Borrowed points & cancellation

[minievicky]

Hi! I have a question about borrowed points and cancellation and thought you guys might help since MS is not available until Monday. My sister in law, the generous person that she is invited a friend and her family (3) to join her on the Sept Member cruise and booked everything on points, and ended up borrowing 100% of that friend's booking. Anyhow, today friend calls and states sorry, I have to cancel. Needless to say sister is livid. She has Feb use year. If she cancels, since borrowed points cannot be returned, she will need to use these points by the end of this use year, correct? At this time, she has no current plans to go anywhere before Jan 2006. If this is the case, anyone else have any idea what she can do in order to not lose the points? She is trying to convice my in-laws to come instead but they don't really like to travel. Thanks for any advice.
Vicky

 

[RobDoc]

It appears that she has two problems ... the first is that the points must be used by the end of the current Use Year - January 31, 2006. Any points that cannot be banked prior to that time will be lost. I'd call MS and see how many of the borrowed points may be reallocated to the portion of the cruise reservation that won't be cancelled and bank any of the current points that meet the banking deadline. Current points may be banked until July 31, 2005 - so many of the points can be saved for use next year.

Any points that can't be banked (or otherwise needed for reservations) can be rented on the Rent/Trade Board.

The second issue is that these points are now in "Reservation Status" - which means that they may ONLY be used for non-DVC reservations and cannot be used for reservations at any DVC resorts. They may be used for the cruise, all non-DVC WDW resorts, the Concierge Collection and the Adventurer's Collection- but not at any DVC resorts.

If possible, I'd try to find someone else to take over the cruise reservation (it may involve another fee).

Good luck!

 

[LSchrow]

is the cruise TOTALLY booked?
if not, just one more suggestion:
catagory upgrade like crazy (& tell your SIL takes TONS of pix to show her so-called friends )

 

[wdwstar]

minievicky may not be able to upgrade because this is the Members Cruise and that has been sold out since the first day offered. how many points did she use what cat. and type of room did she book? i may be interested, oh i see its only for a family of 3, i have 4. i am sorry this happened to your DSIL, non dvc members just dont understand how important it is to be committed to a ressies.

 

[Dean]

It appears that she has two problems ... the first is that the points must be used by the end of the current Use Year - January 31, 2006. Any points that cannot be banked prior to that time will be lost. I'd call MS and see how many of the borrowed points may be reallocated to the portion of the cruise reservation that won't be cancelled and bank any of the current points that meet the banking deadline. Current points may be banked until July 31, 2005 - so many of the points can be saved for use next year.

Any points that can't be banked (or otherwise needed for reservations) can be rented on the Rent/Trade Board.

I don't believe you can bank reservation status points. IF they have to cancel, they might be able to use or rent for other WDW hotels (not DVC), Concierge collection of the like or even take another cruise. I wonder if they would let you use your "double secret, once in a lifetime exemption" for this situation. I'm kind of doubting it.

 

[RobDoc]

I don't believe you can bank reservation status points.

That's right. Reservation Points (and Holding Points) must be used in that Use Year or they will expire. Thanks for the correction. The once-in-a-lifetime-double-secret exemption would be worth a try, but it may not be allowed. (But, it can't hurt to ask.)

Renting the reservation itself may be the best option in this case.

 

[CarolMN]

IIRC, there were quite a few more members who wanted to go on the Member Cruise than the ship had room for. Believe there still might be a waitlist. Anyway, I think Doc's suggestion to find someone to take over the reservation is the best option - the OP's SIL might be able to recover at least a good portion of the points' value. If it were me, I'd post the details on the Rent/Trade Forum and see what happens.

Best wishes -

 

[goldilocks_63]

We're a family of 3 ((DD-7), and wanted to go on the cruise.....

We made some alternative plans, that I'm not sure if they could be undone.

But if they could, we'd be interested.

goldilocks_63@yahoo.com

 

[Tink10]

Mabye I should know this but what is "The once-in-a-lifetime-double-secret exemption "??

 

[minievicky]

Thanks to all the replies and suggestions so far. I will let her know about your suggestions as they are all good. I do know that the Member cruise has been sold out from day 1, as I almost didn't make it (4 hours dialing that day!) so I think and upgrade is out of the question. I will talk to her and get an update re: what she would like to do. She used about 280 points for this (cat 9 I think) and is just really upset her friend did this. Hopefully, things will turn out for her and she will have a great time as this is her very first cruise and the last member cruise 2003 was just fabulous. The CM on my cruise last month told me this one would be greater than that! Looking forward to it!
Vicky

 

[RobDoc]

Mabye I should know this but what is "The once-in-a-lifetime-double-secret exemption "??

Well ... if you promise NOT to tell anyone else ...


It is an unwritten semi-official policy at MS that they have, on occasion, under the right circumstances, if asked nicely, if the wind is out of the north and if you tap your red shoes together three times bent standard policies and allowed members to bank, unborrow, unbank, etc. their points.

You will not find this in any DVC documents and MS can certainly deny that it even exists, so there is no real recourse if it is not allowed- but it never hurts to ask if you find yourself in a dire circumstance. In most cases, I'd assume it's more likely to be offered when the situation involves extreme situations (death, illness, etc) rather than family members changing their mind. Sometimes it has been allowed because members simply overlooked a deadline by a few days.

Bottom line here is that this does not exist, but sometimes it *magically* appears. I'd suggest having a huge ear-to-ear smile on your face while on the phone (the CMs at MS can actually see big smiles) and see what happens.

... but remember ... you didn't read about this here.