Question about using AARP GIt cards

[Reckoning]

Hi, I was wondering for a princess cruise do you have to use the princess gift cards on AARP or will the carnival work also?

 

Also can Use them to pay for the cruise itself? I have paid the deposit and was thinking of using the gift cards to pay the balance.

 

Thanks

[Jadn13]

5 minutes ago, Reckoning said:

Hi, I was wondering for a princess cruise do you have to use the princess gift cards on AARP or will the carnival work also?

 

Also can Use them to pay for the cruise itself? I have paid the deposit and was thinking of using the gift cards to pay the balance.

 

Thanks

Carnival doesn’t work. You have to get Princess gift cards (It’s not a Carnival Corp gift card just Carnival ship)

Yes, you can apply them to your balance 

Edited February 13 by Jadn13

[Rick&Jeannie]

Yep...Carnival cards are "Carnival only".  Get the Princess cards for Princess cruises.  (We've done so MANY times and saved a TON.)

 

With the exception of the deposit, I have fully paid 2 cruises now with gift cards.

 

Edited February 13 by Rick&Jeannie

[rideev]

But don't get them for a cruise based out of Australia.

[JAT0303]

49 minutes ago, rideev said:

But don't get them for a cruise based out of Australia.

I live in the US and currently on an Australian cruise.  I paid for the cruise with Princess gift cards. 

 

Are there different gift card rules for people who live in Australia?

[Rick&Jeannie]

13 hours ago, rideev said:

But don't get them for a cruise based out of Australia.

I have never seen any restrictions on how you pay for a cruise...paying for a cruise is NOT dependent upon where it leaves port.

 

Are you saying that *Australians* cannot use GCs?

 

 

Edited February 14 by Rick&Jeannie

[wallyj]

2 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I have never seen any restrictions on how you pay for a cruise...paying for a cruise is NOT dependent upon where it leaves port.

 

Are you saying that *Australians* cannot use GCs?

 

 

As the author of post has not replied, I will add you may or may not get a bad exchange rate since the Australia based sailings use $AUD as shipboard currency, so your $USD AARP cards submitted to Guest Services on board will be converted to $AUD. 
 

I recollect a previous thread discussing this and the passenger said they got a decent exchange rate, but YMMV.

[Thrak]

I used the gift cards for cruises in Australia but only to pay for the cruises. I didn't want to deal with using a USD gift card onboard to purchase OBC. I actually had tons of OBC anyway but, even if I hadn't had it I still wouldn't have wanted to trust the Princess conversion. As it turned out, I had a bunch of refundable OBC left after the cruise and the check Princess sent me was pretty much spot on for the rate I got from Google at the time.

[rideev]

I'm not 100% sure about Princess.  I am using princess gift cards for a cruise from LA to Sydney.

 

But, we have a carnival cruise while we are in Sydney.  Since that cruise is based out of Australia, the $2500 with of carnival gift cards can not be used.

 

I made the assumption that carnival and princess followed the same rules.  Silly me.

[Thrak]

10 minutes ago, rideev said:

I'm not 100% sure about Princess.  I am using princess gift cards for a cruise from LA to Sydney.

 

But, we have a carnival cruise while we are in Sydney.  Since that cruise is based out of Australia, the $2500 with of carnival gift cards can not be used.

 

I made the assumption that carnival and princess followed the same rules.  Silly me.

 

Really?  Are they actual Carnival gift cards? If so, what reason is given?

 

 

Princess gift cards don't work for Carnival

 

Edited February 15 by Thrak

[rideev]

27 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Really?  Are they actual Carnival gift cards? If so, what reason is given?

Yes.  Carnival gift cards from AARP.  They are not valid on cruises that are not based on US Dollars.  Carnival Australian cruises are based on AUD.

 

Oh well, that just means we get to plan another cruise.

[wallyj]

@rideev, your comment on this thread regarding not buying Gift cards for cruises out of Australia is misleading as your experience has to do with Carnival gift cards and not Princess gift cards and we are on the Princess board, so your comment is more appropriate on the Carnival board.
 

I am pretty sure I read a thread where a passenger used Princess gift card on Australia cruise by presenting to Guest services and the ship converted the $USD gift card to $AUD on board. 
 

I guess this is where you ‘assumed’ Princess and Carnival followed the same rules?

[cruisinsince75]

On 2/13/2024 at 11:57 AM, Rick&Jeannie said:

Yep...Carnival cards are "Carnival only".  Get the Princess cards for Princess cruises.  (We've done so MANY times and saved a TON.)

 

With the exception of the deposit, I have fully paid 2 cruises now with gift cards.

 

OK, I am really ignorant on this.  How do you do this and how much do you save?

[Rick&Jeannie]

3 minutes ago, cruisinsince75 said:

OK, I am really ignorant on this.  How do you do this and how much do you save?

Sign up for free, AARP Rewards

https://www.aarp.org/rewards/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aarp.org%2Frewards%2Fredeem#sort-by=default&type=filter_travel

 

Then log in, search for the Princess gift cards...purchase!  8% discount off face value.

[Gatorinmd]

I have a question about adding an AARP gift card to your OBC with a partial balance. From my understanding I can only add an AARP gift card amount to my OBC when I am on board the ship.

 

For example, I have $149.17 left to pay for my cruise. I buy a $500 AARP Princess Gift card and use it to pay the rest of my balance for my cruise. So this leaves $350.83 left on the gift card. So I just go to guest services and tell them that I would like $350.83 added to my OBC from this gift card? (I will have a print out of the gift card with the number and pin on it)

 

Thanks in advance. 

[Thrak]

5 hours ago, Gatorinmd said:

I have a question about adding an AARP gift card to your OBC with a partial balance. From my understanding I can only add an AARP gift card amount to my OBC when I am on board the ship.

 

For example, I have $149.17 left to pay for my cruise. I buy a $500 AARP Princess Gift card and use it to pay the rest of my balance for my cruise. So this leaves $350.83 left on the gift card. So I just go to guest services and tell them that I would like $350.83 added to my OBC from this gift card? (I will have a print out of the gift card with the number and pin on it)

 

Thanks in advance. 

 

It should work. They can easily check the remaining balance on the card. I check all of mine as soon as I purchase them.

 

https://www.princess.com/en-us/ships-and-experience/celebrations/gift-cards

[wallyj]

5 hours ago, Gatorinmd said:

I have a question about adding an AARP gift card to your OBC with a partial balance. From my understanding I can only add an AARP gift card amount to my OBC when I am on board the ship.

 

For example, I have $149.17 left to pay for my cruise. I buy a $500 AARP Princess Gift card and use it to pay the rest of my balance for my cruise. So this leaves $350.83 left on the gift card. So I just go to guest services and tell them that I would like $350.83 added to my OBC from this gift card? (I will have a print out of the gift card with the number and pin on it)

 

Thanks in advance. 

There have been reports passengers have been able to add Princess gift card $ as OBC, BEFORE sailing. I think most Princess call center agents will not be able to help. I would try calling once, then not waste time again if they were not able to do and then try on board when lines are not long at GS.

 

Also, it is a Princess Gift card, AARP is just the vendor selling the gift cards at a discount.

 

A caveat is sometimes the on board system to process the gift card is not working and you will have to come back later during the cruise and hope it comes back up before the cruise ends. My sister ran into this issue on our Sapphire cruise last December. She had guest services notate her record that said if they were still not able to process her gift cards before she disembarked, Princess will allow her to use them against her paid folio and then issue credit back to her credit card.

[Rick&Jeannie]

6 hours ago, Gatorinmd said:

I have a question about adding an AARP gift card to your OBC with a partial balance. From my understanding I can only add an AARP gift card amount to my OBC when I am on board the ship.

 

For example, I have $149.17 left to pay for my cruise. I buy a $500 AARP Princess Gift card and use it to pay the rest of my balance for my cruise. So this leaves $350.83 left on the gift card. So I just go to guest services and tell them that I would like $350.83 added to my OBC from this gift card? (I will have a print out of the gift card with the number and pin on it)

 

Thanks in advance. 

First of all...welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

Your scenario would be better handled (in my opinion) by not even addressing "OBC" with GS.  Just wait until you have some charges on your account that exceed the $350.83 and then apply the GC directly to the account balance while on board.  The end result is exactly the same...but it "streamlines" the money flow without the potential of muddying up the water with an intermediate step of using OBC.  It just not necessary in this situation.  Just my 2 cents worth!

[Redwing55]

6 hours ago, Gatorinmd said:

I have a question about adding an AARP gift card to your OBC with a partial balance. From my understanding I can only add an AARP gift card amount to my OBC when I am on board the ship.

 

For example, I have $149.17 left to pay for my cruise. I buy a $500 AARP Princess Gift card and use it to pay the rest of my balance for my cruise. So this leaves $350.83 left on the gift card. So I just go to guest services and tell them that I would like $350.83 added to my OBC from this gift card? (I will have a print out of the gift card with the number and pin on it)

 

Thanks in advance. 

I've done that.. on board.  But I've also been able to purchase OBC with the left over balance on a gift card, before the cruise.  Granted, I had to call Princess, but it was easy.  I guess I'm lucky since when I call, I've rarely had longer than a 5 minute hold... if that.

[CruisingSandgroper]

7 hours ago, Gatorinmd said:

I have a question about adding an AARP gift card to your OBC with a partial balance. From my understanding I can only add an AARP gift card amount to my OBC when I am on board the ship.

 

For example, I have $149.17 left to pay for my cruise. I buy a $500 AARP Princess Gift card and use it to pay the rest of my balance for my cruise. So this leaves $350.83 left on the gift card. So I just go to guest services and tell them that I would like $350.83 added to my OBC from this gift card? (I will have a print out of the gift card with the number and pin on it)

 

Thanks in advance. 

@Gatorinmd I did this recently at Guest Services on the Crown Princess without any problems. I had a print out of the gift card with pin and had written down the balance of the card after using a portion of it to pay for a cruise.

[Gatorinmd]

Thank you all for the great information! I appreciate it. 

[Yehootu]

On 2/13/2024 at 7:08 PM, rideev said:

But don't get them for a cruise based out of Australia.

I was able to pay for our Queensland cruise as well as the TP from Sydney to YVR. What I was unable to do was pay for excursions in Aus with gift cards due to the conversion to AUD. Otherwise very easy.

[damiross]

On 2/18/2024 at 5:45 AM, Gatorinmd said:

I have a question about adding an AARP gift card to your OBC with a partial balance. From my understanding I can only add an AARP gift card amount to my OBC when I am on board the ship.

 

For example, I have $149.17 left to pay for my cruise. I buy a $500 AARP Princess Gift card and use it to pay the rest of my balance for my cruise. So this leaves $350.83 left on the gift card. So I just go to guest services and tell them that I would like $350.83 added to my OBC from this gift card? (I will have a print out of the gift card with the number and pin on it)

 

Thanks in advance. 

I would be very careful in using only part of a gift card.  I had $327.78 left to pay off my cruise.  So, I used a $500 card.  They took out the $327.79.m  That left me a balance of $672.22!  Yes, you read it right.  The balance is actually $500 more than it should be.  I have been checking the balance ever so often for the past 3-4 months and the balance has always been  $672.22.

 

 

[trbarton]

If I’m using a T/A will they accept it? 
 

Tom😀

[takevtr1]

28 minutes ago, trbarton said:

If I’m using a T/A will they accept it? 
 

Tom😀

Yes, I just did it for my upcoming cruise. I have 3 cabins booked and handed my TA a total of 18 gift cards. While it is a bit more work for the TA, they should/will take them. They can apply it to your final payment via the travel agent portal that they use.