Organized Chaos

26 minutes ago, Denverdonkeys said:

Yeah I was emotionally attached to my points. I actually paid $12, plus I got back $23 from my capital one card. Not sure why they gave me more than i paid.

Now use your Allstate points to load up on sweepstakes.

🤔**Wait a minute...one more person means less chances for me.**🤔

Oh wait, nevermind. Their sweepstakes are closed. 😈

2 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Absolutely and get shareholder OBC, too!! And military OBC, if eligible.

Carnival's military appreciation event is really nice and I've seen many people say they do it best. But as much as I appreciate their effort, I wouldn't complain about $100 OBC. LOL

3 hours ago, Roscoe13 said:

THAT'S AWESOME!!

 

Is that print big enough and bold enough for you to read now that you are in the oldster club?

Hey you, get off my lawn!

2 hours ago, tw67 said:

Now that we are all AARP members, I have this urge to start booking on HAL instead of my normal Carnival... the age thing is real!!

I get along just fine with seniors. I wouldn't mind it at all. Fewer kids, calmer crowd, and they'd be a lot quieter. Dang, now that made me sound old.

Speaking of old (just kidding my friend), is @Joe817  still lurking around this thread? Been a long time, Joe. Stop in and say hi.

4 hours ago, happy cruzer said:

yes, they do.  I think NCL is one and some others.  RCl did at one time.  But our pictures always had to be retaken so I just do not like that step.

2 hours ago, vacationlover16 said:

It was cumbersome in my opinion because the photos were on my phone so that meant I had to do the check in on the phone instead of the computer.

Yeah, that seems like an annoyance. I have friends who're going on NCL for the first time next month. I'll have to ask if they did it.

2 hours ago, Denverdonkeys said:

Does anyone have a direct link that works for AARP Rewards? I signed up yesterday, but have been unable to get links to work to the rewards section.

See if this works: https://www.aarp.org/rewards/ Then just click Login at the top right. If you're logged into the regular aarp.org side of the website, click on the red toolbar at the top of the page where is says AARP Rewards and your points.

@happy cruzer I was a little thrown off when you mentioned other lines requiring photos. That's why I wasn't sure if you were talking about online check-in. Do other lines require uploading a photo ID during their online check-in?

36 minutes ago, happy cruzer said:

If you checkin date is Aug 27, you can checkin at midnight on Aug 26 eastern time?

 

What info do you have to have at checkin time?  Some lines require photos?  What does Carnival want?

 

Thanks.

Just to clarify, we're talking about online check-in prior to the sail date. Yes, you can do online check-in at midnight eastern on the night of Aug. 26 (using your example). You'll choose your Arrival Appointment (the 30 minute window in which you'll arrive at the terminal), set up your Sail & Sign account using a credit card, gift cards, etc. Or you can choose to set it up as a cash account. As jsglow said, you'll enter your passport number (no photo required during online check-in) and answer some basic travel questions, like if you're Carnival's transport service to the terminal, etc.

17 minutes ago, amilicia said:

What is the typical turn around time for the AARP e-gift cards?  I placed my first order a few hours ago for a Carnival GC and haven't received so much as a confirmation of the order.  The order shows in my transaction history on AARP Rewards and my credit card was charged quickly....  I usually had the Allstate E-GC within a few minutes of ordering and always received an order confirmation.  Just hoping the website didn't glitch, because it sat on the processing screen for longer than I liked.

Did you check your spam folder? Sometimes they end up there. You can call customer service: 800-764-7419

5 hours ago, ab19902 said:

For some reason it worked today. Not even gonna question it.

It's best not to. We have to be nice to it so it cooperates, but only for a couple more months. 😉

5 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

 It seems like the games have been a bit more generous lately in awarding points on the wheel and scratch off, at least for me.

I did get 1,500 from the wheel today.

18 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

On the sweepstakes. You can unload 10k at a time on some of them with 200 entries. I was at 700k points but I figure I might as well use them for what it's worth.

I could enter the 10k point max for one sweeps every day of Sept. and only use 300k points. That'll leave me nearly 600k. I gotta get a move on. But we still have Oct., too, so I'll get 'er done. Unless they throw us a curve ball and stop the sweeps at the end of next month. 😬

18 hours ago, ab19902 said:

For some reason it wants me to log in again to use up my measly 100k points, but when I go to log in, it won't let me. It wants me to do it from the app. I much prefer to do it on the computer. This is hogwash. Hogwash I tell you! (FYI, I am nowhere near old enough to be saying THAT)

There are days when the website is very very fickle. Delete your browser's cookies for Allstate, restart the browser, and try again. And make sure you're using this URL: https://myaccountrwd.allstate.com/anon/account/login?campaign=145

17 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

No, not a 48 hour hold. It was a low price guarantee for 48 hours after booking.

Gotcha. I forgot about those. 👍

Some travel agents will keep an eye out for you. The first cruise we ever went on, we used someone else's travel agent (the only time we ever used an agent) because we were going with them and they had cruised before. She did get us one price reduction, but we looked ourselves and ended up catching one or two more that she didn't. So if you do find an agent who'll look for you, don't rely on them to look often.

Spin the wheel and scratch & win on the same day and I still get bupkis. I entered some sweeps. Only 905k points left. LOL Everyone's going to be maxing out their daily limits trying to burn through points. These things are going to be a massive shot in the dark.

6 hours ago, audcc77 said:

Oh nice!

I just booked a cruise yesterday for one that I’m ALREADY going on. 
It fell off my booking list.   Lovely.  

5 hours ago, audcc77 said:

Yes

ugh.  
I hope I can get a refund.  

You're just trying to get double the OBC, aren't you? 😛

J/K Hope you get it straightened out.

1 hour ago, Haljo1935 said:

 but I also remember seeing something that said guarantee price for 48 hours, so I didn't think it would apply.

That sounds like you're referring to a 48-hour hold on a cabin. If you look up a particular booking on the website, then try to exit the booking, it'll ask if you want to hold the room for 48 hours at that price. Or a PVP/cust. service rep. can do it, too.

Our PVP put a cabin on hold for a week one time. I didn't know it was possible to hold them longer than 2 days, but he offered to do it because we were waiting on some Carnival gift cards to come in the mail.

1 hour ago, MeganGC1983 said:

I ordered cards from the defunct AllState. Let’s see how it goes. 

Have you joined AARP, Megan?

11 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

You are a brave soul for cards that are now yielding 6.25% for the 100's and 7% for the 500's that are mailed. Too much risk for me with mail and the low discount after shipping fees.

It's odd. I know the best thing to do is start dumping points into sweepstakes, but after 6 1/2 years of accruing points, I'm having some kind of mental block. Every time I log on, a little voice says, "Stop. Don't spend points recklessly."  😝

20 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Question on timing of the request  - there's availability when you check so you submit the request. 

Price goes up or category sells out (or both) before CCL looks at it.

Do you still get the credit?

Good question. There's nowhere to enter the current date on the form, but I'd think they could see when it was filled out. Even then, I don't know if they look to see if the request was submitted before the category sold out again.

When it happened to me, I called our PVP right away and he processed the claim, so it was instant. If you have the opportunity to call your PVP (if you have one) or customer service, that'd be best.

I WON! 😃

I didn't win the $1,000 Carnival sweepstakes like I'd hoped, but I won a $500 Carnival card from their cruise contest on their forums. Exciting stuff, I never win anything. If it weren't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all. I got the email yesterday and thought it was fake at first, but it had all the right credentials. I replied to confirm that it was me and they sent me the e-gift card less than an hour later. This will go a long way towards my next cruise. Thanks again, AARP!

5 hours ago, wemjam said:

If there was no rooms available in your specific category then there should have been no price match available if you submitted a form. They will only price match IF the same exact category of room is available at a lower price.  Every other room type on the ship may go down in price, but if your category is sold out there is NO price match to be had.

This is true, but if someone with the same category cancels, then price match opens up again. That is, until that cabin gets booked again.

So for those watching out for price matches, it's important to know the two-character code for your cabin. It'll be 2 letters or a number & letter. For example, an Ocean Suite on Vista is either a SS, OS, or JS. There has to be cabins available for your specific code in order to be eligible for a price match. I've gotten price matches after the cabin category had sold out, then someone cancelled, but you have to check often to catch that because it usually sells out again soon.

10 hours ago, MadManOfBethesda said:

Slot machines are not set to pay off after a certain number of spins. They use a random number generator (RNG) that is constantly selecting combinations - even when no one is playing the machine - to determine when and how much a machine is going to pay out at any particular time. It is possible, although highly unlikely, for two successive spins to be jackpot wins. What is determined by the casino is the hold percentage, say 80%, 85%, 90%, etc., so that the RNG is programmed to pay out the remaining percentage over time on a completely random basis.

I used to work in a casino many years ago and according to slot techs back then, they could be programmed according to the number of spins. And in recent years, I've heard that same determining process still exists. The main point I was making was, regardless of the process, the casino can program the machines to pay out more often. It's used as a marketing ploy ("loose slots") by many casinos.

8 hours ago, wemjam said:

So I just received a phone call back from the last Fun Ship rep I had been talking with about this too.

 

She confirmed these are valid refunds and they are from sailings we had to cancel in September of 2021.

 

*****?  I guess they are really scouring their books.

 

I still say I received all my refund and someone in their accounting department is goofed up.  Oh well, more money for me to spend.  They will get it back anyhow lol!

I do remember asking them if I would get the Cruise Cash back since it's normally non-refundable. I was told I would since they cancelled the cruise. I probably made a mental note that it was the last of the refund I was owed and then simply forgot about it. Better late than never, I suppose. But if it is an accounting error, I'm not saying a word. 🤐 LOL

12 hours ago, wemjam said:

So this just gets crazier.  I just got two more random refunds from Carnival via gift cards.  $5.85 and $76.00.

 

Spent an hour on the phone again trying to get someone to tell me why I keep getting these!  No one can answer me.  Driving me nuts.

 

Guess I will go email them again!

I got one today, too, but here's the odd part. We had 2 cancelled cruises (due to covid) back in Jan. '21 and March '22. I thought we got all the necessary refunds for both, but this new gift card amount just so happens to be for the same amount of Cruise Cash I bought for the Jan. '21 cruise, so I have to assume that's what it's for. I just don't know why it took them over a year and a half. But back then, they sent multiple return gift cards and I could've swore I did the math at the time and we got everything back.

OK this is weird. I got an email today with an attached "Carnival Merchandising return E-gift card" and I'm not sure what it's for. We did have 2 cancelled cruises back in Jan. '21 and March '22, but as far as I know, we were refunded everything we should've been. I did buy some Cruise Cash for the Jan. '21 cruise and it was for the amount of this return gift card, so I have to assume that's it. Back then, they told me the Cruise Cash would be refunded since it was cancelled. I thought I already got it, but maybe not. If this is it, why the heck did it take over a year and a half?

11 hours ago, ab19902 said:

I thought it was Aug 18th that the winner was drawn.

I checked again...it says on or around Aug. 16. They still haven't posted the winner yet, but then again, they haven't posted any of July's winners. If they can't reach the Carnival winner, I'm available. 😉

4 hours ago, Butterbean1000 said:

Interesting,  but what is it saying? Please translate. 

The machine's computer adjusts how much power is applied to the grip strength of the claw and how long that power lasts during a play. And it's all determined by settings that are adjusted by the machine's owner. Much like modern slot machines...the computer is set to pay off after so many spins, which is set by the casino. If slot machines are considered "loose," it's because the owner has set them to pay out more often. In the end, the house always wins.