Let's talk Carnival Gift Cards

[js]

Are you all just purchasing a gift card so you dont carry cash? Just want to make sure I understand. Ive never seen a CCL gift card to buy. I live on New York.

 

Thank you.

[janpa70]

I bought a gift card last night just to try it out. I'm going to wait till around closer to father's day since a lot of times they offer 20 cents off for every $50 you spend. So since that's a better deal I'll wait. Gotta love free gas. Can't wait.

[mitsugirly]

This is great! You must have been going on several cruises or booked a larger trip for multiple people? Or a really expensive cabin?

 

Based on my calculations you would have had to spend $6,750 to get enough to get three months of gas for free.

 

1,000 miles per month at 25 miles per gallons. This works out to 40 gallons of gas needed per month if you get 25 mpg, 120 gallons are then needed for three months. At $2.25/gallon you would have needed $270 in free gas. You need to redeem 100 points to get $1 in gas. So it would take 27,000 points. If you earn them at a rate of 4x per dollar on gift card purchases, it comes out to having to spend $6,750.

 

Not many people will be able to get free gas for three months with a small cruise.

 

 

LOL, wow those are some calculations. :D

 

Actually we purchased them for our Pride cruise, which was $3600, for....Spring Break and Easter. It's the absolute most expensive cruise I have ever booked for 3 people....EVER! We normally pay around $1200-1500, but I really wanted to go on this ship. We also purchased, I think, around $900 for on board expenses (along with some Verizon gift cards).

 

Both my husband and I drive Audi's...mine is 350 hp and his is 450 hp stock...so...needless to say we have "fun" when driving them and they use up the gas and we don't get anywhere near 25 mpg...not to mention we put the absolute highest grade gas in them, but yet we don't drive far for work at all. So I would venture to say that we definitely drive less than your average person who goes to work M-F at a "normal" job at a certain distance away. (I'm a nurse who goes to my clients homes which are in my immediate area (maybe 14-24 miles a day 5 days a week depending on what day it is) and the hubby owns his own store really close by as well).

 

The other thing about your calculations...there's no "points". Ours is strictly $$$$ off and you use them for the full amount each visit. They give you money off for every $50 you spend versus Kroger you have to spend $100 (and use points) to get the same amount AND be limited on the amount you can use. :rolleyes: So if we had $10.00 on each of our cards (using it for an example) and gas was $2.50/gallon, then you would get $2.50 off a gallon of gas and have $7.50 remaining on that card for the next time. It keeps taking the full amount off the card. We also took our multiple gas cans and filled them up each visit too. So, when we ran out of gas, we would keep putting in more gas from the cans until they were all gone. :D

 

Either way, we used this "free gas" for a few days shy of 3 months and we were in heaven. :D It worked for us...and definitely better than Kroger.

[mitsugirly]

Are you all just purchasing a gift card so you dont carry cash? Just want to make sure I understand. Ive never seen a CCL gift card to buy. I live on New York.

 

Thank you.

 

Not necessarily just so that you don't have to carry cash with you (although this is also a good reason), but for the added savings you get when buying them.

 

1) Purchase gift cards using your credit card with the highest amount (%) they give you back in cash=savings on your credit card statement and $$ off.

2) Get $$ off (or free) when you get gas=saving more money in your pocket at the pump. :D

 

It's a win-win situation. I just wish I could find gift cards for NCL and I'd have all my cruises covered. :p

[ski_mom]

If anyone does the Ebay bucks program through Ebay, check your email. I got an email this morning that today and tomorrow you get 5x your normal "bucks" for purchases of $100 or more. So, the total of your ebay bucks ends up being 10%.

 

Gift cards (other than ebay) work with this promotion, so I just purchases $400 of Carnival e-gift cards to pay the bulk of our gratuities for our cruise this summer. I wish this would have happened before our final payment was due, but something is better than nothing!

 

Anyway, I had to pay the entire $400, but I'll get $40 back to spend on anything I want through ebay, so seems like a decent deal to me. My area doesn't have any of the fuel points through grocery stores and we don't have verizon, so I have to take what I can get lol!

 

Also, they also have Southwest as an egift card if anyone is interested in that.

[Vitamin_Sea]

Last year I bought a CCL gift card during the Black friday promo.

 

Paid $500 for the gift card. Then, they gave an extra $100 bonus card. :)

 

So, its worth $600 at $500 final cost

Edited May 20, 2015 by limoguy1

[Lighthouse8895]

Someone mentioned purchasing them at Lowe's, what is the perk buying them there? Is there a percentage off? Thank you

[aquarianne11]

Last year I bought a CCL gift card during the Black friday promo.

 

Paid $500 for the gift card. Then, they gave an extra $100 bonus card. :)

 

So, its worth $600 at $500 final cost

 

 

Wow, that's a good deal. Thanks for the info. I'm hoping they will run the same promo for Father's Day like last year as well.

 

I'm going to watch out for these promotions. We need a lot for our cruise next year.

[backnine05]

Does anyone know if after you apply the GC's to your account, can you withdraw cash at the Guest Services desk? I have a good bit of gift cards currently and would like to use some of the balance for the casino (table games). I know you can take an advance at the tables, but I'd like to get around the 3% fee. Any advice on this is appreciated.

[lnm6170]

what if i put down $500 in gifts cards and don't use it all . do i get that left over back or is it for fitted ?

[mitsugirly]

what if i put down $500 in gifts cards and don't use it all . do i get that left over back or is it for fitted ?

 

 

Although I used all of mine (and then some on my cc) when we went, I was told multiple times on here that if you don't use all of it by the end of the cruise, you can go to customer service and get the rest back in cash.

[fuddrules]

Someone mentioned purchasing them at Lowe's, what is the perk buying them there? Is there a percentage off? Thank you

 

Depends on the credit cards you have or use.

 

Some have a cash back feature (say 2%)

Some have a miles feature for an airline (1% or 2% direct to miles)

Others could get 2% to 5% reward points.

[edbro]

I get a 10% discount at Lowe's for being retired military. I wonder if I could apply that to gift cards. I effectively get 20% off all my Lowes purchases because I buy a lot of their gift cards at a 10% discount.

[dioxide45]

I get a 10% discount at Lowe's for being retired military. I wonder if I could apply that to gift cards. I effectively get 20% off all my Lowes purchases because I buy a lot of their gift cards at a 10% discount.

 

How are you getting their gift cards for 10% off the first time around? I also wonder, if you use the Lowe's credit card, do you also get the 5% discount like you do on other purchases?

[angela12345]

Does anyone know if after you apply the GC's to your account, can you withdraw cash at the Guest Services desk? I have a good bit of gift cards currently and would like to use some of the balance for the casino (table games). I know you can take an advance at the tables, but I'd like to get around the 3% fee. Any advice on this is appreciated.

 

I don't know if you can withdraw the cash at guest services, but you can withdraw it thru the slot machine and get cash for your table play . . .

 

How to get cash out in the casino :

This works for onboard credit, gift cards applied to your account, or even if you have just backed your S&S with a credit card

 

1. Go to a slot machine, enter your sign & sail card into the slot machine. You may have to set up a players account if you have not done that already.

2. Pull whatever $ amount you want into the slot machine. There is no 'convenience fee' to pull the $ from your sign & sail into the slot machine. You can pull $ from your sign & sail no matter what way you have backed your S&S card (credit card, gift cards, or cash). You can choose to spin a couple spins if you want or not.

3. Cash out the slot machine back into your players account.

4. Go to the Casino cashier and they will cash out whatever amount you want, or all of it from your players account

5. You do need to cash out your players account at the casino cashier by the last night. The casino is not open the morning of departure.

 

There are step by step instructions on the slot machine screen how to do the above steps (how to setup players account, how to access the money, how to cash it back out of the slot machine into your players account)

 

Note: If you play at the tables, you can buy chips with cash, or you can buy chips using your sign & sail card. If you use your sign & sail, you will be charged 3% convenience fee. What we do involves extra steps, but avoids the fee ... we pull the cash thru the slot machine and cash out at the casino cashier, then take the cash to the table to buy the chips.

.

Edited May 21, 2015 by angela12345
left out quoted text

[hotmamma51]

Thank you for this information.

[jdcml]

Rather than start a new thread I'm hoping someone will pop back into this one...

I've seen posts about people "paying off" cruises, and the post here about free gas using $900 for OB expenses. A travel partner has called CCL on two different occasions and been told that the max you can use GC for is $1000. It doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe they were saying you could pay your $1000 deposit w/GC? Maybe it was $1000 in one transaction? I did see someone say you could only apply three cards at a time and needed to do multiple transactions for more than three cards. Just wanted to be sure that someone has actually applied more than $1000 in GC with success.

I figured based on one excursion from the ship, gratuities, final payment, other OB expenses I could use about $1800 in GC if I can come across them. A $180 is pretty decent and would cover my parking in POM!

[TerReuv]

[quote name='jdcml']Rather than start a new thread I'm hoping someone will pop back into this one...

I've seen posts about people "paying off" cruises, and the post here about free gas using $900 for OB expenses. A travel partner has called CCL on two different occasions and been told that the max you can use GC for is $1000. It doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe they were saying you could pay your $1000 deposit w/GC? Maybe it was $1000 in one transaction? I did see someone say you could only apply three cards at a time and needed to do multiple transactions for more than three cards. Just wanted to be sure that someone has actually applied more than $1000 in GC with success.

I figured based on one excursion from the ship, gratuities, final payment, other OB expenses I could use about $1800 in GC if I can come across them. A $180 is pretty decent and would cover my parking in POM![/QUOTE]

Don't think that is correct. I have paid $1400 of my cruise with gift cards. I have gone online each time to apply them. Never saw anything about not being able to use more than $1000. I even prepaid graduities with them. Just couldn't use them for the Fun Shop.

[kman99]

The $1000 limit refers to the amount you can load to a single gift card. From the Carnival gift card site: "Each single Gift Card may be purchased in any denomination between $25 and $1,000."

If you need more than $1000, you just need to do multiple gift cards.

Now if they would just run that bonus 10% gift card special like they did before Father's Day last year, I could pay off my cruise AND my bar tab! :D

[jdcml]

[quote name='kman99']The $1000 limit refers to the amount you can load to a single gift card. From the Carnival gift card site: "Each single Gift Card may be purchased in any denomination between $25 and $1,000."

If you need more than $1000, you just need to do multiple gift cards.

Now if they would just run that bonus 10% gift card special like they did before Father's Day last year, I could pay off my cruise AND my bar tab! :D[/quote]

GOT IT! I knew that the $1000 didn't make a whole lot of sense, but I couldn't figure out where it might have been coming from. I'm squirreling away the funds and setting it aside in hopes I can come across one of the 10% off before final payment. 10% can actually come in pretty handy!

[Vitamin_Sea]

[quote name='aquarianne11']Wow, that's a good deal. Thanks for the info. I'm hoping they will run the same promo for Father's Day like last year as well.

I'm going to watch out for these promotions. We need a lot for our cruise next year.[/QUOTE]

Sure thing
Not sure if there will be a fathers day offer but you can count on Black Friday.

11/27/15... you got time Edited May 21, 2015 by limoguy1

[lupster1]

[quote name='jdcml']Rather than start a new thread I'm hoping someone will pop back into this one...

I did see someone say you could only apply three cards at a time and needed to do multiple transactions for more than three cards. Just wanted to be sure that someone has actually applied more than $1000 in GC with success.
[/QUOTE]

I paid off my cruise this week with 2 $500 cards ($970), then used the remaining amount on that card and 4 other cards to apply toward excursions (they were being offered at 20% off, never saw that before). So, I used a total of 5 cards in one transaction.

So far, my overall savings has been 12%. I'll take it!

[TerReuv]

[quote name='jdcml']GOT IT! I knew that the $1000 didn't make a whole lot of sense, but I couldn't figure out where it might have been coming from. I'm squirreling away the funds and setting it aside in hopes I can come across one of the 10% off before final payment. 10% can actually come in pretty handy![/QUOTE]

Be sure to check any rewards type account you might have. So far Verizon, AARP Rewards for Good and Citibank EasyDeals all carry the gift cards. You use your points to get 10% off. Unfortunately, Verizon & AARP sell out very quickly and you have to catch them at the right time. I have not had a problem getting them from my Citibank EasyDeals Rewards. Probably because not as many people have that.

[mitsugirly]

[quote name='jdcml']

I've seen posts about people "paying off" cruises, and the post here about free gas using $900 for OB expenses. A travel partner has called CCL on two different occasions and been told that the max you can use GC for is $1000. It doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe they were saying you could pay your $1000 deposit w/GC? Maybe it was $1000 in one transaction? I did see someone say you could only apply three cards at a time and needed to do multiple transactions for more than three cards. Just wanted to be sure that someone has actually applied more than $1000 in GC with success.

[/quote]

We applied $3600 in gift cards when we booked our cruise with no problems. You do it online on Carnival's site and you can do it all in 1 transaction just applying each card and number per line. No problems.

[quote name='kman99']The $1000 limit refers to the amount you can load to a single gift card. From the Carnival gift card site: "Each single Gift Card may be purchased in any denomination between $25 and $1,000."

If you need more than $1000, you just need to do multiple gift cards.

[/quote]

Absolutely agree with this. It has to be the limit of the cards and I would imagine it would depend on the place you purchase it as well and their limits. When we purchased ours, they sold them in limits of $500 and $100's. So, we just purchased as much as we needed in increments of $500. :D

[aquarianne11]

[quote name='limoguy1']Sure thing
Not sure if there will be a fathers day offer but you can count on Black Friday.

11/27/15... you got time[/QUOTE]



Awesome! Thanks for the info. :)