Gift Card promo is back!!

[Daniel A]

1 minute ago, Mary229 said:

Hi Kathy,  this came up a few months ago during the last promo.   At that time someone checked with chase but a phone call to chase would be the best way to verify.  

As an additional suggestion, for something as consequential as an insurance policy being voided I would e-mail the bank rather than call.  My experience is that call takers are at the bottom rung of an organization but written responses tend to get vetted much more thoroughly.

[DaveOKC]

1 hour ago, kapitch said:

I am confused as to why using HAL gift cards to pay for a cruise would void credit card trip cancellation insurance if payments had already been made using the credit card.  Where can this be verified?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Kathy

I think the concept is that Chase expects to get the ENTIRE cruise charged on their card in order to provide you with insurance for the cruise.  I think that is only fair, as why should they cover fares charged to other credit cards?  Now, for other charges, like OBC or shore excursions, they should be fair game to be paid for however.

 

[Red Haired Lady]

This is from the Chase Sapphire Preferred Guide to Benefits. In paragraph 2 it says "the Cardholder charges all or a portion of a Trip to his or her Credit Card Account."   But I would definitely want to call their benefits department to ask for verification. 

[mcrcruiser]

We have used the Chase Sapphire credit card many times booking trips & cruises . It has saved us a lot of money in  trip insurance premiums   .Since we are covered for medical emergencies any where in the world ,it is a fantastic  cost savings 

 

 For new people signing up the deal is incredible  . spend $4000    on the credit card & get $800 back .If using that $800 with  Chase (I forgot the specific dept name )  like for airfares ,hotels ,car rentals ,any Chase contracted vendors you then get a 25% bonus on that $800 making it a value of $1000   .The card has a $95 cost per year . We have saved way more than the card cost

[mcrcruiser]

BTW in 2019 I rented a car in Florida   .It was on  my chaseSapphire Credit card .We had a fender bender &  the Credit card paid for the repair of the rental car in full   .It also has no  foreign exchange fees 

[Big Dawg CC]

Since no one has brought it up yet (and no throwing objects!), technically, this is a 9% discount.  For example, you spend $500 and you get a $50 card.   So, for $500, you get $550 in value, or $500/$550 = 90.9%.  Still beats paying full retail if you are willing to take the risk.

[mcrcruiser]

3 minutes ago, Big Dawg CC said:

Since no one has brought it up yet (and no throwing objects!), technically, this is a 9% discount.  For example, you spend $500 and you get a $50 card.   So, for $500, you get $550 in value, or $500/$550 = 90.9%.  Still beats paying full retail if you are willing to take the risk.

Yes there is still a lot of  risk until cruises officially restart from US ports  

[Mary229]

8 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

I think the concept is that Chase expects to get the ENTIRE cruise charged on their card in order to provide you with insurance for the cruise.  I think that is only fair, as why should they cover fares charged to other credit cards?  Now, for other charges, like OBC or shore excursions, they should be fair game to be paid for however.

 

Right, Dave.  You can buy the other items as you wish but some of those will be insured.  They clearly lay out what they consider a travel related expense.  OBC does not qualify but shore excursions may.   They have a well-defined list in the PDF cited below.

 

Did you know you can now use your points to buy shore excursions with independent operators?

[NCTribeFan]

I took advantage of the "Pay Early Bonus" back when it was available.  Since I was applying multiple FCCs, and didn't have a huge balance left, I made a $500 payment which netted me $125 OBC.  That plus the OBC from my original Zaandam cancellation of April 2020, and my (legit) CCL shareholder credit means I have a nice little bit of OBC to use for my Dec 2021 NA sailing.

 

Since I booked the Have It All fare, I don't really think I need to purchase a $500 gift card.  I can redeem CC points for Carnival or HAL gift cards.  I have $$$ of them for Carnival (which I need for my upcoming cruise payments), so I'll probably redeem enough for a couple hundred in HAL gift cards to apply on board.  I should be able to use those funds in the casino.  Or I may pre-book excursions if, by then, we're required to only take ship excursions.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

2 hours ago, Mary229 said:

Right, Dave.  You can buy the other items as you wish but some of those will be insured.  They clearly lay out what they consider a travel related expense.  OBC does not qualify but shore excursions may.   They have a well-defined list in the PDF cited below.

 

Did you know you can now use your points to buy shore excursions with independent operators?

I think the concept is that Chase expects to get the ENTIRE cruise charged on their card in order to provide you with insurance for the cruise.         We always do ..

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

I think the concept is that Chase expects to get the ENTIRE cruise charged on their card in order to provide you with insurance for the cruise.         We always do ..

Yes, but you can buy your shore excursions on the gift card and not violate the terms

[DaveOKC]

Have we clarified if it can be used for casino charges?

[Daniel A]

16 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

Have we clarified if it can be used for casino charges?

I remember seeing once quite some time ago on the Princess boards that some posts indicated that they would take non-refundable OBC (such as shareholder and military OBC) apply it to the casino and then cash out thereby converting the non refundable to a cash refund.  Might not be ethical, but IIRC some people have done it.

[DaveOKC]

6 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

I remember seeing once quite some time ago on the Princess boards that some posts indicated that they would take non-refundable OBC (such as shareholder and military OBC) apply it to the casino and then cash out thereby converting the non refundable to a cash refund.  Might not be ethical, but IIRC some people have done it.

I think that HAL has cracked down on that option.  I know that once I was billed back for the OBC used in the casino.

[MTAK]

1 hour ago, DaveOKC said:

Have we clarified if it can be used for casino charges?

The bonus gift card funds can be used in the casino as verified by my PCC. You can pre-purchase OBC with them for this purpose.

 

Also, to answer another previous question, if HAL cancels the cruise, any purchases made with gift cards will be refunded to the gift cards.

Edited April 18, 2021 by MTAK
Cancellations

[kapitch]

Yes, I was always under the impression that only a portion of the trip had to be charged to the Chase card to qualify for insurance.  So far, we have not had to test it.   However, to be sure, I will take the given advice and email Chase directly.  

 

Thanks for your responses, I have educated myself with the help of this forum.

 

Kathy

[Petronillus]

On 4/17/2021 at 2:19 PM, rodndonna said:

 

I do both (gift cards for discounts and CCL shares for OBC)  - except I legitimately own and hold  the 100 shares for the OBC. I certainly wouldn't recommend the buying and immediate selling shares  - if not fraud I would  minimally consider it unethical. To each his own ....

I agree completely and absolutely. As a general matter, there are undesired/undesirable consequences flowing from such so-called "wash" transactions, and I would wonder if the same or similar jeopardy applies here. If it's not illegal, imho, it oughta be.

=Bob= 

[Petronillus]

I've read the Ts & Cs, and still have the following question, which I admit is likely a foolish one:

Assuming I would purchase virtual gift cards electronically, may I charge the cost to my travel card? If so, I get my cardmember benefits in addition to my 9.X% discount, and HAL incurs the credit card transaction charges to boot!

To me, it doesn't pass the smell test.

=Bob=

[richwmn]

37 minutes ago, Petronillus said:

I've read the Ts & Cs, and still have the following question, which I admit is likely a foolish one:

Assuming I would purchase virtual gift cards electronically, may I charge the cost to my travel card? If so, I get my cardmember benefits in addition to my 9.X% discount, and HAL incurs the credit card transaction charges to boot!

To me, it doesn't pass the smell test.

=Bob=

You can charge the gift cards to any card you wish and get any benefits the card chooses to extend. I have gotten cash back, fuel points, and a friend has received airline miles plus credit toward minimum spending to receive more benefits.

[Daniel A]

41 minutes ago, Petronillus said:

I've read the Ts & Cs, and still have the following question, which I admit is likely a foolish one:

Assuming I would purchase virtual gift cards electronically, may I charge the cost to my travel card? If so, I get my cardmember benefits in addition to my 9.X% discount, and HAL incurs the credit card transaction charges to boot!

To me, it doesn't pass the smell test.

=Bob=

I just charged a lot of HA gift cards on my AMEX and there was no problem.  (I get points on that card.)

[Daniel A]

2 hours ago, Daniel A said:

I just charged a lot of HA gift cards on my AMEX and there was no problem.  (I get points on that card.)

My digital bonus just arrived in my e-mail box.  Good deal!

[sandiego1]

3 hours ago, Petronillus said:

I agree completely and absolutely. As a general matter, there are undesired/undesirable consequences flowing from such so-called "wash" transactions, and I would wonder if the same or similar jeopardy applies here. If it's not illegal, imho, it oughta be.

=Bob= 

It's my understanding that the IRS considers a "wash" transaction when you sell an investment for a loss and replace it with the same (or similar) investment 30 days before or after the sale. You can do it, but you can’t write off any investment loss on your Federal taxes. However, I'm not a CPA 🙂

 

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, sandiego1 said:

It's my understanding that the IRS considers a "wash" transaction when you sell an investment for a loss and replace it with the same (or similar) investment 30 days before or after the sale. You can do it, but you can’t write off any investment loss on your Federal taxes. However, I'm not a CPA 🙂

 

You are correct.  Maybe she was thinking of laundering money not washing it , still not relevant but a humorous slip 

[VermeulT]

On 4/17/2021 at 8:08 PM, kapitch said:

I am confused as to why using HAL gift cards to pay for a cruise would void credit card trip cancellation insurance if payments had already been made using the credit card.  Where can this be verified?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Kathy

 

I've had a similar issue with a discounts from work site... I got 6% off a gift card for Delta flights, but I couldn't use points from my credit card toward the gift card.  The transaction is coded as a gift card not the product the gift card is for.

I imagine the same sort of issue is with these HAL Gift Cards and trip protection.

 

The work around might be to not pay for the cruise in it's entirety with gift cards, and put some value on the credit card directly.

[VermeulT]

On 4/16/2021 at 2:34 PM, mcrcruiser said:

imo buying gift cards is like buying CCL stock tight now  .There is no way of telling how successful cruising will be or not be  this year .There is a  financial risk  to be seen  .My question is why is HAL doing this when cruise prices are rising ?

Cash Flow.  They want/need money coming in.