Virtual Royal Caribbean Gift Card Experience

[stephiek814]

I received a virtual Royal Caribbean gift card for my Birthday. I tried to redeem online toward my sailing and it didn't work. I then called Royal Caribbean directly and they told me I had to email the information to sharedservicesgiftcertificateredemption@rccl.com. They also said it could take up to 10 business days for the gift card to be added to my balance and because of this they moved my final payment date out a week as a courtesy. This just all seems a little weird to me that I can only redeem this gift card by email and there is no way to get a hold of someone. Does anyone have any experience with this? The reviews I did read online weren't very positive so that makes me worry a bit more. Any help with this is appreciated. Thank you. 

Edited August 23, 2023 by stephiek814

[megr1125]

They're terrible.  And yes it takes a while to apply it and yes it has to be done on line.  

In the future, have people just give you cash or buy you OBC. Royal's electronic gift certificates are garbage and time consuming to use.  I wish they'd be like other cruise lines and have normal ones, and/or ways to add OBC directly on line as opposed to calling in.

[stephiek814]

13 minutes ago, megr1125 said:

They're terrible.  And yes it takes a while to apply it and yes it has to be done on line.  

In the future, have people just give you cash or buy you OBC. Royal's electronic gift certificates are garbage and time consuming to use.  I wish they'd be like other cruise lines and have normal ones, and/or ways to add OBC directly on line as opposed to calling in.

 

Thank you! Does it take more than 10 business days? I just want to make sure it doesn't run into my final payment date. The reviews I read say it took months and sometimes they still couldn't get a hold of anyone. 

[Morecruisesplz]

1 hour ago, stephiek814 said:

I received a virtual Royal Caribbean gift card for my Birthday. I tried to redeem online toward my sailing and it didn't work. I then called Royal Caribbean directly and they told me I had to email the information to sharedservicesgiftcertificateredemption@rccl.com. They also said it could take up to 10 business days for the gift card to be added to my balance and because of this they moved my final payment date out a week as a courtesy. This just all seems a little weird to me that I can only redeem this gift card by email and there is no way to get a hold of someone. Does anyone have any experience with this? The reviews I did read online weren't very positive so that makes me worry a bit more. Any help with this is appreciated. Thank you. 

We threw ours away after spending way to much time trying to use it. 

[ngrund]

Sounds like you got one that was purchased through AARP, and not directly from RCL. When I applied mine in March, I think it only took a few days, but I sent them  before final payment date

 

This is from the terms and conditions

 

STEP 2 Redeem Certificate

After making your cruise reservation, email a copy of the Gift Certificate along with your cruise reservation booking number to sharedservicesgiftcertificateredemption@rccl.com. The value of the Gift Certificate will then be applied to your cruise reservation. Please allow up to 10 business days. You will be notified once the certificate has been applied to your reservation.

 

However, recently this notice was added:

 

Have questions about your Royal Caribbean gift card? Call Royal Caribbean Customer Support: 

866-504-3941 for immediate assistance including card transactions and application of gift cards towards reservations.

 

I guess the phone reps didn't get the memo on how to apply these