Disney gift card for onboard account

[td002796]

This has either changed globally or it's different on the Wish. As we were debarking the Wish two months ago, I tapped my KTTW to debark and the little scanner buzzed and a big red X came up on my picture. It was actually rather unnerving! She said that I had a credit balance on my account from the gift card and I need to go to Guest Services prior to debarking to get it back. I told her it would just go back. She said, no, not any longer and they would not let me debark until I had gone back to sort it out. So back I went to wait in the ridiculously long line. When I got to the front and met with GS I asked what was going on and she said that it wasn't automatic anymore and we had to manually present the gift card for the funds to go back to. It was a pain.

Thank you for sharing this information. It is super helpful. I was wondering though how it would work if I used an e-gift card instead of a physical one. Would I need to be carrying a printout of the e-gift card? And I think someone also posted that print outs are not accepted.

 

[td002796]

Would OBC purchased as onboard gifts fall under non-refundable or refundable? I'm considering to purchase an amount over our estimated spending, and hoping to get a refund of the excess back to the DIS GC used to purchase the OBC. Thanks in advance for your response.

My bad should have done a search before asking the question. I found the answer from this legacy thread titled: "Unused Onboard Credit". Interestingly enough, I didn't realize you can use non-refundable OBC to purchase a Disney GC on board. You all DCL veteran cruisers are full of wisdom.

 

[Toulou]

Is the OBC good to pay the excursions with...they are all gift cards?

 

[pearljammer]

You can actually purchase onboard credit ahead of time with a gift card (I’m planning to do so, just haven’t yet). I would assume they just pull from that first then use the card on file for additional charges past that amount.

You can do that from the “Purchase Onboard Gifts” page, then in the navigation bar choose “Onboard Credit”

Thanks for this. Good to know. Especially if you don’t want to have to fool with gift cards (remembering to pack, etc). Useful info thanks

 

[Mommb]

Is the OBC good to pay the excursions with...they are all gift cards?

Anything payments made to your stateroom account can be used for anything charged to that account. So yes, if you have made a payment using gift cards, it can be applied to excursions.

 

[Toulou]

Anything payments made to your stateroom account can be used for anything charged to that account. So yes, if you have made a payment using gift cards, it can be applied to excursions.

Thank you!!

 

[sadiecatie]

Would OBC purchased as onboard gifts fall under non-refundable or refundable? I'm considering to purchase an amount over our estimated spending, and hoping to get a refund of the excess back to the DIS GC used to purchase the OBC. Thanks in advance for your response.

Unfortunately I cannot answer from experience. But from my understanding, if you purchase OBC with a gift card and it is unused, it would be refunded to the gift card (meaning, you should keep the physical card or keep track of the number in case you don't spend it all).

 

[nvr2old]

If I buy gift cards and purchase onboard credit with them and then prepay gratuities, will that amount be taken from the onboard credit I’ve applied using the gift cards or would it get charged to my credit card?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

If I buy gift cards and purchase onboard credit with them and then prepay gratuities, will that amount be taken from the onboard credit I’ve applied using the gift cards or would it get charged to my credit card?

Charges to your onboard account will be taken (in this order), any non-refundable OBC, any refundable OBC, Gift Cards, credit card.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Is there a the downside to using a GC to buy refundable OBC?

It certainly sounds like prepurchasing refundable OBC using the GC I would have brought on board, charging the room, and then getting the refund to said gift card upon return is better than 2 trips to guest services (to add GC and then get back GC credit remaining).

I would have about a month before I needed access to the GC funds again, so it's not like I'd want them to spend in WDW debarkation day or anything like that.

 

[RedHead0186]

Is there a the downside to using a GC to buy refundable OBC?

It certainly sounds like prepurchasing refundable OBC using the GC I would have brought on board, charging the room, and then getting the refund to said gift card upon return is better than 2 trips to guest services (to add GC and then get back GC credit remaining).

I would have about a month before I needed access to the GC funds again, so it's not like I'd want them to spend in WDW debarkation day or anything like that.

Not necessarily a downside (though could be for some): make sure you keep the gift card(s), as any refund of OBC would go back on to those gift cards.

 

[Heatherdbby]

i spoke to customer care earlier this week and they straight up said that if i bought on board credit through the gifts section and didn't use it, it would be lost and gone for good. if i buy a gift card, it gets reloaded to the gift card.

 

[Mommb]

If you pre-pay gratuities, you will be charged at that time, so you should be able to simply use a gift card as your form of payment. If you wait until you are onboard, the gratuities will be automatically charged to your account in the order listed by Princess Shmoo.

I visited Guest Services several times on my recent cruise and never waited more than 2 minutes, so I wouldn’t worry if you do need to go there.

 

[SL6827]

i spoke to customer care earlier this week and they straight up said that if i bought on board credit through the gifts section and didn't use it, it would be lost and gone for good. if i buy a gift card, it gets reloaded to the gift card.

That would be to Disney's advantage.

 

[Dug720]

i spoke to customer care earlier this week and they straight up said that if i bought on board credit through the gifts section and didn't use it, it would be lost and gone for good. if i buy a gift card, it gets reloaded to the gift card.

That is definitely new. It's always gone back to the method of purchase.

 

[leggoons]

Thanks for this. Good to know. Especially if you don’t want to have to fool with gift cards (remembering to pack, etc). Useful info thanks

You can actually purchase onboard credit ahead of time with a gift card (I’m planning to do so, just haven’t yet). I would assume they just pull from that first then use the card on file for additional charges past that amount.

You can do that from the “Purchase Onboard Gifts” page, then in the navigation bar choose “Onboard Credit”

I did this today for my cruise leaving next Sunday after reading the original post. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Alicatt]

i spoke to customer care earlier this week and they straight up said that if i bought on board credit through the gifts section and didn't use it, it would be lost and gone for good. if i buy a gift card, it gets reloaded to the gift card.

Has anyone confirmed if unused OBC bought ahead as a gift will not be refunded?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Would OBC purchased as onboard gifts fall under non-refundable or refundable? I'm considering to purchase an amount over our estimated spending, and hoping to get a refund of the excess back to the DIS GC used to purchase the OBC. Thanks in advance for your response.

That should be refundable. The only non-refundable OBC, that I'm aware of, is back when an Onboard Booking would come with a certain amount of OBC, depending on the length of the future cruise. So if I booked a future cruise that was 7 nights, we'd get $200 non-refundable OBC from Disney plus whatever our TA offered. Ahh, the good ol days.

I personally would not intentionally buy more OBC than needed. It's really easy to swing by GS desk and have them swipe your gift card if you spend more than expected. Throughout the cruise, there are plenty of times when there is no one in line.

Is the OBC good to pay the excursions with...they are all gift cards?

Yes, OBC covers anything that gets charged to your onboard account, including gratuities. The only thing that requires a separate payment is when booking a Placeholder for a future cruise. For that they always book our credit card directly and never just post the $250 deposit to our onboard account.

 

[joanie9766]

Can you use a physical gift card in the gift shops fand on Castaway or are all charges sent back to the room?

 

[RedHead0186]

Can you use a physical gift card in the gift shops fand on Castaway or are all charges sent back to the room?

Charges on Castaway are just like charges on the ship; it goes to your onboard account. I've never tried to use a gift card there so I don't know if they have the capability to or not, but I don't necessarily see why you'd need to since it all charges back to your stateroom (and you can just apply the gift card to your onboard account).