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Thank you to everyone! I started the roll call.  I know it is super early, but I am a planner!  

What would the amount of the AARP room credit be on a 14 day cruise?

2 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

The TA roll calls are some of the most active on the HAL boards.  Just have a look at this years roll calls or next years.  Hundred of posts and many people sharing ideas and tours.

Welcome to HAL and so glad you have selected your 35th Anniversary Cruise.  Congratulations in advance!  

Thank you!!  

7 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

In general I find the pre- or post-cruise tours offered by the cruise lines to be poor value. They charge you quite a bit more for the hotel room than booking it yourself, and often the hotels used a not in the optimal location if you like to walk around and see things on your own. (I realize you will likely want tours, but even in the evening or morning it is nice to be able to walk around in a central area rather than being far away from the main beautiful areas of the city.)

 

I would suggest you do some reading on the Italy Ports of Call forum here. Quite a bit of information on Rome and there are very helpful posters who will provide ideas and suggestions for best hotels in various locations, how to book tours and "skip the line" reservations for sites, etc. The forum is here:  

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/464-italy-ports/

 

I am currently planning my 15th visit to Rome -- 6 days in November 2023. November is a great time to visit Rome as the crowds are significantly less of a factor than in the peak summer months (which now seem to include September and at least half of October!). You do have to plan for the fact that you could have some rain -- not full-on driving rain, usually, but some showery days.

 

 

Thank you! I am not big on cruise line excursions in the Caribbean, so I figured the same with pre cruise in Europe. I also tend to be a control freak, so I would like to control my hotels, etc. I have watched many of my friends visit Rome this past summer, and the heat was unbearable. I will take a little rain for the cooler weather!  

Just now, TeaBag said:

Start a roll call and maybe there will be someone on there who likes to organize private excursions which are smaller, cheaper and better than the cruise line's.

Check the ports of call section on CC.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/464-italy-ports/

 

Civitivecchia (port area) is a ways from the city.  We have taken the train to the port but others like Rome in limo.

 

We are about to sail on our first HAL in less than 4 weeks so we are first timers too.  This is also for our anniversary...56th!

Bon Voyage and enjoy Rome.  It's a lovely city with much to see. 

I looked and didn't see a roll call yet, but I could start one. I have gotten so used to Carnival and very few people actually using the roll call feature!  I didn't think of the ports section (no idea why not except that the thought of this cruise has me so overwhelmed for so many reasons!) I had heard that there is a train, and we aren't against using it, but will leave our options open. 

Thank you for the ideas!  I hope you enjoy your first HAL and happy anniversary!  56 years is a reason to celebrate!  

This past week we booked a TA for November of '25 for our 35th wedding anniversary. Since it is so early I can't find any of this information on the HAL website yet, so I was hoping that cruise critic people could help me out. We are thinking of flying in 3 days pre cruise so we can tour Rome and get used to the time change. I see that HAL does offer pre cruise tours, but since this cruise is more than 2 years away, I can't see anything. Can I expect there to be groups that we can join, or will we be totally on our own? If we book airfare with HAL, will that be helpful to getting tours with others? Any place I can look for information will also be helpful. I am excited about our first HAL cruise, even if it is more than 2 years away!  Thanks for any and all advice!  

20 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Have you already submitted your membership info and received confirmation? If so, you should ask for it; worse case you're told no. If you haven't submitted yet, then no, you won't receive since your current booming was made before you submitted.

After your confirmation, try calling instead of emailing.  Sometimes talking to a live person and pleading your case will get you further than an email.  They might say, just this once.  Good luck and let us know how it goes.  

I was just reading this thread and it is really helpful and timely.  The other day I had my TA put on hold my first HAL cruise.  Transatlantic in November of '25. I have a Mariner #, but my TA didn't use it for my hold. I had heard about the AARP credit, so I went to the AARP site to research it.  I followed the prompts, and was verified. My hold expires the 11th, but my verification says to wait 3 days for a new booking for it to qualify. I may have my TA do another booking in 3 days with my correct Mariner #.  This way the booking will count. If the price changes, then I will just use the original booking. If the credit isn't there when my correct Mariner # is put on, I will just call and ask them to apply it. I hope that will work.  

Just got off Sunrise and we saw them!  Thought it was a great idea!

8 minutes ago, kaybeebee said:

Has anyone bought AARP  Carnival gift cards and then not received them in their email? This just happened 

So I assume you have looked in your junk folder.  It recently took someone a little while to show up, how long has it been?  Are you a new AARP member?

Just now, Haljo1935 said:

Absolutely and get shareholder OBC, too!! And military OBC, if eligible. 

HAL has a very nice vow renewal package that would be lovely for your 35th. We did it for our 30th.

I would get the $100 or $250 (might do a 14 day repo), but not military.  Not sure about the vow renewal...I would have to seriously see how the next 2 years pans out since we are now empty nesters (lol...just kidding!!).

Just an FYI..this afternoon I sent to Carnival my request for my shareholder OBC and I received a response in 10 minutes!  WOW!!  That was incredible.  If I only got my Carnival status to transfer over I would be thrilled!!

Just now, Haljo1935 said:

There's plenty of room on the Dark Side, aka HAL, for everyone  - come on over!!

Seriously their Europe '25 came out.  That is my 35th wedding anniversary and I thought, hmmmm....how nice would that be??  I still get to buy the cards on AARP, so 10% off the top....

Now that we are all AARP members, I have this urge to start booking on HAL instead of my normal Carnival... the age thing is real!!

1KFASHION23  1000 points

2KFASHION23  2000 points  

Codes for the Allstate Rewards Page

14 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

@Organized Chaos I haven’t yet. 🫣😬 I know. I know. I will. 

If my 20 year old can do it for the airfare discount, you can do it!!  

1 minute ago, disneyfan551 said:

I apologize that I don’t have time to search the thread, but are the AARP cards physical or e-cards?  Thanks in advance!!

E-cards

I think Allstate Rewards is now just mocking me....two days in a row I won 2000 points on the spin game....

8 minutes ago, tensixmom said:

No, but I am against the potential for those 'drained' GC's being an issue and it being too late (too long from date of purchase) to "do anything" about them by the time I get on the ship. 

Then I recommend buying Cruise Cash with the gift cards before you cruise.  You can buy them at any time after you book your cruise.  

Just now, CruizinSusan70 said:

Besides Allstate, the only place I have ever bought Carnival GC's was once on Newegg.  They had $200.00 cards for sale and you could only buy one.  Had no trouble redeeming it since I would infer that Newegg obtained it directly from Carnival so there were no problems with the redemption.

Yes, I have read that Newegg are also good to use.  

From the Carnival web site:

Once activated, Gift Cards may not be resold; resale or attempted resale is grounds for seizure and cancellation of the Gift Card without compensation.

Carnival Cruise Lines is not responsible for any Gift Cards bought or sold through Craigslist.com, giftcardZen.com or any website facilitating aftermarket sales of pre-gifted or pre-owned items.

Please do not buy gift cards that have previously been issued to someone else. It caused hell on a cruise I took. I bought cards for a cruise from a third party site.  This was a number of years ago.  I paid my final payment with it, and found my cruise cancelled a few days later. The cards had been marked as stolen. I had a hard time proving to Carnival that I was a victim of buying the card, not the person who stole the cards. I was reimbursed through the site I bought them from, but had to fight Carnival to let me cruise again. After that I still booked all my cruises using gift cards, but only ones through Allstate or AARP. A few years later I was applying GC to my account while on a cruise (please note I had cruised a bunch of times since then, used GC for all of them and had success using cards on the ship). All the sudden the person told me she could not accept them, that accounting had flagged my account. Said that I had previously used fraudulent cards. This took 2 days of my time to clear up. I wrote on John Heald's fb page, and he got someone to straighten it out. I had various notes left for me in my cabin from guest services, finally they told me they had permission to accept them this time and this time only. 

I still purchase all my cruises through gift cards, but I do not use them on board. I do buy cruise cash with gift cards before I sail, but I am careful to use it all up. I won't try to post GC to my account while on board. 

So watch buying gift cards on a third party site. 

6 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Recently AARP card cost for Princess increased to $460 for a $500 card. Will the rest also change?

I hope not!  

Just last week AARP sent me an advertisement for British Airlines giving AARP discount.  Tonight I just had my 20 year old sign up for AARP.  He is a competitive Irish Dancer and needs to go to Scotland for a competition in October.  He will go to Europe at least 2 more times in the next year.  I love that there is no longer an age restriction!

57 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

Did anyone enter the AARP sweepstakes for the $1,000 Carnival card? I did when I could remember to do it...only 4-5 days worth. They're not picking a winner for another couple weeks though.

 

Allstate lets us submit a lot more entries per day than AARP, but it uses a lot more tickets. Up to 200 entries/day for 10,000 tickets. Even with over 900k points, they could go quick with that. I want to start entering, but don't want to burn through too many points in case something really good pops up before the end.

 

 

I did enter it a few times!  I am sitting back waiting for my email that I have won.  I have also been playing the lottery. I don't see me hitting either one of them!  But I dream!  

Yes, I want to keep from burning through my Allstate Rewards points in case they do have specials near the end!  Just in case!!  

10 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

Time for a group cruise! We can be one big dysfunctional family 😉

That would be so much fun!  One big ALLSTATE/AARP Dysfunctional Family Cruise!!  Just think about it, we would all be getting 10% off the group price right off from the start...

Just now, CruisinChandler said:

I wasn’t expecting more codes after yesterday’s announcement, but just received one:

 

TECH4ME23 for 1,000 points 

Thank you.  Not just a new code, but new games too.  Weird!!