AARP Carnival Gift Cards

[tw67]

In a few months I might be looking to book a cruise on Royal.  On AARP I see I can buy gift cards.  Does Royal put any restrictions on their gift cards?  On Carnival I can use the cards for deposit, final price, drink package, excursions, and put to my balance.  Can I do the same on Royal?   

[n6uqqq]

41 minutes ago, tw67 said:

In a few months I might be looking to book a cruise on Royal.  On AARP I see I can buy gift cards.  Does Royal put any restrictions on their gift cards?  On Carnival I can use the cards for deposit, final price, drink package, excursions, and put to my balance.  Can I do the same on Royal?   

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

[tw67]

1 hour ago, n6uqqq said:

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

Yea, those are a lot of restrictions!!

[n6uqqq]

2 hours ago, tw67 said:

Yea, those are a lot of restrictions!!

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

[n6uqqq]

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

[Mrhubbabubba]

22 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

I tried Firefox today from both phone and pc, neither worked. So frustrating. My bank said it's definitely on AARPs side as they don't even see any attempts come through. I'll keep trying.

I read somewhere that the AARP site didn’t play nice with Google payment, so when I used Firefox, I made sure to input my card manually. I also couldn’t get it to work with the Firefox phone app. It is frustrating to have to find work Rounds to make it work. 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

On 7/25/2023 at 9:30 AM, ninjacat123 said:

I keep my Carnival ecards in my Apple Wallet.  Keeps them in one spot till I use them.👍

That sounds handy - I wonder if there's a similar Android solution. Up to now, I've just transferred all the info to a spreadsheet.

[CruisingViper]

Speaking of AARP my Amazon Visa has $8 cash back on an AARP membership. It makes the current 1st year cost $4. 

[ngrund]

1 hour ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

That sounds handy - I wonder if there's a similar Android solution. Up to now, I've just transferred all the info to a spreadsheet.

Yes.you can add them to google wallet.

 

Also, when I get the email from AARP, if not using the card right away, I access the card. print to PDF on my computer.

 

Then before the cruise, I e-mail the pdf to myself, so I have them as attachments. I also upload the pdfs to google drive. From drive you can also save them to your phone desktop for easy access.

[Heimey]

On 7/24/2023 at 7:49 PM, roguebandit1441 said:

Look at AARP gift card limits, my advice is use the kiosk and deposit however much you want into your on board account. Don't by cruise cash as said before it not used not refundable.

We charge to room and use gift card to pay balance on board, you don't need to use the full balance of the card if you don't want to. If you gamble you can move OBC to your casino account and then cash out at the casino cage. We bought a $500 e-gift card from AARP several weeks ago and paid off our Christmas cruise, put a deposit down on a 2025 cruise and still have over $250 left over to take on our Vista cruise this weekend. Will run that balance through the casino and if lucky will cash out more the $250.

Have fun and enjoy your cruise.

Hello everyone.

 

I am from Canada but have friends in the USA. Can they purchase these for me or would their name be associated to them?

 

thanks in advance

 

 

Heimey

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, Heimey said:

Hello everyone.

 

I am from Canada but have friends in the USA. Can they purchase these for me or would their name be associated to them?

 

thanks in advance

 

 

Heimey

Anyone can use them that had the number and pin so long as your booking accepts gift cards for payment (not from Canada so not familiar w/payment details on Canadian bookings).

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

1 hour ago, Heimey said:

Hello everyone.

 

I am from Canada but have friends in the USA. Can they purchase these for me or would their name be associated to them?

 

thanks in advance

 

 

Heimey

We did this very thing for our friends in Nova Scotia prior to our Celebration sailing in May. 

Tom

[Heimey]

43 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

We did this very thing for our friends in Nova Scotia prior to our Celebration sailing in May. 

Tom

How much is the actual discount?? I’d get a friend from Michigan to buy them for me. 
 

Thanks 

 

Heimey

[ninjacat123]

4 minutes ago, Heimey said:

How much is the actual discount?? I’d get a friend from Michigan to buy them for me. 
 

Thanks 

 

Heimey

10%

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

17 minutes ago, Heimey said:

How much is the actual discount?? I’d get a friend from Michigan to buy them for me. 
 

Thanks 

 

Heimey

 

13 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

10%

 

Yep - we purchased four $500 gift cards for them at $450/each.

[Heimey]

2 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Anyone can use them that had the number and pin so long as your booking accepts gift cards for payment (not from Canada so not familiar w/payment details on Canadian bookings).

I was just going to add it to my online account. Is that possible?????

 

thanks 

 

Heimey

[ngrund]

10 minutes ago, Heimey said:

I was just going to add it to my online account. Is that possible?????

 

thanks 

 

Heimey

I assume you meant onboard account, so yes. Once on board you just add the gift card balance to your on board account at a kiosk (or guest services).

[Heimey]

15 hours ago, ngrund said:

I assume you meant onboard account, so yes. Once on board you just add the gift card balance to your on board account at a kiosk (or guest services).

Ok. I’m on the AARP website. Where would I find these cards?? Sorry for being a pain. 
 

Heimey

[ngrund]

35 minutes ago, Heimey said:

Ok. I’m on the AARP website. Where would I find these cards?? Sorry for being a pain. 
 

Heimey

they are on the AARP rewards site, not sure if that can accessed out side the US

 

https://www.aarp.org/rewards/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aarp.org%2Frewards%2Fdiscover

 

 

Edited July 30, 2023 by ngrund

[ngrund]

7 minutes ago, ngrund said:

they are on the AARP rewards site, not sure if that can accessed out side the US

 

https://www.aarp.org/rewards/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aarp.org%2Frewards%2Fdiscover

 

 

Yep, AARP rewards is only good on this side of the border -:)

 

. The Program is only open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia, who are at least eighteen (18) years old at the time of entry. Corporations or other entities or organizations of any kind are not eligible for the Program. All aspects of the Program may not be available to employees of AARP, AKQA, Inc, Administrator and their parent and affiliate companies, suppliers as well as the immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings and children) and household members of each such employee. The Program is void where prohibited.

[Heimey]

37 minutes ago, ngrund said:

they are on the AARP rewards site, not sure if that can accessed out side the US

 

https://www.aarp.org/rewards/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aarp.org%2Frewards%2Fdiscover

 

 

You are correct. Worth a try. I’ll have to get my friends to do it. 
 

thanks 

 

Heimey

[maxydu]

I purchased 5 of the $500. cards. I then went to my booking and looked for a way to use them as payment for my booking but was unable to do so. My plan is to call CCL to provide the information.

Is there another way????

[weezal]

8 minutes ago, maxydu said:

I purchased 5 of the $500. cards. I then went to my booking and looked for a way to use them as payment for my booking but was unable to do so. My plan is to call CCL to provide the information.

Is there another way????

[Amy Paperlady]

29 minutes ago, maxydu said:

I purchased 5 of the $500. cards. I then went to my booking and looked for a way to use them as payment for my booking but was unable to do so. My plan is to call CCL to provide the information.

Is there another way????

 

Did you book directly with Carnival, or through a TA? If you used a TA, you'll have to call them and have them apply the cards to your booking. You can prepay your gratuities and everything else on your own, but not your actual booking if you used a TA.

[Haljo1935]

8 hours ago, Amy Paperlady said:

 

Did you book directly with Carnival, or through a TA? If you used a TA, you'll have to call them and have them apply the cards to your booking. You can prepay your gratuities and everything else on your own, but not your actual booking if you used a TA.

And if you don't have a TA on the booking, you can enter the gift cards directly on Carnivals site using the steps @weezal showed. Did it yesterday and it worked perfectly. Congrats on saving 10%!