Changes to Royal Gift Cards

[sunonfire]

https://www.cruisehive.com/royal-caribbean-updates-gift-card-policy/113609

[neverbeenhere]

I hope they hit AARP at a discount soon. 

[sunlover2]

Thanks for that info

 

[kristapb]

I used some AARP gift cards to book a Celebrity cruise; it was really convoluted and convinced me I never want to buy them again.  As opposed to HAL gift cards, which you can apply easily online to any cruise booking.  I really hope they loosen the crazy requirements for the AARP ones, which seemed to be more restrictive than the ones you buy direct from Royal.

[chriscruise]

On 10/21/2023 at 12:18 PM, kristapb said:

I used some AARP gift cards to book a Celebrity cruise; it was really convoluted and convinced me I never want to buy them again.  As opposed to HAL gift cards, which you can apply easily online to any cruise booking.  I really hope they loosen the crazy requirements for the AARP ones, which seemed to be more restrictive than the ones you buy direct from Royal.

How do you purchase cruiseline gift cards at AARP? 

[kristapb]

38 minutes ago, chriscruise said:

How do you purchase cruiseline gift cards at AARP? 

 

They're actually pretty hard to find.  You have to be logged in and I always have trouble finding the gift cards, although I eventually do.  Sorry to not be of more help.  But the main thing is you need to be logged in.

[neverbeenhere]

Under rewards

[chriscruise]

57 minutes ago, neverbeenhere said:

Under rewards

Thank you! I went into Rewards then Redeem and Members Only to find them. Great to know!

[TravelinTess]

I have used the gift certificates from AARP and Cardcash, and both worked fine and saved me several hundred dollars. I do have a deposit down on a cruise in which I used a MyVegas rewards wild card 10% off. I am curious if that counts as a casino discount, because according to the gift certificates, they cannot be combined. The fine print for both are pretty ridiculous. 

[neverbeenhere]

The cards available at AARP are the old ones...You've got to first book through Royal then transfer.

[wolfganghowell]

As usual, Royal's IT department seems to be behind the times.  I see no way to redeem the gift cards online.  I was ready to buy onboard credit in advance and it was available last week.  Now, no longer on website.  UGH.

[ngrund]

19 hours ago, TravelinTess said:

I have used the gift certificates from AARP and Cardcash, and both worked fine and saved me several hundred dollars. I do have a deposit down on a cruise in which I used a MyVegas rewards wild card 10% off. I am curious if that counts as a casino discount, because according to the gift certificates, they cannot be combined. The fine print for both are pretty ridiculous. 

Please let us know if you find out, I have a June 24 booked with the same MyVegas 10% off.

[silversneakers]

On 10/21/2023 at 1:18 PM, kristapb said:

I used some AARP gift cards to book a Celebrity cruise; it was really convoluted and convinced me I never want to buy them again.  As opposed to HAL gift cards, which you can apply easily online to any cruise booking.  I really hope they loosen the crazy requirements for the AARP ones, which seemed to be more restrictive than the ones you buy direct from Royal.

Actually I purchased AARP Holland America gift cards for my last cruise (Oct. 22) and had no issue as I gave them to my Personal Cruise Planner for input.  However, I just purchased some RCCL gift cards to AARP and you cannot apply them directly as they have to be emailed to a specific address and they stated it can take up to 10 days to be applied to your account???

 

[TravelinTess]

1 hour ago, silversneakers said:

Actually I purchased AARP Holland America gift cards for my last cruise (Oct. 22) and had no issue as I gave them to my Personal Cruise Planner for input.  However, I just purchased some RCCL gift cards to AARP and you cannot apply them directly as they have to be emailed to a specific address and they stated it can take up to 10 days to be applied to your account???

 

Yes, this has been my experience. I didn't have an issue, but it did take a week or so to credit to my account. The certificates I purchased and emailed to Royal on Wed. should hit my account in 10 days according to an email received earlier today. 

 

Edited October 27, 2023 by TravelinTess

[ngrund]

29 minutes ago, TravelinTess said:

Yes, this has been my experience. I didn't have an issue, but it did take a week or so to credit to my account. The certificates I purchased and emailed to Royal on Wed. should hit my account in 10 days according to an email received earlier today. 

 

Great, I had no problem earlier this year applying AARP certifcates. but on that one I hadn't used MyVeags

[imkatz]

On 10/26/2023 at 7:26 PM, kristapb said:

 

They're actually pretty hard to find.  You have to be logged in and I always have trouble finding the gift cards, although I eventually do.  Sorry to not be of more help.  But the main thing is you need to be logged in.

Once you are logged in, they are under the AARP Rewards tab.  Then under Browse rewards, go to Redeem, All rewards, scroll and you will see them

 

[gail-s]

I would never buy another royal Caribbean gift card. I had one and tried to apply it to my cruise and they gave me 100 different excuses why it couldn’t be used. 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

So - I've used the AARP cards for a few sailings on Carnival -- purchasing about 40 of the $500 cards for $450. That was some nice savings 🙂 

 

With Carnival, you can use the cards to pay down your balance online, pay for gifts/dining pre-cruise, even load them up on your ship card during the cruise to pay for onboard expenses (including casino chip purchases!).

 

Last night (on the Royal site) I put a reservation on hold (Star) for '26. I then checked the AARP site  and saw the same deal ($500 cards for $450).

 

First off -- are there actually issues applying these to a booking? And.. is that the only way you can use them?

 

Tom

[SeaDome]

Can the AARP cards be used to pay off a cruise that has been transferred to a Travel Agent? 

[neverbeenhere]

1 hour ago, SeaDome said:

Can the AARP cards be used to pay off a cruise that has been transferred to a Travel Agent? 

Yes, I have in the past applied payments after transferring the reservation to a Travel Agent. But... read the Royal card terms and conditions on the AARP website.

 

Don't try to make "last minute" payments with the Royal cards. Pay plenty in advance. AND Keep the "card" until after the cruise is completed.

Edited February 1 by neverbeenhere

[neverbeenhere]

I am still burning a pile of Princess cards from prior to the pandemic. I had a lot more than I remembered.