carnival gift card

[stellarose]

so my in laws gave us a gift card. my question is can I add it to our "account" and then if hubby uses his sign and sail card for a drink-  the money is there or if I want to use it in the gift shop. Or do I have to carry the gift card all the time. 

[moondog73]

Load it to your account once you are on board.  It will be used first for whatever you purchase on the ship 

[blarko]

You don’t need have to carry it around with you. You can apply it to your account at check in or once on board. You will then have a credit on your account and any purchases made will be deducted from the balance remaining on your account.

[cmichael1279]

To save the hassle of going directly to Guest Services upon boarding, I'd suggest adding a credit card to you account when you check-in online, then stop by GS at some point during the cruise when there's not a line - always works for us!

[Envelope21]

7 hours ago, cmichael1279 said:

To save the hassle of going directly to Guest Services upon boarding, I'd suggest adding a credit card to you account when you check-in online, then stop by GS at some point during the cruise when there's not a line - always works for us!

Just an FYI ... we tried to do this prior to our last cruise and were informed that since we booked through a travel agent, we had to do it through them.

[cmichael1279]

1 hour ago, Envelope21 said:

Just an FYI ... we tried to do this prior to our last cruise and were informed that since we booked through a travel agent, we had to do it through them.

Had to do what through the travel agent? 

[Envelope21]

2 hours ago, cmichael1279 said:

Had to do what through the travel agent? 

Tried to add our gift card to our account online before the cruise. We wanted to pay our gratuities with it. They said it had to go through the travel agent. We ended up waiting and doing it at Guest Services.

[cmichael1279]

15 minutes ago, Envelope21 said:

Tried to add our gift card to our account online before the cruise. We wanted to pay our gratuities with it. They said it had to go through the travel agent. We ended up waiting and doing it at Guest Services.

Right - that's why I suggested adding a credit card to your account when you check-in online, so you don't have to rush to guest services right when you board the ship, to add the credit card.  Just wait until the middle of the cruise when the lines aren't long and add the gift card then.

[Envelope21]

My bad. I thought adding the credit card online was just a given and something you always do during online check-in. The OP was talking about gift cards.

[jdoc2007]

Or buy cruise cash with the gift card ahead of time, eliminates the need to wait in line at GS while on the ship.

[2wheelin]

1 hour ago, Envelope21 said:

Tried to add our gift card to our account online before the cruise. We wanted to pay our gratuities with it. They said it had to go through the travel agent. We ended up waiting and doing it at Guest Services.

You can’t add the gift card to your account before sail date but you can use it to have your travel agent prepay gratuities.

My upcoming cruise we have four people in one cabin—each paying their own expenses. I have gift cards for two of us to add for cash account. Other two each have their own gift cards/credit cards to use. Hope they will be able to keep all the “cash” allotted to the proper person. Think I will just set up the online account with one credit card and say they can all charge on it until we get onboard to add the gift cards.

[LibratPDX]

 

1 hour ago, jdoc2007 said:

Or buy cruise cash with the gift card ahead of time, eliminates the need to wait in line at GS while on the ship.

I did that once but when I arrived for embarkation it wasn't immediately apparent and they had to do further checking to find my cruise cash deposit.  It was a little odd so I haven't tried it again!  

1 hour ago, Envelope21 said:

Tried to add our gift card to our account online before the cruise. We wanted to pay our gratuities with it. They said it had to go through the travel agent. We ended up waiting and doing it at Guest Services.

I don't know why they would say you would have to pay via a travel agent unless they misunderstood and thought you were just trying to pay your balance!  I always add my credit card for easy embarkation but visit GS to apply my gift cards to my account.  My understanding is the kiosks don't work for that but I haven't tried it recently.

[NHNEV2003]

1 hour ago, cmichael1279 said:

Right - that's why I suggested adding a credit card to your account when you check-in online, so you don't have to rush to guest services right when you board the ship, to add the credit card.  Just wait until the middle of the cruise when the lines aren't long and add the gift card then.

Excellent advice regarding not going right away!