Need help for 2011 Cruise with DVC points

[Gary Pinkos]

Hello:
I am pretty new to the boards, and I was pretty sure I knew quite a bit about being a savvy DVC member. But it seems like every day now I find a better way to do things or in my planning for my next DVC/Disney trips......and I want to Thank Everyone for all the great knowledge and advise.

I am going to OKW July 2010, and I booked a Dream Cruise for August 2011 using points. This will be our third cruise, and I was pretty proud of myself, that using points for my cruise was a good use of our points......I have actually been trying to talk my DW into us adding on, so we can do more cruises in the future........then I read on the boards that going on a cruise wasn't a good use of points, I thought my vacation advisor told me it is a good use of points......would she mislead me?

Well we booked two inside state rooms for the 5 of us, so along with the $95.00 we will be using 456 points.....so I went to the DCL site and I can book two inside state rooms for about $3,400.00. so I figure I could sell my points for $10.00 each and come out about $1,100.00 ahead. Or just pay cash for the cruise and use my points myself in 2011 and 2012, and forget about adding more points for future cruises. We own 270 points at OKW.

So I am asking for verification on my above ideas, and if I should pay cash for the cruise......should I use DCL direct or use a travel agent?

All comments will be appreciated.

Gary Pinkos

 

[CarolAnnC]

Hello:
I am pretty new to the boards, and I was pretty sure I knew quite a bit about being a savvy DVC member. But it seems like every day now I find a better way to do things or in my planning for my next DVC/Disney trips......and I want to Thank Everyone for all the great knowledge and advise.

I am going to OKW July 2010, and I booked a Dream Cruise for August 2011 using points. This will be our third cruise, and I was pretty proud of myself, that using points for my cruise was a good use of our points......I have actually been trying to talk my DW into us adding on, so we can do more cruises in the future........then I read on the boards that going on a cruise wasn't a good use of points, I thought my vacation advisor told me it is a good use of points......would she mislead me?

Well we booked two inside state rooms for the 5 of us, so along with the $95.00 we will be using 456 points.....so I went to the DCL site and I can book two inside state rooms for about $3,400.00. so I figure I could sell my points for $10.00 each and come out about $1,100.00 ahead. Or just pay cash for the cruise and use my points myself in 2011 and 2012, and forget about adding more points for future cruises. We own 270 points at OKW.

So I am asking for verification on my above ideas, and if I should pay cash for the cruise......should I use DCL direct or use a travel agent?

All comments will be appreciated.

Gary Pinkos

Since you have already booked via DVC it probably is best to leave it as is. If you were to cancel, you of course forfeit your $95 booking fee, and your points would become restricted Reservation Points and could not be used at the DVC resorts. Something to consider changing the next time around for you, though. I am sure you will hear lots of various opinions on the subject.

---------

This has become a "hot" topic of late on the DVC boards, so we ask that opinions be kept cordial and friendly when replying. Discussion and not debate is appropriate and will allow us to keep the topic open on the boards. Thanks in advance everyone..

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Have you already booked the reservation with points? If so, if you cancel the points revert to "reservation points" ( I think that's the term)where they can only be used outside of WDW resorts. Think about it before you cancel.

 

[Gary Pinkos]

How cool are these forums! I didn't even think about where my points would be if I cancelled the cruise.

I doubt I would have cancelled anyway, I was just looking for validation for the next time.

Thanks

 

[SnowWhite2]

The question becomes how comfortable are you renting out your points? It takes a lot of work and time to do it. I tried through this board and everyone who contacted me didn't follow through on finalizing the reserveration. I rented to my good friend and it was a nightmare. If it wasn't so many points, I would have given her back the money and lost the points. Changing names, wanting to cancel and get their money back, adding dining plan, removing dining plan, adding ME, removing ME... When they finally went, they all came down with a very bad strain of the stomach flu.

I don't value my points at the rental value. I didn't purchase them as a business to rent out. I purchased them for my vacation experience. I take the buy-in value divided by the number of points divided by the number of years and then add on the per point maintenance fee for the year. My number runs in the $5 range (when I purchased my cruise). I took the current price of the cruise and then determined my DVC point price and they were within dollars. I booked the cruise.

Your best chance of the points value = cruise cost is when the cruise is pretty filled and the DCL price has increased drastically. OR... If you have points and not cash, then it is a good value to cruise because losing points is not a good thing and their value would be zero.

Using points to cruise is a personal decision. If it works for you, then do it.
I equate the DVC points cruise to the DDP - I think I've made out if I eat $1 more in food than I spent for the plan. Others feel you have to order the most expensive thing on the menu to make the plan worth it. IF you believe you have to get the most expensive thing on the menu, you might not be happy using your points for a cruise.

 

[Dean]

Hello:
I am pretty new to the boards, and I was pretty sure I knew quite a bit about being a savvy DVC member. But it seems like every day now I find a better way to do things or in my planning for my next DVC/Disney trips......and I want to Thank Everyone for all the great knowledge and advise.

I am going to OKW July 2010, and I booked a Dream Cruise for August 2011 using points. This will be our third cruise, and I was pretty proud of myself, that using points for my cruise was a good use of our points......I have actually been trying to talk my DW into us adding on, so we can do more cruises in the future........then I read on the boards that going on a cruise wasn't a good use of points, I thought my vacation advisor told me it is a good use of points......would she mislead me?

Well we booked two inside state rooms for the 5 of us, so along with the $95.00 we will be using 456 points.....so I went to the DCL site and I can book two inside state rooms for about $3,400.00. so I figure I could sell my points for $10.00 each and come out about $1,100.00 ahead. Or just pay cash for the cruise and use my points myself in 2011 and 2012, and forget about adding more points for future cruises. We own 270 points at OKW.

So I am asking for verification on my above ideas, and if I should pay cash for the cruise......should I use DCL direct or use a travel agent?

All comments will be appreciated.

Gary Pinkos

Your info is correct, using points for a cruise will normally return you a max of about $7.50 a point but there may be exceptions. My suggesting is enjoy your cruise knowing it's paid for, don't add on to cruise and look at other options going forward.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

JMHO, but I think you invested way too much energy in your rental process. If you are firm in your rental conditions those things you mentioned would not have been an issue. Renting is just not that complicated.

The question becomes how comfortable are you renting out your points? It takes a lot of work and time to do it. I tried through this board and everyone who contacted me didn't follow through on finalizing the reserveration. I rented to my good friend and it was a nightmare. If it wasn't so many points, I would have given her back the money and lost the points. Changing names, wanting to cancel and get their money back, adding dining plan, removing dining plan, adding ME, removing ME... When they finally went, they all came down with a very bad strain of the stomach flu.

I don't value my points at the rental value. I didn't purchase them as a business to rent out. I purchased them for my vacation experience. I take the buy-in value divided by the number of points divided by the number of years and then add on the per point maintenance fee for the year. My number runs in the $5 range (when I purchased my cruise). I took the current price of the cruise and then determined my DVC point price and they were within dollars. I booked the cruise.

Your best chance of the points value = cruise cost is when the cruise is pretty filled and the DCL price has increased drastically. OR... If you have points and not cash, then it is a good value to cruise because losing points is not a good thing and their value would be zero.

Using points to cruise is a personal decision. If it works for you, then do it.
I equate the DVC points cruise to the DDP - I think I've made out if I eat $1 more in food than I spent for the plan. Others feel you have to order the most expensive thing on the menu to make the plan worth it. IF you believe you have to get the most expensive thing on the menu, you might not be happy using your points for a cruise.

 

[Brancaneve]

This has been debated before and my thought always is this:

What if you don't have the cash right now to pay for DCL? What if all you have are points, sitting there waiting to be used?

 

[Dean]

This has been debated before and my thought always is this:

What if you don't have the cash right now to pay for DCL? What if all you have are points, sitting there waiting to be used?

Ultimately you as an individual must decide wether to cruise or not and if so, how to handle the "payment". Generalizing to the 3 options as a representation and using proportional numbers, you could pay say $3000 cash and use the roughly 450-500 points plus $95 to cruise. Or you could rent roughly 275-300 points and pay for the cash cruise. Or you could rent all the 450-500 points and have money to spend to cover tips, excursions, etc. Assumptions are $10-12 per point rental, $6-7.5 pp value using the points for a cruise, and that the points are not distressed or already reservation points.

 

[Spokavegas]

Gary,

I'm actually in this very same dilemma myself- but haven't booked yet. My issue is that I have never rented before, and although I agree that if you have proper agreements in place it SHOULD go smoothly....there seems to be a lot of nightmare stories out there on the DIS....not to mention even finding a renter for starters....and how soon they would/could pay for me to get my 2011 cruise booked and paid off in time. I don't know....it makes me nervous being so inexperienced with the whole thing....and that also makes people more leery of renting from me.

We bought into DVC with the idea of saving up our points for our next Disney cruise- and have since then treated like the entire extended family to a weeklong stay in an AKL Grand Villa, which was AMAZING. So.....despite the cash/points debate....I think we're gonna stick with our gut and not do the out of pocket deal pre-rental. I know this doesn't really help- but I feel your pain!

 

[Dean]

Gary,

I'm actually in this very same dilemma myself- but haven't booked yet. My issue is that I have never rented before, and although I agree that if you have proper agreements in place it SHOULD go smoothly....there seems to be a lot of nightmare stories out there on the DIS....not to mention even finding a renter for starters....and how soon they would/could pay for me to get my 2011 cruise booked and paid off in time. I don't know....it makes me nervous being so inexperienced with the whole thing....and that also makes people more leery of renting from me.

We bought into DVC with the idea of saving up our points for our next Disney cruise- and have since then treated like the entire extended family to a weeklong stay in an AKL Grand Villa, which was AMAZING. So.....despite the cash/points debate....I think we're gonna stick with our gut and not do the out of pocket deal pre-rental. I know this doesn't really help- but I feel your pain!

The problem is there are nightmare stories with the cruise on points as well. If you cancel the points are not DVC points and expire at the end of the UY. Thus for me using points in this manner would have to be a great deal, not just break even.

 

[jel0511]

I'm one who will just use my points rather than rent and get the cash for them. I bought them to use how I wish. So, I may not be getting $10-$12 per point, but all I had to do was make one phone call and everything was done. I just booked our 2nd cruise on points.

 

[Anal Annie]

We have cruised on both cash and on points. We also jumped right in by booking a cruise on points without knowing all the numbers. We did back-to-backs by booking a 4 night cruise with points followed by a 3 night on cash.

OK, so first, we are what I call "points challenged" (only own 250 pts). For the summer of 2008 we used approx. 1 and 3/4 years worth of points to book a 4 night cruise in July in a Cat 10 (inside deluxe) stateroom (family of 3). Even back then it took 392 points - and that has gone up a lot since then. Now since then, we have been able to stretch our measly 250 pts for 14 nights / year in studios at various resorts during various times of year. Example - last year we spent 4 nights at SSR in May + 7 nights at BCV and 3 nights at Vero in August. This year we did 6 nights over spring break at Kidani and are doing 7 nights at HHI in Aug. with points left to bank. So the way I have to look at it is only having 4 nights of vacation every other year VS having 2 whole weeks EVERY year.

Live and learn. I now firmly believe the best price / value going forward is what we're doing for our next cruise. We re-booked onboard with cash with the 1/2 deposit special and for the 10% discount and extra onboard credit ($200 for 7 nights +). We then gave the reservation to a TA for an additional onboard credit of $100. We booked a dummy reservation while waiting for the date / itinerary we wanted. You can move the date as many times as you wish without penalty as long as you do it before the final pymt due date. I have also decided the longer cruises work out to costing less per night than the shorter cruises. We are no longer interested in the 3/4/5 night cruises. We're actually doing a 7 night Med cruise in 2011 for just a few hundred more than what we spent on our 3 night cruise!

We THOUGHT we were being smart by using points for our 4 night cruise in order to keep the cash in our pockets but then we completely regretted using up all those points. We didn't want to start borrowing so we actually even did 2 trips to WDW on the DVC cash discount! Thinking back what idiots we were - for what we spent on those 2 trips, discounted or not, we could've just added on!! No more cash ressies for us and cruises will be on cash!!

 

[rkwier]

I am of the opinion that you should use your points in whatever way makes you happy. I fully understand and appreciate the concept of renting, but I have absolutely zero desire to do so. We have cruised on points and not regretted it one bit. We were also fortunate to be able to use miles for our airline tickets, which gave us a get away for very little out of pocket cost. It was during a very stressful time and it was a much needed respite. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[jworkkul]

Let me add my 2 cents if they are worth anything. I bought into DVC to use the points as I wish. I live within 20 minutes of WDW and can visit there anytime I chose, but I like staying on property occasionally. I booked DCL this year with points and I am going to again for next year. If I want to pay for a cruise I can book through another cruise line for half of what DCL is. As a matter of fact I looked into Carnival for the same time and length and same port and it was half of what DCL quotes. I don't have a big family (just myself and my daughter and her husband) and it seems that 320 points per year is OK for us. I say----IF YOU HAVE THEM, USE THEM----.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

I booked a 3 night cruise on points for the first two, paid cash for the third. The points weren't too bad for the time of year we went. However, other than a very short 3 or 4 night cruise, I won't use points to cruise. For my upcoming 2011 DCL Med Cruise,I had no problem renting my points, and paid for my cruise with those proceeds with cash to spare!! No onboard credit using points.Also, if you cancel using points, you lose them or get a cheap $5/pt refund. If you rent points at $12/pt, well you can see how Disney's short changing you.

 

[LIFERBABE]

I definitely like having the option to book on points and booked our first point cruise for the Inaugural Sailing of the Disney Dream.

I already had enough cash tied up in DCL deposits and did not want to tie up an additional $1600 non refundable for the Dream sailing, but it is DS's birthday trip so I knew I wanted to book it.

So I used 2011 points and I booked this cruise in 2009. I was not out anything but $95 and insurance and my 2011 points of course.

I have rented before and paid for cruises and as stated there are some drawbacks for that too. For me, I use my points often and already had my trips planned for 2009 and 2010. I did not have the 400 points available in either UY to rent without dramatically altering our already planned vacations and since I would still take a vacation, I would pay cash for the trips I cancelled anyway.

I did have points in my 2011 year, which is the year I will be sailing, but it was too early to try to rent those 2011 points without borrowing and who is going to send me money that early for a trip I cant even book until 11 months out? With rentals, most people are not going to pay in full at the time of reservation so you are fronting money for cash/rent cruises.

I could have went into our savings or placed the deposit on my credit card, but that would cost money too, so that 10-$12 I could get down the road, would be diminished by interest charges or lost liquidity for almost 2 years. With that in mind, I figured the $8 value I received for my points without the hassle of renting was a steal!

So I used my 2011 points for a 2011 cruise. It is paid in full and I took out the insurance jic. The extra money I will need for extras, I am able to place in a vacation account which is much more budget friendly than trying to raise the full amount for the cruise paying cash, which I have done 5 times already.
You dont always lose money using points for a cruise and valuing your points at $10-$12 is not always your net gain.

I also just experienced the left over bill situation from when a friend stayed in October. I was just notified last week that I had a balance that needed to be paid. Thankfully it was a friend and we took care of it but I still did not know for 5 months and neither did she
I will still rent in the future if I need/want to but I am definitely appreciating the ability to use points.

 

[EmmaHattieJacob]

I have a question about using points for a cruise....have just recieved a contract today with 160 points from Dec 10, 200-11, 200-12....our cruise is April 10th 2012....was told I need to bank the 2010 points by July....then use my 2011 and borrow the 2012....I have a current reservation with Coscto that I would need to convert

 

[jel0511]

The problem is that your ressie is with a TA. DVC won't be able to convert that to a points ressie, the reservation needs to be directly with DCL. DVC will be your TA once you book with points. Will you have enough points with your three years of points? If you need to pay for any passengers with cash, you have to pay the DVC negotiated rate, not the current rate you have and it's payable immediately upon booking. You'll have to cancel your Costco ressie and hope DVC can grab your room, or have Costco release it back to DCL.

 

[EmmaHattieJacob]

When I called MS and asked them about this they confirmed they could do it....however I understand they could of mis spoken....so I was at the sales office in Hawaii and asked the rep to get them on the phone and he gave them our cat., stateroom info and expalined it was with Coscto and they confirmed they could do it....don"t really want to buy a contract if I wont be able to switch it out....any other ideas....they wont really speak to me