Disney Cruise Line in a Jiffy: What is a Key to the World Card?

When you’re sailing with Disney Cruise Line, you will be automatically issued a Key to the World Card (KTTWC). This card serves as your stateroom key, onboard charge card, and identification for embarking and debarking at ports. If you’ve purchased a DisneyBand, you can use it for many of the same things, but not all. You’ll find your Key to the World Card (one per person) in a sealed envelope outside your stateroom door.

The Key to World Card is the size and shape of a standard credit card. It’s printed with the following information:

• Your name
• The ship’s name
• The dates of your sailing
• Your muster assembly station designation (the C on the card below)
• A letter to indicate whether the cardholder is an adult or minor (the A on the card below)
• Your personal Castaway Club number (the greyed out area on the card below).

You may also see markings for reserved Disney-operated bus transfers to or from the ports. For example, “PA” means you’ve purchased a Port to Airport transfer after your sailing. In the past, the Key to the World Card also showed your rotational dining order, but this is now found in the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app.

You’ll use your card for several things, including:

• To open your stateroom door.
• To serve as part of your identification when you enter or leave the ship.
• As a charge card in the ship’s onboard shops and lounges.
• As a means to buy washer/dryer credits in the onboard laundry rooms.
• As a means to link photos taken onboard to your photo account.

You can do almost all of these things with a DisneyBand, and the Key to the World Card is just a good backup. But if you plan to get off the ship in any ports, you’ll need the KTTWC. The ports and their security are not run by Disney, and most ports will require a card, not just a DisneyBand, to allow you onto your ship’s dock for re-embarkation. You will need the card to disembark even at Disney’s private ports, Castaway Cay or Lookout Cay.

Most Key to the World Cards are light blue, but special categories of guests (such as those in concierge rooms) may have a different color. Teens may be able to trade in their “vanilla” Key to the World cards for ones with Vibe or Edge designs. Some guests are passionate about wearing their Key to World card on a lanyard around the neck, but many find it simple to keep in their pocket or tucked into their phone. A lost or stolen card should be reported to Guest Services.

One common question concerns cruisers in a party with multiple staterooms. This is especially true when you’ve booked Mom into one stateroom and Dad into the other. It’s not possible to get a single key that opens both staterooms. But Guest Services can add extra keys so that, for instance, Mom & Dad can both have two keys, one to each stateroom.

Disney Cruise Line in a Jiffy is for first-time Disney cruisers looking to learn about the DCL experience. Got a Disney Cruise Line term that you want to see explained? Suggest it in the comments below!

Thanks to Erin Foster for an earlier version of this post.