using points for cruising

[JACKSDAD]

I am looking for some help & advice on using our points to book a Disney cruise.
I appreciate that using points is not as cost effective as paying with cash, however we seem to have a lot of points, and not too much cash at the moment!!
How far out can we make ressies on the cruise? is it 11 months like our home resort. We are thinking of going to BW for 3weeks and finishing off with a 4 day cruise. If we can book everything at the same time, it sure would make things easier.
Any help would be gartefully received!.

 

[lovetotravel1974]

You can book a cruise through MS at 11 months out,even if you have 2 different home resorts.

 

[LakeAriel]

Just book your BCV atyour 11month mark and then the cruise, also at 11 months. It's was easy. To me to rent your points and pay cash for the cruise defeats the purpose of membership. As long as I was left with enough points to go to Disney the next year, albiet a studio, I'm happy! and aggravation free!
ENJOY!

 

[Jimbo]

Originally posted by LakeAriel
To me to rent your points and pay cash for the cruise defeats the purpose of membership.

That's a strange way to look at it.

I priced a seven night cruise for six people, two staterooms. This was about 13 months before the sailing date. The cash price was about $5,700. So I could have rented 570 points and paid cash for the cruise. There were plenty of stateroom choices available.

Or I could have waited until 11 months before the cruise, and if the rooms were still available I could have used 720 DVC points to "pay" for them. And paid the $75 fee, too.

One way I would have used 570 points, the other I would have used 720 points. It's the same cruise either way. There's some hassle involved in renting, but letting DVC make the reservation would have cost us 26% more. That's a no brainer in my book!

 

[Jimbo]

After I posted, I thought to go back and check on the cash price now for that cruise. It's four months from the date of sailing, and booking those two rooms would now cost $6544. At that price, I'd pay the 720 points, probably.

So it would appear that DVC charges us "worst case" prices. If you want to cruise a few months from now, that is the worst case and points aren't a bad deal. If you plan for a cruise 11 months (or more) from now, it's a different story.

 

[lovetotravel1974]

Originally posted by LakeAriel
To me to rent your points and pay cash for the cruise defeats the purpose of membership.

If it saves me 150 pts to rent out my points to cruise.........I will rent my pts every time.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

I have also rented out points to cruise. I would not recommend it for everyone though. If you are happy with using your points for a cruise, then you should do that.

HBC

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by LakeAriel
Just book your BCV atyour 11month mark and then the cruise, also at 11 months. It's was easy. To me to rent your points and pay cash for the cruise defeats the purpose of membership. As long as I was left with enough points to go to Disney the next year, albiet a studio, I'm happy! and aggravation free!
ENJOY!

IMO, the negatives of using points for cruising far outweigh the hassles and negatives of renting out the points. Using points you will actually use almost twice as many to pay for a cruise as you would if you rented to pay for it. If you cancel, your points go into reservation status and expire at the end of the use year. If you make ANY change, you pay another $75 fee, even as simple as changing the name of one member of the party. You can only book at 11 months rather than 18 months or so and if the price goes down, the points will not (there was one exception a few years ago).

 

[lovwdwalot]

There's a old saying on this forum, use your points as you wish, they are yours to use not anyone else's!

 

[carone0318]

If you look where the OP is from, it is probably easier for him to just use his points. I personally as a renter would probably shy away from renting from someone overseas, too much hassle, especially when there are 10 others that I could buy from right here in the US. Nothing personal. I just rented points out in the past month and there is a lot of communication the renter does with MS and in my case dealing with bank checks. If I was in the OP's position, I wouldn't consider renting either.

JMO

 

[LakeAriel]

Since only my daughter and I will be cruising it's only 290 points for our category 9 stateroom. If I was with my family of 4 the amt of points might make me check each option more carefully. As it is, this is stress free, no waiting to find a renter, negotaite, collect the money,hope there is no cancelation, and no cash put out. (except the $75).
To each his own though. If you want to work it, I'll bet renting and paying could be very lucrative!