Cruising with gift cards

[carnationkila]

By the time we cruise, I will have purchased seven $50 gift cards to pay for activities booked on ship (and drinks). When we board, do I just take all seven to guest services and ask them to load them into my account? I know this might be "duh" but I remember reading about other options people use their gift cards on board but I cNt remember where in this immense Disboard I read it. Thanks in advance. Having a great time planning with you all.

 

[lovedisney123]

I had a gift card and called before our cruise and added it to our onboard account. But I believe you can do it when you board.

 

[CM Dad]

By the time we cruise, I will have purchased seven $50 gift cards to pay for activities booked on ship (and drinks). When we board, do I just take all seven to guest services and ask them to load them into my account? I know this might be "duh" but I remember reading about other options people use their gift cards on board but I cNt remember where in this immense Disboard I read it. Thanks in advance. Having a great time planning with you all.

You could also combine all 7 cards onto one gift card before you go at wwwdisneygiftcard.com. I you add 7 gift cards to you account, you should make sure you keep all 7. Any unused balance at the end of the cruise will be refunded to one or more of your cards.

 

[darnheather]

Yes, combine them first! Then you can call (but it has to be a few days ahead of time) or have the one you save added when you get onboard.

 

[CM Dad]

If you have time before your cruise needs to be paid for you can also open a http://disneyvacationaccount.disney.go.com/ account and deposit you gift cards there to pay for your cruise, add money to your stateroom account before you cruise (or pay for other Disney vacation at WDW, DL Aulani, or Adventures by Disney. If the account has been open for at least 120 days, you will get a bonus $20 Disney gift card for every $1000 you spend with Disney. You can search online for methods to but discounted gift cards that can be added to this account or applied to your account onboard.

 

[JW9DVC]

By the time we cruise, I will have purchased seven $50 gift cards to pay for activities booked on ship (and drinks). When we board, do I just take all seven to guest services and ask them to load them into my account? I know this might be "duh" but I remember reading about other options people use their gift cards on board but I cNt remember where in this immense Disboard I read it. Thanks in advance. Having a great time planning with you all.

I just went to guest services when we were on board. We were in no hurry as we had a credit card on file. If it was charged to the card. They just reversed the charge and used the gift cards in its place. It was all done within minutes. We had about $800 in gift cards. All at $50 denomination.

JW

 

[carnationkila]

Thanks all for your input. I will try to combine them into one card before we go but bring all of them just in case. Will apply them to our account during one of my many visits to guest services.

 

[ajo]

The kids are getting Disney gift cards for Christmas. Can they use the gift cards themselves in the shops onboard? Or do we have to add the gift cards to our onboard account at guest services and then turn on the charging ability for each of the kids? I've gotten conflicting info about whether the shops onboard will take the gift cards. And we'd rather not give the kids charging privileges on the KTTW card as it's easy to "forget" how much you've spent!

 

[Quellman]

The kids are getting Disney gift cards for Christmas. Can they use the gift cards themselves in the shops onboard? Or do we have to add the gift cards to our onboard account at guest services and then turn on the charging ability for each of the kids? I've gotten conflicting info about whether the shops onboard will take the gift cards. And we'd rather not give the kids charging privileges on the KTTW card as it's easy to "forget" how much you've spent!

Generally the gift shops are where they can use gift cards, though I have not done it myself. Your alternate method is to have them pick out their items and then you pay for it on your band. You give up them having their independence, but still retain your budget.

 

[Winston Wolf]

If you have time before your cruise needs to be paid for you can also open a http://disneyvacationaccount.disney.go.com/ account and deposit you gift cards there to pay for your cruise, add money to your stateroom account before you cruise (or pay for other Disney vacation at WDW, DL Aulani, or Adventures by Disney. If the account has been open for at least 120 days, you will get a bonus $20 Disney gift card for every $1000 you spend with Disney. You can search online for methods to but discounted gift cards that can be added to this account or applied to your account onboard.

Yes! This! Free money, people!

 

[Boysmom1626]

The kids are getting Disney gift cards for Christmas. Can they use the gift cards themselves in the shops onboard? Or do we have to add the gift cards to our onboard account at guest services and then turn on the charging ability for each of the kids? I've gotten conflicting info about whether the shops onboard will take the gift cards. And we'd rather not give the kids charging privileges on the KTTW card as it's easy to "forget" how much you've spent!

Our kids were able to use their gift cards in the shops on our November cruise without any problems!

 

[justme0729]

Is there anywhere that you cant pay directly with a giftcard? Instead of putting it onto my stateroom account...

 

[Dug720]

Is there anywhere that you cant pay directly with a giftcard? Instead of putting it onto my stateroom account...

As far as I know the on-board shops are the ONLY places that DO take the gift cards for payment.

I'm not sure about the DCL shops on CC, but I would rather be safe and just use the account and put the card on that to cover it just in case...

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

You could also combine all 7 cards onto one gift card before you go at wwwdisneygiftcard.com. I you add 7 gift cards to you account, you should make sure you keep all 7. Any unused balance at the end of the cruise will be refunded to one or more of your cards.

I have 6 $50 DGC and went to the disney card site. It would only allow 5 cards to "manage" and nowhere did I read that you could combine them into 1 card. I usually just call them in to be put on our OBC.

 

[justme0729]

I have 6 $50 DGC and went to the disney card site. It would only allow 5 cards to "manage" and nowhere did I read that you could combine them into 1 card. I usually just call them in to be put on our OBC.

Not that it matters if you combine them but after you upload one card, you can make it the primary card and transfer the other cards to it. You can delete one of your 5 cards after it transfers so that you can upload your sixth card.

 

[Shanti]

By the time we cruise, I will have purchased seven $50 gift cards to pay for activities booked on ship (and drinks). When we board, do I just take all seven to guest services and ask them to load them into my account? I know this might be "duh" but I remember reading about other options people use their gift cards on board but I cNt remember where in this immense Disboard I read it. Thanks in advance. Having a great time planning with you all.

I just did this on the Fantasy (am actually on the plane home now). I had my account set to a cash account upon check-in, & went to Guest Services to add 8 gift cards to my onboard account. They didn't bat an eyelash at my 8 gift cards, & payment was applied without a hitch.

No need to do it immediately upon boarding- I didn't even do it the first day. Just be aware that with a cash account you'll have a spending limit. You can manage this by stopping by guest services & making payments when your balance is high, if you tend to spend a lot onboard.

You can also switch from a cash account to a credit account after adding the gift cards, if you like. I did that for the convenience.

 

[anniepoppins]

Just be sure to do it well before end of cruise. I waited too late and the balance had been charged to my credit card on file. They were able to refund that but it took a while and was a hassle. Now I make sure to put my gift cards on file the first few days of the cruise and no more issues!