Opinions on DVC points to Cruise?

[PineappleFloat]

I've been debating myself for some time now to use my DVC points towards a Dream cruise... though I have a hard time swalloing the idea of like 400 points for a 3-4 night cruise when I could use those 400 points for a whole lot more nights on Disney Property, plus tossing away the 95 dollar reservation fee...

Does anyone else share this feeling or have any other input or suggestions? I feel as if it's more worth it to just pay cash for the cruise.

 

[BrentR]

Most of your responses will be that your best use of points/best value is by using them for staying at DVC resorts only. I believe this is true as well.

That being said, because of proximity we can only get to Disney World once every other year. We will stay for 8-10 days at a time. We are leaving tomorrow for a 4 day Disney Dream Cruise and an additional 4 day stay at AKV. We had enough points to pay for the cruise 2 nights pre-cruise at SSR(we had to do this to make sure we made the cruise) and 4 day post-cruise at AKV. For us it was well worth using those points because they would have went unused otherwise and I refuse to go through the hassle of renting points. We bought those points to use them ourselves. Using points for a cruise still holds some value even if it is diminished somewhat, IMHO.

 

[minniekissedme]

Not worth it. Call Daddio and get him to help rent them and pay cash.

 

[DisneyOHFan]

Yep, not worth it IMO.

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

Just my opinion, but I don't ever see myself using my points for any of the Disney Collection offerings. The points required are just ridiculous. I'd pay cash first.

There's a small possibility we might use our membership for an RCI trade at sometime in the future, but Disney and Concierge Collections aren't for us.

Ok, no one be a smart alec and go find a post where I say I'll only buy points directly from Disney because of the new restrictions. I fully understand I'm at odds with myself.

 

[dizfan]

You may be interested in reading this thread
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2779303

 

[joelnkelly]

We have used our points for a cruise and it was a fairly easy transaction. Is it the optimal use of points? Some would say "no", but they are your points to do as you wish. You might get more money from them if you rent. I spent my money on my 300 points and to me it really doesnt matter what other people think is the right or wrong way to use points. As long as our family is enjoying themselves on our vacation to me thats all that matters.

My girls after the cruise said they would rather go on cruises every year than stay at one of the disney park resorts, so to me it was a successful trade-off. The one thing I dont ever see anyone talk about is the total cost to go to disney, this includes the park tickets (park hoppers arent cheap), food for the week to feed say a family of four, even if you do some grocery shopping. Plus all the misc. stuff you are going to spend the money on, entertainment..etc.. You get on the boat and all that is taken care of, you can literally not spend a dime on the boat if you choose. So for my points I get, lodging for a week, food for a week, including breakfast, lunch, dinner adn snacks. Entertainment for week. Kids clubs for a week which equates to really...really good babysitter. I get to stop at several different ports of call and sight see. Seems like a good trade-off to me, but some people will tell you otherwise.

Wow, that was much longer than I really wanted to type...

 

[CarolMN]

....(snip)...... As long as our family is enjoying themselves on our vacation to me thats all that matters.......

So true. The points are yours to spend as you wish.

.........(snip)..... The one thing I dont ever see anyone talk about is the total cost to go to disney, this includes the park tickets (park hoppers arent cheap), food for the week to feed say a family of four, even if you do some grocery shopping. Plus all the misc. stuff you are going to spend the money on, entertainment..etc.. You get on the boat and all that is taken care of, you can literally not spend a dime on the boat if you choose. So for my points I get, lodging for a week, food for a week, including breakfast, lunch, dinner adn snacks. Entertainment for week. Kids clubs for a week which equates to really...really good babysitter. I get to stop at several different ports of call and sight see. Seems like a good trade-off to me, but some people will tell you otherwise.

You get all those things no matter how you pay for the cruise. So it's really not a valid consideration for the choice between using points or cash.

The points or cash debate is really about how you value your points. For example, if you value them at the cost off dues, then using them too cruise can be a good value. If you value them at $10/point (which is a common amount that they can fetch in the rental market), then using them to cruise is seldom a good value.

Using points to cruise is convenient, but members pay quite a hefty premium for that convenience. Some members do not want to hassle with renting and don't mind paying the premium to have MS handle it.

Is using points to cruise worth the premium? That's a question each member must answer for herself.

 

[makthompson]

with research that I have done recently it's not worth it. You should pay cash for the cruise. If you dont have the money for the cruise then I would rent out some points so that you do. I have rented several times in the past and it's pretty easy if they give you all the information up front and what their flexibility is.

 

[Halle]

I agree that points for cruises aren't the most cost effective but for a worrier like me I'd rather do that. I'm afraid to rent points because I worry about what the renter may do to the villa. I'm semi-papranoid!!:

 

[dizzneebabe]

I was in the same boat lmao with most of the posters on here for a LONG time...I would NEVER use my points anywhere but where I would get the best value--WDW resorts.

HOWEVER...having cruised on other lines (Carnival, NCL, RCCL), we really wanted to try DCL, but didn't want to stomach the price tag for a family of 5!

For the point cost of two of our typical WDW stays, we are able to cruise on the Fantasy for Spring Break 2013 at a value of about $7.50 per point (cash price / point price). Could I have spent the time and headaches trying to rent them out for an extra $2.50? Possibly...but that 1000+ points is made up of banked and borrowed points from both BLT and AKV. I think it would be difficult to dice up those points into just the right increments to satisfy multiple renters and recoup my costs.

SO...yesterday we booked that cruise all on points and I'm really OK with it! As another poster mentioned, for those points we are also eliminating our ticket and food costs. Sure we'll have tips and other spending, but we always have spending on a WDW vacation, too. That makes me feel like we are getting a better value for the points than the simple math is showing.

Bottom line, they are your points and if you can and want to use them for a cruise, then why not???? In our case, that's what they are for--a family vacation.

502 days to go...

 

[Dean]

I agree that points for cruises aren't the most cost effective but for a worrier like me I'd rather do that. I'm afraid to rent points because I worry about what the renter may do to the villa. I'm semi-papranoid!!:

As I've posted at other times, IMO, the risk of using points ahead of time is much more than the risks of renting done appropriately. At least until you get close to the cancelation window.

 

[bobbiwoz]

So true. The points are yours to spend as you wish.

You get all those things no matter how you pay for the cruise. So it's really not a valid consideration for the choice between using points or cash.
...

Is using points to cruise worth the premium? That's a question each member must answer for herself.

I understand what you're saying about getting everything on the cruise whether using points or cash.

Before the balancing of weekend and weekday points, people also held that using points for the weekends wasn't necessarily a good use of points. We are empty nesters and going away for 3 night weekends have always been our idea of a good use of points. Due to the high point cost of special holidays, NYE for instance, it can also be argued that going then doesn't make sense, but we go and enjoy ourselves.

Each person has to decide how they use their points. I would not be a good renter of points because I would have a very hard time with the "no refund" policy so many of you have. I just don't think I could enforce it and that is a consideration not mentioned here.

I've used points for 2 cruises, and may use them again for a Member Cruise at some point in the future. Most of our cruises are paid for with cash. When people come here with the OPs question, I'm glad people give the responses they do, but those answers aren't "right" for everyone, IMO.

Bobbi

 

[Lancer]

Some good arguements for both sides but there are still alot of variables to consider for each individual case. I tend to side with using them on the cruise. Do you have 400 points and get 400 each year? Do you plan on using the points more than once a year? If you own the points outright(no loan) than they are bought and paid for so why spend even more cash on a trip just because it is a better value? Especially if you go once a year? If you go more than once, can you plan your second trip, and apply the unused points towards the cruise and the balance in cash? Dont know if that is an option.

 

[Inkmahm]

I was in the same boat lmao with most of the posters on here for a LONG time...I would NEVER use my points anywhere but where I would get the best value--WDW resorts.

HOWEVER...having cruised on other lines (Carnival, NCL, RCCL), we really wanted to try DCL, but didn't want to stomach the price tag for a family of 5!

For the point cost of two of our typical WDW stays, we are able to cruise on the Fantasy for Spring Break 2013 at a value of about $7.50 per point (cash price / point price). Could I have spent the time and headaches trying to rent them out for an extra $2.50? Possibly...but that 1000+ points is made up of banked and borrowed points from both BLT and AKV. I think it would be difficult to dice up those points into just the right increments to satisfy multiple renters and recoup my costs.

SO...yesterday we booked that cruise all on points and I'm really OK with it! As another poster mentioned, for those points we are also eliminating our ticket and food costs. Sure we'll have tips and other spending, but we always have spending on a WDW vacation, too. That makes me feel like we are getting a better value for the points than the simple math is showing.

Bottom line, they are your points and if you can and want to use them for a cruise, then why not???? In our case, that's what they are for--a family vacation.

502 days to go...

And as someone else also said, you'd be eliminating your ticket and food costs if you paid for the cruise in cash, too. That isn't a benefit of paying with points but rather a benefit of cruising, period.

You paid $2,500 more than necessary for the convenience of not renting or transfering your 1,000 points ($2.50 x 1,000 points if you use $10 as a reasonable revenue per point.) In addition, you paid the $95 fee and now have multiple restrictions on your cruise reservation which you would not have had you paid in cash. No way would that ever be worth it to me. IMHO, that's like taking $2,500 and flushing it down the toilet.

 

[Inkmahm]

Some good arguements for both sides but there are still alot of variables to consider for each individual case. I tend to side with using them on the cruise. Do you have 400 points and get 400 each year? Do you plan on using the points more than once a year? If you own the points outright(no loan) than they are bought and paid for so why spend even more cash on a trip just because it is a better value? Especially if you go once a year? If you go more than once, can you plan your second trip, and apply the unused points towards the cruise and the balance in cash? Dont know if that is an option.

You're spending LESS cash if you pay with cash instead of points, not more. You SAVE cash if you rent your points out or transfer them for cash to use to pay for the cruise.

And no, it isn't an option to use as many unused points as you want for the cruise and then pay the balance in cash.

 

[dizzneebabe]

And as someone else also said, you'd be eliminating your ticket and food costs if you paid for the cruise in cash, too. That isn't a benefit of paying with points but rather a benefit of cruising, period.

You paid $2,500 more than necessary for the convenience of not renting or transfering your 1,000 points ($2.50 x 1,000 points if you use $10 as a reasonable revenue per point.) In addition, you paid the $95 fee and now have multiple restrictions on your cruise reservation which you would not have had you paid in cash. No way would that ever be worth it to me. IMHO, that's like taking $2,500 and flushing it down the toilet.

Fair enough. However, there's no guarantee that I could have rented all 1000 points out for $10 a point. I could not transfer to another member...all but 67 were banked and/or borrowed. If I could have transferred them, I would have been more apt to do so. So realistically, I would have had multiple renters with multiple reservations to manage. That's more risk than I am willing to take. If I could have rented them to someone I knew (which I have done a couple of times), I would have considered paying cash for the cruise. But again, there's a cost associated with renting, as well.

I'm not saying exchanging for a cruise is always a good deal, it's just that in this particular case, we felt it was worth it.

 

[Dean]

Fair enough. However, there's no guarantee that I could have rented all 1000 points out for $10 a point. I could not transfer to another member...all but 67 were banked and/or borrowed. If I could have transferred them, I would have been more apt to do so. So realistically, I would have had multiple renters with multiple reservations to manage. That's more risk than I am willing to take. If I could have rented them to someone I knew (which I have done a couple of times), I would have considered paying cash for the cruise. But again, there's a cost associated with renting, as well.

I'm not saying exchanging for a cruise is always a good deal, it's just that in this particular case, we felt it was worth it.

As I've said many times, there are situations and exceptions. Compromised points and short lead times are 2 of them, the other I can think of is that there are exceptions to the points value issue (Dream recently) though not many. This is one of the reasons I think those buying in should be careful how many points they buy. One other caution is that looking at the value on a PP basis when you've missed the early booking discount is somewhat dubious. Renting is not that difficult or risky done correctly and a return of $10 a point is low. These are why it's important to look at each situation individually to make a final decision. Two principles that govern this issue IMO are that they are your points to do what you want with and it's within others right to make judgements on those decisions if posted.