Ahoy, Savannah!
Paying your gratuities before you even set sail on your Disney Cruise Line vacation is a great budgeting tip! You can do this a couple of ways. First of all, if you booked your cruise directly with Disney Cruise Line, you can
call them at 1-800-951-3532 at least 3 days prior to your sailing to pre-pay over the phone. If you booked your cruise through a Travel Agent, you will need to contact your agent and have them call DCL directly to handle your payment.
One last way to budget the
gratuities of $12 per person per day is by purchasing Disney Gift Cards. You can purchase these at a Disney Store,
online, or at many local stores, including Target. This is what our family does. Then, once you are onboard, you can bring the gift cards to Guest Services and they will "load" them onto your onboard account. This works for anything that you charge on the ship, not just gratuities. We love having all of our souvenirs paid for in advance as well.
If you decide to use Disney Gift Cards, please note that you should keep ALL of the cards until after your cruise. If there is any money leftover, Disney Cruise Line will reload it onto one of the gift cards. Once you get back home and are settled, you can check your gift cards balances. I once checked 20 cards from a previous cruise and found $46! It was well worth the time to check.
I hope you have a wonderful Disney Cruise Line vacation!
Happy Cruising, Tracy V.