adding on anything over 120 points.

For 120 point in addition to the above you get a special Mickey Big Fig Statue and a 4 night stay in the new Treehouse Villas before booking opens to the general public.

For 200 point add on you get a 5 night stay Savannah view at AKL in a 2 bedroom, fast passes good for your whole family for the length of stay and $250 visa gift card or $250 shipboard credit on this cruise.

For 270 point add on you get either a 7 night stay in a Magic Kingdom 2 bedroom at BLT (with fast passes), or if you don’t want to wait until BLT opens a 4 night stay in the Contemporary Tower, or a Cat 6 stateroom for 2 on next years Member Cruise to be held 9/13/09. This comes with a $300 visa card or shipboard credit.

For 360 points you get the special ABD Backstage Member Exclusive Tour on May 12,2009 for 2, or any one of 10 other ABD trips. This comes with a $400 visa card or shipboard credit.

For 500 points there is a 7 night stay at the Grand Wailea in Maui in an ocean view room, or the exclusive Member ABD trip to Italy on 7/20/09 or any ABD for 2. This comes with a $750 visa credit or shipboard credit.


As for the raffle prizes here is what was given away:

1) Castaway Cay Stingray Adventure
2) Wine & Cheese delivered to your stateroom and a rainforest pass for the length of the cruise.
3) $200 shipboard credit
4) Wine package for your dinner table and a bottle of the Captains special reserve.
5) A Massage on Castaway Cay
6) 7 night trade out via II

For the person who won the trade out (the last one given out) their whole row got a private photo shoot with Mickey and Friends.

 

[edk35]

Member Cruise

Just back from the DVC meeting on the Member Cruise. This is the sales portion of the cruise and usually has good incentives and some nice raffle prizes as well. This year was no exception. The incentives listed below are ONLY available to those sailing on this cruise and you must add while on the cruise. They said over 50 families have already added on and were in line when they opened the clubhouse yesterday.

Here are the incentives:

BLT points good until 2060, AKL points good until 2057. Base incentives for booking - $5 per point off of Bay Lake Towers (which is selling for $112 per point before this reduction) or $8 per point off of Animal Kingdom Lodge (which is selling for $104 per point before the production. This is good for adding on anything over 120 points.

For 120 point in addition to the above you get a special Mickey Big Fig Statue and a 4 night stay in the new Treehouse Villas before booking opens to the general public.

For 200 point add on you get a 5 night stay Savannah view at AKL in a 2 bedroom, fast passes good for your whole family for the length of stay and $250 visa gift card or $250 shipboard credit on this cruise.

For 270 point add on you get either a 7 night stay in a Magic Kingdom 2 bedroom at BLT (with fast passes), or if you don’t want to wait until BLT opens a 4 night stay in the Contemporary Tower, or a Cat 6 stateroom for 2 on next years Member Cruise to be held 9/13/09. This comes with a $300 visa card or shipboard credit.

For 360 points you get the special ABD Backstage Member Exclusive Tour on May 12,2009 for 2, or any one of 10 other ABD trips. This comes with a $400 visa card or shipboard credit.

For 500 points there is a 7 night stay at the Grand Wailea in Maui in an ocean view room, or the exclusive Member ABD trip to Italy on 7/20/09 or any ABD for 2. This comes with a $750 visa credit or shipboard credit.


As for the raffle prizes here is what was given away:

1) Castaway Cay Stingray Adventure
2) Wine & Cheese delivered to your stateroom and a rainforest pass for the length of the cruise.
3) $200 shipboard credit
4) Wine package for your dinner table and a bottle of the Captains special reserve.
5) A Massage on Castaway Cay
6) 7 night trade out via II

For the person who won the trade out (the last one given out) their whole row got a private photo shoot with Mickey and Friends.

WOWWWWWWWWWWWW THOSE ARE SOME GREAT DEALS. Sounds like the cruisers are getting a jump on those wonderful THV too if they buy in. Thanks for keeping us informed. Have fun!!!!

 

[bobbiwoz]

OK...good deals! We are not in a buying mode, so I'm fine with missing them, however, I still would want to be on the cruise with you!

Bobbi

 

[edk35]

OK...good deals! We are not in a buying mode, so I'm fine with missing them, however, I still would want to be on the cruise with you!

Bobbi

ahhhhhh me too. OMG wouldn't it be so much fun to get some Dis'ers together on a cruise!!! What a party that would be......despite the incentives.

 

[bobbiwoz]

ahhhhhh me too. OMG wouldn't it be so much fun to get some Dis'ers together on a cruise!!! What a party that would be......despite the incentives.

I'm pretty sure there is a group of DiserDVCers who have gotten together on a non Member Cruise. They decided to have a go at a 7 night DVC cruise and have enjoyed themselves for longer and for less money. We have 2 cruises already booked for '09, so it will be 2010 before we can join a group, but if something happens in '10, a members cruise or otherwise, we'll be looking to join!

Bobbi

 

[Dodie]

OMG wouldn't it be so much fun to get some Dis'ers together on a cruise!!! What a party that would be......despite the incentives.

Happens all the time - DIS meets on DCL. If you really think this would be fun, you should check out the cruise currently being coordinated by this site (the DIS/wdwinfo.com). It's in conjunction with the weekly podcast, the DIS Unplugged.

Pete said last week that there are 100+ cabins already booked with over 300 people.

https://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/cruise/podcast-cruise-pricing.cfm

 

[RobDoc]

Thanks, Mary - for the DVC Member Cruise DVC sales information. It's always fun to hear about the cruise!

 

[ADP]

Thanks for the info Mary! Now tell us, how many points did you purchase as an add-on?

 

[MarkRG]

Yup, thousands of Disers get together on the cruises without any kind of unique itinerary over here.

Disney Cruise Meets

We sailed this April on a 7-day Magic Eastern Caribbean cruise with no unique itinerary whatsoever and had a great time!

And very glad to share the fun Doc.

Internet access costs? the big answer is: very much NOT CHEAP. It's probably the biggest one time expense we spend on the cruise, to keep in touch with back home and all of you.

Now, for what DVC entertainment?

Today's schedule was/is:

9a WD Theater: the sales presentation Mary already covered the deals on, they also talked about Ko'Olina some, official groundbreaking will be next month! Can't happen fast enough for me. Wish I could go out to attend it.

9a Studio Sea:Welcome home Hughes Family, where they welcome the family of Patrick Henry Hughes, one of the inspirational guests who has overcome seriosu physical issues in amazing ways.

3:30 WD Theater: Inspirations from the World of Sports(Mary's there now). Host ESPN's Linda Cohn sits down with Vince Papale, the actual person whose story was told in Invincible, and Patrick Henry Hughes.

3:30 Ducky Williams inspires your inner artist: He is in Animator's Palette giving inspiration to the inner artists in learning to draw their favorite Disney characters.

4:45 Season of Disney, Disney's best kept secret. They're going to screen that new Travel Channel show up on the big screen ArielVision.

Tonight is Pirate Night and has its own stuff along with the Toy Story the Musical in the WD Theater.

Tomorrow:

more or less the same schedule as today except,

2pm Animation Inspirations a Shorts Festival at sea: WDAnimation's Dorothy McKim presents 4 treasured shorts, including rarely seen titles and one future release.

They also run the other DVC events in the afternoon as well, everyone should have a good opportunity to see everyone.


10pm Animation Inspirations: Sleeping Beauty HD Premiere Host Tim O'Day and legendary animator Floyd Norman talk about his work on Sleeping Beauty then present the movie fully restored in HD under the stars. Presented on the ArielVision screen top deck, midships.

and Day 4: Back at CC

First the 10:30am group picture.

Another session with Ducky at 3pm.

4p Imagineering inspirations: Host Tim O'day talks with Imagineers Tony Baxter and Bob Weis who will talk about their projects and give sneak peeks at future ones.

6:30 & 8:30p(opposite the two dinner seatings, regular time for the evening show) Musical Inspirations, Broadway: Sierra Boggess(the Little Mermaid), Ashley Brown(Mary Poppins), and Kissy Simmons(Nala in The Lion King) appear for an unforgettable night of music on the high seas.

All in all sofar a very solid lineup of guests!

 

[MarkRG]

Thanks for the info Mary! Now tell us, how many points did you purchase as an add-on?

If we had interest in going beyond our 300 WDW points, it would have been the Contemporary. But we don't, it's enough for what we need to come down every year.

We are very firmly holding out for Ko'Olina. We won the 7 night II tradeout 2 years ago now. By an incredible coincidence, we chose to stay at Marriott's timeshare at the location Disney is building on. We LOVED the location. It is far enough away from Waikiki that it's not noisy or busy by any means, and in an area that has no risk of getting built up the way that part of the island has. We loved it so much we took the tour and got the info and were seriously considering buying in until the info leaked Disney was looking at there. That, of course, changed everything to the point our rep at DVC already knows we have a guaranteed interest in buying there.

That said, as long as we're still cruising on these, we'll probably do the addon for it right here onboard when that happens.