Disney Visa and Cruise?

[Disneefun]

We booked our cruise eons ago and put the deposit on Discover. Now we may have a Disney Visa (applied and are waiting to hear back). If we pay off the cruise balance on the visa, can we still qualify for the no interest for six months on cruise vacations deal, or does the deposit have to be on the visa as well to get that deal? If so, maybe my TA can refund my deposit and reapply it on the visa. Any help is appreciated.

 

[invaderzim]

Would also like to know -- just applied for same thing.

 

[Susie Bee]

Hi, there! Pretty positive you can ask your TA to refund your Discover Card and reapply your deposit to your Disney Card--you'll get Disney Rewards (dollars)!!! I know I've seen other posters say that they have done this. Check with you TA just to make sure though...


You will get 0% financing for six months on the deposit and then get another 0% financing for six months on the balance that's due when it's charged to your card 60 days out... I know this because that's what I am doing right now!!! All the while you are getting Disney Rewards on those purchases--you won't get to use your Reward until that card's balance is paid off though...Oh, well, save them for another Disney trip!!!

Good luck!!

 

[tink5]

No, your balance doesn't have to be paid off to get your reward dollars. We just got our reward card to take on our trip and we haven't paid the balance off yet.

 

[eye R.N.]

If you don't pay the balance of everything else you charge on the card each month, they start charging interest of the cruise.

To the OP yes I had our AAA agent recharge the deposit there was a $50 ship board credit at stake then.

 

[tink5]

They don't start charging interest for the cruise for 6 months. Regardless of what else is on your charge.

 

[Betty Breed]

Last Sept we went to WDW for a week. I booked it thru WD travel and not thinking I put the deposit on another card. When I paid the rest I was able to put it on my D-Visa and was able to pay the trip off 6 mos no interest and got Disney credits to take to the park. I did not refund the deposit from the other card. This year I was much smarter. I put the deposit on my D-Visa,paid it off and made a payment--all getting credits. On Aug 29 I must make my final payment--I'll get those credits too--and have them in plenty of time for my cruise in Oct.

 

[Susie Bee]

Oh, another thing, if you are not carrying a balance, except for your deposit, then you MUST make the monthly minimum Required Payment that is posted on your statement or you will loose your 0% for 6 months. I just double checked with Disney Visa on this...

So if 4 of you are cruising then your deposit will be $800.00 and if you are NOT carrying a balance then you will have to pay the minimum monthly fee they are requiring--not usually very much though...

 

[hayesktrm]

I just applied for this card, too and have another question. How do the rewards work? Someone mentioned a card--is it like a debit card that you can use--can you put it on your stateroom account? Also, can you use the rewards to buy annual passes at the parks? I am already getting a $200 stateroom credit for rebooking onboard and a $75 credit from AAA (soda program) and $25 for signing up for the Disney Visa. Would love to add a few hundred dollars more by using our Visa before we take our trip in a year.

 

[Susie Bee]

Originally posted by hayesktrm
I just applied for this card, too and have another question. How do the rewards work? Someone mentioned a card--is it like a debit card that you can use--can you put it on your stateroom account? Also, can you use the rewards to buy annual passes at the parks? I am already getting a $200 stateroom credit for rebooking onboard and a $75 credit from AAA (soda program) and $25 for signing up for the Disney Visa. Would love to add a few hundred dollars more by using our Visa before we take our trip in a year.

Yes, from their website you can "cash" in your Reward Dollars and the 1st time they send a credit card type card with a magnetic strip on it and you can "redeem" it at check-in just like cash... I used my Reward Dollars when I stayed at the Pop Century this past February. I had $151 Reward Dollars on my card and gave it to them at check-in, they swipped my card and the $151 was used against my room. You keep the card and can reload it via telephone or Internet anytime you have a Rewards Balance over $20, I think. It works the same way on the DCL ships...

Charge away for more Reward Dollars!!

 

[Tinkmom]

Did you have to call First USA about the deposit and final payments being under the interest free promotion, or was this (by some miracle) handled by them automatically?

I am not slamming First USA at all, I just figured that I will need to call and explain why I am not paying the balance in full or else I will incur interest charges. Maybe not necessary??

 

[Disneefun]

Originally posted by Tinkmom
Did you have to call First USA about the deposit and final payments being under the interest free promotion, or was this (by some miracle) handled by them automatically?

I asked this very question and was told that, as long as I'm making the minimum payment each month, I am not being charged finance charges and my statement will reflect that. However, if my six months runs out and I haven't finished paying it or I fail to make the minimum payment, I will have to pay all back interest plus any interest going forward. So it's done automatically, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility of a screw up, so I plan on checking my statement very carefully.

 

[Tinkmom]

Has anyone actually done this, that is, paid all but the amounts of deposit or final payment for cruise on their Disney Visa, and, if so, was it necessary to call First USA so they would not charge interest on that promotional balance?

 

[Susie Bee]

OK, my Disney BankOne Visa card is my primary charge card. Back in May I charged my deposit of $800.00 and my mom's deposit of $400.00 on my Disney Visa. My DirecTV satellite service and internet service are charged to that card monthly. I have only been paying my DirecTV bills--clearing up that portion of my bill--and not my DCL deposit (I'm making payments into my savings account and will wait until the 6 months is close to up before I pay it--better in my pocket then their's) and I have yet to be charge ANY interest on that card--so I guess because the charges come through as Disney Cruise Line they automatically know not to charge interest!!--they have on my card anyways....

 

[hayesktrm]

I noticed on the Disneyland forum that at some times when you charge meals at certain restaurants (I wonder if WDW has the same offer) you get double the Disney Rewards. That's great.

 

[Tinkmom]

Originally posted by Susie Bee
OK, my Disney BankOne Visa card is my primary charge card. Back in May I charged my deposit of $800.00 and my mom's deposit of $400.00 on my Disney Visa. My DirecTV satellite service and internet service are charged to that card monthly. I have only been paying my DirecTV bills--clearing up that portion of my bill--and not my DCL deposit (I'm making payments into my savings account and will wait until the 6 months is close to up before I pay it--better in my pocket then their's) and I have yet to be charge ANY interest on that card--so I guess because the charges come through as Disney Cruise Line they automatically know not to charge interest!!--they have on my card anyways....

Thanks for the response. Since I posted my question earlier I called First USA/Bank One and the rep told me that it should be handled without a call from the account holder, but the only problem is that sometimes the charge is not clearly coded. In my instance the new charge specifically says that it is to Disney Cruise Line and she said that the $1000 deposit would automatically be in a separate listing on my monthly statement indicating that it was a promotional balance with 0% interest. So, it sounds like they are generally on top of it, but there is always the chance that it could be miscoded so it would pay to look at the charge when it posts to be sure it is handled appropriately.

 

[SweetSpot]

I was told that the Disney charge will show up as a seperate balance but because it was a lower interest rate any payment you sent in would be applied to the 0% balance first. So if you have $1,000 in Disney trip deposit and $500 in monthly purchases and you sent in $500 they would apply it to the $1,000 0% balance and you would be charged interest on the $500 from the purchases you made. This was last year, I don't know if my rep was wrong or if they changed the policy but many cards do it this way.

 

[Tinkmom]

Originally posted by SweetSpot
I was told that the Disney charge will show up as a seperate balance but because it was a lower interest rate any payment you sent in would be applied to the 0% balance first. So if you have $1,000 in Disney trip deposit and $500 in monthly purchases and you sent in $500 they would apply it to the $1,000 0% balance and you would be charged interest on the $500 from the purchases you made. This was last year, I don't know if my rep was wrong or if they changed the policy but many cards do it this way.

They DO NOT do it that way, at least not as you stated in your example of having a $1,000 charge for a Disney trip deposit and $500 in monthly purchases and you send in $500 they do NOT apply it to the promotional balance. They consider it paying the other balance in full and you would incur $0 interest for that month.

If, in that example, you send in $200 then it might be handled differently, but I did not inquire about that type of situation.

 

[SweetSpot]

I've never run a balance on the Disney Visa, I pay it off monthly, so I was only relating what I was told by a Visa rep when I called to see how they worked the 0% offer. I was just mentioning it here because it was what I was told and as we all know you can be told 3 different things by three different customer service reps at the same company. I was told that any payment that was sent in would be first applied to the 0% balance and that any new purchase that were put on the card would be charged interest if the entire balance on the card (including the 0% balance) wasn't paid off.

 

[arlenesp]

sweetspot you are partially correct. yes promotional balances are paid first on most credit cards. however with the disney visa the 0% 6 mo financing is different. as long as you pay your regular balance off in full each month you will not have to worry about the 6 mo promo. it is set up on the accounts to defer interest for that time frame. however the catch is this. keep track of your payments each month because if you overpay your balance the overpayment goes to the 0% promo and that can cause you to underpay the next month and then get hit with finance charges on the regular balance. if in doubt call the reps at the disney card and they can tell you to the penny what the remaining balance is on the promo and when it will expire as it is not clearly posted on the statements yet.