Princess Gift Card Problem — AARP

[cheetosrevil]

3 minutes ago, TN-Mountains said:

Gift card payment is not an option on my screen.  I only have credit card and PayPal.

Thinking that's because you booked through a TA? Ask them about it.

[Rick&Jeannie]

13 hours ago, TN-Mountains said:

Gift card payment is not an option on my screen.  I only have credit card and PayPal.

Just to clarify...you're trying to pay towards your cruise fare, right? There should be a small checkbox regarding gift cards...look closer.

[TN-Mountains]

16 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Just to clarify...you're trying to pay towards your cruise fare, right? There should be a small checkbox regarding gift cards...look closer.

No, since it said you can redeem the balance through the cruise personalizer, I was hoping to purchase OBC with it.  On our last cruise we had guest services add them to our account while onboard.  It worked, but there were times when their systems were down and we had to wait a day or two to see the credit.  In the future, I was hoping to add them pre-cruise to eliminate any issues.  

[beg3yrs]

The only way I've been able to purchase OBC ahead of the cruise with a gift card is to call. Even that is fraught with peril as not all reps know how to do that.

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, TN-Mountains said:

No, since it said you can redeem the balance through the cruise personalizer, I was hoping to purchase OBC with it.  On our last cruise we had guest services add them to our account while onboard.  It worked, but there were times when their systems were down and we had to wait a day or two to see the credit.  In the future, I was hoping to add them pre-cruise to eliminate any issues.  

 

37 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

The only way I've been able to purchase OBC ahead of the cruise with a gift card is to call. Even that is fraught with peril as not all reps know how to do that.

Correct...as far as I know...only a cruise fare payment has a direct (easy) way to apply a gift card.  @beg3yrsis correct in that you would need to call in.  Or...you could just take the gift card with you and have Guest Services apply it to your account; basically the same thing as having OBC.

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Or...you could just take the gift card with you and have Guest Services apply it to your account; basically the same thing as having OBC.

 

I'm considering doing this but am wary of counting on Guest Services to get it right. Once I'm on the ship there's not really much recourse if they screw it up or give the "this card is empty" routine. Princess IT is known to be pretty lame but it shouldn't be a problem to add the option to use their own gift cards for pre-cruise purchases.

[that]

3 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

I'm considering doing this but am wary of counting on Guest Services to get it right. Once I'm on the ship there's not really much recourse if they screw it up or give the "this card is empty" routine. Princess IT is known to be pretty lame but it shouldn't be a problem to add the option to use their own gift cards for pre-cruise purchases.

In our experience over the years, we simply wait at PES while they add our gift cards to the account and receive a folio printout with the onboard credits

 

[Thrak]

35 minutes ago, that said:

In our experience over the years, we simply wait at PES while they add our gift cards to the account and receive a folio printout with the onboard credits

 

 

But were they actual, physical gift cards or electronic gift cards that were purchased online and then printed out? I feel "fairly confident" that my printed out gift cards would work well onboard but, if there is some stupid glitch, I don't want to be left holding the bag. When applying gift cards to my cruise fare even my TA had to hassle with Princess telling him a couple of my cards were "empty" even though I had just finished verifying the balance on all of them using the Princess site.

[that]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

But were they actual, physical gift cards or electronic gift cards that were purchased online and then printed out? I feel "fairly confident" that my printed out gift cards would work well onboard but, if there is some stupid glitch, I don't want to be left holding the bag. When applying gift cards to my cruise fare even my TA had to hassle with Princess telling him a couple of my cards were "empty" even though I had just finished verifying the balance on all of them using the Princess site.

No, not actual cards, we bring the printouts of gift card info purchased thru AARP rewards.  We bring two copies, one for PES and one for our records.  
Bon Voyage and have a wonderful trip down under.
 

  

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

But were they actual, physical gift cards or electronic gift cards that were purchased online and then printed out? I feel "fairly confident" that my printed out gift cards would work well onboard but, if there is some stupid glitch, I don't want to be left holding the bag. When applying gift cards to my cruise fare even my TA had to hassle with Princess telling him a couple of my cards were "empty" even though I had just finished verifying the balance on all of them using the Princess site.

You can *easily* check that your card(s) are good by checking the balance directly on the Princess website. 

[Thrak]

3 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

You can *easily* check that your card(s) are good by checking the balance directly on the Princess website. 

 

Yes, I do that right away. The last batch I used to pay off my cruises all checked out fine at $500 each. Later that day Princess told my TA that two those cards were "used". I told him to try again as I had just verified the balance on them and they went through the second time. It's frustrating when Princess "fails" and they do so far too often.

 

I'm pleased to know that folks have been successful using printouts onboard. I may take some with me or I may just give them to my TA and as him to deal with Princess. At least that way any issues could be resolved prior to boarding. I always  check the balance of gift cards as soon as I get them.

 

Trivia Note:  A woman by the name of Suzanne Massie once taught Ronald Regan a rhyming Russian proverb: doveryai, no proveryai. Apparently she told him, "The Russians like to talk in proverbs. It would be nice of you to know a few. You are an actor – you can learn them very quickly."^[ He took it to heart and used that proverb a number of times which made it well known here in the US. The English translation is, "Trust, but verify".

[wallyj]

On 9/6/2023 at 9:00 PM, 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/

 

 

Hi @Thrak, are you saying you were only charged $450/per card instead of $460 which would reflect the 8% discount? 

[TN-Mountains]

17 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

But were they actual, physical gift cards or electronic gift cards that were purchased online and then printed out? I feel "fairly confident" that my printed out gift cards would work well onboard but, if there is some stupid glitch, I don't want to be left holding the bag. When applying gift cards to my cruise fare even my TA had to hassle with Princess telling him a couple of my cards were "empty" even though I had just finished verifying the balance on all of them using the Princess site.

We had this issue onboard. Either the system was down or they couldn't verify the balance.  We left the info with them overnight and they had it sorted out the next day.  This is why I was trying to add gift cards pre-cruise.  I don't like the anxiety of knowing if they don't get it sorted out, I'll have to pay cash and save the gift card for a future purchase that I may not need.   

[Thrak]

13 hours ago, wallyj said:

Hi @Thrak, are you saying you were only charged $450/per card instead of $460 which would reflect the 8% discount? 

Nope. I made a typo. By bad. Sorry for the error. (It would have been nice though. )

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

Nope. I made a typo. By bad. Sorry for the error. (It would have been nice though. )

Man, you could have really started something there...and then just sat back and watched! 😄

[Daniel A]

I just bought five $500 cards.  When viewing the cards from the AARP Rewards e-mail, I can only view the cards as a web page.  I used to be able to save them to my computer as PDFs, but that isn't an option now.  I guess I will need to print the web pages then scan the hard copies into my computer as PDFs.  I don't know why they're making this more difficult than it needs to be.

 

(Maybe the people who designed the original Medallion Class App are now working on the gift cards software 'fixing' that too...🙄)  

[AZjohn]

4 hours ago, Daniel A said:

I just bought five $500 cards.  When viewing the cards from the AARP Rewards e-mail, I can only view the cards as a web page.  I used to be able to save them to my computer as PDFs, but that isn't an option now.  I guess I will need to print the web pages then scan the hard copies into my computer as PDFs.  I don't know why they're making this more difficult than it needs to be.

 

(Maybe the people who designed the original Medallion Class App are now working on the gift cards software 'fixing' that too...🙄)  

Hmmm, well that is not good 😞

Agree, why change from how we got them before???

Cheers

[cheetosrevil]

4 hours ago, Daniel A said:

I just bought five $500 cards.  When viewing the cards from the AARP Rewards e-mail, I can only view the cards as a web page.  I used to be able to save them to my computer as PDFs, but that isn't an option now.  I guess I will need to print the web pages then scan the hard copies into my computer as PDFs.  I don't know why they're making this more difficult than it needs to be.

 

(Maybe the people who designed the original Medallion Class App are now working on the gift cards software 'fixing' that too...🙄)  

That is odd. I bought some on 10/1 and still have the option to print/save as PDF.

[daydreamer16]

I just bought 10 cards, 5 for me & 5 for DH. I emailed the numbers to my TA and a couple of hours later she sent me an updated confirmation with $5,000 reduced balance. Love this!

[Daniel A]

29 minutes ago, cheetosrevil said:

That is odd. I bought some on 10/1 and still have the option to print/save as PDF.

Where did you find the option to save as a PDF?  I don't see it on mine.

 

I bought mine on 10/3.  All I see is a "Card Toolbox" with the options of "Print Card"; "Edit Message"; "Send As Gift" and "Add To Google Wallet."  There's no option to "Save"

Edited October 5, 2023 by Daniel A

[cheetosrevil]

6 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

Where did you find the option to save as a PDF?  I don't see it on mine.

Look at the bottom of the email for the box that says, "Get your reward." Once you click on that it opens up in the browser and the printing/save option box it at the top right.

 

Hopefully, you'll get the same result as I did.

[Daniel A]

1 minute ago, cheetosrevil said:

Look at the bottom of the email for the box that says, "Get your reward." Once you click on that it opens up in the browser and the printing/save option box it at the top right.

 

Hopefully, you'll get the same result as I did.

I've been doing that.  The "Save" option is no longer there, only "Print."

[cheetosrevil]

Just now, Daniel A said:

I've been doing that.  The "Save" option is no longer there, only "Print."

Print to PDF. If you don't have that option on your computer you can download the free Adobe reader and then you can save as a PDF.

[Daniel A]

3 minutes ago, cheetosrevil said:

Print to PDF. If you don't have that option on your computer you can download the free Adobe reader and then you can save as a PDF.

Thanks for the help on this.  I have the full Adobe Acrobat installed on my computer and there is no option of "Print to PDF" when I click on the "Print Card" button.  Again , I'm not sure why they decided to complicate something that worked fine before...

[cheetosrevil]

6 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

Thanks for the help on this.  I have the full Adobe Acrobat installed on my computer and there is no option of "Print to PDF" when I click on the "Print Card" button.  Again , I'm not sure why they decided to complicate something that worked fine before...

No option even when you click on the available printers on your computer? What options do you see when you click on the Print Card button? For me, my choices start with Print, Destination...

 

This is not a Princess issue at this point based on what I am hearing.

Edited October 5, 2023 by cheetosrevil