Gift cards to on line pre cruise purchase

[Knights on the Beach]

Try this link and see if it takes you to the right place.

 

https://www.aarp.org/rewards/redeem/members/

[babygrljaz]

3 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

Ok, I signed up. When I went to the rewards section and it said to click and get 1,000 free rewards and another 500 and I submitted it, I got this notice:

 

Sometimes logging out helps.  And yes they are e-gift cards. I haven't seen the option for physical cards in forever

[Butterbean1000]

We just paid off our cruise with 5 $500 ecards from AARP.  We tried applying them through the Carnival website.  It said the payment went through, but after waiting a couple of hours, the website didn't reflect payment.  We gave Carnival a call and they did not show any payment and after checking the ecards, they still showed the full amount.  The Carnival rep applied all the ecards for us.  She said they were having issues with the website taking payments.  So when applying ecards or the traditional cards, keep an eye on it to make sure the payments go through.

[shuang6]

Do you know if I can buy the gift card from AARP while on the ship? It will be nice to be able to use them to settle all my charges on board.  😊 

[Haljo1935]

6 hours ago, shuang6 said:

Do you know if I can buy the gift card from AARP while on the ship? It will be nice to be able to use them to settle all my charges on board.  😊 

Yes, I've done it. You'll just need internet and log in to AARP to purchase as usual. Then take the number and pin to Guest Services or use the kiosk.

Safe travels - enjoy your cruise!

[simplelife]

On 1/14/2024 at 12:33 PM, msweezie said:

Hi,  I realized I can buy discounted gift cards from AARP, 100$ increments.   If I purchase the drink package for my upcoming Carnival cruise, I see I can pay with a gift card in my cart.  My question is can I use multiple gift cards?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

Yes, this is exactly what I do, I buy them from AARP  and pay with my Carnival Mastercard to get the fun points, and buy OBC on the Carnival site and pay with the gift cards, (I pay off my carnival card in full every month, so interest does not eat up my savings). 

Edited January 31 by simplelife

[Kelownabccan]

Interesting...this blog.....we are in Canada....I went to the site and it seems Canadians can sign up.....for $12 membership fee.....not sure what the Carnival Card discount is in %.....does not say.....so if I bought a $100 card....what do you actually pay??? or the $500 one...taking the family on a cruise and looked at the drink prices.....any discount would help.....thanks for info

[Kelownabccan]

Found it.....10% off......pay 450 get a 500 card.....or 90 for a 100 card.....interesting way to say....I should have done some more research before paying for three cabins....lol

[ULCajunCruiser]

2 minutes ago, Kelownabccan said:

Found it.....10% off......pay 450 get a 500 card.....or 90 for a 100 card.....interesting way to say....I should have done some more research before paying for three cabins....lol

Yes, I have been using these cards for years (1st from Allstate, now AARP)   Definitely worth the $12!

[ultrafighter]

On 1/27/2024 at 6:23 AM, shof515 said:

onboard the ship, the arcade and everything else only accept your sail n sign/room key. you can not use the gift in the arcade machine

 

Yes you can put a limit on the kids account. Guest services onboard the ship can set this up and they will also add the gift card to your onboard account

This is what I did for my kids on our cruise in December except I set up the limit during online check-in.  I gave them a blank gift card (no money on it since the amount I was giving them wasn't an available denomination) that I wrote an amount on and set that as their individual spending limit.  Turns out, 2 of my 3 kids spent their money in the fun shops instead of in the arcade, but whatever.  It was their "gift card" to use however they wanted!  👍

[ZoeyVictoria]

I have no problem applying unused gift cards at the kiosk, but it would not accept the partially used one with a balance of $20 +/-.     I had to take that one to Guest Services. 

[CGinMTL]

20 hours ago, Kelownabccan said:

Interesting...this blog.....we are in Canada....I went to the site and it seems Canadians can sign up.....for $12 membership fee.....not sure what the Carnival Card discount is in %.....does not say.....so if I bought a $100 card....what do you actually pay??? or the $500 one...taking the family on a cruise and looked at the drink prices.....any discount would help.....thanks for info

I am also in Canada

Signed up for AARP

The ask for a USA phone no to access the rewards page

What have others done ? 

[Kelownabccan]

3 hours ago, CGinMTL said:

I am also in Canada

Signed up for AARP

The ask for a USA phone no to access the rewards page

What have others done ? 

Have not done it yet.....just thinking about the plus or negative things.....ie....buying in USA $ and then the extra conversion charge...usually 2%.....to save 10%.....I guess it works.....as far as the phone # thing...do not know but I have a USA phone so If I do may not run into the problem....

[CGinMTL]

I have a Holland cruise booked for May.

That one, I booked in cad directly as the rate was much better with hal directly.

Not sure if carnival has a good rate for Canadians

If not, my TA is in the USA and I have a USd visa with RBC

I have friends in the USA, not sure the implication if I use their phone no.

[dlphn501]

On 1/27/2024 at 7:16 AM, tonyhb12 said:

Also, for sail and sign, is there a limit I can put on my kids?

Yes.  When you do your check-in, one of the things you will need to input is whether or not the kids S&S card has spending ability, and then you say how much.  It is a total for the entire cruise.  You can take the gc's you were going to give them for the arcade and take to customer service to have applied to your account for their spending limit.

[Butterbean1000]

On 1/31/2024 at 12:32 PM, simplelife said:

Yes, this is exactly what I do, I buy them from AARP  and pay with my Carnival Mastercard to get the fun points, and buy OBC on the Carnival site and pay with the gift cards, (I pay off my carnival card in full every month, so interest does not eat up my savings). 

 We used our Carnival Mastercard expecting double points because we were purchasing Carnival gift cards.  Looking at my account, we did get double points.  WTH??

[Butterbean1000]

On 1/31/2024 at 3:18 PM, ZoeyVictoria said:

I have no problem applying unused gift cards at the kiosk, but it would not accept the partially used one with a balance of $20 +/-.     I had to take that one to Guest Services. 

Good to know.

[Kingsmom]

On 2/1/2024 at 4:15 PM, dlphn501 said:

Yes.  When you do your check-in, one of the things you will need to input is whether or not the kids S&S card has spending ability, and then you say how much.  It is a total for the entire cruise.  You can take the gc's you were going to give them for the arcade and take to customer service to have applied to your account for their spending limit.

Thank you for this. I was able to do our online check-in last night and set the boys limit at $50 each. I was stressing that it was $50 per day but this was helpful. I assume I can increase it if needed?

[dlphn501]

On 2/4/2024 at 10:18 AM, Kingsmom said:

Thank you for this. I was able to do our online check-in last night and set the boys limit at $50 each. I was stressing that it was $50 per day but this was helpful. I assume I can increase it if needed?

 

I would assume so.

[n6uqqq]

On 2/2/2024 at 3:21 AM, Butterbean1000 said:

 We used our Carnival Mastercard expecting double points because we were purchasing Carnival gift cards.  Looking at my account, we did get double points.  WTH??

I assume you mean you didn't get double points, which would make sense since the billing is to AARP and not Carnival. 

[Butterbean1000]

1 minute ago, n6uqqq said:

I assume you mean you didn't get double points, which would make sense since the billing is to AARP and not Carnival. 

Yes. I didn't.   But that makes sense.  I'm transferring a balance from another card at 0% interest.  You don't get points for that either.  But it would be great if you did.

[n6uqqq]

3 minutes ago, Butterbean1000 said:

Yes. I didn't.   But that makes sense.  I'm transferring a balance from another card at 0% interest.  You don't get points for that either.  But it would be great if you did.

I use my BofA customized cash rewards visa and since my chosen category for 3 percent is online transactions the AARP purchase triggers the 3 percent which yields a net 13 percent off all my Carnival purchases.

[ngrund]

On 2/1/2024 at 3:00 PM, Kelownabccan said:

Have not done it yet.....just thinking about the plus or negative things.....ie....buying in USA $ and then the extra conversion charge...usually 2%.....to save 10%.....I guess it works.....as far as the phone # thing...do not know but I have a USA phone so If I do may not run into the problem....

AARP rewards is limited to US citizens

[Lopsyl88]

Are the AARP gift cards mailed or are they digital? 

[Drazil65]

E-cards, usually receive an email with the instructions (link) to get the E-card within 15 mins or so.