AARP Carnival Gift Cards

[Eli_6]

1 minute ago, canes20 said:

Do you and your husband both have an account? You can buy 25/$500 and he can buy 25/$500 and that will get you $25000. Next month you just need 10.

I think so.  Really, though, we have until Feb 2025 to pay for the world cruise so I can spread them out more than that.  The Scandinavian cruise is only like 3k.  The world cruise is the expensive one.  We got two rooms--a balcony and an inside room--for the 4 of us.   The balcony was DOUBLE the inside room.  However, I do not want to be stuck in two inside rooms for almost 40 days with 2 stinky boys--and at least one of them going through puberty. I am guessing other guests feel the same way and, therefore, they are able to sell the balconies at a premium.  There was also a hefty location premium to get on the Lido deck, but again in thinking about being on a ship for 36 days, I wanted a good location.  I would assume a princess "world cruise" would not be too rowdy or loud on the Lido.  I also wanted a location not too far from the kids club/area and it is just on the deck above.  

 

This is the only world cruise that runs in the summer AND has a Kid's club and activities for kids.

[MeganGC1983]

I bought cards yesterday to buy Cheers!  The email did take a little longer than I expected, but about ten minutes later, I had them. 

[canes20]

3 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

I think so.  Really, though, we have until Feb 2025 to pay for the world cruise so I can spread them out more than that.  The Scandinavian cruise is only like 3k.  The world cruise is the expensive one.  We got two rooms--a balcony and an inside room--for the 4 of us.   The balcony was DOUBLE the inside room.  However, I do not want to be stuck in two inside rooms for almost 40 days with 2 stinky boys--and at least one of them going through puberty. I am guessing other guests feel the same way and, therefore, they are able to sell the balconies at a premium.  There was also a hefty location premium to get on the Lido deck, but again in thinking about being on a ship for 36 days, I wanted a good location.  I would assume a princess "world cruise" would not be too rowdy or loud on the Lido.  I also wanted a location not too far from the kids club/area and it is just on the deck above.  

 

This is the only world cruise that runs in the summer AND has a Kid's club and activities for kids.

 

I would enjoy a loooooong cruise but my wife gets testy after 7 days. She wants to see Hawaii but hates flying. I told her the only way to get there is sailing or flying and to sail we would have to fly to the west coast unless we did a Panama Canal and that would probably involve a Panama Canal cruise, a cruise to Hawaii and then another Panama Canal. The odds of that lining up are probably not great.

[Nuck Chorris]

44 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

Is there a limit on number of gift cards you can buy total on AARP?

 

I am taking my Mom on a Scandinavian cruise in August 2024 and the hubs and kids on a world cruise segment (36 days) in June 2025. (Both on princess but I know AARP sells Princess cards, too.) Cumulatively, this will be about 30k+ so I figure the 3k in savings is worth it to use the gift cards. I see there is a monthly limit of 25 cards, but wondering if they cut you off at amount at some point. 

The maximum monthly limits for Princess GCs and Carnival GCs on AARP are different.   For Princess, the most you can purchase per month is five GCs through each AARP account.  So assuming you and your spouse have separate accounts the most Princess GCs you ccould purchase would be ten per month.  Of course, you can always use the accounts of friends or family to increase your monthly purchases.  You can even set up memberships for them, since there is no longer any age limit on AARP membership.   Also, fyi, Princess GCs on AARP only carry an eight percent discount, not ten percent like Carnival GCs.

Edited December 30, 2023 by Nuck Chorris

[Nuck Chorris]

I just remembered that you don't even need a AARP membership to buy the Princess GCs.  So technically anyone can set up an AARP Rewards account without a membership to buy Princess GCs.

[Eli_6]

8 minutes ago, canes20 said:

 

I would enjoy a loooooong cruise but my wife gets testy after 7 days. She wants to see Hawaii but hates flying. I told her the only way to get there is sailing or flying and to sail we would have to fly to the west coast unless we did a Panama Canal and that would probably involve a Panama Canal cruise, a cruise to Hawaii and then another Panama Canal. The odds of that lining up are probably not great.

My husband's biggest issue with ALL of this is the long flight. I have been dreaming for years about circumnavigating the globe.  Obviously can't do this with someone who is a testy flyer.  (I like flying and sleep better on an airplane than on land.)  So, my solution is we have one really bad flight to start the trip (get it over with) from Houston to Sydney.  Then we cruise from Sydney to Rome.  Then we fly back from Rome.  Boom--gone around the globe and been able to hit Australia, Asia, and Middle East.   

[Nuck Chorris]

1 minute ago, Eli_6 said:

My husband's biggest issue with ALL of this is the long flight. I have been dreaming for years about circumnavigating the globe.  Obviously can't do this with someone who is a testy flyer.  (I like flying and sleep better on an airplane than on land.)  So, my solution is we have one really bad flight to start the trip (get it over with) from Houston to Sydney.  Then we cruise from Sydney to Rome.  Then we fly back from Rome.  Boom--gone around the globe and been able to hit Australia, Asia, and Middle East.   

As I get older, I like flying less and less.  If you husband is like me, he will think both the Houston-Sydney and the Rome-Houston flights are bad.  Still, I would put up with it to do the cruising you describe.  Lol.

[Eli_6]

54 minutes ago, Nuck Chorris said:

As I get older, I like flying less and less.  If you husband is like me, he will think both the Houston-Sydney and the Rome-Houston flights are bad.  Still, I would put up with it to do the cruising you describe.  Lol.

Oh, he thinks they are bad. He thinks they are terrible.  But better than literally around the entire world. He will definitely have to be in business even if the rest of us are in coach.  Air New Zealand flies from Houston to Auckland and has where for an extra $900 you can get an "sky bed" that is basically an entire row of economy so it is price of economy+$900.  I am thinking about putting me in the kids in one of these each and putting my husband in business. Business is 3 times the price of the sky bed.

[n6uqqq]

4 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

Is there a limit on number of gift cards you can buy total on AARP?

 

I am taking my Mom on a Scandinavian cruise in August 2024 and the hubs and kids on a world cruise segment (36 days) in June 2025. (Both on princess but I know AARP sells Princess cards, too.) Cumulatively, this will be about 30k+ so I figure the 3k in savings is worth it to use the gift cards. I see there is a monthly limit of 25 cards, but wondering if they cut you off at amount at some point. 

As PE said above the limit is currently 5 per person per month for Princess as of now. They are not listed as the "premium" that allows the higher limit of 25 per month per person. So that means if you buy any other gift cards from AARP(non Princess) that are not premium it will cut into your limit of 5 per month. Princess gift cards are only 8 percent of compared to the 10 for Carnival.

Edited December 30, 2023 by n6uqqq

[fabnsab]

Anyone know how to add the gift cards to your spending account? I have $50 left from paying off the cruise and want to add it but they only show credit or cash. 
 

 

[ngrund]

8 minutes ago, fabnsab said:

Anyone know how to add the gift cards to your spending account? I have $50 left from paying off the cruise and want to add it but they only show credit or cash. 
 

 

Just take the card info with you and you can add it to your onboard account (at guest services or the kiosk)

[tw67]

28 minutes ago, fabnsab said:

Anyone know how to add the gift cards to your spending account? I have $50 left from paying off the cruise and want to add it but they only show credit or cash. 
 

 

You can always buy cruise cash with it.

[NanoGirl21]

I haven't been on here in 9+ months, but need to start collecting gift cards for my trip in August. Is All State Rewards still going? The link that I have does not work anymore. What is the best way to get reduced priced gift cards?

[ninjacat123]

10 minutes ago, NanoGirl21 said:

I haven't been on here in 9+ months, but need to start collecting gift cards for my trip in August. Is All State Rewards still going? The link that I have does not work anymore. What is the best way to get reduced priced gift cards?

AARP has the 10% discount Carnival cards for premium members. Anyone can join who lives in US.

[NanoGirl21]

5 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

AARP has the 10% discount Carnival cards for premium members. Anyone can join who lives in US.

I am an AARP member. I can never locate the gift card shop on their website. Do you have a direct link?

[ninjacat123]

19 minutes ago, NanoGirl21 said:

I am an AARP member. I can never locate the gift card shop on their website. Do you have a direct link?

 

aarp.org/rewards/redeem

try that

[NanoGirl21]

15 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

 

aarp.org/rewards/redeem

try that

 

It worked. Thank you!

[19cruiser59]

Is there some new trick to applying the gift cards on the carnival website?

 

I enter a card number and pin and click apply.... it says applied, but when i exit the screen and check the balance the card has not been applied to the balance.

 

[ninjacat123]

2 hours ago, 19cruiser59 said:

Is there some new trick to applying the gift cards on the carnival website?

 

I enter a card number and pin and click apply.... it says applied, but when i exit the screen and check the balance the card has not been applied to the balance.

 

Did you scroll down the page and enter your address?

[19cruiser59]

After speaking with a carnival rep... The screens have changed.

Before you could select gift cards and enter the info hit apply and you were done.

 

 

Now its a new payment area, after selecting gift cards and entering the info, then click apply.

you still need to go down to the 'Other Payment" section and enter the total amount of the gift cards and click select then submit again.

[n6uqqq]

1 hour ago, 19cruiser59 said:

After speaking with a carnival rep... The screens have changed.

Before you could select gift cards and enter the info hit apply and you were done.

 

 

Now its a new payment area, after selecting gift cards and entering the info, then click apply.

you still need to go down to the 'Other Payment" section and enter the total amount of the gift cards and click select then submit again.

Carnival took a perfectly working system for gift cards and made it harder to use now. The old way was much easier! I guess their IT dept has to justify their existence every now and then 😉 

[Bevv]

20 hours ago, 19cruiser59 said:

After speaking with a carnival rep... The screens have changed.

Before you could select gift cards and enter the info hit apply and you were done.

 

 

Now its a new payment area, after selecting gift cards and entering the info, then click apply.

you still need to go down to the 'Other Payment" section and enter the total amount of the gift cards and click select then submit again.

Thanks for that explanation,. I just purchased $700. in gift cards and was running in circles trying to redeem them. 

[sunkey1]

Just applied nine gift cards to an upcoming cruise, each time showing a declining balance due. At the end, I owed $21.30 on a credit card, tried to pay that and it said I needed to call Carnival. Needless to say the gift cards were never actually applied, I had to do this manually with an agent, over the phone. Their website has been really crappy lately.

[ab19902]

Just now, sunkey1 said:

Just applied nine gift cards to an upcoming cruise, each time showing a declining balance due. At the end, I owed $21.30 on a credit card, tried to pay that and it said I needed to call Carnival. Needless to say the gift cards were never actually applied, I had to do this manually with an agent, over the phone. Their website has been really crappy lately.

That's crazy. But I'm weird. I would have done each gift card as a separate transaction. Like if it was 9 $100 gift cards, I'd put $100 as what I was paying, put down one gift card, then submit it. I don't know, I've always done it that way.

 

Or maybe 9 is just too much at one time? Who knows.

[sunkey1]

Just now, ab19902 said:

That's crazy. But I'm weird. I would have done each gift card as a separate transaction. Like if it was 9 $100 gift cards, I'd put $100 as what I was paying, put down one gift card, then submit it. I don't know, I've always done it that way.

 

Or maybe 9 is just too much at one time? Who knows.

I did do it as separate transactions. I will say that when the agent did it she did five and then had to start over with the next four. The website let me enter all nine, it was just weird as it looked like it was accepting them with the balance due declining each time. I also had issue with a cabin hold being removed from my account as well - website issues big time this week.