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Princess Gift Card Problem — AARP

New2cruise2022

By New2cruise2022,
in Princess Cruises

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theloo

theloo

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, rhblake said:

Did you get AARP gift cards? If yes what is the secret to getting 10 cards, I could only purchase 5 per month.

I think the secret is 2 accounts.  If you were planning ahead, you could have bought 5 on August 31 and 5 on September 1.

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rbtan

rbtan

Posted
Posted
On 8/30/2023 at 5:34 PM, New2cruise2022 said:

Purchased two (2) Princess $500 e-gift cards from AARP rewards. Total charged to credit card was the discounted $920 total. Confirmation email NEVER received. E-gift cards NEVER received. 
 

Customer service for AARP first gave me 3-day resolution time, then a 24-hour resolution time, now a 3-5 day EXPEDITED time. Charge on card clearly says AARP but customer service is blaming Princess for the holdup. Another customer posting on AARP forum says she has been waiting 4 days for $2300. 
 

I’m trying to believe that AARP and Princess are good companies, but this feels like an exercise in bad faith. 
 

Anyone else experiencing problems?

Never buy anything from AARP. They've become more of a sham the last several years. Their life insurance/car insurance plans are bogus. You can do much better elsewhere. We get far more out of AAA than AARP. Will likely ancel them at renewal time.

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Bgwest

Bgwest

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, rhblake said:

Did you get AARP gift cards? If yes what is the secret to getting 10 cards, I could only purchase 5 per month.

Sorry I should have been less cryptic in my response. 
I have one account. My wife has another. 
If we need more than 10, I will set up a third acct. 

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Bgwest

Bgwest

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, theloo said:

I think the secret is 2 accounts.  If you were planning ahead, you could have bought 5 on August 31 and 5 on September 1.

That would absolutely work. Unless, of course, you’ve already purchased your August allotment early in the month to make final payment that was required early in August. 

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Rick&Jeannie "Live from...." Rare

Rick&Jeannie

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, rbtan said:

Never buy anything from AARP. They've become more of a sham the last several years. Their life insurance/car insurance plans are bogus. You can do much better elsewhere. We get far more out of AAA than AARP. Will likely ancel them at renewal time.

Everyone is certainly entitled to their own opinions. That being said, the gift card offerings from AARP are totally different from the types of services that you mentioned. They are simply serving as "middle-men" in passing along a Princess product. AARP is not providing any type of "service" in doing this other than providing a discounted product. MANY people here on CC have taken advantage of this...most with little to no issues at all.

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jwattle Holiday Sharing Rare

jwattle

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, rbtan said:

Never buy anything from AARP. They've become more of a sham the last several years. Their life insurance/car insurance plans are bogus. You can do much better elsewhere. We get far more out of AAA than AARP. Will likely ancel them at renewal time.

Buying Princess gift cards at 8% discount isn't a sham, scam or green eggs and ham. It's brilliant! If you can do much better elsewhere, please share the wealth with us!

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Threeboysmom333

Threeboysmom333

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, CruiseLifeIsTheBest said:

We saved $1000 on our upcoming cruise by using Princess gift cards purchased through AARP. Plan to buy a few to bring along and have added to our OBC. Thanks @Rick&Jeannie for the the tip I saw on this forum several months ago!

Brilliant!  Didn't even think of applying them to OBC!  Do you just apply them at guest services once onboard?

 

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Thrak

Thrak

Posted
Posted
37 minutes ago, Threeboysmom333 said:

Brilliant!  Didn't even think of applying them to OBC!  Do you just apply them at guest services once onboard?

 

 

According to many here the answer is: Yes

 

Print them out and take them to Guest Services

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Thrak

Thrak

Posted
Posted

Bought 3 more in my wife's name but these three are just $100 certificates. That gives me enough for now. I will almost certainly buy more before we pay for our cruise next April but final payment for that isn't due until the beginning of January.

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AZjohn

AZjohn

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Thrak said:

Bought 3 more in my wife's name but these three are just $100 certificates. That gives me enough for now. I will almost certainly buy more before we pay for our cruise next April but final payment for that isn't due until the beginning of January.

Thanks for reminding me to place my order for September 👍😊.

I’ll wait until Monday when my TA can confirm she got them when I forward gift card email ( though I’ll probably forget again 🤣)

Cheers

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damiross

damiross

Posted
Posted

I wish I had known about the gift cards earlier. 

 

I booked my cruise in June.  Once I found out about the gift cards, I bought $5,000 worth in July, August, and September (5 each month). I was able to save $400 (6.3% of my fare).

 

I don't think I waited more than 3 or 4 minutes before they arrived in my inbox.

 

I won't buy insurance through AARP but things like the gift cards are a good deal.

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Rick&Jeannie "Live from...." Rare

Rick&Jeannie

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, damiross said:

I wish I had known about the gift cards earlier. 

 

I booked my cruise in June.  Once I found out about the gift cards, I bought $5,000 worth in July, August, and September (5 each month). I was able to save $400 (6.3% of my fare).

 

I don't think I waited more than 3 or 4 minutes before they arrived in my inbox.

 

I won't buy insurance through AARP but things like the gift cards are a good deal.

Yep, it's a great deal. I've paid for 2 complete cruises now using the cards, all at the 10% level. I just wish there were no issues in using the Celebrity gift cards!

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Greytgrey

Greytgrey

Posted
Posted
On 9/2/2023 at 11:10 AM, jwattle said:

Buying Princess gift cards at 8% discount isn't a sham, scam or green eggs and ham. It's brilliant! If you can do much better elsewhere, please share the wealth with us!

Man, I wish I'd checked here before I paid off my cruise yesterday! This is brilliant. Oh well. Will probably pick up a couple of them for gratuities, anyway. Next time, I'll know! 😉

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TN-Mountains

TN-Mountains

Posted
Posted
On 9/7/2023 at 12:00 AM, Thrak said:

Just bought 5 more. Saved $250 even though it's "only" an 8% discount. Immediately verified the balance of each card on the Princess site.

 

Site with link to verify balance:

https://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-gifts-celebrations/overview/gift-cards/

 

 

Under Balance Inquiry it says "Redeem your gift card when booking online, through
Cruise Personalizer or by calling your travel advisor".  Does anyone know how to redeem it through the Cruise Personalizer?  I see where I can purchase OBC through the Cruise Personalizer, but the only option is to pay with a Credit Card or PayPal.  Am I missing something or is the website wrong?

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cheetosrevil

cheetosrevil

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, TN-Mountains said:

Under Balance Inquiry it says "Redeem your gift card when booking online, through
Cruise Personalizer or by calling your travel advisor".  Does anyone know how to redeem it through the Cruise Personalizer?  I see where I can purchase OBC through the Cruise Personalizer, but the only option is to pay with a Credit Card or PayPal.  Am I missing something or is the website wrong?

Go to the payments sections of the specific cruise you want to apply the gift cards to and select the gift card option.

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