Cruising with Points

[herrmannpt]

We've booked a 7 night Mexican Rivera Cruise in January on points. I know there is a 10% discount if your book your next cruise with cash while you are still on the boat. I thought I read once that they would give you a discount on points too (if you booked while onboard). Is this true and how big is the discount? I know booking cruises with points isn't usually a good value, but we were able to get a 7 night cruise for 3 for only 252 points. Hoping we could do that or even better again!

 

[Rob S.]

You can not rebook onboard using points. You will need to call member services within 3 days after your cruise and you will get a booking discount on points of about 10%.

 

[js]

You can not rebook onboard using points. You will need to call member services within 3 days after your cruise and you will get a booking discount on points of about 10%.

Interesting, I did not know this.
Can I do a dummy booking and get my 10% when I find a cruise to book?
I guess the next question is can I do a dummy booking on DCL.
I usually sail RCCL and can do for that to get the OBC but not sure with DCL.
Thanks.

 

[jel0511]

Interesting, I did not know this.
Can I do a dummy booking and get my 10% when I find a cruise to book?
I guess the next question is can I do a dummy booking on DCL.
I usually sail RCCL and can do for that to get the OBC but not sure with DCL.
Thanks.

You can do a dummy on a 10% cash booking, because then you're just moving the deposit to another date and it's a lot "cleaner". If you do a DVC points booking, things get MUCH messier. First off your points can no longer be use for DVC resorts because they're now "reservation points" AND you'll have to pay 2 $95 booking fees. I've only used points twice to cruise, not because I find it a bad use of points, but because if you plan way in advance the cash prices usually aren't bad. The two times I used points, I booked only 4 months in advance.

 

[herrmannpt]

Thanks for the info. I guess you would have to know exactaly which cruise you want to go on to book with points to avoid the $95 fee for switching(if there even is a cruise to switch to...kind of frustrating that there seems to be so few cabins that can be booked with points on each cruise). Probably not worth it. Might do the dummy booking with cash to save the 10% and keep it a cash reservation...maybe renting out points to fund.