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Ways to Create Magic For Disney Cruise Line Cast Members

Showing your appreciation for Walt Disney World Resort Cast Members is really easy nowadays, with the Mobile Cast Compliment feature. It doesn’t matter which Disney Park Guests are visiting, or if they are coming to the end of their vacation; Guests can thank Cast Members and show recognition from excellent Guest Service at any time that is convenient to them.

You may be wondering then about showing appreciation for Cast Members when cruising with Disney Cruise Line. Whilst the Cast Compliment feature isn’t available on the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app (we certainly hope it will be added soon), there are other ways that you can commend Cast Members for excellent Guest service during your Disney Cruise.

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Credit: Disney Cruise Line

Tipping when taking a Disney Cruise

The obvious way to thank Cast Members is through gratuities. Disney Cruise Line recommends a gratuity amount of $14.50 per night, per stateroom Guest, including infants and children, and a little more for Guests staying in a concierge stateroom. This charge will be automatically added to your stateroom account, which will then require settling before you disembark the ship. Guests who are happy with this gratuity amount can pre-pay before embarking on their Disney Cruise, offering an all-inclusive experience to Guests.

Alternatively, Guests can request that the automatic charge be removed. This is particularly helpful if you wish to choose your own gratuity amount to give to Crew Members who you interact with daily. Gratuities, whether you accept the recommended amount, or decide for yourself, are given to the following Crew Members:

  • Dining room server
  • Dining room assistant server
  • Dining room head server
  • Stateroom host

Guests opting to decide their own gratuity amounts will receive four envelopes, one for each of the above-mentioned Cast Members, in their stateroom on the final evening of their Disney Cruise. Guests then fill the envelopes and hand them to the specific Cast Members before disembarking the ship.

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Credit: Disney Tips

A top tip is to have some spare dollar bills ready if you intend to order room service. The Crew Member who delivers your room service order can accept a gratuity if they provide great service. Your order can determine the gratuity: if ordering a meal, then tip around $5; for a smaller order, $2-$3 will suffice. Our favorite items to order via room service when on a Disney Cruise are milk and cookies before bed or a Mickey Premium Bar.

You may be wondering how to give recognition to other Cast Members that provide you with exceptional Guest service and create Disney magic for you during your vacation with Disney Cruise Line. Here’s how to do just that in your upcoming Disney Cruise.

Get to know Cast Members

Whilst interactions with Cast Members in the Disney Parks can often be short and rushed, a Disney Cruise offers you plenty of time to interact with Cast Members, get to know them and share experiences with them too. Ask many Guests, and they will tell you that it’s one of the most magical parts of a Disney Cruise. This is not just limited to your dining servers and stateroom host either. Guests have plenty of opportunities to interact with the Cruise Staff team (they host all of the fun activities on the Disney ships), merchandise Cast Members, Disney Cruise Line photographers, Youth Activities counselors, lifeguards, pool hosts, and many more.

Our tip is to chat with all Cast Members, find out about where they call home, ask them about their Disney journey and the Disney Cruise ships they’ve called home, tell them about where you’re from, and spend time with them. It makes your cruise even more magical, but you’ll also find that the Cast Members feel like friends. They’ll say hi to you, create even more magic for you, and you may even see them on future Disney Cruises too! You may even get a Magical Moment card hung on your fish hanger at the end of your cruise!

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Credit: Disney Tips

Mention them on your Guest Comment Card

On the last night of every Disney Cruise, your stateroom host will leave a questionnaire in your stateroom for you to complete before disembarking the ship. This Guest Comment card is your chance to provide feedback from your Disney Cruise. On the final page, there is also a question for you to answer: ‘are there any Crew Members who made your cruise experience particularly magical?’ Make sure to add the names of the Crew Members who helped to make your Disney cruise magical in this section. This is a great place to mention Cast Members who you interacted with on Castaway Cay if they made your day a little extra magical.

Handwritten letters

If there are any Crew Members that you’d like to give a special thank you to, be sure to stop by Guest Services on the final full day of your Disney Cruise. Cast Members can give you Disney Cruise Line notepaper and envelope to allow you to handwrite a personalized letter for a Crew Member. This is delivered directly to them and is a way of showing your appreciation for their hard work. Having spoken to Crew Members who have received our letters, they are incredibly grateful for the time you take out of your Cruise to create magic for them!

‘Thank you for creating the magic’ cards

If you like to plan ahead, you may wish to print your own ‘thank you’ cards ahead of your Disney Cruise that you can personalize and hand out before your time on the ship comes to an end. Doing this will also mean that you get to give your cards to each Cast Member yourself.

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Credit: Etsy

Pouches filled with Candy

Another magical way of saying ‘thank you’ is to fill little pouches with candy. Tie them with some ribbon and a ‘thank you’ gift tag, before handing them to Cast Members when you see them for the final time during your cruise. Not only will they be really grateful but you may also be giving them a taste of home!

See where they are headed next

Disney Cruise Line Crew Members do not always stay on the same Disney ship. Different contracts may mean that they move from one cruise ship to another. Chatting with Crew Members to see where their Disney journey will take them next may allow you to have future interactions with them. This is particularly helpful if you already have another Disney Cruise reservation, or you have put a placeholder down.

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Credit: V Mills

We sailed on the Disney Magic last summer, and had another Disney Cruise booked for January 2022. Our Head Server was incredible and we struck up a real bond with him aboard the Disney Magic. When we found out he was headed to the Disney Dream, which was the ship we were cruising on in January, we knew that we’d request him to be our Head Server once again. Once we had embarked on our January cruise, we were able to request to be in his dining rotation. It was a special experience to be served by him and his team once more! He has now embarked on the Disney Wish, and we hope to have the pleasure of dining with him again in the future.

So, our top tip is to request specific Crew Members if you have previously received exceptional Guest Service from them on previous Disney Cruises. Being welcomed on board a Cruise Ship by Cast Members, you know feels like you are seeing family once more!

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Credit: Disney Cruise Line

Remember, you can make just as much magic for Disney Cast Members as they can for you during your Disney vacation. Showing recognition, appreciation, and thanking them means a great deal to all Crew Members onboard Disney Cruise Line.

About Victoria Mills

Victoria is a Disney-loving, tea-drinking, Math teacher from Liverpool, England. Her motto is 'work hard, Disney harder'! Having taken part in the Disney College Program back in 2010, Victoria's love and appreciation for Walt Disney World only grew, and it's the place where she feels most herself - it's home!