Should I Use My Disney Vacation Club Points for a Cruise?



disney cruise ship returning after covid

Disney Vacation Club owners have a wide range of options for using their Vacation Club points to book amazing vacations around the US at DVC properties and around the world using RCI’s group of resorts. However, there’s also another interesting option for using DVC points and that’s to book a cruise. Below we’ll explore how to and if you should use your Disney Vacation Club points for a cruise.

How To Book A Cruise With DVC Points

Booking a Disney cruise with your DVC points is actually quite easy. The first step is to transfer your DVC points into Reservation points. To do this owners just need to contact DVC Member Services to request the transfer. One DVC point is equivalent to one Reservation point, so no loss in point value occurs when completing this transfer. Keep in mind that once points are transferred into Reservation points they will expire within one year and they cannot be transferred back into DVC points. 

Members can then head to the DVC member site to search and book the cruise of their choice. Disney offers a wide range of cruises from Mediterranean sailings to Alaska cruises to short trips to the Bahamas. 

How Many Points Does A Cruise Cost

The number of points needed for a cruise depends on the ship, destination, length of the cruise and stateroom type . Currently, cruises generally range from 76 to 279 per person. 

Additionally, each year Disney holds a special DVC Member’s only cruise. This cruise sails to a different destination each year with costs starting at 328 points per person.

Should I Use My DVC Points For A Cruise? 

Let’s look at the numbers of a current cruise option on the DVC Member site.

Example

5-Night Bahamas – Disney Magic – Departing April 2020

If booking using points, according to the DVC cruise point charts it would cost a total of approximately 477 points to book this cruise for a family of 4 (2 adults, 1 teenager, 1 child) in an interior state room.

On the Disney Cruise website the same cruise for the same family of 4 would cost a total of $4,536.44, including taxes and port fees. 

To compare the two options we need to give our DVC points a monetary value. Currently, DVC points can be rented for approximately $19 per point. If we use this monetary value, the cruise example above would cost a total of $9,063, almost twice as much as paying cash for the same cruise on Disney Cruise Line’s website

When calculating the cost of paying cash for a cruise versus using points, it does not make financial sense to book a cruise using DVC points and therefore you should not use your Disney Vacation Club points to book a cruise. If you are a DVC owner looking to offset the cost of a cruise with your points, you may want to consider renting your points and using the cash to book a cruise instead. 

For more information on renting your DVC points, contact our helpful agents at DVC Shop Rentals.

Guest Author

Katherine Rand

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