How Do you Apply the AARP Gift Cards

[mcrcruiser]

How do we apply the discounted AARP gift cards to a HAL booking ?

 

 Thanks in advance 

[YourWorldWithBill]

I haven't used them for the booking itself, but I used mine on shore excursions. I just called HAL and gave the agent the number on the gift card. I'm sure you could do the same thing for the booking, even if it's through a travel agent.

Sorry I haven't used for online payment of the booking itself. 

I also used one for onboard credit through the web site, both before and during the cruise, but I don't remember the exact link I clicked. It was fairly easy to find.

 

[Mary229]

A number of ways

 

For fares: if you booked simply input the card into the payment details on the website or call in and give them the card.  If through an agent provide the agent with the card number and pin

 

you can purchase shore excursions and other amenities from the manage your cruise page applying the card at checkout.  You can also buy OBC to have for onboard spending 

 

finally you can take the card to the desk and have it applied for onboard spending. 

 

Edited June 5, 2023 by Mary229

[mcrcruiser]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

A number of ways

 

For fares: if you booked simply input the card into the payment details on the website or call in and give them the card.  If through an agent provide the agent with the card number and pin

 

you can purchase shore excursions and other amenities from the manage your cruise page applying the card at checkout.  You can also buy OBC to have for onboard spending 

 

finally you can take the card to the desk and have it applied for onboard spending. 

 

Thanks Mary that is pretty comprehensive . Seems to us a 10 % savings is as good as it gets these days , We  are hoping that we can do this every month to get (5) $500 cards .We did call our TA & instead of FAXing them to them they took the numbers over the phone 

 What is interesting is that you can use them for extra OBC  as well as other expenses on board

 Started applying to drop the price of  our 14 day cruise ,Then we wil work on dropping the 35 day cruise😃

Mahalo & Aloha 

[mcrcruiser]

2 hours ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

I haven't used them for the booking itself, but I used mine on shore excursions. I just called HAL and gave the agent the number on the gift card. I'm sure you could do the same thing for the booking, even if it's through a travel agent.

Sorry I haven't used for online payment of the booking itself. 

I also used one for onboard credit through the web site, both before and during the cruise, but I don't remember the exact link I clicked. It was fairly easy to find.

 

Thank you for your input ,

[sandiego1]

There was another thread recently about using gift cards. If you use them to purchase a cruise, the cost of the gift card will NOT be refunded by your trip insurance if you need to cancel. 
 

I purchased over $32K worth in gift card to make the final Lyon the 2023 WC. Thankfully we didn’t need to cancel. Going forward, I will only use gift cards for on board purchases.

[Crusin-Suzan]

20 minutes ago, sandiego1 said:

There was another thread recently about using gift cards. If you use them to purchase a cruise, the cost of the gift card will NOT be refunded by your trip insurance if you need to cancel. 
 

I purchased over $32K worth in gift card to make the final Lyon the 2023 WC. Thankfully we didn’t need to cancel. Going forward, I will only use gift cards for on board purchases.

Good call!   Only do what you are comfortable to lose!   It’s self insurance!   We always do a couple of thousand! 

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

50 minutes ago, sandiego1 said:

There was another thread recently about using gift cards. If you use them to purchase a cruise, the cost of the gift card will NOT be refunded by your trip insurance if you need to cancel. 
 

I purchased over $32K worth in gift card to make the final Lyon the 2023 WC. Thankfully we didn’t need to cancel. Going forward, I will only use gift cards for on board purchases.

The bonus will not be refunded . you cant get a refund for something you did not pay for. ..

[mcrcruiser]

49 minutes ago, sandiego1 said:

There was another thread recently about using gift cards. If you use them to purchase a cruise, the cost of the gift card will NOT be refunded by your trip insurance if you need to cancel. 
 

I purchased over $32K worth in gift card to make the final Lyon the 2023 WC. Thankfully we didn’t need to cancel. Going forward, I will only use gift cards for on board purchases.

We were not aware of that even though we bought them with our chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card ;which we use for trips  only ma great CC to insure  the trip cancellation ,interruption & baggage.Then we top that off with a Allianz Travel insurance policy for one year

[sandiego1]

38 minutes ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

The bonus will not be refunded . you cant get a refund for something you did not pay for. ..

The other thread stated that trip insurance will not cover the original cost of the gift card if you cancel the cruise. I'm not including the 10% bonus received when purchasing the AARP cards.

 

Here's an example from one of the policies: "Payments or Deposits means the cash, check, or credit card amounts actually paid for Your Trip. Payments made in the form of a certificate, voucher or discount are not Payments or Deposits as defined herein."

 

Here's the thread: 

 

 Even Steve (the trip insurance store guru) stated that it's not refundable.

 

[BermudaBound2014]

1 hour ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

The bonus will not be refunded . you cant get a refund for something you did not pay for. ..

@mcrcruiser you really should read thru the thread linked above. Your chase sapphire insurance does not apply to travel purchased via the gift card.
 

Heck, straight up travel insurance doesn’t even apply. If you use gift cards for the purchase of the cruise, the cards are not included in any supplemental travel insurance policy. 

 

This is also a very large investment in a company you aren’t happy with. If another line starts sailing from San Diego you will be stuck sailing Hal until you use all your gift cards.
 

 

Edited June 5, 2023 by BermudaBound2014