Cruise using DVC points - How early to book?

[mark&sue]

When are the points to be released for October 2007 cruises?

I read on a thread on the cruise forum that someone had waitlisted for a cruise in October 2007 since 2004.

Are they very difficult to get? Do you have to book up as soon as points are announced on the DVC member website or do we need to phone up MS before they appear on the website? What happens if I book the cruise but cannot get a flight or time off work as if I was to book now I could not get my boss to guarantee the time off. Am I worrying tooo much????

Thanks


Susan

 

[SCDizneyDawn]

Hi, I have taken two cruises on points and have a third one booked, so I hope I can help you!

When are the points to be released for October 2007 cruises?

I am not sure when the points for 10-07 will be released for a 7 day cruise. The 3 and 4 day are available to book once you are inside of your 11 month window and the point charts are available to view on DVCmember.com. Disney has not yet released where the Magic (the 7 day cruise) will be going after April of 2007 and have not released the cash rates or the points rates for this time frame. I would imagine soon after they release the cash rates they will have point charts for the fall cruises.

Are they very difficult to get?

I have never had troble booking a Disney cruise with points, we booked our first two right after the 11 month window opened up and booked our next cruise about 10 months in advance.

Do you have to book up as soon as points are announced on the DVC member website or do we need to phone up MS before they appear on the website?

We have always called and booked with MS on the day 11 months out, never before. With this last booking when we called at about 10 months we were able to get the exact room we wanted (the room we last had!)

What happens if I book the cruise but cannot get a flight or time off work as if I was to book now I could not get my boss to guarantee the time off.

Your cruise points will not be able to be returned into your normal use year and would have to be used to book another cruise or something outside of your DVC resorts (in other words you could not cancel a cruise and then use the points to book a week at OKW) You would also have to pay the $75 booking fee again.

One way to lessen the problems associated with using points to book a cruise that you are not 100% sure you will be able to get off for would be to rent the points out and use the cash to book your cruise. The value for your points is much higher on the rental market than using them to book your cruise and the cancel policy is much more leinent for cash bookings. I personally did not do this because I am not that comfortable with renting and I had to use more than one use year of points so I would be renting borrowed points which I especially was not comfortable with.

And, no, you do not worry too much, we all have questions and it is the best way to learn before making a mistake! Our points are WAY to valuable to make a BIG mistake like this could be if you were not well informed!

Hope all that helped you!

 

[Tiggery]

Book on points at 11 months.
The waitlist seems to be cat 1 2 and 3 suites, if the waitlist was that long its probably for the walt disney or roy disney suite (cat 1)

 

[Doctor P]

In the recent past there have been reports of all DVC rooms (points rooms) on cruises being sold out quickly. There is apparently a limit as to the number of staterooms under the contract with DCL and that has been met frequently in the past according to posts I have seen. We booked right at the 11 month mark for our July 2003 7 night cruise and were able to get one of the 6 or 7 staterooms we had targeted.

 

[Mi3stooges]

I booked my Jan 22 '06 cruise with points on Dec 6 of '05. I was able to get a cat 9 (outside cabin) which I was happy to get, but think there was limited avail. There was not anything below this.

 

[mark&sue]

Thank you everyone. This is most helpful. We only want to start with a three day cruise during our two week vacation. We would like a 5 or 6 category I think. 11 month window would be a great time to book as I can book the flights then and hopefully my boss's permission.

I am now getting more excited.


Susan

 

[K&KsMom]

Where can I find the point chart for the cruises?

 

[SCDizneyDawn]

you can find point charts for the cruise on DVCMemeber.com. You will have to log in then on the home page there is a box on the right of the screen that says "member recources" and one of the choices is point charts. The 2007 cruise charts are toward the bottom of the list of charts.