Disney Cruise on points, 24 month booking window now, how does it work?

[Disney1fan2002]

DVC recently changed the booking window for DCL from 11 months to 24 months!

So, say I want to call today and book a cruise in March 2008, and borrow 2009 use year points. But then, we decide the kids can't be out of school, or what ever reason someone would have to cancel. Would those points go into my 2008 use year? If you think about it, it is an easy way to access your 2009 points early, because couldn't I then book a trip in 2007 using borrowed 2008 points?(which would include 2009 points)

FTR, this is just an example. There is no way to book a March '08 cruise, because DCL has only released Jan 3 as the only 2008 sailing so far.

 

[happyrebster]

Hey Marie,

I can't answer your question, but the idea intrigues me. Why do you think that you can borrow points so far into the future? Is this based on a conversation you had with Membership Services? Would love to hear more.

 

[ratfam]

I don't know if borrowed points go back to their original use year, but as I understand it from when we cruised previously if you cancel a cruise you don't get general purpose DVC points back, you get back points that can only be used for certain things (I think within the Disney collection, but I'm not certain about that, I was told they could not be used at DVC resorts or for Interval International exchanges).

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Hey Marie,

I can't answer your question, but the idea intrigues me. Why do you think that you can borrow points so far into the future? Is this based on a conversation you had with Membership Services? Would love to hear more.

Yes, I called to inquire about being able to borrow 2009 points for a 2008 trip booked in 2006. LOL She said, yes we could borrow, which in itself is amazing. It wasn't until I hung up and let myself think about it, that I wondered about what happens to the points if we cancel.

 

[Dean]

I am told that if you are looking 2 use years ahead, you need to pay with either this years or next use years point. So today, you'd be able to use 2006 or 2007 years points only. Of course this may be an area where YMMV and will be interesting. I actually asked this direct question. Here is the quote from MS. I asked this question in regards to cruises AND the II resorts that trade 2 years out like Kona Coast. And it was the second email where I specifically asked for further clarification in regards to items that occurred 2 use years ahead.

For an exchange through Interval International (ie. Kona Coast), we can deduct your points from your current Use Year or your next Use Year. There are no perimeters unless your booking and traveling
within the last days of your Use Year. So if an exchange occurred in the March 2008 and you are currently in your 12/2005 Use Year, we can use the points from the current Use Year to book.

As far as all the other exchanges and bookings, we must take the points from the Use Year you are travelling in as well as we can use banked points in that year and borrow points from the next year, if necessary.