Thinking Of Adding On To Pay For Cruise/Questions

[KandiB47]

I have been waiting to add on until my point status was completely overextended. I have borrowed almost all my 2009 points so I now consider myself overextended

We are going on a 7 day Western Cruise in April 2009. I have paid the cash deposit plus another $500 payment. I'm considering doing an add on to help pay for this cruise. I'm looking at the current incentive at AKV of $96/point for 110 points plus 100 developer points.

1. Can you use developer points toward DCL?

2. Can I do a partial "payment" with points?
I was thinking half cash/half points (it's 260 points per person for this cruise).

3. If I bought now, would that include 2008 points?
I have an Aug use year. I was thinking I would get 110 points for 2008, 110 points for 2009, and 100 developer points. Total: 320 points to start with

4. There aren't any closing costs right?


Thank you

 

[drusba]

I think no. 4 is the only one to which the answer is yes (there are no closing costs for an add-on through Disney).

My understanding for the other three questions is: (a) developer points included in current deal can only be used at SSR or a Disneyland hotel, not the cruise; (b) you need to do an all point cruise or all cash and cannot combine the two; (c) you would get Aug 09 points if you bought AKV now (that is a main reason why there are developer points -- to fill in the gap until you get real AKV points).

 

[Anal Annie]

I personally would not add on just to cruise. The point charts for the cruises are astronomical now. If you did want to use points I believe you would have to cancel your current cruise and then call DVC MS and re-book it thru DVC (or vice versa). You don't book on points thru DCL. I think you'd have to book at least the first person in the cabin on points then you could pay cash for the rest. But the cash price for these people would probably be higher than the cash price you're paying directly to DCL (if you've been booked for awhile). Paying cash thru DVC you always pay the highest estimated price tier that was anticipated by DCL for your cruise. If you booked your cruise thru DCL awhile ago you probably got a lower cash tier.

If you add on just to cruise and you buy 110 points at $96 per point you're spending $10,560 for this cruise and you're borrowing ahead on them to have enough points so you won't have any left to even USE for awhile. I personally think your cruise would be cheaper in the long run as you already have it booked on cash - although you didn't say what the total price of the cruise was as you have it already.

We used 1 1/2 years of points on a 4 nighter this past summer...but we had it booked for 17 months, before they raised they points so much - I don't think we'll ever book a cruise on points again with the current charts. Anyway, I didn't want to start borrowing ahead tho on our points so we have been "out" of points since March of '07. We have a Dec. UY so we'll finally get some more points in a couple of months. I am really excited that we'll have a whole new years worth of points to start fresh for next year! It's been a long wait and it's been killing me to be "out" of points so I know how you feel, but I just don't think your plan is making good sense. (IMO)

 

[Dean]

Adding on to cruise, DC, CC or similar is not a good value. You'll come out cheaper to pay cash for those options, esp DCL and you'll have far less risk. If you need extra points going forward, the best way to generate points is to pay cash for a weekend here and there (assuming you are staying weekends) through MS hopefully with the 25% discount. If done correctly, it would be seamless with your points reservation.