AARP Carnival Gift Cards to Pay on Balance?

[Djptcp]

We have always used our AARP Carnival Gift Cards as onboard credit. Can we use them to pay on the balance of our booked cruise? I tried asking the question in the Carnival FAQs, but kept getting an error message on forms of payment.

[EllaDuChien]

Yes you can.  Up to (I think) 5 gift cards per transaction.  If you have more, just log out then back in and start another transaction.  

[Jeni99]

I do! ❤️ Save every penny we can!! 

[bury me at sea]

Absolutely, and for excursions and Cheers.  Also a TA will accept them if you booked through one.

Edited February 15, 2019 by bury me at sea

[Djptcp]

Thanks so much for the quick responses!

[n6uqqq]

My Alaska cruise is 5 grand and I paid every cent with gift cards, saving 500 dollars. That's some serious savings! 🙂

[Schoifmom]

Yup!  I save 10% on EVERYTHING I spend with Carnival

[maryhou]

OMG I searched about this yesterday and couldn't find anything so just posted a question.......  so AARP do still sell the $500 cards for $450?  DO you have to buy them online?  How do I join AARP?  

[Bevv]

8 minutes ago, maryhou said:

OMG I searched about this yesterday and couldn't find anything so just posted a question.......  so AARP do still sell the $500 cards for $450?  DO you have to buy them online?  How do I join AARP?  

https://www.aarp.org/rewards-for-good/  

You do not have to be an AARP member. You earn points at the website, and redeem them for % off gift cards.

 

[PSR]

Does anyone know that if you use the AARP gift cards to apply to your account before final payment and decide to cancel, do you get your money back? If so, would it be as cash (no credit card to apply credit to). Thanks for any info.

[joepeka]

11 minutes ago, PSR said:

Does anyone know that if you use the AARP gift cards to apply to your account before final payment and decide to cancel, do you get your money back? If so, would it be as cash (no credit card to apply credit to). Thanks for any info.

You will get your paid $$'s back but if you used gift cards, I'm pretty sure you will get that balance back in gift cards (or whatever portion of your balance you paid in gift cards). I say this because we had an statement balance at the end of our last cruise because we had applied more GC's as OBC than we spent and we got a GC in the mail for the credit balance. They seem to be rather meticulous about refunds and the original payment method but perhaps someone that has done this will have more reliable info.

Edited February 16, 2019 by joepeka

[PSR]

3 minutes ago, joepeka said:

You will get your paid $$'s back but if you used gift cards, I'm pretty sure you will get that balance back in gift cards (or whatever portion of your balance you paid in gift cards).

 

Thanks...that makes sense. So the refund gift card is loaded with a balance due, even if it's an odd amount, like  $15.24? So if you do use the gift cards toward your cruise final payment, you should be sure you're going to cruise on Carnival again, I guess. 

[joepeka]

1 minute ago, PSR said:

 

Thanks...that makes sense. So the refund gift card is loaded with a balance due, even if it's an odd amount, like  $15.24? So if you do use the gift cards toward your cruise final payment, you should be sure you're going to cruise on Carnival again, I guess. 

Yes, that is my experience although our refund was for more than your $15.24 number - I've read on this board that Carnival will just issue a check for anything small like that rather than a gift card.

[Djptcp]

I used  my four $100 AARP Carnival gift cards toward my balance and it looked like they took as I entered each one. However, I logged out of Carnival and logged back in and there was no change in the balance. So, I called Carnival and the agent entered each one again and this time they all worked. Not sure what happened when I did it.

[Babyfin]

Yes I have used AARP gift cards on last 3 sailings and am currently using them for my current one. I have always gotten the amount back on my account in the form of a gift card in the mail about 1-2 weeks after sailing. Just depends on the time of year you sail on how quick the mail runs. As for being able to purchase AARP gift cards. They are currently out of stock as of Thursday morning, but hoping they get them back soon. They usually have them back up on Mondays.

[theboatahoy]

20 hours ago, EllaDuChien said:

Yes you can.  Up to (I think) 5 gift cards per transaction.  If you have more, just log out then back in and start another transaction.  

Don't think there is a limit. I just paid $800 in one go and am pretty sure I've done more before. 

[Mr2Scents]

I used 20 with my PVP to pay off ours. I’ve used a bunch to pay deposits etc with no issue. 

[mvaughn11]

On 2/15/2019 at 11:03 AM, Djptcp said:

We have always used our AARP Carnival Gift Cards as onboard credit. Can we use them to pay on the balance of our booked cruise? I tried asking the question in the Carnival FAQs, but kept getting an error message on forms of payment.

When you are on their website on the page to pay for the cruise, it defaults to the crest card. Just  click on the gift card tab to pay using gift cards. Easy peasy...

[Aehrn16]

What is the limit of gift cards you can buy on AARP? I was hoping to earn enough points to pay off our cruise but when they had $100 cards available, I got an error stating they only allow you to buy 10 gift cards. Does this limit apply to the $500 cards as well?

[n6uqqq]

I think you can buy up to ten of the $500 ones also. These save you a bit on the shipping because they charge 59 cents per card.

[mvaughn11]

I don't see the Carnival Gift Cards on AARP anymore...

[joepeka]

1 hour ago, mvaughn11 said:

I don't see the Carnival Gift Cards on AARP anymore...

They will be back. I don't know if it's a supply issue or if the card availability is deliberately being throttled by Carnival or AARP's program provider for the cards, but they appear and disappear and reappear often.

[joepeka]

On 2/17/2019 at 12:44 PM, joepeka said:

They will be back. I don't know if it's a supply issue or if the card availability is deliberately being throttled by Carnival or AARP's program provider for the cards, but they appear and disappear and reappear often.

Edit: I was going to post that the GC's are available on AARP's rewards site but when I tried to add either of them ($100 or $500), the message popped up that the item is not available. Weird since they show available when filtering on travel gift cards.  

Edited February 19, 2019 by joepeka

[bury me at sea]

4 minutes ago, joepeka said:

Edit: I was going to post that the GC's are available on AARP's rewards site but when I tried to add either of them ($100 or $500), the message popped up that the item is not available. Weird since they show available when filtering on travel gift cards.  

 

At about 12:30 CST I tried to purchase a 100. card.  Successfully put it in my cart where a message popped up stating the item was unavailable.

 

I immediately backed up, and put a 500. card in my cart.  That transaction went through.

[joepeka]

2 minutes ago, bury me at sea said:

 

At about 12:30 CST I tried to purchase a 100. card.  Successfully put it in my cart where a message popped up stating the item was unavailable.

 

I immediately backed up, and put a 500. card in my cart.  That transaction went through.

Interesting. I got the same message on both cards. Oh well, hopefully they will both return soon.