How much money do I need per person onboard?

[Pfamily5]

Hello There, I am a first time cruiser, we are cruising soon. Was wondering how much you all think is needed money wise per person for a 4 night 5 days. I cannot see it being a lot because just about everything is included, but I am sure Disney Cruise Lines requires access to a required amount of money.
Thanks

 

[dclpluto]

On your first cruise you are going to be spending a lot more.

Pictures a lot of first timers get pictures and a lot of them.

Souvenirs you will spend a lot being a first timer.

Other than that alcohol. If you drink. It's like 6.32 a beer with the tip included. 5.50 a beer plus 15 percent automatic tip.

Excursions.

12 dollars a day per person for tips.

 

[Pfamily5]

Does Disney require a certain amount of credit to be available on your credit card before boarding?
I am also staying at a hotel before and after our cruise for a couple of days to sightsee. I already pre paid my tips.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

It depends. There are lots of things you can spend extra on, or you can avoid the extra stuff. What I can think of that's above the cruise fare is:

Gratuities: recommended is $12 per person per night.
Room service tips: Most items from room service are free but I always tip a few dollars to the CM who delivers the food.
Alcohol: This depends on how much you drink. It can add up. There are drink of the day specials that run about $5/drink. You can bring onboard up to 2 bottles of wine or 6 beers per adult (21 or over) at embarkation and at each port.
Pictures: The photos aren't cheap. You can pre-purchase a package of all digital photos for a discount or purchase smaller packages onboard.
Port Adventures: Varies in cost. With the exception of Castaway Cay, you can choose to book with outside vendors and pay less than what DCL charges.
Specialty coffees from Cove Cafe.
Adult dining.

There's no set amount of money that DCL requires to be available. If you don't want to tie your credit card to your onboard account, you can fund it with cash or gift cards.

 

[cedricandsophie]

Not sure what you mean by access to money. You put a credit card on file and it gets charged every couple days. At leadt that's how it works on 7 plus day cruises. We've never taken anything less than 7 days. For our last seven day cruise we spent about 2000 for five people including wine package, other drinks, cove cafe lattes, exvursions, tips and just a few souvenirs and no pictures.

 

[Hundredacre]

Does Disney require a certain amount of credit to be available on your credit card before boarding?
I am also staying at a hotel before and after our cruise for a couple of days to sightsee. I already pre paid my tips.

You do not have to put a credit card on file at all. Just tell them you want to pay cash, no card on file. They still let you charge on your room key up to about $500 (if I am remembering the amount correctly.) We prefer to do this. I think you are more aware of your money when it is cash. Also, we often pay the balance with giftcards at the end. If you want to spend more you can pay towards your acct with cash or whatever during the cruise at guest services.

 

[lanejudy]

This thread has a great list of "extra" expenses for a cruise.

How much you spend really depends on your interests. On our first cruise we pre-paid the gratuities and our onboard account was less than $100 after a 4 night cruise (not counting an OBB). Others could easily spend $1000 if doing a few excursions, spa services, adult dining, or expensive souvenirs. It really all depends on you and the rest of your party.

As mentioned, DCL doesn't "require access" to any funds. You are welcome to pay with credit card, debit card, cash or Disney gift cards. If you are concerned about them pre-authorizing an amount (as some hotels or car rentals do with a debit card), I do not believe DCL does holds like that.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

It is totally different for every person. At minimum, you need to put the money aside for gratuities, which I believe are $12 per person per night. You can prepay those if you want.

Then you have to consider if you want excursions. If you do, find the price on the website and budget that.

Do you want the photo package? The cost depends on the length of cruise, but you can save money by prepurchasing.

Do you want souvenirs? What kind?

Do you drink alcohol? How much?

Without knowing all this, it's really hard to say how much to budget.

In terms of whether DCL requires a certain amount of credit to be available, I am not sure. We have always used a cash account and periodically settled our bill with cash or a credit card charge throughout the cruise. We find this keeps us from overindulging because the cash limit is $300, so you have to settle before hitting that.

 

[Hundredacre]

Also be careful if you pay with disney visa and pay your gratuities ahead you have to use disney visa to get the obc for using disney visa for your original fare.

 

[kiford]

You can spend as much or as little as possible once you've taken gratuities out of the equation. We spend a lot - alcohol, spa, speciality coffees, excursions, Palo/Remy, movie snacks. We never buy photos and our souvenirs basically consist of a few shirts for DH with the DCL logo on them which he then wears while there. Pretty much everything additional is discretionary. If you don't want to spend a lot, you can easily control it. If you want to go all out, you can do that too. You have to know in advance what you will and won't want to do and then figure out what it will cost.

 

[Dom262]

You do not have to put a credit card on file at all. Just tell them you want to pay cash, no card on file. They still let you charge on your room key up to about $500 (if I am remembering the amount correctly.) We prefer to do this. I think you are more aware of your money when it is cash. Also, we often pay the balance with giftcards at the end. If you want to spend more you can pay towards your acct with cash or whatever during the cruise at guest services.

We were just on the Magic and if you are going to go with a cash account, the maximum is $300 and then they will stop charging privileges. We also did the gift card payments, you just have to be aware of the amount you currently owe while on board.

 

[JJsmama]

Also be careful if you pay with disney visa and pay your gratuities ahead you have to use disney visa to get the obc for using disney visa for your original fare.

This statement has confused me but it is relevant to me.
WHen can I ever use the Rewards I have earned if I have to pay absolutely everything with Visa? I have already PIF with Visa to get the OBC, but have more than enough Reward $ to cover my excursions and wanted to put those on my account. Explain?

 

[Hundredacre]

This statement has confused me but it is relevant to me.
WHen can I ever use the Rewards I have earned if I have to pay absolutely everything with Visa? I have already PIF with Visa to get the OBC, but have more than enough Reward $ to cover my excursions and wanted to put those on my account. Explain?

You can use the rewards on the ship but not before hand. It is confusing. If you prepay gratuities it is considered part of your fare, but if you pay the gratuities on the ship, it is not considered part of your fare.

 

[JJsmama]

You can use the rewards on the ship but not before hand. It is confusing. If you prepay gratuities it is considered part of your fare, but if you pay the gratuities on the ship, it is not considered part of your fare.

Thanks! So I should bring the Rewards card and apply after cruise has started? good to know!

 

[canyoncam]

You can use the rewards on the ship but not before hand. It is confusing. If you prepay gratuities it is considered part of your fare, but if you pay the gratuities on the ship, it is not considered part of your fare.

Are you talking in regards to travel insurance coverage?

Insurance will only cover expenses paid on credit or cash but not in points or gift cards. Some companies will cover gift cards if you can prove you paid for them yourself and then only for the amount you paid so keep track of receipts. Points will not be covered so I use those once onboard.

 

[Hundredacre]

Are you talking in regards to travel insurance coverage?

Insurance will only cover expenses paid on credit or cash but not in points or gift cards. Some companies will cover gift cards if you can prove you paid for them yourself and then only for the amount you paid so keep track of receipts. Points will not be covered so I use those once onboard.

If you use disney visa to pay your full fare, they give you $50 on board credit. I have made the mistake of paying the full fare with the disney visa and then prepaying the gratuities with another form of payment a week before leaving for the cruise. If you do that, you no longer get the $50 OBC (unless you prepay with the disney visa as well). We have never used travel insurance so I am not sure about it. That is interesting in terms of what credit card insurance might cover.

 

[minorthr]

We are taking our first cruise in sept. 4 night and I have budgeted $2k with another $1k in reserve just in case for 2 adults who don't really drink and one child . Seems like I may be over estimating.

 

[canyoncam]

If you use disney visa to pay your full fare, they give you $50 on board credit. I have made the mistake of paying the full fare with the disney visa and then prepaying the gratuities with another form of payment a week before leaving for the cruise. If you do that, you no longer get the $50 OBC (unless you prepay with the disney visa as well).

That ses like a bait and switch. But I guess I never have used that. And I guess I never included that in cost of insurance because I would assume that part would be refunded directly by DCL.Guess I should look into that more.

I agree that as far as budgeting it is up what you plan on doing excursion, photo, tasting and drinking wise. Plus what you'll spend on land.

 

[DIS_MERI]

Are you talking in regards to travel insurance coverage?

Insurance will only cover expenses paid on credit or cash but not in points or gift cards. Some companies will cover gift cards if you can prove you paid for them yourself and then only for the amount you paid so keep track of receipts. Points will not be covered so I use those once onboard.

I never even thought about that. Does it matter if the gift cards are put into DVA, and that used to pay?

 

[canyoncam]

I never even thought about that. Does it matter if the gift cards are put into DVA, and that used to pay?

I have not asked the insurance company that. I only just found out about the gift cards myself and had already put them in my DVA. My main concern was that I had paid for them myself-they were not "gifts", I paid full price for them to get the fuel points. The day I was getting ready to buy insurance I found out from cruise critic boards and asked the insurance company. I really wasn't thinking of "scamming" the insurance company through DVA. I guess I thought myself I was paying through gift cards "via" DVA. But my main concern was the points as I have over $1000 and no way did I want that to disappear!!!!