DVC Question

2013Frozen

Mouseketeer
Joined
Nov 24, 2013
Hi,

Thinking of 7 night Western Caribbean cruise in March 2019. Our friends have talked about a DVC presentation they attended on a 5 night cruise. Anyone know the specifics/benefits? I assume the perks of attending the presentation can change, just curious. Do you sign up for DVC at that time? Sorry if this should be somewhere else.
 
Hi,

Thinking of 7 night Western Caribbean cruise in March 2019. Our friends have talked about a DVC presentation they attended on a 5 night cruise. Anyone know the specifics/benefits? I assume the perks of attending the presentation can change, just curious. Do you sign up for DVC at that time? Sorry if this should be somewhere else.

We are DVC members and I have never found the perks 'worth' attending a presentation (however I have attended at least two). They give you incentives to purchase a membership onboard, sometimes free adult drinks, sometimes free gifts like baseball cap and 'prizes'. They make it fun and light but it is still a sales presentation. If you decide to purchase they will make an appointment with you to go over the finer details.
I will never regret my membership; love DVC but unless I'm walking around the ship looking for something to do or interested in purchasing more points; there's not much 'point'; in my opinion.:)
 
The big thing to know about the DVC presentations on cruises is they're very subject to stars in your eyes and pixie dust. I would strongly recommend doing heavy, heavy research in advance of going to a presentation and maybe making poor choices. They count on you being in the midst of having a great time, and not thinking about the monthly or annual financial commitment.
 
The big thing to know about the DVC presentations on cruises is they're very subject to stars in your eyes and pixie dust. I would strongly recommend doing heavy, heavy research in advance of going to a presentation and maybe making poor choices. They count on you being in the midst of having a great time, and not thinking about the monthly or annual financial commitment.

I agree with this. We went through a presentation and spent a year thinking and researching. Our guide was shocked when we called back. Do take your time in deciding this. You are basically saying, "I am planning on going to Disney 'something' every year to every every other year for the next fifty years........." If you can't happily make that decision; it's not a good commitment. We were able to pay in full at the time of purchase so we only have the annual financial commitment. It is still slightly annoying because it is increasing every year...........

We are at year ten with our contract and I am still happy. Everyone from the parents, the 18 year old, the 15 year old and the 8 year old still appreciate our vacations that come from this timeshare. In the end, my point is to agree with the previous poster by not letting yourself get carried away on the ship. The availability will be there to purchase when you are on land.
 


We are DVC members and I have never found the perks 'worth' attending a presentation (however I have attended at least two). They give you incentives to purchase a membership onboard, sometimes free adult drinks, sometimes free gifts like baseball cap and 'prizes'. They make it fun and light but it is still a sales presentation. If you decide to purchase they will make an appointment with you to go over the finer details.
I will never regret my membership; love DVC but unless I'm walking around the ship looking for something to do or interested in purchasing more points; there's not much 'point'; in my opinion.:)

I thought some have "characters" available before the presentation? Which may be worth it for some.

LAX
 
They give you incentives to purchase a membership onboard,

Incentives, but for the last several years the incentives haven’t been any better than what you can get on land.

I thought some have "characters" available before the presentation? Which may be worth it for some.

LAX

4 cruises and I’ve never seen characters at or around the Dvc presentation.
 
We got a free pin and $50 onboard credit. There was some sort of “special” going on if you bought a membership while onboard, can’t remember what it was but we didn’t buy anything.
 


We attended the dvc presentation earlier this month on the Wonder, 5 night cruise. We were already DVC members. And yes, we bought another contract, we liked the offers they had. I think they probably change each cruise; we felt it was worth it for us (since were already wanting more points). No characters at our presentation, but we had free drinks, hats, lanyards, etc.
 
Incentives, but for the last several years the incentives haven’t been any better than what you can get on land.



4 cruises and I’ve never seen characters at or around the Dvc presentation.

Maybe I am getting confused about other "DVC gatherings." I remember reading about characters in one of those threads.

LAX
 
They had free water bottles and alcoholic beverages. Also got a little Disney pin. They had a raffle for one person there to win $200 OBC. I've attended on both cruises, haven't won yet.
 
We always go to one.
Last one in April.....Pluto was there 15 minutes before the official time of the presentation. DGD loved that and playing the games they have.
We got hats....instead of giving them out now, you have to go pick them up
Water and drinks
 
If you are already a member, they offer a Member gathering on embarkation day. you will get a call a week or so before the cruise from the team on the ship inviting you. They will also have DVC member lanyards at the port you can pick up. They have a character for you to take photos with for a short time before, the as others have stated, they offer bottled water and cocktails. Last year they had macaroons too. They go through and do a musical trivia "game" with one of the entertainment staff. they you get the obligatory sales pitch on whats new and they offer appointments to talk about adding points. The perks for adding on during a cruise are usually the best you will find. And they gave away a $200 OBC and I think a tote bag. a few years ago I won a really nice DVC Beach bag.

Our last cruise (we got off 5/5) they had a member social as well on Jamaica day - unfortunately it wasn't in the printed navigator and DH and I forgot about it.

They also offer virtual previews throughout the cruise, just check the navigator.

DH and I have been members for 22 years. Personally it was the best investment we could have made. We have done 6 cruises on points (back when they points per cruise were less) and countless days at Disney. If you are looking at joining the DVC family, do you homework as other have said, and talk to members on the cruise too. Your friends are familiar with it and can answer a lot of questions, but it is also good to hear others opinions too. Trust me - they will be more than happy to tell you all about their membership and how they use it.
 
We always go to one.
Last one in April.....Pluto was there 15 minutes before the official time of the presentation. DGD loved that and playing the games they have.
We got hats....instead of giving them out now, you have to go pick them up
Water and drinks

We were on the 4/20 Dream. Goofy was at ours before the presentation started. We, too, had to pick up our hats afterwards at the DVC desk. We didn’t get anything else except a drink and bottle of water.
 
I thought some have "characters" available before the presentation? Which may be worth it for some.

LAX
I haven't ever seen any characters (unless you count the sales people trying to have character........)
 
We always go to one.
Last one in April.....Pluto was there 15 minutes before the official time of the presentation. DGD loved that and playing the games they have.
We got hats....instead of giving them out now, you have to go pick them up
Water and drinks

dizneykids5 said:
We were on the 4/20 Dream. Goofy was at ours before the presentation started. We, too, had to pick up our hats afterwards at the DVC desk. We didn’t get anything else except a drink and bottle of water.


The bolded were what I was referring to. Were these different types of DVC gathering?

LAX
 
The bolded were what I was referring to. Were these different types of DVC gathering?
LAX

It's possible. There are usually 2 different kinds of DVC presentations on the ship:
  • A Members Reception for existing DVC members, which often has a character at the beginning or end (but not always), often has some kind of snacks available (but not always) and in my experience, has some kind of free alcoholic/non-alcoholic drinks available. Sometimes they give you hats/etc. Usually they do some kind of trivia game to give away other stuff. Usually they also have a drawing for OBC at the end. The bulk of the information in the presentation is sales information, presented as a 'Member Update' on upcoming/new resorts, as well as presenting the current on-board deals for additional contracts, and they also offer members first pick of appointment times with the guides for add-on discussions.
  • A non-members sales presentation (often presented multiple times throughout the cruise). These may or may not have the same opportunities for freebies or characters, but typically have the same sales pitch.
We had one cruise we were on that ended up doing 2 Member Receptions. We attended both, and managed to win the OBC for one - but it seemed like they had few enough people attend the first that they decided to do a second one to either fill up allocated sales appointments or get rid of their additional DVC stuff (since we also ended up with a pop-up beach canopy). We usually make sure to attend the Member Reception for the drinks and the chance at OBC, but the last few years they've had most of the freebies (hats, pins, etc) distributed daily at the DVC desk.
 
It's possible. There are usually 2 different kinds of DVC presentations on the ship:
  • A Members Reception for existing DVC members, which often has a character at the beginning or end (but not always), often has some kind of snacks available (but not always) and in my experience, has some kind of free alcoholic/non-alcoholic drinks available. Sometimes they give you hats/etc. Usually they do some kind of trivia game to give away other stuff. Usually they also have a drawing for OBC at the end. The bulk of the information in the presentation is sales information, presented as a 'Member Update' on upcoming/new resorts, as well as presenting the current on-board deals for additional contracts, and they also offer members first pick of appointment times with the guides for add-on discussions.
  • A non-members sales presentation (often presented multiple times throughout the cruise). These may or may not have the same opportunities for freebies or characters, but typically have the same sales pitch.
We had one cruise we were on that ended up doing 2 Member Receptions. We attended both, and managed to win the OBC for one - but it seemed like they had few enough people attend the first that they decided to do a second one to either fill up allocated sales appointments or get rid of their additional DVC stuff (since we also ended up with a pop-up beach canopy). We usually make sure to attend the Member Reception for the drinks and the chance at OBC, but the last few years they've had most of the freebies (hats, pins, etc) distributed daily at the DVC desk.

Yeah we’re members, and we usually do the DVC preso on the morning after embarkation, and we've never had a character at those. But it’s possible we just didn’t get there early enough. And we’ve also never done the one ON embarkation day, it sounds like that might be the lucky one for a character!
 
Yeah we’re members, and we usually do the DVC preso on the morning after embarkation, and we've never had a character at those. But it’s possible we just didn’t get there early enough. And we’ve also never done the one ON embarkation day, it sounds like that might be the lucky one for a character!

I'm pretty sure we've gone to the member presentation on every cruise we've been on, and I think there's been a character at maybe a handful. Mostly it was Captain Mickey - either at the beginning or the end of the event. Most recently we haven't seen any characters - and we're usually some of the first in the room. Since our DD is a teen and doesn't usually attend with us anymore, it's not really something we're looking forward to from the event. I personally enjoy seeing all the new resort info - even if we're not in the market for more points!
 
I thought some have "characters" available before the presentation? Which may be worth it for some.

LAX

We have gone to the presentation on every cruise. There was only one time we saw a character. We were a bit early and sat near the front on the right side and about 2 mins later, Belle came up to my daughter (I think she was around 7 or 8 at the time) and starting speaking with her. She asked my daughter to come with her to a table and do some crafts. My daughter was extremely shy so Belle was very sweet with her. Belle didn't know that she was my daughter's favourite princess.

Anyway, she was helping my daughter with some crafts when a woman dropped (actually quite literally) a little girl between my daughter and Belle, rather abruptly so it startled her little girl causing her to cry. Belle went around and came on the other side of my daughter and spoke to her a few more minutes while the woman fumed. Apparently, she told my daughter that she was being such a good girl and behaving so nicely that she wanted her to have a special sticker. She gestured to someone to bring her something and my daughter received a Belle sticker that I've never seen before. Anyway, my daughter was ecstatic and she waved at Belle and came over to show us. I saw the whole thing because we were very close. After Belle finished waving at my daughter, she turned around and started speaking with the little girl while her mother kept interrupting and standing in front of other kids so that her daughter can monopolize Belle's time. Anyway, Belle decided to move to another area and the woman kept following her (perhaps to get a sticker for her daughter). She left her daughter at the table beside us and her daughter started screaming...all this in front of us and my daughter and son were just watching her...and I'm sure the rest of the place. Perhaps, this is why we haven't seen any characters lately...mothers like that can really ruin things for everyone.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!


GET UP TO A $1000 SHIPBOARD CREDIT AND AN EXCLUSIVE GIFT!

If you make your Disney Cruise Line reservation with Dreams Unlimited Travel you’ll receive these incredible shipboard credits to spend on your cruise!















facebook twitter
Top