AARP Raises Limit on Gift Card Purchases

[linaka625]

53 minutes ago, Mary loves to travel said:

are you able to use a gift card to pay for EZAir?   On the FAQ it says:

 

Q: Are there any restrictions in using the Princess Cruises Gift Card towards the payment of products and services offered by Princess Cruises?
A: The Princess Cruises Gift Card can be used for most Princess products and services, with the exception of payment towards Land Excursions and eZAir.

My final payment isn't due until September, so I may be wrong.  I was planning on paying the balance with gift cards.  Thanks for pointing that out.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, Mary loves to travel said:

are you able to use a gift card to pay for EZAir?   On the FAQ it says:

 

Q: Are there any restrictions in using the Princess Cruises Gift Card towards the payment of products and services offered by Princess Cruises?
A: The Princess Cruises Gift Card can be used for most Princess products and services, with the exception of payment towards Land Excursions and eZAir.

Thanks Mary for posting this. We saw the same FAQ and were wondering the same thing. 

[chubbypiggy]

Option to buy AARP Princess gift cards at 10% off (limit 5) has been around for years or only since the Pandemic when Princess business not doing well?  Wonder how long this discount will be around?  Debating if should stock up on those gift cards before the promotion goes away?  We only cruise with Princess, and on the average, probably only spend about $15,000-$20,000/yr.  

 

 

[Sailaway617]

Could a gift card be used to pay for an upgrade bid? Is it used the same way a credit card would be on the cruise personalizer or payment section of a Princess account?

[Buckeye10640]

On 2/3/2023 at 10:40 PM, Rick&Jeannie said:

I logged onto AARP today to purchase a couple of gift cards today.  They have changed the "notice" about there being a limit of 5 GC purchases a month.  It now says 25!

Hey, thanks for posting this. I had forgotten about it and have a final payment coming up. Bought one just to test it out (although I used it a few years ago) and worked great. Now to buy 4 more! Limit is 5 per month for Princess, which I saw you corrected in a later post. 

Edited February 5, 2023 by Buckeye10640

[BURNSMN]

If you use your Barclays Princess Visa to purchase these gift cards will you still get your double points from Princess?

[Rick&Jeannie]

2 hours ago, chubbypiggy said:

Option to buy AARP Princess gift cards at 10% off (limit 5) has been around for years or only since the Pandemic when Princess business not doing well?  Wonder how long this discount will be around?  Debating if should stock up on those gift cards before the promotion goes away?  We only cruise with Princess, and on the average, probably only spend about $15,000-$20,000/yr.  

 

 

This is not a "promotion".  At least not by Princess.  This is solely a function of AARP discounting...but of course there's no way to say how long it will last.  However...take a look at *all* of the cruise line gift cards that they offer.  My personal opinion?  AARP realizes that its members gravitate to this type of offering (travel...not just saving 10%).  But then again...you don't have to be an AARP member to purchase...just sign up for AARP Rewards.  As best I can tell there is no expiration...but I tend to purchase cards as I need them.  You will get an email within about 5 minutes with a link to your "e-card".

[Redwing55]

1 hour ago, Sailaway617 said:

Could a gift card be used to pay for an upgrade bid? Is it used the same way a credit card would be on the cruise personalizer or payment section of a Princess account?

Yes, I just used it for ours.

[Rick&Jeannie]

36 minutes ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Hey, thanks for posting this. I had forgotten about it and have a final payment coming up. Bought one just to test it out (although I used it a few years ago) and worked great. Now to buy 4 more! Limit is 5 per month for Princess, which I saw you corrected in a later post. 

Yes...I made a bad assumption when I posted the original post after having just bought a couple of cards for a Carnival cruise.  For some reason they allow 25 cards purchased for Carnival.  I (erroneously) thought they had changed the terms across the board.  Apologies to everyone!  (It's still a great deal...!)

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, Sailaway617 said:

Could a gift card be used to pay for an upgrade bid? Is it used the same way a credit card would be on the cruise personalizer or payment section of a Princess account?

As far as these cards are viewed by Princess...they are the same as cash.  They have no way of knowing (or caring) that you got them at 10% off.  Use them pre-cruise for payment or on board for services there.

[Rick&Jeannie]

For anyone who is concerned about these cards expiring... the text contained in the email you receive (with the link to redeem) explicitly says:

 

²EXPIRATION DATE: Does not expire

[Ken the cruiser]

On 2/4/2023 at 2:22 PM, jjack413 said:

Try this link https://www.aarp.org/rewards/redeem/?intcmp=OC-COMM-RWDS-RED-cruisegiftcards322

That link worked perfectly for us. Thank you so much for posting it! 😁

[roadster08]

From what I read, the terms and conditions of how these cards are able to be used is not the same across every cruise line that offers them.

 

Best to be sure to read the restrictions first  when buying these cards, especially for a different cruise line like Carnival, Celebrity or Royal Caribbean. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

4 minutes ago, roadster08 said:

From what I read, the terms and conditions of how these cards are able to be used is not the same across every cruise line that offers them.

 

Best to be sure to read the restrictions first  when buying these cards, especially for a different cruise line like Carnival, Celebrity or Royal Caribbean. 

That just seems to drive home the fact that these are cards being supplied by each cruise line itself...with their own "set of rules".  If this was an offering from AARP you would at least think that the rules were standardized.

[chubbypiggy]

55 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

This is not a "promotion".  At least not by Princess.  This is solely a function of AARP discounting...but of course there's no way to say how long it will last.  However...take a look at *all* of the cruise line gift cards that they offer.  My personal opinion?  AARP realizes that its members gravitate to this type of offering (travel...not just saving 10%).  But then again...you don't have to be an AARP member to purchase...just sign up for AARP Rewards.  As best I can tell there is no expiration...but I tend to purchase cards as I need them.  You will get an email within about 5 minutes with a link to your "e-card".

Thank you.  On the average, we spent and will continue to spend $15,00-$20,000+/yr on Princess cruises, so 10% off is really a big saving.  That is why I am debating if we should buy $20,000 ($5,000 a month for 4 months) while that offer is still around. 

[Ken the cruiser]

5 hours ago, roadster08 said:

From what I read, the terms and conditions of how these cards are able to be used is not the same across every cruise line that offers them.

 

Best to be sure to read the restrictions first  when buying these cards, especially for a different cruise line like Carnival, Celebrity or Royal Caribbean. 

I saw Carnival and Royal Caribbean, but I didn’t see a gift card for Celebrity. Are you thinking you can use the RCI gift card on Celebrity? If so, has anyone had any luck using them on a Celebrity booking?

 

[Shelly97060]

On 2/4/2023 at 11:07 AM, beg3yrs said:

Nope, they wanted the hard copy for their files.

 

  My last 2 cruise (Diamond and Royal) I purchased AARP Princess GC while on the ship to pay my onboard account and both times the rep asked me to email a screenshot to them so they could print it out.  
 

If I had purchased before boarding and printed copy ( or visited the Internet Cafe to print)  it would have expedited the process.
 

Previously I just showed the card on my device but I think this may be a new policy.

[roadster08]

42 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I saw Carnival and Royal Caribbean, but I didn’t see a gift card for Celebrity. Are you thinking you can use the RCI gift card on Celebrity? If so, has anyone had any luck using them on a Celebrity booking?

 

It's in members only. 

[Ken the cruiser]

3 minutes ago, roadster08 said:

It's in members only. 

Would you by chance be able to post a link to the specific “Members Only” page at www.AARP.org so we won’t have to go through the “searching” ordeal to find where we can purchase Celebrity Gift Cards once my DW has the time to log in with her AARP membership userid? I’m assuming I can’t use my “free” AARP Rewards login I just created today.

[Rick&Jeannie]

3 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Would you by chance be able to post a link to the specific “Members Only” page at www.AARP.org so we won’t have to go through the “searching” ordeal to find where we can purchase Celebrity Gift Cards once my DW has the time to log in with her AARP membership userid? I’m assuming I can’t use my “free” AARP Rewards login I just created today.

https://www.aarp.org/rewards/redeem/#sort-by=default&type=filter_travel

[Ken the cruiser]

28 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

https://www.aarp.org/rewards/redeem/#sort-by=default&type=filter_travel

Thanks. I checked out the “Premium” Celebrity GC T&C. Basically the way I read it, you can buy up to 25 Celebrity GCs per month, but can only redeem up to $1,000 (2 GCs) per stateroom per booking AND only at the time you initially book the cruise.

That is definitely no where near the value it appears we get when purchasing the “regular” Princess GCs (5 per month) with no limit to the amount you can use on a new or existing Princess booking, or am I missing something?
 

Celebrity GC T&C section that caught my eye:

 

Disclosure

*This is a Premium item. Premium items have a limit of 25 per month. Limited time offer while supplies last. Fulfilled as a digital gift code.

 

Rewards Terms

Card is valid only for Celebrity Cruise sailings and can ONLY be used for new bookings, not to be used to settle any ship board charges. Can redeem up to $500 in gift cards per person/per sailing, $1,000 total per stateroom. Can only be redeemed by US/Canadian residents calling (888) 837-5676. 

Edited February 6, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 minute ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Thanks. I checked out the “Premium” Celebrity GC T&C. Basically the way I read it, you can buy up to 25 Celebrity GCs per month, but can only redeem up to $1,000 (2 GCs) per stateroom per booking.

That is definitely no where near the value it appears we get when purchasing the “regular” Princess GCs (5 per month) with no limit to the amount you can use on a new or existing Princess booking, or am I missing something?
 

Celebrity GC T&C section that caught my eye:

 

Disclosure

*This is a Premium item. Premium items have a limit of 25 per month. Limited time offer while supplies last. Fulfilled as a digital gift code.

 

Rewards Terms

Card is valid only for Celebrity Cruise sailings and can ONLY be used for new bookings, not to be used to settle any ship board charges. Can redeem up to $500 in gift cards per person/per sailing, $1,000 total per stateroom. Can only be redeemed by US/Canadian residents calling (888) 837-5676. 

Wow!  That's quite different from Princess and Carnival.  Again...each line sets its own rules.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Wow!  That's quite different from Princess and Carnival.  Again...each line sets its own rules.

For us, too much work for too little reward regarding the Celebrity GCs. Basically, you can save $100 per booking, but only if you redeem them at the time you book the cruise. And if you’re booking through a TA, that’s only if your TA knows how to apply them when they book the cruise for you (if they even can).

[cruisers0708]

14 hours ago, Shelly97060 said:

  My last 2 cruise (Diamond and Royal) I purchased AARP Princess GC while on the ship to pay my onboard account and both times the rep asked me to email a screenshot to them so they could print it out.  
 

If I had purchased before boarding and printed copy ( or visited the Internet Cafe to print)  it would have expedited the process.
 

Previously I just showed the card on my device but I think this may be a new policy.

Do you suppose you could purchase OBC (cruise line website) using a GC prior to cruise?  This would eliminate having to bring printed copy to guest services.

[Rick&Jeannie]

21 minutes ago, cruisers0708 said:

Do you suppose you could purchase OBC (cruise line website) using a GC prior to cruise?  This would eliminate having to bring printed copy to guest services.

I would think so...it's just like cash as far as Princess is concerned.