points vs. cash for cruise

[benseven]

Hi, all -
Need advice/opinions here: Took the 4 night DCL last year, and the category 4 cabin was 523 points for DH, DS(7) and I. Our August 1 week at BCV studio will only be 123 points. LOVED the cruise, want to go again, for 7 nights. I'm scared about the number of points it will take, and don't want to have to give up WDW for years for the cruise (we have 200 pts.).
Is it better to shop for a cash discounted cruise, or use the points? If you think cash discount is my better choice, can you give me a website to check or other planning advice? Thanks for your help.

 

[Disney_Villain]

Multiply the # of DCL points out by what you pay per point for maintenace fees and see what the total is. It comes very close to the cost of a DCL cruise on cash. We get almost no deal on the DCL for our points.

That being said, we still use our points for the DCL as we hate laying out the cash for them.

If you have the cash, use cash. If you don't, and you really want the DCL, use your points as an alternative to not going on DCL.

 

[noahsmom]

Last year we used points for dh & me, cash for DS. That worked well for us because we had extra points from the previous year. From now on we will use cash for the cruise and save points for WDW. If you go to the DCL discussion board, the sponsor of that board is great to work with and will get you a great price. The best deal for DCL is to book on board.

 

[tidefan]

Hi, all -
Need advice/opinions here: Took the 4 night DCL last year, and the category 4 cabin was 523 points for DH, DS(7) and I. Our August 1 week at BCV studio will only be 123 points. LOVED the cruise, want to go again, for 7 nights. I'm scared about the number of points it will take, and don't want to have to give up WDW for years for the cruise (we have 200 pts.).
Is it better to shop for a cash discounted cruise, or use the points? If you think cash discount is my better choice, can you give me a website to check or other planning advice? Thanks for your help.

Yikes! DW, DD(4), and myself went on the 7-night Eastern this past January and it was only 327 points for the 3 of us...

 

[newbydisney]

Let me know if this is a legitimate train of thought.....you can rent your points on this board or to a friend/family member for a minimum of $10/per point...that to me establishes their value at at least that much..( some people rent them for more than that but of course there is some work involved so we will just use $10.00) ....so if you use 500 of them for a cruise and you could have paid say $4500.00 cash....then to me you should have used cash...of course if you don;t have the cash , don't care to rent the points...then you can put it on your Disney Chase card and take 6 months to pay with no interest ..and even 6 more months with interest wouldn't be $500.00.assuming you pd on time and don't have late charges etc.....so to me unless the math worked out using this formula I can't see using points for a cruise....now if the cruise was $5500.00 and only took 500 points that a good deal no?

 

[photobob]

My wife and daughter went on a 3 night DC in April. Cash cost was $1600 for the two of them. The points multiplied by $11 per would have been $2300. We went with a cash trip.

 

[benseven]

I'm exactly where you all seem to be. I booked the cruise almost 2 years in advance, signed up for cruise newsletters through those websites, and watched in horror as my cruise showed up for much less than the cost I figured based on $10/pt. The only problem is they rarely have the larger cabins on those sites, and I'd be taking the chance on getting a free upgrade onboard. I spent hours on the verandah waiting for my family to wake up, and got spoiled by it. However, as DS will be 10 when we cruise again, I can probably just leave a note and he'll find me on deck.
Thanks all for confirming my suspicions about the point deal.

 

[jekjones1558]

A disadvantage of using points occurs if you need to cancel, since your points cannot then be used for DVC stays.

 

[mikeandkarla]

If using points, I think there is a $95 booking fee also.