How do On Board Credits Work?? Can You Apply them to the Cruise Cost?

[Katems]

How do onboard credits work from Dreams Unlimited?? Right now they are offering $200 worth of onboard credits for my category...can I just have the $200 applied to the cost of the cruise??

If not, what CAN I use them for?

Disney is also offering $25 for booking online and this can be combined with Dreams Unlimited offer....can that $25 go toward the cost of the cruise as well?

 

[peachygreen]

No you can't apply them to the cost of the cruise. They can be used for anything purchased on board. You can use them to pay your gratuities (suggested at $12/person/day), disney booked port excursions, spa, shops on board, etc.

 

[OrlandoMagic]

How do onboard credits work from Dreams Unlimited?? Right now they are offering $200 worth of onboard credits for my category...can I just have the $200 applied to the cost of the cruise??

If not, what CAN I use them for?

Disney is also offering $25 for booking online and this can be combined with Dreams Unlimited offer....can that $25 go toward the cost of the cruise as well?

No you can't use them towards the cost of your cruise. The are called onboard credit because the credit is applied to your Key To The World card and can be used 'onboard' on most things you would normally pay for, such as alcoholic drinks, treatments & merchandise.

 

[Katems]

Wow, you can use them toward gratutities?? How would you pay them that way if they are attached to your Key to the World card? I thought you had to fill envelopes with actual cash for the tips??

For the excursions, is the credit only good toward Castaway Cay excursions, or St. Thomas and St. Maarten as well?

Thanks!

 

[mammacaryn]

Technically speaking they really don't go towards gratuities unless you don't buy anything else on the ship since gratuities come off last.

They are just credits (money) on your account. So as you purchase things like photos, alcohol, fancy coffees,palo,spa treatments, gifts and such, the money comes from those credits first.

Then if you put gift cards or disney bucks on your account, that is the next place they will draw from.

Lastly, whatever other means you are paying your tab-weather you selected Cash or credit is where the last of your charges will come from.

 

[mammacaryn]

Any excursions you purchase through Disney since those will be applied to your account.

 

[Mommb]

Wow, you can use them toward gratutities?? How would you pay them that way if they are attached to your Key to the World card? I thought you had to fill envelopes with actual cash for the tips??

For the excursions, is the credit only good toward Castaway Cay excursions, or St. Thomas and St. Maarten as well?

Thanks!

You can pay gratuities in cash, or you can go to guest services and have them charged to your onboard account. You receive a voucher to place in the tip envelopes.

As noted above, all excursions booked through Disney Cruise Line are charged to your onboard account.

 

[kcashner]

As above, onboard credit can be used to pay off your KTTW card account. Thus, anything that you can charge on your KTTW card can be paid off with the onboard credit.

This includes tips that you charge (obviously not those that choose to put cash in envelopes), excursions at any port that you have booked thru DCL, shopping on board or at Castaway Cay, photos in Shutters, adult beverages, dining at Palo or Remy, etc.

When it comes to paying off your KTTW account, DCL will first apply any onboard credit that you have, then any "funny money" like Disney Visa reward dollars, (different from the OBC for buying the cruise on a Disney Visa), Disney gift cards, etc. and will last use and cash you have applied to the account and ultimately bill any leftovers to your credit card. Obviously, not everyone will be using each of these payment sources, but many people will have more than one!

 

[Tracykim]

Can you use OBC to book another cruise??

 

[goofyharrypotterguy]

So you are essentially getting "free money"? You don't have to pay it off or anything. Dreams just provides this for you since you booked through them? Thanks.

 

[mmouse37]

So you are essentially getting "free money"? You don't have to pay it off or anything. Dreams just provides this for you since you booked through them? Thanks.

Yep...free money as a thank you for booking with them. Many TA's do this to garner your business. FYI...this is 2 year old thread and I just want to mention that OBC can still be used for most anything onboard but the gratuities are now automatically charged to your onboard account.

You can't really specifically ear mark items to be paid with your OBC. Think of OBC as a declining balance. Say you have $200 OBC. That amount sits in your onboard account until you start purchasing things onboard. First day you buy a drink, the amount of the drink is subtracted from your OBC amount. Want to buy some t-shirts in the shop after that....the amount of your purchase would be debited from your OBC, book a spa treatment, that amount is subtracted from your OBC. Once all your OBC is used up then anything you purchase onboard during the rest of the cruise would be charged to your onboard account. You would have to pay the total amount off of your charges at the end of the cruise by either letting the amount roll over to the credit card you assigned to your account or with cash, etc.

Hope that helps!! BTW...welcome to the cruise board!

MJ

 

[mlayton14]

So you can't pay tips with your OBC?

 

[mmouse37]

So you can't pay tips with your OBC?

It all depends on when the tips are charged to your account. If DCL charges them mid cruise to end of cruise and you wanted to use OBC specifically toward tips you would not be able to charge anything to your account until the tips were charged and deducted (as anything you charge is deducted from your OBC as you go along).

That is why I tried to explain it as declining balance....whatever you charge first is deducted from your onboard credit first.

You may be able to go to guest services first thing and ask that your tips be charged right away but not sure

MJ