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Discount Carnival Cards

Mysticalbama

By Mysticalbama,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Florida Paesano

Florida Paesano

Posted
Posted

I ordered one and it ended up taking three days for me to receive the digital gift card.  Prior to receiving it, I contacted customer service for AARP Rewards and the proverbial finger pointing began with me being told they have nothing to do with the order and that I needed to contact Carnival.  Doubting that AARP Rewards customer service was giving me correct information, I went ahead and contacted Carnival which, of course, explained that I had not purchased anything from them and they have nothing to do with my order through AARP Rewards.  Knowing I had the protection of being able to dispute the credit card charge, I didn't pursue calling AARP Rewards again.  Three days later, the digital gift card finally was delivered to my email address.  I have not ordered anything more from AARP Rewards and would be hesitant to do so.  If you or anyone else has ordered these gift cards from AARP Rewards, I hope your experience has been better.  

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Organized Chaos

Organized Chaos

Posted
Posted

I ordered one from AARP in mid-December and it came right away. But with the 1/month limit, their program is now practically worthless.

 

Allstate Rewards is still exactly like the old AARP Rewards for Good. It's ran by the same company. You don't have to be an Allstate customer to sign up, but if you're not, you have to create an account through their app. If interested, check out my post on how to sign up on page 66 of the Allstate thread. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2363984-allstate-drive-wise-cards-too/page/66/?tab=comments#comment-58982270

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rukkian

rukkian

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, richbum said:

I get mine through Allstate and have never had a problem!

Same here, I have an aarp account, but don't bother with it.  If they would simply add higher amounts, it would greatly increase the usefulness, but at $100 per month, it is really only good for smaller purchases.  I would not want to enter 35 gc's (after making 35 purchases) to pay for a cruise.  Allstate just works.  I ordered 3x $1k for the cost of the cruise and flights.

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rukkian

rukkian

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, jbethel11 said:

Do you book the flights through Carnival? If so, how?

fly2fun is their flight program.  You have to call to book, but it was very nice.  You choose your flight, and airline.   Cost gets added to the cruise, and you simply pay at final payment, so you can then use gc's to purchase.

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Galatz

Galatz

Posted
Posted
30 minutes ago, jbethel11 said:

So if one had a credit card that gave them free checked baggage, would they receive that perk by booking through Carnival?

Depends on the airline. United you the free checked bag is only available if you use their card to book. American you can get the free checked bags regardless of how you book.

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cruisegus

cruisegus

Posted
Posted
35 minutes ago, jbethel11 said:

So if one had a credit card that gave them free checked baggage, would they receive that perk by booking through Carnival?

unsure of this case but for me when tickets were purchased by my work, i still rcvd the free checked bag on the airline that i had the card for other co-workers had to pay and get reimburse by work.  of course that's been 3 years ago now also

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Organized Chaos

Organized Chaos

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, jbethel11 said:

Is it 1 per calendar month, or 1 per 30-day period? Is it worth the $12 per year?

 

It looks like it resets on the first of the month. I bought one on Dec. 17th and am now able to buy another.

 

Is membership worth it? Normally I'd say, what's worth it to some may not be worth it to others. LOL But seriously, if you buy one Carnival card, you save $10. That just about covers your annual membership fee. If you buy more, the savings exceed the membership. Then there are the many other benefits that they offer. For example, we'll save around $55 on our car rental for our upcoming cruise. That savings alone pays for our membership multiple times over. We also use it to save on hotels. There's others, like restaurant discounts and whatnot, but rental car & hotel are the two primary things we use it for.

Edited by Organized Chaos
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rukkian

rukkian

Posted
Posted
51 minutes ago, thesmiths said:

 

 

$120.00 savings is not worthless.

 

Not what it used to be, but not worthless.

 

 

 

I say it is worthless because there are way better, much easier options, not that I won't use gc.  

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rukkian

rukkian

Posted
Posted (edited)
16 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

It looks like it resets on the first of the month. I bought one on Dec. 17th and am now able to buy another.

 

Is membership worth it? Normally I'd say, what's worth it to some may not be worth it to others. LOL But seriously, if you buy one Carnival card, you save $10. That just about covers your annual membership fee. If you buy more, the savings exceed the membership. Then there are the many other benefits that they offer. For example, we'll save around $55 on our car rental for our upcoming cruise. That savings alone pays for our membership multiple times over. We also use it to save on hotels. There's others, like restaurant discounts and whatnot, but rental car & hotel are the two primary things we use it for.

I don't buy the gc through aarp after the changes, even though that was the original reason I got the membership.  I have saved at least $50 this year alone through AARP.  The discounts are awesome.  Even got to go to 2 movies for free (rocketman and yesterday), although we were by far the youngest there!

Edited by rukkian
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jbethel11

jbethel11

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, Galatz said:

Depends on the airline. United you the free checked bag is only available if you use their card to book. American you can get the free checked bags regardless of how you book.

16 hours ago, cruisegus said:

unsure of this case but for me when tickets were purchased by my work, i still rcvd the free checked bag on the airline that i had the card for other co-workers had to pay and get reimburse by work.  of course that's been 3 years ago now also

Thanks for the replies! Say I have a jetBlue card, and it gives myself, and three other travelers on my reservation free checked baggage. I read the T&Cs on jetBlue's website, and it didn't say anything about the flights needing to be booked on their website, just that the jetBlue card has to be used. I know I wouldn't be able to use the gift cards, but could I at least still book the flights and get the free checked baggage directly through Carnival?

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rukkian

rukkian

Posted
Posted
36 minutes ago, jbethel11 said:

Thanks for the replies! Say I have a jetBlue card, and it gives myself, and three other travelers on my reservation free checked baggage. I read the T&Cs on jetBlue's website, and it didn't say anything about the flights needing to be booked on their website, just that the jetBlue card has to be used. I know I wouldn't be able to use the gift cards, but could I at least still book the flights and get the free checked baggage directly through Carnival?

Basically, as long as you can get it through any TA, I would assume it would work, as they are basically just acting as your TA, but since I have not done it, I cannot confirm.

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cmichael1279

cmichael1279

Posted
Posted

I keep posting this, but check out Raise.com - you get 10% back on Carnival cards to use on the site.  Spend $1,000, get $100 back right away.  Use that $100 to buy a discounted Southwest airlines gift card to pay for your flight.  No surveys, no promo codes, it's by far the easiest way out there to get a discount.  And you can get points for Raise through shopping portals.

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jbethel11

jbethel11

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, cmichael1279 said:

I keep posting this, but check out Raise.com - you get 10% back on Carnival cards to use on the site.  Spend $1,000, get $100 back right away.  Use that $100 to buy a discounted Southwest airlines gift card to pay for your flight.  No surveys, no promo codes, it's by far the easiest way out there to get a discount.  And you can get points for Raise through shopping portals.

Yes, but remember. Those are used gift cards. There is no guarantee they will work.

https://www.bbb.org/us/il/chicago/profile/gift-cards/raise-marketplace-inc-0654-88432988

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cmichael1279

cmichael1279

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 minutes ago, jbethel11 said:

Yes, but remember. Those are used gift cards. There is no guarantee they will work.

https://www.bbb.org/us/il/chicago/profile/gift-cards/raise-marketplace-inc-0654-88432988

No, the Carnival cards are not used gift cards.  I've spent $10,000+ on Raise and never had a problem.

 

You posted their BBB link showing they have an "A" rating, which means they're legit.

Edited by cmichael1279
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13cheermom

13cheermom

Posted
Posted

So this is another option, if you have a Target Red Card you can purchase the cards online and get a 5% discount.  They are sent within 4 hours through email and I haven't had any issues with them.  I have been using them for Carnival & Princess gift cards.  I do miss the 10% but 5% is better than nothing. 

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