How do you use Princess gift cards?

[BlufftonCruisers]

What can you purchase with Princess gift cards? Can they be used onboard?

Thank you for any advice.

[STREETKING]

We use them to payoff the cruise or add on board credit to our account. Both can be accomplished on line.

[Steelers36]

If you booked with a TA, you will give your TA the Gift Card numbers and they apply payment.  Ask for an updated statement afterwards.

[CineGraphic]

Yes they can be used on board. Just take them to gust services, and they will have them applied to your account.

[victory2020]

You can use them onboard but every time I have had them applied there has always been issues. It takes a while for them to get correct screen or whatever, & sometimes they have taken the number & it has been applied many hours later

[CineGraphic]

17 minutes ago, victory2020 said:

You can use them onboard but every time I have had them applied there has always been issues. It takes a while for them to get correct screen or whatever, & sometimes they have taken the number & it has been applied many hours later

 

The "problem" is that they have to run the card's info through the land-based office, so it can take anywhere from an hour to a full day if they happen to be closed on shore.

 

No worries, the credit will be there before you disembark.

[Ombud]

I apply them to the bill or purchase additional OBC before boarding. Unfortunately purchasing OBC with a gift card cannot be done through the Personalizer (I send a screenshot to my PVP)

[Torfamm]

I purchase OBC by phone ahead of the cruise with my gift cards

[BlufftonCruisers]

Thank you all for your helpful responses!

[grizzle-bizzle]

I'm in the same boat - you'd think they'd make it easier to use a gift card. If you have the card applied as OBC can you use it to book excursions in advance? They won't take a gift card number there but I can't tell if you can use OBC as I have none. Or are you stuck using the card after boarding no matter what?

[jwattle]

42 minutes ago, grizzle-bizzle said:

I'm in the same boat - you'd think they'd make it easier to use a gift card. If you have the card applied as OBC can you use it to book excursions in advance? They won't take a gift card number there but I can't tell if you can use OBC as I have none. Or are you stuck using the card after boarding no matter what?

You can call in and use it for excursions ahead of time

[chubbypiggy]

If I end up not using all the OBC that I purchased by phone ahead of the cruise with my gift cards, will the unused OBC be refundable or non-refundable?

[Thrak]

I'm taking $6,250 in Princess gift cards into my TA on Monday. They will be applied toward the final payment of our cruise in May. I never expected to have them this long but all of our cruises kept getting cancelled. We certainly never expected the world to go crazy with this stupid virus.

[Torfamm]

8 hours ago, chubbypiggy said:

If I end up not using all the OBC that I purchased by phone ahead of the cruise with my gift cards, will the unused OBC be refundable or non-refundable?

It showed as refundable in my account 

[chubbypiggy]

7 hours ago, Torfamm said:

It showed as refundable in my account 

Thank you.

[13cheermom]

On 1/29/2022 at 5:55 AM, Torfamm said:

It showed as refundable in my account 

So did you actually have some $ not used on your cruise with a balance remaining?  And if so how were the funds returned to you?  Did they send you another gift card?  Thanks for any information, as I have a lot of gift cards to use but don't want to apply too many.

[Torfamm]

9 hours ago, 13cheermom said:

So did you actually have some $ not used on your cruise with a balance remaining?  And if so how were the funds returned to you?  Did they send you another gift card?  Thanks for any information, as I have a lot of gift cards to use but don't want to apply too many.

I used the funds but my understanding is that they would have been refunded to the original gift card(s)

[chubbypiggy]

 I called Princess this morning to use my $500 gift card to purchase 4-device wifi for my upcoming 2 cruises.  The agent successfully used $279.86 for my first 14-night cruise.  After that purchase, my $500 card still has a remaining balance of $220.14.  The Wi-Fi purchase for my 2nd cruise is also $279.86, so I told the agent to use the remaining $220.14 on the gift card first, then I will pay the balance of $59.72 with my credit card. The agent told me to use a gift card for any purchase pre-cruise, the gift card must have sufficient funds to cover the entire purchase.  So I was not able to use that gift card for my 2nd cruise Wi-Fi purchase.

[Torfamm]

1 hour ago, chubbypiggy said:

 I called Princess this morning to use my $500 gift card to purchase 4-device wifi for my upcoming 2 cruises.  The agent successfully used $279.86 for my first 14-night cruise.  After that purchase, my $500 card still has a remaining balance of $220.14.  The Wi-Fi purchase for my 2nd cruise is also $279.86, so I told the agent to use the remaining $220.14 on the gift card first, then I will pay the balance of $59.72 with my credit card. The agent told me to use a gift card for any purchase pre-cruise, the gift card must have sufficient funds to cover the entire purchase.  So I was not able to use that gift card for my 2nd cruise Wi-Fi purchase.

I have used gift cards to pay for a portion of a shore excursion and had the remaining amount charged to my credit card. I’d try again with a different agent

[chubbypiggy]

25 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

I have used gift cards to pay for a portion of a shore excursion and had the remaining amount charged to my credit card. I’d try again with a different agent

When she told me it is not possible, then I gave her my credit card to use for the purchase of the 2nd cruise.  Purchase already done, too late to call again and get a different agent.

[chubbypiggy]

50 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

I have used gift cards to pay for a portion of a shore excursion and had the remaining amount charged to my credit card. I’d try again with a different agent

I took your suggestion and just called Princess.  To my surprise, I got an agent within 5 minutes.  She checked, and said wi-fi purchase falls under "special service", and the entire amount can only be purchased using one card.  She said shore excursions belong to a different category, and not under "special services".

[fpsphil]

Wonder if I can use partial gift card on a Premier Beverage package

[Coolmama_1]

On 1/25/2022 at 5:41 PM, grizzle-bizzle said:

I'm in the same boat - you'd think they'd make it easier to use a gift card. If you have the card applied as OBC can you use it to book excursions in advance? They won't take a gift card number there but I can't tell if you can use OBC as I have none. Or are you stuck using the card after boarding no matter what?

You cannot book excursions in advance on the website but you can call Princess and they will do it for you. However,  it currently is a crapshoot how long you have to wait to get through  

[Coffeeluvr05]

So do you all purchase gift cards or are they given to you as gifts?  Just curious if there is some secret to purchasing Princess gift cards I am unaware of.  

[Funkat]

On 2/23/2022 at 10:24 AM, Coffeeluvr05 said:

So do you all purchase gift cards or are they given to you as gifts?  Just curious if there is some secret to purchasing Princess gift cards I am unaware of.  

I just saw your question as I was looking for something else.  If you still need an answer to that question, AARP sells Princess (as well as other cruises') gift cards for 10% off.  There is currently a limit of 5 per month with options of $500 gift card for $450 and $100 for $90. It's not that easy to find, but under the REWARDS section. Even if you use a TA, you can still use them to pay off a cruise.