AARP Raises Limit on Gift Card Purchases

[CATGUY7]

I was unable to use my desktop - kept getting the error message to call customer service.  I noticed that AARP had used my two first initials as my name, and changed it, but still received the error message.  Used my phone today (with DuckDuckGo as my browser) and order went right through - using the same credit card I had previously tried on the desktop.  

[puggymom]

Just a warning to those ordering multiple cards at the same time (and I haven't read through this whole thread to see if anyone else reported it)

 

I ordered 5 gift cards on March 16.  Today I went in to apply them to my booking.  All was good with the first 4, on the 5th I received an error and when I checked the balance had been updated to zero.

 

I first called Princess who didn't see anything on their end.  As I'm on the phone with Princess I realized 2 of the cards had the same 16 digit code and 4 digit PIN.  I called AARP.  They did confirm I was missing a card as each card had an associated order #.  While on the phone AARP sent me the missing one.  I saw it come into my inbox and then POOF it disappeared.   I checked Spam, deleted and all other folders and it is gone.  They are resending it, but can take up to 24 hours to resend. Now I wait in limbo hoping the email comes and works so I don't have to make another call tomorrow.

[Jadn13]

I just had an issue receiving a gift card even though I was charged.

** Use a card that allows you to easily dispute (Amex refunded me in 30 mins)

-Take pictures of your confirmation

-Take pictures of your chat if you reach out for help. 

[jameslee]

For Princess GC purchase is it limit 5 per member so if two people have AARP then both can get the limit?

[Ken the cruiser]

11 minutes ago, jameslee said:

For Princess GC purchase is it limit 5 per member so if two people have AARP then both can get the limit?

Yes. Just remember to use separate credit cards and separate logins.

 

Edited April 3, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Rick&Jeannie]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Yes. Just remember to use separate credit cards and separate logins.

 

FYI...I was able to use the same credit card on a second account login...

[Thrak]

Bought 5 more today in my wire's name. Got a new credit card as a backup so I used that one. That makes 25 cards so far for a total of $12,500.

[Thrak]

Realized that I can't "split" the gift cards. My booked cruises don't come out to even numbers of $500 gift cards (duh...) so I'm buying 6 $100 gift cards. That way I can pay for a cruise with a bunch of $500 cards and add 2 or 3 $100 cards to make up most of the balance so I don't end up owing so much in other payment. Just bought 5 of the $100 cards.

 

I feel very sorry for my TA having to deal with Princess to use all of these cards. I would do it myself if Princess would let me but, since we are booked with a TA, I don't believe they will let me make payments on my own.

[HaveDogWillTravel]

3 hours ago, Thrak said:

Realized that I can't "split" the gift cards. My booked cruises don't come out to even numbers of $500 gift cards (duh...) so I'm buying 6 $100 gift cards. That way I can pay for a cruise with a bunch of $500 cards and add 2 or 3 $100 cards to make up most of the balance so I don't end up owing so much in other payment. Just bought 5 of the $100 cards.

 

I feel very sorry for my TA having to deal with Princess to use all of these cards. I would do it myself if Princess would let me but, since we are booked with a TA, I don't believe they will let me make payments on my own.

I have ‘split’ my gift cards multiple times. I use a great PVP. I’ve even had partial refunded GC applied to other bookings. I can apply GC myself to pay for bookings. When I want to use GC to load extra OBC after final payment I have to ask my PVP to do it. 

[justafem]

I bought 2 AARP cards, one from home and one while on the cruise for March 12-27 2023 .  No problems either time.  I went to the service desk two different times and had them applied to my account.  

 

Planning on buying more for an April 2024 cruise.  

 

I'll gladly save an additional 10%!

 

Thanks to everyone for convincing me to buy them.  

[Musky Ike]

10 hours ago, Thrak said:

Realized that I can't "split" the gift cards. My booked cruises don't come out to even numbers of $500 gift cards (duh...) so I'm buying 6 $100 gift cards. That way I can pay for a cruise with a bunch of $500 cards and add 2 or 3 $100 cards to make up most of the balance so I don't end up owing so much in other payment. Just bought 5 of the $100 cards.

 

I feel very sorry for my TA having to deal with Princess to use all of these cards. I would do it myself if Princess would let me but, since we are booked with a TA, I don't believe they will let me make payments on my own.

If by split you mean partial use, you could always do that before? You could apply part to one cruise and save the rest for another or apply the remainder to your account onboard. Has something changed?

 

I felt the same about burdening my TA but she is good about it and I tip with praise and great reviews. I will get over it for the money I save.

 

[Thrak]

8 hours ago, Musky Ike said:

If by split you mean partial use, you could always do that before? You could apply part to one cruise and save the rest for another or apply the remainder to your account onboard. Has something changed?

 

I felt the same about burdening my TA but she is good about it and I tip with praise and great reviews. I will get over it for the money I save.

 

 

Really? I had no idea I could spend "part" of a gift card. This is the first time we've had a B2B2B that wasn't cancelled due to Covid. (We've had two of them cancelled.) I've only used them on single cruises before. Hmmm... This changes things. It means I can fully pay off all 3 segments with gift cards.

 

If I can have "leftover" funds applied as OBC that is even better. The first (14 day) segment has only the Shareholder OBC as I had no FCD when I booked it. (The second and third segments have shareholder OBC, FCD OBC, and Promotional OBC.)

[Musky Ike]

43 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Really? I had no idea I could spend "part" of a gift card. This is the first time we've had a B2B2B that wasn't cancelled due to Covid. (We've had two of them cancelled.) I've only used them on single cruises before. Hmmm... This changes things. It means I can fully pay off all 3 segments with gift cards.

 

If I can have "leftover" funds applied as OBC that is even better. The first (14 day) segment has only the Shareholder OBC as I had no FCD when I booked it. (The second and third segments have shareholder OBC, FCD OBC, and Promotional OBC.)

I write the balance on a printed copy of the digital card so i know what is remaining but you can also check the balance through the Princess web page. Just click on gift cards under celebrations at the very bottom.

[jameslee]

Can these princess gift cards be used abroad for gratuities? My princess payment was due today and it was 48 hours and AARP still have not sent me my gift cards. I paid my cruise in full today except gratuities 

[that]

Yes

[that]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

Really? I had no idea I could spend "part" of a gift card. This is the first time we've had a B2B2B that wasn't cancelled due to Covid. (We've had two of them cancelled.) I've only used them on single cruises before. Hmmm... This changes things. It means I can fully pay off all 3 segments with gift cards.

 

If I can have "leftover" funds applied as OBC that is even better. The first (14 day) segment has only the Shareholder OBC as I had no FCD when I booked it. (The second and third segments have shareholder OBC, FCD OBC, and Promotional OBC.)

Yes, really.

 

[Jadn13]

11 hours ago, jameslee said:

Can these princess gift cards be used abroad for gratuities? My princess payment was due today and it was 48 hours and AARP still have not sent me my gift cards. I paid my cruise in full today except gratuities 

Keep an eye on it. I never received my cards and had to reach out to Amex after AARP was less than helpful to dispute the charge. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

18 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Really? I had no idea I could spend "part" of a gift card. This is the first time we've had a B2B2B that wasn't cancelled due to Covid. (We've had two of them cancelled.) I've only used them on single cruises before. Hmmm... This changes things. It means I can fully pay off all 3 segments with gift cards.

 

If I can have "leftover" funds applied as OBC that is even better. The first (14 day) segment has only the Shareholder OBC as I had no FCD when I booked it. (The second and third segments have shareholder OBC, FCD OBC, and Promotional OBC.)

I've used a partial GC online once before.  Instead of entering the full amount of the GC just write in the amount you want to apply.  Or...just tell your TA to use "X" amount.  Have done that as well, also.

[pompeii]

Does it take a little while for them to work?  I just bought one, received it in my email, went to Get your Reward so I have the gift card number and pin, and when I enter it on the Princess payment page under Gift Card, it gives me an error message and tells me to call Princess.  I wondered should I wait a little bit and try again?  Or should it work right away?

[pompeii]

2 minutes ago, pompeii said:

Does it take a little while for them to work?  I just bought one, received it in my email, went to Get your Reward so I have the gift card number and pin, and when I enter it on the Princess payment page under Gift Card, it gives me an error message and tells me to call Princess.  I wondered should I wait a little bit and try again?  Or should it work right away?

Well, never mind.  I went back in and manually entered the GC number.  The first time I had copied and pasted it.  So either typing in the number was the difference or it just took a couple of minutes to work.  

[justafem]

They're normal gift cards.  And like any gift card, they don't have to be spent at one time.  

 

But I'll never have a problem applying the entire amount for a cruise, even if I have to add it while on the cruise!  

[beg3yrs]

2 hours ago, pompeii said:

Well, never mind.  I went back in and manually entered the GC number.  The first time I had copied and pasted it.  So either typing in the number was the difference or it just took a couple of minutes to work.  

I discovered an issue with copy and paste but it also involves the Excel spreadsheet program.

 

When I would receive a plethora of ten emails each month (mine and DW's), I would copy and paste the card numbers and PINs into a spreadsheet which also recorded the date purchased and could keep track of when and on what a particular card was spent.

 

Now and then I'd use the online gift card balance check to verify a card's balance and started to receive the "call Princess" error message. After several hours of sleuthing I found that Excel doesn't really like to directly paste long strings of numbers into cells as text. Instead it will change the last digit or two of the long number and not even give you a hint of a problem! Fortunately I had saved all the files and was able to recover the correct numbers.

 

The Excel workaround is to not paste directly into a cell (even Paste Special doesn't work correctly) but to use the formula bar at the top of the screen. First one must type a single apostrophe and then paste. Then everything works as Excel should, not as Mr. Gates and his minions implemented it!

[pompeii]

12 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

I discovered an issue with copy and paste but it also involves the Excel spreadsheet program.

 

When I would receive a plethora of ten emails each month (mine and DW's), I would copy and paste the card numbers and PINs into a spreadsheet which also recorded the date purchased and could keep track of when and on what a particular card was spent.

 

Now and then I'd use the online gift card balance check to verify a card's balance and started to receive the "call Princess" error message. After several hours of sleuthing I found that Excel doesn't really like to directly paste long strings of numbers into cells as text. Instead it will change the last digit or two of the long number and not even give you a hint of a problem! Fortunately I had saved all the files and was able to recover the correct numbers.

 

The Excel workaround is to not paste directly into a cell (even Paste Special doesn't work correctly) but to use the formula bar at the top of the screen. First one must type a single apostrophe and then paste. Then everything works as Excel should, not as Mr. Gates and his minions implemented it!

Interesting.  My issue didn't involve Excel but the payment screen just didn't like copy and paste.  I always paste numbers if possible because then there's no chance of mis-typing.  However, I managed to get the numbers in correctly, so all is good now.  In fact, that first one was a test and once it worked, I bought four more and applied those.  

[Rick&Jeannie]

I've had some issues in the past with copying directly from the GC website.  The idiosyncrasies of some websites just don't cooperate with cut/paste.  The HTML "behind the scenes" will sometimes embed a hidden control character like EOL or CR.  I just started printing out a hardcopy (I keep them on file until after the cruise anyway) and then *carefully* typing them in manually.

[brisalta]

3 hours ago, pompeii said:

Well, never mind.  I went back in and manually entered the GC number.  The first time I had copied and pasted it.  So either typing in the number was the difference or it just took a couple of minutes to work.  

 

You probably copied formatting information with it and that caused problems.  If you want to copy and paste you need to perform an intermediate step of pasting into a text only editor that does not preserve formatting. Then copy that text and paste into the payment field.