We like to Cruise...should we buy DVC?

[jbatdlrc]

I sat through the presentation on our last cruise to learn about DVC...they are currently selling GFV and Aulani (we live in Virginia, too hard to get to Hawaii!).

I never found out how easy it was to convert points to a cruise...is this something you have to do 7 months out before it books solid as well? Any suggestions or advice as to whether or not we should take the plunge???

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Buy it to consistently use for cruising? Nope.

Most often you will be able to pay less in cash to book a cruise compared to the full purchase price plus dues of DVC points. A few years ago they even had a restriction on booking with points for several months - you just couldn't. There's a $95 trade fee and if you need to do any modifications to the reservation they will charge a $95 fee each time so the flexibility is less vs cash. They can and perhaps always do limit the number of cabins available to DVC trades. If you look at a points chart for the cruises you'll see that it takes quite a lot of points for many of them - and the numbers listed on the charts are per person, not per cabin. Once you use the points to trade to DCL they are reservation points and cannot be used for DVC rooms if you needed to cancel the cruise.

And - the option to trade into DCL could go away at anytime. It's not a guaranteed option.

 

[DisneyTravelers2008]

I dont think using points for a cruise is a good use of points...it just takes too many points to "pay" for the cruise. A lot of people rent their points and use the cash to pay for the cruise. That is a much better use of the money/points

 

[disneynutz]

Buy DVC to stay at a DVC resort.

Like to cruise, pay cash.

Bill

 

[crisi]

One thing Kathy didn't mention, the cost in points to cruise can go up every year. This is different than how points work with DVC, where they can get reallocated, but the adjustments are minor and if points go up one place they go down the other. (Those minor adjustments have been very painful for some members, but compared to cruising, they have been minor adjustments).

Our original vacation has not increased in points since we joined in 2002. The cost to cruise has pretty much doubled.

 

[momof3poohlovers]

It definitely is not wise to use points to book a cruise. We just booked a Disney Cruise yesterday for my husband and I and it would have been 186 points if we just used points. We decided to just pay cash and then rent out enough points to cover our cruise. Using David's rental, we only needed 132 points to cover the reservation. Basically we saved 54 points by paying cash.

 

[Dean]

I sat through the presentation on our last cruise to learn about DVC...they are currently selling GFV and Aulani (we live in Virginia, too hard to get to Hawaii!).

I never found out how easy it was to convert points to a cruise...is this something you have to do 7 months out before it books solid as well? Any suggestions or advice as to whether or not we should take the plunge???

For cruising, it's always better, simpler and cheaper to use cash than buy points to use. An exception for a single cruise, which are very rare, would not change that. It's also not a guaranteed option for either access or the program itself. There are zero times where buying mainly to use points for cruising is even reasonable. The only situation where it might be a reasonable situation would be for a resale member with non qualified points who wanted to buy a small contract in part to get access to the member cruise on cash (they can't if the don't have qualified points).

 

[dsnydaddy]

I love to cruise as well. That said, I would never use my points to book cruise directly. I've seen the point chart and it's not pretty. Some very quick math told me that by using points, I am spending far more for my cruise than paying cash. I have enough points now to enjoy a few days pre-cruise at WDW. And that is pretty much what I'll be using my points for.

 

[bigtony777]

As others have said. If you own DVC and want to cruise Disney instead of staying at a DVC resort for a particular year, you should rent out your points and use the cash to pay for the cruise.

 

[Dean]

As others have said. If you own DVC and want to cruise Disney instead of staying at a DVC resort for a particular year, you should rent out your points and use the cash to pay for the cruise.

This is probably best for most owners who want to cruise but for current owners I'd suggest they look at all variables and then decide as there are rare occasions when it might be reasonable just to use points. For a potential buyer it's a totally different situation where they have the opportunity to position themselves up front for the best and safest situation. There are members, including on DIS, who have bought mostly to cruise, while likely not the best circumstance, once already there they may as well make the most of it or possibly sell if it's not working out.

 

[DisneyTravelers2008]

It definitely is not wise to use points to book a cruise. We just booked a Disney Cruise yesterday for my husband and I and it would have been 186 points if we just used points. We decided to just pay cash and then rent out enough points to cover our cruise. Using David's rental, we only needed 132 points to cover the reservation. Basically we saved 54 points by paying cash.

Yes -- this is the perfect example of what I was talking about in my
post above. Those 54 points are worth about $540 dollars if you were to rent them....so you can get an idea of how much money they represent

 

[momof3poohlovers]

Yes -- this is the perfect example of what I was talking about in my
post above. Those 54 points are worth about $540 dollars if you were to rent them....so you can get an idea of how much money they represent

I actually received $13 a point so it would be more like $702. This was for a 2 night cruise as well. I think that the savings would have been much more if it had been a longer cruise or if we were bringing the kids with us. It is nice though to be able to rent out our points to pay for our cruise. This was the first time we have done this.

 

[dsnydaddy]

I actually received $13 a point so it would be more like $702. This was for a 2 night cruise as well. I think that the savings would have been much more if it had been a longer cruise or if we were bringing the kids with us. It is nice though to be able to rent out our points to pay for our cruise. This was the first time we have done this.

Yeah I was shocked at the point cost of a 7 night cruise!