Has anyone used Carnival gift cards for onboard spending sail and sign account?

[Hogladyrider]

We purchase our gift cards on AARP for the 10% discount either $10 on a $100 card or $50 on a $500 card. We have paid for all our cruises this way and the cards do not expire.

 

We live on a fixed income as we are retired so we have our sign & sail account paid for when we sail. We prefer the gift cards over cruise cash, just a personal preference.

[Alh1978]

Thank you. I am anxious to get some gift cards stocked up. We never tried this method. Our last cruises we have done cash because we didn’t want to attach our debit card and have tons of holds on our checking account. Cash ended up costing us tons of money on the last cruise with having to use the atm several times. It was horrible so I’m really glad I saw gift cards in the store to start really thinking about this!

I got on AARP and only see $100 for 90 I don’t currently see the $500 card so I may just have to keep buying multiple $100s I just wanted to be sure there wasn’t a limit or cap to adding multiple cards onboard.

[coolson_2000]

You do not need to belong to/be a member of AARP or Allstate to get the discounted gift cards. Anybody can do this.

How do you do this?

[Alh1978]

Oh and can I get an e-gift card? Or do I need a physical card to add to my sail and sign account? How would an e card work on board?

[teknoge3k]

Oh and can I get an e-gift card? Or do I need a physical card to add to my sail and sign account? How would an e card work on board?

 

The ONLY difference in a physical gift card and eGift card is you have to wait for delivery for the physical gift card whereas you get the eGift card in under 5 minutes. That's literally the only difference.

[Alh1978]

So with an e gift card I assume I get some kind of PIN number do I just take that to the guest desk?

[teknoge3k]

So with an e gift card I assume I get some kind of PIN number do I just take that to the guest desk?

 

Here's what you get.

 

 

You can take it to GS and preload it to your account, you can load it yourself from a kiosk to your account, or you can wait until the end of your cruise and go to GS and pay your balance with them. Whatever you prefer.

[Alh1978]

This is awesome I can’t wait! Thanks a bunch

[Hogladyrider]

The ONLY difference in a physical gift card and eGift card is you have to wait for delivery for the physical gift card whereas you get the eGift card in under 5 minutes. That's literally the only difference.

 

The only OTHER difference between the physical gift card being mailed to you vs e-card delivery via e-mail is you are charged around $3.95 for mailing the physical card and instant free delivery of e-card.....yup I am cheap every penny counts!

 

E-card comes with a long number, similar to a credit card, and a PIN number. You simply keep the e-gift card on your phone or print out and take to guest services and they will apply to your account and you sign for same, its that simple!

 

We used (3) $100 e-gift cards on our recent cruise along with our $100 on board credit.

[teknoge3k]

The only OTHER difference between the physical gift card being mailed to you vs e-card delivery via e-mail is you are charged around $3.95 for mailing the physical card and instant free delivery of e-card.....yup I am cheap every penny counts!

 

E-card comes with a long number, similar to a credit card, and a PIN number. You simply keep the e-gift card on your phone or print out and take to guest services and they will apply to your account and you sign for same, its that simple!

 

We used (3) $100 e-gift cards on our recent cruise along with our $100 on board credit.

 

The physical gift cards have a $0.59 delivery fee added to them. Unless they've gone up in the last 2 weeks.

[teknoge3k]

How do you do this?

 

There are literally eleventy bazillion threads on here for gift cards and how to obtain them.

[Sparky2]

I used to get the physical cards from AARP Rewards and/or Allstate Rewards, but started to get the e-cards when I had no choice. Now that's all I get and it's nice because I don't have to pay the high shipping cost on AARP $500 cards which come UPS and require a signature.

[Alh1978]

Great, thanks everyone !

[AlwayzCruising]

Has anyone ever had unused gift card monies at the end? What happens to the leftover? Does it go back on the gift card and can be used next cruise? Or do you lose it?

Thanks

[Alh1978]

I’ve been reading more on the gift cards and from what i understand, if you apply a carnival gift card to your sail and sign account and have money left at the end they will issue you the remainder in the form of another gift card. I also read they don’t expire. And read this is the advantage of gift cards over cruise cash as they are use or lose

[cmichael1279]

Sooo glad to hear this because we actually changed from vista to magic after watching YouTube videos and thinking vista looked too crowded for us. So good to hear you prefer magic!

 

Don't get me wrong, Vista was nice - but Magic seems to be laid out much better, still has the big open atrium and the crew was awesome!

[Sun 4-ever]

Yes I just did on my B2B we did in January.

 

 

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[CuplACruzrs]

I’ve been reading more on the gift cards and from what i understand, if you apply a carnival gift card to your sail and sign account and have money left at the end they will issue you the remainder in the form of another gift card. I also read they don’t expire. And read this is the advantage of gift cards over cruise cash as they are use or lose

 

 

Here is a Gift Card Warning!! My daughter is a Disney travel planner. She applied a clients gift cards to their upcoming cruise. Last February they had to cancel that cruise. She requested a refund of the gift card. In the meantime, they bought another gift card. So when they booked their next cruise she applied the new gift card to the new cruise. Unfortunately, in December, they had to cancel that cruise, scheduled for April 2018, also. Family emergencies do happen. Both of these cruises were cancelled prior to the final payment due date.

 

She requested a gift card refund. No response for EITHER gift card. Basically, Carnival has almost $700 of their money!! When she called Carnival about it she was told that the Carnival "gift card research" can only be reached by email!! She has emailed weekly since mid December and they have never responded!! She called again and requested to speak to a supervisor and was told again, that they have no way to contact the gift card re-issue department.

 

So my WARNING is this: Save your gift cards, whether physical or ecards, and apply them to your sail and sign account AFTER you are on board. DO NOT use them prior to traveling just in case you have to cancel.

 

And if any of you have any phone numbers, contacts, etc. that you know of to help with this situation please let me know.

 

I just used my AARP ecards on my Miracle cruise that we just got off on Saturday and it was handled very efficiently. Best way to go and to save some money also!!

[coolson_2000]

There are literally eleventy bazillion threads on here for gift cards and how to obtain them.

Responses like this are why I don't frequent this forum very often anymore. From most of my previous searching, I was under the impression that you had to be a member to receive these perks. I even went to their website and it read pretty much the same. I am nowhere near retirement age and was just asking a question. Crotchety responses like this have no place on a forum for people looking for help. Here's a suggestion. Not every one that visits this board spends every waking second on it. Err on the side of Grace and help people when they ask a question rather than "literally" being a prude.

[Alh1978]

Here is a Gift Card Warning!! My daughter is a Disney travel planner. She applied a clients gift cards to their upcoming cruise. Last February they had to cancel that cruise. She requested a refund of the gift card. In the meantime, they bought another gift card. So when they booked their next cruise she applied the new gift card to the new cruise. Unfortunately, in December, they had to cancel that cruise, scheduled for April 2018, also. Family emergencies do happen. Both of these cruises were cancelled prior to the final payment due date.

 

She requested a gift card refund. No response for EITHER gift card. Basically, Carnival has almost $700 of their money!! When she called Carnival about it she was told that the Carnival "gift card research" can only be reached by email!! She has emailed weekly since mid December and they have never responded!! She called again and requested to speak to a supervisor and was told again, that they have no way to contact the gift card re-issue department.

 

So my WARNING is this: Save your gift cards, whether physical or ecards, and apply them to your sail and sign account AFTER you are on board. DO NOT use them prior to traveling just in case you have to cancel.

 

And if any of you have any phone numbers, contacts, etc. that you know of to help with this situation please let me know.

 

I just used my AARP ecards on my Miracle cruise that we just got off on Saturday and it was handled very efficiently. Best way to go and to save some money also!!

 

Well this is awful and I’m sorry to hear about this! And thank you for the warning I will just use them for sail and sign onboard. Thanks!

[Alh1978]

Responses like this are why I don't frequent this forum very often anymore. From most of my previous searching, I was under the impression that you had to be a member to receive these perks. I even went to their website and it read pretty much the same. I am nowhere near retirement age and was just asking a question. Crotchety responses like this have no place on a forum for people looking for help. Here's a suggestion. Not every one that visits this board spends every waking second on it. Err on the side of Grace and help people when they ask a question rather than "literally" being a prude.

 

Thanks I agree... I have started checking around since they said this and do see a bunch and it’s nice to read them all. But honestly I just didn’t know how to search around about it specifically right away and Just thought I could ask. Again, thanks everyone for your responses and help since I am still new at this

[blarko]

Responses like this are why I don't frequent this forum very often anymore. From most of my previous searching, I was under the impression that you had to be a member to receive these perks. I even went to their website and it read pretty much the same. I am nowhere near retirement age and was just asking a question. Crotchety responses like this have no place on a forum for people looking for help. Here's a suggestion. Not every one that visits this board spends every waking second on it. Err on the side of Grace and help people when they ask a question rather than "literally" being a prude.

 

 

 

I wish there was a “like” button for this [emoji1360]

[shelkate1]

We've done it several times. Works well

 

 

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[tjmmom]

Do you have to be a member? I have looked and looked on the AARP website but can't see Carnival gift cards.

[Alh1978]

Do you have to be a member? I have looked and looked on the AARP website but can't see Carnival gift cards.

 

I don’t know if you HAVE to be or not but my parents are members and I signed them up for online rewards and have access to the gift cards. Otherwise a grocery store with fuel perks is another good option to use !