n6uqqq

I have whittled down my points to around 550k now and there are still a few upcoming sweepstakes so I should be able to get it down to zero near the end. In addition to all these 10 percent off cards, there is another great way to save right now if you are a specific big box member. There is a deal for cruises Jan 2024 thru jan 2025 where there is a 200 OBC included along with shop card for another amount which varies on the price of the cruise. I booked the Miracle out of Galveston for 12 days Jan 2025 for 200 OBC, 140 shop card, plus I use the AARP/Allstate Carnival cards for a trifecta of savings. Came out to about 1100 dollars per person with gratuities included or less than 100 per day.

Time for a group cruise! We can be one big dysfunctional family 😉

As long on you have separate sail and sign accounts that are unlinked you can buy the cruise cash in your name only. I checked this by logging in to Carnival and doing a test run. You can edit the recipient at check out. Use it or lose it once you convert it to cruise cash though!

Okay thanks, and that can be paid with Carnival cards also.

I don't know what DSC means but Carnival cards are good for everything, cruise deposit and or payment, precruise purchases such as excursions or dining or drink packages, or once onboard you can apply to sail and sign account for purchases.

I know what you mean. I think it was last Sep AARP actually had to shutdown purchases for almost a month due to some problem with cards not being delivered. I just bought today 4 five hundred cards in two purchases(to make sure things were working) to pay off a couple of cruises . Very smooth, the emails came in about 4 minutes. I also will miss Allstate and their 1000 ecards!

Hopefully everything will be okay with the current flow of gift cards at AARP. I think things will be fine, as Allstate hasn't been very viable for several months now and I haven't seen any supply issues at AARP for Carnival cards.

The name on the booking should match her current photo id. The birth certificate will show her original name and will be fine. I believe port workers are trained to look at the birthdate and middle name to see if it matches and that's about it.

Correct I was going on the 100 dollar ones which saves 6.25 percent overall.

In a bit of irony, Allstate now has the 100 and 500 cards for Carnival but only at 8 percent off plus $1.75 per card shipping which nets about 6 percent savings on physical cards.

There are deals to be had. If you have Capital one quicksilver they have a 23 dollar off deal now and BofA has has 8 dollars off recently also.

Okay gang, time to pack up and head over to the AARP thread. I will miss the code hunting/applying and the nostalgia of this thread.

Welcome Allstate Rewards refugees!

Funny, that is exactly what I said on the AARP thread 😉. Allstate was a good run but the writing on the wall has been around for quite some time. I have about 680k points. Currently unable to log in and use any points.

UPS or Fedex before you go is your best bet!

I had the same happen when i chose Long island as my "free" drink so I added more to make it reasonable. Seems the free drink credit isn't keeping up with their price increases. The additional gratuity line works good in this situation.

More specifically, the obc will be in your name only, but if your cabinmate's account and yours are linked then this is a non issue.

As a seasoned cruiser I am aware that the service charge is a gratuity. However, the many blue cards may not know. I much prefer when it shows it as a gratuity and then additional gratuity (optional). I personally feel 18 percent is quite adequate, but if others want to knowingly give more, then that is fine also but they should know exactly what the situation is.

At least it says " additional gratuity ". On the Spirit for bar receipts the 18 percent gratuity is deceptively called a service charge and there is a line that says gratuity "optional" which could lead quite a few people to think they have not tipped.

If you have more than you want to use on the 2nd cruise, buy a gift card from cherry on top to use at a later cruise.

As Allstate rewards dies on the vine, this is going to become a big thread I predict!

There were some unhappy campers out in the aarp forums last year. They say it has to be a "new" reservation but don't define what new means. I don't cruise with RC as of yet but these are a different beast than what you can buy directly (without discount) from RC. Their cards can be used like the Carnival ones we buy with Allstate/AARP. https://community.aarp.org/t5/AARP-Rewards-Connect/Be-Wary-of-Royal-Caribbean-Virtual-Gift-Cards-Purchased-through/td-p/2456198

Too many terms and conditions for me and a lot of hoops to jump through. Number 5 and 12 are too much for me.

All this talk about using a clean cup and 99 percent (a wild guess) of people cruising don't even read cruise critic! If Carnival really cared they would design a dispenser to not be able to come in contact with bottles etc.

That is an odd amount. I am very careful to leave with zero balance also. You may have to call if you really want to know but good luck with that! The only other thing I can think of would be a no show on a short cruise with only one stop generating a refund of port fee or possibly a shore excursion cancellation. I do like egift card refunds though.