Question about using AARP GIt cards

[Rick&Jeannie]

18 hours ago, dickinson said:

@Musky Ike Thank you.  I was looking at the top and couldn't find it.  Didn't think to go to the bottom!

Another way to figure out where links go... 

On a desktop PC, hover your mouse over any link and it should show you where it's going to take you.  This *especially* useful for links that you get in an email that you may not be too sure about.

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, scooter6139 said:

These AARP Cruise Gift cards are a great way to save on 5 of the main cruise lines, if you don't mind trying other lines out.

 

Princess - 8% 

Holland - 10%

Carnival - 10%

Royal - 10%

Celebrity - 10%

 

I do not know if those discounts change or not.

The only change I can recall is that Princess GC discount was 10% until about a year ago.

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

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. 

Bummer!  I've read of a couple of people here on CC that have had similar issues...and it *seems* like all of them involved trying to use more than 5 cards at a time.  I think it may have been @Thrak who first pointed this out...(not sure)

[Ken the cruiser]

20 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Bummer!  I've read of a couple of people here on CC that have had similar issues...and it *seems* like all of them involved trying to use more than 5 cards at a time.  I think it may have been @Thrak who first pointed this out...(not sure)

That could be true as our TA was loading 10 of them, as he has continually done for us very month. But maybe he did it too fast this time? Hopefully, AARP comes to the same conclusion and applies the $500 back to the card. 🤞

[red4u2]

Hi everyone!  just found out about usuing AARP Princess gift cards.  Can you please tell me about how long it takes to have them emailed to me from AARP once purchased?

 

thank you!!

[wallyj]

27 minutes ago, red4u2 said:

Hi everyone!  just found out about usuing AARP Princess gift cards.  Can you please tell me about how long it takes to have them emailed to me from AARP once purchased?

 

thank you!!

When u purchase Princess gift cards thru AARP, you get ‘virtual’ cards not physical cards and are usually emailed the link for the card numbers and pin within a few minutes of purchase on the website. There have been a few times with a longer delay, but most have reported you will receive within a few minutes. 
 

My recent experience on March 5, I received the email link in less than 5 minutes.

[cruzsnooze]

On 2/23/2024 at 1:15 PM, Rick&Jeannie said:

Bummer!  I've read of a couple of people here on CC that have had similar issues...and it *seems* like all of them involved trying to use more than 5 cards at a time.  I think it may have been @Thrak who first pointed this out...(not sure)

It happened to me and I bought only one $500 gift card so it's not about quantity. AARP did NOT make good so I did a charge dispute to which AARP didn't respond so the case was closed in my favor. The charge company gave AARP 60 or 90 days to respond so I had to wait for that many days to get it resolved. 

[red4u2]

2 hours ago, wallyj said:

When u purchase Princess gift cards thru AARP, you get ‘virtual’ cards not physical cards and are usually emailed the link for the card numbers and pin within a few minutes of purchase on the website. There have been a few times with a longer delay, but most have reported you will receive within a few minutes. 
 

My recent experience on March 5, I received the email link in less than 5 minutes.

Thank you very much!

[red4u2]

2 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

It happened to me and I bought only one $500 gift card so it's not about quantity. AARP did NOT make good so I did a charge dispute to which AARP didn't respond so the case was closed in my favor. The charge company gave AARP 60 or 90 days to respond so I had to wait for that many days to get it resolved. 

Thank you for sharing you experience.

[dickinson]

I just bought my first  bunch of gift cards.  Did the max of 5 cards.  It has been at least ten minutes and haven't received an email!  Getting nervous.  Everyone says it only takes a few minutes.  Anyone have it take this long?

[JimmyVWine]

7 minutes ago, dickinson said:

I just bought my first  bunch of gift cards.  Did the max of 5 cards.  It has been at least ten minutes and haven't received an email!  Getting nervous.  Everyone says it only takes a few minutes.  Anyone have it take this long?

I once had to wait (breathlessly) for about 15 minutes.  Most times it is 3 or 4.  It is amazing how much anxiety there is in waiting for your $500 card to arrive, and then to actually get applied.  There is no better feeling than seeing the notice on your Payment Summary that your $500 has been credited to your cruise fare!  I too had an "insufficient funds" card one time and I am sad to report that it took 2 full months and the heavy lifting of a consumer advocate at AARP to get this resolved.  But happy to report that it did get resolved.  

[dickinson]

@JimmyVWine  For me it has now been at least 20 minutes maybe 25.  Now I wish I just bought one card instead of the 5 that I did just to make sure it all worked!

[ebeluga]

13 minutes ago, dickinson said:

@JimmyVWine  For me it has now been at least 20 minutes maybe 25.  Now I wish I just bought one card instead of the 5 that I did just to make sure it all worked!

I waited overnight on two separate orders a few weeks ago. It led me to think that it is processed by human...

[dickinson]

@ebeluga  Thanks for letting me know.  I just checked online for my credit card and it is pending.

[Thrak]

28 minutes ago, dickinson said:

@ebeluga  Thanks for letting me know.  I just checked online for my credit card and it is pending.

 

Be sure to check your spam folder. Some folks have had the emails marked as spam. Once you get the email you must click on the link in the mail to actually go to the site with your card. Once there I use the "belt and suspenders" mode. I use "snip" in Windows to grab a copy of just the card and paste it into a Word doc. I also use the "Print this card" button and select "Print to PDF and save the card to my computer that way. I then immediately go to the site to verify the amount on the card.

 

Go HERE and then click on Balance Inquiry. Enter the card number and the PIN to verify the funds are showing. I have bought quite a few cards and, when I check the balance, all have shown the proper funds associated with the card.

[dickinson]

@Thrak  Thanks.  I called up AARP rewards.  I should have received the email but did not.  He could see that I placed the order at 5:21pm Eastern.  He said I should receive the email with the card info within 24 hours.  He also sent me an email with this info which actually says if an order is placed between 8-5pm Eastern M-F then the order will be received within 24 hours.  I did it at 5:21 pm so we shall see how long it takes!   

[CruisingSandgroper]

17 minutes ago, dickinson said:

I called up AARP rewards.  I should have received the email but did not.  He could see that I placed the order at 5:21pm Eastern.  He said I should receive the email with the card info within 24 hours.  He also sent me an email with this info which actually says if an order is placed between 8-5pm Eastern M-F then the order will be received within 24 hours.  I did it at 5:21 pm so we shall see how long it takes!   

@dickinson that's odd. I purchased mine after reading your message that you hadn't received your electronic gift cards by email. I got my gift card emails within a couple of minutes. I hope you receive the email soon and don't have to go chasing it up.

[dickinson]

18 minutes ago, CruisingSandgroper said:

@dickinson that's odd. I purchased mine after reading your message that you hadn't received your electronic gift cards by email. I got my gift card emails within a couple of minutes. I hope you receive the email soon and don't have to go chasing it up.

Happy for you but now I feel bad (not your fault but AARP).  Had you ever ordered before?  I never did.

[CruisingSandgroper]

@dickinson yes, I have purchased them before. Keeping my fingers crossed that you'll get the email within the 24hrs.

[JimmyVWine]

12 hours ago, dickinson said:

 I did it at 5:21 pm so we shall see how long it takes!  

I thought about it a little more and I'll bet the issue is with the CC Company and their security protocols.  If you have never ordered before, and placed a multi-thousand dollar order, there might be a delay before the order can be confirmed as legitimate.  For whatever reason, my Amex Optima Card rejects the purchase of AARP Gift Cards but my Amex Platinum Card does not. I have never bothered to contact Amex to figure out why.

[dickinson]

22 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

I thought about it a little more and I'll bet the issue is with the CC Company and their security protocols.  If you have never ordered before, and placed a multi-thousand dollar order, there might be a delay before the order can be confirmed as legitimate.  For whatever reason, my Amex Optima Card rejects the purchase of AARP Gift Cards but my Amex Platinum Card does not. I have never bothered to contact Amex to figure out why.

Interesting.  May be.  In any case, I received all five gift cards at 2:13 am.  I just finished checking the balances (good!) and printing them out.  Now we can take care of ordering more under dh account! (although I will do it later).

[kpauley]

Has anyone had any experience of having to cancel a cruise after applying a gift card to their balance?  Would you receive "credit" of some sort from Princess?

[wallyj]

12 hours ago, kpauley said:

Has anyone had any experience of having to cancel a cruise after applying a gift card to their balance?  Would you receive "credit" of some sort from Princess?

My understanding is any refunds would be issued back to one/all of the gift cards used which is another reason to keep paper/digital records of all your cards until you know it was used and you sailed so refunding not likely.

[rhblake]

I have used Princess Gift cards before and it only took minutes to get my emailed certificate with security code. However, I just used AARP Celebrity gift cards and it took 2 days to get my certificates. I think AARP might be holding on to the certificates until they are sure your payment has been accepted and they have received the funds in their account.

[dreaminofcruisin]

13 hours ago, kpauley said:

Has anyone had any experience of having to cancel a cruise after applying a gift card to their balance?  Would you receive "credit" of some sort from Princess?

 

Yup. I had to cancel a cruise on which I had used 10 gift cards. The money went back to each of the gift cards, so it's important to keep track of them until after you sail.