Are you thinking about booking a Disney Cruise? I’m going to take a guess and say that you are here because you know they are EXPENSIVE! Don’t worry though because I am going to share with you how to save money on your Disney Cruise.
These tips are not typically known by people and they do require a little extra leg work. However, I have personally used these secret ways to save money and I will share my breakdown with you below.
The ONLY way to save money on a Disney Cruise is to search in the mouse holes themselves!
1. I searched for the best time to cruise.
Depending on the time of year that you book, you can spend thousands of dollars less. If possible, you want to try to book during an ‘offseason.’ That time period will change based on your ship’s itinerary so you will need to research that based on where you want to travel.
The cruise I selected was in May and cost $4,232 dollars.
2. BEFORE I booked, I created an account with a cashback website.
Around the time I booked, a holiday was approaching. I knew that sometimes Rakuten offers more cashback over holidays. To my advantage, Rakuten offered double cashback (16% at the time) on cruises booked through Expedia.
I clicked the Expedia link through Ebates and paid the deposit only, which was $778. The total price for the cruise was $4323. So if you multiply the total cruise price by 16% cashback through Ebates that would equal a savings of $691.68 once I completed my payments.
Right away, I saved $691.68 more than most people. Now, just to clarify, I got that money sent to me via check once I completed my cruise. (That’s how Rakuten works with travel.)
That is not the only instant cashback I got though. We also booked the deposit with our credit card that offered 1.5% cashback on our statement. That saved us an additional $11.67. (I could have done better than this by using a better card. I wasn’t THAT good… yet. Check out my P.S. at the bottom of the post.)
Total savings so far: $703.35
3. Then, I found some discounted Disney gift cards.
I tagged along with a friend to Sam’s Club to look at their gift card options. I was able to purchase Disney gift cards at a discount of approximately 4.5%.
I ended up purchasing about $3600 worth of gift cards to cover my remaining balance of $3545.
(You can pay off several cruise line dues with gift cards, by the way. But check your travel provider first to verify.)
I will save you from math overload on this one. After the Sam’s Club discount on the gift cards and cashback on my credit card, I saved an additional $213.59
4. Lastly, I called my travel site (Expedia) and paid off the remaining cruise balance with my gift cards.
Because I rounded up when I bought my gift cards, I then had about 50$ leftover on a gift card that we spent on board. If you have extra money on a gift card, I recommend using any extra gift card money you have on a pre-purchased photo package. You will probably want a lot of character pictures!
If above looks confusing, I’ll review:
- Find the most convenient and most inexpensive time to cruise.
- Find a cashback site that offers the most cash back on travel. (These are FREE!) I recommend Rakuten & Top Cash Back. Select the cashback offer and book your cruise. Pay only your deposit with your best cashback offering credit card!
- Buy discounted gift cards with your best cashback credit card. (Don’t forget to confirm that your travel site doesn’t have an issue with taking gift cards.)
- Pay the remainder of your balance with your gift cards.
So in total, a cruise that cost everyone else $4,232, only cost me about $3,316. That is a savings of approximately $916, plus an extra $50 in gift cards to spend onboard.
If this breakdown has helped you in any way, share it with your friends! I hope you have a magical time on your Disney Cruise!
If you like saving money on travel, you should see how we are now traveling for free. Check out, “How to Book Family Vacations for Free or Cheap.”
