Points for Cruise without hassle

[sigillaria]

I want to use points for DIS cruise.
I have never rented or traded points and have owned since 1991 and 1995.
The problem is I have 4 contracts, 2 at OKW and 2 at HH, so points would have to come from some or all.
Would it really cost that much more just to use points without the hassle and risk of rent/trade?

Would appreciate your input.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

I want to use points for DIS cruise.
Would it really cost that much more just to use points without the hassle and risk of rent/trade?

It does cost more to use points for a cruise when you consider their value. I used points for a cruise once and was happy I did. On another occasion, I rented my points to pay for the cruise and was pleased with the results as well. It really comes down to what you are comfortable with. If you really want to use your points for a cruise and don't want to go through the rental process then you should do it.

HBC

 

[pbharris4]

It does cost a lot of points for a cruise. I used points for a 3 day cruise for 4 of us. I didn't know about renting when I booked it. I have read about renting out points and booked a 7 day cruise while on the ship and figured I'd rent out soe points. It is a hassle. It's not as easy. There are so many people doing it and so many other people out there with a huge amount of points so you have to compete with that. Personally, If I did it again..I'd use points for the first and second person and I'd pay cash for our kids. We ended up canceling our 7 day cruise. It was just such a hassle to try and rent out those points and we're very busy and I just didn't have the time to be constantly on the rent/trade board. There were other reasons as well, but that was the main one. Do whatever you feel comfortable with. Whether someone else thinks it's a valueable use of points or not doesn't really matter. It's JMHO. I'd use points again...that's why I bought them. If you do go on your cruise..you will have a blast! It's so much fun.

 

[CarolMN]

Many people value their points based on what the points cost them. Depending on when you bought in, that could make cruising seem like a pretty good value. Especially true if you do not want the extra work & risk associated with renting

Others value their points based on what they are worth in the rental market. To those people, it is almost always a better deal to rent and pay cash. Especially if they do not value the time / risk involved with renting.

Paying cash does have other benefits, though. You can book earlier (and thus get a wider choice of cabins), some cabins are not available to be booked with points and the cancellation / change policies are more customer friendly than those for "points-bookers".

Bottom line - You should do whatever makes you happy.

Best wishes-

 

[MommaluvsDis]

My DH and I bought into the DVC for the sole purpose of using points for cruising! That's what we wanted and we love the hassle-free way of booking.

 

[Dean]

Depending on specifics you will pay between $3 per point and $5 per point extra for the convenience of using points. See my summary in This Thread for some of the pluses and minuses. IMO, the risks of using points to cruise are far greater than those associated with renting points in most cases but the choice is totally yours.

From what I am told, all points have to be in one contract to use for these type of cash equivalent exchanges. That was specifically true for the HAL cruise a few years ago and I'm extrapolating for other similar exchanges. Thus you may need to transfer the points into a single contract. Hopefully this is simply a technicality and they will make it happen even for banked or borrowed points, they are usually very flexible in this type of situation. But if they stick to the letter of the rule and the contracts are totally separate, that could cause some problems as well.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We have add ons, same main membership number, and for the members cruise they had to take points from add ons, and we used VB, and BWV for sure. I am not sure if any VWL were taken, don't have the info handy.

Bobbi

 

[cmoore]

Thanks to everyone for the "use your points the way you want" posts! I'm a fairly new DVC member, and I was really disouraged by all the posts that say "If you use your points for anything other than WDW you're wasting your money." It's nice to see some encouraging rather than discouraging messages for a change.

Chris

 

[AnnaS]

We have cruised three times (Eastern, Western and West Coast). Each time we used a combination of points and cash. We booked two cabins each time.

First cruise - Two cabins - first two adults in each cabin with points, 1 child cash (through MS)

Second Cruise - Two cabins - first adult in each cabin with points, second adult in each cabin with cash, 1 child cash also. (Through MS)

Third Cruise - Two cabins - one cabin - two adults and 1 child with points, one cabin - two aduls - all cash. (Point cabin through MS - cash cabin through DCL).

I don't want to confuse you with what I did - but I love the flexibility they allow us - depending on how finances at the time are or # of points we had, that is how I booked. If we have the points and we know we won't be doing a vacation again that year (DH limited time off), I personally don't want the hassle with renting out points mainly because I don't have the time or patience.

 

[LakeAriel]

I cruised at peak season (Easter ) this past year. It was just my DD and myself and for just two I didn't find I used too many points. No hassle at all. I chose a category 9, deck two, ocean view. It was on the three day Wonder room 2070 which is a PERFECT cabin! Midship, near the elevators! I would highly recommend it and have no qualms about using my points for it.
It was a great trip!

 

[SSDonut]

I agree that it is refreshing to read these posts. I have never cruised before and didn't purchase my points thinking I would. But, we're trying our first cruise in April (cash--we have NO points left, right now!) and if we like it I like thinking that we can use our points to cruise if we choose to. I think the using points for the adults and cash for the kids approach is great too. Uh oh, more ideas in my head; that can't be good

So, thanks for the viewpoints and even more so for the ability to recognize that everyone approaches things differently and no one way is better or worse than another!

 

[ratfam]

We are another family that has happily cruised on points and done an interval international exchange without any regrets. All of the DVC families that we met on our cruise were cruising at least partially on points, too, so there are obviously lots of people out there who do it even if they may not be as vocal as those who believe you lose outside of WDW. I will probably continue to look into it but as a lawyer right now I just don't see myself getting comfortable enough with renting points to do it in the near future, so our next cruise will probably be on points as well. To the extent that there is a premium in cruising on points versus paying cash (which seems hard to calculate because as I have seen it discussed people do their calculations assuming certain rental values) I am willing to pay it instead of taking on the potential risk I believe can exist in a point rental (as I understand it). I agree that it is nice to have people posting who recognize that each family's balance of what their points are "worth" will differ based on their unique circumstances.