Prepaid gift cards

I've seen some mention of using prepaid gift cards for Carnival. And I've heard a few times about discounted ones. Is there any gotchas on using these? I've never used them before, but sounds intriguing. Where do you get these besides AARP?

Verizon

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We have purchased a few through Verizon using our reward points to get 10% off the price of the card. No gotcha's that we're aware of or have read about on this forum.... though I do seem to recall it mentioned you should be wary of buying them off e-Bay or someplace like that (I suppose that's true of buying any gift card from a another individual).

... Is there any gotchas on using these? ...

They're very popular with a number of folks, not a single complaint that I've read about "gotchas". I've bought two (from Verizon) that I haven't tried to use for anything yet. The ecard has a 16-digit number that I assume you can use as a credit card, for just about anything from paying cruise fare to loading up for the Casino. Don't quote me on the last, but by all reports they're very flexible and worry-free. Browse the boards, you'll find several discussions on Verizon and other "gift cards" or "ecards".

The thing you should be aware of is once you buy Carnival gift card(s), there is no getting cash back if you change your mind. If you apply them to a cruise then cancel later, you will receive your refund in the form of new gift card. I buy them from Verizon and love the 10% off as it really adds up. With a 2500 dollar cruise you can save 250 dollars using the discounted ones. That isn't chump change to me .

In order to buy the discounted gift cards through Verizon, you have to be a Verizon customer. Here's the main thread for Verizon gift cards: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2081176

For the gift cards through AARP, you do not have to be a paid member of AARP. You just have to register a free account with their rewards program, Rewards For Good. The main AARP gift card thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2208976

The third source of discounted gift cards is through Allstate insurance. You don't need to be an Allstate customer, but non-customers have to create a rewards account through their Drivewise smartphone app (not the Allstate mobile app). The main Allstate gift cards thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2449490

The AARP gift cards aren't always available. They restock those every couple weeks or so, give or take. AARP only offers physical gift cards that have to be sent by USPS for purchased under $500 and by UPS for purchases $500 & over (anything $500+ have to be signed for). Verizon and Allstate offer physical gift cards as well as e-cards sent via email. Allstate usually has (at least the $100 cards) them available all the time. Not sure about Verizon, I'm not a customer so can't use their rewards.

gotcha a 10% discount

Awesome info, thanks.

We have used several Verizon cards making payments for upcoming cruise including for shore excursions and drink package. We get the codes immediately via email. When using them, on pay page the option to use gift card comes up and you just enter the giftcard number and pin. very easy and like another poster said, saves a lot of money when you're spending thousands.

... When using them, on pay page the option to use gift card comes up and you just enter the giftcard number and pin. ...

Thanks for mentioning that detail. I'm sure I would've figured it out, but I was thinking wrong and might've messed it up at first.

AARP charges about $1 shipping fee, so it's really 9% discount. Regardless, it's money saved.

Like the poster upthread, we too used them to pay off our cruise. The savings paid for our tips and excursions.

This week I purchased 3 $500 gift cards from Verizon to finish paying for an upcoming cruise that I purchased from the site that rhymes with diceline. I had to call one of their cruise consultants to complete the transaction but it worked great. I had $60.00 left on one of the cards, but can have that applied to my shipboard account after I board. I saved $150.

AARP charges about $1 shipping fee, so it's really 9% discount. Regardless, it's money saved.

Like the poster upthread, we too used them to pay off our cruise. The savings paid for our tips and excursions.

Verizon charges $0.59 per card for shipping. Yeah, per card, even when ordered together. A few days ago I accidentally had a quantity of two (to be mailed) in my cart, and shipping was quoted at $1.18. But their email option foregoes shipping, naturally.

I plan on my Carnival cruises costing 10% less by using the AARP gift cards. They sell out, so it's best to check weekly to get what you need. Another hint, if your final payment date for your cruise is still months away, don't apply the cards till you get closer to the date. If you find yourself needing to cancel the cruise by that time, you've not committed your cards to a cancelled cruise and potentially lost $. Yes, no refund on the card, but can be used on a future cruise. Also look for the larger denomination gift card to avoid the per card shipping charge. IE: order a $500 card rather than 5 $100 cards. Copy your cards information along with taking a photo of them if you're not applying them to the balance right away. This way if the cards are lost you will still have the information to apply the amount to your cruise.

I plan on my Carnival cruises costing 10% less by using the AARP gift cards. They sell out, so it's best to check weekly to get what you need. Another hint, if your final payment date for your cruise is still months away, don't apply the cards till you get closer to the date. If you find yourself needing to cancel the cruise by that time, you've not committed your cards to a cancelled cruise and potentially lost $. Yes, no refund on the card, but can be used on a future cruise. Also look for the larger denomination gift card to avoid the per card shipping charge. IE: order a $500 card rather than 5 $100 cards. Copy your cards information along with taking a photo of them if you're not applying them to the balance right away. This way if the cards are lost you will still have the information to apply the amount to your cruise.

When I buy my Verizon cards I apply them immediately. If someone gets a hold of the card info and applies it first, you are SOL- sorry out of luck. Call me paranoid but don't feel comfortable holding the card, especially if it was an ecard transmitted over cyberspace. If you cancel the cruise later Carnival will simply send the proceeds back in gift cards again.

... Call me paranoid but don't feel comfortable holding the card, especially if it was an ecard transmitted over cyberspace. If you cancel the cruise later Carnival will simply send the proceeds back in gift cards again.

From a long-time IT'er: In this day and age a little paranoia is a lot healthy. Hackers are always looking for new targets. My home network is under steady barrage every day, mostly from China-based IP addresses, but who can say for sure who they really are. If a hacker penetrates a home network they can snoop just about anything. Do I sound paranoid too? Heck yes I am.

OTOH, mailboxes are at risk too (unless they're the lockable variety, which nobody in my subdivision has). It's not just cyberspace we have to worry about.

I haven't applied the two ecards I got in email yet (been reading a lot and thinking too much), but I probably should get off my duff and use them for something.

I just bought a $300 gift card for $270 (10% discount) on cardcash dot com.... No need to be a customer, or earn points, or anything -- just buy the gift card... No additional charges for processing either. I then turned around and used $200 of that gift card to purchase a shore excursion we were interested in. The balance will be applied to our S&S account when we board the ship.

... used $200 of that gift card to purchase a shore excursion we were interested in. The balance will be applied to our S&S account when we board the ship.

Cool, thanks. I've been wondering about that too.

From a long-time IT'er: In this day and age a little paranoia is a lot healthy. Hackers are always looking for new targets. My home network is under steady barrage every day, mostly from China-based IP addresses, but who can say for sure who they really are. If a hacker penetrates a home network they can snoop just about anything. Do I sound paranoid too? Heck yes I am.

If anyone's that worried about emails being hacked and losing e-cards, they can write the numbers & PINs down and put them in a lock box/fire box. That's where I put our physical gift cards for safe keeping...and to make sure we don't forget where we put them. Or people can copy/past the card numbers/PINs to a Word document and password protect that.

Cool, thanks. I've been wondering about that too.

OP asked about "gotchas". I have two. (Well, sort of.)

I've only bought them from AARP and Allstate. Either source you pay with credit card. I pay off my credit card each month, so no big deal. But if you're carrying a balance and paying interest, you could cost yourself more than the 10% savings. OK, not really a gotcha, but something some people don't think about.

The real gotcha was what happened at the Port of N.O. while I was checking in last cruise. The nice lady at the counter offered to apply our 5 $100 gift card to our onboard account. I said I had planned to do that at the kiosk later. She insisted it would be her pleasure, so I gave them over to her. She scanned them and printed out receipts for them. Then she put the cards in a drawer. I said I wanted to keep the cards. She gives me an odd looks and retrieves them. Then I notice that 2 of the 5 receipts are different from the other 3. I asked her about that and she assured me all was fine.

This nagged at the back of my brain so when we got onboard we went to guest services and checked my account. It was $200 short. But since I still had the physical cards on me, all was taken care of.

OK, so that one wasn't really a gotcha either, since it wasn't the fault of the gift card program. Just take care.

I'm also in the process of buying more gift cards for our next cruise. So I'm all for saving 10%.

Enjoy your cruise and your savings.

I'm in Mobile and I have been told to hold on to my cards because they were not adding to my accounts but to wait until we embark and the system should update. Hope this is true!!

I tried to add my 3 physical gift cards at the kiosk first and they came up showing a 0 balance so I went to guest services afterwards.

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real gotcha was what happened at the Port of N.O. while I was checking in last cruise. The nice lady at the counter offered to apply our 5 $100 gift card to our onboard account. I said I had planned to do that at the kiosk later. She insisted it would be her pleasure, so I gave them over to her. She scanned them and printed out receipts for them. Then she put the cards in a drawer. I said I wanted to keep the cards. She gives me an odd looks and retrieves them. Then I notice that 2 of the 5 receipts are different from the other 3. I asked her about that and she assured me all was fine.

 

This nagged at the back of my brain so when we got onboard we went to guest services and checked my account. It was $200 short. But since I still had the physical cards on me, all was taken care of.

 

OK, so that one wasn't really a gotcha either, since it wasn't the fault of the gift card program. Just take care.

I also noticed it'll let you check the balance when you purchase an excursion from Carnival's site. When you choose to use a gift card as the payment method, there's a small link to "check the balance."

On our last Carnival cruise -- we had purchased two $100 gift cards. I went to Guest Services to have them applied to our S&S account. She went ahead and finished the task, asked me to sign, and handed me the receipts. I didn't look at the receipts, however, I did put them in the safe. Good thing!!!! I checked our account the next day and it only showed one of the gift cards. When I went to Guest Services to inquire, she told me I had to produce the receipts. Up retrieving the receipts, I noticed that she transposed our cabin number on one of our receipts and gave $100 to this other cabin... I'm sure that cabin was happy when they saw it and very disappointed when it was taken away! lol So, the moral of the story, check your receipts and make sure they are accurate before you walk away...

I wanted to update that all of my money did appear in my account the next day [emoji4]

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I wanted to update that all of my money did appear in my account the next day [emoji4]

 

 

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Did that account update occur through using the kiosk (even though it initially showed zero balance) or through working with Guest Services?