Hypothetical - Can You "Overpay" in Payments?

[Rick&Jeannie]

I know this sounds a bit strange...but hear me out.  I've been paying for a particular cruise almost exclusively with gift cards.  I'm down to the end now and a $500 GC would be overpaying by about $50.  I know you can key in any amount in the dollar amount field...leaving that $50 on the GC...but will the system allow you to "overpay"?  If so, what happens to that extra $50?  Would it become available as OBC?  I *know* everybody will have "an opinion"... but does anybody have first-hand knowledge?  

[PacnGoNow]

37 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I know this sounds a bit strange...but hear me out.  I've been paying for a particular cruise almost exclusively with gift cards.  I'm down to the end now and a $500 GC would be overpaying by about $50.  I know you can key in any amount in the dollar amount field...leaving that $50 on the GC...but will the system allow you to "overpay"?  If so, what happens to that extra $50?  Would it become available as OBC?  I *know* everybody will have "an opinion"... but does anybody have first-hand knowledge?  

No opinion here. 😆

However, you say you key it in?  Is this a booking you did yourself online?

 

[EDDY0827]

Can you buy a Princess gift card at a grocery store such as Kroger's or maybe Target?

The cards I buy at Safeway can be in any denomination from $50 to $500.

[Lady Arwen]

8 minutes ago, EDDY0827 said:

Can you buy a Princess gift card at a grocery store such as Kroger's or maybe Target?

The cards I buy at Safeway can be in any denomination from $50 to $500.

I think perhaps you misunderstood the OPs question.  They don’t need to buy gift cards.

[EDDY0827]

55 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

  I'm down to the end now and a $500 GC would be overpaying by about $50. 

No where in Rick's statement does he say he HAS the gift card. If he needs to purchase

an additional card, I have laid out an option.

[Rick&Jeannie]

17 minutes ago, EDDY0827 said:

Can you buy a Princess gift card at a grocery store such as Kroger's or maybe Target?

The cards I buy at Safeway can be in any denomination from $50 to $500.

I have never seen any GCs available other than $50 or $500 denomination.  I've been doing the AARP bit so I get them at a 10% discount...would like to continue that route.  But your suggestion *does* solve the issue (assuming that you actually *can* pick your own amount.)

[Lady Arwen]

6 minutes ago, EDDY0827 said:

No where in Rick's statement does he say he HAS the gift card. If he needs to purchase

an additional card, I have laid out an option.

Sorry, seems I’m the one who assumed incorrectly.  Senior moment!

[EDDY0827]

I just cashed one in for $100. On the face of the card where it says the value of the card, it says "$50 - $500". This is at Safeway. I have seen other Princess cards with a fixed face value.

[Rick&Jeannie]

3 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

Sorry, seems I’m the one who assumed incorrectly.  Senior moment!

Hey...no problem at all.  I actually do not have the card(s) right now...but I have a good source for that (AARP w/10% discount).  I always appreciate your comments!  No, I'm actually more focused on the *process* of GCs and whether the system will let you "overpay".

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 minute ago, EDDY0827 said:

I just cashed one in for $100. On the face of the card where it says the value of the card, it says "$50 - $500". This is at Safeway. I have seen other Princess cards with a fixed face value.

Appreciate the help...but my real focus of the question is not the purchase of a gift card...I have a good source for that.  Can you "overpay" with a GC?   I'm sure I can find any number of places to sell me a gift card at actual face value.  I prefer the 10% discount through AARP.

[jtcoolk]

1 minute ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Appreciate the help...but my real focus of the question is not the purchase of a gift card...I have a good source for that.  Can you "overpay" with a GC?   I'm sure I can find any number of places to sell me a gift card at actual face value.  I prefer the 10% discount through AARP.

I am curious about this also.  Will be purchasing them through AARP and wondered if they would apply extra as OBC?

[julie3fan]

Another idea would be to pay off the cruise to a zero balance, then take the unused portion of your gift card with you and apply it to your onboard account.  You could also calculate what all of your onboard expenses would be and buy the discounted gift cards to cover that too.  I did that my last cruise and had a balance due of less than $5 at the end of the cruise.

[Rick&Jeannie]

3 minutes ago, julie3fan said:

Another idea would be to pay off the cruise to a zero balance, then take the unused portion of your gift card with you and apply it to your onboard account.  You could also calculate what all of your onboard expenses would be and buy the discounted gift cards to cover that too.  I did that my last cruise and had a balance due of less than $5 at the end of the cruise.

That's not a bad idea.  It accomplishes the same thing as what I was after...just in a different manner.  Would still like to know if the payment system will let you "overpay".  Has anybody "accidentally" keyed in an overpayment?  What happened?

[BamaVol]

4 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

That's not a bad idea.  It accomplishes the same thing as what I was after...just in a different manner.  Would still like to know if the payment system will let you "overpay".  Has anybody "accidentally" keyed in an overpayment?  What happened?

I’m guessing they were on hold for hours until the call dropped.  

[Lady Arwen]

24 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Hey...no problem at all.  I actually do not have the card(s) right now...but I have a good source for that (AARP w/10% discount).  I always appreciate your comments!  No, I'm actually more focused on the *process* of GCs and whether the system will let you "overpay".

Thanks, Rick.  I tend to read faster than my brain works lol.

 

Ingrid

[Rick&Jeannie]

I decided to "test" the system somewhat.  I went in and simulated a credit card payment.  (Different from what I want to know...I know.)  Could not simulate a GC transaction because it wants to know the card number and pin on the same page as the amount.

 

Anyway, of course the system defaults to the total amount due but it let me replace that amount with a higher amount.  I did not submit that transaction so I have no idea what it would have done had I done so.  So...I'm still looking for an answer! 🙂

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, PacnGoNow said:

No opinion here. 😆

However, you say you key it in?  Is this a booking you did yourself online?

 

Sorry!  I just caught your question.  Yes, this was a self-booked cruise.

[PacnGoNow]

9 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Sorry!  I just caught your question.  Yes, this was a self-booked cruise.

I am going to give an opinion, even so.😳

If you overpay, could it go back on that last gift card as a balance?  

I bet we have a TA on CC, that would know!

 

Sorry, just had to get my opinion in here while waiting for a real experience. 😆 

 

 

[CountryCruiser]

Just a guess. I would fear that any overpayment would be credited back to the same gift card after the cruise was over. The only other possibility would be that they convert it to OBD. But I would bet that is not the case. They will not give you cash back if it originally came from a gift card. 

[cr8tiv1]

22 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

Thanks, Rick.  I tend to read faster than my brain works lol.

 

Ingrid

So glad someone diagnosed my problem.  I blame it on the Evelyn Woods’ reading program my mother forced me to take.  Thank you Ingrid.

 

@Rick&JeannieYou always have such interesting threads and comments.  Such a pleasant poster on CC.

[nasa1974]

I use Princess gift cards and my TA used a $500 gift card to pay for Princess trip insurance (platinum) for a B2B in October.  Separate amounts for each cruise. There is still a balance on the card.

I'm guessing you will designate the amount of the final payment and use the gift card to pay for it. Only that amount should be taken off the gift card. There should be a balance and you can check that on the Princess website.

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

@Rick&JeannieYou always have such interesting threads and comments.  Such a pleasant poster on CC.

Thanks for the kind words! I try to evaluate anything that I post to make sure it's really "saying" what I mean to say and that it does not offend anyone.  I enjoy the forum and hope that everyone else can enjoy their time sharing without a lot of the negativel posts that have become so common.  We love cruising, after all!

[Shelly97060]

If you overpay the amount would show as a credit balance and Princess would refund the amount to the card used to make the payment. 

[Ombud]

If you want to get rid of the gift card and have OBC why don't you just buy OBC?? I've done that with a gift card

[PacnGoNow]

3 hours ago, Shelly97060 said:

If you overpay the amount would show as a credit balance and Princess would refund the amount to the card used to make the payment. 

Including that of the gift card?  So, you would just have a balance on the gift card, which there is a link on the PCL website, to check your balance.

 

I knew your were out there…thank you for the reply!