Trading Points for a Cruise

[Fredonia85]

I'm considering buying a Vacation Club property with the intentions of using the points for a Disney Cruise. I realize with a family of 5, I'd have to purchase at least 200 points, and would be able to cruise every 2-3 years.
Has anyone had any experience in this?

Thanks!

Mark

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by Fredonia85
I'm considering buying a Vacation Club property with the intentions of using the points for a Disney Cruise. I realize with a family of 5, I'd have to purchase at least 200 points, and would be able to cruise every 2-3 years.
Has anyone had any experience in this?

Thanks!

Mark

You'll be better off paying cash for the cruises. It's not even a guaranteed benefit.

 

[colleen costello]

There are folks out there that do this. RAE, are you there? This is a lady from Indiana and she and her family are cruise-aholics... Maybe she can fill you in on why they chose DVC.

 

[rae519]

First off! Hi Colleen!!! How are things in So. Indiana?! Miss your posts and e-mails, so I know you must be busy!

Secondly, thanks for referring them to me about DVC and cruising!

Third, Fredonia85 - welcome folks! I guess Colleen put you to the right person when you asked about buying DVC for cruise use only. That's what we did and why!

We had our first land/sea in April 2001 - could NOT believe how wonderful the ship was!!! Other vacations had been drive or fly in, rent a car, race to entertainment, race to meals, run around and around and around until we were just exhausted from getting from Point A to Point B and back to Point A!!! Not at all restful or enjoyable for any of us!

Second cruise was a 7 night in February 2002 - could not believe how restful and relaxing it was. A short walk to anywhere for our food, entertainment, whatever we wanted!!! We saw the DVC desk and had no idea what it was about so we asked. After a wonderfully low key presentation by a marvelous CM (Carol Ann DeAngelo) and a lot of questions, thinking, etc. We decided to pick up 400 points at Hilton Head for the sole purpose of using them to cruise. We like Category 6, Deck 5, verandah - which takes approximately 198/person. So this would cover us for one cruise then we'd pay cash for DS.

Later in the year, we decided to pick up more points (150 at Villas at Wilderness Lodge) through The Timeshare Store (Jerry). It was a very good deal in our opinion, plus it gave us a WDW resort in case we ever wanted to use our 11 month home advantage for a vacation.

By using points, this year we are cruising twice on points (all of us, including DS) and paying cash for one (Early Booking/Castaway Club/On board booking for the $200 stateroom credit).

About a week ago, we saw 100 points at Vero Beach with The Timeshare Store and put down our escrow deposit. Disney has first rights, so we are waiting for their decision now.

Everyone has an opinion on "points vs cash" for cruising - but I like the ability to use our points for a vacation that is virtually compact and free (except for souveniers, tips, excursions). We enjoy the ship more than we have ever enjoyed a stay at WDW or a beach resort. I don't want to worry about food preparation, cooking, going out to eat, driving here or there to see this or that - everything on the ship is within walking distance. And if one person decides to sit on the verandah, the others can go off to do their own thing (Kids Club, movie, pool, spa).

Also, we are in the less than 10 years to retire bracket. The DVC gives us the opportunity to vacation at a reduced rate once our DVC properties are paid off (they are). Now I have (or hopefully will have) 650 points that cost me $209.37 a month or $2512.44/year. For where we like to stay on the ship, that's less than the cash price for two adults and one child.

For me, it's just an investment in our future retirement and a vacation that everyone can enjoy and relax! But again, this is OUR decision to purchase and use points and it's not for everyone!!

Best wishes, and if you have any more questions, just ask!

Rae (and yes, I'm always looking for more points!!)

 

[sandieb]

Wow! I was just cruising through the posts and read yours, Rae....your reasoning is fine...I know the "rent your points and take the cash and book ideas" but I also like carefree vacations and planning. I 've been on cruises, and I vowed to never take another because they were so hectic, but I haven't tried DCL yet . Sandie

 

[rae519]

sandieb - I hope that if you do try DCL, that you will enjoy it as much as we have. If you would have said the word "cruise" to me about 3 years ago, I'd have laughed - "me? on a ship? HAHA!" - besides worrying about nausea, I wasn't interested in the hectic pace I'd heard about from other cruising friends.

Then we "tried" the 4 night at WDW combined with the 3 night cruise (Nassau) and you know what? It was relaxing on the ship! Yes, there was plenty to do and see (IF we chose) but DS wanted to play with the kids at the Club, and DH and I just enjoyed the verandah and having time to ourselves without the hassle of transportation and time schedules.

One of the best things about the DVC is that YOU choose your vacation, when - where and how you want to spend it and no one can tell you right, wrong or otherwise because you are in charge! Gotta love a vacation like that!!!

I think it was worth the years of struggle to get to this point but I am still shopping for bargains, sales, clearances with coupons and discounts. Hey, I have better things to spend my money on (like Disney vacations!)!!!

Rae

 

[Crissup]

Originally posted by Fredonia85
I'm considering buying a Vacation Club property with the intentions of using the points for a Disney Cruise. I realize with a family of 5, I'd have to purchase at least 200 points, and would be able to cruise every 2-3 years.
Has anyone had any experience in this?

In addition to moderating this board, CarolAnnK is also the Cruise Board moderator. She has traded several times. Don't let he go without a reply!! LOL!!

 

[CarolAnnC]

Here I am LOL!!

Yes, as Crissup mentioned, I have traded my points for Disney Cruises a couple of times in the past. I have never regretted it.. I have 770 points so I can well afford to use some of them for cruising with still enough left to enjoy my WDW vacations. I have used points combined with cash in the past, however. I do not think I would use points for all guests in the room as it would quickly deplete my supply, lol. But, all in all, I have been very satisfied with the use of my DVC points for cruises.

 

[Dean]

There is a difference between owning DVC points and deciding to use them for DCL and buying DVC strictly to use to trade for DCL. I got the impression this was the only or at least main intent of Fredonia85. If that's the case, there is no way to make the case that this is a reasonable choice. The option could change completely or even disappear next year. The current and past points charts would never suggest this was a financially reasonable approach. The highest return of value on the DCL points I've seen compared to cash was less than $8 pp and most are closer to $5-6 pp compared to early booking discounts. Simply the model of how DVC pays for the cruises suggest that it will never be a good value. They rent the points but can't rent all of them traded. They pay CRO a fee to do this. They do not get large enough discounts from DCL to make it worthwhile, likely not as low as the early booking discounts themselves.

 

[CarolAnnC]

Mark, if you are considering your DVC purchase as strictly a way to enjoy Disney Cruises, then you might want to consider renting out the points you purchase and then use the cash to book with Early Booking Savings for your cruises. That might be a way to make it work financially in your favor! Of course, I would not personally ever rent out my points as I could not bear to part with any of them!! LOL!!!

Good luck in your decision and let us know what you end up doing.

 

[rae519]

Ditto Carol Ann!

I bought exclusively to cruise and think that regardless of the cost - we are way ahead considering the time and expense of having to go from place to place for meals and entertainment.
I think people might forget to factor that in when they talk about just the "cost". It is more restful for us to have everything in one place and just walk around enjoying ourselves!!!

Rae

 

[Fredonia85]

Thanks for everyones input. I'm still leaning toward purchasing the DVC property. But now my question is how do you combine points and cash for a cruise? Would you use so many points for a few of the cruisers, and then pay the Disney quoted cash price for the younger ones in the party?

 

[rae519]

You have to use points for the first cruiser then you can either use points or cash for the 2nd, 3rd, etc.

Rae

 

[mickeyc]

We used points for the four day cruise in Jan. 2003. The day after I booked using points the cruise was steeply discounted. I spoke to member services; however, they were not able to make any changes since I would have preferred to pay cash and save the points.

MS explained to me there is no way for them to know when cruises will be discounted. In my case the discounts occured the day after I booked the cruise. MS indicated this issue has been addressed previously and there is still no remedy.

If MS had said to me a discount was going to be offered it would have been nice to have that option. Perhaps I would have used combination of cash and points. Also, I like the ideas mentioned above renting the points and use the money to pay for the cruise. In my case I would have come out ahead. It is nice to know as a DVC member we have options.

Anyway we had a nice time and would recommend the cruise to anyone. Try to look for those discounts.

 

[eva]

We are using points for our upcoming cruise in May. We might do this off and on if it is still available. But I think that I agree with Dean on this one. I don't think that I would recommend buying DVC just to cruise. It doesn't really make good dollar sense and you never know if they will just drop the trade down the road. The only thing that DVC guarantees is that you will be able to stay at your home resort. All trades and even staying at other DVC resorts can be dropped anytime that DVC decides to. Plus, the points that it takes to cruise from year to year will change. Since they started allowing DCL as a trade the points have normally increased slightly each year. This is because the cost of cruising has been going up while the cost of staying at resorts in WDW has not risen greatly due to a lot of discounting.