What if you put Disney Gift Cards on but then don't spend it all?

[Bonniec]

We are going to have a fairly substantial amount for spending between our OBC and Disney gift cards. I highly doubt we will have anything left since I am going to try for two Cabanas (at 120 days on a DD). But on the off chance I don't get one or the ship can't dock at CC for weather reasons, what happens if we don't spend it all? I'm sure we can go through the OBC, I am assuming they pull from that first, followed by gift cards, and then followed by cash or debit card? Would they just put the rest back on gift cards? What if there are multiple cards?

I doubt this will be a problem, but was just curious of what happens.

 

[Anal Annie]

I think you're stuck waiting for a refund for several weeks. You know, you don't have to put them on your account on day # 1. I always wait for the next to last day of the cruise to see where our account balance is. On our Med cruise last summer we had $400 in OBC and I brought about $300 or so in Disney gift cards and I just waited until almost the end of the cruise until after I knew we'd exhausted the OBC and then I went down & applied them (and at the same time adjusted our gratuities up etc). I do the same thing with our WDW stays. I always wait until like about the next to last day of the trip to apply them. That way you KNOW you're not overpaying with them. And if you should have brought too many or too much they keep. Just save them for your next trip.

 

[dfriia]

On our May Wonder cruise, I put on our account a Disney Visa gift card and a Disney Visa rewards card. We also had an onboard credit. They deducted from the onboard credit first, then used up the Disney Visa Gift card and finally started using the Disney Visa rewards card. There was something like $3.85 left over and they credited it back to the Disney Visa rewards card immediately. It was reflected on the statement they delivered to our cabin the last night too.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We are going to have a fairly substantial amount for spending between our OBC and Disney gift cards. I highly doubt we will have anything left since I am going to try for two Cabanas (at 120 days on a DD). But on the off chance I don't get one or the ship can't dock at CC for weather reasons, what happens if we don't spend it all? I'm sure we can go through the OBC, I am assuming they pull from that first, followed by gift cards, and then followed by cash or debit card? Would they just put the rest back on gift cards? What if there are multiple cards?

I doubt this will be a problem, but was just curious of what happens.

If you have credit left on your onboard account that was put there by gift cards, they will apply it back to the gift card (so keep them handy after you've applied them to your account). Credits are always paid back the same way they were paid.

 

[Bonniec]

Perfect. Thanks everyone!

 

[lsenquiz]

I think you're stuck waiting for a refund for several weeks. You know, you don't have to put them on your account on day # 1. I always wait for the next to last day of the cruise to see where our account balance is. On our Med cruise last summer we had $400 in OBC and I brought about $300 or so in Disney gift cards and I just waited until almost the end of the cruise until after I knew we'd exhausted the OBC and then I went down & applied them (and at the same time adjusted our gratuities up etc). I do the same thing with our WDW stays. I always wait until like about the next to last day of the trip to apply them. That way you KNOW you're not overpaying with them. And if you should have brought too many or too much they keep. Just save them for your next trip.

OK I am very familiar with how this works at Disney resorts. You can add a CC and as long as your charges do not exceed the resort limit before you check out($1500 for deluxe, $1000 for Moderate and $500 for value) your CC will not be charged and you can just go to the desk the night before you leave and cover the balance with your gift cards. I am less familiar with how it works on a ship. Do the ships also have a limit that if reached your CC will be charged? I would love to follow the same process I do with the resorts and just deal with the GCs on the last night but want to make sure my CC does not get charged in between.

 

[sayhello]

OK I am very familiar with how this works at Disney resorts. You can add a CC and as long as your charges do not exceed the resort limit before you check out($1500 for deluxe, $1000 for Moderate and $500 for value) your CC will not be charged and you can just go to the desk the night before you leave and cover the balance with your gift cards. I am less familiar with how it works on a ship. Do the ships also have a limit that if reached your CC will be charged? I would love to follow the same process I do with the resorts and just deal with the GCs on the last night but want to make sure my CC does not get charged in between.

I believe the ship does have a limit after which they charge your CC, but I'm not sure what it is.

Sayhello

 

[Daniellenbella]

OK I am very familiar with how this works at Disney resorts. You can add a CC and as long as your charges do not exceed the resort limit before you check out($1500 for deluxe, $1000 for Moderate and $500 for value) your CC will not be charged and you can just go to the desk the night before you leave and cover the balance with your gift cards. I am less familiar with how it works on a ship. Do the ships also have a limit that if reached your CC will be charged? I would love to follow the same process I do with the resorts and just deal with the GCs on the last night but want to make sure my CC does not get charged in between.

We ran into this problem on the Magic last year. I waited a couple days to put our Disney Rewards Dollars on the account, but when I went up to do it, I found that they had already charged my credit card $500. This was when the first started with charging tips automatically to your account at the start of the cruise. So with those tips and 2 spa services, we hit that $500 mark. They said they charge your credit card every time you hit $500. This was a year ago, so things may have changed since then, but I plan to go to GS as soon as I step on the ship to put my Rewards dollars on account.

 

[lsenquiz]

We ran into this problem on the Magic last year. I waited a couple days to put our Disney Rewards Dollars on the account, but when I went up to do it, I found that they had already charged my credit card $500. This was when the first started with charging tips automatically to your account at the start of the cruise. So with those tips and 2 spa services, we hit that $500 mark. They said they charge your credit card every time you hit $500. This was a year ago, so things may have changed since then, but I plan to go to GS as soon as I step on the ship to put my Rewards dollars on account.

How many days was the cruise? $500 seems like a very low limit(I am used to the $1500 at the deluxe resort so never worry about going over) I wonder if the limit is different depending on the cruise length? O-well I will assume $500 and plan accordingly. I will probably put at least $500 in gift cards down on day one and then check my balance through out the week. Is it possible to check you balance through your TV like you can on Royal Carribean cruises?

 

[andrewket]

Apologies for the slight hijack. Is there a benefit to using gift cards? Some grocery stores offer gift cards at face value, and some credit cards offer rewards for groceries. Other than that, is there some other advantage?

 

[Bonniec]

No benefit. I just do one of those survey sites in my downtime and they pay in gift cards. Sometimes when I have extra ill purchase one too. It just ensures I won't spend it on something else lol

 

[lsenquiz]

Apologies for the slight hijack. Is there a benefit to using gift cards? Some grocery stores offer gift cards at face value, and some credit cards offer rewards for groceries. Other than that, is there some other advantage?

Huge benifits for me. i earn fuel points through Kroger by buying gift cards. I paid for my Disney vacation this past September with gift cards and saved $560 in gas.

 

[Zandy595]

On our May Wonder cruise, I put on our account a Disney Visa gift card and a Disney Visa rewards card. We also had an onboard credit. They deducted from the onboard credit first, then used up the Disney Visa Gift card and finally started using the Disney Visa rewards card. There was something like $3.85 left over and they credited it back to the Disney Visa rewards card immediately. It was reflected on the statement they delivered to our cabin the last night too.

I'm familiar with Disney Visa Rewards Cards and Disney Gift Cards, but what's a Disney Visa Gift Card?

 

[wildel1021]

I use Disney Gift Cards all the time....I buy them at BJ's for a discount. I go to guest services on the second day and apply a few cards....I have checked with guests services different timesa during the cruise to see if I need additional cards. Any balance gets put back to a gift card.

 

[leahmichl]

I buy the gift cards at Target with a Red Card for 5% off. We had leftover on our balance on the last cruise, and they just credited it backed to the cards. Each one I added was $50 and we had over $100 left over, so they notified me which 3 cards they put the balance back on. It was effective immediately, and I used those 3 cards to make a payment for our next cruise the next day at home.

 

[peachygreen]

What I did was set myself up as a "cash" customer. This way they would not charge my CC before I was ready. I went the first morning (you can't add the GC until after you are at sea is what I was told when I tried to add them before we sailed) and paid off the excursions. I would keep track of my balance and go add more cards every couple of days.

The limit does vary depending on the lenght of the cruise. I think it was $500 for the 5-night cruise. I have it on my paperwork, but that is at that office. I don't remember a $1500 limit for any of the lengths of cruise though.

It was really easy. I settled my account on the last night. I had GC's left over, so I never needed to apply my CC.

On my first cruise our trip to CC was cancelled so all excursions were refunded on the CC day. Fotunately I hadn't paid off the rest of my balance yet so the refund when to that. Otherwise it would have gone back to the GC but I'd have had to check which ones. I kept all the GC's until I got home though.

 

[dfriia]

I'm familiar with Disney Visa Rewards Cards and Disney Gift Cards, but what's a Disney Visa Gift Card?

It is the $200 card Disney Visa gifted me for opening the account and using it.

 

[tiffinymunn]

We had 2 $200 gift catds, we put them both on our account at GC and then used $250 to pay off our tips, and happily used the other $150 on souvineers. It worked out perfectly.