Problem converting res with placeholder to DVC points?

[Travel60]

We are using DVC points to book a cruise - 3 cabins for 3 families. (I know, I know)
Our daughter has a placeholder that we want to apply to her room.

We called both DVC and DCL beforehand and followed their instructions to (1) book daughter's room with DCL using placeholder. (2) Ask them to put a hold on the other 2 rooms we want. (3) Call DVC and have them "take" the reservations and convert to points.

We were on the two different calls for hours today. At the end, the DVC agent told us that there is a "known" problem with converting res with placeholder to points but they are working on it. The two rooms without placeholder are done. Hers is in limbo.

Has anyone else had this issue? We purposely booked 2 adjoining and one adjacent room (grandchildren involved) and don't want to lose one of them because of their IT issues.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

We don't have experience using DVC points and placeholders, but we do have experience using DVC points and cruises canceled and re-booked to different dates (during COVID). It was a nightmare working between DVC and DCL (they do not communicate very well with each other). Lesson learned: DVC points once used for DCL never come back as DVC points but are turned into reservation equivalent value to be used only for the hotel side of WDW (not the DVC side). Luckily, we have family in FL that used the resv value. Never again will we use DVC points on DCL, we rent them and pay cash.

 

[Travel60]

I am aware of the issues using points for cruises but DH insists that ours are older, cheaper points and since we don't do the parks anymore, sailing is a good way to use points. As accountants, we don't rent - too aware of tax implications at our income level.

We had a cruise booked on points when covid hit and while it was a major headache to deal with DVC and DCL, we were able to rebook to a Panama Canal cruise. Thought it was a decent deal.

But this is worrisome. We carefully picked out the 3 rooms we want so we can help out with grandkids. The room in question is adjoining to ours. I hope their system snafus don't lose the reservation. The alternative is to leave it as a cash reservation (~$11,000). The benefit of that is that the placeholder in cash gives a 10% discount on all 3 adults in the room while DVC said it only covers the first two.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

I understand your situation better now. Ours was also a four-night family cruise to the Bahamas, then a 10-night to the southern Caribbean for just the two of us. We re-re-re-booked the total cruises and ended up with a 7-night plus leftover resv equivalent points that had to be used by Aug 2022 (we're September use year). What an experience dealing with DVC and DCL, then back to DVC for hotel resv.
I hope everything works out in your favor. Your accounting knowledge must really come in handy, navigating all the possibilities between Plan A and Plan B.

 

[Moonspinner]

We are using DVC points to book a cruise - 3 cabins for 3 families. (I know, I know)
Our daughter has a placeholder that we want to apply to her room.

We called both DVC and DCL beforehand and followed their instructions to (1) book daughter's room with DCL using placeholder. (2) Ask them to put a hold on the other 2 rooms we want. (3) Call DVC and have them "take" the reservations and convert to points.

We were on the two different calls for hours today. At the end, the DVC agent told us that there is a "known" problem with converting res with placeholder to points but they are working on it. The two rooms without placeholder are done. Hers is in limbo.

Has anyone else had this issue? We purposely booked 2 adjoining and one adjacent room (grandchildren involved) and don't want to lose one of them because of their IT issues.

We do this all the time. We just did it last month. If you call dvc first, they will tell you to book your placeholder with dcl first. Then you call dvc and they convert the reservation to points. If you are only using points, they will refund the $250 deposit as well. They do not give you a full 10% off on the points. It is 6% or 7% (I cannot remember tbh).

 

[Moonspinner]

Double post

 

[Travel60]

We do this all the time. We just did it last month. If you call dvc first, they will tell you to book your placeholder with dcl first. Then you call dvc and they convert the reservation to points. If you are only using points, they will refund the $250 deposit as well. They do not give you a full 10% off on the points. It is 6% or 7% (I cannot remember tbh).

Yes, that is the path we followed but now they are having a "known problem".

 

[Moonspinner]

Yes, that is the path we followed but now they are having a "known problem".

Did you try calling to get a different CM? I know you probably have but just in case. We’ve never had an issue, and we’ve never been told about an issue. But there are some CMs that seem to take longer to figure it out.

 

[Travel60]

Have not. Will try that in the morning. Thanks