Carnival gift card issues

[Lovtotravel2]

So I am wondering why would you go buy a full price gift card from AARP or Lowes for Carnival.

 

I can see doing it for Verizon and have with the discount. but what do you gain buying full price ones. a prepaid visa card, or using your own credit card gives you more options and if you have money left you can use it for anything you want

[1tuckersmom]

So I am wondering why would you go buy a full price gift card from AARP or Lowes for Carnival.

 

I can see doing it for Verizon and have with the discount. but what do you gain buying full price ones. a prepaid visa card, or using your own credit card gives you more options and if you have money left you can use it for anything you want

 

You may pay full price value for Lowes gift card, but for AARP you do not.

They are discounted the same as Verizon.

Well, after you earn points to apply toward them that is.;)

 

[N7786W Flyer]

There is a work-around on the PIN issue.

 

You can do a mock booking (or make a payment on an existing booking) and when it comes time to submit payment, you can click on the "Use Carnival Gift Card" option and it them gives you the option of checking the balance.

 

When checking the balance, it does NOT ask you for the PIN #. I just checked the balance and then applied a payment to my 2017 cruise using a gift card and it went through without issue or providing a PIN #.

 

Garnett

Edited September 9, 2015 by N7786W Flyer

[ATL_Miami_Cruiser]

If booked already, you can also do a mock excursion booking and at the payment screen there's a check balance button. No pin required

[13cheermom]

There is a work-around on the PIN issue.

 

You can do a mock booking (or make a payment on an existing booking) and when it comes time to submit payment, you can click on the "Use Carnival Gift Card" option and it them gives you the option of checking the balance.

 

When checking the balance, it does NOT ask you for the PIN #. I just checked the balance and then applied a payment to my 2017 cruise using a gift card and it went through without issue or providing a PIN #.

 

Garnett

 

Can also verify that this does work as far as checking balances. I had just received $500 worth of cards in mail today from Verizon, and wanted to check balances so went ahead and applied to my final payment which is due in 2 weeks anyway, they were fine as well as the other 5 - $100 cards I received a couple of weeks ago. I would rather just do my own checking and make online payments instead of calling in. But you can just go ahead and enter all the information from the card as if to make a payment amount, and then don't finalize the payment in order to check the gift card balances. It will show the amount that is loaded on that card number. Hopefully Carnival will fix this glitch and remove the pin entry soon.

[Rod in Az]

So I am wondering why would you go buy a full price gift card from AARP or Lowes for Carnival.

 

 

 

I can see doing it for Verizon and have with the discount. but what do you gain buying full price ones. a prepaid visa card, or using your own credit card gives you more options and if you have money left you can use it for anything you want

 

 

If you can get a card from AARP it comes with 10% off.

 

As for lowes, I wouldn't, not because I don't like lowes, but I can buy one at our grocery store and get fuel points, (often they have multiple point deals for gift cards) and cash back on my credit card (at the same rate I would get cash back using it on the ship).

 

I know my cruise spending habits, so it works for me. Just my preference, might not be for everyone.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited September 9, 2015 by Rod in Az

[singbluesilver1]

Not everyone has Verizon.

 

I buy them in small increments because we are having money issues and I don't have hundreds of dollars to buy gift cards

 

I'm saving up slowly

 

We have a 17 year old don with severe disabilities and I haven't been able to work full time in years

 

If you buy most pre paid Visa cards you pay extra fees too

[Gr8DanesMom]

Singbluesilver1,

 

I'm a mom of an autistic daughter, and I completely understand where you are coming from! Buying the cards in smaller amounts is a viable way to pay off the cruise slowly, especially if you get something in addition like fuel points. Just be sure to keep track of the cards. I learned that lesson the hard way!

 

Our cruise is paid off, but we used AARP points to get a discount for our cards. Every penny saved is worth it. [emoji5]️ Kids with disabilities can take up a large part of your life, but they are worth it in the long run. [emoji41]

 

I hope you have an amazing time on your cruise!!!!

 

- Cindy

[jackhall226]

So I am wondering why would you go buy a full price gift card from AARP or Lowes for Carnival.

 

I can see doing it for Verizon and have with the discount. but what do you gain buying full price ones. a prepaid visa card, or using your own credit card gives you more options and if you have money left you can use it for anything you want

 

I bought this last card at Lowes because I had credit from a project that was recently completed. The rest have been from Verizon and AARP @ a 10% discount.

 

The Reason This Post Was Started...

After speaking to Carnival last night I was told that they added the PIN# section on their "check balance page" because so many cards are being sold by a third party. (Ebay, Craigslist, etc.) Not sure how long the new page has been up but she said it has not worked since adding this PIN# section. Carnival's IT group is aware and working on it.

[aflyingbuttress]

Probably a stupid question, but has anyone tried just entering the gift card number and leaving the PIN entry blank?

[jks336]

Thankfully no. I got my from my Best Western rewards and the first 500 worked no problem when i first booked our cruise. haven't applied any others yet. hopefully no issues and i dont get a "receipt" for them.

[Jenhem31]

Call Carnival to check but I am positive you are good to go.....

 

 

DAMN PIN............

 

 

Yup! Balance is there.

[Jenhem31]

So I am wondering why would you go buy a full price gift card from AARP or Lowes for Carnival.

 

 

 

I can see doing it for Verizon and have with the discount. but what do you gain buying full price ones. a prepaid visa card, or using your own credit card gives you more options and if you have money left you can use it for anything you want

 

 

Fuel perks from Kroger.

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

So I am wondering why would you go buy a full price gift card from AARP or Lowes for Carnival.

 

I can see doing it for Verizon and have with the discount. but what do you gain buying full price ones. a prepaid visa card, or using your own credit card gives you more options and if you have money left you can use it for anything you want

 

 

The AARP Carnival Gift Card gives me 11% more Drinking and Dining than the cash in my wallet! :D

 

10% Discount from AARP....+1% Back on the card I purchase it with!

Edited September 9, 2015 by NEW 2 CRUISIN

[reno3]

If booked already, you can also do a mock excursion booking and at the payment screen there's a check balance button. No pin required

 

Thank you for this great tip! I was going to call Carnival tomorrow and check the balance on the 10 cards I just received last week. No need to now, I just did a mock excursion and checked all 10.... $100.00 on each :D

[huskywa]

In January this year, I purchased a $500 ecard through Verizon for which I paid $450. I received it within a few minutes to my email. We intended to use it on board the ship as we had already paid for our cruise. Due to a family emergency, we had to cancel our cruise. I attempted to use the gift card a little while ago as part of the down payment on a cruise we are attempting to book for February 2016. The card has a 14-digit number and a four-number pin. The card clearly says "Expiration: None." Our PVP's computer would not accept the number without an expiration date. There was a small circle and within the circle it said "Tap to Redeem." What a shock when the card then changed from showing it was worth $500 to showing an amount of $336.04 as today's current value! No where in the small print does it say anything about the card reducing in value. As of now, we paid $450 for the card and have currently lost $113.96 from what we paid and $163.96 from the expected $500 value. Our PVP is holding our room for 24 hours. I immediately attempted to call the Verizon Smart Rewards Department and, since we are in the Pacific Time Zone and they are located in the Central Time Zone, they were closed. An individual did give me a complaint reference number and said someone would call me back within two or three days. When asked, she did say she has heard of this happening before, not often, and it got straightened out. Has anyone else heard of this or had it happen to you?

[peymas]

Sorry for your problem. Please come back and tell us what you find out.

[hcomputers]

I just received in the mail on 12/15/16 a Happy Holidays card with a Carnival Gift Card enclosed thanking me for my past cruises and being a Carnival World Mastercard Card Holder. When checking the balance, it said 0. I called and confirmed 0 balance. They had me call Carnival, they had no idea what i was talking about and told me to call Barclay's as it must have had to do with being a Carnival Mastercard card holder. Called Barclays, they had no idea either and asked for a copy of the card to be faxed to them. Has anyone else received a Holiday card from Carnival with a gift card attached and actually had a balance? There were no instructions about signing up for anything or filing anything out to be eligible for funds. Only stated as a token of our thanks, here is a gift card. So 0 token, what thanks, what an embarrassment.

[Doggielover68]

There is no PIN for the Carnival Gift Cards, no clue why the website is asking for one. Whenever I have used one, I just call CS and give them the card number no problem. It is definitely a mystery as to how one is suppose to put in a PIN when one does not exist.:confused::confused:

 

 

I just leave the pin field blank. Works for me

 

 

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[NavyCruiser]

Link to check:

 

https://www.carnivalgiftcards.com/BalanceInquiry.aspx

[KCruizer]

I have 3 cards bought from Verizon over the last year and just checked the balances on them last week. We cruise in less than 3 weeks so I wanted to double check them. All was well. Then I saw this thread and ya'll freaked me out LOL! So I just checked them again, using the PIN. They all show the correct balance. Maybe it's fixed now?

[sjcruiser]

I had this issue once with one purchased at Lowes, but caught it before I boarded when I used it to pay down the balance. Even ones I gift as gifts, I check the balance before I leave the store!!!

[Nuff_Said]

I have 3 cards bought from Verizon over the last year and just checked the balances on them last week. We cruise in less than 3 weeks so I wanted to double check them. All was well. Then I saw this thread and ya'll freaked me out LOL! So I just checked them again, using the PIN. They all show the correct balance. Maybe it's fixed now?

 

 

I sure HOPE it's fixed by now. This thread is over a year old!

 

 

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Edited December 20, 2016 by Nuff_Said

[KCruizer]

I sure HOPE it's fixed by now. This thread is over a year old!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Ha didn't notice that but clearly it wasn't fixed. Someone else started having the issue again a few days ago. They used the old thread to start the discussion again.

 

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