Ready to book a cruise, just a few questions.

[WALTSAGOD]

I wouldn't bother with the shorter Wonder cruise. We just off the Magic, we went last year also we loved it so much, and even 7 days FLIES past you.

I couldn't even imagine the shorter Wonder cruise.


DCL is totally beyond description, after the third day, my 9 year old said, "Dad, eveyone is so nice. It's like they're your slaves!!"

 

[AnnaS]

We just joined DVC and I was looking into doing a cruise with the our family of four. I don't want to get into the habit of borrowing points from future use years. How does it work if you use a combination of points and cash? Do I use points for the two main people and then pay the additional people in cash??

That's exactly what we did for our first cruise. We used three years worth of points (before our add-ons) and I did not want to do that again. You book through MS and at least one person needs to be on points - the rest however you want -

The down side you need to know/remember is that you need to pay your cruise cash balannce in full at the time of booking.

 

[becca-becca]

That's exactly what we did for our first cruise. We used three years worth of points (before our add-ons) and I did not want to do that again. You book through MS and at least one person needs to be on points - the rest however you want -

The down side you need to know/remember is that you need to pay your cruise cash balannce in full at the time of booking.

When you split between points/cash, how do you do it? If you are booking a room with an adult paying points, how do you figure out the remaining cash balance or the cash balance for a 3rd/4th child? If one adult costs 140 points, can you splint their fare (70 points and remaining cash). Do you just have to count on MS to tell you the difference or is there a way to figure it out yourself before you call.

 

[TXdeVille]

i was told that you can't split the fare on an individual person. it is either all points or all cash. i didn't ask, however, if you can do points on one adult and one child and cash for the other adult and other child.

almost seems to me that it might be cheaper to do dcl through a travel agent and not MS. seemed a bit higher, but i am not for sure.

 

[AnnaS]

TxDeville is right - you need to pay one w/points in full - if it's 200 points per person - you cannot split it with 150 that you might have and the rest cash. One/two, etc. full - you can more or less get an estimate for the cash person first by going to the dcl website to see what it would cost for one person or add'l 3rd, 4th, etc. Just an estimate. You need to find out from MS the exact price since the prices are not the same as the dcl website/or ta.

 

[JsMom2]

i was told that you can't split the fare on an individual person. it is either all points or all cash. i didn't ask, however, if you can do points on one adult and one child and cash for the other adult and other child.

almost seems to me that it might be cheaper to do dcl through a travel agent and not MS. seemed a bit higher, but i am not for sure.

Yes, it is much easier and usually less expensive to book through DCL or a TA who is knowledgeable about DCL.

 

[becca-becca]

How much cheaper is it? When I put us in as a family, not including our 4th child, it was over $3500.00. We will be spending max, 512 points. Do most of you rent out your points and then use that money to do the cruise? It is imperative that somehow DVC points pay for cruise as that was one of our original reasons for buying (to do cruises, although we will only do some here and there). How much of a pain is it to rent points? If you book a cruise for cash, then can you ever convert it to points (if, for instance, your renter backs out or something like that).

 

[CarolAnnC]

How much cheaper is it? When I put us in as a family, not including our 4th child, it was over $3500.00. We will be spending max, 512 points. Do most of you rent out your points and then use that money to do the cruise? It is imperative that somehow DVC points pay for cruise as that was one of our original reasons for buying (to do cruises, although we will only do some here and there). How much of a pain is it to rent points? If you book a cruise for cash, then can you ever convert it to points (if, for instance, your renter backs out or something like that).

You cannot convert a cruise booked on cash to a cruise booked on points. They are two different booking avenues and you would actually need to cancel and rebook. This, of course, runs the risk of not having the stateroom originally chosen or not having availability at all. Plus there would be applicable penalties depending upon how close to sailing you cancel.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

How much cheaper is it? When I put us in as a family, not including our 4th child, it was over $3500.00. We will be spending max, 512 points. Do most of you rent out your points and then use that money to do the cruise? It is imperative that somehow DVC points pay for cruise as that was one of our original reasons for buying (to do cruises, although we will only do some here and there). How much of a pain is it to rent points? If you book a cruise for cash, then can you ever convert it to points (if, for instance, your renter backs out or something like that).

I priced the 3 nite cruise for May 2009. The pts. chart is now different for 2009, and are cheaper at that time than 2008. It cost me 234 pts. for 2 adults, and around $450 cash for the 3rd adult. I priced 3 adults thru DCL website for this same exact cruise, and it was $2450. So, renting 234 pt.s at $10/pt, comes to $2340. So, I would only be saving around $500. So, I don't see the big savings here in renting out, nor do I want the aggravation. I thihk the 7-day cruises are just about the same, renting out pts. vs. pay with pts.
There are only so many rooms reserved for DVC. So I think if there are rooms, you could book using pts. But remember, you can't do it the other way. Once you use your pts., they are forever gone from your UY and must be used within the year should you cancel.