Cruise with DVC Points

[Rambler5678]

Can you use DVC points to pay for one adult than pay cash for the rest of the party?

 

[Disney_Fan_01]

It may be possible, but not sure if it is a good use of points. You would be better off renting your points away, getting cash back and using that towards the cruise.

 

[Geomom]

You should be able to, but I think you'd need to book it through DVC. There is a $95 non-refundable fee to use the points for the cruise. Also, if you have a resale contract, you need to have purchased it before 3/21/11 in order to use those points for a cruise.

I agree that it is not a good use of points unless you have some expiring that you can't use--the point cost is extremely high for the value you get. (It's at least 100pts for a 3 nt Bahamas cruise in value season--only goes up higher from there. For our Northern European cruise in our 9C oceanview, it would cost us 400pts/person--we can spend a week in a 2 bedroom at BLT with 9 people for that amount!)

 

[bobbiwoz]

People do. They are your points, but know that folks here in general will be negative to the idea.

There may be some cruises, circumstances, that work for you.

Something else to realize is that even if you are booking a year or more ahead, I do think the whole amount is due when you book, but I am not sure about that. For a regular, with cash booking, the paid in full date is nearer the cruise.

Have I used points for a cruise? Yes, on two occasions, and was happy. This was in 2004, and 2005, before the $95 booking fee came about. These were two cruises that we would have missed, one was a Member Cruise.

Bobbi

 

[k3chantal]

Can you use DVC points to pay for one adult than pay cash for the rest of the party?

DVC will work with you to find the best way to use your points for a cruise. Often they will give you several scenarios. For instance, they may say," if you use X amount of points, both adults are on points and then you are just paying cash for the children or if you buy 15 more points three family members can be on points and then you just pay cash for two". They will find the best combination to use your points.

Is this the best use of points financially? No. But for us, I don't want the worry and hassle of renting out my points. Then, as a family, if we have decided to cruise and have no additional time to take an additional vacation to Disney (and the expense of flying 5 out to Florida or Hawaii) (the Grand Californian is WAY too difficult to depend on a reservation for a room for 5) it does make sense for our personal family.
For the first cruise we did this with, a 7 night Mexican Riviera cruise on the Wonder, was completely covered by points for 5 people. We had two adjoining rooms. For our upcoming 7 night Mediterranean cruise for 5, three adults (my son is now 18) are covered by points and we are just paying cash for his two younger siblings. This is our fifth cruise (the others we paid cash and used the points to go to Disney World before the cruise).
This works for us.

 

[RAD]

Before going the DVC route for a cruise I'd check out renting out the points at https://www.dvcrequest.com and using the money from the rental to pay directly. Plus you could then also go with a travel agent, such as Dreams Unlimited here, and get an on board credit.