Using a gift card as onboard credit

[CruisinCrow]

How do I use a gift card on the ship? Do I redeem it when I check in (at the same time as giving my credit card info)? Or do I see Guest Services once on board?

[CheckersMidwest]

I have done this. I gave it to them when checking in and setting up the onboard account. It will appear immediately as a credit and when it is gone, they'll start using the credit card. Worked great.

[CruisinCrow]

Great, thanks!

[joepeka]

You can also use the on-board kiosks to put the card on your account or, as you mentioned, go to Guest Services and ask them to apply it.

[angeleyez915]

How do I use a gift card on the ship? Do I redeem it when I check in (at the same time as giving my credit card info)? Or do I see Guest Services once on board?

 

there seems to be a limit as to how much their system allows you to add on from a gift card at one time. On the Triumph this past April i was able to initially add the money from the gift cards at check in. i had one gift card that had 300.00 and another that had 100.00 The one for 100 was credited to my account, and then 150 of the other. I had to wait until the next day then go to guest services on the ship to get the remaining 150 added that had been left on the card that originally had 300.00.

 

I was on the Breeze a couple of years ago and when i told them that i wanted to use the gift cards for my cash account when i was checking in they said that I would have to do it on the ship at guest services.

 

 

So i guess it may depend on the ship or maybe things changed from a couple of years ago to now.

[CruisinCrow]

I'll try at check in and if that doesn't work, I'll go to Guest Services. I'm not sure if Liberty has the kiosks?

[Joebucks]

You can also use the on-board kiosks to put the card on your account or, as you mentioned, go to Guest Services and ask them to apply it.

 

Personally, I have never gotten the kiosks to work. Always an error. Guest services has taken care of me just fine, but the line can be annoying if you don't have FTTF. Check-in wins for me!

[Cruzinbabe06]

Or, just a suggestion, my plan is to buy 2 $100 Carnival Gift Cards a month.

 

I'm going to purchase CRUISE CASH and apply my GIFT cards to pay for that.

 

Buy the time we sail on the Magic (January) we'll have a good amount on the books already.

 

I won't have to be bothered with Lines and Guest Services.

 

Just get on and start vacationing!:D

[fordtarus]

How do you get theses cards?

[CruisinCrow]

How do you get theses cards?

 

You can buy them from Carnival or from various stores. I just bought some from Target because with my Target card, I automatically get 5% off. A $100 gift card for $95 - every little bit helps!

[dmdiver]

We had one when we sailed Magic in May & had to take it to guest services after boarding. We did not do it on embarkation day, just waited a day or so. They already had a cc on file for the account, so there was no rush.

[maryred]

See answers in the quote.

How do I use a gift card on the ship? The same way you would use cash on board. Do I redeem it when I check in (at the same time as giving my credit card info)? While some terminals allow this it's not always the case. Some terminals can not accept anything but cash or a credit card at check-in to start the account. As you said it doesn't hurt to try this first. Or do I see Guest Services once on board? No need to rush if you have a credit card on file, just wait for the lines to be shorter, like after dinner. Regardless of when the GC is applied it will still have the funds taken off of that credit before the card is charged on the final night.

[KarimaJ]

I went online and applied them as cruise cash, easy and you don’t have to go to guest services.

 

 

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[dsotm73]

Or, just a suggestion, my plan is to buy 2 $100 Carnival Gift Cards a month.

 

I'm going to purchase CRUISE CASH and apply my GIFT cards to pay for that.

 

Buy the time we sail on the Magic (January) we'll have a good amount on the books already.

 

I won't have to be bothered with Lines and Guest Services.

 

Just get on and start vacationing!:D

 

Only problem I see with Cruise Cash is that it is ostensibly nonrefundable. Although I hear there are ways around that.

[bar1068]

there seems to be a limit as to how much their system allows you to add on from a gift card at one time. On the Triumph this past April i was able to initially add the money from the gift cards at check in. i had one gift card that had 300.00 and another that had 100.00 The one for 100 was credited to my account, and then 150 of the other. I had to wait until the next day then go to guest services on the ship to get the remaining 150 added that had been left on the card that originally had 300.00.

 

I was on the Breeze a couple of years ago and when i told them that i wanted to use the gift cards for my cash account when i was checking in they said that I would have to do it on the ship at guest services.

 

 

So i guess it may depend on the ship or maybe things changed from a couple of years ago to now.

 

Things may have changed, although I've not experienced what was described here in the past using gift cards. This past May we cruised on the Sunshine out of Port Canaveral. We added $1500 worth of gift cards...I think I had a couple $500 cc's and 5 $100's..added those at guest services during checkin.....and still managed to be onboard by 11:05am.

[joepeka]

I went online and applied them as cruise cash, easy and you don’t have to go to guest services.

 

 

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True however the only problem with Cruise Cash is that it's not refundable and non-transferable. If you spend all of it on the ship, no problem. Having the GC's applied to your account once on board gives you the option of a refund (in GC's, of course) or cashing out via the casino if you have a credit balance at the end of the cruise.

[floridafunlady]

I'll try at check in and if that doesn't work, I'll go to Guest Services. I'm not sure if Liberty has the kiosks?

I got off Liberty 2 weeks ago. They have quick check in. You will need to go to guest services on deck 4 for them to credit the cards to obc. They do have a kiosk here as well but I was told it could not be used that way

 

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[sc4125]

Or, just a suggestion, my plan is to buy 2 $100 Carnival Gift Cards a month.

 

I'm going to purchase CRUISE CASH and apply my GIFT cards to pay for that.

 

Buy the time we sail on the Magic (January) we'll have a good amount on the books already.

 

I won't have to be bothered with Lines and Guest Services.

 

Just get on and start vacationing!:D

 

 

You might want to check on how much Cruise Cash you can purchase. When I sailed on the Miracle in February, we could only purchase $500 Cruise Cash per cabin.

[Uhfolks]

True however the only problem with Cruise Cash is that it's not refundable and non-transferable. If you spend all of it on the ship, no problem. Having the GC's applied to your account once on board gives you the option of a refund (in GC's, of course) or cashing out via the casino if you have a credit balance at the end of the cruise.

 

How does the cashing out at the Casino thing work? I keep seeing mentions of this, but no actual details on how it's done.

[mikesteg]

It appears to be $500 per cabin per category:

 

Cruise Cash purchases are limited to $500 per category, per stateroom. Each stateroom can purchase Cruise Cash Bar $500, Cruise Cash Photo $500 and Cruise Cash $500 for a stateroom total of $1500.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3602/~/cruise-cash-program

The booze and photo category claim that you can only use them on those items, but I don't think Carnival has ever tracked OBC by type (aside from refundable vs. non-refundable.) Buyer beware, however.

I also had issues applying GCs using the kiosks, and had to apply them via guest services. Not an issue though: just waited until the line is short. This was with the old terminals. I would hope the new kiosks that are being used with the quick check in are more capable.

 

[CruisinCrow]

I also had issues applying GCs using the kiosks, and had to apply them via guest services. Not an issue though: just waited until the line is short. This was with the old terminals. I would hope the new kiosks that are being used with the quick check in are more capable.

 

What is quick check in?