Sample West Coast Cruise Points.

[TnRobin]

Per MS the East to West Cruise Scheduled for May 28th will not be available on points.

The West to East Cruise scheduled for Aug 20 will be offered. So far the only points they have downloaded are for the first two passengers. They are as follows:

Cat 4 807
Cat 5 679
Cat 6 651
Cat 7 591
Cat 8 525
Cat 9 408
Cat 10 330
Cat 11 304

The CM also inferred that the points for the 7 nights will be dependent on when you cruise, so I asked for July 9th

The first number is the first two passengers, the second is the extra adult charge and the third is for children ages 6-12 (Ages 3-6 seemed to be the same in most cases as 6-12)

Cat 4 392/199/168
Cat 5 327/199/168
Cat 6 312/199/168
Cat 7 298/199/168
Cat 8 257/183/153
Cat 9 242/168/137
Cat 10 227/168/137
Cat 11 220/168/137

 

[AOPI57]

Thanks for posting the points. We just booked July 2,2005 on cash but might switch some to points .

 

[DBBN]

This Eastbound cruise would be the first I've seen in a long time when using points looks good. As of 30 minutes ago only 4 catagories display as available on the Disney Cruise Line site...cat 5, 6, 7 and 8. It's possible other catagories might become available when deposits that are due Monday the 10th for bookings on Wendesday the 5th are not paid. The dollars to points ratio required is quite reasonable.

The calculations I've made show...

...Cat - 5 - 2 adults no insurance no transfers to be $7,321 or 679 points using the chart above. $10.78 per point.

...Cat - 6 - 2 adults no insurance no transfers to be $7,121 or 651 points using the chart above. $10.93 per point.

...Cat - 7 - 2 adults no insurance no transfers to be $5,921 or 591 points using the chart above. $10.01 per point.

...Cat - 8 - 2 adults no insurance no transfers to be $5,721 or 525 points using the chart above. $10.89 per point.

If the dollars to points ratio was in this range as a rule cruising on points would be more utilized. I for one would use points for this cruise. We booked the May Westbound using dollars. Too bad they won't allow points for the May cruise, maybe they realized the bargain it turned out to be and decided not to allow points just for that reason. These repositioning cruises booked faster than most thought they would subsequently raising the prices sometimes by the hour. This is a great value for points used. Hopefully cabins will still be available when you try to book.

 

[trishy]

Thanks a million and half for posting that. Saves us a call to MS. I'm assuming the same 11 month window for booking applies - any hope on that being relaxed some for the summer 2005 bookings?

 

[AOPI57]

I called MS and they told me we had to wait for the 11 month window. We have already booked July 2, 205 but wanted to do some on points.

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

Originally posted by DBBN
This Eastbound cruise would be the first I've seen in a long time when using points looks good.


If the dollars to points ratio was in this range as a rule cruising on points would be more utilized. I for one would use points for this cruise. We booked the May Westbound using dollars. Too bad they won't allow points for the May cruise, maybe they realized the bargain it turned out to be and decided not to allow points just for that reason.

I agree with your post DBBN. DCL knows this and thats why they keep raising the points to cruise every year for DVC members. They rather have the cash $$ customers because of only 2 ships.......its supply and demand. ............so using pts strictly to cruise is not a very good option 98% of the time.

 

[JimC]

Maybe I misunderstood. I thought the points posted for the first two adults were for each adult. So the 807 points for catefory 4 would require 1614 points for two adults.

 

[bnlbebes]

Anybody want to venture a guess as to whether any cabins will still be available on the West to East cruise in August '05 by the time we are able to use points to book this September? Is the wait worth the risk?

Also, if I booked the trip with cash, can I later switch part or all of the reservation to points?

 

[AOPI57]

We booked for cash the July 2, 2005 cruise. I want to book one or 2 passengers with points. MS told me that you can change to points. But if you want the same staterooms on points there is a fifteen minute turn around andyou might lose the reservation. We would check with MS first and see what is available and if it works for us book it with the pointsand then cancel the cash ressies we're not using. One of our staterooms would still be with cash.. Don't know if MS would give us a better cash price. Can't do anything till Aug.

 

[DBBN]

Originally posted by JimC

Maybe I misunderstood. I thought the points posted for the first two adults were for each adult. So the 807 points for catefory 4 would require 1614 points for two adults.

Thanks JimC. I believe I misunderstood. That would explain why this looked like such a bargain to me. It didn't occur to me that TnRobin's post meant per passenger.

Just to illustrate, using the per passenger point chart above that would mean 1614 points (807 each) for 2 passengers for a Cat 4 cabin for the 14 day CA to FL cruise...

...or for 1620 points I could stay in a studio at OKW from January 1st through April 17th (15 weeks).

...or for 1606 points I could stay in a one bedroom villa again at OKW from January 1st through March 1st (8-1/2 weeks).

Will using points for a cruise ever be a good value? Probably not and that's too bad.

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

Originally posted by DBBN
Will using points for a cruise ever be a good value?

No.......unless you have points that are going to expire real soon.

 

[ceejay13]

We booked the 14 day CA to FL for cash. We assumed the points would not be a very good deal. We booked the first day so got a Cat. 5 for $6200, including airfare. Cash is a much better deal.

 

[TnRobin]

bumping

 

[Cathmandu]

I'm confused by this thread because I just spoke to Member Services this past week (and again tonight - 24 May) and they gave me the points needed to book both the westbound and eastbound Panama Canal cruises. I was asking about cat 8 and cat 9 and they told me the points were, per person, 266 for cat 9 and 332 for cat 8. They told me that the 11-month window applied and we couldn't book for the westbound cruise until June 14 and for the eastbound cruise on Sept 20. These points are arranged with DCL by contract and should not change. The bad news was that the cruise is already so full that chances of getting a cabin on points seems unlikely. They said there is a better chance of getting the westbound on points than the eastbound simply because by September the eastbound is sure to be sold out.

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by Nick@ VB+OKW
I agree with your post DBBN. DCL knows this and thats why they keep raising the points to cruise every year for DVC members. They rather have the cash $$ customers because of only 2 ships.......its supply and demand. ............so using pts strictly to cruise is not a very good option 98% of the time.

I'm not following your logic.

DCL gets cash from DVC, not points. Sometimes DCL gets more from DVC than the current cash price to the general public and sometimes they get less. To me, it's just like DCL gets less cash from those who book early and more cash from those who book last minute. Don't see why DCL would prefer one person's cash over another person's cash. Cash is cash!

IMHO, the major reasons the point cost to cruise goes up every year is that DCL's prices go up every year and because of the heavy discounting WDW has done in the past few years to fill on site resort rooms. In that environment (room discounting) DVC rooms are worth less and bring in less cash those who trade out may like. (I do think that DVC could do a better job of negotiating with the other Disney departments, but DVC has virtually no control over the other units' pricing policies).

Best wishes -