Cruise Question

[arthur06]

I was wondering how exactly you book a cruise with DVC points? Do you book at the 7 month or 11 month window? Also, what are cruise length options? 3 days, 4 days and 7 days? Also, I would be interested in a 4 day cruise if available, what would the point charge be per person, 2 adults and a DS8, DS2? Thanks

 

[JaxFLBear]

You can book cruises 14 days to 24 months in advance of your sail date. Almost every DCL cruise is available for booking. There are point charts on the member website for 2008, 2009 and 2010 DCL cruises.

 

[CraftyMouse]

You will pay a $95 exchange fee when booking the cruise. You can also choose to book some members of your party on points and some on cash, the only rule is that the lead name on the reservation must be paid for with points and each of the other cruisers must be paid for with all-points or all-cash. The cash price is a pre-negotiated amount between DVC and DCL. If you book some on cash you'll need to pay that entire amount at the time of booking as well.

 

[Anal Annie]

You can book as soon as the charts and itineraries are released. Cruising on DCL requires a lot of points and they keep raising the minimum required. I will give you my own real life example.

We booked a 4 nighter in March '07 as soon as the point charts were released for a cruise in July '08. We booked an "inside deluxe" Cat. 10 for 3 people. At the time it cost us 392 points which for us, was a little over 1 and 1/2 years worth. For only 4 nights in one of the lowest categories. Out of curiosity, when the charts were released for 2009 I checked them to compare and found that for 3 people in a Cat 10 on a 4 nighter in July '09 had gone up by 65 points to 457 points!! We no longer consider cruising on points to be a good use of our points. We only own 250 points and do not think using 2 years worth for 4 nights to be a smart way to use them. We're glad we got to go one more time, but the DCL cash prices have really gone up a lot too for 2010...so we may have done our last DCL cruise. You can really get more bang for your points at WDW.

 

[CarolAnnC]

I was wondering how exactly you book a cruise with DVC points? Do you book at the 7 month or 11 month window? Also, what are cruise length options? 3 days, 4 days and 7 days? Also, I would be interested in a 4 day cruise if available, what would the point charge be per person, 2 adults and a DS8, DS2? Thanks

There are a multitidue of options! Besides the 3, 4 and 7 day cruises, there are also 5, 10, 11, 12 and 14 day cruises! There is everything from double Castaway Cay cruises, to European and transatlantic crossing cruises. The DCL website is a good place to read up on all the current options as far as the itineraries.

If booking with points or points/cash remember the first two in the room are charged as adults regardless of age.