Hi Lisa!
Welcome to planDisney, Lisa! We are happy to have you onboard as you plan an epic adventure at sea. Thanks for GIFTing us with a great question!
Like you said, you can absolutely use a Disney gift card to pay towards your stateroom balance. It's a great way to spread out the cost of the extras on a Disney cruise. From spa treatments at
Senses Spa and Salon, meals at
Palo,
beverage tastings,
photography,
gratuities, and
onboard merchandise purchases, Captain Mickey can place all these on your stateroom account.
As far as the kids’ spending, I understand why you’d want them to just use
Disney gift cards for their purchases. They still can, but the
charges are actually placed on your stateroom folio and not directly on the gift cards. Your teenagers would use their Key to the World cards to make merchandise purchases, and those charges would show up on your stateroom account.
The workaround for this is to have your teenagers use their gift cards towards the stateroom balance. If they exceed what you wanted them to spend, your kids have to make up the difference. It may mean an extra step for you, but the end result is that they are being accountable for what they buy and contributing their Disney gift cards to pay for their purchases. This isn’t being a Scrooge McDuck but rather teaching them money management skills which I am all about with my kids!
All you need to do is stop by Guest Services (Deck 3, Midship) and have the Disney Gift Card(s) credited to your account. I recommend doing this early on in the cruise and definitely NOT on the last night to avoid large crowds at Guest Services. And if you choose to have the kids’ gift cards applied to the stateroom folio at the beginning of the cruise, be sure to hold onto the used gift cards because any unused funds can be placed back on the card at the end of your sailing. This typically doesn’t happen to me because I tend to go overboard in spending my Disney dollars!
One last tip: download the
Disney Cruise Line Navigator app prior to your sailing to unlock the treasure trove of cruise information right on your personal device. This is also a way to keep tabs on your stateroom account and make sure no scurvy pirates have plundered your account and put their charges on yours!
Lisa, planDisney is here and ready to be in CHARGE of your cruise planning questions. We’re always happy to SPEND lots of time chatting about Disney Cruise Line. Wishing you a fantastic voyage!
Sherry