How to Read your Disney Cruise Line Key to the World Card

By Jennifer Stuart

There is a lot of useful information that is available on your Disney Cruise Line Key to the World card.  Read our helpful guide to know what it all means.

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Your Key to the World card is just that-- your most essential item on your Disney Cruise.  You will receive your card when you check in at the port and every member of your party will receive one-- including children.  This is more than just your stateroom key -- you will not be allowed on or off the ship without it!  Make sure you keep yours safe in a wallet, purse or in a lanyard.  The picture above is my card from our first Disney Cruise.

The top most piece of information is the sailing dates for your cruise.  As you can see we were sailing in July of 2017.

Next is the name of the ship you are sailing on (Disney Magic, Disney Wonder, Disney Dream, or Disney Fantasy).

This letter shows that you are an adult guest.  Keep reading for information on how kids' Key to the  World  cards are different.

Pretty self-explanatory but this is the spot for your name.

Your Castaway Club  Number.  All guests who sail on a Disney Cruise are given a Castaway Club number, even children. Your Club-level status is determined by the number of cruises you have taken on Disney Cruise Line.  If you are a Silver or Gold Castaway Club member, it will also state your level.  As this card is from our first cruise, there is no level listed.  The level will be listed before the number.  Silver level is reached after your first cruise, Gold level is reached after your fifth cruise, and Platinum after your tenth cruise.

This information is important --- It lists your dining information.  Specifically, the time of your seating-- 5:45pm (first seating) and your table number-- 39. You will have the same table number each night in the main dining rooms for diner.  The 2 letter codes show the order of your dining rotation. In this example, we ate at Tritons (TR) the first evening, followed by Animators Pallate, Tiana's Place, Tritons, Tritons, Animators Pallate, and finally Tiana's Place on the subsequent evenings.
Insider Tip: your See Ya Real Soon Breakfast (before you disembark on the final day) is usually in the same dining room as your last night's dinner.  So for this example it would be at Tiana's Place.

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This is the number of the check in desk that processed you.

This letter is large for easy reference.  It is the muster station for your lifeboat.  You will need to know this number for both the mandatory muster drill before you sail and for any emergency.  (FYI, you must bring your card with you to the muster drill).

This space lists transfers that you have arranged with Disney Cruise Line. On this card * means no transfers have been arranged with the cruise (we made our own).  But you might see letters like PA, meaning Port and Airport.  Other letters could be P for Transportation to the Port, A to the Airport, R for Disney Resort, PR for Port and Resort, and RPA for Resort to Port to Airport.

This Key to the World card belongs to a child.  The two big differences to note are that instead of an A at the top for adult there is an M for minor.   Also on the bottom right hand corner the NC stands for no charging privileges.  You can choose whether you want to let your minor children be able to charge purchases to your room account or not. (we chose not) 

You may be interested in some of our other Disney Cruise Line posts such as How to Save Money on Drinks on your Disney Cruise or Everything you need to know about the Disney Cruise Line Wine Packages.  If you are planning a Disney Cruise to Alaska, don't forget to check out our post on What to Expect on your Disney Alaska Cruise.

All photos by Jennifer Stuart

Comments?  Questions?  We would love to hear from you.