Disney Cruise on DVC Points - Questions

[forevercruising]

Hello, all!

We are planning on booking a 2014 Disney Cruise with our DVC points (yes, we are sure we want to use our points and no, we are not interested in renting them out and paying cash); this will be our first time cruising with DCL (we've cruised many times on many other cruise lines) and our first time booking with points.

So, I have a few questions, for those of you who have booked and sailed with DCL on points:

1. When you book with points, do you get to choose your own cabin number at the time of booking, if it is available? Or, will they only let you book a category?

2. Are there only certain cabins in various sections available to book on points, or are all cabins available to book on points? I understand that there is only a percentage of cabins available on each cruise for DVC bookings, but, are all cabins open for booking for those reservations?

3. Assuming that I can select our own cabin at time of booking on points, is it common for most of the aft verandah cabins to disappear quickly?

4. If we decide to book one person on points and pay cash for the other person, or for our third person, are the cash prices the same as the current prices on the DCL website? Or, are the cash prices discounted somewhat?

5. I have read that we can book 24 months in advance, but, usually, I have noticed that the sailing dates/point charts aren't out that far in advance; have any of you had success actually booking at the 24 month mark?

I will probably have more questions, in the future, but, if any of you veteran DCL DVC cruisers are able to provide some insight into these issues, it would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Hello, all!

We are planning on booking a 2014 Disney Cruise with our DVC points (yes, we are sure we want to use our points and no, we are not interested in renting them out and paying cash); this will be our first time cruising with DCL (we've cruised many times on many other cruise lines) and our first time booking with points.

So, I have a few questions, for those of you who have booked and sailed with DCL on points:

...4. If we decide to book one person on points and pay cash for the other person, or for our third person, are the cash prices the same as the current prices on the DCL website? Or, are the cash prices discounted somewhat?

...

You can use points for the first person and pay cash for additional persons. But you will pay the DVC negotiated price, not the DCL price. And it may be higher than the DCL price. They are not discounted prices.

 

[AnnaS]

Hello, all!

We are planning on booking a 2014 Disney Cruise with our DVC points (yes, we are sure we want to use our points and no, we are not interested in renting them out and paying cash); this will be our first time cruising with DCL (we've cruised many times on many other cruise lines) and our first time booking with points.

So, I have a few questions, for those of you who have booked and sailed with DCL on points:

1. When you book with points, do you get to choose your own cabin number at the time of booking, if it is available? Or, will they only let you book a category?

2. Are there only certain cabins in various sections available to book on points, or are all cabins available to book on points? I understand that there is only a percentage of cabins available on each cruise for DVC bookings, but, are all cabins open for booking for those reservations?

3. Assuming that I can select our own cabin at time of booking on points, is it common for most of the aft verandah cabins to disappear quickly?

4. If we decide to book one person on points and pay cash for the other person, or for our third person, are the cash prices the same as the current prices on the DCL website? Or, are the cash prices discounted somewhat?

5. I have read that we can book 24 months in advance, but, usually, I have noticed that the sailing dates/point charts aren't out that far in advance; have any of you had success actually booking at the 24 month mark?

I will probably have more questions, in the future, but, if any of you veteran DCL DVC cruisers are able to provide some insight into these issues, it would be greatly appreciated!

We have cruised 4 times using a combination of points and cash for each cruise and always had two cabins. If I remember correctly the only cabins/category not available to book on points are 1, 2 and 3.

You can choose your cabin and category and deck.

Also, be prepared to pay the full cash amount at time of booking plus your $95 exchange fee. We have booked very far out or as soon as the itinerary was announced. (West coast and Med comes to mind). For instance as soon as the Fantasy itineraries were announced in November '11 - we booked one cabin (dh and me) with points for July 2013 - 19 months before. We also booked two cabins with cash (I had a bunch of banked points).

As long as you understand the cancellation policy - you will be fine. I also always take out insurance for cruising or leaving the country.

Happy planning.

 

[forevercruising]

As long as you understand the cancellation policy - you will be fine. I also always take out insurance for cruising or leaving the country.

Anna -- Thanks very much for sharing your experiences! I have two more questions for you:

1. To verify that I do, in fact, understand the cancellation policy, it is this: All points used to book turn into reservation points and are returned to the year in which the reservation falls. They must be used during that use year and may not be used at a DVC resort, but, they may be used in any other fashion.

Is that correct?

2. Which type of travel insurance do you purchase? We always purchase travel insurance through Travelex when we cruise, but that is a regular cruise on a regular cruise line, with no connection to DVC points. Is the travel insurance you are referring to specific to DVC points? If so, is that purchased through Member Services? Or, are you simply referring to regular travel insurance?

Thanks, again, for your help! I really appreciate it!

 

[Dean]

The cash price for the non points portion is generally a fair amount higher than the discounted early booking price and usually only marginally below the rack rate. While they do not publish points tables that include all categories, I've seen many examples in the past of people able to reserve other categories, esp 3. I haven't followed that in a while so I'm sure some others can help you more with that issue. I'm assuming you're familiar with the negatives of having to pay any cash prices in full up front, the $95 booking fee which is repeated with any changes and the fact that if you do cancel, the points are not returned as DVC points but rather as reservation points that will expire the end of the UY. Good luck and enjoy your cruise.

 

[Dean]

Anna -- Thanks very much for sharing your experiences! I have two more questions for you:

1. To verify that I do, in fact, understand the cancellation policy, it is this: All points used to book turn into reservation points and are returned to the year in which the reservation falls. They must be used during that use year and may not be used at a DVC resort, but, they may be used in any other fashion.

Is that correct?

2. Which type of travel insurance do you purchase? We always purchase travel insurance through Travelex when we cruise, but that is a regular cruise on a regular cruise line, with no connection to DVC points. Is the travel insurance you are referring to specific to DVC points? If so, is that purchased through Member Services? Or, are you simply referring to regular travel insurance?

Thanks, again, for your help! I really appreciate it!

It's the UY the original reservation falls into from what I understand.

 

[mousefan1972]

We are cruising on the Dream using points in 19 days! We booked back in January 2011 and used points for DH and I and paid cash for our 2 kids. The cash rate was the same as what we would have paid through DCL, as I had their website in front of me when I was on the phone with MS. We did get to choose our cabin #. We chose a category 11C, a standard inside and paid a great rate, IMOl. The MS CM read off the available cabins and I had the deck plan up in front of me on my laptop while I chose. As others have stated, be prepared to pay in full for the cash guests as well as the $95 fee when you book. Have fun!

 

[mousefan1972]

It's the UY the original reservation falls into from what I understand.

Let me check my cruise documents....


Interesting. I have a piece of paper from DVC that spells out the cancel penalties based on when you cancel. It says "Points will be returned to the appropriate UY". Hmmm... Not sure what exactly that means.

Sorry I'm no help

 

[Dean]

Let me check my cruise documents....


Interesting. I have a piece of paper from DVC that spells out the cancel penalties based on when you cancel. It says "Points will be returned to the appropriate UY". Hmmm... Not sure what exactly that means.

Sorry I'm no help

The wording in the planner says "the UY in which the cancelled reservation falls". Which brings up the issue of whether that might give a way for one to extend points in some circumstances. Generally they take the points from the UY of the trip as well but apparently not always.

 

[fordisney]

so if you cancel a reservation for the cruise with DVC points, you can not use them for a DVC hotel? Where would you be able to use them?

 

[Dean]

so if you cancel a reservation for the cruise with DVC points, you can not use them for a DVC hotel? Where would you be able to use them?

Another cruise, Disney Collection, Adventures by Disney and the Concierge collection unless I missed something. And by the end of the UY in which the cruise was reserved.