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AARP Carnival Gift Cards

helene109

By helene109,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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n6uqqq

n6uqqq

Posted
Posted (edited)
48 minutes ago, scliq said:

Calling Allstate Rewards worked!

I received an email this afternoon with the $1000 Egift Card. No explanation but that does not matter I got it and Cheers is paid for. Just need the snail mail $100 card for Bubbles but it should be here soon.

Thanks All 

 

 

 

The egift cards come in really handy. No waiting and hoping it shows in the mail/UPS. And you can apply them immediately.

Edited by n6uqqq
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bossygirl333

bossygirl333

Posted
Posted
On 11/29/2021 at 12:31 PM, rempo said:

Thanks to all for the informative thread!  Just signed up for Allstate Rewards.  Here's the non-recent codes I was able to load.

 

WELCOMECOUPONS    1,000
WELCOME2WINNING    2,500
WELCOME2AR    1,000
WELCOME2OFFERS    1,500
WELCOME2DEALS    1,500
WELCOMEBACK    1,000

WELCOMEBIDS    1,000
WELCOME2SAVINGS    1,000
WELCOME2REWARDS    1,000
WELCOMEREWARD    1,000
WELCOMEBRANDS    1,500
WELCOMEPRIZES    2,500
WELCOMELOCAL    1,500
10KANNIVERSARY    10,000
5KANNIVERSARY    5,000

 

Joining + Login was 6,800, so this will get you ~40,000 quickly.

Thankyou soooooo much.   More than half worked for me as well...   and then my hubby used them on his acct!     We're set for a while.    We'll make a toast in your honor at alchemy bar!

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Calnev1

Calnev1

Posted
Posted


I had trouble redeeming a few of my gift cards on our recent  week-long  Carnival Panorama cruise so thought I would pass along what happened.

 

I loaded $1,400 in gift cards to our Sail and Sign (SS) account on Day 1.  After the initial load, I usually spread my GC redemptions out through the cruise, putting the cards on the SS account as we rack up expenses.  On Day Four we went over $1,400 in expenses, so  I went down to Guest Services to put another $1,000 GC on the  account.  It was then that I first ran into the concept of “validation.”   Maira, the GC Rep, loaded my $1,000 GC but then asked if I planned to use any more GCs.  I said I didn’t know, that it depended on how much more we spent on the ship going forward.  She then said I should bring down and load the GC’s immediately because it might take 24 to 48 hours to have them “validated.”   Well, the next day, Day 5, I brought two more $100 GCs down to Guest Services.   Got a different rep, who immediately loaded my GCs with no questions asked and with no mention of “validation.”

 

Fast forward now to Day 7, the next to last day of the cruise.  At that point, I had successfully loaded a total of $2,600 in GCs but our ship expenses were at $2,900.    So I went down to Guest Services to load three more $100 GCs.  Unfortunately, I think, I got Maira again as the desk rep.  She recognized me, and gave me a lecture about having told me the GCs would have to be validated and that it would take time.  She told me to come back later to check on the success of my “validation.”   I came back in the afternoon, but the cards had not been validated.  Came back about at 9 PM, but the cards had still not been validated.  At that point I gave up on loading the additional $300 in GCs.

 

I never got a good explanation of this validation thing.  I know that validation has nothing to do with whether the gift cards had money on them.   Possibly Carnival wants to slow down, or even stop, the use of gift cards after one has redeemed some set amount of GCs (like $2,000) on a particular cruise.  In any event, this is definitely something to be aware of if you redeem a lot of GCs onboard and/or you tend to wait until the end of a cruise to redeem your GCs.  I think on my next cruise I will estimate our total onboard expenses and then front load all my GCs on Day 1. 

 

BTW, I tried to use the Panorama kiosk to load some GCs, but only after I ran into the validation wall with Maira.  At that point the kiosk would not accept my GCs either.   I tried several different $100 GCs, but the kiosk would just lock up.

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tw67

tw67

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Calnev1 said:


I had trouble redeeming a few of my gift cards on our recent  week-long  Carnival Panorama cruise so thought I would pass along what happened.

 

I loaded $1,400 in gift cards to our Sail and Sign (SS) account on Day 1.  After the initial load, I usually spread my GC redemptions out through the cruise, putting the cards on the SS account as we rack up expenses.  On Day Four we went over $1,400 in expenses, so  I went down to Guest Services to put another $1,000 GC on the  account.  It was then that I first ran into the concept of “validation.”   Maira, the GC Rep, loaded my $1,000 GC but then asked if I planned to use any more GCs.  I said I didn’t know, that it depended on how much more we spent on the ship going forward.  She then said I should bring down and load the GC’s immediately because it might take 24 to 48 hours to have them “validated.”   Well, the next day, Day 5, I brought two more $100 GCs down to Guest Services.   Got a different rep, who immediately loaded my GCs with no questions asked and with no mention of “validation.”

 

Fast forward now to Day 7, the next to last day of the cruise.  At that point, I had successfully loaded a total of $2,600 in GCs but our ship expenses were at $2,900.    So I went down to Guest Services to load three more $100 GCs.  Unfortunately, I think, I got Maira again as the desk rep.  She recognized me, and gave me a lecture about having told me the GCs would have to be validated and that it would take time.  She told me to come back later to check on the success of my “validation.”   I came back in the afternoon, but the cards had not been validated.  Came back about at 9 PM, but the cards had still not been validated.  At that point I gave up on loading the additional $300 in GCs.

 

I never got a good explanation of this validation thing.  I know that validation has nothing to do with whether the gift cards had money on them.   Possibly Carnival wants to slow down, or even stop, the use of gift cards after one has redeemed some set amount of GCs (like $2,000) on a particular cruise.  In any event, this is definitely something to be aware of if you redeem a lot of GCs onboard and/or you tend to wait until the end of a cruise to redeem your GCs.  I think on my next cruise I will estimate our total onboard expenses and then front load all my GCs on Day 1. 

 

BTW, I tried to use the Panorama kiosk to load some GCs, but only after I ran into the validation wall with Maira.  At that point the kiosk would not accept my GCs either.   I tried several different $100 GCs, but the kiosk would just lock up.

I really think it all depends upon who you get at Guest Services.  I have never seen a rule that you can't go over a certain dollar amount on board.  I know that they do worry about fraud, but they should have a better way to handle it.  In the past I have purchased cruise credit to avoid going to Guest Services, but with those dollar amounts, that isn't an option.  I do think that they want to make sure that you aren't just depositing the GC and then taking them out in a slot machine for cash.  But if you had already put expenses on your account, that shouldn't be a reason.

 

I am sorry that this happened to you.  I am interested to hear if this has happened to others.  

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n6uqqq

n6uqqq

Posted
Posted

I have had this issue in the past also. When loading gift cards after we left the home port there was a delay. The rep a guest services gave me receipts for the gift cards and told me to hold on to them until they were loaded? I don't know why there was a difference between loading them at port vs at sea but there was. On my recent cruise I tried to have them load the cards in Long Beach before boarding but they wouldn't do it. I did it on the Miracle at a kiosk shortly after boarding without issue. That was the very first time I have been able to successfully load cards at a kiosk. The ship has internet obviously so why cards won't load in real time just like making a purchase or payment on the Carnival website is unknown to me. 

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Organized Chaos

Organized Chaos

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, Calnev1 said:


I had trouble redeeming a few of my gift cards on our recent  week-long  Carnival Panorama cruise so thought I would pass along what happened.

 

I loaded $1,400 in gift cards to our Sail and Sign (SS) account on Day 1.  After the initial load, I usually spread my GC redemptions out through the cruise, putting the cards on the SS account as we rack up expenses.  On Day Four we went over $1,400 in expenses, so  I went down to Guest Services to put another $1,000 GC on the  account.  It was then that I first ran into the concept of “validation.”   Maira, the GC Rep, loaded my $1,000 GC but then asked if I planned to use any more GCs.  I said I didn’t know, that it depended on how much more we spent on the ship going forward.  She then said I should bring down and load the GC’s immediately because it might take 24 to 48 hours to have them “validated.”   Well, the next day, Day 5, I brought two more $100 GCs down to Guest Services.   Got a different rep, who immediately loaded my GCs with no questions asked and with no mention of “validation.”

 

Fast forward now to Day 7, the next to last day of the cruise.  At that point, I had successfully loaded a total of $2,600 in GCs but our ship expenses were at $2,900.    So I went down to Guest Services to load three more $100 GCs.  Unfortunately, I think, I got Maira again as the desk rep.  She recognized me, and gave me a lecture about having told me the GCs would have to be validated and that it would take time.  She told me to come back later to check on the success of my “validation.”   I came back in the afternoon, but the cards had not been validated.  Came back about at 9 PM, but the cards had still not been validated.  At that point I gave up on loading the additional $300 in GCs.

 

I never got a good explanation of this validation thing.  I know that validation has nothing to do with whether the gift cards had money on them.   Possibly Carnival wants to slow down, or even stop, the use of gift cards after one has redeemed some set amount of GCs (like $2,000) on a particular cruise.  In any event, this is definitely something to be aware of if you redeem a lot of GCs onboard and/or you tend to wait until the end of a cruise to redeem your GCs.  I think on my next cruise I will estimate our total onboard expenses and then front load all my GCs on Day 1. 

 

BTW, I tried to use the Panorama kiosk to load some GCs, but only after I ran into the validation wall with Maira.  At that point the kiosk would not accept my GCs either.   I tried several different $100 GCs, but the kiosk would just lock up.

 

This validation nonsense started back in either 2018 or 2019, but back then it was only for eCards, or people who just wrote down the card # and PIN on a piece of paper. It was talked about a lot here on the forum. The story back then was, there was a big problem with people buying fraudulent eCards from third-party sources. I think part of it was, people were buying them from individual sellers from sites like eBay, then ending up with empty cards.

 

So just like you experienced, the eCards had to be "validated," and they said since they had to send the info. back to Carnival HQ, it'd take a day or two. This makes absolutely no sense to me. Any one of us can go to Carnival's official gift card website right now and check the balance on a card within 30 seconds. If their official balance checker shows a balance on the card, then I'm not sure how it's fraudulent. I highly doubt there's a big problem with people who have the capability to load a Carnival card without actually paying for it.

 

Back then, I avoided the problem by making sure to take physical cards on board, but apparently now, it's spread to those, too. At least with certain Guest Services reps., that is. If this happens to me in the future, I'm going to ask why Carnival's official balance checker isn't "validation."

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Calnev1

Calnev1

Posted
Posted
20 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

This validation nonsense started back in either 2018 or 2019,....

 

Back then, I avoided the problem by making sure to take physical cards on board, but apparently now, it's spread to those, too. At least with certain Guest Services reps., that is. If this happens to me in the future, I'm going to ask why Carnival's official balance checker isn't "validation."

That is a good idea. 

 

On my next cruise when I plan to load some gift cards at Guest Services I will pull up Carnival's official balance checker on my phone while standing in line.  Then if/when I get the validation nonsense I will enter the card number into the balance checker in front of the guest services rep and ask why that balance result isnt acceptable as validation.

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Calnev1

Calnev1

Posted
Posted

Some end-of-year notes related to Carnival.

  1.  The offer of a $35 statement credit if you spend $100 at carnival.com is back on numerous Chase and Bank of America credit cards.  Offer expires January 15.  Between my wife and I we have it on four different cards and will use the offer to pay down the balance on an upcoming cruise in four one-hundred-dollar chunks, saving $140.

  2. The offer of a $250 statement credit if you spend $1000 at carnival.com remains available on some Citi cards, but the offer expires December 31.  We had it on two Citi cards.  This is more difficult to use with the big $1000  spend requirement.

  3. Carnival egift cards are back on AARP after a long hiatus.   $100 and $500 denominations with the standard ten percent discount.

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Calnev1

Calnev1

Posted
Posted

Allstate is running a Carnival Gift Card sweepstakes.  Two separate ones, actually, each for a $1,200 Carnival gift card.  Entry ends December 31, and the drawings are on January 11.   You get a free entry with each daily logon, and you can buy additional entries for 50 points each.  I thought this was maybe a good way to burn some of that big bank of saved Allstate points.

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SNJCruisers

SNJCruisers

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, Happiest_Girl said:

Shoot! I just signed up yesterday, didn't pull the trigger on purchasing last night and was wondering why I couldn't find them today. My cruise is 10 days away so I hope the eCards come back soon!

 Lesson learned.  Why did you wait so long to sign up?  Even if you just found out about the site, you should have pulled the trigger immediately after accumulating enough points to get the ecards you wanted.  Obviously you now need to keep your fingers crossed that they get put back in within a week.  Good luck.

You could sign up for AARP for 90 days for $1.00 and then cancel before the 16.00 renewal kicks in. They have the ecards available.

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