Cruise Cash for 2022 Vacation?

[IMKTDQT810]

We are about 18 months until sailing. I am thinking of getting $50 cruise cash each month until we sail which will give me about $900 in cruise cash by the time we leave. This is our first "casual cruise" meaning we will not be dressing up for the one formal night and might or might not get any pictures taken. I plan on buying a few things prior to sailing (Bottomless Bubbles and Shore Excursions) and we aren't big drinkers (this is for a 5 day cruise). So I am wondering, does cruise cash ever expire? Meaning by summer 2022 I am HOPING sailings would be taking place but IF something needed to change and we don't sail does cruise cash just act like having gift cards? OR should I start buying physical Carnival Gift cards and if so, can they be used on the ship against the sign and sail account? Just wondering...it's been a few years since we sailed and I didn't really "plan saving in advance" like I will be doing for the one next year. Thanks in advance! 

[sanger727]

Just my 2 cents. I would open up a separate checking or savings account at your bank and deposit the $50 in there each month. For me, 18 months away is way too soon to be committing extra money to Carnival when I could keep it in cash. 

[RWolver672]

I agree with sanger727.  In case you weren't aware, this is from the Carnival site:   Cruise Cash is non-refundable and any unused credits will be forfeited.

 

I would even shy away from buying Carnival Gift cards.  There, you are tying up money that you have no idea of when you can spend it.

 

To me, the best way would be to buy VISA cards every month or two.  Take them on the cruise with you and put them on your account as needed.  That way if you don't use all of the $900  on the cruise, you can still spend it elsewhere.

[kdr69]

Had cruise cash purchased for my March cruise that was cancelled and it was refunded to my credit card same as my other Fun Shops purchases

[bury me at sea]

27 minutes ago, kdr69 said:

Had cruise cash purchased for my March cruise that was cancelled and it was refunded to my credit card same as my other Fun Shops purchases

 

Prior to cruising it can be refunded in the same manner it was paid for.  Once you are onboard it becomes non-refundable.  Use it or lose it.

[Organized Chaos]

I agree with the others who say be careful about dedicating large sums of money strictly to Carnival so far out. We use a lot of Carnival gift cards, but instead of buying them as we go and tying up a lot of money in them well in advance, we set aside the money we'll use, then start getting them when the cruise is closer. Their gift cards don't expire, so if you do get some well in advance, you don't have to worry about that. Anything that you buy with gift cards that is refundable will be sent back to you on a new gift card, but we always hold onto the originals just in case something crazy happens, until we're sure we don't need them anymore.

[Joe817]

3 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

I agree with the others who say be careful about dedicating large sums of money strictly to Carnival so far out. We use a lot of Carnival gift cards, but instead of buying them as we go and tying up a lot of money in them well in advance, we set aside the money we'll use, then start getting them when the cruise is closer. Their gift cards don't expire, so if you do get some well in advance, you don't have to worry about that. Anything that you buy with gift cards that is refundable will be sent back to you on a new gift card, but we always hold onto the originals just in case something crazy happens, until we're sure we don't need them anymore.

^^^^^This. We feel the same. And I honestly don't know what advantages of Cruise Cash hold. With gift cards, you can put it on your sail & sign account, and if you have any monies left unspent at the end of your cruise, Carnival will mail you a gift card for that amount. 

[Organized Chaos]

3 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

^^^^^This. We feel the same. And I honestly don't know what advantages of Cruise Cash hold. With gift cards, you can put it on your sail & sign account, and if you have any monies left unspent at the end of your cruise, Carnival will mail you a gift card for that amount. 

 

I guess the biggest advantage of Cruise Cash is the convenience of having it on your account when you get onboard. I talked about it in the Allstate thread, but since I never use a credit card on my S&S account, they kept making me add funds in the terminal, rather than letting we wait until I got onboard. That's when I started buying Cruise Cash, thinking they'd stop doing that to me, but it still didn't work. So I'll probably change the way I do things. The biggest disadvantage is that it's use-it-or-lose-it. Yeah, there''s the "casino trick" to cash out, but not everyone's aware of it or wants to mess with it. Technically, the same method can be used for gift card funds, too. 🙂

 

They did run a 20% off Cruise Cash sale last summer, which was nice, but that's because we're in unique times and they're doing things they don't normally do. We'll probably rarely see that, if ever, again.

[IMKTDQT810]

Thanks for all the helpful info. Yes, I am now agreeing with all of you on the cruise cash. Especially since I wasn't aware it was a "use it or lose it" and I mainly wanted it to cover anything we might want to buy (a drink or meal here or there and shopping for a Tee shirt or magnet) and yes, the casino trick I have read about but MY luck it wouldn't work by then or something. 

I can't open a separate bank account to transfer the $ into, even though it would be simple and easy BUT this is a surprise for DH (reason for it going to be casual) and he would see that transfer into an unknown account. I'm giving the cruise as a Christmas surprise to DH and DS THIS upcoming year! DH can't see any cc statements I get nor what I charge, that is why I was thinking of the cruise cash or normal visa gift cards. I just HATE that stupid $4.95 activation fee. Or maybe I look into those "reloadable" gift cards that I think has a higher activation fee but then I can keep loading the $50 each month and just have that one card to use as the Sign and Sail. Need to read up on those to make sure there is no "fine print" that takes a % if not used etc..

Again, thanks everyone for your thoughts and opinions! I certainly do appreciate it! 

[Laurab23]

Take the cash and put it someplace he won't find it. Get creative. 

 

Laura

[ABoatNerd]

Recommend you provide 0 of your money to any cruise line at this time.

 

You do not know when the product will be delivered, in fact will the on board product actually be and you have no information on ports.

 

Therefore, as a consumer, you should put yourself first and deny cruise lines any $.

[shoptom]

Cruise Cash purchases limited to $500 per cabin.

[Organized Chaos]

23 hours ago, IMKTDQT810 said:

I'm giving the cruise as a Christmas surprise to DH and DS THIS upcoming year! DH can't see any cc statements I get nor what I charge, that is why I was thinking of the cruise cash or normal visa gift cards. I just HATE that stupid $4.95 activation fee. Or maybe I look into those "reloadable" gift cards that I think has a higher activation fee but then I can keep loading the $50 each month and just have that one card to use as the Sign and Sail. Need to read up on those to make sure there is no "fine print" that takes a % if not used etc..

Again, thanks everyone for your thoughts and opinions! I certainly do appreciate it! 

 

Yes, definitely read the fine print on those Visa gift cards (and other brands). It used to be that after one year from the activation date, it started automatically deducting a certain percentage each month. I don't know what it is now, but probably the same or similar. If you use them this year, you should be ok, but check to make sure.

 

I can remember a time when those gift cards didn't do that. At worst, they'd just go into an inactive state after so long and you'd have to call to reactivate it again. Then at some point one provider decided to start penalizing after a year, so the rest of them followed suit. Very aggravating because that's our own money we use to purchase them. It's not credit, the funds on those cards are backed by our own money. To start taking some of it just because we may not use it all in a year is legalized theft, in my opinion.

 

They used to sell Carnival gift cards at certain retailers, but the way people have talked, they're getting harder to find. Target used to have them. Meijer's. Many others. You could buy those with cash so your husband wouldn't notice. I guess you can't buy Carnival gift cards online using a credit/debit card because he'll see the purchases on the statements?

[IMKTDQT810]

8 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

Yes, definitely read the fine print on those Visa gift cards (and other brands). It used to be that after one year from the activation date, it started automatically deducting a certain percentage each month. I don't know what it is now, but probably the same or similar. If you use them this year, you should be ok, but check to make sure.

 

I can remember a time when those gift cards didn't do that. At worst, they'd just go into an inactive state after so long and you'd have to call to reactivate it again. Then at some point one provider decided to start penalizing after a year, so the rest of them followed suit. Very aggravating because that's our own money we use to purchase them. It's not credit, the funds on those cards are backed by our own money. To start taking some of it just because we may not use it all in a year is legalized theft, in my opinion.

 

They used to sell Carnival gift cards at certain retailers, but the way people have talked, they're getting harder to find. Target used to have them. Meijer's. Many others. You could buy those with cash so your husband wouldn't notice. I guess you can't buy Carnival gift cards online using a credit/debit card because he'll see the purchases on the statements?

  No,  I can buy them with a CC since DH isn't on my account so he wouldn't see them. He does see my checking so I'd rather not take cash out just to keep to the side. I've seen the gift cards at different locations as well, I just need to buy them when DH isn't with me. LOL

[JerseyGirlJen]

A word of advice from someone who did what you're thinking of doing....I bought $25 and $50 increments of cruise cash (and also made small payments on my cruise for almost 2 years before it was cancelled), and it was a HUGE PITA 🤯 for me to track all those small payments from 2018-2020 to make sure I got the proper refund.  

 

Did I get refunded?  Yes.  But what would I do different next time?  I would put all those small payments aside in an envelope, separate savings account, etc. and when final payment comes due I'm paying in full.

 

Also...my December 2020 cruise was booked in the fall of 2018.  The Visa attached to my Carnival account from 2018-2019 got compromised and was cancelled.  When Carnival went to refund me it was quite a project for my bank to find the "missing" $900+ refund Carnival sent because by July of 2020 that compromised Visa was purged in the system and the money was hanging in a cloud somewhere.  The bank had to go back and find all those small payments to total out the $900 and actually credit my account.  Lesson learned.

[sparks1093]

On 1/18/2021 at 8:47 PM, IMKTDQT810 said:

  No,  I can buy them with a CC since DH isn't on my account so he wouldn't see them. He does see my checking so I'd rather not take cash out just to keep to the side. I've seen the gift cards at different locations as well, I just need to buy them when DH isn't with me. LOL

Gift cards would appear to be the way to go if you don't mind only being able to use them with Carnival. You can take them with you and load them to your account as needed at a kiosk so if you don't use them all they are still in your possession (and they can be used for deposits for cruises too, as I understand it). Maybe you could open up a Christmas Club account (do they even still offer those?) and tell DH you are putting aside money for Christmas, which you kind of are. 

[ngrund]

to use the on-board kiosk does it have to be a physical gift card?

 

Is there a way to type in the # and pin (electronic gift card)