AARP Carnival Gift Cards

[mjayp]

1 hour ago, mitsugirly said:

 

 

 

I booked with a TA as well. I'm wondering if this is the problem. ??

 

I contacted my TA who said to use the gift cards to buy Cruise Cash. The only problem is...it says you are only allowed to purchase $500 in Cruise Cash per stateroom. Our gratuities for 4 people in the room is more than that ($512) and I still want to purchase the soda package and maybe an excursion as well. UGH! 😡

In the past, when I've booked through a TA, I was only able to pre-pay gratuities once my cruise was paid in full (at which point everything was handled through Carnival).  Hopefully that is/will be the case for you.  

[ULCajunCruiser]

I'm having a bad week with these darn cards!!   Now I'm trying to pay off some of what I owe.  But it is not letting me use a card unless I use it all up.  I have countless times used a $500 card to pay a $200 charge, then later used that same card to pay $50, and then finished off when using it a 3rd time.   But today if I have a balance left on the card, it won't allow the transaction to go through.  Hope this is a temporary glitch and not a permanent change!!

[ab19902]

16 minutes ago, ULCajunCruiser said:

I'm having a bad week with these darn cards!!   Now I'm trying to pay off some of what I owe.  But it is not letting me use a card unless I use it all up.  I have countless times used a $500 card to pay a $200 charge, then later used that same card to pay $50, and then finished off when using it a 3rd time.   But today if I have a balance left on the card, it won't allow the transaction to go through.  Hope this is a temporary glitch and not a permanent change!!

Silly question, but are you making sure the amount paid matches what you want after putting in the card info? I’m sure it’s just a glitch if you are.

[n6uqqq]

1 hour ago, ULCajunCruiser said:

I'm having a bad week with these darn cards!!   Now I'm trying to pay off some of what I owe.  But it is not letting me use a card unless I use it all up.  I have countless times used a $500 card to pay a $200 charge, then later used that same card to pay $50, and then finished off when using it a 3rd time.   But today if I have a balance left on the card, it won't allow the transaction to go through.  Hope this is a temporary glitch and not a permanent change!!

I just added 50 dollars out of 100 left on a card. See my post #6226 on page 250 of this thread. I added a screenshot back then for people having trouble. Carnival changed the way to apply gift cards not too long ago. You have to add the gift card first, then go down and choose other amount to pay and add what you want. 

Edited March 17 by n6uqqq

[ULCajunCruiser]

Yes n6uqqq, thanks, I tried that.  I'm very familiar with the process, I've done it numerous times.  But today I'm getting this error, which I've never seen before?? 

 

     The gift card wallet balance exceeds the sailing balance due

 

I don't know, just hoping it'll go back to normal by Monday!!

[n6uqqq]

19 minutes ago, ULCajunCruiser said:

Yes n6uqqq, thanks, I tried that.  I'm very familiar with the process, I've done it numerous times.  But today I'm getting this error, which I've never seen before?? 

 

     The gift card wallet balance exceeds the sailing balance due

 

I don't know, just hoping it'll go back to normal by Monday!!

That is odd. 

[mitsugirly]

12 hours ago, Knights on the Beach said:

 

 

You said you were able to see the gift card option for bottomless bubbles so why don't you go ahead and pay for that with a gift card? Although if you can pay for that with the gift card, I don't see why don't have the option to do the same for gratuities. BUT will your TA not handle the transaction for you? You shouldn't have to buy cruise cash to cover gratuities, you should be able to pay them outright. You can always leave the gratuities to be paid onboard and apply a gift card to your Sail & Sign account once on the ship.

 

I may just have to wait until I get on board and have them apply the gift card and pay for the gratuities then. 

 

So I have a $500 gift card and the bottomless bubbles (of course) isn't that much for 4 people. If I use that gift card to pay for it, then is the rest of that gift card balance just put on my account to use up? Or do I have to enter the gift card again when purchasing something else?

 

 

12 hours ago, mjayp said:

In the past, when I've booked through a TA, I was only able to pre-pay gratuities once my cruise was paid in full (at which point everything was handled through Carnival).  Hopefully that is/will be the case for you.  

 

 

I'm leaving on my cruise in 13 days so that's not the case for me. 

[Knights on the Beach]

9 hours ago, ULCajunCruiser said:

Yes n6uqqq, thanks, I tried that.  I'm very familiar with the process, I've done it numerous times.  But today I'm getting this error, which I've never seen before?? 

 

     The gift card wallet balance exceeds the sailing balance due

 

I don't know, just hoping it'll go back to normal by Monday!!

 

I got the same message yesterday when I applied $45.77 from a card that had $500 on it. However, just above that message in red, it showed the $45.77 as the payment. I was paying gratuities for our 4/14 cruise and had 2 cards with small amounts and I applied those first then used the $500 card for the $45.77 balance. Since it looked like (to me) it was going to just use the $45.77 needed to complete the purchase even though I saw the message in red, I held my breath and submitted the payment. It went through just fine - our gratuities are paid and I have a $454.23 balance left on my $500 gift card (you bet I double checked that). 🙂 

 

I figured if it did something crazy and applied the whole $500 to that cruise (showing $454.23 as a credit), I would just go ahead and buy Cheers. We plan to do that anyway, but usually do it the week before a cruise. Anyway, that was not the case. The transaction went through and I still have the correct balance on the gift card. Now I think I'll go ahead and pay the gratuities for the second leg of our B2B (4/20) with that same gift card since it seems to be working correctly (though that red message is confusing).

[Knights on the Beach]

1 hour ago, mitsugirly said:

 

I may just have to wait until I get on board and have them apply the gift card and pay for the gratuities then. 

 

So I have a $500 gift card and the bottomless bubbles (of course) isn't that much for 4 people. If I use that gift card to pay for it, then is the rest of that gift card balance just put on my account to use up? Or do I have to enter the gift card again when purchasing something else?

 

 

It's all the same anyway. If you apply the $500 gift card (or whatever balance you have on it if you buy bottomless bubbles now), any charges made on the ship will come out of that amount. You will need to either go to guest services and have them add the card to your S&S account or you can do it at a kiosk onboard. We usually have everything paid for ahead of time and still have OBC so we've never applied a gift card onboard. 

[Knights on the Beach]

Just paid our gratuities for the 4/20 cruise and it worked perfectly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 17 by Knights on the Beach

[ab19902]

11 hours ago, ULCajunCruiser said:

Yes n6uqqq, thanks, I tried that.  I'm very familiar with the process, I've done it numerous times.  But today I'm getting this error, which I've never seen before?? 

 

     The gift card wallet balance exceeds the sailing balance due

 

I don't know, just hoping it'll go back to normal by Monday!!

This isn’t new. It’s just a “warning” but it won’t stop you from moving forward. You should still be able to submit payment and it work. Then you can use the balance somewhere else.

[ULCajunCruiser]

Add a Gift Card

Gift Card 1

XXXXXlast four digits 3802

Balance:

$500.00

Applied

Remove

The gift card wallet balance exceeds the sailing balance due

Gift Card Number

PIN/Security Code (4 digits)

Apply

Balance Due

Gift Card Applied

 

Due Today:$0.00United States dollars

SELECT

Other Amount

Gift Card Applied

Make a payment of your choice. Full amount due Apr 15, 2024

Enter Payment Amount

 

SELECT

[ULCajunCruiser]

sorry that didn't post very well, but the point I'm trying to make is that there is no way to actually make a payment!!   I'll try again

[ULCajunCruiser]

OK, so I just ignored the warning, put the amount I wanted to pay using that card in the "other amount" box, hit submit and it worked!!

[victory2020]

OK, I've joined AARP. Where do I find the gift cards? I've looked everywhere!

[back-at-it]

13 minutes ago, victory2020 said:

OK, I've joined AARP. Where do I find the gift cards? I've looked everywhere!

On the home page you will see at the top "*AARP Rewards" link.  Click it and then scroll down until you see picture of gift cards. Under it will be a link "See All Rewards".  Click it and then scroll down and you will see "All Rewards".  There starts all the gift cards.  You can use the search to find the cards you are looking for.

[n6uqqq]

1 hour ago, ULCajunCruiser said:

OK, so I just ignored the warning, put the amount I wanted to pay using that card in the "other amount" box, hit submit and it worked!!

Maybe Carnival added this warning so we will know there is still a balance on the gift card after the transaction. If this is the case, the wording leaves a lot to be desired! 

[n6uqqq]

6 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

 

I may just have to wait until I get on board and have them apply the gift card and pay for the gratuities then. 

 

So I have a $500 gift card and the bottomless bubbles (of course) isn't that much for 4 people. If I use that gift card to pay for it, then is the rest of that gift card balance just put on my account to use up? Or do I have to enter the gift card again when purchasing something else?

 

 

 

 

I'm leaving on my cruise in 13 days so that's not the case for me. 

Only the amount of your purchase will be used from the gift card. Carnival will not apply the rest to you account. Your purchase will be paid for and your gift card will still have what is left over as a balance on it.

[Knights on the Beach]

5 hours ago, Knights on the Beach said:

 

It's all the same anyway. If you apply the $500 gift card (or whatever balance you have on it if you buy bottomless bubbles now), any charges made on the ship will come out of that amount. You will need to either go to guest services and have them add the card to your S&S account or you can do it at a kiosk onboard. We usually have everything paid for ahead of time and still have OBC so we've never applied a gift card onboard. 

 

31 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

Only the amount of your purchase will be used from the gift card. Carnival will not apply the rest to you account. Your purchase will be paid for and your gift card will still have what is left over as a balance on it.

 

Maybe my post wasn't clear enough but I was assuming they will apply the gift card to their S&S account once onboard.

[n6uqqq]

7 minutes ago, Knights on the Beach said:

 

 

Maybe my post wasn't clear enough but I was assuming they will apply the gift card to their S&S account once onboard.

Your post is clear enough. Mitsugirly was asking what would happen to excess balance if she bought the bubbles package. She was thinking maybe the excess gift card balance would be applied to her sail and sign account. I was clarifying that is not the case. I wish Carnival would let me load some gift cards to my account prior to sailing but they won't. I think they want to "funnel" people into buying the non refundable cruise cash categories. 

[mitsugirly]

5 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

Your post is clear enough. Mitsugirly was asking what would happen to excess balance if she bought the bubbles package. She was thinking maybe the excess gift card balance would be applied to her sail and sign account. I was clarifying that is not the case. I wish Carnival would let me load some gift cards to my account prior to sailing but they won't. I think they want to "funnel" people into buying the non refundable cruise cash categories. 

 

Exactly. I was hoping it would just go on my account and stay there to use during the cruise instead of having to reload once on board. 

[mitsugirly]

Anyone know if we apply gift cards to our account, can you use the account for playing slots in the casino? Does it charge to the room? Or do you have to have cash? I can't remember.

[tree.critter]

I’ll try. I have received this note a few times. I buy a LOT of gift cards for a lot of cruises. So when you get this error, look at total balance due. If your balance due is less than the balance on your gift card you have to enter the exact amount to apply to current balance. Then, I go and apply the balance to the next cruise in line. I use the $500 cards and currently am working paying off my 9/25 Alaska cruise. Save a LOT of money! 

[Petersonfcu]

44 minutes ago, mitsugirly said:

Anyone know if we apply gift cards to our account, can you use the account for playing slots in the casino? Does it charge to the room? Or do you have to have cash? I can't remember.

Yes, when you first go to the slot machine and set up your account, it will ask you if you want to charge the funds to your room.  You do that, and the gift cards on your sign and sail account will be used to fund your slot account,.

[ZoeyVictoria]

On 3/17/2024 at 8:14 PM, mitsugirly said:

 

Exactly. I was hoping it would just go on my account and stay there to use during the cruise instead of having to reload once on board. 

I added gift cards using the kiosk once I was on board. The two gift cards with full balances were applied with no issues, but the card with a small balance ($18) just wouldn’t go through. I took it to Guest Services and they applied it easily.