I don't understand the fine print on using points for a DVC Cruise - Help!

[epicureangirl]

I am looking at the point schedule for DVC cruises, and in the fine print below the points table, it says "All reservations are subject to availability and Members cannot book and travel on The Disney Collection vacations (excluding the Disneyland® Resort hotels in California) within the last 60 days of their Use Year. "

Do you understand this to mean that you must book and travel with more notice than 60 days before your use year? Or does that mean that if I have a March use Year that I can NEVER book a cruise on points (no matter how far in advance) during the period of January 1st to March 31st?

I can't really understand in any event, why they would have such a rule... does someone care to enlighten me?

Thanks!

 

[Chuck S]

It means you can not call in to book a cruise or Disney Collection stay (Disneyland excepted) during the last 2 months of your use year. You can cruise during the last 60 days, but you need to make the reservation farther in advance. This gives DVC adequate time to turn a comparable DVC room over to CRO for a cash reservation to recoup the cost of the cruise.

 

[epicureangirl]

It means you can not call in to book a cruise or Disney Collection stay (Disneyland excepted) during the last 2 months of your use year. You can cruise during the last 60 days, but you need to make the reservation farther in advance.

Sorry but I still can't wrap my head around this...

If I want to book a cruise for January 2009, does this mean I am not allowed to call in January 2008 (because my use year is in March)? Or because I am calling a year ahead is it okay?

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Title was supposed to read: I don't UNDERSTAND the fine print... oh well!

BTW, you can change your title if you wish. Click on "Edit" at bottom right of your post, then when the edit screen opens up click on the "Go Advanced" button. Then you can edit your title and/or message.

 

[salmoneous]

If I want to book a cruise for January 2009, does this mean I am not allowed to call in January 2008 (because my use year is in March)? Or because I am calling a year ahead is it okay?

It depends. If you want to use points from your March 2008 use year, you are fine calling anytime up to the last 60 days of your use year (around 12/30/08). If you want to bank points from your March 2007 use year and use those for your cruise, you have to call before 12/30/07-ish.

 

[epicureangirl]

BTW, you can change your title if you wish. Click on "Edit" at bottom right of your post, then when the edit screen opens up click on the "Go Advanced" button. Then you can edit your title and/or message.

Fantastic! Thanks so much!

 

[epicureangirl]

It depends. If you want to use points from your March 2008 use year, you are fine calling anytime up to the last 60 days of your use year (around 12/30/08). If you want to bank points from your March 2007 use year and use those for your cruise, you have to call before 12/30/07-ish.

My 2007 points have ALREADY been banked into 2008. Is there any problem with that, or do those bank points have to be specially assigned to the DVC cruise by a certain time?

 

[Dean]

My 2007 points have ALREADY been banked into 2008. Is there any problem with that, or do those bank points have to be specially assigned to the DVC cruise by a certain time?

Technically the points have to be in the use year where you take the cruise. So to use the banked points and 2008 points, you'd have to actually cruise during your 2008 use year.

 

[Anal Annie]

If you study your account / point summary on the DVC member website it will outline exactly what you have available for use and by what date for what purpose. (It helped me figure out what we needed to do anyway as it specifically said how many points were available to borrow for cruises.)

OK, so we have a Dec. UY. We banked most of our '06 points into our '07 UY in March of this year since we didn't have the '07 points yet. Actually, we STILL DON'T have our '07 points! We will get them officially on Dec. 1 this year, but they're all "spent" already on our cruise except for 10 points. ANYWAY, we called in early March and booked a cruise for July '08 with this bucket full of points ('06 and '07) because at the time we'll be cruising we will still be in our '07 UY even tho it will be '08 on the calendar. Our '07 year doesn't start for us until this Dec. This meant we wanted all of our points to be in our '07 year since that's when our cruise date would fall. If you can follow that one!!

Study your account online 'cuz I think that will help explain it a lot. Then before you DO anything, call MS and tell them what you want to do and when and then just double check with them if you're doing the right thing. They'll tell you exactly what you need to bank or borrow to do it right! 'Cuz once you bank 'em you can't unbank 'em! You just need to make sure that you put your points into the right UY for when you want to TAKE your cruise! Like I said, we called & booked ours like 16 months ahead - but we had already banked the points prior to calling. (BTW, the 2009 schedules aren't out yet and I don't think the point charts for 2009 will be out for quite awhile yet either - so even if DCL publishes itineraries next month, you'll only be guessing at the exact number of points you'll need until those point charts are published - I think this year it was March!) Again, MS can explain your options in that case....

 

[epicureangirl]

I'm waiting on ROFR, anytime now I should hear the (good!) news. When I'm finally in the system I will able to check what you have described. However, I want to make sure I don't commit any of my points to a reservation at my home resort, if I need them for a cruise. Either that, or miss the earliest booking opportunity -- I'm a planner and want to have the most choices available to me.

Thanks so much for your detailed post, I think I'm sorted out now on my own dates.

 

[epicureangirl]

Technically the points have to be in the use year where you take the cruise. So to use the banked points and 2008 points, you'd have to actually cruise during your 2008 use year.

Fantastic, I think I'm set then!

 

[gblast123]

In general, it is a bad financial move to use points for anything other than a DVC resort.

The best that you can expect is that you will get approx. $7-8 per point from Disney and will pay a higher price than you can get from Disney Cruise Line or people like Vacations to Go.

You are much better off renting your points...you should be able to get between $9-$11 per point and then you will have a lot more flexibility to use the money for any cruise...although I personally prefer to pay a premium For Disney Cruise Line...they just know how to do it right!!!

 

[salmoneous]

The best that you can expect is that you will get approx. $7-8 per point from Disney and will pay a higher price than you can get from Disney Cruise Line or people like Vacations to Go.

Keep in mind that for a lot of people, the difference between $7-8/point and $10/point in rental fees isn't worth the time hassle and risk of renting points.

Choice A: Just call up Disney and book the cruise

Choice B: Go through the work of renting points, then use the money to book cruise.

Choice B requires work, and leaves you with extra money. Not everyone is looking for more work.

 

[Dean]

Keep in mind that for a lot of people, the difference between $7-8/point and $10/point in rental fees isn't worth the time hassle and risk of renting points.

Choice A: Just call up Disney and book the cruise

Choice B: Go through the work of renting points, then use the money to book cruise.

Choice B requires work, and leaves you with extra money. Not everyone is looking for more work.

For $2 pp difference I'd agree. Unfortunately gblast123 was far too conservative. At best one is likely to get $7 per point on a cash equivielnt exchange. The only difference currently I'm aware of is for DL options the last couple of years on a special change and for DVC if and only if, you forego the early booking discounts. And given that it's pretty easy to get more like $12 per point or more in many cases, that's $5 per point or more difference in most cases. In addition, IMO, the risk using DVC points for those exchanges directly is far greater than renting out the points. But those that don't want to put the effort in can take what they get.

 

[Anal Annie]

If you rent them out don't you have to report the money you receive as income on your taxes and then pay tax on that?! That sounds like a hassle to me...one that would bite into all that profit everyone keeps eluding to....

 

[salmoneous]

If you rent them out don't you have to report the money you receive as income on your taxes and then pay tax on that?! That sounds like a hassle to me...one that would bite into all that profit everyone keeps eluding to....

Not to mention owing taxes to Florida and Orange County.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

In general, it is a bad financial move to use points for anything other than a DVC resort.

The best that you can expect is that you will get approx. $7-8 per point from Disney and will pay a higher price than you can get from Disney Cruise Line or people like Vacations to Go.

You are much better off renting your points...you should be able to get between $9-$11 per point and then you will have a lot more flexibility to use the money for any cruise...although I personally prefer to pay a premium For Disney Cruise Line...they just know how to do it right!!!

We probably will pay cash for the next cruise we take, but when we used our points to take our first cruise, we did it because we could not have taken the cruise otherwise.

Using points on a cruise is not the best use of points, but if it is the only means for you to take a cruise... then it is a good use of points.

I don't like the thought of dealing with the rental scenario....

 

[gblast123]

Several points to also remember. It is far more restrictive to use DVC points for the cruise.

Salmoneus, you should look up the restrictions when you use DVC points vs using cash. They are too numerous to go into here, but one of the most important ones is that if you use cash, you can get back your whole deposit if you change your mind prior to the start of the cruise. Not so with DVC points, especially if you use banked/borrowed points. The DVC points are returned back to the same use year.

The best thing is look at the number of points you will use for the next cruise, then find out from Disney or some other site how much it will cost for cash. The difference is actually quite huge the last time I looked at this.

With regard to the tax question, you would technically have the same tax consequese if you traded the points for a cruise as if you sold the points. Any transaction when one thing of value is exchanged for another of value, (ie those "barter" companies found that out) is reportable as income. However, with regard to selling points for cash/check, you would have to do a tax analysis of the cost of the points vs the selling price. YOu would only have to report the difference. In most cases, you lose money over the short term if you include the purchase price of the points from Disney. Your accountant would probably give a better explanation.

 

[gblast123]

I forgot to mention that there is a $75 NON_REFUNDABLE transaction fee per DCL exchange.

I am not sure whether that is per person or per cruise. I couldn't find that answer in the Member benefits guide. If anyone knows the answer, please post it here. Thanks.

I may do a more detailed analysis and post it here.

 

[gblast123]

Sorry about posting this in bits and pieces but this topic has peaked my interest.

I don't have the 07 planning guide but looking at the 06 planning guide, for a 7 night cruise, for a Cat 9 room, it is 206 pts per person in regular season. For 2, that is over 400 pts.

A $2 differential would mean at least a $875 difference (assuming there is a per cruise exchange fee). A $3 differential would be at least a $1275 difference.

I don't know about other people, but I can buy a lot of Disney pleasure with that additional money.