Celebrity Gift Cards (AARP)

[Oldsweets]

Don’t make my mistake!  I have successfully used Carnival gift cards purchased through AARP and assumed that Celebrity gift cards would work the same.  You know what they say about assuming.  Well the fine print says only for new bookings $500 credited per passenger with max of $1,000 per booking.  Can NOT be used onboard only for booking.  It’s my own fault but boy am I disappointed and frustrated.  As much with myself for missing the fine print as with celebrity.  Just a warning so you don’t let Celebrity’s restrictive policy’s burn you as well.   Guess we will see if we can use these on a future Blue Chip booking. 

[Jim_Iain]

Thanks for pointing out.    I once read the fine print an realized it wasn't for me.

 

[NutsAboutGolf]

45 minutes ago, Oldsweets said:

Don’t make my mistake!  I have successfully used Carnival gift cards purchased through AARP and assumed that Celebrity gift cards would work the same.  You know what they say about assuming.  Well the fine print says only for new bookings $500 credited per passenger with max of $1,000 per booking.  Can NOT be used onboard only for booking.  It’s my own fault but boy am I disappointed and frustrated.  As much with myself for missing the fine print as with celebrity.  Just a warning so you don’t let Celebrity’s restrictive policy’s burn you as well.   Guess we will see if we can use these on a future Blue Chip booking. 

 

I posted about this, look at my title:

 

 

 

Edited February 28, 2023 by NutsAboutGolf

[Cruisewilm]

Also in the fine print: for use on cruise fare only ie not for government taxes. And if the cruise fare is less than $500, too bad.  You lose the remainder on the gift card. No balance can be left to use on another cruise. My newly discovered good deal has turned into a nightmare!

[abbydancer2003]

I think Celebrity uses a third party for those, whereas the CCL Brands are their's.

[seekatz]

Thanks for the post. If you only use part of the gift card for your fare, would the remaining balance not be still on the card? This could be used for your next cruise. The wording was 

19 hours ago, Cruisewilm said:

Also in the fine print: for use on cruise fare only ie not for government taxes. And if the cruise fare is less than $500, too bad.  You lose the remainder on the gift card. No balance can be left to use on another cruise. My newly discovered good deal has turned into a nightmare!

Would you loose the remaining balance, or have it available for your next cruise?

Thanks

[KKB]

THANK YOU for posting this!

I was about to snag one for OBC for next months cruise!

[Cruisewilm]

13 hours ago, seekatz said:

Thanks for the post. If you only use part of the gift card for your fare, would the remaining balance not be still on the card? This could be used for your next cruise. The wording was 

Would you loose the remaining balance, or have it available for your next cruise?

Thanks

After much discussion with several Celebrity reps, the reply was that the balance is lost if you don't use it in it's entirety on the purchase of cruise fare for ONE new booking.  Cannot be used against any taxes.  Cannot be used for OBC or gratuities.  Any remaining balance cannot be saved for future use. 

The fine print says it cannot be returned for a cash refund but we never asked for that.  We just wanted to maintain the balance for a future new cruise booking.

The fine print does NOT state the gift card must be used for only ONE cruise.  We asked to have the fine print changed to reflect this for future sales of these gift cards.  We were told it would have to go to their legal department.  We provided our email and asked to be notified when the verbiage was changed. Will post again if this ever happens!

[alyssamma]

AFAIK, this is a RCCL vs CCL difference. Princess, HAL, and Carnival all allow gift cards to be used for whatever in whatever denomination.

 

Royal and X only allow two with a $1K max limit.

 

[SRQbeachgirl]

I think I just made a mistake. The final balance for our November Reflection cruise is due at the end of this month and I just bought two AARP gift cards thinking I could use them toward that final balance. But does a NEW booking mean I can't use them for final balance? 

 

If I can't, I guess I'll just use them when we get ready to book another cruise, but...dang.  

[publicpersona]

Be equally careful of cruise line gift cards purchased at a discount from online gift card resellers. They are very difficult to actually use. You can't, for example, go online to make a payment on your cruise with them. You have to talk to someone to get it applied. And when I did get connected to someone to apply it, they wanted to verify that I was a travel agent. Wait .. what? Fortunately, I did get it applied eventually, but lesson learned.

[hrmkr]

49 minutes ago, SRQbeachgirl said:

I think I just made a mistake. The final balance for our November Reflection cruise is due at the end of this month and I just bought two AARP gift cards thinking I could use them toward that final balance. But does a NEW booking mean I can't use them for final balance? 

 

If I can't, I guess I'll just use them when we get ready to book another cruise, but...dang.  

I am thinking about booking a Celebrity cruise.  I looked on the AARP website and read the "fine print".  It gave a phone number (888-837-5676 ) for Celebrity customer service.  They said that I cannot use the gift cards toward the initial payment when booking but CAN use them (up to $500 per person- Total of $1000 per stateroom) towards any other payment. So, you should be able to use it for your final payment. You may want to call just to be safe to make sure you get the same answer from another person.

[SRQbeachgirl]

4 minutes ago, hrmkr said:

I am thinking about booking a Celebrity cruise.  I looked on the AARP website and read the "fine print".  It gave a phone number (888-837-5676 ) for Celebrity customer service.  They said that I cannot use the gift cards toward the initial payment when booking but CAN use them (up to $500 per person- Total of $1000 per stateroom) towards any other payment. So, you should be able to use it for your final payment. You may want to call just to be safe to make sure you get the same answer from another person.

 

Thank you! I will call tomorrow to get the official word (and report back here so others will know).

[hrmkr]

2 minutes ago, SRQbeachgirl said:

 

Thank you! I will call tomorrow to get the official word (and report back here so others will know).

I'm just interested in seeing if you get the same answer that I did.  By the way, I just called them a few minutes ago

[N.Ice]

5 hours ago, hrmkr said:

I'm just interested in seeing if you get the same answer that I did.  By the way, I just called them a few minutes ago

Fyi... there is another thread on this forum stating that Celebrity has eliminated the $500/person, $1,000/stateroom limit on Gift Cards.  All of the other mentioned conditions still apply... so still can't use it for the deposit, only for outstanding booking balance, not for onboard expenditures, and no refund if you cancel the cruise.

[alyssamma]

3 hours ago, N.Ice said:

Fyi... there is another thread on this forum stating that Celebrity has eliminated the $500/person, $1,000/stateroom limit on Gift Cards.  All of the other mentioned conditions still apply... so still can't use it for the deposit, only for outstanding booking balance, not for onboard expenditures, and no refund if you cancel the cruise.

Yeah, I'm the OP of that thread. You can definitely use it the way @SRQbeachgirl wants to.

 

As for the no refund, a few people have now said that X will refund to a new GC. I suspect when they removed the 1k limit there was a lot of confusion on their end so maybe the policy has evolved a little. We won't know for sure until someone tries it 😀

 

One other thing to watch out for is it seems that some trip insurances will NOT cover portions of the trip paid with a gift card. We typically use nationwide and they said they *think* it should be covered, lol, but we called another and they said no. I think the issue is being able to prove you a) bought the card and b) actually used it to pay for the cruise.

 

[SRQbeachgirl]

13 hours ago, hrmkr said:

I'm just interested in seeing if you get the same answer that I did.  By the way, I just called them a few minutes ago

 

5 hours ago, alyssamma said:

Yeah, I'm the OP of that thread. You can definitely use it the way @SRQbeachgirl wants to.

 

 

I just called and successfully applied both AARP gift cards to my balance due. The whole process was super easy and the call took less than five minutes. No hold time at all, either. Not bad for $100 in savings (two $500 cards).

 

Definitely important to read that fine print so people don't mistakenly think they can use these for shore excursions, onboard purchases, etc., but for paying a balance due it can be a good deal--just know the limitations and refund policy. Maybe someday they will go to a gift card process more like Carnival Corp. so you can use them for everything and apply them yourself online rather than making a phone call.

[Ellaleah]

45 minutes ago, SRQbeachgirl said:

 

 

I just called and successfully applied both AARP gift cards to my balance due. The whole process was super easy and the call took less than five minutes. No hold time at all, either. Not bad for $100 in savings (two $500 cards).

 

Definitely important to read that fine print so people don't mistakenly think they can use these for shore excursions, onboard purchases, etc., but for paying a balance due it can be a good deal--just know the limitations and refund policy. Maybe someday they will go to a gift card process more like Carnival Corp. so you can use them for everything and apply them yourself online rather than making a phone call.

My cruise is not until 11/24.  I booked quite awhile ago.  I have called Celebrity and been told that their policy has changed allowing one to use multiple gift cards to pay your cruise balance.  I have bought 1 $500. Card so far.  I will call again (ask for Rewards dept) and ask when I am closer.  This will be my first Celebrity,but I have closely followed the threads on here.  I trust Celebrity as far as i might throw a ship!  Just last week I called for assistance during the flash sale with upgrading my AI Wi Fi because I didn’t see the option on my planner.  I was assisted and charged.  In looking at it after I realized that I was charged too much for the upgrade.  I phoned again and it was adjusted.  It felt like they were using a hand calculator.  They do not inspire confidence!  It felt very rinky dink!

[avi8trgal]

So what is the FINAL answer on all of this? 

 

You can buy and use as many as you want from AARP???

 

We have a $2000 balance left... Can we buy 4 $500 gift cards with the discount? 

[Ken the cruiser]

FWIW you may want to read what I found out about AARP Celebrity Gift Cards.

 

 

 

[SRQbeachgirl]

2 hours ago, avi8trgal said:

So what is the FINAL answer on all of this? 

 

You can buy and use as many as you want from AARP???

 

We have a $2000 balance left... Can we buy 4 $500 gift cards with the discount? 

 

Final answer - you can use a maximum of 2 AARP $500 gift cards to make final payment. 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

16 minutes ago, SRQbeachgirl said:

 

Final answer - you can use a maximum of 2 AARP $500 gift cards to make final payment. 

 

Look at post #23 on the above link I posted in #20 regarding Celebrity’s latest rule regarding AARP (and possibly other) Gift Cards.

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[KKB]

On 8/21/2023 at 6:48 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

Look at post #23 on the above link I posted in #20 regarding Celebrity’s latest rule regarding AARP (and possibly other) Gift Cards.

 

I just got off the phone & confirm this email.

No limit to how many can be used--but CANNOT be used for taxes.

Call the number above in email to apply to your reservation (same number she gave me!)

Awesome!

Edited August 23, 2023 by KKB

[Ken the cruiser]

19 minutes ago, KKB said:

I just got off the phone & confirm this email.

No limit to how many can be used--but CANNOT be used for taxes.

Call the number above in email to apply to your reservation (same number she gave me!)

Awesome!

Just remember, if you cancel the cruise the Gift Card $$$ you posted to that booking are nonrefundable. However, if you are able to change the booking to a different itinerary rather than cancelling it, I believe the GC $$$ stay with the booking. But you may want to verify that, especially if it's after the final payment date.

[KKB]

28 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just remember, if you cancel the cruise the Gift Card $$$ you posted to that booking are nonrefundable. However, if you are able to change the booking to a different itinerary rather than cancelling it, I believe the GC $$$ stay with the booking. But you may want to verify that, especially if it's after the final payment date.

True--thus why I usually use my Chase Reserve so the travel insurance covers that.

You have made a point...with the 3x points I get for travel purchases on my Reserve factored in, the actual savings is only about $100...perhaps worth the travel insurance protection (and not having to buy the gift cards, call & give them numerous card numbers...)