Paying in Cash

NickyKnack

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 19, 2011
This is my plan for paying my onboard bill - but I want to make sure it's ok.
I want to allow charging to the room - and then at the end of each day go up and settle it with cash. Can I do that? I don't want to just hand them all my cash at the start of the trip - if there's any leftover I want to bring it home.

That way I also have cash on hand for RS tips & to take for excursions...
Are there safes in the room?
 
This is my plan for paying my onboard bill - but I want to make sure it's ok.
I want to allow charging to the room - and then at the end of each day go up and settle it with cash. Can I do that? I don't want to just hand them all my cash at the start of the trip - if there's any leftover I want to bring it home.

That way I also have cash on hand for RS tips & to take for excursions...
Are there safes in the room?

I think the usual procedure with cash payments is that you must put down $300 on the account. Then you can charge until the $300 is used up. When you get low, they will notify you that you need to come and put more money down. You can't just charge, and then go pay. You have to pay something upfront so you can charge.

Yes, there are safes in the rooms.
 
You can give them a charge card to get charging privileges and then give them cash or gift cards before they actually charge your credit card. I believe there is some limit where they will charge your card automatically if you hit it.

What some of us do is get Disney gift cards at Target using our Target credit or debit cards to get 5% off and use those to pay our onboard charges.
 
If I am remembering right, you fill out a form that either puts your credit card information or says you want to pay in cash. For some reason $750 is sticking out to me as the cap for paying in cash. I am not for sure about the limits, because I didn't pay very close attention to it. An option could always be to put a credit/check card down as your payment information. You can charge as much to your account as you want, and your card will not be actually charged until the last day of the cruise. We did this, and on the last day we just payed for all of our charges in cash. I wouldn't really waste my time going to guest services to settle up every day. There are safes in every room.
 


Going to GS everyday isn't so much to settle up as it is something I have to do every day of the cruise either way (because I have a tendency to lose track of how much I've spent if I don't) ;)

If I am remembering right, you fill out a form that either puts your credit card information or says you want to pay in cash. For some reason $750 is sticking out to me as the cap for paying in cash. I am not for sure about the limits, because I didn't pay very close attention to it. An option could always be to put a credit/check card down as your payment information. You can charge as much to your account as you want, and your card will not be actually charged until the last day of the cruise. We did this, and on the last day we just payed for all of our charges in cash. I wouldn't really waste my time going to guest services to settle up every day. There are safes in every room.
 
Ok, so put down the card at the start then pay it all off in cash before the last day of the cruise and all should be right with the world right? Because I can't let them charge my card... the money wont be in the bank, it will be in my pocket.
 
No, you can't really do that either, because when you get past a certain limit on your onboard account they charge your card. I believe that threshold is $500. I don't think you can "charge as much as you want until the end of the cruise" as a previous posted noted.

What I would do is not put on a card at all. On the first day of your cruise go in and put the minimum amount of cash down. I believe that is $300. Keep close tabs on your spending. They will call you if you are close to your threshold and you can put down additional cash.

If your card will be declined because there isn't money there to pull, do not attach it to your onboard account. That can only lead to problems.
 


They charged our card in increments along the way. It might work better to go daily if you are a big spender.
 
Ok, let's say I drop off a nice chunk of cash at the start and then have cash left on the account I haven't spent - will I get that back in cash?
 
I have not personally done this but believe that the answer is yes. Not sure how they could refund you in any other way? Maybe someone with more experience can confirm. You could also call the DCL reservations line and speak to someone. Ask this specific question.

Hold back a little for off-boat spending, shopping and tips. Shouldn't be too difficult?
 
You could purchase some on board credit before you sail? I worked out roughly what I knew I would be spending on the basics plus a bit extra and called dcl 3 days before we sailed and purchased the onboard credit, set my account as cash and it worked perfectly.
 
We always pay cash on our cruises and never once had to give them a credit card number to do this or put the actual cash down beforehand. You are informed at the terminal that your credit amount, for a 4-night, will be $300.

I, personally, pay any charged amount each day every evening at Guest Services. At some point we go by the Guest Services area so it's no effort to stop and pay up. If you let it go until the cruise is almost over you'll receive a written reminder in your stateroom.

For us, it's much easier to pay as we go and forget it rather than wait for the credit card bill to come in after the cruise.
 
This is my plan for paying my onboard bill - but I want to make sure it's ok.
I want to allow charging to the room - and then at the end of each day go up and settle it with cash. Can I do that? I don't want to just hand them all my cash at the start of the trip - if there's any leftover I want to bring it home.

That way I also have cash on hand for RS tips & to take for excursions...
Are there safes in the room?

Yes you can do that. We were on a 4 day on the Dream in May and that's what our adult children who were in a different stateroom than my DW and I did. They actually had their own accounts even though they were in the same stateroom. They also used Disney gift cards that we had given them for birthdays, holidays, etc. DS used gift cards to pay account. DD used gift cards in the gift shops on the ship and paid cash on account.

Remember, if you haven't prepaid gratuities they will be added to your onboard account.

If you do the cash option they will suspend charge privileges when you reach a certain amount, $300 for 4 day cruise.

Yes, there is a safe in the room.

Have fun on your cruise!!!
 
Yes you can do that. We were on a 4 day on the Dream in May and that's what our adult children who were in a different stateroom than my DW and I did. They actually had their own accounts even though they were in the same stateroom. They also used Disney gift cards that we had given them for birthdays, holidays, etc. DS used gift cards to pay account. DD used gift cards in the gift shops on the ship and paid cash on account.

Remember, if you haven't prepaid gratuities they will be added to your onboard account.

If you do the cash option they will suspend charge privileges when you reach a certain amount, $300 for 4 day cruise.

Yes, there is a safe in the room.

Have fun on your cruise!!!

We pay with cash and this is exactly how we do it. You do not at any time have to give DCL a credit card number with the cash option. That is why we like it. We did not give DCL any cash up front for purchases and went to settle up our bill each night. DCL allows you to charge up to $300 to the room using the KTW (key to the world) card issued to you at check in before requiring a payment. As long as you don't spend this much each day you should be fine. The only thing to look out for is the automatic gratuity charge. You might want to pay it up front or have them remove it on the first night if you plan to hand out cash instead. Also remember if you buy drinks an auto gratuity is added for each one. When you get your cruise info packet in the mail this will all be detailed.
 
I think what I'll do is prepay as Ship Board credit everything I know I'll be spending (Palo, Remy, Excursions, Tips) and then use the cash charge for everything else.

If I go with a TA then the 150 dollar credit will Almost cover the tips anyway. :)

We pay with cash and this is exactly how we do it. You do not at any time have to give DCL a credit card number with the cash option. That is why we like it. We did not give DCL any cash up front for purchases and went to settle up our bill each night. DCL allows you to charge up to $300 to the room using the KTW (key to the world) card issued to you at check in before requiring a payment. As long as you don't spend this much each day you should be fine. The only thing to look out for is the automatic gratuity charge. You might want to pay it up front or have them remove it on the first night if you plan to hand out cash instead. Also remember if you buy drinks an auto gratuity is added for each one. When you get your cruise info packet in the mail this will all be detailed.
 
Going to GS everyday isn't so much to settle up as it is something I have to do every day of the cruise either way (because I have a tendency to lose track of how much I've spent if I don't) ;)

I write down every trip expenditure in a little notebook, so I can tell you exactly how much my trips cost - to the penny. My notebook also makes a nice diary of sorts.
 
We always pay cash on our cruises and never once had to give them a credit card number to do this or put the actual cash down beforehand. You are informed at the terminal that your credit amount, for a 4-night, will be $300.

I, personally, pay any charged amount each day every evening at Guest Services. At some point we go by the Guest Services area so it's no effort to stop and pay up. If you let it go until the cruise is almost over you'll receive a written reminder in your stateroom.

For us, it's much easier to pay as we go and forget it rather than wait for the credit card bill to come in after the cruise.

That is EXACTLY what we do. And they did not require up front money at check in, got a 300.00 limit, but I went by every day to "settle up". A tip for you, what I do with each trip is get about 8 bank envelopes (the ones you get cash in from the bank) and place in each one what you think you'll spend each day of your vacation, mark each envelope with Mon., Tues etc. then you'll know you'll have a certain amount of cash set aside for every single day of your trip. It's worked for us for 14 yrs of Disney trips:thumbsup2:.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts



Top