RC gift card question

[Riemercruisin]

I'm used to paying for my cruises with gift cards.

First time trying this on RC, I purchased a Royal Caribbean virtual gift card. 

My travel advisor is not able to apply it in the booking engine. He called in and RC does not know how to assist. The CS rep kept saying that gift cards can only be applied to bookings made directly with the cruise line.

Does anyone have experience with this?

[ngrund]

Is this an AARP gift certificate?

 

If so, yes the booking needs to have been direct with RCL.

[bouhunter]

What is the point of paying with gift cards?

[Biker19]

5 minutes ago, bouhunter said:

What is the point of paying with gift cards?

You may get a discount in buying the card.

[ngrund]

16 minutes ago, bouhunter said:

What is the point of paying with gift cards?

If bought through AARP,  there is a 10% discount, but with the RCL ones they are a pain to apply.

[Riemercruisin]

7 minutes ago, ngrund said:

If bought through AARP,  there is a 10% discount, but with the RCL ones they are a pain to apply.

Do you have a suggestion on how to apply this? Because I'm booked through a TA and if it's not allowed to be applied to bookings through an agent, do I just lose this money?

[ngrund]

Just now, Riemercruisin said:

Do you have a suggestion on how to apply this? Because I'm booked through a TA and if it's not allowed to be applied to bookings through an agent, do I just lose this money?

so it is from AARP?

 

You can call, but I don't think it will help:

 

Have questions about your Royal Caribbean gift card? Call Royal Caribbean Customer Support: 866-504-3941 for immediate assistance including card transactions and application of gift cards towards reservations.

 

maybe try to e-mail the certificate to:

 

STEP 2 Redeem Certificate

After making your cruise reservation, email a copy of the Gift Certificate along with your cruise reservation booking number to sharedservicesgiftcertificateredemption@rccl.com. The value of the Gift Certificate will then be applied to your cruise reservation. Please allow up to 10 business days. You will be notified once the certificate has been applied to your reservation.

Please reference Certificate Terms and Conditions here.

Questions? Contact us at email address above

[ngrund]

You won't lose the money, you just have to book another cruise direct, then after cert is applied transfer to your TA.

[smokeybandit]

There's AARP RC gift cards, which are notoriously hard to use.

 

Then there's the new standard RC gift cards, which work like you'd expect any cash equivalent gift card to.

Edited May 17 by smokeybandit

[wallyj]

On 5/17/2024 at 6:52 AM, Riemercruisin said:

I'm used to paying for my cruises with gift cards.

First time trying this on RC, I purchased a Royal Caribbean virtual gift card. 

My travel advisor is not able to apply it in the booking engine. He called in and RC does not know how to assist. The CS rep kept saying that gift cards can only be applied to bookings made directly with the cruise line.

Does anyone have experience with this?

Hi @Riemercruisin, did you get your gift cards applied to your booking? My TA told me Royal and Celebrity now require them to have a picture of your gift card whereas I know with Princess, you can just supply your TA with the gift card and pin number. 
 

With Royal and Celebrity, the agent has to send the gift card info to them to get them ‘processed’ opposed to Princess, where your TA can apply thru the cruise line booking portal.

 

The FAQ’s on Royals website say it can take up to 10 business days to process. It also says your TA can apply them to your booking, so you do not have to use on bookings ONLY made directly with cruise line.

[Riemercruisin]

Yes, I followed the instructions in this thread and emailed them in myself. Within a week they were applied to my booking. 

[EllieinNJ]

I just had one applied by my TA.  Had to send her a copy of the AARP gift card voucher and in turn she sent it to RCI.  Took exactly two weeks to be credited to my cruise.  I do  not think I will purchase any more because of the stress in getting it applied.  Carnival and Princess are so easy.

[Ashland]

Not the AARP gift cards but we often get RCI gift certificates from family and have found them easy to apply to the final balances of our RCI booked directly cruise. Doing so online with the certificate serial number and certification authorization code.

 

https://royalcaribbeancertificates.com/