As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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OK, I know that at the end of the cruise we will receive a slip with a recommended tip for each person on it. Do we have to tip this way? Can we tip as we go? I have envelopes with Mousekeeping tips, porters, and room service. Will these also be on the slip? When we get a drink at the bar I know it gets charged to our room and a tip automatically gets added. Can we forgo the charge to our room and pay for the drink and or tip in cash? We're going on a trip with 2 other families that make A LOT more money than we do and I don't want to look cheap, but we are on a strict budget. We are going to Palo with them and I made an envelope with the tip already in it. Can we leave that instead of writing in a tip on the bill? We'll have teens with us on the trip and I'm afraid to put the money on our account and then have them spend it by accident. Thanks so much!
I believe that now the "predetermined" tipping amount for each of your servers and your room host automatically get charged to your on-board account at some point during your cruise, and that you only now get the envelopes on the last night if you want to give them extra on top of that set amount.
You can tip room service as you go, as that person is normally different for each order as opposed to your normal rotational servers. The same goes for Palo/Remy and the Spa...those people you tip individually.
I don't think that cash is accepted anywhere on the ship anymore, except at the Service desk to pay towards your onboard account.
As for your teens, you don't have to give them charging privileges. That way there's no risk of them draining your onboard account, but that's up to you.
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As described above, you can tip in cash at Palo and for room service.
For servers and room stewards, if you would rather tip in cash or tip a different amount than is automatically billed, you just need to stop by Guest Services before the last day to ask for an adjustment to your room account.
If you order drinks that have an additional charge, the gratuity will be billed to your room automatically. You can add an extra tip in cash, but I don't think you can pay entirely in cash. If you are trying to be discreet about your spending, it is actually easier to charge to your room and leave the charge slip turned down so it is not visible.
You can check your room account each day if you are concerned about your kids overspending. Of course, that won't help with anything they have already spent, so if you are truly concerned you could remove their charging privileges.
I think the advice that has been given is good. We usually go with the standard tip and then add cash to the final envelope if we feel something extra is warranted. Once on a cruise (not Disney, however) we had a particularly messy accident in the room causing extra work for the steward. I dropped a 20 on the bed along with an apology note. I assure you the money was taken. About the only things your teens would be able to charge would be at the store for shirts or other souvenirs or if they bought a coke at a bar rather than getting the free ones from the stand on deck. Oh, yeah, there's also snacks such as popcorn available before the shows and movies. I think the only way you can avoid their spending is to not give them privileges. They really don't need to spend anything as all food and drinks are covered. There's really nothing to buy other than souvenirs. I think Disney is going to require a credit card (or perhaps cash) be put down to cover incidentals. You can go to guest services anytime during the cruise to pay your bill down.
dolphin041599 How do you pre-pay your tips? Also, some friends of us that cruise a lot with Disney said that they sometimes tip their servers extra in cash as they go. It ensures above and beyond service and the cast members really appreciate it because they don't get their tips right away and the cash allows them to have some money to buy the things they need when they get into port. Someone else suggested getting them gift cards to Walmart because when they pull into a port and have time to go get sundries that is where they go and they really appreciate those. Opinions? Thanks so much!
How it works is you put a credit card on your account when you check in for your cruise(before you even board). This is what is used for anything that is charged on board like drinks from the bar, gift shop, etc. The tips are a standard amount that they automatically charge to your account. They will leave a slip of paper with the amounts charged along with the envelopes, in your stateroom, that you are supposed to give to your server and host/hostess on the last day. But since it is automatically given you really do not need to hand them this. If you want to change anything about the tips then go to guest services as soon as possible. Guest services is super busy the day before you disembark. You will not be able to pay cash for anything but some of the servers will accept cash as a tip. As far as your teens go, I have been cruising with my girls since the oldest was 4(they are teens now). There is no way to "accidentally" buy something. You know if you are buying something. They will tell you the amount and you will need to sign for it. My girls have never purchased anything without my being there. And that was when we were at the gift shop. There are plenty of free drinks, food and ice cream that they never needed to buy things. I would just tell your kids to go for the free stuff and if they want to buy something then to ask you first. Disney is not like other cruise lines where there is only a couple of placed to eat for free and the rest is an upcharge. Only the adult Palo and Remy are an upcharge. Like I said the soda fountains are free so they will not be charged. The couple you are travelling with will not know how much you tip or what you spend since they do not have access to your account. Have a great cruise!
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Also with the kids, you can put a preset amount of "cash" on their cards and when it is gone it is gone. Granted most things are included but teens might want a smoothie or an arcade card if they go to the teen club. so it might be nice to put a little bit of money on there cards to cover that. And as teens I would like to think that they would know to use discretion in their spending. And if for some reason they don't spend the money it will be refunded to you
You can pay this prior to your cruise or when you check in at the Port but either way it must be done before you board the ship.
Then, on your last night, you will receive envelopes in your room for each tipped position (Stateroom Host, Server, Ass't Server. Head Server) and vouchers to put in the envelopes. If you wish to adjust the amount for any one of these, this can be done by visiting guest services. (Don't wait until the last night - the line gets very long!) Or if you just wish to add some additional cash, this can be added to the envelope.
OK, so, is this what I should do: Add up all the tip money I put aside for the cruise part of the trip and put that amount on the credit card that will be tied to our room? We have a $200 onboard credit from our travel agent. Will this just show up as a credit when we arrive or is there something I need to do? I know the teens are planning a couple trips to Vanellope's with their friends. Can they pay for that in cash or a gift card or will it have to be charged to our room? Will they bill each room separately at Palo even if we are eating with 2 other families?
Thanks so much!
OK, so, is this what I should do: Add up all the tip money I put aside for the cruise part of the trip and put that amount on the credit card that will be tied to our room? We have a $200 onboard credit from our travel agent. Will this just show up as a credit when we arrive or is there something I need to do? I know the teens are planning a couple trips to Vanellope's with their friends. Can they pay for that in cash or a gift card or will it have to be charged to our room? Will they bill each room separately at Palo even if we are eating with 2 other families?
Thanks so much!
You can use that $200 credit to pay for the gratuities. Disney will automatically take the the gratuity out of whatever card you have on file, but will use up any credit first. You can not pay for anything with cash on the ship, it needs to be charged back to the room. You can go to guest services during your cruise at any time and they will print out all of your room charges if you are concerned about how much the kids are spending. Yes, everyone will be billed separately at Palos.
OK, so, is this what I should do: Add up all the tip money I put aside for the cruise part of the trip and put that amount on the credit card that will be tied to our room? We have a $200 onboard credit from our travel agent. Will this just show up as a credit when we arrive or is there something I need to do? I know the teens are planning a couple trips to Vanellope's with their friends. Can they pay for that in cash or a gift card or will it have to be charged to our room? Will they bill each room separately at Palo even if we are eating with 2 other families?
Thanks so much!
You can also purchase disney gift cards at a discount and apply to your on board account to pay for everything. Thats what we did, everything paid for with gift cards purchased at Sams club. And my kids did not have charging privileges
I've never dined at Palo's with another party, but any restaurant will split the bill. If you are concerned, just mention at the beginning that it is separate checks. They probably know that already, but just to be on the safe side, you could mention it.
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