Key Tips for Booking Disney Cruises With Points

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While the ocean isn’t for everyone, there’s a large niche of travelers who choose to cruise. There’s something to be said about unpacking once and opening your eyes to a new destination every morning.

Among cruise lines popular with families, the Disney Cruise Line is a favorite of many.

While you can’t book a Disney cruise directly using points, there are ways you can reduce the cash cost of your next Disney cruise vacation, including the flights and hotels you stay at along the way.

Let’s look at how to use points to reduce the cost of your next Disney cruise.

Why Consider a Disney Cruise for Your Next Vacation?

Disney cruises have a lot to offer for kids and adults alike.

On the Disney Cruise Line, you can set sail to Alaska, the Caribbean, Europe, Southwest Asia and even to Australia and New Zealand, alongside your favorite Disney characters.

Live Broadway-style shows onboard will have you singing along to your favorite songs, and fireworks sparkle even brighter at sea. You’ll enjoy gourmet-themed dining experiences and magical deck parties under the stars on clear ocean evenings. And if you want a themed specialty cruise, Disney offers Marvel Day at Sea, Halloween on the High Seas and Very Merrytime Cruises for an ultra-magical experience.

You can find Disney cruises for as short as two nights and as long as 15 nights. So whether you’re hankering after a long-weekend getaway or the trip of a lifetime, the Disney Cruise Line has something for every traveler.

You could set sail on a transatlantic crossing from Port Canaveral to Barcelona, enjoying whale watching in Ponta Delgada, wine tasting in Cadiz and scenic coastal hiking on São Miguel Island.

Alternatively, you and the kids could enjoy dog sledding in Alaska and enjoy some wildlife spotting, from bears and elk to humpback whales.

If you prefer warmer climes, you could sail to the Caribbean and make a stop at Disney’s own private island—Castaway Cay—for a uniquely magical experience.

And if horizons further afield are calling you, Disney’s 14-night cruise from Hawaii to Australia—with stops along the way at the beaches and vibrant coral reefs of American Samoa, Fiji and New Caledonia—could be just what you’re looking for.

How to Use Points When Booking a Disney Cruise: Key Strategies

Whatever your chosen route, using points and credit card statement credits to reduce the cash cost of the trip is a smart move.

Let’s look at how to use points when booking a Disney cruise.

Use Flexible Travel Credit Cards to Book the Cruise

Using flexible travel rewards credit cards that earn fixed-value rewards can help you offset the cost of a Disney cruise.

Capital One Miles are a rewards currency that can help you reduce the cash cost of your Disney cruise.

When it comes time to book your Disney cruise, pay using a Capital One card that earns miles, such as the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card or Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card.

Once you’ve paid for your Disney cruise, you can then reimburse yourself by using your Capital One miles against your Disney cruise purchase. Redeemed this way, your miles will be worth 1 cent apiece, making for a decent redemption value.

While you’re not technically booking a cruise with points in the strict sense, you’re still using your points to reduce the cash cost of your vacation. And you can still take advantage of any Disney cruise deals or discounts, as you’re not restricted to purchasing through the Capital One Travel portal.

Booking a Disney cruise using Capital One miles is one of the best ways to ensure an affordable family cruise vacation. But it’s not the only way.

Another option is to use the Bank of America® Travel Rewards Credit Card to reimburse yourself. The Bank of America Travel Rewards Credit Card earns 1.5X points on all purchases for a $0 annual fee. And if you’re a Bank of America Preferred Rewards® member, you can earn between 1.87X and 2.62X points per dollar spent, depending on your banking relationship.

The Bank of America Travel Rewards Credit Card enables you to redeem your points as a statement credit toward eligible travel and dining purchases made with your card. That means as long as your Disney vacation package codes as travel, you can pay with the Bank of America Travel Rewards Credit Card and reimburse yourself at a rate of 1 cent per point.

Maximize Your Travel Credits for Cruise Purchases

Even if you don’t hold a card that enables you to redeem your points toward purchases, there are other ways to save money on booking a Disney cruise.

You can take advantage of travel and dining statement credits offered by travel rewards credit cards. Some of the best credit cards for Disney cruise purchases are those that reward dining and travel expenditure, as well as offer statement credits toward these expenses.

For example, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® offers the most flexible travel statement credit available, reimbursing you for up to $300 worth of travel expenses per year. You can put this credit toward the cost of your Disney vacation package or any other purchase that codes as travel, reducing the cash cost of your vacation.

Likewise, the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card offers a $300 travel statement credit for purchases made through Capital One Travel. While you can’t book a Disney Cruise Line vacation through Capital One travel site, there’s nothing stopping you from booking flights and hotels through the portal and saving yourself $300.

It’s easy to focus on flights, hotels and the cruise itself as the main costs of a Disney Cruise Line vacation. But the cost of dining purchases sneak up on even the best of us—particularly for large families. While most of your meals are included in the price of a Disney cruise, you’ll likely end up paying for a meal somewhere along the way, be it during an on-land excursion or at your hotel.

That’s where a card that earns points on dining expenditure or reimburses you for dining costs can help make for a more affordable family cruise vacation.

The American Express Gold® Card offers 4X points per dollar spent at restaurants worldwide on up to $50,000 in annual spending (1X points thereafter) (see rates and fees). It also offers hundreds of dollars in statement credits toward dining purchases with specific merchants. Using a card like this can help you earn a return on dining expenditure or even reimburse you for the cost of it when dining with an eligible merchant.

Likewise, cards that reimburse you for airline incidental fees—from checked baggage to seat assignment fees—can help further reduce the cost of getting to and from your Disney cruise. Some examples include The Platinum Card® from American Express, the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® Elite Credit Card and the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card. You can get between $200 and $300 worth of statement credits toward airline incidental fees by utilizing one of these cards.

Saving on Flights to Disney Cruise Departure Ports With Points

Unless you happen to live near one of Disney’s cruise ports, you’ll likely need to fly to position yourself for your cruise departure. Using points and miles to fly helps further reduce the cash cost of your Disney Cruise Line vacation.

In the United States, the following cities are hubs for Disney ports:

• Fort Lauderdale, Florida
• Galveston, Texas
• Honolulu, Hawaii
• Miami, Florida
• New Orleans, Louisiana
• New York, New York
• Port Canaveral, Florida
• San Diego, California
• San Juan, Puerto Rico

Further afield, you’ll find Disney ports in the following international cities:

• Auckland, New Zealand
• Barcelona, Spain
• Brisbane, Australia
• Copenhagen, Denmark
• Melbourne, Australia
• Rome, Italy
• Singapore
• Southampton, United Kingdom
• Sydney, Australia
• Vancouver, Canada

In the spirit of planning how to book a cheap Disney cruise, let’s look at the main ways you can get to U.S. Disney port cities using points and miles.

Using Airline Miles for Flights to the Cruise Port

For Disney cruises out of the most popular Florida ports, you’ll want to search for flights to Orlando (MCO) for Port Canaveral-based cruises, Miami International Airport (MIA) for Miami or Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood (FLL) for cruises departing from Fort Lauderdale.

For Disney cruises operating out of New York, you’ll be looking to fly into New York-John F. Kennedy (JFK), New York-La Guardia (LGA) or Newark (EWR). For those departing from Galveston, you’ll want to fly into Houston-Hobby (HOU) as it’s slightly closer to Galveston than Houston-George Bush (IAH). If New Orleans is your port of departure, you’ll want to search for flights to New Orleans-Louis Armstrong (MSY).

And for cruises departing from Honolulu, you’ll need to look for flights to Honolulu (HNL).

Depending on where you’re flying to and from, as well as when (i.e. off-peak or peak), you can expect a one-way economy award fare to be as low as 3,000 miles and as high as 30,000 miles. Naturally, as most airlines use dynamic pricing, award fares will cost more during peak travel seasons. That’s why being flexible with your dates can help you score lower-priced award fares.

Tips for Choosing the Best Redemption Options

Redeeming points for flights instead of paying cash will always save you money. But having a solid redemption strategy can ensure you’re getting the best value out of your hard-earned points.

Generally speaking, you want to focus on transferring your credit card rewards points to airline partners. While you can redeem your points for fixed values through each card issuers’ travel portal, you’ll often get more value by transferring them to airline rewards programs.

That said, when cash prices or award seat availability are running low, booking through your card issuer’s portal can be beneficial.

Booking your award fares early is key to finding both availability and affordable fares. As your dates get closer and the number of available seats diminishes, award fare prices can skyrocket. For domestic award fares, you generally want to book at least one month in advance to secure the best rates.

Let’s check out your options when it comes to airlines.

Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines is one of your best bets when it comes to scoring low-priced award flights across the U.S.

If you hold a lucrative travel rewards card such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve, you’ll be able to transfer your points to Southwest. You can use Southwest’s Low Fare Calendar to search for the cheapest award fares by month. And, if you happen to hold the Southwest Companion Pass, you can fly one companion for just $5.60 in taxes and fees each way, further reducing your air travel cost.

If your Disney cruise departs from Galveston, a one-way economy award fare from Los Angeles (LAX) to Houston-Hobby (HOU) with Southwest can cost as little as 5,705 Rapid Rewards points + $5.60 in taxes and fees.

If you’ve planned a Disney cruise to the Bahamas starting from Port Canaveral, a one-way economy award fare from Chicago-Midway (MDW) to Orlando (MCO) could cost you just 4,932 points + $5.60 in taxes and fees.

JetBlue Airways

JetBlue is another low-cost carrier to consider for domestic flights. It has hubs in New York, Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles and Orlando, making it convenient for getting to and from popular Disney port cities. JetBlue’s Best Fare Finder enables you to search for award fares by month, making it easy to find low-priced award seats.

For example, if your Disney cruise is departing from Fort Lauderdale, you can find a JetBlue one-way economy award fare from New York-John F. Kennedy (JFK) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) for 8,700 points + $5.60 in taxes and fees.

United Airlines

United Airlines also offers affordable award fares to U.S. cities nationwide, especially if you can find Saver Award fares. If you’re a MileagePlus member, you can often find greater Saver Award availability, as United displays more fares to its members.

Here are some examples of United’s affordability.

If your Disney cruise departs from New Orleans, you can find one-way economy award fares from Washington-Dulles (IAD) to New Orleans (MSY) from 13,400 miles + $5.60 in taxes and fees.

If your port of departure is Honolulu, you can find a United one-way Economy award fare from Los Angeles to Honolulu (HNL) from 15,000 miles + $5.60 in taxes and fees.

Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines is another option for traveling on domestic routes to Disney port cities.

However, you’re best off taking advantage of Virgin Atlantic Flying Club’s distance-based partner award chart when booking Delta award flights. By doing so, you’ll avoid the high costs of Delta’s dynamic pricing, particularly during peak travel seasons.

Award fares in Delta Main Cabin start at 7,500 miles when booked through Virgin Atlantic and max out at 22,000 miles for a coast-to-coast flight. Keep in mind that pricing is per segment, so having a connection will always cost you more on the same route compared to having a nonstop flight.

You can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points, Bilt Rewards Points, Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Citi ThankYou Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic, making it a highly flexible rewards program.

Reducing Hotel Costs Near Departure Ports With Points and Free Night Certificates

Even if you’ve decided to swap an all-inclusive hotel holiday for a Disney cruise vacation, it’s still likely that you’ll spend at least one or two nights in a hotel. If you’re flying to a Disney port of departure, it’s best to fly a day earlier and stay one night in a local hotel, in case of delays or other unforeseen problems. Likewise, you might not be able to catch a flight home on the same day you arrive back from your cruise, making a hotel stay necessary.

For these reasons, you’ll probably need to book a hotel on your way to and from your Disney cruise. Let’s see how you can maximize your points and minimize your cash spending when booking a hotel.

Redeem Hotel Points for Pre-Cruise and Post-Cruise Stays

You have two options when booking a hotel.

The first option is to transfer your credit card points to hotel partners. That way, you aren’t restricted to a single hotel chain, giving you maximum flexibility when looking for the cheapest hotel rates across a Disney port city.

For instance, Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer to Hyatt, IHG One Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy. American Express Membership Rewards points transfer to Choice Privileges, Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy. This wide range of options gives you the ability to shop around when looking for affordable pre- and post-cruise hotel stays.

The second option is to hold a co-branded credit card with a specific hotel chain. For example, you could open the World of Hyatt Credit Card for earning Hyatt points or the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card for earning Marriott points.

These cards earn points with a specific loyalty program—such as Hyatt, Marriott or Hilton—which you can redeem directly toward hotel stays. While you don’t have the flexibility that comes with cards that earn transferable points, you can benefit from hotel-specific perks exclusive to co-branded card holders.

For instance, the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card comes with complimentary Hilton Honors Diamond Status and a $400 statement credit toward direct purchases with Hilton resorts, issued in biannual $200 credits. The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card includes complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite Status in addition to 25 Elite Night Credits every year.

If you can commit to always staying with a certain hotel brand, going for a co-branded card can help you benefit from additional cardholder perks, from complimentary status to free night awards. However, if flexibility and finding the cheapest rates is your top priority, then sticking with a general travel rewards credit card will be your best bet.

Leverage Free Night Certificates for Additional Savings

If you decide to go for a co-branded hotel credit card, one of the main perks you can benefit from is complimentary free night certificates. If both you and your partner hold cards that offer free night awards, you could have both your pre- and post-Disney cruise hotel stays entirely for free.

The following co-branded hotel credit cards offer free night awards:

• Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card
• Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
• World of Hyatt Credit Card
• IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card
• IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card
• Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card
• Marriott Bonvoy Bountifu®l Credit Card
• Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card
• Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card
• Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card

In certain cases, free night awards are included as complimentary annual perks. In other cases, free night awards are tied to hitting a minimum annual spending threshold. Some credit cards even offer anywhere from three to five free night awards as part of their welcome offer.

Some cards offer free night awards after your first cardmember anniversary, while others include them in your first year of card membership.

Free night awards are redeemable up to a certain maximum number of points, anywhere between 35,000 and 85,000 points per night, depending on the card. Both Marriott Bonvoy and IHG One Rewards allow you to top-off your free night award with existing points in your account, enabling greater redemptions.

In most cases, free night awards will cover you for at least the pre- or post-Disney cruise hotel stay. And if both you and your partner have cards that offer free night awards, you can use one for the pre-cruise stay and one for the post-cruise stay, meaning you won’t have to pay anything for your hotel stays.

Not to mention, utilizing free night awards can often allow you to offset the card’s annual fee in a single night.

For more on free night awards, check out the best IHG free night redemptions to see where these benefits can take you.

Booking Disney Cruises With Third-Party Travel Portals

While you can’t book a Disney cruise through American Express Travel^®, Capital One travel site, Chase Travel℠ or Citi Travel, there are other travel portals you can use to book your Disney cruise.

Explore Travel Portals That Allow Point Redemptions for Cruises

You can book your Disney cruise through both Marriott Cruises and United Cruises. When booking through Marriott, your points will be redeemed at 0.4 cents apiece, and when booking through United, your miles are worth 0.7 cents apiece.

While neither of these redemption rates are optimal, if you have points or miles to spare and you’re happy to use them in this way, it still beats using cash to pay for your cruise.

Compare Points Vs. Cash Prices

When deciding whether to pay with points or cash, it’s always best to compare cash vs. point prices.

You can do this by dividing the cash price of a Disney cruise by the equivalent price in points.

Generally speaking, if you’re receiving less than 1 cent per point, you’re often better off paying with cash. That said, if you have points to spare that you wouldn’t otherwise spend, opting for suboptimal redemption rates still remains better than paying with cash.

Finding Discounted Disney Cruises for Extra Savings

Airline, hotel and credit card travel portals aren’t your only option when booking a Disney cruise.

Here are some alternatives you can use to score the best rates.

Using Costco Travel and Vacation Websites

You can take advantage of other travel portals and websites to score discounted Disney cruise fares.

For Costco members, Costco Travel is a popular option for booking Disney cruises. You can get a Digital Costco Shop Card when you book a Disney cruise through their portal, offering you savings on everyday Costco spending.

You can also compare prices across other travel websites, such as CruiseDirect, Cruise.com and Vacations To Go, as well as with travel agents, to secure yourself the best price. Keep in mind that while certain cruises may cost more on one website, they may also come with more added benefits such as onboard credit, vouchers, autographed books and other goodies.

Timing Your Booking for the Best Rates

Generally speaking, the earlier you book the better the rate you’ll receive on your Disney cruise package. While you might be able to find yourself a last-minute discounted price, you shouldn’t bet on it.

Disney cruise fares tend to be cheapest when the itinerary is released, so keep an eye out for new cruise dates and book well in advance.

Leveraging Credit Card Bonuses and Points for Onboard Expenses

Depending how you book your Disney Cruise Line vacation, you may receive “onboard credit.” Travel agents typically offer the most onboard credit—anywhere from a few hundred dollars to $1,000—that can then be used to cover onboard purchases.

However, it’s likely that you’ll still need to cover at least a few hundred dollars worth of onboard expenses. These could include onboard spa and salon fees, adult-exclusive dining, gift shop purchases, photo purchases, laundry services and more.

Disney will add these onboard charges to your stateroom bill, which will be taken automatically from the credit card you’ve added at the time of booking. For this reason, all of your onboard expenses will likely code as a “travel” purchase.

There are a few ways you can use this to your advantage, either to maximize the number of points earned on your spending or to reimburse yourself with points.

Using Points to Offset Onboard Spending

By prioritizing a card with a lucrative points multiplier on travel purchases to pay for your onboard spending, you’ll earn the greatest number of points possible.

Some examples of credit cards that earn on travel expenditure include:

• Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card—3X points on travel and select business purchases on up to $150,000 per calendar year (1X points thereafter)
• Chase Sapphire Preferred Card—2X points on travel purchases
• Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card—2X points on non-bonus category spending (including travel)
• Bilt Mastercard®—2X Points on cruises when booked directly (when you use your card for a minimum of five times within a billing cycle (see rewards and benefits))

How much you’ll end up spending while aboard your Disney cruise depends entirely on whether you’re traveling solo, as a couple or with kids, how many extra charges you incur, if you like to drink at the bar and the duration of the cruise. You might average $20 to $30 per day in onboard charges or well over $100 per day.

As an example, if you did a seven night cruise and averaged $100 per day in onboard charges, and paid with the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card would earn you 2,100 Ultimate Rewards points.

Alternatively, if you’re working toward hitting a minimum spending requirement either for a welcome offer or to earn a spend-based free night award or other card perk, charging onboard expenses (as well as the cruise itself) to your card is a great way to hit the minimum spend naturally.

Taking advantage of cards —such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve—is another way to reduce the overall cost of your onboard spending. You could cut at least $300 off your onboard spending by charging it to the Sapphire Reserve card.

The last option to help reduce the cash cost of your onboard spending is to use points to reimburse yourself. You can reimburse yourself using the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card or the Bank of America Travel Rewards Credit Card. Whether you use Capital One miles or Bank of America points, you can redeem them toward your onboard purchases at 1 cent apiece.

Chase Disney Visa Benefits for Onboard Purchases

If you happen to have one of Chase’s co-branded Disney cards—either the Disney® Visa® Card or Disney® Premier Visa® Card—you can take advantage of savings on Disney vacations and onboard purchases.

Both Disney Visa credit cards offer the following Disney-specific perks, some of which you can use for Disney cruise spending:

• 10% off select merchandise purchased at select locations at Disneyland® Resort, Walt Disney World® Resort and aboard Disney Cruise Line ships
• 10% off select dining locations at Disneyland® Resort and Walt Disney World Resort
• 15% off the non-discounted price of select guided tours at the Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort
• Exclusive character photo opportunities with complimentary downloads, with 10% savings on non-discounted Disney Cruise Line digital photo packages

Both cards also offer special Disney vacation financing, with intro APR on specific Disney vacation packages, including Disney Cruise Line.

That said, you’re typically better off sticking to a transferable points-earning credit card, as you can reap more value out of their points and benefit from transfer partner opportunities.

Frequently Asked Questions About Booking Disney Cruises With Points

Can I book a Disney cruise directly with points?

In most cases, no, you can’t book a Disney cruise with points. The only exception to this rule is Marriott Cruises and United Cruises, which enable you to redeem your Marriott points and United miles, respectively, for Disney cruise packages.

Which credit cards offer the best rewards for a Disney cruise?

Cards that earn transferable rewards will give you the maximum amount of freedom when it comes to scoring award fares for flights and award stays with hotels. Likewise, cards that offer travel statement credits can help offset the cash cost of your Disney cruise. Consider the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Amex Platinum or Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card.

How early should I book a Disney cruise to get the best rates?

Generally, the earlier you book, the better the rate will be. However, you should also focus on finding discounts and special deals.

Active service military members can often receive discounts, and you can also receive discounts when you book your next Disney cruise while onboard. Likewise, checking regularly for upcoming sales can help you secure a special deal.

When are the cheapest rates for a Disney cruise?

Avoiding school holidays will help secure you the cheapest rates on Disney cruises, although this isn’t always possible when you have kids.

Booking your cruise in January or February, May and September (before and after summer vacations), early November (before Thanksgiving) or early December (before Christmas) can help you secure the lowest rates.

Turn Points Into Disney Cruise Magic

Sailing the high seas to the tune of It’s a Small World alongside your favorite Disney characters is a dream come true for many. And offsetting the cost of your Disney cruise with points, travel statement credits and discounts makes that dream-come-true even sweeter.

Focus on transferable-points earning cards, such as those from Capital One, and take advantage of the large expense of a Disney cruise to earn toward your next welcome bonus. That way, you can lounge by the pool and whistle along to every song onboard while planning your next Disney cruise.