crooooze

Exactly what I do. Book as early as possible and every few weeks, look for price drops. Unfortunately in the past year, prices have only gone up to ludicrous levels.

A used gift card will show a zero balance for a short time. After that, it does show up as invalid.

Call the toll free number on the back of the gift card. They can tell you the dates and amounts of all transactions against the card. As wemjam said, sometimes the full gift card balance is applied. This has happened to me many times.

Thanks. I haven’t seen this before. Venezia’s Il Viaggio also adds the gratuity on top of the per-person charge. Still, I wonder why they decided to include gratuities in some and exclude on others.

You can’t find this little detail on your own. If you booked through Carnival.com, call Carnival (800) 764-7419. If you booked through a Carnival PVP or a 3rd party travel agent, call them.

For some specialty dining reservations, Carnival adds an additional 18% gratuity up-front when you make the reservation. And for others, like the steakhouse, they don’t. I wished there was consistency across all the dining venues - I don’t care if I pay it upfront at reservation time or pay it when I settle the check after we eat. I just don’t want to unintentionally double tip, just because I forgot I already paid months ago.

I would call Carnival directly and see if you can just book one of them now.

Were all those cruises booked directly through Carnival either by yourself or using a PVP? If so, then I agree - you wouldn’t have this issue.

The TA was only used to book the cruise and not involved with booking excursions or dining through the Carnival Cruise Planner. Those purchases are made directly with Carnival. And, yeah, behind the scenes, Carnival uses a third party for gift cards, but that should be hidden from the customer.

I agree. I hope they’re working on it. But at least if people are aware of this, they know what to expect and exactly what has to be done.

You should be good now. As I have mentioned in previous threads, this same situation will happen 100% of the time when you cancel a purchase you made with a gift card related to a cruise booked through a TA. This form is needed for a manual intervention. You may get the GC email by Fri.

Now that mask requirements and pre-cruise testing requirements are gone, I feel we’re as good as we’re going to get. Want more? spend more. But now you need a defib nearby for when you see the cost of excursions, specialty dining, etc..

RU2 is definitely out there. I am looking at one right now. $290 higher than the Early Saver Bonus Sale (PEH) rate.

Nope - I did not say that.

Hmm… with a refund via a gift card, are they really paying anyone back? Carnival still has your money. It’s just some accounting magic with the books.

Not quite… if that form was not filled out to have human follow-up, the refund would be in limbo indefinitely.

I think you’re almost there…. In my experience, this “form” usually works. You should have a new eGC in your email by Wed. Keep checking your spam box too. Hard part is getting a Customer Service rep that knows this process. It is usually done by the Fun Shop department, even for excursion or specialty restaurant purchases. I’ve gone through this numerous times. The problem always happens when canceling a purchase that the passenger books directly with a gift card for a cruise booked through a TA. It is definitely a problem with Carnival and how they work with their third party gift card company. Knowing this, I still use gift cards for every Carnival purchase to save that 10%. But I am very aware that this, for sure, will happen again if I need to cancel. The so called lessons-learned that people are harping for using a GC or not using a PVP are pure garbage.

The last couple of cruises, they didn’t do this. They gave $25 in casino freeplay, which you had to gamble. From that, we walked away with a whopping $7 in winnings. Paid for a couple of Pepsis. 🤪

This is where Carnival gets the money to give out all that shareholder OBC. 😂

I’ve personally experienced this exact nonsense several times and it is 100% consistent. Book the cruise through a TA, but purchase anything else (excursion, dining, etc) on your own through the cruise planner using a GC… If that purchase is cancelled for whatever reason, your refund will 100% guaranteed go into limbo. For some reason, Carnival processes the refund to the TA. But the TA doesn’t get it either. I’ve had many 3-way calls between Carnival and TA, hunting this crap down. Eventually, with enough back-and-forth and months later, you’ll get the refund. I have noticed it’s a little quicker now that refunds are no longer through physical card replacement. Why on earth Carnival doesn’t process the GC refunds through the email and contact details you provide when making the purchase is beyond me. I have never had this issue when using a credit card for the purchase. (Not counting the initial Covid fiasco with 2020 cancellations)

While inquiring about a refund for a cancelled steakhouse reservation, Carnival told me that they recently stopped sending refunds via physical gift cards completely. All gift card refunds are now via e-gift card to your email and you should get them within 3 business days of cancellation. Check your spam box for messages with the subject “You’ve received a Carnival Cruise Line Digital Gift Card!”. If you don’t have it, contact Carnival and follow the prompts for the “Funshop”. That’s the dept that processes pre-cruise excursions and specialty restaurants. Sometimes things get stuck and they will push it through again. Also, I’ve also had where the refund GC was emailed to my travel agent, even though it was purchased by me through the cruise planner. Believe me - that’s a real pain in the butt to chase down.

Thanks. I was leaning toward the Hyatt. But saving $120 bucks over the 4 nights sounded enticing, too. That could be a steakhouse dinner 😉

No, not a Veteran. Rates I am comparing: Hampton Inn $175/night, Hyatt House $204/night…

Hyatt House Downtown directly across from the Needle or Hampton Inn Seattle Downtown? Hampton Inn is about $30/night cheaper, but seems to have a longer walk to and from everything. TIA

On Royal, they ask you to swap answer sheets with someone nearby for scoring… not a bad idea