AARP Carnival gift cards

[chloe kitty]

Has anyone used one of these cards for the daily gratuities?

Thank you.

[EngineCo52]

1 hour ago, chloe kitty said:

Has anyone used one of these cards for the daily gratuities?

Thank you.

are you talking about prepaid gratuities ? 

[N7786W Flyer]

2 hours ago, chloe kitty said:

Has anyone used one of these cards for the daily gratuities?

Thank you.

 

You can use the cards for any expense incurred either prior to the cruise or while on the ship.  For example, you can use the cards, prior to boarding, to purchase internet packages, excursions, drink packages, pre-paid gratuities or (I believe) anything from the FunShops.  Of course, you can also use the cards, prior to boarding, to pay for the cruise fare itself.

 

Additionally, you can use the cards, while on board, for gratuities, drinks, excursions, photos, etc. 

 

In essence, if you can buy it with a credit card, you can buy it with a gift card.

 

Garnett

Edited July 11, 2019 by N7786W Flyer

[pcvtmom]

If you wish to use it onboard, just go to guest services and have it applied to your sail and sign card.  I've never had luck adding it at one of the kiosks, but guest services takes care of it every time.  It will be used for whatever you spend onboard, including gratuities (if not paid in advance).  As mentioned above, you can also spend it ahead of time by prepaying grats, purchasing anything from the Carnival webpage, and paying off the fare.

[MT_Sea_Cruisers]

As with pctvmom, I too have not had luck adding them to my sail and sign account from the kiosk while on board.

I just prepaid our gratuities for our January 2020 cruise using Carnival gift cards from AARP.  Also, you can use them to purchase cruise cash before your cruise and that will be on your sail and sign account automatically when you board.

[mets123]

So it doesn't work at the kiosk. What is the problem with waiting on line at guest services for a few minutes to get it applied?

[evandbob]

14 minutes ago, mets123 said:

So it doesn't work at the kiosk. What is the problem with waiting on line at guest services for a few minutes to get it applied?

 

Don't think anyone mentioned that there was a problem redeeming the gift cards at GS.  Who said that??????

 

I've never had an issue redeeming them

[Schoifmom]

19 minutes ago, mets123 said:

So it doesn't work at the kiosk. What is the problem with waiting on line at guest services for a few minutes to get it applied?

 

I don't think anyone said it was a problem, GS is often inconvenient compared to the kiosk.  BTW, you can also apply them (normally) at the port when you check in for the cruise.  

 

I normally buy enough Cruise Cash to get me through the first day, so that I can wait until the mad rush at GS has died down to go apply my gift cards there.

[mets123]

The survey topic was whether the cards could be used for tips yet two of the first four responses mentioned problem of redeeming them at the kiosk. 

[2wheelin]

6 hours ago, mets123 said:

The survey topic was whether the cards could be used for tips yet two of the first four responses mentioned problem of redeeming them at the kiosk. 

Yet those expanded responses also told them they could be used for tips. Yours did not answer any question.

[chloe kitty]

Thanks to everyone who replied.  We do want to use them while onboard to pay our grates, so we will go to customer service.  Thanks again.

[Organized Chaos]

14 hours ago, mets123 said:

The survey topic was whether the cards could be used for tips yet two of the first four responses mentioned problem of redeeming them at the kiosk. 

 

In order to use the gift cards to pay for gratuities on board, you first have to add them to your S&S account. So informing the OP, and others, that there could very well be some difficulty adding them using the kiosk is relevant to the OP's original question. You'll often find that people post additional information that they think might be helpful.

[Halohalo]

What discount is there through AARP for gift cards?

[n6uqqq]

5 minutes ago, Halohalo said:

What discount is there through AARP for gift cards?

10 percent off so if you buy a 500 dollar card it costs only 450. This can really add up if you pay an entire cruise this way.

[n6uqqq]

AARP is changing the program in Sept so it is probably too late for now to get in the game. We don't know the details yet for the new program that is coming.

[chloe kitty]

6 hours ago, fyree39 said:

I've used the gift cards at the guest services desk for expenses. I don't think I've tried the kiosk. I'm glad to know there could be a problem, so I'll just take future cards to guest services.

 

Here is my Chloe kitty. 🙂

How precious!  We no longer have Chloe, but we do have four other fur babies.

[chloe kitty]

Are these gift cards actual physical cards, or issued online?

Thank you.

[coscab]

4 hours ago, chloe kitty said:

Are these gift cards actual physical cards, or issued online?

Thank you.

I have received an actual card in the mail but I believe I paid extra for that, maybe the cost of postage was added, not quite sure.  I think you can get an "e-card" and not pay extra but not sure how that works.

[Organized Chaos]

7 hours ago, chloe kitty said:

Are these gift cards actual physical cards, or issued online?

Thank you.

 

They use to sell both the physical cards and e-cards, but if I remember right, they stopped stocking the e-cards sometime last year. I did see them for a short time in April or March, but they only lasted about a week and haven't been back since. I was hoping they'd stock more e-cards once the peak cruising season kicked in, but no luck. With the physical cards, you have to pay shipping. I think it's .59 per card.

 

Allstate insurance has a similar rewards program with Carnival cards. You don't have to be a customer just to join the rewards program, but some people were reporting a few months ago that, as actual Allstate customers, they had the e-cards available to them. Not sure if that's changed, though.

Edited July 12, 2019 by Organized Chaos

[bingomamma19]

22 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

AARP is changing the program in Sept so it is probably too late for now to get in the game. We don't know the details yet for the new program that is coming.

Not too late at all.   You can earn 5000 points per day.   I just earned 25k points in the last week to buy my gift cards to pay off my cruise for next year.   Just ordered them last night and today.

[n6uqqq]

47 minutes ago, bingomamma19 said:

Not too late at all.   You can earn 5000 points per day.   I just earned 25k points in the last week to buy my gift cards to pay off my cruise for next year.   Just ordered them last night and today.

 

I stand corrected. If you are ambitious you can still earn points until 1159 pm ET July 25th and have until sometime in Sept to redeem them. I have 70k now and unfortunately some of them will likely not be redeemed. I have allstate also which is not ending and is a great alternative to AARP.

[chloe kitty]

Such great info here.  Thanks again.

 

[Roz]

This morning I bought $700 worth of cards thru AARP for $630 and a very nominal shipping fee.

 

Roz

[tw67]

I always have GC to use on the cruise.  Once I had one with under $10 left on it.  Guest Services told me to hold it to use online for my next cruise,  that she couldn't put one on that was under $10.  So I just used it when booking my next cruise, and just used my other ones on that cruise. 

[Lottacruises]

They work fine at the kiosk EXCEPT they won't let you put in a dollar amount to apply from it, meaning a trip to guest services.