Father's Day 10% Gift Card Promo Review

[Stateroom_Sailor]

Carnival's first ever gift card promotion appeared to be quite a success here on CC, with many of us jumping on board for a little savings and spending cash. Wording errors on Carnival's website led to confusion as to when the actual promotion ended, leading Carnival to give a 24 hour extension through 11:59 PM on June 16th. Now that the dust has settled and cards have been delivered, what do we think of this promo? KEEP 'EM COMING!!! :)

 

We're already used up our promo cards on excursions in Progreso and Cozumel (they would expire before our cruise next year), and have enough left over to basically cover an Imagination cruise thereafter! :D

[Lisa0719]

I already used mine and paid off 4 cruises thru spring 2015. With that said, I think if people did what I did and just paid off existing reservation, Carnival will find that they just discounted what they would have gotten anyway . . .

 

Time will tell.

[cruizinisthebest]

I thought it was an excellent idea. I went ahead and applied my promo cards to the balance of my cruise right before I paid it off this past weekend. The rest will be used to apply to my s&s once onboard. I just wish they would have offered something like this on a regular basis. I had been buying gift cards for months!

Edited June 24, 2014 by cruizinisthebest

[Sparky2]

I already used mine and paid off 4 cruises thru spring 2015. With that said, I think if people did what I did and just paid off existing reservation, Carnival will find that they just discounted what they would have gotten anyway . . .

 

Time will tell.

 

I bought mine to pay off our B2B for next January with a little left over to apply to our S & S acct. I agree that Carnival will find it was not profitable for them. I doubt if we'll see it again.

[kona_wahine]

I bought $1300 worth. Enough to pay off our cruise and have a few hundred to put on S&S card. Free $130 the way I look at it. Now I just need some price drops. :D

[cruizinisthebest]

I bought mine to pay off our B2B for next January with a little left over to apply to our S & S acct. I agree that Carnival will find it was not profitable for them. I doubt if we'll see it again.

 

I think just the opposite. The 10% gift cards have to be used on Carnival specific spending. Either applied onboard or on excursions or toward the balance of a cruise. If anything, it was a way to pay off cruises sooner. I saw one post where a person convinced a whole group to go on the Sunshine, because of the 10% promo cards. The money goes right back to them either way. I see it as a profit for Carnival. Much more so than price drops, which they allow, since it can only be spent on Carnival products.

[Scotch Mist]

Just used mine to pay off my Freedom cruise for Sept! :thumbup::):thumbup::):thumbup::)

 

Freedom b2b Sept 2014

Splendor Jan 2014

Breeze Sept 2013

Imagination Sept 2013

Triumph Sept 2008

Pride Sept 2007

Miracle Sept 2006

[ForSharonB]

Final Payment - $2500 due in August... I could have saved $250.

Missed it! :eek:

Happy for you guys!!!

[dwaterhouse]

i liked getting the promo card for $100, but it also took me 2 phone calls and 13 days.

 

If they offered it again--- of course i would do it again-- FREE money

[YB Nrml]

No brainer for us. We paid off our cruise and have extra for S&S account. Who turns down free money?!? :D

[erocrobro]

I bet it will be profitable for them. Many people say they were using them to pay off cruises very far in the future. That's Carnival's way of getting you to pay up now instead of waiting and they are earning interest (albeit a small amount right now) to make up for part of the discount they gave. This is money that they will keep even if you change your mind later because it will be refunded in the form of a gift card that would be spent on Carnival.

[ourfamilylovescruising]

we bought ours the Thursday before fathers day had the gift card and promo card by the next used the on the liberty that Sunday so it work out great for us

[Stateroom_Sailor]

I bought mine to pay off our B2B for next January with a little left over to apply to our S & S acct. I agree that Carnival will find it was not profitable for them. I doubt if we'll see it again.

 

Well certainly everyone wasn't running out to buy cards for Dad, who's never cruised before. Hopefully that wasn't their intention, because I would love to see this sale again.

 

We calculated everything it will cost to do an Imagination cruise in October, the booking, tips, spending money, and excursions. On one hand I'm spending everything I would have anyways, minus a 10% discount. On the other hand, we're going to sail with Carnival much sooner than planned, but far enough out that they get a free loan. There are also those who will just use the promo card for extra OBC, so who knows... Guess we'll find out on Black Friday whether they liked this promo or not! ;)

[Jgilbert813]

Seemed like and easy decision for me as well. I took the money that I had been saving up for the cruise and bought the gift card. It was money that was already earmarked for the cruise spending....I just earned a little extra :D

[ferfoodle]

It was a no brainer: 10% vs. 0.15%. I had all the money for the cruise already and final payment wasn't due until December; but no way was I going to get much in interest holding on to it. Took the money out of cruise savings account at the bank earning a whopping 0.15% interest and bought the gift cards to get 10% in promo cards.

 

I did use all of the Promo cards towards the balance of the cruise, so now I am left with one standard gift card with a good amount on it for use on board.

[UpstateCruizer]

Carnival's first ever gift card promotion appeared to be quite a success here on CC, with many of us jumping on board for a little savings and spending cash. Wording errors on Carnival's website led to confusion as to when the actual promotion ended, leading Carnival to give a 24 hour extension through 11:59 PM on June 16th. Now that the dust has settled and cards have been delivered, what do we think of this promo? KEEP 'EM COMING!!! :)

 

We're already used up our promo cards on excursions in Progreso and Cozumel (they would expire before our cruise next year), and have enough left over to basically cover an Imagination cruise thereafter! :D

 

I LOVE it! Finally something offered that we can actually benefit from. Usually the offerings are for only specific people who receive the email ect. I purchased enough gift cards to pay off all our existing bookings along with gratuities. We earned $500 in gift cards along the way as well. That makes for a nice chunk of OBC thanks to this promotion. Our bank doesn't pay a 10% return so it made sense to invest in this. I used the promo gift cards towards the balances first.

Edited June 25, 2014 by UpstateCruizer

[retiredgram]

Like everyone else, I put $1000 towards final payment and will be using $100 promo card onboard account.:D

[Stateroom_Sailor]

It was a no brainer: 10% vs. 0.15%

 

I thought the same, even though our next Carnival cruise won't be for a couple years out. 0.15% interest isn't bad, but you might want to look into Ally which pays .87%. We use both a brick and mortar and online, where you can easily deposit locally and transfer money back and forth.

 

Incredible Bank and Capital One 360 are good choices too. ;)

Edited June 25, 2014 by Stateroom_Sailor

[sirenitas]

I already had the money set aside for the booking - final payment due in Aug. - so I just did the math on what we thought we would spend on board. Got a $1500 card and that would cover everything. The bonus card we will use for any souvenir we want :D

 

Since our cabin category is sold out this is the only price drop we can expect. So, I am happy with any discount Carnival wants to send my way!