New Carnival Gift Card Policy?

I just read this on Heald's Facebook site:

 

"We have a gift card fraud prevention policy that if a guest attempts to fund a Sail & Sign account with 3 or more gift cards or gift cards totaling more than $1,500.00, guest services should immediately alert shoreside personnel, so that we can verify that the gift cards being used are valid prior to applying the gift cards to the folio. This process can take up to 6 hours."

So is it possible to apply GC's (I'll have more than 3) to your S&S account a few days prior to sailing so that the verification process is complete & funds are available immediately upon boarding?

John said he was going to get clarification on this, because people immediately started bombarding him with questions he didn't have the answer to.

 

He's supposed to be back on Thursday and said he will clear it up then. Not sure how much your gift cards are for, but if this is right, you can load 3 or up to $1500. The $500 cards haven't been available on the discount sites for a while, so this rule will be jacked up if they only sell discounted $100 cards.

john also posted this:

Guests may fund their sail & sign with AS MANY GIFT CARDS AS THEY WISH and for as much value as they would like and the ships are fully aware of this.

 

..its a bit weird..

Oh wow hope it gets cleared up:/ that would stink to wait 6 hours! Or maybe have 1500 available but 6 wait for rest?

 

 

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Can’t you just put a credit card on file until the gift cards are cleared?

I just read this on Heald's Facebook site:

 

"We have a gift card fraud prevention policy that if a guest attempts to fund a Sail & Sign account with 3 or more gift cards or gift cards totaling more than $1,500.00, guest services should immediately alert shoreside personnel, so that we can verify that the gift cards being used are valid prior to applying the gift cards to the folio. This process can take up to 6 hours."

So is it possible to apply GC's (I'll have more than 3) to your S&S account a few days prior to sailing so that the verification process is complete & funds are available immediately upon boarding?

No, because your on board account is not open until you are on board. Just use a credit card and apply the gift cards to charges.

Use them to buy $500 worth of Cruise Cash ahead of time and it's already on your account when you board.

We don't preload any gift cards or load them along the way. We wait until the very end of the cruise and just pay our balance with gift cards. That should still give them plenty of time to get them verified.

We don't preload any gift cards or load them along the way. We wait until the very end of the cruise and just pay our balance with gift cards. That should still give them plenty of time to get them verified.

Might not want to do it that way now because you never know how long it could take for them to verify them. Satellite goes in and out and stuff on the ship. Plus GS is so busy the last night.

Might not want to do it that way now because you never know how long it could take for them to verify them. Satellite goes in and out and stuff on the ship. Plus GS is so busy the last night.

 

Let me clarify, we pay it on the last full day, not the day we disembark. Priority line at GS is pretty small on the last full day. (night). By morning when we disembark, they should have it verified.

Use them to buy $500 worth of Cruise Cash ahead of time and it's already on your account when you board.

That's actually what I did last year and it worked out fine. Actually liked it much better, because I didn't have to worry about loading cards at all. Besides, I doubt I would ever load more than $1500 in gift cards.

 

It's a shame - they must be running into issues with fraudulent cards.

 

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Let me clarify, we pay it on the last full day, not the day we disembark. Priority line at GS is pretty small on the last full day. (night). By morning when we disembark, they should have it verified.

I was thinking you went down the last night when everyone is there. During the day might not be so bad. There may still be things I buy that afternoon or evening so that wouldn't work so well. I like doing Cruise Cash for a couple hundred that way I don't have to go at all. I know pretty much what I'm going to spend and can use cash for the casino if need be.

Use them to buy $500 worth of Cruise Cash ahead of time and it's already on your account when you board.

 

Yep, I think this is the best solution for us. Thanks!

Yep, I think this is the best solution for us. Thanks!

You're welcome!

On my Dec 11 Victory cruise I had 4 $100 gift card that I tried using on the first day. I was told at guest services that I could only use 3 gift cards and can't add the 4th until I use all of the money from 1 gift card first.