Cash Use on Board

[littlemuffin]

Can you use cash to purchase items on board in the shops and such?

I'm trying to decide how much cash to take with me so I won't have a huge shock in a month or so when my Amex comes in.

Thanks
Kathy

 

[Pidge]

I think you charge your gift shop purchases to your stateroom and then settle up at the end of your cruise at the Guest Relations desk on the ship (either paying by cash, credit card, Disney Dollars, Dream Rewards Dollars, etc.)

Pidge

 

[depomas]

One time we gave a 500$ cash deposit at the beginning, and worked from there.. THis was good, as we had less to put on our card at the end...But no, they do not take cash anyone on the ship for shopping or on CC...

 

[webray]

The ship is totally cashless. You need a little bit of cash for stamps if you are mailing postcards back from castaway cay postoffice.

You can put money on your ship account ahead of time if you wish, or pay the entire balance off in cash if you wish. If you do not want to take a bunch of cash with you, then I suggest putting money on account ahead of time. Estimate how much you will spend on drinks, spa, souveniers, arcade, etc..and call and make a payment. We do this all the time before we go..makes it so much easier.

 

[crisi]

The other place people use cash is tips. You'll want some ones and fives for the people who handle bags at the ports and room service. You may want to put cash in envelopes to take care of your dining room/stateroom host tips.

But you can't buy a drink or a souvienier once you are on board with cash.

 

[TerriBelle]

i am confused by the tipping at the end. How do you pay for this - cash or credit?

 

[DrCavin]

i am confused by the tipping at the end. How do you pay for this - cash or credit?

You can do either. The only thing we used cash for on the ship was when we ordered room service & tipped the delivery person...

 

[halloween1031]

While not on-board, you may, however, want to consider cash for port visits. While most of the “approved” shops (i.e., the ones who give a hefty kick-back to the “Shopping in Paradise” folk—kudos to Disney for NOT having this associated with the Cruise Director) will take CC, having cash is good for incidental shopping, souvenirs in market places, etc. Just remember that a dollar US does not necessarily equal a dollar elsewhere (U.S. territories excluded). . .

 

[CinderellaCarlson]

If you use cash at beginning of cruise as a shipboard account, how do they refund the extra if you don't use all the money you deposited.

 

[kg66]

I read on one of the posts last month from someone who hadn't spent all that they had applied, that DCL offered to cut them a cheque. You can always ask when you set this up, or just don't put too much down at first and see how much you spend the first day. It all depends on if you are doing excursions, souvenir shopping on the ship, alcohol, stuff like that. We settled our account with Travelers Cheques everynight before turning in for the night. That way we had no surprises when the cc bill came in when we got home. Have a great cruise!!

 

[newcruiser05]

Just got back from the 7-day western and you really only need cash for room service tips and porters in the terminal. We left extra cash tip for our servers (beyond the suggested amount which we put on our on-board credit account). But you need cash for shore (food, taxi, entrance fees, tip to drivers and excursion helpers, souvenirs, etc). You also need cash for the Castaway Cay postoffice.

We took $500 in cash and used about all of it. Our on-board account came to a whopping $1,800. I don't think you have to worry about having anything left over on your account. Everytime you spend $400 on your KTTW they charge your credit card.

If you use your Disney Visa - you earn rewards as you spend. Of course, you will not be able to use them until your next visit but you are still getting benefits!!

 

[zeke11]

Can you use travelers cheques for tips?

Kris

 

[jrabbit]

i am confused by the tipping at the end. How do you pay for this - cash or credit?

I've read that you can charge your tips to your stateroom acct. Does that mean you could actually charges the tips to a credit card?

Yes. Everything on the ship gets charged to your room. You can pay off your room charge with cash, credit card, debit card, travelers check, first born, etc..


You can charge the tips to your room (go to guest services for this) or you can leave them cash. Some people charge the standard gratuity to their room early on (and keep the slips until the end) and then add cash to for those people that gave exceptional service.

 

[crisi]

Guest services can get quite busy late in the cruise with people charging tips and taking care of other "end of cruise" stuff. Just something to know....

 

[GavinsMom]

At the beginning of our 4-day Cruise I applied $300 travelers checks to my onboard account (at Guest Services). At the last night I had $24 left in my account and they gave it to me in CASH.
I never ever had to wait in line longer than 5 minutes at Guest services. And I was checking my account, getting my room phone fixed and asking questions a lot.

 

[Regina]

Can you use travelers cheques for tips?

Kris

You can, but you'd have to cash them in at Guest Services. What they do is issue tickets with your server's names on them in the amount of the gratuity that you request. You simply put the tickets in the tip envelopes that DCL provides and present them to your servers/steward.

 

[anlashokna]

Okay, want to get this straight as the clock is counting down. Is there a minimum you must have on your credit card that is available? Do they run it to see if there is $500 available etc? Weird question but it will help me in financial planning for the trip.

Thanks

 

[jrabbit]

Okay, want to get this straight as the clock is counting down. Is there a minimum you must have on your credit card that is available? Do they run it to see if there is $500 available etc? Weird question but it will help me in financial planning for the trip.

Thanks

Every time your room charges hit $400 (at least on the Magic) they send the charges off to the CC company. Remember that any DCL excursion booked are charged on the FIRST day of the cruise - so you can have that first $400 hit pretty early on in the cruise (maybe even the first day!!)