Ahoy there, Susan!
Welcome to planDisney. Thank you so much for sailing by with your question. Susan, as a Disney Vacation Club Member for over 22 years, our family has loved the flexibility of Membership, including using our Disney Vacation Club points to sail to the great wide somewhere. It's a wonderful way to have the best of both worlds - the chance to see dazzling places we never knew while being immersed in the magic of Disney.
Susan, the best way to compare the cash price of a specific Disney sailing to the Disney Vacation Club Point cost would be to open two windows on your browser - one from the Disney Vacation Club Website and one from the Disney Cruise Line website. As the costs will vary based on a specific sailing, including the dates, ship, and destination, as well as what Stateroom level you choose, this is going to be the easiest way to see them both at the same time to compare and contrast.
When you open the Disney Vacation Club website window, go to the "Destinations" tab and select
"Disney Cruise Line." Click on the blue button that says
"View All Points Charts" and from here you will see a large list of sailings. Select the ship or destination that interests you and will you see the Vacation Points charts for those sailings organized by Stateroom Category, season, ship and sailing, and additional passengers.
Then, you would need to open the
Disney Cruise Line website in the second window and scroll to the
"Destinations" tab. From here, you will select the destination that you are looking into, such as the Bahamas, and click on the button that says "View Cruises." You will be able to see a list of sailings and once you click on one of those, you can see the range in pricing for the dates. To compare Stateroom prices, click on the area that says "Room & Rate Details," which will enable you to compare pricing for different Stateroom Categories on that sailing for those dates.
With these two windows open, you can compare and contrast the costs and Vacation Point requirements for the same sailings. It is a manual process but the best way to do it.
If you decide to use your eligible Disney Vacation Club Points to pay for your cruise, you can call
Member Services who can convert your DVC Points into Reservation Points and make the booking for you. There is a non-refundable $95 fee (subject to change) for this transaction.
Here's a tip for you, Susan. If you do not have enough Disney Vacation Club Points to pay for the entirety of your cruise, you can use a
combination of Vacation Points (which are called Reservation Points once they are converted) and cash to pay for the cruise. With this option, at least one member of your party must be paid in full with Reservation Points and the rest can be paid for with cash - you just can't split one Guest's cost using Reservation Points and cash. We did this for our last Disney Cruise and paid for our oldest son using our Reservation Points and the rest of us with cash. It made the vacation more affordable and allowed us to maximize the magic of our Membership - and our wallets - to enjoy this Disney experience.
I hope this helps you Susan! If you have any further Disney Vacation Club questions, sail back here and give me a wave. I'll be so happy to lend you some fin.
Bon Voyage,
Keri