Princess Gift Cards, $500 will get you $550 total

[Bgwest]

2 hours ago, Ombud said:

I had to have my bonus cards re-issued last fall as they had expired.

You can do that? Fascinating. 

I’ve never had a Princess bonus card nor tried to use one so this is all new to me. 
Typically when something expires, it expires with no avenue available to resurrect it. 

The Princess bonus card is different somehow?

[Ombud]

A little background, they were on a cruise that PCL canceled due to pandemic. I went through Kimberly Baldwin to get them reinstated. All 5 bonus cards were combined onto 1 card. 

[Bgwest]

4 minutes ago, Ombud said:

A little background, they were on a cruise that PCL canceled due to pandemic. I went through Kimberly Baldwin to get them reinstated. All 5 bonus cards were combined onto 1 card. 

It sounds like in a post-pandemic world expired may once again mean expired. 

[Ombud]

But at least bonus cards expire in 11 months instead of 90 days. $500 cards don't expire (all of mine should be used up by end of year)

 

 

Edited July 4, 2021 by Ombud

[Bgwest]

7 minutes ago, Ombud said:

But at least bonus cards expire in 11 months instead of 90 days. $500 cards don't expire (all of mine should be used up by end of year)

 

 

Oh, Absolutely! I'm not quarreling with any of this. And I do appreciate you taking the time to educate me on the finer points of all of this. 

 

We have FCCs to carry us through the next (starting in Dec 2021) 3 sailings but fall a bit short on #4 in April 2022. Between now and the end of this promo, I think we'll buy enough to cover the balance on the 4.22 cruise and cut the out of pocket by 10%. Final payment on this cruise is due 01.16.22 so well inside the bonus cards expiration dates.

 

We also appreciate you making us aware that a person really can buy more than one and collect the 10% bonus. Before seeing your post on the subject, we'd resigned ourselves to just a single card/bonus for each of us. 

[Ombud]

They also sell gift cards with bonus cards on Black Friday but in 2019 the bonus was only $25 on a $500 card. Personally I'll get $1000 then

 

 

Edited July 4, 2021 by Ombud

[Bgwest]

1 minute ago, Ombud said:

They also sell gift cards with bonus cards on Black Friday but in 2019 the bonus was only $25 on a $500 card.

Ooooo, I like 10% much better than 5%!

 

And, we'll get Aadvantage miles for the purchases!

 

Clearly, Princess has found a vehicle to help get the cofers filled again and we are willing participants!😀

[caribill]

2 hours ago, Bgwest said:

Ooooo, I like 10% much better than 5%!

 

And, we'll get Aadvantage miles for the purchases!

 

Clearly, Princess has found a vehicle to help get the cofers filled again and we are willing participants!😀

 

From an accounting standpoint, gift cards are not counted as income until they are actually used.

[TxShenanigans]

Well i was able to buy 1k in gift cards (2 x 500).  When i attempted to buy more princess denied the transaction (not my card i checked). Repeated questions wont tell me why one charge went through but not others. Looks like they are onto it. I actually tried 2k at first before the 1k and it wouldn’t let me. O well i still got something out of it. Stinks i cant get more promo gift cards out of it. My final payment is in 2 weeks so the timing would have been perfect. 

[Jadn13]

4 hours ago, TxShenanigans said:

Well i was able to buy 1k in gift cards (2 x 500).  When i attempted to buy more princess denied the transaction (not my card i checked). Repeated questions wont tell me why one charge went through but not others. Looks like they are onto it. I actually tried 2k at first before the 1k and it wouldn’t let me. O well i still got something out of it. Stinks i cant get more promo gift cards out of it. My final payment is in 2 weeks so the timing would have been perfect. 

Whomever is traveling with you could purchase them as well. 

[Sunset329]

Do you have to buy the gift cards in $500 increments? For example, can I buy a $5,000 card and receive a bonus $500 card? I am a little concerned about sending my agent ten gift cards for final payment.

[Jadn13]

13 minutes ago, Sunset329 said:

Do you have to buy the gift cards in $500 increments? For example, can I buy a $5,000 card and receive a bonus $500 card? I am a little concerned about sending my agent ten gift cards for final payment.

I don't know the exact answer to the first question but I can tell you that I called Princess and had about 20 gift cards added to my account (From Promos, Gifts and Allstate)

It was a very easy process, I just read the numbers off and they were applied automatically.

 

 

Edited July 4, 2021 by Jadn13

[Ombud]

1 hour ago, Sunset329 said:

Do you have to buy the gift cards in $500 increments? For example, can I buy a $5,000 card and receive a bonus $500 card? I am a little concerned about sending my agent ten gift cards for final payment.

Its a $50 bonus card for each card valued $500 or more. Its not a 10% bonus card 

[Steelers36]

I would apply the bonus cards as soon as convenient to an existing booking - or have a calendar prompt prior to expiry date.  This current offer has a much longer bonus expiry date than past offers.

 

I say this because I applied ours and when that voyage was subsequently cancelled, the amounts paid down towards the cruise fare became FCC (this happened prior to FP Date).  If I had not done that, the bonus cards would have expired and be worthless.  But we still have the $$ in the "Bank of Princess".  Those FCC's (mix of deposit FCD and cash payments) have now been applied against a future voyage.  No dollars lost as yet.  

 

The base gift cards we bought are still unused, but will be applied at FP Date (they never expire as has been posted above).

 

[Musky Ike]

26 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I would apply the bonus cards as soon as convenient to an existing booking - or have a calendar prompt prior to expiry date.  This current offer has a much longer bonus expiry date than past offers.

 

I say this because I applied ours and when that voyage was subsequently cancelled, the amounts paid down towards the cruise fare became FCC (this happened prior to FP Date).  If I had not done that, the bonus cards would have expired and be worthless.  But we still have the $$ in the "Bank of Princess".  Those FCC's (mix of deposit FCD and cash payments) have now been applied against a future voyage.  No dollars lost as yet.  

 

The base gift cards we bought are still unused, but will be applied at FP Date (they never expire as has been posted above).

 

I agree, we did the same with the old promo gift cards here. I was going to pass on this offer as we have some unused/reloaded cards but I have a hard time passing up free money, so I bit on 2. The total in unassigned cards is still less than our balance for our November sailing and things are starting up, so I am more confident. Will still apply the bonus ones first. They will help offset the cost of WIFI now that our free minutes are gone  😉

Edited July 4, 2021 by Musky Ike

[Steelers36]

22 minutes ago, Musky Ike said:

I agree, we did the same with the old promo gift cards here. I was going to pass on this offer as we have some unused/reloaded cards but I have a hard time passing up free money, so I bit on 2. The total in unassigned cards is still less than our balance for our November sailing and things are starting up, so I am more confident. Will still apply the bonus ones first. They will help offset the cost of WIFI now that our free minutes are gone  😉

I am with you on this - 10% is a great return on cash investment.  But our next voyages are OCT 2022, so I think I will wait until next year.  Usually (mostly? always?) it is 10% for Mother's Day and May 2022 is a good time for me to add more to cover our net balance owing.

[Ombud]

21 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I am with you on this - 10% is a great return on cash investment.  But our next voyages are OCT 2022, so I think I will wait until next year.  Usually (mostly? always?) it is 10% for Mother's Day and May 2022 is a good time for me to add more to cover our net balance owing.

Agreed. I'm paying August internet (70) + December internet (100) / OBC  + $1403 balance on December cruise. $1650 gone this year 

[dreams_of_travel]

19 hours ago, CruiseVA said:

Time again for the Princess Girt Card 'sale' - if you buy a $500 card you'll get another $50 card for 'free' . While it indicates that there is a limit of one, I purchased 5x$500 cards and got 5x$50 extra gift cards. https://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-gifts-celebrations/overview/gift-cards/

 

I tried to buy 4, and the site says the limit $2000.   No idea why, but I am buying that, and will trying again from another device/email.   I wanted to buy enough gift cards to pay for my currently booked cruises. (about 5k worth) 

[Ombud]

My purchase went thru, I got an email that it couldn't be processed, called the number in the email, he sent the purchase receipt # to someone else, and I had it in an hour. Didn't seem relevant at the time but maybe there's a safety catch to prevent multiples(?)

Edited July 4, 2021 by Ombud

[dreams_of_travel]

1 minute ago, Ombud said:

My purchase went thru, I got an email that it couldn't be processed, called the number in the email, he sent the purchase receipt # to someone else, and I had it in an hour

Okay.  I didn't want to deal with something over the phone.  I'll try another purchase later this week. If that is all I am allowed to purchase, I'm okay with that.  I will just keep an eye on the forums, and my emails for future sales with bonuses.  

[Ombud]

Yeah, if I wasn't using them this year I would have given up. But I am using 2 bonus cards next month (as soon as my PVP can get me the internet)

[rodndonna]

I emailed princess gift cards to clarify and was told it was limited to a single $50 bonus card. I then went in just now and ordered 3 cards and got the 3 bonus cards. Not sure if that is a mistake in the T&C or the booking system - so I grabbed them while I could.

[dreams_of_travel]

So much for giftcards.  Princess canceled my order, and I had to call the help line. 🙄  Even after I had to verify/authorize my credit card for the purchase, it was declined by Princess.  Apparently my case will be sent to the verification department, and they will email me.  FWIW, this happens sometimes with other purchases b/c I live in a rural area where physical addresses aren't very exact.   Hope the verification dept sorts this out for me.

[Ombud]

1 minute ago, dreams_of_travel said:

So much for giftcards.  Princess canceled my order, and I had to call the help line. 🙄  Even after I had to verify/authorize my credit card for the purchase, it was declined by Princess.  Apparently my case will be sent to the verification department, and they will email me.  FWIW, this happens sometimes with other purchases b/c I live in a rural area where physical addresses aren't very exact.   Hope the verification dept sorts this out for me.

Thats exactly how mine went but the whole thing took only an hour. Supposedly my bank but maybe the 5 vs 9 digit zip code? (×××××-××××) Who knows / cares / it worked. Come back & let us know if it worked for you too

[Astro Flyer]

I don’t know why people are having different experiences but in their FAQs it states that orders placed on weekends will be processed on the following business day (maybe Tuesday on this holiday weekend?) so I’m surprised that any are being processed this weekend.

 

Q: I placed my Princess Cruises Gift Card order on a weekend.  When will it be processed?
A: All Gift Card orders placed over the weekend will be processed the following business day.  Please allow 5-7 business days to receive the Gift Card using standard shipping.

 

Edited July 4, 2021 by Astro Flyer