fuddrules

On 10/17/2021 at 6:42 PM, trvlgirlmq said:

I’ve got this too and I couldn’t pay for anything I tried with it (excursion and steak house).

Huh?  This is pre-cruise you're trying?  I know you know Carnival and cruising, IIRC.

Because once on the ship it's easy to use for excursions and the steak house.

Definitely risky.   Getting into Australia may very well be a problem.    

Personally I'm passing on any Australia cruise for at least a few years.    They've gone off the deep end. 

2 minutes ago, Newe08 said:

Well I got it to work..kind of. Someone else had mentioned that supposedly you have to try it for $10-$20 less that what the gift card is worth.  Just tried it as $80 and it went through.    Strange those as your payment went through for the whole $50.  

I've never not used the full amount - Used on Amazon, health care payments, now Carnival, Sorority dues 😒 😣, etc....

If you still have a partial amount left on the VGC, load it as a form of payment into your Amazon account.  Then buy an Amazon GC (for whatever amount is left) and use that VGC as payment.

Also a correction after looking at the VGC site I linked:

4 of the 5 VGC have this:

Do fees apply after my Card was purchased?

No. There are no fees after purchase.

But one VGC did have this:

Do fees apply after my Card was purchased?

An Inactivity Fee of $4.95 will be deducted from your card balance on the first day of the 13th month after 12 months of inactivity. If your card is lost or stolen, a $5 Replacement Card Fee will be charged to replace your card.

I've never ran across those but they do exist.

8 minutes ago, Newe08 said:

Thanks.  Yeah I was using the credit card tab.....under the name part did you just use your first and last name?  

Yes.

I'm not sure if the card I used was registered or not?  Look on the back of your card and see where to register the VGC.  Register the card in your name.  You can also check the balance.  There is a remote chance a card was hacked, but not multiple cards. 

Registration might be here: https://mygift.giftcardmall.com/

If that doesn't work, I'd call Carnival.

1 minute ago, cruisegus said:

Funny cause I sit here looking at a $25 VISA gift card that was purchased in Dec 2019, never used and is worthless due to the monthly administrative fees applied starting in the 13 month.

 

Since is worthless, post a picture of the front and back side of the card. 😀

4 minutes ago, cruisegus said:

They have no way of actually know what the balance is on them where you use them (you have to call for that ahead of when you want to use them)  and the real crime is they age out after 12 months as the start charging you a hefty administrative fee each month starting the 13th month.

None of this is true, BTW.

Welp, just had a $50 Visa Gift Card sitting next to me - LOL.  Worked perfect.

Just used it to pay down $50 off my cruise.  Make sure you put the payment into the CREDIT CARD tab, not the Gift Card tab (that is for Carnival gift cards).

PAYMENT SUMMARY

TOTAL PRICE:	$4,501.76
CREDIT CARD CHARGED:	$50.00  (VISA XXXXXXXXXXXX3866)
BALANCE DUE:	$1,310.00  BY MARCH 21, 2022

Strange.  I use gift cards to pay for .com services all of the time and it's never a problem.  They are Visa cards so...  I don't recall trying it on Carnival.com?

 I'd try and call Carnival to see if you can apply the GC payments.

22 minutes ago, jsglow said:

Again guys, prepare yourself for the slow roll out of the fleet. Demand for 22 ships just isn't there.  This is exactly how they cancelled things back in the Spring of 2021 as the start-up got delayed.

 

In my view, everyone should be skeptical of their cruise until their ship actually has their inaugural restart cruise.  Once they sail 'em, they certainly don't want the bad press associated with shutting 'em down.  Right now there's 11.  By next week it's 13. 

Only Australia and two cruises out of Port Canaveral are showing for June 2022.  I guarantee you Carnival hasn't cancelled all other cruises in June.  

I had it show up on two different cards (Hyatt and United Select).  I added the offer to both cards.   I then did transactions on back-to-back days.   It took $35 off each transaction/credit card.

Just an FYI to all - if you have Chase credit cards, check your Chase Offers for Carnival (must be used on Carnival.com)

Edit:  One credit showed up after 5 days and the other after 6 days.  Just an FYI

My cruise out of London in June is not showing up.  I'm sure it's Carnival doing updates or a snafu.  It's quite common w/them.

On our 2 Carnival Med cruises - in ports we could return with whatever we wanted, no questions asked.   But our most recent cruise there was in 2016 so......

21 hours ago, musbeus said:

 

 

Here are just a few that require vaccinations to enter:

• Nepal

 

Dang, there goes my cruise to Kathmandu.

6 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Perhaps you missed

  

 

Nope, didn't.

As noted, per capita, Florida is like many others regarding Covid - no biggie.  Yet it's open for business and enjoyable.

12 minutes ago, boatseller said:

OMG! Wrong! And not even close.  

 

Positivity rate is even more irrelevant for reasons everyone should know by now.  Like worthlessly irrelevant.  Good heavens. 

 

And it's 6.2%.  Hasn't been over 10% in weeks, not that it matters.  Seriously, stop believing the CDC.  Their money train is the only thing they care about. 

 

We should have been cruising from Florida since June.  We are conclusive proof of that.

Yep, I"ve been to Florida 4X since March 2020 and loved every minute it.  Coming from craphole, lockdown, mask-em up Illinois, Florida is a shining light.   No worse stats than average yet Florida is open and lively and working.

Vaccinations in some areas seem to be really kicking in.  My wife works as a therapist in a school system and got her vaccination last week.  She's considered a health care worker by our local health department.

My father is 76 and hasn't missed a day at his full time job (plus a lot of OT) working at Walmart this entire Covid ordeal.    He gets his shot on the 20th.    A little backwards in that priority but better than some places.  Don't ask why he works at his age.   He's a retired teacher and says he finds working there entertaining and it keeps him busy.

I too think cruise lines require a vaccination but I hope they don't.  Those that are elderly and/or have comorbidities will have every opportunity to get the vaccine.  Kids are far more at risk being in a vehicle accident death than from Covid.  Asymptomatic spread has also been shown to be very low.  Family vacations are important time and very valuable to me (and all my kids are no longer minors).

I know two families that lost people in auto accidents, one in a auto/bicycle accident, one heart attack.  Zero of them were over 60.  One suicide too, a young person.   One neighbor lost a brother to Covid.    Make sure you spend time with those you love.

Edited to add:  Our March 2021 cruise was canceled.  It was a cruise we booked in December of 2018 with another couple.  He joked when we booked it, "Oh I'll never make that, I'll be dead by then.".  He died in 2019.  I believe Carnival gave his widow a full refund despite the fact they had booked early saver.

We had 12:30 check in time.   We left our hotel @ 10:35 am, the Residence Inn, just up the road from the terminal.   We walked to the terminal, checked our luggage, and went to the early check in line.   By 11:35 am we were walking up the ramps to board the ship. 

Just going to bump this.  Soooooooooooooooooooo many people focus on the negatives.  Why?  Apparently that's their nature.

Glad to hear, and NOT surprised, you had a great time.  I know I would.

Thanks OP,

Got it on both the Every Day MR card and Marriott.  Woot!

I booked early saver and didn’t complete the specific names for months.  However, all names were added prior to final payment which is what 1 CSR said was required.       That worked for me. 

25 minutes ago, Luckiestmanonearth said:

Sounds like I should just stick to the Chase Card.  Thanks for all the feedback

Depending on how you use them and what cards you have, Chase offers fantastic value.  Amex can too, especially international flights to Asia, but domestically Chase is better.  

If you use points strictly for Carnival, cash back cards would work well.   If you go this route, you should be including your partner and getting multiple cards/sign up bonuses.  

I’m surprised WavyChicken hasn’t commented.   She’s uses Barclay’s Reward Boost portal (via Carnival Card) to buy many items to increase her Carnival points.  It works for her.  

2 hours ago, 3smithboys said:

We haven’t been on a cruise for 4 years....  and haven’t done a big family vacation since our last one so I’m so excited to be going! We are celebrating our oldest son’s 21st birthday and our anniversary. I am also excited because it’s just the 5 of us going away... no extended family, and I can’t remember the last time we’ve done that! (And I don’t feel the least bit guilty!)

It hasn't been 4 years but 3 years for us.  My MIL died and my wife was adamant we do 1 last family cruise.  Five of us as well, all daughters, 21, 19 and 17.    We are also taking my mom.  Doing NYE Panorama (her 4th cruise, I think) out of Long Beach.

We used to do Disney, then Universal and Carnival (but more Carnival).    We've always had a great time.

5 hours ago, mama_2_boys said:

It's seriously the best way to cruise with kids! So much for your money!

Exactly.  They want to stay away from mom and dad and end up terrorizing other adults. 😜  👿

2 hours ago, renza said:

Have u personally stayed in a Havana cabin?  Is it really worth the extra money? We will have our older boys with us and I know we do not want to buy them a Havana cabin as well. Just not sure if we should try and keep them in the cove balcony. We do like the cove balconies though. 

We had both a Cabana as well as an interior on our med cruise.  Fortunately, the Cabanas weren't selling well so I paid a small increase for 1 Cabana (and kept 1 interior).   I really liked the Cabana but I wouldn't pay the extra fee over the interior despite liking the Cabana.  There was hardly anyone in the patio area and walkway, even other Cabana cruisers were typically absent.

But I enjoy the Havana deck area that comes with the interior so the extra money for a Cabana would be saved for either excursions or a down payment on another cruise.