RCCL Gift Certificates

[wgeo]

I'm sorry in advance, I'm sure there are old threads on this but I couldn't get the search function to work at the moment.

 

My question is about the gift certificates that you buy directly from RC's website - not the third party vendor certs/coupons.  I've heard sketchy things about the fine print on third party ones, but haven't seen much about the ones direct from RC.   I booked my cruise with Costco and for points want to pay my cruise on my Amex card, which Costco doesn't accept.  So I was thinking I could buy the gift certs directly from RC and then have Costco apply them to my cruise?  The RC website does say that they can be used thru a travel agent, but I was hoping someone here had direct experience with these before I sank any money into this or made any mistakes.

 

Thx

[Clarea]

2 minutes ago, wgeo said:

I'm sorry in advance, I'm sure there are old threads on this but I couldn't get the search function to work at the moment.

 

My question is about the gift certificates that you buy directly from RC's website - not the third party vendor certs/coupons.  I've heard sketchy things about the fine print on third party ones, but haven't seen much about the ones direct from RC.   I booked my cruise with Costco and for points want to pay my cruise on my Amex card, which Costco doesn't accept.  So I was thinking I could buy the gift certs directly from RC and then have Costco apply them to my cruise?  The RC website does say that they can be used thru a travel agent, but I was hoping someone here had direct experience with these before I sank any money into this or made any mistakes.

 

Thx

 

I'd read the fine print, but there are some gift certificates that can only be used when booking a new cruise.

[wgeo]

1 minute ago, Host Clarea said:

 

I'd read the fine print, but there are some gift certificates that can only be used when booking a new cruise.

 

Yeah, I've read every term and condition it lists - and it doesn't specifically say that it has to be used on a new cruise only.  I checked because I've heard that about some of the gift certs from 3rd party vendors.  But it doesn't seem that RC has that stipulation on the ones they sell.  But I'm still nervous and was just curious if anyone has used these ones before and what their experience was.  I'll call RC and my TA before I buy them, but we all know that sometimes what you're told by someone on the phone doesn't always end up working.

[skiierx131]

Might be worth it to also just buy the smallest (looks like $50) amount and test with that.

[Coralc]

If it is for your own cruise, or someone that you have a booking number for...why don't you just purchase onboard credit instead? 

[cmich068]

I understand why said big box retailer doesn't accept Amex for transactions they process themselves, but never understood why they won't accept it for cruise payments that are processed by the cruise line directly. Should be irrelevant to them what the method of payment is. And I say that as someone that generally books cruises through them. 

Edited October 22, 2018 by cmich068

[wgeo]

8 hours ago, Coralc said:

If it is for your own cruise, or someone that you have a booking number for...why don't you just purchase onboard credit instead? 

 

Not sure I'm following you - I'm looking to pay off the entire amount of the cruise, but wanted to do so on my Amex card - not sure how buying onboard credit can cover the cost of the cruise.

[wgeo]

8 hours ago, cmich068 said:

I understand why said big box retailer doesn't accept Amex for transactions they process themselves, but never understood why they won't accept it for cruise payments that are processed by the cruise line directly. Should be irrelevant to them what the method of payment is. And I say that as someone that generally books cruises through them. 

 

Yeah me either, they are really just a pass through, but I'm sure it's in some language with their "exclusive" contract with the other cc they use.  Not all that big of a deal of course, would just rather get the points for this large purchase.

[Clarea]

52 minutes ago, wgeo said:

 

Not sure I'm following you - I'm looking to pay off the entire amount of the cruise, but wanted to do so on my Amex card - not sure how buying onboard credit can cover the cost of the cruise.

 

You are correct, buying OBC won't help paying off the cruise. 

 

I also agree with skiierx above, try a small amount and see how that goes.