Should I use Points to pay for Med cruise??

[Disnylvr77]

Ok I am a DVC NEWBIE! We just purchased 500 points at AKL in Aug. So we have enough points to pay for 2 people out of our 4 on the 12 day Med cruise in June.

I've read ALOT of posts where the it's not worth it to use the points for cruises and the best bang for your buck is at DVC resorts.

Can someone explain to me why I shouldn't use the points for the cruise? I've paid a lot of money for those points and that will be my big trip for 2013.

Thanks for any ADVICE!

Stephanie

 

[CarolMN]

Ok I am a DVC NEWBIE! We just purchased 500 points at AKL in Aug. So we have enough points to pay for 2 people out of our 4 on the 12 day Med cruise in June.

I've read ALOT of posts where the it's not worth it to use the points for cruises and the best bang for your buck is at DVC resorts.

Can someone explain to me why I shouldn't use the points for the cruise? I've paid a lot of money for those points and that will be my big trip for 2013.

Thanks for any ADVICE!

Stephanie

First of all - and most importantly, you can and should spend your points in whatever way makes you and your family the happiest.

Most people here do not think using points to stay anywhere but a DVC resort is a good economic value. They value their points at $10 each (because that is currently an average price for renting our the points to others).

They multiply the number of points it takes to cruise and compare that amount with what DCL is charging. So if the cruise costs 500 points for two people, then you would compare $5,000 with the price DCL would charge for the same cabin for the same two people.

You do have to be willing to do some work to rent out your points, and there is some risk to you to do so. Some people would rather not bother with renting.

I choose not to use points to do anything but stay at a DVC resort. That works for us, but we did not invest all of our vacation budget in DVC points, either, so we still cruise or go other places.

The choice is yours.

 

[disneynutz]

I also include our dues into the value of using points outside of the DVC resorts.

The program was designed for your points to be used on DVC resorts. All of the extra locations and vacations were added and 99% are at a premium price. Some will use their points for these other vacations because it's easy to do or because they are tired of WDW and they want a change.

Just because you can do something doesn't mean that it's the best deal or that you should do it.

Bill

 

[DisFor20]

I'm not against using points for a cruise if it makes sense. For the 12-day Med cruises you are looking at in 2013, I see the following on the DVC points chart:
- For the four sailings on 15 Jun, 27 Jun, 13 Jul, and 25 Jul, the cheapest stateroom (category 11) is going for 348-386 points per person for the first two adults.
- For 3rd and 4th adults, the rate is 252 points.
- I've never done a cruise where some of the passengers on the reservation were paid for using cash while the remainder were paid for using points, but the small print on the points chart says the following: "Reservation points are per person, based on double occupancy and apply to the 1st and 2nd passenger."

Hopefully others have experience doing this and can confirm if the points must be used on the first two adults, or if you can pay for them using cash.

 

[melodyka]

My understanding is that is makes more sense to rent your points. Let's assume you will need 700 points vs. $5450 for the cash price for a cat 11A, 12 day trip in June. You could rent those points for as little as $8/point to make out better. More than likely, you can rent the points for $10 a point, giving you $7000 or just rent your 500 points and get $5000, which would almost cover the 2 people without borrowing from next year.

Also, I am not sure what rates are offered, but if you don't feel like handling rentals yourself, you can sell your points to www.dvcrequest.com

good luck & enjoy! The itinerary looks amazing

 

[Dasha]

Its always been a much better deal for us to rent the points and apply the money to the cruise. Its even a much better deal when we apply the rented points to a cruise we rebooked onboard.

 

[lilpooh108]

Renting out your points is NOT without hassle. I would look into the pros/cons of renting before going through the trouble of renting.

We've done both--rented out our points and paid for cruises w/pts. In certain situations, it may be cheaper to book a cruise on pts.

If you already have a cruise booked on 1st day booking prices, held w/a onboard offer discount & onboard credit, then it is probably not cheaper to book w/your points.

If you are booking a cruise where prices have already gone up significantly from early booking discounts, it may be cheaper to book w/pts.

You have to do some research in this respect.

 

[allforpooh]

double post

 

[allforpooh]

We rented out our BCV points for our Disney Adventure Ireland trip last June. For us it was the best way to go due to the cost difference between Cash and renting points ($10). We were able to transfer 2 years of BCV points to 2 different owners which made it extremely easy.

I think you have to decide what is best for you, based on time and comfort level of renting out points.

Denise

 

[Dean]

Renting out your points is NOT without hassle. I would look into the pros/cons of renting before going through the trouble of renting.

We've done both--rented out our points and paid for cruises w/pts. In certain situations, it may be cheaper to book a cruise on pts.

If you already have a cruise booked on 1st day booking prices, held w/a onboard offer discount & onboard credit, then it is probably not cheaper to book w/your points.

If you are booking a cruise where prices have already gone up significantly from early booking discounts, it may be cheaper to book w/pts.

You have to do some research in this respect.

Agree, there are pros and cons to both. There is considerable risk to using points, far more than renting out the points done appropriately, IMO.

 

[runmommyrun]

I agree with CarolMN... you should use your points as best suits your family. I am one who booked our 4-night Dream cruise with points. I, too, have heard numerous times how it isn't worth the value. I went back and forth on this when we booked our cruise. We bought the max points we could afford and knew that those points were suppose to pay for the vacation, whatever form that took. Therefore, if I paid cash for the cruise, I would be breaking our budget, so to speak. We didn't contemplate renting the points. I've been too fixated on using them for us! But in the end, I agree with everyone... financially it may make more sense, but it certainly is more hassle.

 

[SnowWhite2]

I just booked a cruise for my family using points. I had a large number of points to use over the next year and it would take too much time to rent them out.

I used my cost for the points plus my dues to determine MY cost of a point. I multiplied that by the number of points I paid DVC and that cost was less than the cost DCL wanted for the cabin. Who knows how long it would take me to rent out all of those points before I could book the cruise. And could I even rent out enough points to get rid of enough so I didn't lose any. Right now this was the best solution for my family. How other people want to spend their points is up to them. I feel as if I've gotten my fair share out of the points. My goal is not to maximize my investment but to get a fair value out of my pre-paid vacations and enjoy them.

Do what makes sense for your family and your situation.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Ok I am a DVC NEWBIE! We just purchased 500 points at AKL in Aug. So we have enough points to pay for 2 people out of our 4 on the 12 day Med cruise in June.

I've read ALOT of posts where the it's not worth it to use the points for cruises and the best bang for your buck is at DVC resorts.

Can someone explain to me why I shouldn't use the points for the cruise? I've paid a lot of money for those points and that will be my big trip for 2013.

Thanks for any ADVICE!

Stephanie

Most of these folks who will tell you "shouldn't" use your points for what YOU want didn't pay for your points. So why does it matter what they say?

I did not buy my points to go into a rental business (or to make money for the DVC rental service on here)

I use mine for cruises. I don't really care that the "points police" feel it's wrong. (Heck I have violated so many of their "good uses" that if they actually had any power my points woudl have been taken away LOL! I stay on weekends "GASP"! I book a bigger room then I really need "GASP" I book cruises, I booked a few nights at DLP etc... Sure I could have rented and paid cash, but... see above! )

 

[disneynutz]

Ok I am a DVC NEWBIE! We just purchased 500 points at AKL in Aug. So we have enough points to pay for 2 people out of our 4 on the 12 day Med cruise in June.

I've read ALOT of posts where the it's not worth it to use the points for cruises and the best bang for your buck is at DVC resorts.

Can someone explain to me why I shouldn't use the points for the cruise? I've paid a lot of money for those points and that will be my big trip for 2013.

Thanks for any ADVICE!

Stephanie

You are correct, you own the points and you can use them on what ever you want. What most of us are trying to share is that it may be less expensive to pay cash.

Disney advertises that you can use your points to go to all of these places knowing that that they have set the point price high. They want you to use your points up so that you will buy more and by not using your points at a DVC resort, you create a vacancy that Disney can fill with a cash Guest.

We also suggest that new buyers consider resale to save a few thousand dollars on their DVC purchase but if they want to buy direct, that is their business.

Bill

 

[luckyman_apd]

"SHOULD" is a relative term, and one I try not to use. I have had so many people my whole life tell what I SHOULD have done, or what is "SUPPOSED" to be done. The only time SHOULD applies is if you SHOULD have known.

As long as you are aware of the value involved with the points and what other options you COULD do, it's really your choice what you do with your own points. Bill is correct that the point system was not really designed around booking cruises with them, but they are your points, and that is a valid use for them.

All we can do is tell you what WE might do with them. We tend to book everything FAR in advance, because we have to with our schedules. With that being said, I don't really want a "hassle" in renting out points. Since I know the value of my points goes farther at DVC resorts than a cruise (not to mention I am getting resale points, so I can't book a cruise with them), I would probably try using David's rentals, and since they recommend trying to rent far in advance, it works for us. Let them rent out my points and do the legwork, and then use the cash to book a cruise. I also don't know that if we ever cruise (have never been on any cruise) that it would be Disney.

This is just me though, and they are your points not mine. I just like to make sure that people are informed in their choices.

 

[AnnaS]

4 DCL cruises - family of five - two cabins each time. Used a combination of points and cash each time

Cruised booked for 2013 - 7 people - three cabins
DH and I - one cabin - points (we know we are definitely going unless another medical issue/death in the family).
The other two cabins - cash (5 people)


Our 2007 DCL Med. cruise - dh and I one cabin - cash and three kids, one cabin - points.

No renting hassle, had the points (usually some banked) & I calculate $5 m.f.

 

[MrsG]

4 DCL cruises - family of five - two cabins each time. Used a combination of points and cash each time

Cruised booked for 2013 - 7 people - three cabins
DH and I - one cabin - points (we know we are definitely going unless another medical issue/death in the family).
The other two cabins - cash (5 people)


Our 2007 DCL Med. cruise - dh and I one cabin - cash and three kids, one cabin - points.

No renting hassle, had the points (usually some banked) & I calculate $5 m.f.

Hi Anna,

Are you sailing the Med in 2013. We're on the July 13th to Greece.

We use our points for anything we can. We are booked in 2013 on the Med on points for both of us. We did AK that way too. For us, we consider points as a vacation we already paid for. This leaves us to use cash for excursions, food, etc. For us, it works out great. No interest in renting at all.

 

[AnnaS]

Hi Maryann -

Send you a pm.

We would love to do a Med. cruise again - especially Greece. Not quiet ready yet. We are finally cruising on one of the new ships - this time the Fantasy. Have not had the opportunity to cruise the Dream either.

You are going to love your cruise Maryann!

 

[Inkmahm]

Hi Anna,

Are you sailing the Med in 2013. We're on the July 13th to Greece.

We use our points for anything we can. We are booked in 2013 on the Med on points for both of us. We did AK that way too. For us, we consider points as a vacation we already paid for. This leaves us to use cash for excursions, food, etc. For us, it works out great. No interest in renting at all.

But if you rented your points and paid cash for the cruise, you'd also have a lot MORE cahs to use for excursions, food, etc. That's what people are trying to say in this thread. If you don't care about paying more for something than you have to, then by all means, go ahead and use points for a cruise. Personally, I hate paying more than required so I pay cash and use the extra cash for fun things to do/eat on the cruise.

 

[Anal Annie]

I had the "they're our points to use however we wish" attitude when we first bought in. We're also "points challenged" in that we only own 250 pts. So for our first ever DVC trip we went the low budget route and booked a studio at OKW for a week in "Dream" season so we could bank as many points as possible. Then for the next year we used just almost 400 points to book a 4 night cruise in a Cat 10. Then we were out of points and when we decided to add the 3 night cruise to the same trip to do back-to-backs so we had to pay cash for that one then we decided we wanted a few nights at WDW so we had to pay cash for a room too. So our "cheap trip on points" ended up costing us a pretty good size wad AND we had to wait for the following Dec. for our points to re-fill (didn't want to start borrowing as we felt we'd already made a mess of everything).

The next year we were determined to manage our points better and we enjoyed all of them in FL. We had a 4 night long weekend over Memorial Day for DS's birthday then we had 7 nights at BCV followed by 3 nights at Vero in the summer. WOW!! We had 14 nights in 1 year all booked on our measley 250 points VS a mere 4 nights booked on 1 3/4 years worth of points. I will take the 14 nights for 250 over the 4 nights for 392 or whatever the heck it was any time. Now we re-book cruises onboard for the 10% discount & additional onboard credits & will cruise on cash. I HATED being out of points for so long and having to pay cash to stay at Disney because we'd squandered our points.

I would ONLY ever use points to cruise again if we owned A LOT more than we do now and if we still had enough points left to add time at WDW without the whole banking & borrowing nonsense. I don't want to ever be "out of points" again!! I absolutely hated that feeling that we couldn't plan any more trips. So while they ARE your points to use however you wish you need to think it thru & see if you'd regret using up every available point for 1 trip.

(Don't forget too that if you use points for some & cash for others on a cruise you have to pay the entire cash portion up front! That's a pretty hefty chunk on a Med cruise!!) We did one of the 7 night Med cruises last summer (with a rebooking disc. on cash) and LOVED the entire trip & I highly recommend going. I hope we can go again one day. But our 250 points wouldn't even get my big toe onto the boat so we'll have to wait awhile.