Get a $50 gift card when you spend $1,000!

[Steelers36]

2 minutes ago, Thrak said:

I ordered the physical, plastic cards. I bought 5 of them one at a time. I got the e-cards quickly and put snips of them into a Word document so I have the number and PIN for each one. I meant to call Princes today to apply them but spaced out on it so I'll do it next week. I do not want to do it on the weekend. Maybe 10 minutes ago I got 5 separate emails saying my card had shipped. Each one has a tracking number. Nice. (Kind of like having five $1,000 bills coming in the mail.) 🙂

IIRC, you use a TA, so you need to provide the card numbers and PIN's to your TA to apply payment.

[Thrak]

1 minute ago, Steelers36 said:

IIRC, you use a TA, so you need to provide the card numbers and PIN's to your TA to apply payment.

 

Yes, I'll do that for the cruise payment (the $5,000) but I can call Princess direct and have them apply the bonus e-cards as OBC. I did it last time with the Father's Day sale so it "should" work. If not I'll just give the info to the TA and her do it. (Actually, the TA is a man but it seems to us that he has no clue at all about cruises and his wife (who works in the agency) is good with them. We didn't go with our usual TA this time because the agency we went with offers their own version of the Sip and Sail a few days before Princess has that promo and the agency covers the gratuities as well.

[Steelers36]

2 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Yes, I'll do that for the cruise payment (the $5,000) but I can call Princess direct and have them apply the bonus e-cards as OBC. I did it last time with the Father's Day sale so it "should" work. If not I'll just give the info to the TA and her do it. (Actually, the TA is a man but it seems to us that he has no clue at all about cruises and his wife (who works in the agency) is good with them. We didn't go with our usual TA this time because the agency we went with offers their own version of the Sip and Sail a few days before Princess has that promo and the agency covers the gratuities as well.

Ahh, okay.  I was going to apply mine against my balance owing (not yet to FP date).  That is what I did for the Holiday Bonus ($500/$25) - much prefer the $1000/$50 one.  Yes, I know the agency to which you refer (a whole bunch of little boxes you might say).

[Steelers36]

@Thrak, may I ask if you used different credit card for each one, or different to/from combinations (like you to wife on your card; her to you on her card, etc)?  It is a royal PITA when the online purchase is rejected and have to phone in the order like we did.  I had a couple work and then everything rejected.  Same thing when friends tried it.

Edited February 8, 2020 by Steelers36

[RJAM3]

6 hours ago, Jeter02 said:

 Good to know. Do you still get the $50 back as well? Also, if you do cancel the booking that the gift card to apply to, do you still only have till end of April 2020 to use it? What happens if I cancel it after April? 

so if you buy gift cards for a $1000 and get $50 card bonus and you have a problem and end up using Princess insurance to cancel the cruise you get the $1000 back on a gift card only?  Not worried about what would happen with the $50 but getting several thousand back on a gift card is unsettling. 

[Steelers36]

1 minute ago, RJAM3 said:

so if you buy gift cards for a $1000 and get $50 card bonus and you have a problem and end up using Princess insurance to cancel the cruise you get the $1000 back on a gift card only?  Not worried about what would happen with the $50 but getting several thousand back on a gift card is unsettling. 

Back to the gift card - doesn't expire.  The bonus does expire, so if you cancel after the bonus expiry date, that money is lost.

[RJAM3]

thanks again!

[phred119s]

6 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

IIRC, you use a TA, so you need to provide the card numbers and PIN's to your TA to apply payment.

So they can call Princess. 😂 I don’t know if it is just me, but the last few times I’ve tried to apply gift cards their TA site has given an error on how an exp date must be entered. But literally right on the screen it says “Princess gifts cards do not need an expiration date.” 🤔   It actually happened to me just yesterday, again. 

[franktown]

I don't know if this has been covered earlier in the thread but Allstate has Princess gift cards again.  10% off instead of 5% that Princess gives you.  Same gift card.  Used them last year.

[tipofthehook]

On 2/5/2020 at 5:02 PM, Ombud said:

In the midst of it all: 

 

 

Canadians buying the $1000 card can only use it to pay toward the fare if you booked the voyage in US dollars. Very easy to do this on the Princess website if you are not using a Canadian TA. I’m hoping to do this, wish me luck. 

Edited February 8, 2020 by tipofthehook

[Steelers36]

22 minutes ago, tipofthehook said:

Canadians buying the $1000 card can only use it to pay toward the fare if you booked the voyage in US dollars. Very easy to do this on the Princess website if you are not using a Canadian TA. I’m hoping to do this, wish me luck. 

You will need the luck because we and our friends were both frustrated for Thursday and Friday this week attempting to do online orders and having them summarily rejected by the mysterious third party Princess is using.  Nothing wrong on the bank side, and no explanation for the rejections, and that includes Princess Gift Card support who get no explanation of the situation, but do indicate that lots of orders reject.  You then need to use a telephone rep to take your order and they can push it through to work (even had one of those reject because the agent first used the website interface and got the same result).  PITA, but got success when had an agent on the phone that knows how to do the process.  It creates more delays as we are still waiting on confirmation emails for the links to obtain some of the virtual card numbers and PIN's.  

 

I have written Customer Relations about this process and recommend that it needs to change such that an explanation is provided to customer and/or Princess why an order is rejected.  It becomes much more labor-intensive when a phone order must be used.  I realize some folks have posted on here about ordering multiple cards and receiving them minutes later.  My wife and I had one or two work that way and then nothing.  Perhaps if among the first to order as soon as promo is known, it works better.  I have my theories about the rejection reasons, but no way to know.  For example, the billing address section doesn't have a field for COUNTRY, so everything is defaulted to USA.  (I pointed this out to Princess last year and still no changes).  Also, I suspect that once the third party rejects an order, anything else coming with same name, email, credit card (as in "try again"), is automatically rejected without consideration.  Certainly there can be no supposed "security review" by the third party in less than five seconds.

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by Steelers36

[Thrak]

12 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

@Thrak, may I ask if you used different credit card for each one, or different to/from combinations (like you to wife on your card; her to you on her card, etc)?  It is a royal PITA when the online purchase is rejected and have to phone in the order like we did.  I had a couple work and then everything rejected.  Same thing when friends tried it.

 

I used one credit card, one phone number, and one mailing address. I used different "To" and "From" but I don't know if that made any difference. For the first two the system whined that it couldn't verify my mailing address. This happened for the Father's Day promo as well. I've live in the same place for 31 years so I'm confident my address is correct. Its the same one Princess has and the same one my credit card company has. Last year I had a number of attempts fail because the stupid system they use said my address was incorrect. Whatever company they use has pretty poor IT.

[disneyochem]

I just bought $5000 ($1000 5x)of e-cards this morning.  I used one credit card, one email address, and one phone number for each transaction.  I did pick a different card each time (valentines, anniversary, etc) as well as different “To” and “From.”  All went through without a glitch.  Received all emails within 20 minutes.

 

Applying the codes to one of our bookings (final payment is Feb 20).  Will still owe over $2000.  I’m going to try and buy two more cards before the promotion ends.

[Earthworm Jim]

Never mind - my topic has already been covered. No delete button though.

Edited February 8, 2020 by Earthworm Jim

[Crystabel]

I’m surprised that there seems to be no limit on the number of cards that can be ordered under this promotion. After ordering five yesterday, I’ve ordered three more today...so far. They’re all printed out and ready to give to my TA. 

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, disneyochem said:

Applying the codes to one of our bookings (final payment is Feb 20).  Will still owe over $2000.  I’m going to try and buy two more cards before the promotion ends.

 

I figure $5k on the card this month for cruises is enough. I pay it off every month so I don't like it to get much over $7k or so. If they run another promo for Mother's Day and maybe again for Father's Day I'll buy more. With the $5k applied I'll still owe another $9k so I can definitely use the cards.

[MamaFej]

The system is still letting me buy. I now have enough to pay off the cruise with final payment due at the end of this month.

 

My statement closes in a couple of days, so I'll start buying for our November cruise then. 

 

At a 3% rebate on my Chase Sapphire Reserve card, which I can redeem for 4.5% plus the 5% bonus with this deal, I am pleased with the return.

 

Best of luck to all still battling the website.

[Cruise Raider]

22 hours ago, Jeter02 said:

If you apply the $1000 gift card and $50 gift card to a booking, is all $1,050 transferable if you cancel your cruise and apply it to a new or another booking?

 

The $1000 is good forever.  The $50 is good if you transfer all funds to the new booking.  Do not let them cancel and rebook and reapply the bonus gift credit as you will lose the $50 that way.  It might be best to just book with Princess as you can talk them through what you need to do ... or get a good travel agent that will do it for you.  

[SportsFanatic]

Hello. I have a question about using the gift cards. . Can you call Princess Cruise Lines and have the gift card added to your onboard account? I have done this with Disney and Royal Caribbean, but first time cruising with Princess and not sure if you can. Thanks for any help.

[Jeter02]

Okay I'm officially ready to order my gift cards. So if I order wanted $2,000 gift card I should be getting $100 back inform of another gift card correct?

[MamaFej]

14 minutes ago, Jeter02 said:

Okay I'm officially ready to order my gift cards. So if I order wanted $2,000 gift card I should be getting $100 back inform of another gift card correct?

My understanding is that it's $50 per $1000 gift card, not $50 per $1000 purchased. I believe you will need to buy two $1000 cards to get two $50 cards. You will only receive a maximum bonus per card of $50, so buying one $2000 card will not result in a $100 bonus, it would only get you one $50 bonus card. 

[Jeter02]

2 minutes ago, MamaFej said:

My understanding is that it's $50 per $1000 gift card, not $50 per $1000 purchased. I believe you will need to buy two $1000 cards to get two $50 cards. You will only receive a maximum bonus per card of $50, so buying one $2000 card will not result in a $100 bonus, it would only get you one $50 bonus card. 

Thank you!!!!!!

[Ombud]

I think it also needs to be 2 transactions. Am I right or wrong?

 

Also I read somewhere 2 different (or not) limits. 1 at 5 per day, 1 at 10k. Unless a corporate account. I only needed 4

[jat1977]

49 minutes ago, SportsFanatic said:

Hello. I have a question about using the gift cards. . Can you call Princess Cruise Lines and have the gift card added to your onboard account? I have done this with Disney and Royal Caribbean, but first time cruising with Princess and not sure if you can. Thanks for any help.

When I called Princess and asked this, they said it could be converted to OBC but that I wouldn't be able to use it until I was on board the ship. 

[rocklinmom]

Wow I didn't realize it was so complicated to use the Princess gift cards. Don't know that I would attempt it for the extra fifty bucks.