Welcome aboard, Michelle! Turning your Walt Disney World vacation into a land and sea adventure with Disney Cruise Line is a wonderful idea!
It is true that the ships are cashless, and everything onboard is charged to your stateroom account by swiping your Key To The World Card for any extras. However, settling your stateroom charges can be done in a few ways. Most guests do use a
credit card to settle their charges, however there are two other options that may work better for you, if you do not use credit cards. My family and I put a credit card on file for any charges, however we also save up for our cruise by purchasing
Disney Gift Cards back home before we sail. We then take these gift cards to Guest Services and they add those to our stateroom account as credits for any extras we purchase onboard. You may consider buying Disney Gift Cards with cash back home or ordering them online and using those onboard.
Another great option for you is setting up a cash account onboard. This can be done when it comes time to begin your online check-in (75 days prior to sailing for first time guests). Just choose Cash Account, and you'll be able to view the agreement. Guests using the Cash Account Agreement can place cash on their account at any time throughout the cruise. Based on the length of sailing, you'll be allowed to spend up to a certain amount in credit before being required to settle it with cash. The credit amount then starts over and you can charge that amount again on your Key To The World Card before settling again with cash.
The current Cash Agreement states that guests can charge up to the following credit amounts before settling with cash:
2-5 day sailing: $300
6-9 day sailing: $500
10 or more days: $700
I hope that helps, Michelle!
Happy planning!
Marcy