peagreenid Posted June 11 #101 Share Posted June 11 23 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said: Have you tried calling AARP yet and asking them what you should do in your situation? May be worth a try. https://help.aarp.org/s/article/rewards-daily-deal-issue I didn't. Reading AARP terms say any issue with the gift cards need to be dealt with directly with Princess. The last agent I had on the phone was very knowledgable but was trying to get me off the phone to call AARP. After the information on the AARP website and the information I read regarding these issues here the consensus seemed to be that AARP can't do anything. (I think the cards are sold directly by Princess from the AARP website.) When she tried to get me off the phone for the last time, I essentially said, NO, I need to talk to a supervisor. I think it put her off, but I wasn't letting her off the phone. The other people I spoke with today except for the original chat agent were worthless. One of them hung up on me as soon as I explained the issue. So, the last agent, put me on hold while waiting for a supervisor. She kept checking on me and got the card number and pin from me at one point and I thought I was getting someplace. Then after about 20 more minutes she transferred my call directly to the supervisor. The supervisor was very nice. She told me that Princess doesn't handle gift cards at all and that the company that they had previously given me the phone number for handles all of their gift cards. I had called the 3rd party vendor earlier this morning and the phone agent told me that they didn't handle AARP cards. I explained this to the supervisor. She gave me both the phone number and an email address. I was still hesitating at this point, and she relented and gave me her direct email so that I can contact her immediately if I get no place with the 3rd party company. There is a possibility that the agent I originally spoke with doesn't know that they handle aarp cards. The verbage on the Princess website and the AARP Card terms are the same. I put everything into an email. Hopefully I will hear something back soon. If not I will try to call the number back again. And If I don't get a favorable response I will reach back out to the supervisor. And if they doesn't work, I'll dispute the $500 charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peagreenid Posted June 11 #102 Share Posted June 11 20 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said: I just reread my initial post 49. Did you follow my process? It doesn’t sound like you did. It appears after verifying the funds were gone using the info provided at post 45, I contacted AARP, who in turn gave me a number to call at Princess. We encountered our first “insufficient funds” issue today when our TA tried to upload 10 AARP Princess gift cards and one of them rejected with zero funds on the card. Up until today, we had had zero issues purchasing our max number of gift cards every month for over a year now. We then verified the bad GC had zero funds using the link provided at post 45. Thanks @Thrak! We subsequently contacted AARP, who in turn said we needed to contact Princess to verify the funds from the gift card in question had not been applied anywhere, to include recording the person’s name in case AARP had to subsequently open up a trouble ticket to figure out what happened to the missing funds. We contacted Princess and their rep confirmed the funds from the gift card had not been applied anywhere and reconfirmed the card had zero funds. We then recontacted AARP, who then proceeded to open a trouble ticket. And now we wait for the 3-5 days for AARP to determine what happened. I’ll let you know what happens. No, I haven't contacted AARP. I read your information on post #94 and it sounded like you were dealing with Princess only. If I don't hear back I will contact AARP tomorrow as they are closed now. Thank you 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Ken the cruiser Posted June 11 #103 Share Posted June 11 18 minutes ago, peagreenid said: No, I haven't contacted AARP. I read your information on post #94 and it sounded like you were dealing with Princess only. If I don't hear back I will contact AARP tomorrow as they are closed now. Thank you After reading what I wrote back on post 49, it reminded me of the process I took. By calling AARP first, they not only gave me the PCL phone number to call, but also the guidance to record the person’s name, just in case I had to call AARP back if the PCL rep gave me any issues. We subsequently contacted AARP, who in turn said we needed to contact Princess to verify the funds from the gift card in question had not been applied anywhere, to include recording the person’s name in case AARP had to subsequently open up a trouble ticket to figure out what happened to the missing funds. Anyway, good luck tomorrow finding a solution to your missing GC funds. 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peagreenid Posted June 11 #104 Share Posted June 11 33 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said: After reading what I wrote back on post 49, it reminded me of the process I took. By calling AARP first, they not only gave me the PCL phone number to call, but also the guidance to record the person’s name, just in case I had to call AARP back if the PCL rep gave me any issues. We subsequently contacted AARP, who in turn said we needed to contact Princess to verify the funds from the gift card in question had not been applied anywhere, to include recording the person’s name in case AARP had to subsequently open up a trouble ticket to figure out what happened to the missing funds. Anyway, good luck tomorrow finding a solution to your missing GC funds. 😁 Thank you! At least I have the supervisors name. This is all crazy for sure. It seems no one wants to be responsible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare JimmyVWine Posted June 11 #105 Share Posted June 11 3 hours ago, peagreenid said: No, I haven't contacted AARP. I read your information on post #94 and it sounded like you were dealing with Princess only. If I don't hear back I will contact AARP tomorrow as they are closed now. Thank you For what it’s worth, I had this issue come up once. It took 2 months to finally get a replacement card issued. The solution came from AARP after they opened a ticket. Princess could not do anything other than confirm that I tried to enter the GC number and PIN 27 times and each time the card showed no available funds. And Princess also confirmed that they had no record of the card ever being used successfully. But they could not issue a new card since they did not sell the original one. The AARP representative that I was dealing with once this got elevated was wonderful. She asked me to send her an email directly to her own account with a narrative of what happened. She then contacted Princess and confirmed the story that the card had never been used successfully. Once that happened AARP issued a new card (electronically) and also sent me a $50 Mastercard for my trouble. Based on my experience, the solution has to come from AARP. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peagreenid Posted June 11 #106 Share Posted June 11 15 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said: For what it’s worth, I had this issue come up once. It took 2 months to finally get a replacement card issued. The solution came from AARP after they opened a ticket. Princess could not do anything other than confirm that I tried to enter the GC number and PIN 27 times and each time the card showed no available funds. And Princess also confirmed that they had no record of the card ever being used successfully. But they could not issue a new card since they did not sell the original one. The AARP representative that I was dealing with once this got elevated was wonderful. She asked me to send her an email directly to her own account with a narrative of what happened. She then contacted Princess and confirmed the story that the card had never been used successfully. Once that happened AARP issued a new card (electronically) and also sent me a $50 Mastercard for my trouble. Based on my experience, the solution has to come from AARP. Thank you for your experiences as well. I plan on reaching out to AARP tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtfasls Posted July 4 #107 Share Posted July 4 Can an AARP gift card (Princess) be purchased by me for someone else or am I the only one who can use it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare JamieLogical Posted July 4 #108 Share Posted July 4 5 minutes ago, mtfasls said: Can an AARP gift card (Princess) be purchased by me for someone else or am I the only one who can use it? Wouldn't be much of a gift card if you couldn't use it as a gift! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milolii Posted July 4 #109 Share Posted July 4 28 minutes ago, mtfasls said: Can an AARP gift card (Princess) be purchased by me for someone else or am I the only one who can use it? Yes, you will need the card number and PIN number to enter it into your payment page. I just put one in my basket and I didn’t see an option to email it to someone else. So they could foreword it to you or print it out and give it to you. Always keep the card information until after your cruise is over or you’ve completed any insurance claim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Rick&Jeannie Posted July 4 #110 Share Posted July 4 On 5/19/2024 at 9:25 PM, bunzini said: I am new to this. So if I buy Princess gift cards through AARP rewards, then I can apply them to my final balance even if I booked through a TA? The one time that I booked with a TA I had to go through that agency to make *any* kind of payment...CC or GC. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruzsnooze Posted July 4 #111 Share Posted July 4 I had the same issue and it never got resolved. I put a dispute on my charge card and it took 90 days for aarp to not reply before they reversed the charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacMadame Posted July 5 #112 Share Posted July 5 22 hours ago, milolii said: I just put one in my basket and I didn’t see an option to email it to someone else. Once you get the email with the GC information, you can forward that email to anyone you wish. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milolii Posted July 5 #113 Share Posted July 5 (edited) 16 minutes ago, MacMadame said: Once you get the email with the GC information, you can forward that email to anyone you wish. Exactly, that’s what I suggested in my post, it’s in the next sentence. Or you can print it out and hand it to them as well. Edited July 5 by milolii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan_Sea Posted July 29 #114 Share Posted July 29 Am I right to think I can use an AARP gift card towards my cruise and pay any balance on my credit card? First time using. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare JamieLogical Posted July 29 #115 Share Posted July 29 11 minutes ago, Nan_Sea said: Am I right to think I can use an AARP gift card towards my cruise and pay any balance on my credit card? First time using. Yes, if you go to the payment screen in your cruise personalizer, you will see an option to pay with gift card(s) and can pay off as much of the balance as you want that way and then just pay any remaining balance on your credit card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Rick&Jeannie Posted July 29 #116 Share Posted July 29 51 minutes ago, Nan_Sea said: Am I right to think I can use an AARP gift card towards my cruise and pay any balance on my credit card? First time using. 38 minutes ago, JamieLogical said: Yes, if you go to the payment screen in your cruise personalizer, you will see an option to pay with gift card(s) and can pay off as much of the balance as you want that way and then just pay any remaining balance on your credit card. Just MAKE CERTAIN that you keep hardcopies of EACH gift card (showing the card number and PIN) in case you run into issues. I keep all of mine in a folder dedicated to each cruise that I have booked. To date I have purchased 64 gift cards...saved a LOT of money! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare JimmyVWine Posted July 29 #117 Share Posted July 29 3 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said: Just MAKE CERTAIN that you keep hardcopies of EACH gift card (showing the card number and PIN) in case you run into issues. One additional suggestion. BEFORE attempting to use your gift card, check the balance to see if it is accurate. On 2 occasions, (one with AARP and one with another card seller), I tried to use a gift card that generated an error message and when I checked the balance, it showed up as $0. Both times I reported the issue and both times I was told "our records/investigation shows that you redeemed the card already." I explained that I TRIED to redeem the card, but got an error message. Both times the problem was solved, one by way of a refund and one time by getting a replacement gift card. But I suspect that my month-long runaround would have been shortened if I checked the balance of the card the instant I received it electronically. That way I could have reported the issue within an hour of purchase with a screenshot of the $0 balance, and there would have been no record of me every trying to use the card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallyj Posted July 29 #118 Share Posted July 29 (edited) 6 hours ago, Nan_Sea said: Am I right to think I can use an AARP gift card towards my cruise and pay any balance on my credit card? First time using. Why not pay entire balance using gift cards. The Princess gift cards allow a ‘remaining’ balance if you do not use the FULL face value of the card. Print the e-card and bring with you on your sailing and you can go to Guest services and have it added to your ‘account/folio’ to offset any on board charges like daily gratuities, etc. Guest services will want a hard copy/print of the e-card for their records. Make note of the remaining balance on the card. If your cruise is very far in the future and the balance is very small, after applying gift cards, then using credit card to pay any remaining balance would be recommended. Fyi, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity gift cards do not allow partial amount of gift card to be used, you use entire face value and will lose any remaining balance. Carnival cruise gift cards also allow a ‘remaining’ balance and can also be redeemed on board via Guest services and their Kiosks. Edited July 29 by wallyj 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anngi Posted July 30 #119 Share Posted July 30 My Princess cruise is all paid but we haven't paid our $800 in tips. Can I use the gift cards for that? How and where do I do that? Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare JamieLogical Posted July 30 #120 Share Posted July 30 45 minutes ago, anngi said: My Princess cruise is all paid but we haven't paid our $800 in tips. Can I use the gift cards for that? How and where do I do that? Thank you! I am not sure if you can do it through the website, but you should be able to do it over the phone. Also, you can bring the gift cards onboard with you and have them added to your onboard account by Guest Services if you don't end up pre-paying your gratuities. That way the daily charges will just go against the onboard balance funded by the gift cards. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anngi Posted July 30 #121 Share Posted July 30 45 minutes ago, JamieLogical said: I am not sure if you can do it through the website, but you should be able to do it over the phone. Also, you can bring the gift cards onboard with you and have them added to your onboard account by Guest Services if you don't end up pre-paying your gratuities. That way the daily charges will just go against the onboard balance funded by the gift cards. Thank you. I don't see a way to add the gift card to my online account. I haven't prepaid gratuities so it sounds like I either call or take them online and have them added to my account. And I can use them to pay gratuities? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare JamieLogical Posted July 30 #122 Share Posted July 30 51 minutes ago, anngi said: Thank you. I don't see a way to add the gift card to my online account. I haven't prepaid gratuities so it sounds like I either call or take them online and have them added to my account. And I can use them to pay gratuities? There is no way to add gift cards to your OBC prior to sailing online. I have heard some people having success doing so by calling. On my last sailing, I just took my gift cards to Guest Services on embarkation day and had them added to my onboard account at that time. If you do that and don't prepay your gratuities, the gratuities will just be charged against your onboard account and should be charged against the balance of OBC you added with the gift cards. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallyj Posted July 30 #123 Share Posted July 30 @anngi, make sure to have a paper copy of the gift cards if you will be redeeming on board at guest services, they require a copy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare JamieLogical Posted July 30 #124 Share Posted July 30 21 minutes ago, wallyj said: @anngi, make sure to have a paper copy of the gift cards if you will be redeeming on board at guest services, they require a copy. Yes, PLEASE have print-outs with you! It makes the process go SO MUCH faster. I was stuck in line for 45 minutes behind a woman and her father who had a whole bunch of gift cards in their individual email accounts and they had to search through their emails on their phones, forward them to the email account of the GS crew member, then she had to print them out, then enter all the numbers into a separate computer. And of course, they kept accidentally forwarding her the same ones over and over again because they were having so much trouble keeping track of them in their email... and the father couldn't read anything on his phone because he didn't have his reading glasses... it was a nightmare. I got up there with my five printed gift cards and was in and out in under 10 minutes. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtfasls Posted July 30 #125 Share Posted July 30 Hi all, thanks for all the information on gift cards, I just want to verify that I can use them for ez air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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