AARP gift cards

[Crusin-Suzan]

How do you redeem these to pay for a cruise?  Email them to your agent?  Call?  Or can you do this online, on your account?   Thanks

[crystalspin]

7 minutes ago, Crusin-Suzan said:

Email them to your agent?  Call?  Or can you do this online, on your account?

I think any of these. I did it myself on line, but that was sometime ago before the shutdown. So I can't walk you through it.

[Roz]

I email the numbers and PINs to my travel agent. 

 

Hang on to the cards in case you cancel the cruise, as your refund will go to the cards.

[mawvkysc]

I do the same as above. (Or call your TA or PCC and read them off)  Agree keep a list with the pins. I have some money left over on my last card and will apply it to my account at guest services once onboard 

[CDRonboard]

We will use AARP gift cards for a Hawaii cruise  .The balance is such that we will need to buy the 5 gift cards twice & then one or 2 after that  .so what ever baalnce remains we will apply to OBCs

[Nodakboiler]

You can call the HAL gift card redemption number 855-501-4161. Usually no wait time.

[markpark]

I called the 855-501-4161 number to redeem a card and was politely told that this line was for support: lost cards, etc. Two months in a row I have tried to redeem an AARP Holland America gift card on the HAL website for a booking and have been unsuccessful.  I have had to call both months.

[Overhead Fred]

I had problems trying to pay for our upcoming cruise with gift cards online in early January. I think others have had issues too. 

 

I was able to enter the gift card info no problem but I could not proceed without also entering credit card information. Upon completing the transaction, everything was charged to the credit card and nothing to the gift cards. I was able to call HAL and straighten it out and they indicated that it was a "glitch" in there system (I'm shocked, shocked I tell you!) that they were aware of. I don't know if it has been fixed yet. 

 

I was subsequently able to apply gift cards to dining, excursion, and OBC purchases for the cruise (only 5 days, 8 hours and 28 minutes from now!) online with no problems. 

[Nodakboiler]

You can no longer make cruise payments using gift cards online- only things like shore excursions, dining, etc (except not gratuities). I've never had a problem calling that number and recently gave them $9000 worth of cards for upcoming cruises. Hate to waste their time reading off all the numbers but since it's no longer an online option that's the only way to go. Worth the 10% cruise savings for sure.

[ChinaShrek]

1 hour ago, Nodakboiler said:

You can no longer make cruise payments using gift cards online- only things like shore excursions, dining, etc (except not gratuities). I've never had a problem calling that number and recently gave them $9000 worth of cards for upcoming cruises. Hate to waste their time reading off all the numbers but since it's no longer an online option that's the only way to go. Worth the 10% cruise savings for sure.

Yes, my TA notified me that they have to call when making a payment with a Gift Card with HAL. She also said it makes more work for them. LOL

[CruiseNewby47]

We booked our first HAL cruise last month and learned about the gift cards.  I bought a couple of cards a couple of days ago and wanted to "test" it first to see how easy it is to use to use them to pay for the cruise.  I tried to do it online a few minutes ago but it would not process.  So I searched for this topic and I'm glad to learn that we need to call HAL and read the numbers to them.

Do you know if we can do it in batches?  Like when I have 5, I can call them to apply 5 and then call them again the next month to apply 5?  I hate the idea of having to read 25 cards to them!  

Thank you!

[mawvkysc]

Usually the numbers are fairly consecutive so they can cut and paste the numbers and just edit the last few digits. 

[Big Dawg CC]

45 minutes ago, CruiseNewby47 said:

We booked our first HAL cruise last month and learned about the gift cards.  I bought a couple of cards a couple of days ago and wanted to "test" it first to see how easy it is to use to use them to pay for the cruise.  I tried to do it online a few minutes ago but it would not process.  So I searched for this topic and I'm glad to learn that we need to call HAL and read the numbers to them.

Do you know if we can do it in batches?  Like when I have 5, I can call them to apply 5 and then call them again the next month to apply 5?  I hate the idea of having to read 25 cards to them!  

Thank you!

Yes, you can call in batches.  I do it every month.  I am hoping they get so tired of the time wasted in doing this manually that they fix the website to permit partial pays with gift cards.  It did work in the past, but no longer.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

3 hours ago, ChinaShrek said:

Yes, my TA notified me that they have to call when making a payment with a Gift Card with HAL. She also said it makes more work for them. LOL

Not sure why your TA cannot do this in POLAR, TA's definitely do not need to call in the Gift Cards. The only reason would be that they have not tried recently or they are not attempting to do it. They need to start it like a credit card payment but in the drop down box mark gift card. Absolutely no reason to call into HAL which in itself is extremely painful lol.

[Haljo1935]

3 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Not sure why your TA cannot do this in POLAR, TA's definitely do not need to call in the Gift Cards. The only reason would be that they have not tried recently or they are not attempting to do it. They need to start it like a credit card payment but in the drop down box mark gift card. Absolutely no reason to call into HAL which in itself is extremely painful lol.

My TA has also said they had to call HAL to finalize guft fard payments. Says they can enter them in the system, but the payment doesn't flow through to HAL; that part requires a call.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Having problems logging in.😭😭😭

[vicd1969]

Let’s say I buy the $500 gift card and use it to purchase onboard credit. I am the primary person in the cabin but have 3 others share the cabin. Would the OBC be applied to the cabin or just to myself? In other words, could the $500 be used to help pay for everyone’s gratuities in the cabin?

[Nodakboiler]

It depends on how the cabin is paying- do you have separate CC's on file or are all the cabin expenses being paid by you, the primary person? If the cabin is all on one CC the OBC applies to everyone on the CC.

[Overhead Fred]

3 hours ago, vicd1969 said:

Let’s say I buy the $500 gift card and use it to purchase onboard credit. I am the primary person in the cabin but have 3 others share the cabin. Would the OBC be applied to the cabin or just to myself? In other words, could the $500 be used to help pay for everyone’s gratuities in the cabin?

 

If everyone in the cabin has separate accounts (separate CCs as @Nodakboiler described), you could use gift cards to buy OBC for yourself and "gift" OBC for your cabinmates to cover the gratuities.  

[LAFFNVEGAS]

11 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

My TA has also said they had to call HAL to finalize guft fard payments. Says they can enter them in the system, but the payment doesn't flow through to HAL; that part requires a call.

I can tell you it was done just yesterday with 6 AARP gift cards with absolutely no problems. It was also done with several others last week and no problems.

[pghflyer]

Just friendly reminder that if you pay for the whole cruise via GC, then those who normally rely on credit card travel insurance may need to purchase a policy independently (depending on your cruise fare, could still be a net win).

[CNSJ]

Recently had to cancel a cruise where cruise fare payments were made with gift cards.  Her sure to keep the gift cards (e-gift card emails) - as you will need the gift card numbers and PINs to reuse them.  

 

Saving 10% is a very nice deal.  Plus you can earn (with some credit cards) another 1-2% in cc points.  Be savvy, cruise more. 

[zSec]

How are gift cards applied to OBC? Do you bring them with you and go to Guest Services once onboard?

[EarthByShip]

If you can get into the HAL site 😂 go to Extras, Shipboard Credit. Scroll pazt the Effy cards and you'll find different denominations.

[iflyrc5]

I put together a spread sheet with all the numbers and PINs and email it to my TA and he takes it from there.  Have done this twice and will be doing it again next month for final payment for our next cruise on the Volendam