Can you rent points for cruises or is it just for resort stays

Jessaz2000

Earning My Ears
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Feb 10, 2022
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Hello

new to Disney cruises and was wondering is anyone rents points for cruises or is it specifically for resorts stays?

thank you 😊
 
Renting points for a cruise would be a terrible value. Exchange for a cruise is also complicated for owners.

So no

^ This.

It’s been a while since I did the math, but as I recall, whatever savings you might get by renting points (vs. buying them) are more than offset by the horrible exchange rate you get when applying points to a cruise.

If you’re looking to save some $$$, you might be better off using Target Red Card to get a 5% discount on Disney gift cards.

OR if you can shop at Costco, see how much store credit you’d get in exchange for booking with Costco Travel. You can buy a lot of groceries with what they give you.
 
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The cruise would probably cost at least twice as much due to the poor exchange value for points, much better to pay cash. I don't think it's possible to rent them for a cruise anyways, it's considered an exchange with an extra $95 fee, similar to doing interval international and the non DVC resorts.
 
We are DVC and have 2 cruises coming up: one with points that have been rolled over since booking in March 2019 and one with all cash. Yes, it is a nightmare using points. DVC points are turned into Reservation Points for DCL. If our July cruise is canceled for any reason we will not get our DVC points back but Reservation points that can only be used for the Disney hotels and have to be used up by August 31, 2022. DVC points on DCL: NEVER AGAIN.
 
We are DVC and have 2 cruises coming up: one with points that have been rolled over since booking in March 2019 and one with all cash. Yes, it is a nightmare using points. DVC points are turned into Reservation Points for DCL. If our July cruise is canceled for any reason we will not get our DVC points back but Reservation points that can only be used for the Disney hotels and have to be used up by August 31, 2022. DVC points on DCL: NEVER AGAIN.
Makes you kinda wonder why DCL pushes DVC while onboard, doesn't it?
 
Makes you kinda wonder why DCL pushes DVC while onboard, doesn't it?

Oh Yeah !!!

They’re trying to nab you while your positive emotions re: Disney are at their peak.

While they do mention the ability to apply points to cruises during the DVC pitch sessions, in my experience, it’s always kind of on the low. Like, a tacit admission by the hosts that they know what a crappy deal it is.
 
We are DVC and have 2 cruises coming up: one with points that have been rolled over since booking in March 2019 and one with all cash. Yes, it is a nightmare using points. DVC points are turned into Reservation Points for DCL. If our July cruise is canceled for any reason we will not get our DVC points back but Reservation points that can only be used for the Disney hotels and have to be used up by August 31, 2022. DVC points on DCL: NEVER AGAIN.
My wife and I had booked the DVC chartered cruise on the new Wish as part of a B2B starting with the maiden voyage. DVC required that at least one of the passengers had to be booked using points. Now that the Wish has been delayed, and we are getting a 50% discount on the new date, I will be getting back some points that will be Reservation Points. I have never had to deal with reservation points before, so I am not sure what to expect, or what the rules are for using them. So far haven't seen the points (or the refund to my credit card for the other fare we paid)
 
My wife and I had booked the DVC chartered cruise on the new Wish as part of a B2B starting with the maiden voyage. DVC required that at least one of the passengers had to be booked using points. Now that the Wish has been delayed, and we are getting a 50% discount on the new date, I will be getting back some points that will be Reservation Points. I have never had to deal with reservation points before, so I am not sure what to expect, or what the rules are for using them. So far haven't seen the points (or the refund to my credit card for the other fare we paid)
You can not see reservation points on your account like we can see our DVC points. Only the CM on their computer screen can see them. Call DVC and ask for the number of reservation points in your account and document the conversation (points tend to change every time I would call to use some of ours !!!!).
Here is where you can get the listing of points for Disney Hotel accommodations:
https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/destinations/list/#/disney-resort-hotels
They are only good on the hotel side of WDW (DL) and not the villas DVC members stay in.
When you call the DVC, ask the CM when they expire.

We booked our original cruises (B2B Sept 2020) on opening day March 2019 using 2018 and 2019 points (Sept UY). 2020 was canceled so we moved the points/reservation to Jan 2021, and canceled so we moved points/reservation to May 2021, canceled. In March 2021 we moved points/reservation to July 2022. At that time, on the phone with the CM, I was told I had to "use em or lose em" on or before August 2022 (Sept UY). Still, with the +25%, we received for canceled cruises (B2B) and booking the 9-night S. Caribbean for July 2022, we had around 800 reservations to "use em or lose em" (I state around 800 pts because I as said earlier, the number kept changing).

Luckily, we have family that lives in the Orlando area and they have been chipping away at the points staying at the GF. At one time, I was trying to keep track of the !#@**% reservation points, and thought their last stay would almost use them up, I was told I was 200+/- points short and had to use 120 DVC points to fill the reservation!!!. Took that hit for the team! After their stay, I get an email reminding me of August 31, 2022 "use em or lose em" and I had 165 points to use.
This has been a nightmare. We've taken the Members Only West Coast Cruise and know the one person must use points requirement.
The best thing for you is to get the number of reservation points and document, document, document.
 
My wife and I had booked the DVC chartered cruise on the new Wish as part of a B2B starting with the maiden voyage. DVC required that at least one of the passengers had to be booked using points. Now that the Wish has been delayed, and we are getting a 50% discount on the new date, I will be getting back some points that will be Reservation Points. I have never had to deal with reservation points before, so I am not sure what to expect, or what the rules are for using them. So far haven't seen the points (or the refund to my credit card for the other fare we paid)
If you are insistent they will return them as DVC points but it needs to be escalated to a manager not a DVC member services agent. We didn’t change the reservation they did so they need to make it right. The 50% really helps 😊
 
Makes you kinda wonder why DCL pushes DVC while onboard, doesn't it?
Disney fans are Disney fans. It must be lucrative for them or they wouldn't pay their reps or provide the incentives they do. We joined up just after a presentation on a cruise. I never really wanted to use vacation time for a presentation at the parks, but I had some extra time on a sea day and the incentive was really good (I think we got $50 of onboard credit or something for attending). We didn't join up on the cruise (we went home and discussed and did math and thought about it) but that presentation was sort of the turning point for us.

We have never planned to use our points for a cruise, but we've enjoyed using them for stays at WDW and we plan to go to Aulani in the near future. They will try to tell you it's great to use them on a cruise and member cruises are great but it's just not a great exchange. We focus on DVC resorts. We didn't buy many points simply because we do like cruising and we like to have a variety of different vacations. So we basically have enough points for 3-4 day stay at DVC after/before a cruise once a year or by banking/borrowing, a week long stay every other year. It's perfect for us.
 
A lot of new members say they like the "flexibility!" of using them for exchange, but the reality of exchanges is they are totally NOT flexible.
 
Hello

new to Disney cruises and was wondering is anyone rents points for cruises or is it specifically for resorts stays?

thank you 😊
I have been a member of DVC since 1997. When I want to go on a cruise, I rent my DVC points and use the cash for the cruise. Using DVC at the parks is an awesome value but it is not the same for a cruise. It is in fact a terrible value.
 
Once I calculated the relative value of DVC points for the cruise category we wished to book. It came out to $6 per point. I rented out the points for $10 each and paid cash for the cruise. These numbers would not necessarily apply now (points rent for much more) but I would carefully consider the cost and value of using points before doing so.
 
If this could be used for cruising at same, near value as hotel, then I would have signed up long time ago. Since the value is bad, I just pay in cash with other savings.

I don't live close enough to Disney to make it effective nor efficient enough to worry about points. Now, cruise ports. I will get myself there one way or another. Love being on the seas.
 
^ This.

It’s been a while since I did the math, but as I recall, whatever savings you might get by renting points (vs. buying them) are more than offset by the horrible exchange rate you get when applying points to a cruise.

If you’re looking to save some $$$, you might be better off using Target Red Card to get a 5% discount on Disney gift cards.

OR if you can shop at Costco, see how much store credit you’d get in exchange for booking with Costco Travel. You can buy a lot of groceries with what they give you.
or do both, which is what we did :) (8% back on a costco gift card, plus 4% off for BJs gift cards)
 
Owning a timeshare in this environment - Disney or not - is a poor financial decision on its own but doing so to cruise takes it to en entirely different level. Cash is king. Flexibility is awesome.
 

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