Carnival Gift Card - 10% Bonus Offer

[kteachcruiser52]

I was all excited about it and was going to make a purchase for use on my 2015 cruise but check out the details regarding timing. The plastic card (the main gift card) expires 12/31/14 and the promotional gift card (10 percent) expires 12 months from the purchase date. So that negates use on 2015 cruises. In addition, the gift cards cannot be refunded so if you had to cancel the cruise, you would be out of luck. So timing is certainly a consideration.

 

Thanks for the information. I was wondering about expiration dates as I was thinking on getting them to use on our Bermuda cruise in 2015.

[picomullet]

My e-card is printed does not expire. Has anyone noticed anything different on e-cards purchased today?

[CruiseCrazyCouple0611]

From my understanding, the gift card you purchase does not have an expiration date nor does it lose value like a lot of gift cards do from lack of use. This card can be used to pay for all or part of a cruise, or apply toward your sign and sail card account. If you have a gift card remaining balance, hang on to that card for future Carnival purchases as it will still be good. The 10% promotional card does have an expiration date, so I would advise using that one first. Again, use it to make a payment on your cruise. You might even be able to use it to pay for bon voyage purchases or excursions you purchase ahead of time. I haven't tried it, so I'm not 100% sure of this. Either way, if you go into with the idea of using the promotional card first to avoid it expiring on you, this deal is a no brainer.

Edited June 10, 2014 by CruiseCrazyCouple0611

[kona_wahine]

I bought a $1000 and a $300 card. That gives me $130 promotional card. We owe $1050 on our cruise. I will use the $130, the $300, and $620 off the $1000. That will leave us $380 to put on our S&S card on the ship, which is pretty close to what we usually spend. Nice thing is, our vacation is paid for in advance. :). And I'm hoping for price drops. We are booked ES.

Edited June 10, 2014 by kona_wahine

[picomullet]

Just received our Promo Gift E-Card. That was fast!!!

[AQW]

Just bought mine this evening and immediately applied it to our cruise balance. No PIN # needed...

 

Same here... remarkably quick and easy (i.e., so NOT Carnival style!)

 

Love this promotion & hope to see it repeated often.

[rlkubi]

Well, I bought a $500 gift ecard and within minutes got the email and this morning received the $50 ecard. I tried to use the $500 card and it says I have zero balance on the card :(.

[Freckle53]

Mine was showing a 0 balance last night when I bought a $1000 card. I read the first confirmation email and it said to wait 24 hours for the gift card to be activated. This morning I had an email with my $100 bonus card and both were able to be applied to my cruise fine. It scared me at first too! I just bought another $400 and it's 0 balance now too. I bet by this afternoon your card will have the balance applied to it.

[rlkubi]

Freckle, thanks! I didn't read the 24 hour notation. :(. Just figured since it said it was ready to use.......well, that it was ready to use LOL.

[richfret]

Just asking? We are booked for a cruise in early 2015 and we do have cruise insurance. We are older (I mean more mature) and each have some health issues which could result in a cruise cancellation. Since the gift cards cannot be canceled, it would probably make good sense to immediately apply the gift cards to the cruise purchase. That way if we had to cancel the cruise, we could get our money back through the cruise insurance where otherwise it could be lost. Is that a good way to go?

[rickechambers1@aol.com]

Better deal is at Office Depot this week...Amex gift cards... buy $150 and get $15 off instantly. There is one time activation fee but stiil getting 'free' money. Good until 2021 anywhere Amex is taken. Bought $900 yesterday (6 transactions). You can use credit card to purchase...fyi.

[dwaterhouse]

i am tryng to purchase the e-cards and i am only able to purchase 1... it is asking for all the payment information.

 

i want to purchase 2 at $600 each to pay off my cruise.

 

So am i to assume correctly that you can only purchase 1 at a time?

[DontTreadOnMe]

Better deal is at Office Depot this week...Amex gift cards... buy $150 and get $15 off instantly. There is one time activation fee but stiil getting 'free' money. Good until 2021 anywhere Amex is taken. Bought $900 yesterday (6 transactions). You can use credit card to purchase...fyi.

 

How is that a better deal? You get 10% off but then pay a fee making the "bonus" less than 10%. I suppose that you could argue that the freedom to use the Amex cards for "anything you want" is a plus. But if the intent is Carnival-related I can't see how that is better.

[DontTreadOnMe]

i am tryng to purchase the e-cards and i am only able to purchase 1... it is asking for all the payment information.

 

i want to purchase 2 at $600 each to pay off my cruise.

 

So am i to assume correctly that you can only purchase 1 at a time?

 

That is what I found. Couldn't see any way to buy more than one at a time so I made three different purchases.

[apey9995]

i am tryng to purchase the e-cards and i am only able to purchase 1... it is asking for all the payment information.

 

i want to purchase 2 at $600 each to pay off my cruise.

 

So am i to assume correctly that you can only purchase 1 at a time?

 

Choose "open value" and you can enter the amount of the gift card you want (if its greater than $200).

[bar1068]

How is that a better deal? You get 10% off but then pay a fee making the "bonus" less than 10%. I suppose that you could argue that the freedom to use the Amex cards for "anything you want" is a plus. But if the intent is Carnival-related I can't see how that is better.

 

I thought the same seeing that. Maybe they thought the flexibility and the longer expiration date made it a better deal? I dunno, as you stated, for specific Carnival use, this gift card promotion is not a bad deal at all.

[DontTreadOnMe]

I thought the same seeing that. Maybe they thought the flexibility and the longer expiration date made it a better deal? I dunno, as you stated, for specific Carnival use, this gift card promotion is not a bad deal at all.

 

This is going a bit off topic, but I suppose that if the Office Depot deal is available online then one might be able to offset the fee via a cashback credit card like the Chase Freedom. Sometimes you will get 3 or 5 points per dollar which can add up to significant savings.

[dwaterhouse]

That is what I found. Couldn't see any way to buy more than one at a time so I made three different purchases.

 

 

 

thank you!

[MURCOTT]

That is what I found. Couldn't see any way to buy more than one at a time so I made three different purchases.

 

I'm sure there is a simple explanation for this but...is there a reason why so many people seem to be buying multiple gift cards to pay off a cruise? Fine print says you can purchase up to a $2000 card. Just curious why not do it that way rather than two $1000 cards. It seems that the promo. gift card is also being applied to pay off cruise and not necessarily being used for 2 different things. What am I missing?:confused:

[Sparky2]

By the way, don't get me wrong. I was not being sarcastic with you. That was a genuine thank you for the info. Now I might consider it.

 

I did not take your post as sarcastic. I was pointing out I was GLAD you were wrong!

 

Just got my $20 bonus cards with expiration date of 6/10/15 so I'm good. I ordered 5-$200 cards which arrived immediately with no exp. date.

[Sparky2]

I'm sure there is a simple explanation for this but...is there a reason why so many people seem to be buying multiple gift cards to pay off a cruise? Fine print says you can purchase up to a $2000 card. Just curious why not do it that way rather than two $1000 cards. It seems that the promo. gift card is also being applied to pay off cruise and not necessarily being used for 2 different things. What am I missing?:confused:

 

Our B2B is not till January 2015. I plan on applying one $200 GC to each cruise every month till it's paid off. Want to use entire GC at a time.

[Kimberlyr22]

Carnival is my favorite company today. I was just getting ready to make final payment, so instead of giving them $2700 to just pay off the cruise, I gave them $2700 in gift cards to pay off the cruise and now have $270 to use onboard in two months!

[bar1068]

I'm sure there is a simple explanation for this but...is there a reason why so many people seem to be buying multiple gift cards to pay off a cruise? Fine print says you can purchase up to a $2000 card. Just curious why not do it that way rather than two $1000 cards. It seems that the promo. gift card is also being applied to pay off cruise and not necessarily being used for 2 different things. What am I missing?:confused:

 

I'm wondering the same thing!! Although pretty much getting ready to almost do the same thing for the 2 cruises we have booked. Thinking about getting two cards, each to cover the different balances we owe for the 2 cruises we have booked, then maybe a third card to use onboard...I dunno....somehow I convinced myself this makes sense!!

[cruizinisthebest]

Just reworked my final payment plans to pay for it via gift card instead. Went ahead purchased one for $1000 plus another $200 to use onboard or maybe towards an excursion I'm looking at. Already got both emails and thank you Carnival for the $120 bonus. I have been buying gift cards for months. Too bad this just started but I was able to take advantage anyway. Nice promotion!

[kona_wahine]

When I bought $1000 was the max it said. I bought $1000, and a $300. I should have done card but asked for them to be mailed. I got email this morning the promotional was mailed also. Said the shipping charge was $.95. Not sure how that works since it was promotional.

Edited June 10, 2014 by kona_wahine