I posted the below in another thread here, but it would have been hard to find because the topic was about adding on, not about using points for cruises specificaly. It was in response to a specific question about buying at Vero Beach for the purpose of crusing, but it is still topical here.
The short answer is if you plan on using points for cruises as you said, once or twice in 50 years, then its fine. But if you are planning on buying points for the sole purpose of finanacing cruises, it is a loosing propostion. Just one word of warning, cruising can be addictive.
-dave
Just an FYI, using points for Cruises is not a good idea. It is much, much MUCH cheaper just to book a cruise with cash.
If it is a once in a while type thing, thats a differnet story. But to purchase points with the intent of using them for crusing on a regular basis does not make financial sense.
Just for a quick example, a 4 night cruise on points in the 2010 Value season (Sept) in a category 10, (deluxe inside stateroom) is 84 points per person for the first two people. Add two kids ages 6-12 for 56 points each.
You can check out the point charts here
http://dvcnews.com/index.php?option=...147&Itemid=121
So that comes out to 280 points. Let's say you are paying $5 a point fees each year (thats a pretty fair average - Vero Beach is quite a bit more per point, thats why it's selling for $50 per point), that comes out to $1,400 dollars in dues for those points. Then you need to add in that $95 fee for booking a cruise on points, so that brings you up to an almost $1,500 direct yearly cost for the cruise.
That same cruise with the same stateroom and people is now available for $1967.88 cash. Chances are it was a LOT cheaper 4 or 5 months ago.
So the cruise is costing you $500 more if you pay cash. But, you had to pay out roughly $14,000 to get those points in the first place (at your $50 Vero Beach). Disregarding interest and the time value of money, you would have to go on roughly 28 cruises to break even. And, since there is a time value of money, and your DVC contract does not last that long, you will never break even.
Not to mention that the number of points needed for a cruise is not fixed, like the total number of points at a resort are. They could bump the cruise points requirements up over time. The have for the most part gone down from 2009 to 2010, but that may be to bring them more in line with the cruise pricing. When cruising goes back up, I am pretty sure the points will as well.
-dave
