AARP Carnival Gift Cards

[victory2020]

On 3/11/2024 at 11:21 AM, ab19902 said:

I've had something similar happen before when I tried getting some using one of my credit cards. I don't remember if it was on AARP, but I want to say that it was (back before they changed how they do things and you had to be a member to purchase the Carnival cards). It would just never go through, but would be pending on my credit card. However, if I used another card, it would go through just fine. Not sure why I had that issue, and I never contacted them about it.

 

Is there a way you can use another card to purchase the gift cards? I know sometimes you want to maximize and get points on your card, so I figured I would ask.

You don't have to be a member to buy the gift cards?

[ninjacat123]

36 minutes ago, victory2020 said:

You don't have to be a member to buy the gift cards?

Yes you need a membership, like $12 a year. A "Premium" membership gets you access to the Carnival GCs.

Edited March 13 by ninjacat123

[Petersonfcu]

7 hours ago, KaiBlue said:

In my very limited knowledge of how Princess does things (working up to our first Princess cruise next year and starting to do some early planning), you can't use their cards for extras (no option to use them for excursions, wifi, gratuities that I wanted to pay now to lock in the rate).  Seems like you can only pay the cruise portion itself with gift cards.   But I do find the entire Princess online/app experience to be completely nonintuitive so perhaps I'm missing something.  

You can definitely use Princess gift cards to buy all those things you mentioned if you wait to get on the ship, buy them on the ship, and then load the gift cards to your onboard account to pay for them.  The princess app (known as the Medallion app) has a horrible reputation, and I use it for as little as possible.  I also don't usually buy other things (e.g., wifi and gratuities) in advance on the Princess website so I don't know much about that.

[canes20]

52 minutes ago, victory2020 said:

You don't have to be a member to buy the gift cards?

[n6uqqq]

54 minutes ago, victory2020 said:

You don't have to be a member to buy the gift cards?

You do but you can sometimes find good deals through credit card offers. If you have Capital One quicksilver they are offering a 5 year membership for $63 but you get $24 back through the offer so it comes to only 39 for 5 years which is a good deal. I pay for everything Carnival through gift cards. I joined AARP in 2022 and have saved over 2k total. Only caveat I have is anything you might cancel you get back gift cards............ you are married to them after purchase 😉 . 

[ab19902]

1 hour ago, victory2020 said:

You don't have to be a member to buy the gift cards?

This was many moons ago. Since then, they have updated their program, so you do have to be a member now.

[ninjacat123]

54 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

You do but you can sometimes find good deals through credit card offers. If you have Capital One quicksilver they are offering a 5 year membership for $63 but you get $24 back through the offer so it comes to only 39 for 5 years which is a good deal. I pay for everything Carnival through gift cards. I joined AARP in 2022 and have saved over 2k total. Only caveat I have is anything you might cancel you get back gift cards............ you are married to them after purchase 😉 . 

True!!  I had purchased some Carnival excursions using my GCs then canceled the excursion.  Money goes back on my GC, not in my pocket.  Carnival has me by the purse strings...forever!!😉

[n6uqqq]

22 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

True!!  I had purchased some Carnival excursions using my GCs then canceled the excursion.  Money goes back on my GC, not in my pocket.  Carnival has me by the purse strings...forever!!😉

Ditto! 

[ab19902]

37 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

True!!  I had purchased some Carnival excursions using my GCs then canceled the excursion.  Money goes back on my GC, not in my pocket.  Carnival has me by the purse strings...forever!!😉

Oh, darn. I guess that means you just have to book another cruise. 

 

 

Edited March 13 by ab19902

[Frank12]

19 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

And that is where my brain goes as well! I love saving 10% on practically everything Carnival but a little voice in my head says "now you have more money to spend, muahhhh (evil laugh)". 🤣

And the little voice gets louder when alcohol is involved!🤣

[mfs2k]

1 hour ago, Frank12 said:

And the little voice gets louder when alcohol is involved!🤣

 

[mfs2k]

Im a bit new to the Gift card thing and 252 pages is a lot to read so I'll ask a question probably asked on page 14 of the thread. 

Can I put $1000 in gift cards on my account a few days before the cruise as gambling money and cash out anything I don't lose from the slot machines?

[tytanbri]

25 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

Im a bit new to the Gift card thing and 252 pages is a lot to read so I'll ask a question probably asked on page 14 of the thread. 

Can I put $1000 in gift cards on my account a few days before the cruise as gambling money and cash out anything I don't lose from the slot machines?

I am not sure if there is another way to add it but if you do it as Cruise Cash, there is a $500 limit. You are better off doing it once on board. 

[ab19902]

34 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

Im a bit new to the Gift card thing and 252 pages is a lot to read so I'll ask a question probably asked on page 14 of the thread. 

Can I put $1000 in gift cards on my account a few days before the cruise as gambling money and cash out anything I don't lose from the slot machines?

You can add the gift cards when on the ship, even the digital ones. Then you can go into the casino and add to your players account by charging your room. Whatever is left in your players account can be cashed out at any time. But I would make sure to at least gamble a little bit. I’ve done this with OBC, so I don’t see why gift cards would be any different.

[mfs2k]

2 hours ago, ab19902 said:

You can add the gift cards when on the ship, even the digital ones. Then you can go into the casino and add to your players account by charging your room. Whatever is left in your players account can be cashed out at any time.

 

2 hours ago, tytanbri said:

If you do it as Cruise Cash, there is a $500 limit. You are better off doing it once on board. 

 

Thank you both. 

Helpful information

[Petersonfcu]

2 hours ago, ab19902 said:

You can add the gift cards when on the ship, even the digital ones. Then you can go into the casino and add to your players account by charging your room. Whatever is left in your players account can be cashed out at any time. But I would make sure to at least gamble a little bit. I’ve done this with OBC, so I don’t see why gift cards would be any different.

I have run into a limit as to how many gift cards Carnival will let you post to your sail and sign account on any particular cruise.  I think this limit changes from time to time . . . but I am sure that $1,000 is below the limit.  In one past cruise, I had them tell me that they needed to get approval from their headquarters to exceed this limit, but then the approval did not come.  So I had to hold that gift card until the next cruise.

[ab19902]

Just now, Petersonfcu said:

I have run into a limit as to how many gift cards Carnival will let you post to your sail and sign account on any particular cruise.  I think this limit changes from time to time . . . but I am sure that $1,000 is below the limit.  In one past cruise, I had them tell me that they needed to get approval from their headquarters to exceed this limit, but then the approval did not come.  So I had to hold that gift card until the next cruise.

Interesting. Funnily enough, I don't use the gift cards when I cruise. Here since the shutdown, I usually have a decent amount of OBC (plus DH and I both own Carnival stock, so that gives us more). This last cruise in February was an 8 day with 4 days at sea. We forgot cash, so DH charged the room for about $250 in the casino (actually more, but he won it back, so we put it back in to our account). Ended up leaving with $200 charged to my Carnival card to get points towards paying off a charge.

[Roscoe13]

3 hours ago, mfs2k said:

Im a bit new to the Gift card thing and 252 pages is a lot to read so I'll ask a question probably asked on page 14 of the thread. 

Can I put $1000 in gift cards on my account a few days before the cruise as gambling money and cash out anything I don't lose from the slot machines?

Page 15...

[Petersonfcu]

3 hours ago, ab19902 said:

You can add the gift cards when on the ship, even the digital ones. Then you can go into the casino and add to your players account by charging your room. Whatever is left in your players account can be cashed out at any time. But I would make sure to at least gamble a little bit. I’ve done this with OBC, so I don’t see why gift cards would be any different.

One more Carnival casino tip.  If you are a table game player, Carnival will charge you a three percent fee for using your sail and sign account to buy chips at the table. But Carnival does not charge any fee when you put money on a slot machine from your sail and sign account.   So go first to a slot machine, set up a slot account, fund your slot account from your sail and sign account, pull the money out of the slot account at the cage, and then use the cash to buy your table game chips.  OK, if you are just spending $100 or $200 at the tables, maybe this is a hassle not worth it.  But that three percent fee can add up.

[tw67]

4 hours ago, ab19902 said:

Interesting. Funnily enough, I don't use the gift cards when I cruise. Here since the shutdown, I usually have a decent amount of OBC (plus DH and I both own Carnival stock, so that gives us more). This last cruise in February was an 8 day with 4 days at sea. We forgot cash, so DH charged the room for about $250 in the casino (actually more, but he won it back, so we put it back in to our account). Ended up leaving with $200 charged to my Carnival card to get points towards paying off a charge.

I also own stock. I like that extra OBC. How about paying for the cruise itself? 

[CruizinSusan70]

37 minutes ago, tw67 said:

I also own stock. I like that extra OBC. How about paying for the cruise itself? 

You can use the gift cards to pay everything cruise related.  You can also use the stock OBC to buy gift cards in Cherry on Top to use on a future cruise. 100 minimum purchase and even 136.42 or anything you'd like.  

[tw67]

2 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

You can use the gift cards to pay everything cruise related.  You can also use the stock OBC to buy gift cards in Cherry on Top to use on a future cruise. 100 minimum purchase and even 136.42 or anything you'd like.  

I am well aware, I am one of those who has using gift cards down to a science. I was asking the person ab199002. They mentioned using their Obc, but didn’t discuss how they pay for the cruise. 

[ab19902]

13 minutes ago, tw67 said:

I am well aware, I am one of those who has using gift cards down to a science. I was asking the person ab199002. They mentioned using their Obc, but didn’t discuss how they pay for the cruise. 

Cruises are paid with gift cards that I get at AARP. I usually have 2-3 cruises booked at a time, so if the GC is too much for one cruise, it goes to the next one. 

[tw67]

1 hour ago, ab19902 said:

Cruises are paid with gift cards that I get at AARP. I usually have 2-3 cruises booked at a time, so if the GC is too much for one cruise, it goes to the next one. 

Great!!  Yes I keep a spreadsheet with my gift cards! 

[ski_mom]

I've used the gift cards on Carnival many times and have always had luck adding them at the kiosks.  

 

We are going on Princess this summer and I was able to pay for our entire cruise with gift cards from aarp to save 8% - does anyone know if they have kiosks on Princess too?  It just makes it so easy to add them to your account.

 

Thanks!