Major Drop in Cruise Points Needed for 2009?

[ReneeQ]

I apologize if this has been discussed. I did a search and couldn't find it. We were in Disney last week (with the rest of the world! , the crowds were NUTS! ), so I haven't been on here lately.

DH and I used DVC points to cruise the 7 day Magic in 2001 and again in 2005. We have discussed doing it again in 2010 for our 20th anniversary. I just noticed the 2009 cruise chart was out.

We're interested in the 7 day Western, category 6. If I'm looking at this correctly, if we went THIS year, sailing on 10/18/08, it's 273 points each. But if we go NEXT year, sailing on 10/17/09, it's only 202 points each. That's a HUGE decrease in points. I'm now debating booking for 2009, rather than risking the points going back up in 2010.

Anyone know what's going on?? Thanks!

 

[Pennyguy23]

Wondering myself. Were all cruises this big of a difference?

 

[BWV Dreamin]

For 2009, they created additional "season's", so there are Value, HighValue, Regular, HighRegular, etc. The points now reflect these newer seasons, and have definitely made a difference in affordability when it comes to using points. This made all the difference for our cruise in 2009....otherwise we would be short on pts.

 

[Anal Annie]

It's NOT a drop in points but a sneaky increase. They did indeed add more seasons which offers more choices...but for example: We have a 4 n cruise booked this July in a Cat. 10 and we used 392 points for the 3 of us. A 4 n. cruise in July of 2009 in a Cat. 10 (assuming the same age child) would now cost 456 points. That's an increase of 64 points!! You have more options to play with this way...but it's definitely not a decrease! It just really depends more now on WHEN you want to go and the cruise length. If you're like us and really need to go in the summer because of school then you're now in "high peak".

 

[ReneeQ]

Thanks for the insights! We usually cruise in October, so for that month it's a big decrease. Oct '09 is 71 points less EACH than Oct '08, so that's a decrease of 142 points. But we weren't planning to cruise until 2010. Now the question is, what will the points be for 2010? Or should we go in 2009? Who has a crystal ball? Ah, decisions, decisions!

 

[Pennyguy23]

It's NOT a drop in points but a sneaky increase. They did indeed add more seasons which offers more choices...but for example: We have a 4 n cruise booked this July in a Cat. 10 and we used 392 points for the 3 of us. A 4 n. cruise in July of 2009 in a Cat. 10 (assuming the same age child) would now cost 456 points. That's an increase of 64 points!! You have more options to play with this way...but it's definitely not a decrease! It just really depends more now on WHEN you want to go and the cruise length. If you're like us and really need to go in the summer because of school then you're now in "high peak".

Ahhhh, sneaky, sneaky

 

[global_mom]

Is the chart posted to DVC member website? i have not been there in awhile.

Thanks!

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Is the chart posted to DVC member website? i have not been there in awhile.

Thanks!

Yep its there on the DVC member website.

 

[global_mom]

Yep its there on the DVC member website.

Thank you!

 

[kjetjl]

I am just reading through posts because I would love to buy into DVC.....but it would be a couple years. I had no idea that points could be used for a cruise....this might be the thing that would get DH's attention. I have seen charts and calculators to determine how many points would be needed for the DVC resorts at Disney.
Is there any cruise points chart that one can look at without being a member first?

Thank you so much for any info!

 

[BWV Dreamin]

I have them saved as a pdf file....I can't figure out how to upload the charts!