I always try to start a cruise with as much “free money” in my onboard account as possible, and here I will show you how I do it. First, let’s talk about some of the things that are charged to your onboard account on a Disney cruise. Here are a few of them:
Gratuities (you can learn everything you need to know about those here)
Port Adventures booked through DCL (you can learn about those here and here)
Adult dining at Palo & Remy (read about those here)
Gift Shops
Photo purchases (learn more about that here)
Laundry (learn about laundry options here)
Nursery (there is an extra charge for children under 3 years)
Spa (see the spa on the Dream here)
Things that are an additional charge like alcohol, smoothies, some room service items, specialty ice cream shops on the Dream & Fantasy, specialty coffee shop, popcorn, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, etc.
In order to minimize the damage to our credit card at the end of a cruise, I have found several ways to get our onboard account loaded with free dollars at the beginning of our cruise. Since we are getting ready to set sail in a few weeks on our Panama Canal cruise (ETA: we are back and you can read a full trip report here) I am going to walk you through just how much money I have been able to accrue. Here are six methods that I used.
Onboard Booking Credit
You can get an onboard credit (plus other perks) for booking another cruise while onboard. You can read all of the details and benefits of an onboard booking here. For this cruise, we booked while onboard and have 2 rooms, each with an onboard credit (OBC) of $200 for a total of $400.
DCL removed the onboard credit for onboard bookings in September 2019.
Use a Travel Agent That Offers an Onboard Credit
We typically book our cruises through a travel agent. You can read my post about the pros and cons of using a travel agent here. For this cruise, our agent is giving us an OBC of $550. (Note: A few months ago our travel agent slashed in half the onboard credit they give for cruises booked while onboard vs. brand new bookings made off the ship. We booked this cruise right before the change took effect, so we just barely snuck in at the higher rates. Today, the OBC would have only been $250. In addition, our agent determines the amount of OBC by the total price of the cruise. Our cruise fare for this cruise is very high being a 14 nighter, thus the high OBC. Most of the time our cruise fare is lower and so is our OBC. This is an unusually high OBC from a travel agent.)
Are you keeping track? So far I am up to $950!
Disney Visa Reward Dollars
I go into the specific benefits of the Disney Visa credit card here, so I’m not going to repeat them now. Right now, we have accrued about $220 in reward dollars in the last 6 months since we cashed them in for our last cruise in October. Once we board, I will just take my loaded redemption card to Guest Services and have the dollars applied to our account just like I would with a gift card.
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Next I am going to share some apps that I use to earn free money which I then convert to Disney gift cards. I have a complete post about these apps here, so I am not going to go into a lot of detail other than to share how much I have been able to save.
Ibotta
With the Ibotta app I have been able to save $103 since I started using it about year ago (ETA: I have now earned over $700!). I will transfer this money to Paypal and then use Paypal to buy a Disney gift card at Disneystore.com. If you want to sign up for Ibotta, use my referral code qrotdsn and we will both get a $5 bonus!
Ebates
Ebates gives you cash back for shopping online. Since I have 3 kids and I homeschool, I do a lot of online shopping. I have some money in my Ebates account right now, but unfortunately I can’t use it for this cruise because Ebates only transfers earnings 4 times a year, with the next one being May 15. So, this money will have to wait for our next cruise. If you want to join Ebates, use my referral code here and we will both get a cash bonus in our accounts!
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When I add up the money from all of the above sources, I get a total of $1273.00 of free money for our onboard account! Some of you may be wondering if we can actually spend all of this money onboard, and the answer it YES! Gratuities and port adventures add up fast. For our upcoming cruise, the standard gratuities (and we always add more!) for my family of 5 will be $840 because it is a 14 night cruise. We are only doing 1 DCL port excursion, but it is an expensive one that totals $474 for our family so just the 2 of those things already use up almost all of the free money. We will still have many more expenses charged to our onboard account, but at least this will put a huge dent in our expenses.
If you want to find out other ways to save money on a Disney cruise, you can do so here:
Disney Cruise Guide to Freebies, Discounts and Upgrades
My Tips For Saving Money on a Disney Cruise
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How the heck do you get over $500 in OBC from your TA?! Most I’ve seen have given, like, $50-$100.
Ours gives a certain amount based on the price of the cruise. Here is a chart that shows the amounts: https://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/disney-cruise-line/discounts-specials.htm#gift#sbc Also, since we have 2 staterooms booked, we get to double up on the amounts given by DCL for onboard bookings as they provide OBCs per stateroom.
Great post! Thanks so much! We were wondering if obc from travel agent can be used to purchase a gift card from the ship gift shop. I want my daughter to pick her own souvenirs while out around the ship with friends and we have obc we are allotting to gift shop and I would feel much more comfortable with a set amount on a gc rather than having her charge to room! Thanks!
Hi Jordan! I have never tried, but I don’t see why not. I am pretty sure that they sell gift cards in the shops, and I know that gift cards can be used for purchases in the gift shops in lieu of charging it to your account. They can’t be used elsewhere on the ship (spa, Shutters, bars, etc), only in the gift shops. However, I have read that they are not able to verify the remaining balance on the gift card in the shops, but guest services can do that for you. Hope this helps!
I’m thinking of booking a Disney cruise. One of the TAs I’m considering is offering a $400 obc. I read on another site that DCL has changed the policy where obc can only be used for bar tabs and not other items. Is that true? I’m looking at specifically using the obc from the TA to pay for gratuities.
Hi Ed! Any onboard credit you get from a travel agent can be used to pay for ANY onboard purchases like gratuities. I do this every time I sail. It sounds like you are thinking about one of the old Disney Visa perks, where if you paid for your entire cruise with your Disney Visa, then DCL would give you a $50 obc but it could only be used for drink purchases. This went away a while ago and is no longer a perk. But, any obi you get from a travel agent, or even from DCL for an onboard booking, can be used for ANY onboard purchase. Hope this helps!
Hi! Love your blog. It’s been so helpful in preparing for our first cruise coming up in August. (Alaska!)
You mentioned apps that you use to make money. I use Swagbucks and you can get money back for purchases made in SO many different websites. Amazon and Disney Store included. You can even redeem the points to buy Disney gift cards directly. Here’s my referral link. You should check it out!
http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/darlaemma
Thank you Darla! I will check it out!