Settling your account

[MickeyAnne]

Hey Everyone!

I am new to this site and to DCL (May 19, Land and Sea!! ) but I have been living on these message board for the past two weeks...you all have helped me to understand so much that wasn't quite clear!!

I am just wondering - can you settle you shipboard account with cash or does it have to be with a credit card?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[SeaSpray]

Welcome to the DIS boards

You can go to Guest Services at any time and give them cash towards your account. I think they usually ask for a credit card to "secure" your account but if you give them cash on the first day, they will keep applying the cash and not charge it to your credit card. We were on the ship for 10 days and they only charged our credit card every time our total got to a balance of $500. As long as you give them more than enough cash, I don't think they'll charge your card at all, especially if you let them know that you want to use cash exclusively.

Hope this helps

Ok, I just got out our Account Summary and I see that they didn't charge our card for the first time until it got to a balance of $1,000. then they charged it in about $500 increments after that. But just to be sure, I'd make sure to check your balance frequently and give them enough cash to cover your account.

 

[CPM]

They charged our cc twice on the 4 day. Both charges were under $250.00. At the end I gave them some cash and they credited back my CC. I was going to give the cash on the first day but wasn't sure how much I would need on Nassau.

 

[MickeyAnne]

So, let me just see if I have this right. I can do one of two things?
1. Put money on the account at the BEGINNING of the trip ( I assume that they would reimburse any money not spent?)
2. Settle the account in cash at the end of the trip.

(Never cruised before and so used to spending tons of cash at Disney so I'm sorry if these are silly questions)

 

[cruisenewbie2004]

Yes and Yes

But I found it easier to just put everything on the card. I mean, if you have the cash already, what's the difference? Just put it on the card and save carrying all that cash.

 

[tpmorley]

Can you put traveler's checks in your account?

 

[SeaSpray]

Yes you can turn in Traveler's Checks to Guest Services and they will apply the amount to your balance.

MickeyAnn: You can wait till the very end of your cruise to put the cash down, but if you have gone over whatever limit they have at the time, they may/will charge your card before you have the chance to get the cash to them (at the end of the cruise). I suggest putting down an amount that you *think* will cover your expenses, right from the start. If you haven't used it all, they will give you any leftover amount back. If you still owe a little, then you can just give that much more in cash.

Like someone else just said, if you do have the cash, and you do have a credit card, you can let DCL charge your card, then just send the cash in right away to your credit card company when you get back home. That's what we did and it worked out great. Plus you have the protection of your purchases being on a credit card which would be helpful in the event of any problems or disputes.

 

[natsmom125]

I have paid cash on the last two or three cruises.

I indicated "cash" on my payment document and I have never been asked for a credit card. On the last two, I had a shipboard credit and when that was about used up, I went to GS and put cash on my account. On the last night of the cruise, after midnight, I went to GS and they refunded me what was left in my account. I also do tips in cash and I always take enough cash for those, plus some extra.

Now the cruise is all paid for and I don't have to worry about a cc bill coming.

Just the way I do it....
Phyllis

 

[tam012864]

Is the payment document in the final documents you get with your tickets or is it in something else? I want to pay my account with travelers checks as well..trying to leave those darn cc's alone--haha

 

[natsmom125]

Tam...all the documents come at one time.

You get a package delivered by UPS and all the docs will be in a little suitcase looking thing. Each passenger has a set of their own documents. The payment card is included for each person, but you only need to fill out one of them and put the names of whoever has charging priviledges on that card. I ususally use mine, because the cruise is usually in my name, because I do the booking and I add DH and DD and there has never been a problem.

I usually go to GS late the first night, after all the hullabaloo is over, and put down some money, I get a copy of the charges every day or every other day, and then if I feel I need to, I keep putting money on the account. The last night of the cruise, after midnight, I go down and settle up..DCL usually owes me money..I think this time is was 50 something dollars. DH decided at the last minute he wanted to buy liquor, so I ran down and put 100.00, because I didn't know how much he was going to spend.

And I saw people paying in TC also....not to worry....it will be fine.

Phyllis

 

[tam012864]

Tam...all the documents come at one time.

You get a package delivered by UPS and all the docs will be in a little suitcase looking thing. Each passenger has a set of their own documents. The payment card is included for each person, but you only need to fill out one of them and put the names of whoever has charging priviledges on that card. I ususally use mine, because the cruise is usually in my name, because I do the booking and I add DH and DD and there has never been a problem.

I usually go to GS late the first night, after all the hullabaloo is over, and put down some money, I get a copy of the charges every day or every other day, and then if I feel I need to, I keep putting money on the account. The last night of the cruise, after midnight, I go down and settle up..DCL usually owes me money..I think this time is was 50 something dollars. DH decided at the last minute he wanted to buy liquor, so I ran down and put 100.00, because I didn't know how much he was going to spend.

And I saw people paying in TC also....not to worry....it will be fine.

Phyllis

Thank you so much for the info Phyllis!!! This is my and my sons first cruise---we cant wait to go. We have been to Disney many times, but we are really anxious for the cruise part!!! Thanks again for the reply!!!

Have a great day!!!

Tammy

 

[CPM]

Now the cruise is all paid for and I don't have to worry about a cc bill coming.
Just the way I do it....
Phyllis

That's what I said, until I rebooked onboard

 

[scrapperjill]

I don't believe you have to put a credit card down...but they do ask for a deposit....if I remember right...they ask for $500 as a down...and may call you back to Guest Services to add to your account if you come close to go over the amount. And yes Travles checks will and do work. Guest services will also cash your travlers checks for you...if you need cash for shore days or what not.

 

[dislvr75]

I am trying to plan out a loose budget for the expenses we will incur on our land/sea, with 4 nites on the Wonder. I've got the land part all figured out, that I have done before, the cruise part however I have no clue.

I hope this isn't too personal but you said when your account got to $1000, they charged your account. What are the types of things you add to your account that could cost that much? I figured a few hundred to buy cruise line merchandise, a hundred or so for pics at shutters, two hundred for tips, I know that's $500 right there, but what else does one spend it on??? I know alcohol is extra, but if we don't buy any, what else is there?


We have saved a year now for our cruise in May and I'd like to make sure that I am being realistic about the amount of money I plan to bring to settle our account in cash. I do not want to put this on a CC. Please tell me of things that I may not be thinking of that will add money onto that shipboard account.

We are a family of four, 2 adults and 2 kids ages 6 and 8.

Thanks in advance for your help. I have gotten SO much help from these boards, please don't take this as a judgement of any sort, I am really just looking for information.

Thanks.

 

[MickeyAnne]

I also wonder that. I am an obsessive planner and would be more comfortable if I know just how much I will be tempted to spend on the cruise.

 

[RickW]

I wouldn't pay too much attention to the specific dollar amounts in threads like this. While $1000 may seem like a huge amount if you are going on a three day cruise, it is a reasonable amount on a seven day cruise. We recently put together our budget for the 14 day cruise in May, and have budgeted about $2000 for onboard expenses. I don't have the spreadsheet in front of me, but here is approximately how it broke down:
$450 - $600 for tips (2 adults & a 2 year old - $450 is what I estimate to be the approximate "recommended" amount, but we usually plan on tipping about 30% more than the suggested amount)
$300 - Spending money for Husband (includes internet access)
$300 - Spending money for Wife (includes a spa treatment)
$100 - Souvenirs for our son
$100 - Specialty drinks (We don't drink, so I would imagine that for someone who does, this could be considerably higher)
$100 - Palo (We don't know if we will be going there more than a single brunch & dinner or not, it is a 14 day cruise after all)
$50 - Shutters (We plan to buy a couple of pictures, but not too many)
$50 - Misc tips (Room Service, porters in FL)
$200 - Ports-of-call (We don't plan to do much in the way of organized excursions, but if you were doing a $100 per person excursion at each port, you could see how this could greatly increase)
I don't remember the rest, but I wouldn't say that we are going crazy with this budget. For us, I think it is pretty realistic.

Back to the topic at hand, I would imagine that if you are using cash, and you need to put down a deposit, that deposit amount could vary with the length of the cruise, and possibly with the category of stateroom you are in. We have a PayPal debit card that we plan to use, so before the trip, we are transfering our budgeted amount into our PayPal account (and selling things on eBay), and therefore spending cash without spending actual cash.

 

[ARLO1]

We usually just pay cash but this past cruise we paid our charges with both disney reward dollars and the rest was put on the disney visa. This way we can start accumulating disney points towards our next cruise. This past cruise was also the first time we put the tips on the charge card - not sure how easy it was going to be and was a little apprehensive about doing it but it all worked out fine.

As far as the costs, it is just me and DH but our costs dont exceed $500 including tips, excursions etc..Mind you my husband will have a beer or two at night but beyond that we dont go for the other drinks(that are hardly any liquor anyway) and souveniers are kept to a minimum(do we need more stuff?).

 

[mmouse37]

The Wonder has an automatic charge policy of about $230. The Magic $400. When your onboard account reaches this amount they automatically charge the card you have listed with them.

I went to GS to pay down my account and found out that they had already charged my Credit card. It was not big deal, but I was going to pay down the onboard account with some cash. Instread it just went to my credit card.

MJ

 

[dislvr75]

Thanks a lot RickW for your potential breakdown of your expenses, it was very helpful. I am SUCH an over planner, over organizer, I can't believe how off base I was about on board expenses. I thought once the cruise was paid off we'd be doing great, just to save some money for SOME expenses and of course tips. I think about a cruise that is supposed to be "all-inclusive" then I realize how many things are NOT included and also how many things we may want to purchase on board. I planned for excursions, tips and souvenirs I guess I am just worried about how many smoothies served in coconuts we will want to have and how much they will all add up! By the time you add up those speciality drinks, pics at shutters ... I'm going to reassess my budget!!!

Thanks SO much for your replies!

 

[CPM]

I'll give you an idea of a 4 day.
Our bill was around $850.00.

$250.00 tips
$225.00 gifts
$50.00 Palo
$160.00 premium wine package
$70.00 Bingo
a couple of small Cove charges and...
The rest were bar bills, which next time I'm asking for receipts!

Then there was the $750.00 for rebooking <G>