Question about Gift Cards on the Cruise...

[Pam1960]

We are sailing next May on the Fantasy for a week long cruise. We are all going- 6 adults and 1 child. My husband and I are paying for everything except flights and onboard drinks.

However- since I am a soft touch- I'd like to start purchasing Disney gift cards every now and then- and then give them to my kids once on the boat- as a way to pay for their drinks and keep their bar bills down!

(They are not alcoholics... but they will want a poolside cocktail and wine at dinner- they are two couples in the age range of 24-26 at the time of the sailing!)

Question is- do the boats take the Disney Gift Cards as payment at the bars? Pool drinks? Dinner drinks?

Or can they use the gift cards to settle their accounts once the cruise is over?

I have never sailed on the Disney Cruise Line before- so I have no idea!

Thanks for your help! Pam

 

[sissy_ib]

We are sailing next May on the Fantasy for a week long cruise. We are all going- 6 adults and 1 child. My husband and I are paying for everything except flights and onboard drinks.

However- since I am a soft touch- I'd like to start purchasing Disney gift cards every now and then- and then give them to my kids once on the boat- as a way to pay for their drinks and keep their bar bills down!

(They are not alcoholics... but they will want a poolside cocktail and wine at dinner- they are two couples in the age range of 24-26 at the time of the sailing!)

Question is- do the boats take the Disney Gift Cards as payment at the bars? Pool drinks? Dinner drinks?

Or can they use the gift cards to settle their accounts once the cruise is over?

I have never sailed on the Disney Cruise Line before- so I have no idea!

Thanks for your help! Pam

Bar items will be charged to your on-board account using your KTTW card. You can use a gift card at guest services to pay on the account.

 

[Pam1960]

Sounds good! Thanks!

 

[diz2011]

I had purchased a bunch of Disney gift cards over the course of the year leading up to our cruise on the Fantasy last month, and the night we boarded I took them all to guest services and had them applied to my account. Very simple!
Enjoy your cruise!!

 

[Pam1960]

Okay! Looks like I will be using your same technique! Thanks so much!

 

[racingfandj]

I would encourage to have them apply them shortly after boarding. I don't know what the limit is, but know that once your room charges exceed a certain amount, they charge to the credit card on file. When I took my Disney Rewards card down a couple days into it, they had already hit our card with the excursions. Of course, I didn't have any trouble using up the other , but if we didn't have other expenses plannned, I don't know what the reversal process would have been like.

 

[annjustann]

I would encourage to have them apply them shortly after boarding. I don't know what the limit is, but know that once your room charges exceed a certain amount, they charge to the credit card on file. When I took my Disney Rewards card down a couple days into it, they had already hit our card with the excursions. Of course, I didn't have any trouble using up the other , but if we didn't have other expenses plannned, I don't know what the reversal process would have been like.

Even if they do charge the credit card, when you check out/settle the bill with a gift card or rewards card they refund your credit card. I did that yesterday morning;-)

 

[Keira1387]

I am booked through DU, and I have them prepay the account. I will take the gift cards onboard just in case there is a problem, but it's one last thing to worry about.

 

[GetGlowing]

After you have the gift cards put on your account, don't throw them away. Sometimes there can be issues or maybe you overpaid and they will want to refund to the original card. I'd wait until after the cruise to toss them.

 

[Lorelei528]

I am booked through DU, and I have them prepay the account. I will take the gift cards onboard just in case there is a problem, but it's one last thing to worry about.

Hey Keira!
I didn't know DU did that!! We're booked thorugh them for our upcoming cruise! What do I need to do exactly?

 

[Magic3forme]

Hey Keira!
I didn't know DU did that!! We're booked thorugh them for our upcoming cruise! What do I need to do exactly?

DU will take gift cards as payment. The increments have to be over 100.00 and I think you can only use so many to pay off the balance. (10?).

Our grocery stores sell 500.00 ones and at one point had loadable up to 1500.00 (discount on gas, and perks from Amex)

 

[Lorelei528]

DU will take gift cards as payment. The increments have to be over 100.00 and I think you can only use so many to pay off the balance. (10?).

Our grocery stores sell 500.00 ones and at one point had loadable up to 1500.00 (discount on gas, and perks from Amex)

Yes, I know you can pay with gift cards, but Keira mentioned prepaying your on board account with gift cards thru DU...so that's what I was wondering the logistics of.

Thanks though!

 

[Pam1960]

So... Even if I purchase the cards in $25 dollar amounts- I can still take them to Guest Services and apply them to each room account...?

I will probably have a nice little stack of them at that point- will Disney guest services mind using 10 or so gift cards of $25 each? (for each room!)

They will love seeing me coming with all these cards- right!??

Thanks to you all- great info- especially about applying the cards at the beginning of the cruise!

Pam

 

[JadeHicks]

We've been on 2 Disney Cruises and use the Disney Gift cards as our 'savings account'. We'll load several cards over the course of 6 months and when we get on board we'll get them applied to our account. That way, we'll know what we are able to charge without having to put expenses on a credit card. It works really slick. In fact, we left our last cruise with about $150 credit that they put back on a Disney Card. Not a dime went on a credit card!

So... Even if I purchase the cards in $25 dollar amounts- I can still take them to Guest Services and apply them to each room account...?

I will probably have a nice little stack of them at that point- will Disney guest services mind using 10 or so gift cards of $25 each? (for each room!)

They will love seeing me coming with all these cards- right!??

Thanks to you all- great info- especially about applying the cards at the beginning of the cruise!

Pam

 

[Keira1387]

Hey Keira!
I didn't know DU did that!! We're booked thorugh them for our upcoming cruise! What do I need to do exactly?

You go to the same place where you would apply a payment, select "other" as the payment type, then in the notes at the bottom tell them you are prepaying the OBC. They will send you a confirmation. I take the gift cards on the ship with me just in case, but I have never had a problem! HTH!

DU will take gift cards as payment. The increments have to be over 100.00 and I think you can only use so many to pay off the balance. (10?).

This actually isn't true. Credit card payments have to be at least $100. Gift cards can be in ANY amount. I once had $6 and change on a leftover gift card, and applied it to my account.

 

[hortontrio]

I know you can take your gift cards (disney) to guest services when you get on board but i thought i heard that you CAN use them on board in the gift shops? (instead of the KTTW card). No big deal if not, but my daughter got 2 for her bday and we thought it would be fun for her to have her own money and spend it on board in the gift shops..THANKS

 

[kmitchel]

Another tip is to get a Target Visa card and buy Disney gift cards from there for a 5% discount. I booked my Hawaii cruise through DU and bought several cards from Target each week to apply to my account. That 5% adds up and it felt good to walk on the ship with all of my planned excursions/tips/known expenses pre-paid. I kept a few extra cards in my suitcase for when we went to Aulani so I could buy food/gifts there and even used them for our pre-stay at the Grand Californian.

Enjoy your cruise.

 

[jahber]

I know you can take your gift cards (disney) to guest services when you get on board but i thought i heard that you CAN use them on board in the gift shops? (instead of the KTTW card). No big deal if not, but my daughter got 2 for her bday and we thought it would be fun for her to have her own money and spend it on board in the gift shops..THANKS

Yes, you can use them in the gift shops. I gave one to each of my kids as their spending money. Someone posted in another thread that you can't use them on Castaway Cay, though. I never tried that, so I can't confirm.

 

[momto2redheadgirls]

So... Even if I purchase the cards in $25 dollar amounts- I can still take them to Guest Services and apply them to each room account...?

I will probably have a nice little stack of them at that point- will Disney guest services mind using 10 or so gift cards of $25 each? (for each room!)

They will love seeing me coming with all these cards- right!??

Thanks to you all- great info- especially about applying the cards at the beginning of the cruise!

Pam

We did that and on the first night I went down to Guest Services and had a STACK of cards (I bought one everytime we got paid over a 6 month period) and the poor girl from England started laughing saying that she had never seen anyone with that many. After about 10 minutes of swiping, I had $975 on my account and some of the cards were the $15 ones because when I went to the store, they only had the 3 x $15 packs in stock. Quite funny, but I have no shame in my game! We left the cruise with only a $200 bill on our credit card (and that was with 4 people on the account). Tip though--they will ask you to wait until after about 6pm or so to put them on your account. Something about the satellite signal or something....
So go on....buy all the $25 ones you want. It all spends the same!! It is nice to know that you have the majority or all of your expenses paid for before you actually leave for your trip.

 

[hortontrio]

yes, you can use them in the gift shops. I gave one to each of my kids as their spending money. Someone posted in another thread that you can't use them on castaway cay, though. I never tried that, so i can't confirm.

thank you very much!!!<3