Purchasing DVC while on a Disney Cruise vs Current Incentives

[EPCOT Terran]

I've heard people discuss getting a discount on points while taking a Disney cruise. I'm currently considering buying direct at Riviera under the current incentives but also somewhat considering waiting until later in the year. I'm currently booked on a Labor Day cruise later this year on the Fantasy and was just wondering if there's any value to deciding to make the DVC purchase on the cruise as opposed to now (other than whether incentives will be better or worse in general later in the year).

Can anyone with recent experience discuss how good the incentive to buy while on the cruise is?

 

[Huskerpaul]

I do not believe they can offer different incentives on DCL anymore. They did in the past, but I believe that was ended and the incentives are the same as you get on land.

 

[SugarSweetLee]

I do not believe they can offer different incentives on DCL anymore. They did in the past, but I believe that was ended and the incentives are the same as you get on land.

Didn't someone just post the incentives that were recently available on the Members' cruise?

 

[Kailunkat]

@CastAStone - can you shed some light on this?

 

[EPCOT Terran]

Didn't someone just post the incentives that were recently available on the Members' cruise?

I’m not currently a member, so I’m asking about a normal Disney cruise and a new member discount.

 

[SugarSweetLee]

I’m not currently a member, so I’m asking about a normal Disney cruise and a new member discount.

I was just responding to Huskerpaul's comment that DCL didn't offer any different pricing. Maybe Members' cruise was a special case, though.

 

[CastAStone]

Disney has offered a small incentive on some DCL cruises in the last year according to posts here, on WDWMagic, and on FB. Usually an extra $500, not something worth taking a $6000 vacation for.

It’s not consistently offered and it’s not published. Do not take a DCL vacation expecting to get a deal on DVC

If it’s not offered on your cruise you will just be offered the then-current incentives.

My take is that the current incentives are really aggressive and the ones at Labor Day are more likely to be worse than they are to be better, even if you do get a bonus $500. I wouldn’t wait if it were me.

I’ve been wrong about these things though! Do what’s right for you!

 

[EPCOT Terran]

I was just responding to Huskerpaul's comment that DCL didn't offer any different pricing. Maybe Members' cruise was a special case, though.

No worries…just clarifying.

 

[EPCOT Terran]

Do what’s right for you!

Ah, that’s the rub, isn’t it? If I knew the best for me, I’d do it no question.

 

[Cfabar1]

We did 3 DCL cruises from 2023 until now - the first two simply matched current pricing. The most recent one had an additional $500 or $1000 or something along those lines...

We weren't seriously considering adding on, so it didn't make sense to commit too much of this information to memory.

 

[EPCOT Terran]

We did 3 DCL cruises from 2023 until now - the first two simply matched current pricing. The most recent one had an additional $500 or $1000 or something along those lines...

We weren't seriously considering adding on, so it didn't make sense to commit too much of this information to memory.

Thanks for letting me know. Between your post and CastAStone’s, it doesn’t sound like it’s worth risking the current incentives to wait on my cruise later this year.

 

[Cfabar1]

Thanks for letting me know. Between your post and CastAStone’s, it doesn’t sound like it’s worth risking the current incentives to wait on my cruise later this year.

I wouldn't, and depending on the length of your cruise, do you really want to spend that time with the DVC folks signing documents?

On RCCL they have a station called "NEXTCruise" where you can meet with travel agents while on your current cruise to help you plan your next voyage with RCCL... Every time I would walk past it, I'd find myself thinking how sad It is that folks can't even enjoy their current cruise... I like the DCL placeholder approach, pay $250 and figure it out later.

 

[SugarSweetLee]

Thanks for letting me know. Between your post and CastAStone’s, it doesn’t sound like it’s worth risking the current incentives to wait on my cruise later this year.

What you can do, however, is to initiate your contract within the last couple days of the current incentive period, and then if anything better comes out in the next cycle, you'll be within your grace period to cancel and redo it. We have talked with our guide about this plan, and he said they usually get details about the next promo about a day before the current one ends so will be able to tell us if it's better or not.

 

[Cfabar1]

What you can do, however, is to initiate your contract within the last couple days of the current incentive period, and then if anything better comes out in the next cycle, you'll be within your grace period to cancel and redo it. We have talked with our guide about this plan, and he said they usually get details about the next promo about a day before the current one ends so will be able to tell us if it's better or not.

Yes, and I think it depends on your guide. My guide when we bought on VGF kind of hinted to "sit tight" rather than draw things up and rescind when I called him a couple days before the incentives ended.

However, he did not know the shape and scope of the incentives specifically until that morning. I called him right when he arrived at work the day of the new incentives to purchase, and we kind of learned about the new incentives together... I couldn't believe what a great deal they were! We were planning on adding on 50 or 75 points, and instead added 150... I wish we had added 240 or so instead, and quickly regretted it. By the time I called him to add on more points, it was sold out again!

 

[EPCOT Terran]

What you can do, however, is to initiate your contract within the last couple days of the current incentive period, and then if anything better comes out in the next cycle, you'll be within your grace period to cancel and redo it. We have talked with our guide about this plan, and he said they usually get details about the next promo about a day before the current one ends so will be able to tell us if it's better or not.

Yeah, that's my current plan. Still waffling back and forth between 150 and 300 direct points (with multiple contracts to make it easier to sell/gift to children later).

 

[SugarSweetLee]

Yeah, that's my current plan. Still waffling back and forth between 150 and 300 direct points (with multiple contracts to make it easier to sell/gift to children later).

I hear you! We're debating 200 vs 250- for us, it's such a substantial chunk of change no matter what, but the higher incentives at the 250+ mark are soooo tempting lol

 

[VGCgroupie]

You can head over to the referral thread and get $500 off that way if you aren't already a member. https://www.disboards.com/threads/dream-it-forward-referral-thread.3924074/page-8#post-65501411

 

[EPCOT Terran]

I hear you! We're debating 200 vs 250- for us, it's such a substantial chunk of change no matter what, but the higher incentives at the 250+ mark are soooo tempting lol

As a new member buyer, I'm looking at $185.3/pt (after MB) for 150 points (enough to get the blue card), $170/pt for 250 (next big incentive level), and $167/pt for 300 (enough to leave two blue cards for kids - and for bigger stays). Those are three point totals I'm looking at. The incremental price from 200 to 250 is only $122/pt. That's hard to leave behind once you've decided to get the 200 points. And its low-end resale territory for Riviera, particularly if the contract is small and not stripped.

Of course, this kind of reasoning is how I slowly convince myself I need to get 300 points instead of 150, so perhaps you take what I've said above with a grain of salt!

 

[EPCOT Terran]

You can head over to the referral thread and get $500 off that way if you aren't already a member. https://www.disboards.com/threads/dream-it-forward-referral-thread.3924074/page-8#post-65501411

I was looking at that and it sounded like you can't get a referral if you've already been talking to a guide. Did I read that wrong? It would be great to get a discount if the only criteria is that I'm not already an owner.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I was looking at that and it sounded like you can't get a referral if you've already been talking to a guide. Did I read that wrong? It would be great to get a discount if the only criteria is that I'm not already an owner.

I think I saw that many guides will add it if you havent signed a contract. Id ask over there and see what experienced members have to say.