Cruising on points question

[MAC3]

Hi everyone,

Mod's please forgive me if I am not posting in the correct place.
My question is..
4 people cruising, will book 2 on points the other 2 cash. MS told me yesterday that I have to wait until 11 months out to book with my points. I'm afraid to wait that long as I wanted to book as soon as the 2005 cruise window opens.
Is there a way to book to secure the room then just add the other 2 people on points when my window opens????

Thanks Lisa

 

[disney6]

Nope. You cannot make a cash ressie then change it to DVC. Sorry. We have NEVER had a problem getting the cabins we wanted and we usually book about 7-9 months out. We usually need connecting cabins and no problems, so far. I don't know about during peak times though.

I'm pretty sure I'm right about this but if not, someone will correct me.

 

[musical2]

Why don't you consider renting your points and paying all cash for the cruise. They seem to go for $10 per point on the Rent forum. I rented out my points and saved 150 points over what it would have cost me in points.

The cruise would have cost me 480 points, but I paid $3300 cash and rented out 330 points for $10 per point. Thus, saving 150 points to use later. I could have rented all 480 points and pocketed the rest of the money to use on excursions and shipboard cash and still had money left over.

Bart

 

[din]

We had the same problem when we wanted to book our 2004 cruise. We ended up booking our April 2004, 7 day cruise, cat 9 in 2002 using cash.

Recently, for kicks I call MS to see what the quote would be for 2 on points and the other two on cash. The price I had to pay was about $1000 difference, so we stayed with our cash ressies.

It is because the 11 month window gives you a smaller early booking discount as opposed to the 16 month window.

BTW we used the point for another trip to WDW...

 

[MAC3]

Yeah but I have been pricing the cruise on the cruiseline web site and on bjswholesaleclub. For 2 Adults and 2 kids I'm getting a price of upward of 5,000.00. (Edited to add the kids will be 13 & 15.)

Where if I was to use my points for 1A & 1C it would only cost $2,310.00 (Cat 10) + 301 points. This makes it more within my reach.

Does this seem right to any of you cruise pro's.

Lisa

 

[din]

Before I start I want to apologize if I missed something here.

For a quote try Dreams Unlimited. I am not sure but they may be offering a rebate and a staterrom credit also. From you price of $5000 I assume that this is a 7 day cruise. If it is not I think it is a tad high.

Is the 2005 booking window open yet? From what I see you are planning for a 2005 cruise, and yet you got a quote for sailing on points, so I am not sure how you got those numbers? From what I have seen the use of points and DVC cash price have been going up from year to year.

We booked for spring break 2004, 7 day in 2002 and with rebates we got less than $5K for a cat 9 with 2 adults, DS 9 and DS 12. So that seems in line. When I recently call I got price with points, 1 Adult and 1 child with an additional cash of about $3.5K .

Hopefully I did not make thiongs more confusing?

 

[MAC3]

No you didn't . Thanks ! Just for the record ,I haven't got a quote for 2005.
I am anticipating for 2004 rates & points. Looks like I will have to save a bit more!

Thank You Everyone,
Lisa