Be Careful Redeeming Your Carnival Gift Cards

[422Melissa]

Last Saturday, someone attempted to have $700 of Carnival gift cards applied to their account at Port Canaveral prior to boarding the Valor. Somehow their cards were applied to my account. I discovered the $700 credit on the second day of the cruise when my Amber Cove excursion was cancelled. When I went to guest services to report the error, they were unable to remove the credit and has to wait for corporate accounting to take care of it. They had no way to determine who was missing the credit since the transaction was done in the port vs. on the ship. I hope that the money found its way to the correct owners.

[firemanbobswife]

Well that stinks! I make sure they give me a receipt with each gift card they apply. I double check that they are applied to the right folio number, name, and cabin number before I leave the desk. Then I go to the self service kiosk and print out my statement as soon as I get onboard. That way I can see all my credits and usually there's a few extra bucks for a refund of overpaid port charges.

 

I can imagine the other party wasn't very happy. That's enough to put a serious damper on someone's vacation.

[Frank12]

We've used them onboard at the kiosk without a problem.

What you described sounds like a mess!

[Savlamara]

This is a good reason why I bring cash to the port! It always gets applied correctly. I have heard on here of people who had gift card balances get "lost" before.

[firemanbobswife]

This is a good reason why I bring cash to the port! It always gets applied correctly. I have heard on here of people who had gift card balances get "lost" before.

 

Cash and gift cards get applied exactly the same way at the port. By a human inputting the info. The gift card balances didn't disappear from the gift cards themselves, but were put on the wrong person's account. It could have happened the same with cash.

 

There are a lot of people that buy the gift cards at 10-20% savings so it just makes sense to us to do it this way vs cash.

 

This is a good reminder to get and check your receipts before leaving the counter - both at the port or at Guest Services.

[cruizinisthebest]

If having them applied in the port equals not being able to track the transaction or get a receipt, then I'll gladly continue applying them onboard at Guest Services or the kiosk. Thanks for the post. I will triple check from now on.

[firemanbobswife]

If having them applied in the port equals not being able to track the transaction or get a receipt, then I'll gladly continue applying them onboard at Guest Services or the kiosk. Thanks for the post. I will triple check from now on.

 

You absolutely can and do get a receipt at the port. I didn't even have to ask. I had $1100 worth of gift cards all put on my account correctly.

[beachbum53]

Last Saturday, someone attempted to have $700 of Carnival gift cards applied to their account at Port Canaveral prior to boarding the Valor. Somehow their cards were applied to my account. I discovered the $700 credit on the second day of the cruise when my Amber Cove excursion was cancelled. When I went to guest services to report the error, they were unable to remove the credit and has to wait for corporate accounting to take care of it. They had no way to determine who was missing the credit since the transaction was done in the port vs. on the ship. I hope that the money found its way to the correct owners.

 

This is one of the reasons that we wait until we are on the ship and go to Guest Services to have our gift cards applied to our account.

[AndyT3]

Well, good on you for doing the right thing, and bringing it to someone's attention, vs just blowing through the money before it was realized.

 

I can only imagine the other guests surprise when they checked their account...

[firemanbobswife]

This is one of the reasons that we wait until we are on the ship and go to Guest Services to have our gift cards applied to our account.

 

 

I have done it both ways and the receipts are exactly the same. It's up to us to verify that everything is applied correctly by checking the receipts right then and there. Mistakes can happen whenever a person is involved. They can key in the wrong info just as easy on the ship as on shore.

[shellsd]

I used a ton of gift cards last week. I had more than I needed because I bought them for Cheers and then pre-purchased Cheers to save the money when they changed the plan to be cheaper to pre-buy. I had read I could cash out in the casino at the end. Well, at the end I wanted to cash out and they said I could not. Guest services told me to go to the casino, casino said to go to guest services. Asked for a supervisor and they said all they can do is mail us new gift cards for the $742. No idea when I will get them:(

[firemanbobswife]

I used a ton of gift cards last week. I had more than I needed because I bought them for Cheers and then pre-purchased Cheers to save the money when they changed the plan to be cheaper to pre-buy. I had read I could cash out in the casino at the end. Well, at the end I wanted to cash out and they said I could not. Guest services told me to go to the casino, casino said to go to guest services. Asked for a supervisor and they said all they can do is mail us new gift cards for the $742. No idea when I will get them:(

 

You would have had to load that money from your S&S account on to your Player's Bank and played some on the slots then go cash out at the cage.

 

You could have also bought a gift card at Cherry On Top but I don't know if they're a set amount or if you could have put the whole amount on one.

Edited April 5, 2016 by firemanbobswife

[Blondebomb]

I used a ton of gift cards last week.

 

I have to ask, "where"do you get discounted gift cards. Sorry I must be missing something here.

 

thanks for any help here!

Susan

[firemanbobswife]

I used a ton of gift cards last week.

 

I have to ask, "where"do you get discounted gift cards. Sorry I must be missing something here.

 

thanks for any help here!

Susan

 

Verizon Rewards/AARP Rewards for Good/Citi Easy Deals/EBay Flash Sales. All of these have been discussed many times on here. Verizon/AARP had them available earlier today and are now sold out. Just do a search with any of those names in it and you will pull up all the information you need to know on the subject.

[shellsd]

I have to ask, "where"do you get discounted gift cards. Sorry I must be missing something here.

 

thanks for any help here!

Susan

 

I got some from AARP and some from my Citi credit cards rewards. It did save a substantial amount of money, well, at least it would have if it went to plan!

Instead I suppose I have no choice but to book another cruise! ;)

[cmukid87]

Well, good on you for doing the right thing, and bringing it to someone's attention, vs just blowing through the money before it was realized.

 

I can only imagine the other guests surprise when they checked their account...

 

No kidding. These are the types of people I want to be on a cruise with. I would be devastated if I had lost $700 of on board spending. That could have been a years worth of vacation savings for someone. Everyone is in a different spot financially, I'm thankful I get the opportunity to spoil my family with cruising.

[rufflesmom]

I would never try to apply gift cards at check in prior to boarding. There is so much going on. It can be done so easy after boarding. You don't have to wait in line for guest services. The kiosks are great for that. You can do at your own convenience when there isn't a line.

[elainmir]

I applied some cash in port in Tampa last cruise and the lady applying it saw that the screen had reverted to the passengers before us and it applied my $ there...so they had to fix it in port, they gave me a receipt. I did not have any issue on board so I suggest whether cash or gift card to check your receipt BEFORE boarding should you apply your funds in port!

[OCMama]

Do all ships have kiosks? In particular, Fascination.

[capricorn548]

I've tried to find carnival gift cards on the Verizon rewards site and never had any luck? Has anyone been able to do it successfully recently,

 

 

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[iheartcruisin]

I've used the kiosk to look up my account but never to apply gift cards, do you just slide the card or do you have to enter the card numbers and know the exact amount on the cards?

[cruizinisthebest]

I've tried to find carnival gift cards on the Verizon rewards site and never had any luck? Has anyone been able to do it successfully recently,

 

 

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Just got one yesterday. Before that two weeks ago. You have to be damn near obsessed in checking to get them but it is possible. I've paid for our cruise plus tips and Carnival excursions 100% with gift cards. Now working on OBC. It's work but worth it. There are several threads on here that folks will update whenever the gift cards become available. Might want to subscribe to one or all of them.

 

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[chris153]

We just got off the breeze. My son had purchased 3 $100 gift cards. When he went to guest services to apply to the account one of them had no money on it. Guest services could do nothing about it. He had to call carnival and his credit card co. (one hour on phone) . He was told that the gift card in question had already been used on an earlier cruise. Well, he was not on a cruise and never used it. So now he has to deal with the credit card company. Carnival was not much help.

[OCMama]

I've tried to find carnival gift cards on the Verizon rewards site and never had any luck? Has anyone been able to do it successfully recently,

 

I read through the pages & pages on this topic & someone mentioned that they are most likely to become available on Fridays about midnight (Pacific time) & Mondays. I also noticed that the time span between the offers is about 2 weeks. I checked this past Friday, 5 minutes to midnight & they weren't available yet. I checked again a few minutes after midnight & they were all sold out. Then this Monday about 9am pacific I decide to check it & there they were. I bought 4 $500 cards. This time they were available for a few hours.

[JLee1973]

I had a $100 go missing once from a gift card applied to my sail and sign. Took about two weeks after the cruise for them to issue me a new card.

 

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