Booking a cruise with points & teen friend...what would you do?

[momof2disprincesses]

We are planning on using our DVC points to book a cruise in April 2012. It will be to celebrate my dd's 16th birthday. So we said she could bring a friend.

I want to get the cruise booked as soon as possible, but here's my dilemma: The friend she wants to invite is a sweet girl and one of her best friends, but this cruise is 15 months from now. I don't really want to ask the girl's parents if she can go until maybe 9 months out. You know how teens can be - what if they have a fight, what if they grow apart, what if dd thinks another friend might be better, etc.

So I called MS this morning and they said I can book the cruise now with the 4 of us listed as passengers (me, DH, DD and her friend) and I can cancel the friend for no charge later but if I ADD the friend later, there will be another $95 fee (the cost for booking a Disney collection reservation).

So, what would you do?

 

[CarolAnnC]

There are cancellation policy details where DVC will state at what time frame you receive back what number of points if cancelling a cruise booked on points. There is a break off where you do "lose" points.

Plus, any points that are returned after cancelling will be "Reservation points" which come with their own set of restrictions, such as not being able to book any DVC Resorts with them...

Personally, I would skip the friend idea. The Teen Club has so many new friends your DD will make, she will definitely not be "alone". JMHO.

 

[goofystitchfan]

You may also check to see what happens to your points for the other person if you end up cancelling her. I think I would wait.....

 

[dzorn]

I know when we booked ours it was considered an cancelation and rebooking including the $95 fee for any change.

Have you considered renting out your points and booking with cash, which gives more flexability for changes? Not to mention you would probably come out ahead money wise.

Denise in MI

 

[rascalmom]

I don't know the in's and out's of cruise booking, but I have raised two teenage daughters.

I'd wait.

 

[tiggerguy2000]

Having three daughters I would wait on that.I would not even let them ask someone for just going to Disney with 3 months to go because things happen and having someone attached to them could make them not friends after the trip.Im not sure if it's just the cruise but if it's not then you come up with the problem of who is paying the friends eating bill and asking parents that they will need x amount of money becomes a problem.When we thought about taking a friend the parents thought $200.00 would cover her 10 day trip.When i told them that would not even cover food they said she dont eat much.I gave them a week to figure out park passes,dinners and misc and they decided to decline with alot of bad attitude included.I quess they thought an invite came all inclusive.

 

[Sandisw]

We are planning on using our DVC points to book a cruise in April 2012. It will be to celebrate my dd's 16th birthday. So we said she could bring a friend.

I want to get the cruise booked as soon as possible, but here's my dilemma: The friend she wants to invite is a sweet girl and one of her best friends, but this cruise is 15 months from now. I don't really want to ask the girl's parents if she can go until maybe 9 months out. You know how teens can be - what if they have a fight, what if they grow apart, what if dd thinks another friend might be better, etc.

So I called MS this morning and they said I can book the cruise now with the 4 of us listed as passengers (me, DH, DD and her friend) and I can cancel the friend for no charge later but if I ADD the friend later, there will be another $95 fee (the cost for booking a Disney collection reservation).

So, what would you do?

If something happens to the friendship, will your family still be going? If yes, then I don't see the harm in booking with the friends name and taking it off later. Worst case, if the CM is wrong, is an additional $95.

We had our DD invite a friend for our summer trip. We are covering all costs except the airfare. Because we I wanted to book those in November for our August trip (prices were decent), we had to get a commitment. If something happens between now and then, the flight can be canceled for a $100 fee and I decided I was willing to absorb that cost so we went through with everything.

In your case, what other costs would you be "losing" (ie: transportation) if something changes? If there are not many, then I would not worry about it too much but I certainly would not say anything, other than maybe finding out if the child would even be allowed to go if you plan it. I did have my DD do that ahead of time--mention to her friend that we would like to invite her and to ask her parents if they would even let her go. If so, they could call and get the specifics about the costs, which is what they did.

Good luck!

 

[CarolAnnC]

The bigger problem is the situation of the points when cancelling, not so much a potential $95 fee. The OP can be left with a substantial number of Reservation Points that are very restricted and may very well go to waste if the friend does not end up going.

 

[Sandisw]

The bigger problem is the situation of the points when cancelling, not so much a potential $95 fee. The OP can be left with a substantial number of Reservation Points that are very restricted and may very well go to waste if the friend does not end up going.

Your right! I was thinking it was like a room and you are paying for the cabin. It is that you have to pay points per person.

In that case, it would be a risky move to do ahead of time and I think I would wait and take the $95 2nd charge as that would be much less of a penalty then having extra points in holding.

 

[momof2disprincesses]

Have you considered renting out your points and booking with cash, which gives more flexability for changes? Not to mention you would probably come out ahead money wise.

Denise in MI

I hadn't considered this but think it might wind up being our best option. DH and I were just in WDW at Christmas and bought 125 more DVC points and basically vowed we would only use points now for trips, including this cruise. So I really never thought of booking the cruise with cash but I like this idea. I think if we rented out the points it would take for this cruise (332) for $10 a point, we would bring in $3200 and if we paid cash for this cruise, it is approximately $2500, so we're ahead!

Now, we have never rented out points before. Where is the best place to do research on how to go about this?

Also, if we do pay cash for the cruise, what travel agencies do you recommend? It would be great to get an onboard credit too!

Thanks everyone!!

 

[maburke]

I think you also have the option of paying points for some people, and cash for others. I don't know, but can you add a person later for cash? That might solve your problem.

 

[Inkmahm]

I hadn't considered this but think it might wind up being our best option. DH and I were just in WDW at Christmas and bought 125 more DVC points and basically vowed we would only use points now for trips, including this cruise. So I really never thought of booking the cruise with cash but I like this idea. I think if we rented out the points it would take for this cruise (332) for $10 a point, we would bring in $3200 and if we paid cash for this cruise, it is approximately $2500, so we're ahead!

Now, we have never rented out points before. Where is the best place to do research on how to go about this?

Also, if we do pay cash for the cruise, what travel agencies do you recommend? It would be great to get an onboard credit too!

Thanks everyone!!

Ah, someone who actually listens to good advice! Congratulations, you'll save yourself money.

Personally, I woudn't bother with renting the points. I would do a transfer to a fellow DVC member instead. Then once the points are transferred, you no longer have anything to do with them. I have transferred points in for a family gathering and I have transferred points out when we took a Non-DVC trip and couldn't use all our points that year. Transferring was definitely easy to do. Go to the rent/trade board for info.

I used Dreams Unlimited for booking my DCL cruises as they match the OBC that we get from DCL. I always book our next cruise while on a cruise to get the 10% cash discount and reduced deposit costs, too.