Every returning Disney Cruise Line passenger receives a gift in their stateroom when they board the ship. There will be one gift per stateroom, regardless of the number of passengers in each stateroom. Here are some pictures of the Castaway Club Gifts we have received over the years.
When you embark on a Disney Cruise, you will be given a Key To The World Card. The card will not only unlock your stateroom but also uniquely identifies you to the crew. It has a lot of information embedded on the card as well. I'll try to breakdown the information as well to show you some examples of the card.
Our friends Doug (from Rope Drop Radio) and Michelle McKnight (our favorite travel agent) went on the Disney Magic in July 2019, for a 5-Night Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona. They stayed in connecting staterooms 2071 and 2073, which are Category 10B Deluxe Family Inside Staterooms. The rooms are located mid-ship on Deck 2. Each room can hold four people.
You can listen to the episodes on Rope Drop Radio where they discuss the trip:
Here are the pictures of the rooms. Note: because the rooms are mirror images of each other, I have put all the pictures together. Stateroom 2071 has the split bathroom on the left while 2073 has it on the right. Inside rooms are a bit different from oceanview and verandah staterooms in that the main bed are in the back of the room with the sitting area in the middle (as opposed to the bed being in the middle and sitting area closer to the back).
More about Doug and Michelle…
You can subscribe to Rope Drop Radio via iTunes. Derek and Doug are two dads who love Disney. Their goal is help you navigate all things Disney from the parks to the cruise. They want to share tips and tricks, travel plans, and must see’s to help you have an amazing Disney trip! Make sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter as well!
We have really enjoyed having Michelle (affiliated with Touring Plans Travel Agency) as our travel agent. It costs nothing to use her services because Disney pays her after we cruise. She was the one that got up at the crack of dawn to book reservations on our booking dates, to make requested updates to our room and dining preferences. We have booked a total of four cruises with her, as well as recommending her to our friends! Contact her to see if she can help you with your vacation plans. (Note: Michelle does not sponsor Back To The Mouse, we are just satisfied customers).
If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page, which has useful hints in addition to our cruise trip reports!
Today was our first port stop of the trip at the beautiful island of St. Maarten (or Saint Martin). The last time we were on St. Maarten, we took a bus tour of the Dutch and French side. This time, we decided on something much simpler. We were planning on a self planned beach day. We started the day off with a quick breakfast at Cabanas.
One of our favorite podcasts, the DCLDude, had discussed a recent seven night eastern Caribbean cruise his family had taken. When his family stopped in St. Maarten, they had visited the Holland House, which is a beachfront hotel in St. Maarten. We decided to look into it ourselves. Here is the information we found on their Facebook page:
--- INFO ON BEACH CHAIRS & DAY PASSES --- Dear Friends, We are getting many request for information about day packages for the beach from those of you who are visiting us on a cruise. The following information might be helpful and we look forward to welcome you! The package we offer is $25 and includes; - 2 beach chairs and 1 umbrella from the time you arrive - 4 beverages consisting of beers, water and soda. - Free WiFi - Shower on the beach that you can use. - We serve lunch on the beach and have a full cocktail menu available for your. - Bathrooms are inside of the hotel and free to use. - First come, first serve. We do not take reservations. In case you want to make reservations for lunch, please email oceanlounge@hollandhousehotel.com Kind regards! Holland House Team
The Fantasy docks at the double dock on the southern portion of the harbor, so we had to get over to the Holland House. We decided to take the water taxi.
As you enter the port area, there is a mini shopping mall with most of the stores you would expect in a port area (Diamonds International, Majesty Jewelry, etc). There are also a few places to drink if you would like.
There is a sign as well if you want to get your picture taken next to it.
There is a booth in the shopping area for the water taxi. If you look in the above photo, it is the light blue booth with the sign pointing to it. You can buy one way or round trip tickets. We selected round trip tickets and we received wrist bands. The wrist bands would allow us to to board the water taxi at either end. The person in the booth then directed us to the water taxi dock. The path takes you through the stores and down a pathway next to the water. You can go onto the dock from there.
Here is a map I made with the help of google maps. The Holland House is also marked on the map.
As you enter the dock, there is another booth to purchase tickets for the water taxi. If you already have a wrist band, you can go on board the water taxi. The water taxi is a huge catamaran with lots of seating.
Once on board, it is a short ten or so minute ride over to the main dock, which is located in the middle of the beach strip. During the trip, the crew of the boat was selling water, sodas, and beers for $1 each.
Here is a look back at the Fantasy.
As you approach the water taxi dock, you can see the the Holland House with the white umbrellas.
Here is the water taxi after it dropped us off.
After you land at the dock, you take an immediate right to head to the Holland House. There are a number of hotels that pretty much have the same deal as the Holland House. Two Chairs, Umbrella, and a number of drinks for $20-$25. Most of them have WiFi available as well.
We checked in at an outside bar were we got the WiFi password (which never worked at the beach but was fine near the bar). We decided to wait a bit on our drinks, but didn’t have any problem getting them later delivered in a bucket filled with ice.
Right next to our chairs was an area where you could rent jet skis. In hindsight, we probably should have sat at the other end chair section (away from the Fantasy). The problem wasn’t the jet skis themselves, it was the guys smoking who were renting out the jet skis.
The beach was great though. The sand was nice and the water was clear. The island views were fantastic and we had great weather. We could go inside the Holland House (which is a hotel) to use the restrooms. You can also order food or drinks directly to the beach (the wait staff walks around).
After sitting at the beach for a few hours, Nancy headed back to the ship because she wasn’t feeling well. The rest of us decided to stroll around the town for just a bit, then we would head back. There are a lot of bars and restaurants trying to get tourist business.
We spent another hour or so walking around and looking in shops, then boarded the water taxi for our return trip to the Fantasy. Since we hadn’t eaten in the town, the kids and I headed to the pool deck for a quick service lunch. The ship was pretty crowded at this point, which meant it took quite a while to get some food. Then I promptly dropped my tray. So, I spent another ten minutes getting more food and finally met up with the kids (who were smart and got their own food). We ate and discussed what we should do. We finally settled on riding the Aqua Duck.
We returned to the room to shower off after our beach day and found this waiting for us. It was our first platinum welcome gift, a box of chocolates. We received a note in our stateroom when we first checked in offering us a fruit tray, sparkling wine, or chocolate and we selected the chocolate. It was delivered to Nancy while the rest of us were still at the beach.
There were five chocolates inside the box. We ate a few and they were delicious!
We rested until it was time to leave St. Maarten. We got to see the St. Maarten Coast Guard ship as it escorted the Fantasy out of the harbor.
We were also treated to a wonderful sunset!
Tonight was the Pirates in the Caribbean party, but we decided to take a pass on it. I don’t actually remember what we did instead of the party, probably watched movies in the room. Tonight’s dinner was in Animator’s Palate, but was the Pirates in the Caribbean Menu. The normal screens that show Crush were instead showing various Pirate themed scenes.
Nancy still wasn’t quite feeling up to snuff, so I headed back to the room with her. Here was our towel animal for the night.
As we were getting ready for bed, my youngest daughter came back a bit early from the Edge. She said she was going to watch “Solo” in the Buena Vista Theater. It sounded like fun, so I headed off with her to watch the movie. There was a light crowd there considering that it started around 11:15 pm or so.
Once the movie ended, we headed back to the room to get some sleep. Tomorrow we would be stopping at St. Thomas!
Boarding | Exploring | Sea Day 1 | Sea Day 2 | St. Maarten | St. Thomas | Sea Day 3 | Castaway Cay | Disembarkation
If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page, which has useful hints as well as our cruise trip reports!
We originally booked our 7 Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise in August 2017. We were looking at scheduling trips around our WDW Annual Passes that we had just activated. While looking at dates, I noticed we would have some time between when school started and when our annual passes ended. What better way to end the summer than with a trip to the Disney Parks and a Disney cruise?
I sent off an email to our favorite travel agent, Michelle McKnight, and she booked the cruise for us. Because the cruise was still during summer break, the prices were a bit higher than I would have liked, but we went ahead with it. Michelle got us into an obstructed view stateroom to save us some money. We also had some friends join us on the cruise!
We decided to drive down to Florida, stopping on the way down for a few college visits. The college trips went well and we made our way down to Orlando. We arrived late on a Saturday night and checked in the Hyatt Place Orlando/Convention Center for an overnight stay. We’ve stayed at this hotel on several trips in the past and liked its cost and location. The next morning, we headed for the parks and then moved to our “home” resort for the trip, Old Key West Resort, which we booked using Disney Vacation Points we rented from David’s Vacation Rentals.
On the morning of our last day at the parks, we checked out of Old Key West Resort and went to Magic Kingdom. We spent the day there and then had dinner at the California Grill at Contemporary Resort. After dinner, we headed back to the Hyatt Place Orlando/Convention Center to spend the night. We shuffled around all our stuff so we could leave a few bags in the car and only take the bags we needed on the cruise with us. We went to bed excited that the cruise was the next morning!
We got up early the next morning to get ready. We gathered all our stuff, added luggage tags to our suitcases (so our bags would find us on the ship), and had breakfast. We left the Hyatt about 9:00 AM so we would make it to the ship around 10:00 AM. We didn’t have a port arrival time because this would be our first cruise as Platinum Castaway Club Members.
We arrived at the port close to 10:00 AM with a slight downpour occurring. There was quite a line of cars waiting in front of us. We had about a 15 minute wait before we could pull forward to a spot and drop off our luggage. Once we got our luggage dropped off, we headed to the parking area. We paid for parking with our credit card and went to one of the outside parking spots. There was a cargo box on top of our car this trip to give us some more space inside the car with the long drive and didn’t think the cargo box would fit inside the parking garage. We’ve used the outside parking lot before when we took a Fantasy cruise in 2015 and it was fine.
After getting our day bags out of the car, we headed for the security line. Because of our early arrival, we were only about 10 people back in the security line. Once the line opened, we moved really quickly and were soon upstairs. We were directed to the Castaway Club line so we could check in. I didn’t realize at the time that we could have bypassed this line and head back to the concierge line to check-in as a Platinum Member. I believe the signage in Port Canaveral could be clearer. In Miami, there are multiple different lines for the different levels (Silver, Gold, and Platinum). In Port Canaveral, you get directed to the Castaway Club line without being asked what about your Castaway Club level.
After standing in line for a few minutes and filling out our health information form, we were soon checking in. After we got our pictures taken and Key to the World Cards, we headed to the supervisor’s desk to see if there were any upgrades available. The Cast Member told us that an upgrade from a Navigator’s Veranda to a full Veranda would cost $1500. It wouldn’t have been that much to change to one three days before the cruise. There weren’t any concierge staterooms available, which is what we were really after. We passed on the upgrade and found a place to wait for boarding (we were Boarding Group 1) while we read the Navigator.
Once the Family of the Day was announced, Disney was ready for regular boarding. It seemed like the boarding time was delayed for some reason. We usually board around 11:00 AM, but Disney didn’t get started with boarding until 11:45 or so. It was crazy in the terminal because it was so crowded. People were packed near the start of the boarding lines, despite several announcements to have people move away from the area. Once they called Boarding Group 1, a massive surge of people went forward. People weren’t using their best manners as I was separated from my family by several families that couldn’t wait patiently to get on the ship. I told my family to go ahead and I would catch up with them after the picture area (we always skip the pictures). Sure enough, all the inpatient people stopped for their picture and we went ahead to board the ship.
Next up, we explore the ship!
Boarding | Exploring | Sea Day 1 | Sea Day 2 | St. Maarten | St. Thomas | Sea Day 3 | Castaway Cay | Disembarkation
If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page, which has useful hints as well as our cruise trip reports!
We have discussed Disney Cruise Line’s Key to the World Card. After reading that post, you may wonder how you are going to carry your card around?
If you are a first time cruiser, you are going to have to provide your own lanyard. Disney only provides lanyards to return cruisers. Here is a great choice that is available on board the ship:
What I like the most about this choice is that not only will it hold your Key to the World card, but it has a small zipper pocket as well for cash. The Key to the World card will also slide out of the pocket for it easily vs the standard lanyard, which has to be taken out of the plastic pouch (which sticks to the card).
Specialty Cruises
If you are going on a Star Wars cruise, there are LOTS of specialized lanyards available on Amazon. We used these for our Star Wars Cruise:
There are many more Star Wars Lanyards available on Amazon!
There are some great ones available for Marvel as well!
If you are a member of the Castaway Club, which is Disney’s frequent cruisers club, Disney will give you a lanyard when you arrive at the port for boarding. To be a member of the Castaway Club, you only have to complete one cruise. When you arrive for your second cruise, you will have a lanyard waiting for you.
For your second through fifth cruises, you will get a Silver Lanyard. We haven’t been Silver for a while, so I don’t personally have one of the new Silver Lanyards. Luckily, our friends sent us a picture of the one they just received. Here are the different Silver Castaway Club Lanyards we have received over the years:
For your sixth through tenth cruises, you will get a Gold Lanyard. You are a Gold Castaway Club member after you have completed your fifth cruise. Here are the different Gold Castaway Club Lanyards we have received over the years:
For your eleventh and subsequent cruises, you will get a Platinum Lanyard. You are a Platinum Castaway Club member after you have completed your tenth cruise. We have only been Platinum for one cruise. Here is the lanyard we received:
Putting on your lanyard is one of the best feelings because it means your awesome Disney Cruise is about to begin!
If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page, which has useful hints in addition to our cruise trip reports!
When you embark on a Disney Cruise, you will be given a Key To The World Card. The card will not only unlock your stateroom but also uniquely identifies you to the crew. It has a lot of information embedded on the card as well. I’ll try to breakdown the information as well to show you some examples of the card.
| A | The dates of your cruise |
| The ship you are on | |
| C | Your name |
| D | Your Castaway Club status |
| E | Your lifeboat station |
| F | Your dining rotation:
Fantasy
Dream
Magic
Wonder
|
| G | Your dining time |
| H | Your check in line number |
| I | Indicates you have a Disney Visa Card as your credit card (entitles you to additional perks) |
| J | Your table number in every main dining room |
| K | Your Castaway Club account number |
| L | A for Adult, M for Minor |
| M | P for Disney Transportation to the Port, A for Disney Transportation to the Airport, R for Disney Resort, PA for Port and Airport, PR for Port and Resort, and RPA for Resort to Port to Airport. |
Here is our first card, which was for a cruise to Alaska. The only difference here is that we didn’t have any Disney Transportation booked, didn’t have Castaway Club status, and Disney had not yet started to indicate if you were using a Disney Visa Card.
On our second cruise, we had obtained Silver Castaway Club Status. We went on a Spring Break cruise on the Wonder.
On our third cruise, we got a star added to our card. This was to indicate that we had visited the Immigration and Custom Officials before the ship docked in Key West. This cruise was a four night Caribbean cruise on the Wonder.
Nothing new on this card for our fourth cruise. Although, it is interesting to note that there is no check in line number on this card. I think my Key To The World card got demagnetized on this cruise (and wouldn’t open my stateroom door), so it got reprinted while we were on board. This was a five night Western Caribbean cruise on the Wonder.
This was our fifth cruise and it was our first time on the Fantasy. This was a 7 night Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Fantasy.
Back on the Wonder for our sixth cruise, where we changed to Gold Castaway Club Members. We also don’t have a check in line number for this cruise, but I remember that we did upgrade our stateroom in the cruise terminal. This meant that our card got reprinted in the supervisor’s line. This was another five night Western Caribbean cruise on the Wonder.
For our seventh cruise, we returned to the Fantasy. We also paid for Disney Cruise Line transportation from the airport and the port, so the card has a PA on it. We also used a Disney Visa Card for the default credit card for this cruise, so they added the DV to this card. We didn’t actually use the credit card, since all the charges were paid off using Disney Gift Cards. This was a seven night Eastern Caribbean Star Wars Day at Sea Cruise.
Our eighth cruise was our first cruise on the Dream. We again paid for round trip Disney Cruise ground transportation and used our Disney Visa Card. This was a three night Bahamian Cruise on the Dream.
On our ninth cruise, we went on the Magic for a Very Merrytime Cruise. We drove to and from the Port of Miami, so no annotation about Disney Transportation. We used our Disney Visa Card as the default credit card for this cruise. This was a 5 Night Very Merrytime Western Caribbean Cruise on the Magic.
On our tenth cruise, we went back on the Magic for a Sprint Break Cruise. We drove to and from the Port of Miami, so no annotation about Disney Transportation. This was a 5 Night Bahamian Cruise on the Magic.
Our eleventh cruise, where we were Platinum for the first time, was another cruise on the Fantasy. We drove to and from Port Canaveral, so no annotation about Disney Transportation. This was a 7-Night Eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy.
On our twelve cruise, we went back onboard our favorite ship, the Wonder, for a Spring Break Cruise. We left from San Diego on a 5-Night Baja Cruise. This was the first time we had been on the Wonder since its refurbishment that added Tiana’s Place. Disney Cruise Line changed the way the dining rotation was specified on the card to add two letters for the name of the restaurant so there was no confusion with Tiana’s and Triton’s. We actually didn’t sit at Table 57, as we discussed in the trip report, because we wanted to sit with our favorite crew member. Since we took an Uber to and from the port (we had additional vacation days before and after the cruise), we didn’t use Disney transportation.
During some recent cruises, our daughter was old enough to go to the Vibe. When the kids check in to the Vibe, they get new Key To The World cards printed on this special card to indicate they are allowed in the Vibe. If they don’t have this card during a “Card Check”, they will be asked to leave the Vibe. Our daughter indicated they do this check every so often.
Some friends sailed in a Concierge Cabin and were kind enough to share their Key To The World card with us. As you can see, they had Port/Airport transfers and also used their Disney Visa Card as the default payment. The card is gold because they were Concierge guests and had access to the Concierge Lounge. There are two interesting items to note with this card. One first is the Concierge check-in desk number “993”. The second item is the crossed Mickey Keys in the bottom left, which also indicates a Concierge guest.
We just added some information on how you can store your Key to the World Card as well, talking about Lanyards available from both Disney and Amazon.
If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page, which has useful hints in addition to our cruise trip reports!
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Some friends of ours booked a cruise on the Disney Magic for February of 2018. It was a Marvel Day At Sea Cruise. With their permission, we are sharing their Cruise Documentation.
When opening the inside flap, you will find the names of the passengers as well their cruise luggage tags. There is information inside the booklet that indicates when you should put the tags on your luggage.
The first page just sort of confirms what you already know, that you are going on a Disney cruise. It does lists the name of the ship, the number of days, and the departure port.
Turning the page will review the Table of Contents as well as the cover page for the “Vacation Checklist”.
The Vacation Checklist does have some good information on it, but most of it can actually be found on the Disney Cruise Line website. There are some useful tips, such as information about how you can be reached on the ship and the suggestion to pack a day bag (because your luggage doesn’t get delivered until later). There is also information about downloading the Disney Cruise Line Navigator App.
The next pages of the Vacation Checklist describe the dress code on Disney Cruises. It also lists the prohibited items and the alcohol policy.
The next page is a list of Embarkation Information for the ship, including the time the ship leaves as well as what constitutes proper documentation for boarding the ship (and for getting off the ship once you return to port). I’ll briefly summarize by saying that passports are always accepted and we don’t leave home without them. On certain cruises, you may be able to get away with a birth certificate if you return via the cruise ship, but we would never take a chance on something happening in a foreign port and trying to return without having our passports.
The next page continues the list of acceptable documentation for boarding.
Now we are getting to the good stuff. The Vacation Summary lists the sailing details, the guests, travel dates, how you are getting to the ship (flights and/or Disney transportation), and whether you have purchased travel insurance and/or prepaid the gratuities for the hard working crew. On this particular cruise, our friends did elect to use Disney transportation.
The next page lists any pre-selected Port Adventures, adult dining, meet and greets, salon treatments, and any other activities that you’ve selected via the Disney Cruise website.
You also get a listing of the Sailing Itinerary which includes the dates and ports for each day of the trip.
The flight information is listed if you selected airport transfers.
The rest of the flight information and ground transportation is also listed.
The onboard airline check-in program is detailed next.
You are charged $12 per person for each day of your cruise for gratuities. That money is automatically charged to your room and dispersed to your Server, Assistant Server, Head Server, and your Stateroom Host. The Server and Assistant Server wait on you each night in one of the three main dining rooms. You might also see your servers working at breakfast, lunch, or on deck, since they often have shifts at other dining locations during the day. Each Head Server manages a large number of server teams in the dining rooms and can be called upon for assistance in case something goes wrong. We’ve had a number of them go out of their way to get to know us and to take care of any little issues or dietary requests. The Stateroom Host (or Hostess) is the person that keeps your stateroom super clean. They are always working cleaning the rooms and hallways.
The next few pages are cards that you can leave with anyone that might need to contact you while you are on board.
There is an order form for gifts and amenities. We have never used this form though.
Here is a bunch of boiler plate legal stuff about how Disney Cruise Line deals with your information.
The legal information continues, along with a form for the onboard airline check-in program that you can fill out to drop off with Guest Services (you will get enrolled in the program).
Disney is also nice enough to give directions to the embarkation port so you can find the ship on your own.
That’s pretty much it, except for the back cover.
If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page, which has useful hints in addition to our cruise trip reports!
So, you’ve booked your Disney Cruise — now it’s approaching your check in day and you wonder what will happen? The most important thing you need to know before booking your excursions, adult dining, character meets, and other activities is that you must be paid in full on your cruise. Once you have paid in full for your cruise, you can book your activities. The date for this depends on how many Disney Cruises you have taken. If this is your first cruise, your check in day will be 75 days from your sailing date. If you have taken 1-4 cruises (this makes you a Silver Castaway Club member), your date will be 90 days out. If you have taken 5-9 cruises (this makes you a Gold Castaway Club member), your date will be 105 days out. If you have taken 10 or more (a Platinum Castaway Club member), your date will be 120 days out. On the other hand, if you are sailing in a Concierge stateroom, you can book 125 days out regardless of your prior number of cruises. You should be contacted by the shore side Concierge team who will book your activities for you (I believe you can email them 125 days out, so you should get everything you want).
Let’s walk through booking an excursion on Castaway Cay, Disney Cruise Line’s private island in the Bahamas! In this article, we will assume you have already checked in. If you haven’t checked in, please read over our article on checking in for your Disney Cruise.
You will want to go to the Disney Cruise Line website at https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/.
Once you are there, look in the upper right hand side and select My Cruise Activities.
At this point, if you haven’t logged in, you will be prompted to log in with your Disney Cruise Line log in information.
Once you have logged in, you should see a listing of all of the cruises you have booked, but haven’t taken yet. In this case, we’ve got a few cruises lined up over the next two years. We are just going to deal with the first cruise.
If you notice on the first cruise, there is a Book Now area highlighted next to Activities. You will want to click on that link.
Once you have selected Book Now, you will be brought to a web page similar to the below, which is the booking mechanism for the first day of your cruise. All of the activities have a similar process for booking them, so we are just going to book an excursion for Castaway Cay.
You can change the activity day by selecting the calendar icon next to the date and selecting the date you want. In this case, we are going to move to our Castaway Cay day. As you can see, we have already selected Parasailing for the day, which is a great activity. We’ve done this activity before and highly recommend it.
In order to book a new excursion, select Book a Port Adventure from the bottom of the web page under “Book activities for <Date>”.
This will take you to a web page where you can see all the available Port Adventures for your stop. In this case, we are looking at the Port Adventures for our stop at Castaway Cay. (Yes, I already checked for the Castaway Cay Cabanas but they were all taken).
In this case, we are going to book a Walk and Kayak Nature Adventure, as a test case. (We will release it later). Press the “Select” button next to the adventure you want to book.
Once you select the port adventure you want, you will get a pop up that shows you the duration and price of the adventure, plus allows you to select the people going on it. (I’ve blanked out the names in this case).
In this case, we are only going to send the adults on this adventure so the kids can enjoy their new found friends in the Vibe and the Edge. Once you select individuals, you can then select “Check Availability”. After doing so, another selector will show up that allows you to pick the time of the excursion. Simply select the time and hit “Save”.
The excursion will then be added to your list of scheduled activities for the cruise! The process is the same for Port Adventures, adult dining (including Mixology Classes), spa services, and character meet and greets.
If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page, which has useful hints in addition to our cruise trip reports!
You’ve booked your Disney Cruise — now it’s approaching your check-in day and you wonder what will happen. The most important thing you need to know before checking in for your cruise is that you must be paid in full before you begin the check in process. Once you have paid in full for your cruise, you can start checking in. Your check-in date will depend on how many Disney Cruises you have taken. If this is your first cruise, your check-in day will be 75 days from your sailing date. If you have taken 1-4 cruises (this makes you a Silver Castaway Club member), your date will be 90 days out. If you have taken 5-9 cruises (this makes you a Gold Castaway Club member), your date will be 105 days out. If you have taken 10 or more (a Platinum Castaway Club member), your date will be 120 days out.
Checking in isn’t nearly as important as booking your activities. You aren’t competing with other people for activities, adult dining times, or meet and greets with characters. You do want to get this important information to Disney Cruise Line, but you can do it after you book your activities.
Once you reach your check-in date, you will want to go to the Disney Cruise Line website at https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/.
From the My Disney Cruise Menu option, select My Online Check-In.
Once you have logged in, you should see a listing of all of the cruises you have booked, but haven’t taken yet.
Right next to the cruise you are checking in to, you will see the Online Check-In: Closes <Date> and then the words Check In in blue. You will want to click on “Check In”.
This will take you to the “My Online Check-In Overview”. The first panel just confirms that the sailing as well as the passengers in your reservation. Select Begin Now to start.
The first panel you will fill out with be the Guest Information Panel. This will include the Home Address and Emergency Contact Information. You can fill this information out for the first guest, then copy it to the remaining guests if it is the same. It is possible this information might be pre-filled for you if you’ve sailed with Disney Cruise Line before. Select Save at the bottom to move to the next panel.
The next panel will be the Identification panel. Each guest will have to have proper identification to board the cruise as well as to get off the cruise ship. For most people, this will be a passport. There are some other types of documentation you can use for certain cruises, but we’ve always used our US Passports. For more information, contact Disney Cruise Line to see what is acceptable. Make sure you go through each guest to ensure their passport information (or other identification information) has been entered. Select Continue to move to the next panel.
The next panel will gather information about your pre- and post-cruise travel plans. You can enter in whether you are flying or driving to/from the cruise area. If you are flying, you can enter your flight information as well as how you are arriving at the port terminal (taxi, Disney Cruise Transfers, etc). Another note here, if you are flying home after your cruise, your flight information will help to determine when you leave the ship. If you have an early flight, you will be leaving the ship before passengers with later flights. So, if its important you be at the airport early, make sure you enter your flight information when you check in. People that are driving home or staying close to port will possibly be assigned later times for debarkation. Once you enter the information for one guest, you can copy this information for all the guests in the reservation if it is the same. When you have entered in your travel information, you can select Continue to move to the next panel.
After entering in your travel information, you can now enter information for settling your onboard account once you leave the ship. Everything on the ship is charged to your room. As your room account accumulates charges, Disney will periodically charge your credit card on file. If you have selected to settle your account with cash, you will have to pay the bill before you leave the ship. I don’t know how much Disney will allow you to have charged to your room if you choose to pay with cash. They will charge your card once you reach $500 in charges (at least they did with ours). You can select the same payment method for everyone in your traveling party as well if you would like (or enter in different payment methods for them). You can also grant or deny charging privileges for members of your party. Once you have filled out this information, select Continue.
The Port Arrival Time Panel allows you to select the time you would like to arrive at the Port. This keeps the port from being overwhelmed with passengers while they wait for the ship to be ready. Some of the times may not be available to select and will be greyed out. It is possible the Port itself won’t allow you to enter if you arrive before your Port Arrival Time. The earlier times get you onboard the ship sooner. The later times allow for a less hectic arrival and boarding process. The staterooms aren’t ready until 1:30 PM, so if you are hand carrying a lot of items on the ship, it might be a good ideal to select a later boarding time so you can head directly to your room. Once you have selected your time, you can also select if you would like to receive your cruise documentation or just your luggage tags.
You will also be presented with your Cruise Contract, which you must review and select that you agree with the Contract. If you disagree with the contract, you won’t be allowed to board the vessel. The contract gives the terms of the cruise and Disney liability. We won’t go over the details of the contract, but Disney basically says they can alter the length of the cruise, the stops, and anything else they want to for safety purposes.
The last part of the check in process is to Print your Port Arrival Form. Once you have printed the form, you can select “Complete My Online Check-In”.
Congrats, you are now just a few weeks away from your cruise!
If you return to your cruise reservations, you will see that you have completed the check in process. You can always go and update the information if it changes though.
If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page, which has useful hints in addition to our cruise trip reports!