AARP Carnival Gift Cards

[n6uqqq]

5 hours ago, tw67 said:

THEY ARE BACK!!  THEY ARE BACK!!!  THEY ARE BACK!!!

 

Carnival ecards are back!!!!  Not just Carnival but a bunch of others!  I personally am glad to see Lands End!  

 

Plus I got 200 points on the spin game!!

So glad they are back. I like buying the $1000 denomination it makes it easier to pay off the cruise with the big box TA having to collect less numbers from me. 

[tw67]

1 hour ago, lennythenose said:

Thanks for the update. I just bought my first Lands End items last month and I’m hooked!!  I never look for anything but Carnival cards but this is good news!

I have been a Lands End fan since my kids were babies.  I loved the little kid rugby outfits!  They have women’s plus size, and since I am in the fluffy size, it is nice to know what you order will fit.  I also find their bathing suits, especially their long sleeve rash guard shirts are made to last.  I am also a very fair skinned redhead!  

[monykalyn]

On 4/11/2023 at 6:25 PM, monykalyn said:

And I’ve had an issue with physical card-still waiting to get it figured out: card wasn’t loaded with the money. First time I’ve had issue with physical cards in a few thousand spent. Prefer the e-card by far! Cruise is paid for but want to book excursion and steak house so need a few more!

Got my refund + the shipping fee. So it did get resolved

and YAY to eCards!!

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

7 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

So glad they are back. I like buying the $1000 denomination it makes it easier to pay off the cruise with the big box TA having to collect less numbers from me. 

My credit card had a great points for Carnival gift card rate, so I got $2000 worth of gift cards for "free."  Unfortunately, it was sent as twenty $100 cards. Spent quite a bit of time yesterday with the TA over the phone reading all those numbers. 

[Dangjr213]

14 minutes ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

My credit card had a great points for Carnival gift card rate, so I got $2000 worth of gift cards for "free."  Unfortunately, it was sent as twenty $100 cards. Spent quite a bit of time yesterday with the TA over the phone reading all those numbers. 

Which credit card? 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

1 minute ago, Dangjr213 said:

Which credit card? 

citi

[CruizinSusan70]

Just tried to buy eCards @1000 each.  The system only allowed me to get 3 and said no more could be bought for 7 days.

[n6uqqq]

2 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Just tried to buy eCards @1000 each.  The system only allowed me to get 3 and said no more could be bought for 7 days.

I tried also and same as you 3 limit. That seems reasonable for a week. 

[ninjacat123]

I only bought two $1,000 cards so no limit warning.  Thx for posting so now I know😊

[Calnev1]

14 hours ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

My credit card had a great points for Carnival gift card rate, so I got $2000 worth of gift cards for "free."  Unfortunately, it was sent as twenty $100 cards. Spent quite a bit of time yesterday with the TA over the phone reading all those numbers. 

Free is very good!  I have two citi credit cards, but can't figure out how you did this.  Can you describe your method in more detail?  Thanks.

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

1 minute ago, Calnev1 said:

Free is very good!  I have two citi credit cards, but can't figure out how you did this.  Can you describe your method in more detail?  Thanks.

It's in the part of the site to redeem points.  One of the options is gift cards.  The carnival cards (and others) seem to come and go, though. But, there's always a list of lots of options.

 

[Eli_6]

19 hours ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

My credit card had a great points for Carnival gift card rate, so I got $2000 worth of gift cards for "free."  Unfortunately, it was sent as twenty $100 cards. Spent quite a bit of time yesterday with the TA over the phone reading all those numbers. 

What credit card is this?
 

I have all sorts of points/miles cards...although, I usually use them to fly with. I run everything I can (business expenses, my kid's private school tuition, taxes, etc.) through credit cards. I wish I could figure out how to make mortgage payments, but they don't allow that.  😕

[Eli_6]

18 hours ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

citi

Is it Citi thank you points?

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

1 hour ago, Eli_6 said:

Is it Citi thank you points?

Yes, that's it. 

[Calnev1]

54 minutes ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

Yes, that's it. 

In my Citi premier thankyou account, I see that I can currently redeem my thankyou points for Princess gift cards at one cent of gift card per point.  (I assume that the Carnival cards have a similar redemption cost, but don't see them available right now).  I can also redeem my citi thank you points for a statement credit (i.e., cash) at the same rate of one cent per point.  I think it might be better to take the cash redemption and use it to buy the discounted Carnival gift cards from Allstate or AARP.  Unless I am missing something, which I could be.

[Calnev1]

2 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

What credit card is this?
 

I have all sorts of points/miles cards...although, I usually use them to fly with. I run everything I can (business expenses, my kid's private school tuition, taxes, etc.) through credit cards. I wish I could figure out how to make mortgage payments, but they don't allow that.  😕

Since you own a business, you might consider getting the Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card if you don't already have it.  There is a way to leverage the Wyndham status you get from that card into Caesar's status, and then to leverage Caesar's status into free Carnival cruises.  You can read about this on some travel blog websites, including the Frequent Miler.  The Wyndham points earned through the card bonus and card spending are also currently pretty valuable for booking vacation rentals through Vacasa.com (also discussed by the bloggers).   Disclaimer:  I have not myself tried to do the status leverage trick.  But I have used Wyndham points to book vacation rentals through Vacasa, and I can confirm that those rental deals are superb. 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

1 hour ago, Calnev1 said:

In my Citi premier thankyou account, I see that I can currently redeem my thankyou points for Princess gift cards at one cent of gift card per point.  (I assume that the Carnival cards have a similar redemption cost, but don't see them available right now).  I can also redeem my citi thank you points for a statement credit (i.e., cash) at the same rate of one cent per point.  I think it might be better to take the cash redemption and use it to buy the discounted Carnival gift cards from Allstate or AARP.  Unless I am missing something, which I could be.

The redemption rates seem to change.  When I got them, the redemption rate for the gift cards was about 15% less than for the statement credit. So getting the cards directly for points was better. 

 

But, yes, if the point redemption rates are the same, allstate/aarp would be better. 

[Eli_6]

19 hours ago, Calnev1 said:

Since you own a business, you might consider getting the Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card if you don't already have it.  There is a way to leverage the Wyndham status you get from that card into Caesar's status, and then to leverage Caesar's status into free Carnival cruises.  You can read about this on some travel blog websites, including the Frequent Miler.  The Wyndham points earned through the card bonus and card spending are also currently pretty valuable for booking vacation rentals through Vacasa.com (also discussed by the bloggers).   Disclaimer:  I have not myself tried to do the status leverage trick.  But I have used Wyndham points to book vacation rentals through Vacasa, and I can confirm that those rental deals are superb. 

Thanks for that info!  Will definitely look into it. 

 

I just took the 10X online course to learn how to basically travel on the cheap on miles/points. I had already been paying for the airline tickets with miles, but this opened up even an ENTIRELY new world to me. Between my husband's business expenses, taxes, private school tuition, insurance, etc. we rack up a lot of points.  I actually just learned from that course that we can also pay mortgages through cards, too. It is like a 1.5 percent fee, but worth it for the miles/points...and you can write off the fee as a business expense.  Same for taxes. We own the office building my husband's practice is in so paying the mortgage on that building every month alone is quite a bit of points.

 

Now if I could figure out how to run payroll through a credit card...omg, that would be so many points/avios/miles. 

[Eli_6]

Does anyone know if Chase credit cards provide points for these gift card purchases?  I read somewhere that credit cards don't give points for gift cards.

[n6uqqq]

4 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

Does anyone know if Chase credit cards provide points for these gift card purchases?  I read somewhere that credit cards don't give points for gift cards.

On my Chase freedom card I get the standard 1 percent but with my BofA cash rewards I get an additional 3.3 percent on top of the ten percent. I have chosen online purchase as my bonus category and it does add up.

[sunshower9]

1KAPRIL23 for 1000 points

[Calnev1]

19 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

On my Chase freedom card I get the standard 1 percent but with my BofA cash rewards I get an additional 3.3 percent on top of the ten percent. I have chosen online purchase as my bonus category and it does add up.

Yup, I also use my BofA cash rewards set in online purchase mode to get the extra 3% cash back on my Carnival GC purchases.  You can get an even higher percentage cashback on the BofA card if you have certain deposit accounts at BofA.

 

Both Staples and Office Depot occasionally put Visa and Mastercard gift cards on sale, meaning that they waive the purchase fee.  When that opportunity presents itself, I buy a bunch of these no-fee Visa/Mastercard gift  cards at Staples or Office Depot using my Chase Ink Business Plus card, which earns five Ultimate Rewards per dollar spent at office supply stores including on the Visa/MC GC purchases.  I then use those Visa/MC GCs to buy the discounted Carnival cards on AARP (.... the Visa/MC GCs work on AARP, but not on Allstate).  I am not sure, though, that Chase still offers the Business Plus card to new applicants.  As for other Chase cards, the Chase Freedom Unlimited card earns 1.5 Ultimate Rewards points for every dollar spent, so I suppose you could buy Carnival gift cards with that no annual fee card.  

Edited April 26, 2023 by Calnev1

[MeganGC1983]

Happy Thursday! 

[Eli_6]

18 hours ago, Calnev1 said:

Yup, I also use my BofA cash rewards set in online purchase mode to get the extra 3% cash back on my Carnival GC purchases.  You can get an even higher percentage cashback on the BofA card if you have certain deposit accounts at BofA.

 

Both Staples and Office Depot occasionally put Visa and Mastercard gift cards on sale, meaning that they waive the purchase fee.  When that opportunity presents itself, I buy a bunch of these no-fee Visa/Mastercard gift  cards at Staples or Office Depot using my Chase Ink Business Plus card, which earns five Ultimate Rewards per dollar spent at office supply stores including on the Visa/MC GC purchases.  I then use those Visa/MC GCs to buy the discounted Carnival cards on AARP (.... the Visa/MC GCs work on AARP, but not on Allstate).  I am not sure, though, that Chase still offers the Business Plus card to new applicants.  As for other Chase cards, the Chase Freedom Unlimited card earns 1.5 Ultimate Rewards points for every dollar spent, so I suppose you could buy Carnival gift cards with that no annual fee card.  

This is great info!  Thanks so much.

 

I am working on a couple of SUBS (sign up bonuses) right now on cards.  I am trying to get us a bunch of points to fly us all to Europe business in 2024.  I had already had the points/miles accumulated but looks like I am going to be using everything I had to go to Edinburgh for our entire family in November.  I was planning on just flying out my husband and I (and paying for it) for my graduation in November but they won't tell me the date (only a date range of ten days) and it is so close to Thanksgiving that I can't see leaving my young kids.  They said dates will be out in September or October...well, by then tickets will be absurd!  And what if the date falls ON Thanksgiving or the day before/after? (Obviously the UK doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving.) I can't leave my kids on Thanksgiving so just decided to bite the bullet and have us all go and work on getting more miles for our cruise next summer by getting more cards and hitting the sign up bonuses. Just hit one by paying for taxes with a cc with only a 1.85 percent fee...well worth the 115k miles I got on that one. I plan to pay property taxes at the end of the year the same way. Since we have two houses and an office building, that will hit several subs. (Texas doesn't have a state income tax and instead taxes properties at anywhere from 1.5-4 percent of value every year.)  

[Calnev1]

On 4/25/2023 at 7:22 PM, n6uqqq said:

On my Chase freedom card I get the standard 1 percent but with my BofA cash rewards I get an additional 3.3 percent on top of the ten percent. I have chosen online purchase as my bonus category and it does add up.

Oh, I forgot one other very good option for firing up your cashback on Allstate/AARP gift card purchases.   Each month the no annual fee Citi Custom Cash Mastercard gives you 5% cash back on whatever category of spend you do the most on, up to a max of $500 spend per month.  So one way you could use this card is keep it in your sock drawer, then on the first of every month go into the drawer and pull it out and buy a $500 Carnival GC on AARP or Allstate to get 5% back on your $450 purchase.  Then put the Citi card back into your sock drawer until the next month, when you buy another $500 Carnival GC.  Rinse and repeat every month.

 

The reason that I forgot about this is that my wife and I use our two Citi Custom Cash Cards in a different way --  to get cash back on funding our 529 college plans for our grandchildren.