Carnival Credit Card

[disneyfan551]

Does anyone have the Carnival credit card? I just got it and am trying to determine if it’s a better deal to use it to pay off the cruise (earn points), or to buy gift cards that can save 10%?  
I don’t know details of their point program, so any help is appreciated! 
 

[mz-s]

Gift cards is a bigger discount, because the points on the card I think only add up to 2%.

 

But keep in mind when you buy Carnival gift cards you are basically giving Carnival cash, so when you have an issue you will have zero recourse and are fully at the mercy of Carnival's customer service. Many people use gift cards with no problems, but there are several reports on this board of people who have bought excursions or whatever with gift cards, and had to spend hours on the phone and weeks of time to get their money back when they decided to cancel the purchase.

Edited May 24, 2023 by mz-s

[gkbiiii]

29 minutes ago, mz-s said:

Gift cards is a bigger discount, because the points on the card I think only add up to 2%.

 

But keep in mind when you buy Carnival gift cards you are basically giving Carnival cash, so when you have an issue you will have zero recourse and are fully at the mercy of Carnival's customer service. Many people use gift cards with no problems, but there are several reports on this board of people who have bought excursions or whatever with gift cards, and had to spend hours on the phone and weeks of time to get their money back when they decided to cancel the purchase.

Perhaps the gift cards are best used, to settle your bill before cruise end?

[mz-s]

4 minutes ago, gkbiiii said:

Perhaps the gift cards are best used, to settle your bill before cruise end?

 

I think that would be a great use for them.

 

What I would do is put a credit card on your S&S account at checkin, and once you're done with all purchases go to the kiosk or guest services and redeem the gift cards. Your credit card isn't actually charged until you disembark so this will not result in any charges on your credit card, just temporary holds. That way you don't have to visit several times during the cruise to top off your account or deal with gift cards that have already been loaded but you didn't end up spending (Carnival can't reload a gift card that's been spent).

[Saint Greg]

1 hour ago, disneyfan551 said:

Does anyone have the Carnival credit card? I just got it and am trying to determine if it’s a better deal to use it to pay off the cruise (earn points), or to buy gift cards that can save 10%?  
I don’t know details of their point program, so any help is appreciated! 
 

 

For me I used to use the Carnival card. Got a couple of cruises out of it. But I switched to the discounted gift cards. I pay for them with a citi doublcash card so I get 2 points on the purchase of the gift cards, then save 10% using the gift cards. I only use my Carnival card now for excursions because it gives me a 10% statement credit on Carnival excursions. And I attach the card to my S&S account in case I have a balance at the end. But I usually try to pay it off with gift cards ahead of time.

[Butterbean1000]

Can we pay for the gift cards with the Carnival card?  We're within a couple of thousand dollars of OBC with the Carnival Card.

 

Also, is AARP the only ones with the 10% discount?

Edited May 24, 2023 by Butterbean1000

[mz-s]

Just now, Butterbean1000 said:

Can we pay for the gift cards with the Carnival card?  We're within a couple of thousand dollars of OBO with the Carnival Card.

 

You can pay for gift cards with whatever method of payment the vendor accepts. The "Carnival card" is just a Visa card so any place that takes Visa should accept it right?

[Butterbean1000]

1 minute ago, mz-s said:

 

You can pay for gift cards with whatever method of payment the vendor accepts. The "Carnival card" is just a Visa card so any place that takes Visa should accept it right?

Thanks. Actually, it's a Mastercard. 

[mz-s]

Just now, Butterbean1000 said:

Thanks. Actually, it's a Mastercard. 

 

Ah, well same difference. I haven't used the Carnival card in years. My wife and I standardized on a different card and eventually closed the Carnival card.

[Saint Greg]

15 minutes ago, Butterbean1000 said:

Can we pay for the gift cards with the Carnival card?  We're within a couple of thousand dollars of OBC with the Carnival Card.

 

Also, is AARP the only ones with the 10% discount?

 

You can. The reason I don't is it's not considered a Carnival purchase so you'd just get one point per dollar. But if it puts you over the top for OBC it may be worth it to you.

[iheartmarshall]

I've had the Carnival card since 2017 and love it for cruises!  It's a regular card so you can use it anywhere that accepts MasterCard - just be mindful with the balances, as any credit card. Throughout the years, I've used it to book/pay for cruises (often with 0% APR offers), excursions (at least 10% off), and use the money from the points to "purchase" various cruise perks like additional OBC, beer, water, etc.  I love it! 

[hard_eight]

Also no foreign exchange fees.