Anyone buying Mothers Day Gift Cards?

[Steelers36]

On 5/2/2020 at 4:11 PM, voljeep said:

so Princess upped the offer from 5% to 10% - sweet 

 

still not buying ... 

Yes, I saw that.  And it is tempting as where else can you make 10% on a cash investment?  Back at Valentine's we thought of it as guaranteed interest.  Now, not so much.  I was planning to jump into the MD promotion back then and buy more, but we are hesitant now.  I must say the 10% make it a very nice offer - and we will probably never see it again (unless on F Day, but that was < M Day offer last year).  

 

What it looks like is a way for Princess to borrow cash from customers and pay 10% vig, which is likely less than the lenders dealing with now.  And then those folks turn around and spend that bonus on board, so some profit back from it.  

 

I really don't think they are going bankrupt (or Chapter 11), and I would do some more (based on 2021 cruises), but I think we will just wait and buy more in future on the old 5% rate.  If I really thought we were going to pay for our Fall 2020 cruise, and it was going to go ahead, I would buy $3K more, but no thanks this time.  We have $7K on regular gift cards now, and if the unthinkable happens, could be out that chunk of cash with nothing to show for it.  It will end up going on 2021 cruise(s) at this point.

 

 

[Steelers36]

On 5/2/2020 at 4:55 PM, ontheweb said:

I did get the e-mail today with the offer, and I am apart from Mom. She would have been 101 now if she had not fell and broke her hip when she was not quite 99.

 

Her present chronic condition of being dead would prevent her from catching the coronavirus, but I would think it would also be one that would keep her from sailing. So, I guess I will pass on the offer. 

 

I wonder if they could get more people to take the offer by letting them take the amount of refund they have coming (we have a deposit + shore excursion payment due back from Princess) and count that towards the payment?

 

You don't have to have a Mother,  nor give her the card to use the offer.  I don't think you are going to be able to buy it the way you suggested, but I figure you realize that.

[Steelers36]

On 5/2/2020 at 9:07 PM, sfaaa said:

Nope. Expiry date on Dec 31, 2020 is the deal breaker. 

 

If that was your only concern, it should not be a concern at all.  As long as you are planning to cruise in 2021 or 2022, and have a booking in place with a deposit down, you can apply the Bonus Gift Card balance(s) towards your balance owing as long as you do it by Dec 31/2020.  You do not have to sail by Dec 31/2020.  If you subsequently cancel a booking to which you applied a Bonus Gift Card balance, you can re-use that Bonus GC as long as it is still prior to Dec 31/2020 and you have another booking to apply it to.  If you cancel a booking after Dec 31, then the GC Bonus is expired and worthless.

 

Example:  I bought $7K worth of GC's on Valentine's promo and applied the $350 Bonus GC's from that to our Fall 2020 cruise.  Prior to April 30/2020, the expiry date of those Bonus Cards, I transferred that payment ($350) to a Fall 2021 cruise.  I did that in attempt to protect my Bonus amount in the expectation that we will take that 2021 trip while the 2020 trip is quite doubtful. 

 

[Lone Hiker]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

I did that in attempt to protect my Bonus amount in the expectation that we will take that 2021 trip while the 2020 trip is quite doubtful. 

I did the same thing then when they cancelled the land cruise for Alaska 5 September 2020 I moved everything over to the 22May 2021 sailing.

[ontheweb]

7 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 

You don't have to have a Mother,  nor give her the card to use the offer.  I don't think you are going to be able to buy it the way you suggested, but I figure you realize that.

Yes, I realized that, but it would have been nice. And it would have cleared a lot of their debt for the return of deposits and total payments for cancelled cruises. At least some of the negativity towards how they are handling that might disappear, though obviously not all of it.

[Thrak]

12 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 

We discussed this on an earlier thread and I know your "special" situation, but for others who have gift card bonuses on a reservation that you plan to cancel, or likely to be cancelled, you can move the bonus amounts to another future booking before those bonuses expire.  The most recent bonus GC's expired on April 30 (Valentine's promo).

 

 

Yeah... Princess refused to move them and said it can't be done but they did, at least, "say" they extended the expiration date to September 30 "in order to allow time to refund the money to the cards". I'm not holding my breath.

[CineGraphic]

Holland America is currently offering a 20% bonus on gift cards. If Princess would match that, I’d probably buy some.

[BigTimeCruiser]

Why purchase Gift Cards when the cruise line hasn't repaid guests for cancelled cruises?  Not sure this would be a wise investment of funds at this point.

[voljeep]

40 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

Holland America is currently offering a 20% bonus on gift cards. If Princess would match that, I’d probably buy some.

 

8 minutes ago, BigTimeCruiser said:

Why purchase Gift Cards when the cruise line hasn't repaid guests for cancelled cruises?  Not sure this would be a wise investment of funds at this point.

agreed - and certainly not in HAL as it looks like they are seriously desperate at this time - maybe due to the age demographic or the cruisers 

[Thrak]

I checked my Travel Summary just now. The latest one I had downloaded showed the five $50 OBC purchases. Then I checked the one that is currently online and it shows only three of those credits. As Princess has said they would refund the money so I could then use the cards for another cruise I tried using their "Balance Checker" tool.  I thought maybe they had restored two of the cards. The tool returns a blank page for all five cards. I checked it with a valid $1,000 card and the tool worked fine. I wonder what the heck is going on.

[CineGraphic]

26 minutes ago, BigTimeCruiser said:

Why purchase Gift Cards when the cruise line hasn't repaid guests for cancelled cruises?  Not sure this would be a wise investment of funds at this point.

 

They don't owe me any money, but if they owe you money, you should be encouraging the purchase of gift cards. They can''t pull the $$$ out of their @$% to get you your refund. Where's the logic in your statement!?

[Roberto256]

1 hour ago, BigTimeCruiser said:

Why purchase Gift Cards when the cruise line hasn't repaid guests for cancelled cruises?  Not sure this would be a wise investment of funds at this point.

 

Why press your bet at the roulette table?

 

[Steelers36]

6 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

Holland America is currently offering a 20% bonus on gift cards. If Princess would match that, I’d probably buy some.

THAT is impressive.  I think I would be hard-pressed to pass it up.  No plans to sail HAL at this time, however (and not dissing them with that).

 

 

[CineGraphic]

20 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

THAT is impressive.  I think I would be hard-pressed to pass it up.  No plans to sail HAL at this time, however (and not dissing them with that).

 

 

We've only sailed HAL once, last year on the Nieuw Statendam, and they've been sending offesr for free cruises ever since, but my wife and I really like how we're treated on Princess. So much so, that we're turning down the 20% bonus and a free cruise. Call me stupid, but why spend a week or two on a ship where you're not happy with everything.

[dog]

I have been getting several emails from Princess promoting gift cards. Not making any purchases pre cruise anymore. 

[MJSailors]

      We received that e mail offer. Not interested in investing $1000 dollars at this time even though there is a 10% bonus involved.

Our situation is that we will not be taking a cruise anytime soon, if ever again. We are very close to Elite status,but ce sera sera.

         We viewed that offer as a way for Princess to collect funds. With that thought, the offer is an advantage to Princess,not the customer. iMHO

         It would be interesting to know how many of those gift cards were actually sold and if such a promo will appear again.

[PescadoAmarillo]

I received a short email yesterday from Sweet Tomatoes, a restaurant with a lot of memories for me (dating back to my dad, who loved that place) that they were closing. The email stated that reimbursement for any outstanding gift cards would have to be “through the courts”. 
 

I would not buy a gift card for any business now, except perhaps Lowes, regardless of how much of a discount or premium was offered. 

[TM]

I agree with Pescado.  No way I'm giving any company money in advance.  It's been 7 weeks since I requested a refund of FCDs and still no idea when I will receive that money.  In my book that is unacceptable.  Even though we have 25+ cruises with Princess I will not be sailing with them or any other cruise line until this coronavirus problem is corrected.  I can handle no buffets, no sharing of items on the table in the dining room, and even missing some of the entertainment due to reduced seating.  But no way am I going to wear a mask or struggle to find an outside chair to sit on due to social distancing.  And this lack of refunding my money is really putting a damper on my enthusiasm for Princess.  The excuse that Princess is overwhelmed right now is absolute BS.  The vast majority of other companies and merchants are able to refund customer money within a few business days.

[BigTimeCruiser]

42 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

I would not buy a gift card for any business now, except perhaps Lowes, regardless of how much of a discount or premium was offered. 

I agree totally.  Too much money being held by a multitude of companies right now.

[LDVinNC]

We received a gift card at Christmas for a restaurant that had been in business for quite a while.  It went belly-up before we could use the card.  Hate it for us, but even more for those who lost their jobs.  No gift cards for us, except maybe Amazon.

[Reader0108598]

On 5/9/2020 at 11:35 AM, PescadoAmarillo said:

I received a short email yesterday from Sweet Tomatoes, a restaurant with a lot of memories for me (dating back to my dad, who loved that place) that they were closing. The email stated that reimbursement for any outstanding gift cards would have to be “through the courts”. 
 

I would not buy a gift card for any business now, except perhaps Lowes, regardless of how much of a discount or premium was offered. 

That is a shame! 😞

 

[Cuedon]

These can be used for OBCs too, in addition to bookings, right?

[caribill]

3 hours ago, Cuedon said:

These can be used for OBCs too, in addition to bookings, right?

Yes