AARP Carnival Cruise Booking Certificate

Hi all,

I couldn't find a thread on this, but through AARP I found I have rewards points(non-credit card) to redeem. They are offering Carnival Cruise booking certificates $10 off $100. Just wondering if anyone has purchased these and if they worked? Thank you!

Sounds just like the Verizon rewards. There is at least one long thread currently about those. I've purchased some (used some to pay off this upcoming cruise; taking the others with me for Saturday's S&S account).

I suggest you read the fine print. Verizon offers both cruise cash and gift cards. I don't know why anyone would purchase cruise cash these days since it's non-refundable. The gift card are refundable and there's no expiration date.

I bought e-gift cards. You get them in an email. You can apply them to a balance on a cruise. If the balance you're paying is less than the card, the remainder stays on the card.

Pretty sure you can also use them for the deposit on a new booking, but I haven't personally tried that.

If you take the e-card and apply it to your S&S, it's just like cash. It you don't spend it all, you get a refund check when you get home.

Thanks for your reply, I have been purchasing the Carnival gift cards from lowes, so I know those are covered. I went back and read the fine print and it states, if the certificates purchased through AARP are lost, stolen or such. they are not covered. They should be mailed certified to carnival if used for your booking. Also you have to call carnival directly, and it cannot be used for initial deposit. I guess I was asking because I always like to see a bargain and wanted to know if anyone else had purchased these. I guess it's not worth the worry to go that route to save $10.

Thanks again!

Lisa

I bought e-gift cards. You get them in an email. You can apply them to a balance on a cruise. If the balance you're paying is less than the card, the remainder stays on the card.If you take the e-card and apply it to your S&S, it's just like cash. It you don't spend it all, you get a refund check when you get home.

Do you get the e-gift card e-mail the same day as you purchase it? Do you just print out the received e-mail and turn it into guest services on board? Is the e-mail a copy of an e-card. I just want to make sure what I would be getting since our cruise starts Saturday. Thank you.

Do you get the e-gift card e-mail the same day as you purchase it? Do you just print out the received e-mail and turn it into guest services on board? Is the e-mail a copy of an e-card. I just want to make sure what I would be getting since our cruise starts Saturday. Thank you.

I got my email gift cards through Verizon the same day I ordered them. When we cruised 2 weeks ago, I took them to guest services and they entered them on my Sign and Sails count. I waited until the second day when there was not a line. We owed 38 cents at the end of the cruise which we just paid in cash.

We did the Verizon and saved 10% off the cruise. We also did a little more for on board credit.

Pretty sure you can also use them for the deposit on a new booking, but I haven't personally tried that.

I've done that. It does work.

I used credit card points to get a $1000 cruise certificate for Carnival. I read and reread every bit of the fine print that I could before using over 100,000 points to get it. ( we have a lot of points, lol. ) Anyway, I had all ready put a deposit down on a cruise and was going to use what I thought was a carnival gift card to pay off the balance. The fine print said it couldn't be used for a deposit so I went ahead and did that before the "gift cards" arrived. When it arrived in the mail, lo and behold it wasn't really gift cards. I had ordered gift cards through the website many times in the past and the fine print gave no indication that it was going to be anything different than that.

So.... I wasn't going to be able to use it in the way I intended and it also showed an issued date in 3/2013 which meant I now had only 90 days to use it or lose with no refunds!! OMG!! I was so mad. I called and complained that I just booked a cruise and there was no way I could book another one that quickly and why did I get a year and a half old certificate anyway with only 90 days left before it expired? Plus, no where on the website did it describe those restrictions.

In the end they made an exception and let me mail the certificate back and refunded my points. I kept my cool during our discussion which is maybe why they were willing to work with me. So alls well that ends well but I was sick about it for awhile.

Long story short if you are buying what they describe as a "cruise certificate" you have to book through the number provided and can't use it indiscriminately as you would a gift card. I booked through a TA and she had assured me she would accept Carnival gift cards. If you all ready have a cruise booked they will be worthless to you. There was no fine print at all on the website that stated that.

Also if I had been given 2 years to use it, it would not have been a problem either. The way they worked the dates was not right.

My husband would have been pissed if I lost all those points ha. And what was supposed to be a "free" cruise that my 17 year old daughter were taking together I now am paying for but oh well. :rolleyes: