Calnev1

The leftover $10 stays on the gift card. If you want, you can load it to your onboard account when you are actually on the cruise.

Go to AARP Rewards, click on Discover, click Redeem, click on All Rewards, and then scroll down until you see the Princess gift cards. You may have to establish an AARP Rewards account and then login to AARP Rewards to do this, I am not sure because I have had an AARP Rewards account for a long time.

You do not have to be a member to purchase HAL GCs at AARP Rewards. And, as noted by previous posters, the HAL GCs maintain the 10% discount.

This.

I like to play Fun21 blackjack in the Princess’ casinos. On my most recent Princess cruise this past February, Fun21 was hand shuffled and dealt, while all the other BJ games were dealt from a shuffle machine. I don’t like the shuffle machines, and am concerned that Princess may be changing Fun21 over to a shuffle machine. Has anyone been on a recent Princess cruise and noticed how Fun21 is being dealt? Thanks for your input.

We know from personal experience that Holland America GCs are, in fact, just like the Carnival and Princess GCs. You can use HAL GCs for pretty much any expense associated with an HAL cruise. The only expense I am not sure about is HAL's "EZ Air" equivalent, if they even have one.

The AARP gift card thread will now become the most active Carnival thread….

My wife and I are currently aboard the Miracle in Alaska. We embarked at pier 27 in SF this past Monday. Having read some previous posters who were unhappy with the SF boarding process (both at piers 27 and 35), I wanted to report that our boarding experience was wonderful! We had an assigned arrival window of 11:00 to 11:30 AM. We stepped out of our Uber at 11:09 and we stepped on to the ship at 11:23. Yep, only 14 minutes. Never boarded any other ship that fast. It did help that we were Platinum. Also we rolled on our luggage and did not use a porter.

Wow. For my wife and I the MDR dinner experience is key to a good cruise. An occasional dinner on the Lido is OK, and the very occasional dinner at a specialty restaurant (at $100+ all-in for two) is also OK, but most of our dinners will be in the MDR and we need a decent MDR experience. If we were unhappy with almost every MDR dinner we would have fled Carnival long before ten years!

I get the $100 OV offers. They are different than the $50 last minute inside offers that my wife gets. These last minute offers can be difficult to book.

My wife gets these $50 last minute casino deals. The offers change literally by the minute. We tried to book an Alaskan cruise three times and each time we tried it the attempt failed. Then last night at 1 AM I had a bout of insomnia so I checked the offer and I was able to book it! So don’t give up…..

I have a cruise coming up in just over a week. The cruise is paid off for two persons in the cabin, but I have yet to add a second person to my booking. And now it seems I will be cruising by myself. So here are my questions. 1). Can I checkin if I don’t add a second guest to my reservation? 2). If I do add a second person but that person is a no show will there be any problem for me at embarkation? (fyi the cruise is a casino offer in my name). 3) If I cruise as a solo in a cabin booked for two persons will they charge me two gratuities each day? Thanks in advance for any insights here.

The Chase offer reads to me like it includes any charge directly with Carnival. I will use the Chase CC with the Carnival offer to back my sail and sign account. I will use Carnival gift cards to cover most of my S&S charges, but I always let some of the charges flow through to the CC because I don't want to depend on Carnival to refund me any extra gift card balance. BTW, the Chase offer requires no minimum spend to get the cash back.

Thanks! I am sure we will enjoy next year's cruise on the Miracle (on May 13, not May 24. My bad). And we are also on the Miracle to Alaska embarking tomorrow! Ha!

I am on the May 24 Alaska cruise on the Miracle. Not as part of an elite offer though. Now I will be looking around the casino with curiosity for you high rollers.

Travel bloggers are reporting that AMEX and Chase credit cards are out with new Carnival offers. The AMEX offer is $250 cash back (or 25k Membership Rewards points) on $1,000 in spend. The Chase offer is either 10% or 15% back on a Carnival purchase. Unfortunately, the only offer I received was the Chase 10% back offer, which is about equivalent to the AARP discount on Carnival gift cards.

Five dollar Amazon gift cards go on sale for 500 Allstate points each in about 40 minutes (noon Pacific time). I wish I could use all my Allstate points to buy these Amazon cards, but I know I will be lucky if I can snag even one gift card before they are sold out.

I just got a Carnival offer on one of my Chase credit cards. I got excited until I looked at the terms: ten percent off any purchase from carnival up to $860. Dang, I already get that discount by buying gift cards from Allstate or AARP. But then I thought I can use that credit card on my sign and sail account, and it will catch any expenses I don't cover with the gift cards. Odd thing was that only my business Chase card had the offer, and none of my personal chase cards had it. Do they think folks will hold business meetings on the ships??

I was also debating just how many years out I really want to push my AARP membership. I need to ponder my life expectancy and check the mortality tables . . . .

I usually go to Rewards, then click on Discover, then click on Redeem, then click on All Rewards. As stated in the previous post you can find the Carnival cards under Members Only, but the Carnival cards also pop up first under All Rewards, and with All Rewards I can see every gift card on offer. Often there are gift cards that show up under All Rewards that interest me that don't show up under Members Only.

Is that some sort of Allstate promise??

This.

On our Zaandam Panama Canal cruise a few months ago we had a classical duo (Pianist and violin) from the Ukraine. Best classical music I have ever hear on about 70 cruises, including ten HAL cruises. First name of pianist was Denys, tremendous skill and wide repertoire. I asked him what other cruises they would be on, and with a grimace he said they were only booked on HAL for the folllow-on cruise (up to Montreal). I wrote to HAL saying they needed more of this quality of music!

OK Thanks for the clarification.

Just for clarity, if you had paid cash for the cruise instead of a gift card, wouldn't you have lost all your money (e.g., 100% cancellation fee after Final payment is due)? Maybe I have that wrong about the cancellation policy when you cancel after the final payment due date. But if I am correct, then to get a refund for a Princess gift card when you cancel after the final payment date would be a huge benefit of using gift cards over cash.