AARP Carnival Gift Cards

[bar1068]

1 hour ago, n6uqqq said:

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. 

Hopefully all will flow normally. I do have one minor concern regarding AARP's payment process for gift cards. A few cruise back I purchased something like 4 - $500 cards and 2 - $100 from AARP. The 2 $100 cards came through fine, but not the $500 cards. I never got them. I used my bank card to pay for them, the charges were pending to my account, but never processed fully, some weirdness on their end they seemed to be aware of. The pending charges came off my account, but I had ended up purchasing 2 - $1000 cards from Allstate, so I guess I'll miss Allstate as sort of a fallback. Maybe the additional activity of AARP card purchases will help AARP straighten out whatever issue they had with their payment processing....hopefully.

[n6uqqq]

6 minutes ago, bar1068 said:

Hopefully all will flow normally. I do have one minor concern regarding AARP's payment process for gift cards. A few cruise back I purchased something like 4 - $500 cards and 2 - $100 from AARP. The 2 $100 cards came through fine, but not the $500 cards. I never got them. I used my bank card to pay for them, the charges were pending to my account, but never processed fully, some weirdness on their end they seemed to be aware of. The pending charges came off my account, but I had ended up purchasing 2 - $1000 cards from Allstate, so I guess I'll miss Allstate as sort of a fallback. Maybe the additional activity of AARP card purchases will help AARP straighten out whatever issue they had with their payment processing....hopefully.

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! 

Edited August 2, 2023 by n6uqqq

[bar1068]

2 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

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! 

I think I recall that after you mentioned it, fortunately we did not have any cruises booked then!! But since the issue I had we've had smooth purchases as well, including a few weeks a ago I purchased a number of cards to pay a cruise balance for our B2B this October...same thing...emails/ecards came within minutes...same for purchases we did back in May....Maybe they've "fixed" their issue.

[2wheelin]

21 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

@LauraS  @Host Kat

Not sure who to contact. Could we please have the title of this thread changed to AARP Carnival gift cards, because the Allstate program is ending later this year. We'd like to keep this thread going since it's so big, has been active for 6 1/2 years, and contains so much useful content. We've also been using it as the unoffical AARP thread for some time now. We love our little corner of the Carnival boards. 😄

 

Someone made an AARP thread a couple weeks ago here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2951542-aarp-carnival-gift-cards/

That smaller thread could be merged into this one if you'd like. User helene109 above is this thread's original author. Thank you very much.

What would be the point? All that useful content is about Allstate—-which is going away. How useful will that be?

There already have been several AARP threads started through the years. So merge and put them under the Allstate title. Very helpful——-NOT!

Furthermore, no one needs to look for AARP info and only find a thread with 230 pages of useless info.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

A friend buys AARP Royal Carib cards and said they cannot be used for DSC.  I have read the terns on the CCL card and do not see it excluding DSC.  Can anyone weigh in whether the card can or cannot be used for that, please?

Thank you,

MB

[ab19902]

6 minutes ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

A friend buys AARP Royal Carib cards and said they cannot be used for DSC.  I have read the terns on the CCL card and do not see it excluding DSC.  Can anyone weigh in whether the card can or cannot be used for that, please?

Thank you,

MB

I usually add my DSC to my cruise cost to pay by the final payment date. When I do that, I can use them to pay for the DSC. I actually haven't found anything I can't use it on so far.

[n6uqqq]

6 minutes ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

A friend buys AARP Royal Carib cards and said they cannot be used for DSC.  I have read the terns on the CCL card and do not see it excluding DSC.  Can anyone weigh in whether the card can or cannot be used for that, please?

Thank you,

MB

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.

[ab19902]

Just now, n6uqqq said:

I don't know what DSC means

I had to look it up too. It's gratuities. Daily service charge.

[ULCajunCruiser]

How strange, but see where there are Carnival gift cards available.   8% off

[n6uqqq]

1 minute ago, ab19902 said:

I had to look it up too. It's gratuities. Daily service charge.

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

[Organized Chaos]

1 hour ago, 2wheelin said:

What would be the point? All that useful content is about Allstate—-which is going away. How useful will that be?

There already have been several AARP threads started through the years. So merge and put them under the Allstate title. Very helpful——-NOT!

Furthermore, no one needs to look for AARP info and only find a thread with 230 pages of useless info.

 

This thread has been active for 6 1/2 years strong and has remained relatively free of the drama & negativity that is all too common on the Carnival forum. Thank you for a demonstration of that, by the way. There's something to be said about that for a thread this big for so long. That alone is worth keeping it going. We wouldn't keep it under the Allstate title; hence, why I requested to change the title to AARP. Yes, most of the content here is about Allstate, but it's more than that. For example, in the last few months we've included a lot of discussions about AARP. Beyond that, there are countless posts about discount Carnival gift cards in general. Overall, this thread has become a nice little community within the community for those of us interested in the gift cards. I'm sorry (not sorry) that offends you so much. If they change the title and keep it going, great, it deserves it. If not, it is what it is. Then I'd say RIP to what I'm guessing is the biggest, longest running active thread on the Carnival boards.

[Organized Chaos]

On 8/1/2023 at 4:30 PM, bar1068 said:

LOL!! Shoot, reading through this thread I feel...old or something or maybe I am..but whatever!!! We've been purchasing discounted gift cards from AARP for the last 3-4 years at least..maybe longer..pretty sure we got them before the pandemic. We did hook into Allstate also...I liked them because they offered $1000 cards which AARP is not currently. We've saved hundreds...maybe thousands...using the cards for a number of cruise balances...sign and sail accounts...funded CHEERs a handful of times..etc.....Sure hope AARP can handle the the onslaught of "new comers"!!!

 

Yeah I've been doing Allstate & AARP cards since 2017. 10% may not sound like much on its own, but it definitely adds up. We had even passed the savings on to people who cruised with us but didn't participate in these programs. That's what I planned to do with my Allstate points, because I have more than we'll ever use, but not anymore. Unless they have a going-out-of-business sale on cards, it looks like I'll be entering a lot of sweepstakes.

 

I have to give AARP credit, though. After they revamped their rewards program, their policy on Carnival cards was extremely lackluster. Limiting us to only 3/month. But to their credit, that changed to 5 and now 25/month. I feel like they recognized the demand and made changes to improve. So there's that.

[ninjacat123]

3 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

This thread has been active for 6 1/2 years strong and has remained relatively free of the drama & negativity that is all too common on the Carnival forum. Thank you for a demonstration of that, by the way. There's something to be said about that for a thread this big for so long. That alone is worth keeping it going. We wouldn't keep it under the Allstate title; hence, why I requested to change the title to AARP. Yes, most of the content here is about Allstate, but it's more than that. For example, in the last few months we've included a lot of discussions about AARP. Beyond that, there are countless posts about discount Carnival gift cards in general. Overall, this thread has become a nice little community within the community for those of us interested in the gift cards. I'm sorry (not sorry) that offends you so much. If they change the title and keep it going, great, it deserves it. If not, it is what it is. Then I'd say RIP to what I'm guessing is the biggest, longest running active thread on the Carnival boards.

I have moved on to AARP Carnival discount cards.  I welcome the group we have here and think we could keep it going with this new topic. XOXO to you all for the pleasant repartee and I hope we can see this moving forward.😍

[ULCajunCruiser]

Organized Chaos,  you win!!!    They changed the thread name!!

 

[n6uqqq]

55 minutes ago, ULCajunCruiser said:

Organized Chaos,  you win!!!    They changed the thread name!!

 

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

[Organized Chaos]

1 hour ago, ULCajunCruiser said:

Organized Chaos,  you win!!!    They changed the thread name!!

 

 

LOL I just hated to see it go. Long live this giant thread. A big thank you to the admins/hosts for doing it for us.

AARP's going to owe us some kickbacks because I think we're about to push a bunch of new members their way. 😆

 

1 hour ago, n6uqqq said:

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

 

That's not a bad idea. Who knows, maybe some day. Discount Carnival cards unite!!

[CruizinSusan70]

10 hours ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

A friend buys AARP Royal Carib cards and said they cannot be used for DSC.  I have read the terns on the CCL card and do not see it excluding DSC.  Can anyone weigh in whether the card can or cannot be used for that, please?

Thank you,

MB

The Carnival cards as well as the Princess cards on the AARP site can be used for everything that is cruise related.  Deposit, final payment, excursions, drink packages (Cheers on Carnival, Plus/Premier packages on Princess) even EZ Air on Princess.  I will assume, but do not have first hand experience that the same holds true with the Holland America cards that are also available on the AARP site.  I will make this assumption since they are all part of the Carnival family.

 

RCI and Celebrity cards have more restrictions.  The Celebrity cards can be used for a maximum of $1000.00 per cabin on new bookings only, so they have to be used with your initial deposit.  RCI has even more loop holes to jump through so I don't bother with them.

[Organized Chaos]

Did anyone enter the AARP sweepstakes for the $1,000 Carnival card? I did when I could remember to do it...only 4-5 days worth. They're not picking a winner for another couple weeks though.

 

Allstate lets us submit a lot more entries per day than AARP, but it uses a lot more tickets. Up to 200 entries/day for 10,000 tickets. Even with over 900k points, they could go quick with that. I want to start entering, but don't want to burn through too many points in case something really good pops up before the end.

 

 

[tw67]

10 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

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

That would be so much fun!  One big ALLSTATE/AARP Dysfunctional Family Cruise!!  Just think about it, we would all be getting 10% off the group price right off from the start...

[tw67]

57 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

Did anyone enter the AARP sweepstakes for the $1,000 Carnival card? I did when I could remember to do it...only 4-5 days worth. They're not picking a winner for another couple weeks though.

 

Allstate lets us submit a lot more entries per day than AARP, but it uses a lot more tickets. Up to 200 entries/day for 10,000 tickets. Even with over 900k points, they could go quick with that. I want to start entering, but don't want to burn through too many points in case something really good pops up before the end.

 

 

I did enter it a few times!  I am sitting back waiting for my email that I have won.  I have also been playing the lottery. I don't see me hitting either one of them!  But I dream!  

 

Yes, I want to keep from burning through my Allstate Rewards points in case they do have specials near the end!  Just in case!!  

[Organized Chaos]

3 hours ago, tw67 said:

That would be so much fun!  One big ALLSTATE/AARP Dysfunctional Family Cruise!!  Just think about it, we would all be getting 10% off the group price right off from the start...

 

I would love to add up the total amount of savings we'd manage to get on a single cruise together.

 

3 hours ago, tw67 said:

I did enter it a few times!  I am sitting back waiting for my email that I have won.  I have also been playing the lottery. I don't see me hitting either one of them!  But I dream!  

 

Yes, I want to keep from burning through my Allstate Rewards points in case they do have specials near the end!  Just in case!!  

 

Once a week we get together with some of my g/f's family for supper and a game night. We play one game that involves quarters. If you lose, you put quarters into the pot and the winner takes the pot. Winnings & losses don't amount to much in a single night, but it's fun. I've been on a really good winning streak lately, which never happens because I have the worst luck. I really should be buying some lotto tickets right now. I won't complain if I hit that sweepstakes.

[Calnev1]

10 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

The Carnival cards as well as the Princess cards on the AARP site can be used for everything that is cruise related.  Deposit, final payment, excursions, drink packages (Cheers on Carnival, Plus/Premier packages on Princess) even EZ Air on Princess.  I will assume, but do not have first hand experience that the same holds true with the Holland America cards that are also available on the AARP site.  I will make this assumption since they are all part of the Carnival family.

 

We know from personal experience that Holland America GCs are, in fact, just like the Carnival and Princess GCs.  You can use HAL GCs for pretty much any expense associated with an HAL cruise.   The only expense I am not sure about is HAL's "EZ Air" equivalent, if they even have one.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Man ... what the HECK just happened. All of a sudden I'm part of a longstanding group of folks on this thread, LOL.

 

We want our FREEDOM ...  😉  

 

Tom

[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.

[ab19902]

26 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

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.

Carnival itself is having a pretty good sale like that too, depending on what your specific code is. It's only good on cruises March 2024-Dec 2024 (which sucks because we have a Feb 2024 one scheduled already), but you get pretty good OBC. We booked 2 rooms for us and our 2 kids for a 5 day cruise, my husband and I each in a room, and got $200 OBC per room. Plus we also booked my mom one and she had a great casino offer that gave her $500 OBC and drinks on us in the casino. This was for a 5 day cruise. With gratuities, it was just over $525 per person for the 3 rooms (2 OV and 1 porthole).