Major Policy Change in DVC/DCL Trade Policy UPDATE ON POST #193

[Starr W.]

I'm confused. If you're putting the points up to get the cash, then a DCL cruise is still possible. If you're looking for another cruise line because you want a different itinerary, I'd suggest Alaska on Princess. That's what we did for our honeymoon back in 2005 and it was perfect.

on Princess, especially for Alaska. Sailed them twice to Alaska.

To be honest I wouldn't go to Alaska on DCL, they don't go to Glacier Bay.

Sister and I are looking at doing a eastbound transatlantic next May on either Princess or Celebrity.

 

[Inkmahm]

on Princess, especially for Alaska. Sailed them twice to Alaska.

To be honest I wouldn't go to Alaska on DCL, they don't go to Glacier Bay.

Sister and I are looking at doing a eastbound transatlantic next May on either Princess or Celebrity.

Our family plan is to go to Alaska every 5 years with Princess and do a land/cruise combo. That said, we are also going to Alaska next August with Disney as a kind of "inbetween treat." It is hard to wait 5 years between trips!

If it were my ONLY trip to Alaska, I'd never pick DCL. Not doing Glacier Bay is part of that but also not having the option for an easy land tour is more important to me. Not sure how I will feel next August getting so close to Anchorage, etc. and not being able to get to Denali park, etc. to do the land portion of the trips we are used to taking. I'm guessing I will be disappointed. But 2013 will be our next Princess Alaska trip so I won't have too long to wait to get back!

 

[Starr W.]

Our family plan is to go to Alaska every 5 years with Princess and do a land/cruise combo. That said, we are also going to Alaska next August with Disney as a kind of "inbetween treat." It is hard to wait 5 years between trips!

If it were my ONLY trip to Alaska, I'd never pick DCL. Not doing Glacier Bay is part of that but also not having the option for an easy land tour is more important to me. Not sure how I will feel next August getting so close to Anchorage, etc. and not being able to get to Denali park, etc. to do the land portion of the trips we are used to taking. I'm guessing I will be disappointed. But 2013 will be our next Princess Alaska trip so I won't have too long to wait to get back!

Preaching to the choir , if you want to do land tours, Princess or HAL are the best choices.

 

[cruiseletters]

Yep Inkmahn we are putting her points up for sale this weekend. I also told her there was not reason to send these two on their honeymoon on a Disney trip. So I think once they have an official wedding date we will be looking for some RCL cruises, unless someone has some suggestions for another cruise line. They are not the party type of people but enjoy sitting and relaxing with a drink or two. Would love to find a nice itenierary for them!

Wouldn't that be an interesting result of all of this turmoil, peoples faith in this product and the availability has been shaken so they start renting their points out and going to other companies for different options at often times better prices. When Cmbar wrote that I thought, now that would be great flexibility and control. I guess i'm going to have to get in the rental game.

 

[cruiseletters]

I called ms today because I have some reservation points that I was planning on using on a MR cruise next spring. The lady I talked to said nothing was available period, never told me there was a call back list. If I hadn't found out about this situation on the boards I wouldn't have known what to do.So when I asked her about a waiting list she finally said there was such a thing if I really wanted to do that but she didn't want to bring it up because there is a great likely hood it won't matter, great that's encouraging

 

[JimMIA]

on Princess, especially for Alaska. Sailed them twice to Alaska.

To be honest I wouldn't go to Alaska on DCL, they don't go to Glacier Bay.

Sister and I are looking at doing a eastbound transatlantic next May on either Princess or Celebrity.

Just another example that Disney does NOT do everything better than every other company in the world. They do many things well and some things better than everyone else, but there are a lot of other options.

 

[cseca]

Yep Inkmahn we are putting her points up for sale this weekend. I also told her there was not reason to send these two on their honeymoon on a Disney trip. So I think once they have an official wedding date we will be looking for some RCL cruises, unless someone has some suggestions for another cruise line. They are not the party type of people but enjoy sitting and relaxing with a drink or two. Would love to find a nice itenierary for them!

OK, not to confuse you any further but have you popped over to the dvc-mousecellaneous board?
There's another rumor/speculation going around about resale points going to have no trade out power (which could mean lower future resale value)... again... not trying to freak you out. Just giving you a heads up. I would want to know if I were you (or anyone thinking about reselling or purchasing resale).

 

[Cmbar]

I'm confused. If you're putting the points up to get the cash, then a DCL cruise is still possible. If you're looking for another cruise line because you want a different itinerary, I'd suggest Alaska on Princess. That's what we did for our honeymoon back in 2005 and it was perfect.

I know I can still pay cash for a Disney cruise, but my point is that we don't need to send them on a Disney cruise. If my Dsis was going to use the points for them it would have been ideal, but since she has to go through the hassle of selling her points now, why not take that money and send them on some other cruise line or another place entirely. One that would be better for a honeymoon couple. I like the idea of Alaska, but of course my Nephew called back and said "hey I heard they are opening a DVC resort is Hawaii!"

But Aulani won't be open in early August 2011 right? My Dsis is loaded down with points since she bought a resale contract with full banked 2009 points. Those points will expire in May 31, 2011. THESE are the points we were going to use for us and my Dsis family to go on the Dream in April, for which we have booked Cash reservations BASED on the stupid CM at MS that told me to do that! UGH I digress..

Anyways, she is going to rent those since we can't use them on the cruise and she doesn't want to go back to a DVC resort before next June. Then she will have her 2010 and 2011 points she can use for her son's honeymoon. I suppose she could trade out to RCI to get them a nice place in Hawaii or somewhere else.

 

[TisBit]

Your right, we took what the sales people said as the truth with out reading all the fine print. Our fault yes, be we were definitely misled by the sales team. Very disappointed with Disney I always thought they did things one step above the rest!!

I think a lot of people feel they are "misled" when in actuality they are not very well informed. A salesperson, disney or not is not going to give you a spiel of all the reasons not to buy or what could change. When making our purchase I wanted to be informed and I asked very specific questions as follow ups to our guides presentation. I learned that points can change, I learned that perks were not available, I learned that it did matter where you bought (and when it doesn't matter)....all I am saying is that many people are not informed because they do not ask and it isn't being misled. Walk into a Toyota dealership and they are not going to have posters about recalls, etc...but they will have posters with all the reliability awards they have won before the recalls. Not dishonest, just outdated....

Wouldn't that be an interesting result of all of this turmoil, peoples faith in this product and the availability has been shaken so they start renting their points out and going to other companies for different options at often times better prices. When Cmbar wrote that I thought, now that would be great flexibility and control. I guess i'm going to have to get in the rental game.

And if the rental market were flooded, the points costs to rent points would drop dramaticly and you wouldn't get any return vs MF's etc. This is the silly over reaction these threads tend to draw out of people. 90%+ of the DVC membership will never know there was an issue to begin with, and if this happened in 2004 with little reaction, that is proof enough. Heck, I would say 20% probably don't even know they can cruise on points

I called ms today because I have some reservation points that I was planning on using on a MR cruise next spring. The lady I talked to said nothing was available period, never told me there was a call back list. If I hadn't found out about this situation on the boards I wouldn't have known what to do.So when I asked her about a waiting list she finally said there was such a thing if I really wanted to do that but she didn't want to bring it up because there is a great likely hood it won't matter, great that's encouraging

Again, a situation where people make themselves victims by calling only because of the posts on this board and just want to say they are now a victim of the policy change.

My heart goes out to all of the people that are truly affected by this situation and I hope that a bunch of people calling and getting on the "list" when they weren't really needing an immediate resolution doesn't hurt their chances of getting their situations resolved.

 

[Cmbar]

Miami is the "Cruise Capital of the World," and Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale is right behind us. Between the two, I believe they serve more cruise passengers each year than every other port in the world combined.

In Miami, we have RCCL, Norweigian Cruise Lines, Carnival, and several others. RCCL, NCL and Carnival are all excellent. Carnival has the "party boat" reputation, but I think that is probably fading over time. Any of those should be far less expensive than DCL. I would do some research on some of the cruise forums to find a good fit.

Also, Google "cruise consolidators" and see what you find. Consolidators buy up large blocks of cabins and usually offer lower prices. You can also probably get recommendations on consolidators from the cruise boards -- some of them have been in business a long time and have excellent reputations.

Thanks Jim! Right now we are just kicking around different ideas for their honeymoon. The DCL just sounded like a great option for them but now they can't do that. They would have been happy with an Eastern Carribean I am sure, so now we will look at other Cruise lines, other places they can stay or let them pick a DVC resort. With the option of renting out points it just gives flexibility. Thanks again for the Cruise information.

I think their point is they are so disgusted with Disney, at this point, that they'd rather take their business elsewhere.

Combine that with the fact that DCL charges a substantial premium over other cruise lines.....

Exactly, once I calmed down at just the dissappointemnet of not having the option for at least the next year, we started looking at other options. I still think a cruise might be the best option for them since its an all inclusive thing. If they go to a DVC resort there is the added cost of Disney tickets and food plans. That is what is nice about doing a cruise for points.

on Princess, especially for Alaska. Sailed them twice to Alaska.

To be honest I wouldn't go to Alaska on DCL, they don't go to Glacier Bay.

Sister and I are looking at doing a eastbound transatlantic next May on either Princess or Celebrity.

Thanks for the tip on Princess. I have heard many great things about the Princess itinerary for Alaska.

Wouldn't that be an interesting result of all of this turmoil, peoples faith in this product and the availability has been shaken so they start renting their points out and going to other companies for different options at often times better prices. When Cmbar wrote that I thought, now that would be great flexibility and control. I guess i'm going to have to get in the rental game.

I have rented several times, most prior to buying into DVC. We are currently cruising in October and I rented my 2011 points to pay for this upcoming cruise. It does work out to be a better deal than using points (usually) but with this latest development I am strongly considering why I should be loyal to paying cash to Disney when I can take that cash to another equally good cruise line that generally will give me better accomodations for the same cost.

OK, not to confuse you any further but have you popped over to the dvc-mousecellaneous board?
There's another rumor/speculation going around about resale points going to have no trade out power (which could mean lower future resale value)... again... not trying to freak you out. Just giving you a heads up. I would want to know if I were you (or anyone thinking about reselling or purchasing resale).

OH bother! This is giving me a headache. I will have to go on over there and see what is up. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[GrumpyBelle]

I have an existing reservation booked on points as well. I may need to add 2 additional passengers (on cash) to this reservation. When I called to check to see if this was possible and what the cash equivelent would be, I was told that it was possible, however, I would have to give up the existing booked room and move to a gty in the next category as there was no more availability in my chosen category. I now worry that if I choose to go through with this and they cancel my current reservation to make a new one they will tell me that it is no longer possible and I won't have any reservation. Any thoughts????

 

[JimMIA]

OK, not to confuse you any further but have you popped over to the dvc-mousecellaneous board?
There's another rumor/speculation going around about resale points going to have no trade out power (which could mean lower future resale value)... again... not trying to freak you out. Just giving you a heads up. I would want to know if I were you (or anyone thinking about reselling or purchasing resale).

FWIW, I called MS and they say that rumor is BS.

I was told absolutely NO restrictions on points usage based on how the points were purchased at all. She was ready to book a cruise for me (after 10/1/2011), book an ABD, or do an RCI deposit if I wanted.

Just another lying DVC timeshare salesman -- these folks are starting to undo a pretty good organizational reputation with their antics.

 

[MK032197]

Just got screwed up!! Made a cash reservation for a 7 night cruise for late March back in April. Planned to convert the reservation to DVC points as i was told I could do that anytime before paying if off. Now with this new situation I can not convert and may have to cancel unless the option to use points opens up. Considering doing the same thing by making a cash reservation for a 4 night cruise for thanksgiving 2011 as I don't want to book using points until i am 100% sure that we can do this. Any ideas as to how long it would be safe to wait to convert a cruise over Thanksgiving 2011 to points?

 

[JOANNEL]

I just got off the phone with member services- leadership team. According to DVC they have decided as of last night to let those of us who already have a cash reservation and want to pay off with points will be allowed to. They are going to have a ms person call me back when this is done. He said it should be today or tomorrow!! I guess very one screaming helped!!

So I suggest every one who needs a cruise paid off send that email. Once again the squeaky wheel!!

I will let you know when I hear back that this is done.

DVC explained it's all a cash flow issue. DCL is not getting enough cash reservations.

 

[cindy18]

What do we do if we've sent a furious email, haven't heard back and have cash reservations that we want to change to points?

 

[MK032197]

What do we do if we've sent a furious email, haven't heard back and have cash reservations that we want to change to points?

That is what I want to know also!! I sent my email yesterday but no repsonse as of yet. I want to change my cash reservation to points so how do I know if and when I can do this??

 

[JOANNEL]

What do we do if we've sent a furious email, haven't heard back and have cash reservations that we want to change to points?

Just keep emailing. I just heard back again she took my confirmation number and is going to call me back when it's done!!

 

[cindy18]

Just keep emailing. I just heard back again she took my confirmation number and is going to call me back when it's done!!

This is pretty incredible if they actually do this. So I should forward my original email to them again and ask what is going on with this?

 

[JOANNEL]

This is pretty incredible if they actually do this. So I should forward my original email to them again and ask what is going on with this?

Has it been three days? My first email was Monday. You are on the same Alaska cruise we are!!!

 

[cindy18]

Has it been three days? My first email was Monday.

I sent my email Tuesday morning, after getting absolutely no where with the DVC rep I spoke with.