When to make ressies on cruise and # points

[Tigger1]

I hope our family can take a cruise one year and I wondered how soon in advance we need to make the ressies. I am not sure whether to use all points, partial points or pay cash. Are Verandahs worth the extra points? Do some rooms fill faster than others? I have motion sickness, would an inside room be best?

Thanks Tigger

 

[SimplyMagical]

We are looking to do the same thing for next February. When we called MS they said the cruise points chart for 2005 will not be out until May 2004. But I understand from the information that we have obtained on this board, that it is cheaper to pay cash. The earlier you book, the best discount rate you get. Since we have never been on a cruise, I am also interested in hearing whether the verandah is worth the extra.

 

[eva]

Steve and I are taking our second cruise this May on points. Last May we just did the 3-day cruise with 5 nights at BCV prior. We loved it, but felt the cruise was way too short. This coming May we are staying at BCV for 6 nights and then we are going on the 7-day Eastern. We had a cat. 6 last May and this coming trip too. We really enjoyed the verandah early in the morning and late at night. If you had never had one though you may never miss it. I know that there is usually some kind of thread over on the Cruise Board debating whether a verandah is worth the extra money (points). We think that it is, but that is purely personal perference.

If you are thinking of renting your points and paying for the cruise you may come out a bit ahead. But in our case paying points is actually cheaper than paying cash. And I really don't have the time to try to find a renter and go through the hassle. Everyone's break even point is usually different depending on the price you paid for your points and how the points were paid for. Because we bought fairly early our points with dues included cost about $6 a point. When we took that times the number of points it was much cheaper than the early booking price for a cat. 6. But we when compared for a cat. 11 there wasn't much savings. So we are paying cash for a cat. 11 for DD (Rachel) and my MIL. Then we are paying points for our cat. 6.

We booked this cruise at the 11-month window. We had to if we wanted to use the point reduction for rebooking. But the cruise we took last year I booked about 6 months out. When you should book will depend on what time of year you are going to go. May is low season and doesn't book up as fast.

Some people will recommend booking an inside cabin towards the middle of the ship if you are really prone to sea sickness. But Steve gets pretty motion sick on a number of rides at WDW and we had no problems with a cat. 6 towards the back of the ship last year. You really don't feel the motion of the ship much at all if the seas aren't too rough.

Hope this helps a bit. Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions.

 

[tinkgrl]

Hi,

Mom & I have taken 2 4 day Wonder Cruise. On my birthday cruise in 2002 we were upgraded to a verhanda & liked seeing the sun come up in the morning, but that's about it. It was windy. JMO!!! We are planning to go in May 2005. Can't wait.

I was told by MS that we could book 11 months in advance. We decided to book early though with cash!

Allison an associate