Organized Chaos

On 12/4/2023 at 7:50 AM, patcruise1 said:

Not much going on here lately.  That I would just check in.

Yeah, I had hoped it'd remain active once we moved beyond sharing Allstate codes and scratch-off/wheel results. Since AARP cards are always in stock, we don't even have the need to post updates on cards being restocked. Dang you, AARP, sell out once in a while! 😝 Don't be strangers, gift card crew, check in once in a while. I'm guilty, too. Haven't been here for a month.

Let's not get carried away. The amount of bandwidth used by iMessage is insignificant in relation to other passengers. Sending a message with 100 characters would use about 10 bytes of data. That's unnoticeable. And to compare it to stealing the neighbor's wifi is a tad dramatic.

Since it's a known glitch that iMessage sometimes works without a purchased wifi plan, did the OP just assume iMessages was supposed to work? He/she said others made note of the (perceived) "problem" as well, so it's possible some didn't understand that it actually wasn't a problem at all.

Itried4498, how did the OP "change their story" when they literally said they purchased the chat in their original post?

On 11/7/2023 at 4:05 PM, CruizinSusan70 said:

Same here.  Even won a 10.00 card on the scratch off game about a month ago and still haven't received it 

That's not cool. Was it an e-card? That's what mine were, one from the wheel and one from scratch off.

2 hours ago, Rdclfamily said:

I read that you can put this in your carryon, but I'm not seeing this on Carnival's policies.

To keep from taking up space inside my suitcase, I set it on top and strap it to the pull handle with a bungee cord.

Allstate Rewards is no more. Did anyone have any luck with the final sweepstakes? Not me. Over 900k points thrown at it and it didn't get me a single prize. Good riddance. LOL Now if AARP would loosen their grip on some of those so-called instant win gift cards.

On 10/25/2023 at 11:07 PM, CruizinSusan70 said:

Over 900 K gone, down to a lone single point. 😥😭.  Keeping fingers crossed with the cash and Walmart sweepstakes.

Last month I maxed out entries on 2 of the big sweeps. A total of 12,000 entries for 600,000 pts. and got nothin'. Someone here won one of the secondary prizes with 1,800 entries I think, so I changed my strategy this time and spread my points out among 5-6 of them. I struck out on a few of the smaller ones they drew for the other day. Good luck to those who entered.

If you accrue points for AARP, use promo code HAUNTED for 100 points. Go to AARP Rewards, choose Redeem from the drop-down menu, and enter the code.

This is from their little jack-o-lantern scavenger hunt. There's 5 of them hidden around the Rewards pages that you can find for exclusive (not so great) prizes. So if the code doesn't work for you, I guess they want you to find the jack-o-lantern first.

Well, 6+ years and over 900k points later and I ended up with 11 points left. I wonder if they want to buy them back from me for the low low price of $1 per point.

14 hours ago, 1st4our25th said:

I was so hoping for that $100. Got a $5 BP giftcard instead, I'll take it! Better than what I've gotten or should I say, not gotten, for all the points I've cashed in. Back in April I got a $20 CVS giftcard from the wheel. I guess the wheel has been kinder to me than the sweepstakes ever have. 

I got a $25 Uber card a few weeks ago. We don't have Uber (small town life) so the only chance I'd have to use it is on a vacation, and I don't know when that'll be, so I may give it away.

The "instant win" gift cards on AARP are proving to be just as elusive.

Cruises 5 days or shorter have one elegant night.

According to Cruise Critic's list of shows (found here): https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/which-shows-are-on-which-carnival-cruise-line-ship

and this post: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2958481-current-playlist-productions-shows/

Conquest only has 80's Pop to the Max.

The Allstate wheel got rid of the second X (not that it helps me) and added a $50 and $100 gift card. They're teasing us.

23 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Unbelievable.  Won a $10.00 Amazon gift card on the scratch off game.  Have parlayed well over 700,000 points to no avail and have about 150,000 left to spend.

Congrats on the gift card. And I feel you. I thought cashing in hundreds of thousands of points was supposed to increase our chances of winning.  I've blown through over 900k points with nothing to show for it. Still have around 20k left. Instead of maxing out entries on a couple sweeps, I'm spreading them out more and will see how that goes. I won't hold my breath.

11 hours ago, cruisernh said:

 I don't even have the option for the little trinket or the plaid bag. 

Yeah, they're only up for 2-3 days. I've seen the touch-free gadget twice and the tote bag once, but haven't seen either one for a week or more.

12 hours ago, 1st4our25th said:

I've previously gotten a couple points only items and was never charged a shipping fee.

Good to know. Thank you.

23 hours ago, tw67 said:

I am so sorry you had to go through all of that!  It is crazy. I have really given up trying for those. Of course I also do not try for Taylor Swift tickets! 

I've never tried them before. I'm curious as to how it works...how do people swipe them all up in the blink of an eye? Crazy.

2 hours ago, travelingtink said:

Did anyone notice that you get a daily entry into the Target gift card sweeps? It caught my eye because that was not one I had put points into but noticed I had entries. Read the fine print and found that they give an entry for daily logins. 

Nope, didn't notice that. I entered hundreds, sometimes thousands, of tickets in the past month and a half and got squat. Watch me win one I don't want with less than 10 entries. LOL

1 hour ago, tw67 said:

I have never been able to score a daily deal.  I could try right when it hits 3 pm, and they are already gone.  It is apparently a lot like scoring Taylor Swift concert tix!!  

The difference is, I'd rather have $5 worth of free gas than a Taylor Swift ticket. 😁

This is insane. When it hit 3:00, the shopping cart button wouldn't appear, so I refreshed the page. That logged me out and by the time I logged back in, they were gone. Then as I was watching it, it flashed, said they were available, and the shopping cart button came back. I clicked on it in a split second and it said they were out. I didn't get one.

Edited to add: It did it again...and again I missed. I give up, not worth it. I had no idea they were like that.

14 hours ago, CheersPkg4Us said:

We sail out Miami at 4pm on on Sunday on the Celebration. We do have the FTTF package. Today was my first opportunity to pre register. The only option was 2:00 -2:30. My thinking is regardless what you sign up for if you have FTTF you show up at the earliest time. If my thinking is correct what would the earliest time be for a 4 o'clock sail away? Noon maybe? 

Prior to the covid shutdown, it was a given that FTTF were allowed to arrive prior to their assigned arrival appointment time. Been there, done that, no one turned us away. But I guess they've gotten a little more strict with it. The purpose, I assume, is to keep the process running as smoothly as it was designed. As opposed to the days before arrival appts. when it was a huge cluster of humanity filling the terminal at the same time. Given that you have the 2-2:30 time slot, and are given priority check-in with FTTF, you'll be there in plenty of time before boarding begins, but be aware that the FTTF waiting area will be filled with all the earlier time slots and you'll have to wait once FTTF boarding is called. In many cases, even then it won't be a long wait.

14 hours ago, grillinchillin said:

Google or go to the Carnival Website.

This community exists for a reason. People come here to interact with other cruisers and have their questions answered, do they not? We want to interact with others who have first-hand knowledge of the topic.

7 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

And take a chance that the port staff are enforcing boarding times and if so, have to wait a couple hours and hope they allow your assigned boarding time to board early.

Just to prevent any possible confusion on the OP's part, there's no such thing as boarding times, so we'll assume you're referring to arrival appointments.

I just realized last night that Allstate was running daily deals this week. Today's deal, a $5 BP gift card for 500 points. Not much, but I can spare 500 pts. for a gallon of gas. Starts at 3pm EST, link on the homepage.

On 10/9/2023 at 3:27 AM, glrounds said:

I know you mean well and I thank you, but I fear you have no idea how the tech of today just ricochets around the brain of an 84-year-old reducing the information to marbles . . . . LOL

No worries. I've done a lot of computer work for older family & friends through the years. Once I get an idea of their level of understanding, I've taken pride in explaining things in a way they can easily digest. If you're familiar with getting photos from your phone to your computer, it's pretty easy from there. Hey, you're on your computer using an internet forum...you're more savvy than you might think.

19 minutes ago, I_AM_GROOT said:

$100, only put in 1800 entries. I did put in some other ones too.

There's a couple this month I've been concentrating on, but I think I'll spread 'em out a little more. The ones that allow up to 10k pts. a day really chew through my balance.

1 hour ago, I_AM_GROOT said:

Ummm this was the nice suprise before Allstate Rewards closes!

Congrats! Did you win the $1000 or $100? That's one I maxed out my entries (6000) for the month. I maxed out the $1500 Count On Cash sweeps, too, but no luck. Goes to show that doesn't always pay out.

I'll trade you my $25 Uber card. 😉

I won a $25 Uber gift card from the wheel today. We don't have Uber around here, too rural. I've considered using it on vacations a time or two, but never did. Maybe this will give me an excuse to.

21 hours ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

What is also interesting is that the claw machine is considered an arcade game... it's not gambling... which is why you can play it in ports.

It's a similar concept to the games of skill inside the arcade that give away iPads & phones, etc. Like the one where you have to perfectly line up the key-shape with the hole to win.

Spin the wheel this week on Allstate. They've added a second strike on the wheel. One month to go and they're not giving up their prizes without a fight. 😄

I maxed out entries on two of last month's sweepstakes. 🤞 I'm down to about 200k, I'll use 'em all before the end. They're not getting my leftovers!! 😛