AARP Raises Limit on Gift Card Purchases

[PacnGoNow]

54 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.

No, haven’t been able to do that. Options to pay are CC or Paypal.  Not if you booked with a TA.

 

However, some have said they could do this if the booked directly with Princess.

 

But, you can buy the GC and call your TA or CVP and have them add the GC to your account as OBC.  Not all of them will do that, but you can ask.

 

The other route is to call into PCL and have them add your GC’s to your OBC for a cruise. IF and a big IF, you find a PCL agent who knows how to do this, you’re lucky.  I had so much trouble trying to get them added, mistakes, etc.  I will never try that again.  I just stop st GS when OB, 2nd day and they add it.  Took 5 mins!

[Redwing55]

7 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

No, haven’t been able to do that. Options to pay are CC or Paypal.  Not if you booked with a TA.

 

However, some have said they could do this if the booked directly with Princess.

 

But, you can buy the GC and call your TA or CVP and have them add the GC to your account as OBC.  Not all of them will do that, but you can ask.

 

The other route is to call into PCL and have them add your GC’s to your OBC for a cruise. IF and a big IF, you find a PCL agent who knows how to do this, you’re lucky.  I had so much trouble trying to get them added, mistakes, etc.  I will never try that again.  I just stop st GS when OB, 2nd day and they add it.  Took 5 mins!

My experience is different.  I've given the numbers to my TA to pay for a cruise.  I've used them to purchase OBCs.  I've used them to pay for the bid for upgrade.  No different than using a CC for me.  

[PacnGoNow]

3 minutes ago, Redwing55 said:

My experience is different.  I've given the numbers to my TA to pay for a cruise.  I've used them to purchase OBCs.  I've used them to pay for the bid for upgrade.  No different than using a CC for me.  

That’s the way it should work. I just didn’t get a PCL rep who knew how to do it.  I tried many times and gave up. Just created more problems for me to straighten out. 😳

[beg3yrs]

8 hours 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 did exactly that before the cruise. It was that unplanned visit to that darn Effy store that necessitated cashing in more gift cards.

 

Anyway, when I used the gift cards before the cruise to purchase OBC the Princess rep as well as myself discovered there is a $1500 per booking limit of pre-purchased OBC. Not sure if that was because of using gift cards or not.

 

As I said before, once on board, there was effectively no limit.

[Familycruzer11]

15 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

I did exactly that before the cruise. It was that unplanned visit to that darn Effy store that necessitated cashing in more gift cards.

 

Anyway, when I used the gift cards before the cruise to purchase OBC the Princess rep as well as myself discovered there is a $1500 per booking limit of pre-purchased OBC. Not sure if that was because of using gift cards or not.

 

As I said before, once on board, there was effectively no limit.

Amazing thread!  If I am understanding correctly - one can also purchase the gc on board, then bring digital card info to GS and have applied to ship account?  

[beg3yrs]

13 hours ago, Familycruzer11 said:

Amazing thread!  If I am understanding correctly - one can also purchase the gc on board, then bring digital card info to GS and have applied to ship account?  

As long as the ship's Internet is working, yes, you can go online to the AARP site, and purchase the cards.

 

Then you need to receive the emails from AARP which sometimes is quick and sometimes takes up to a day. Multiple times I'd receive 4 of 5 cards in email quickly and then it was multiple hours before the remainder showed up.

 

You will then have to get the PDF files referenced in each email and print them at the Internet Cafe.

 

From there, Guest Services will accept them. There's been one report that you could email the files to Guest Services and they would print them but ... that wouldn't be my preference. Too much out of my control there.

[Ken the cruiser]

Our plan is for both my DW and I to each purchase 5 GCs per month, as we have a total of 10 cruises with Princess we’re paying for over spread out over the next 2 years. What can I say, we’re cruiseaholics. 😂

 

Has anyone run into an issue with applying more that 5 GCs on a specific booking?

[Rick&Jeannie]

16 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

You will then have to get the PDF files referenced in each email and print them at the Internet Cafe.

 

Just FYI...None of the cards I have been buying over the past couple of months have a PDF file with the email.  There is a link in the email which takes you to an internet site where you can then print the "card".  Of course, you could always "print" the card to a PDF file if you have that capability.

[Rick&Jeannie]

13 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Has anyone run into an issue with applying more that 5 GCs on a specific booking?

I can't say for absolute certainty...but once you have the cards, Princess considers them "same as cash" so I don't think you should have any issue.  Actually...now that I think of it I have applied 7 or 8 on a single booking just within the last month.

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I can't say for absolute certainty...but once you have the cards, Princess considers them "same as cash" so I don't think you should have any issue.  Actually...now that I think of it I have applied 7 or 8 on a single booking just within the last month.

Perfect! Thank you once again for posting this thread!! 😁

[beach bunnie]

On 2/5/2023 at 2:45 PM, BURNSMN said:

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

No, the purchase is thru AARP not Princess.  If you use that card you get just one point not double.

[chubbypiggy]

2 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

You will then have to get the PDF files referenced in each email and print them at the Internet Cafe.

 

From there, Guest Services will accept them. There's been one report that you could email the files to Guest Services and they would print them but ... that wouldn't be my preference. Too much out of my control there.

Is there a charge to print at Internet Cafe?  How much per page?   Thanks.

[PacnGoNow]

4 hours ago, chubbypiggy said:

Is there a charge to print at Internet Cafe?  How much per page?   Thanks.

I never had to pay, but haven’t done that for a while.

[Thrak]

On 2/5/2023 at 8:11 AM, 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.

 

This "may" not actually be the case. On my bookings the Total Fare line includes the cost of flights. I plan to just give the card info to my TA and have him apply them to the Total Fare as listed on my booking. I did that in the past with "regular" Princess gift cards and it was not an issue.

[Thrak]

Something else I didn't know... The limit of 5 cards per month seems to apply to any and all cards. After purchasing 5 Princess cards and then attempting to get a Target card I was informed that I had reached my monthly limit of 5 cards.

[beg3yrs]

5 hours ago, chubbypiggy said:

Is there a charge to print at Internet Cafe?  How much per page?   Thanks.

I printed 20 pages of gift cards last month on the Sapphire Princess at no charge.

[beg3yrs]

Another thing I've heard about gift cards in general is that the redemption rate tends to be between 70 and 80%. If that's true about Princess gift cards, they can be sold all day at a 10% discount and Princess still makes a profit. So, I don't think Princess / AARP would stop the discount deal unless the redemption rate rises too high.

[chubbypiggy]

6 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

I printed 20 pages of gift cards last month on the Sapphire Princess at no charge.

 

1 hour ago, PacnGoNow said:

I never had to pay, but haven’t done that for a while.

 

6 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

 

Thank you.

[PacnGoNow]

8 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Our plan is for both my DW and I to each purchase 5 GCs per month, as we have a total of 10 cruises with Princess we’re paying for over spread out over the next 2 years. What can I say, we’re cruiseaholics. 😂

 

Has anyone run into an issue with applying more that 5 GCs on a specific booking?

No…Not a problem to pay for cruise fare and air.  

 

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

No…Not a problem to pay for cruise fare and air.  

So you’ve had luck using the AARP GCs to pay for Princess EzAir flights, unlike what the FAQ says in post #50 saying you can’t? Did you use a TA, your Princess Personalizer, or a Princess CVP to pay your cruise fare and EzAir charges?

[PacnGoNow]

8 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

So you’ve had luck using the AARP GCs to pay for Princess EzAir flights, unlike what the FAQ says in post #50 saying you can’t? Did you use a TA, your Princess Personalizer, or a Princess CVP to pay your cruise fare and EzAir charges?

I paid my final payment which was cruise fare and EZ Air.  I also used my CC to pay the small amount that was left over. 
 

I used a TA for my booking.  Hopefully, others can chime in on this too.

[jwattle]

8 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

I paid my final payment which was cruise fare and EZ Air.  I also used my CC to pay the small amount that was left over. 
 

I used a TA for my booking.  Hopefully, others can chime in on this too.

We paid ours with the gift cards, including EZ air through our TA.

[jacpedigo]

23 hours ago, jwattle said:

We paid ours with the gift cards, including EZ air through our TA.

Same.  I have not had a problem paying my total fare (including EZ Air) with gift cards through a TA.

[Clownfish Cruiser]

This is great! I had no idea. We have a balance due in April for a 10-day cruise. Time to start buying gift cards! 

[cavecreekguy]

Limit of 5 GCs per month. If I buy 5 GCs today, can I buy 5 more March 1? Or do I have to wait 30-ish days?

 

Thanks!