Carnival Gift Cards and On Board Credit

[steveknj]

We just did our check-in for our late July cruise on the Venezia.  We just bought a couple of Gift Cards at AARP and have the codes for them, but we were hoping that at check-in we'd be able to put those toward our on board account.  We had two options to set up our onboard account, one was a credit card and one was a cash account.  We weren't sure what we should do since we wanted to use the cards we bought for OBC.   We did the Cash account option, but it didn't give us any option to put in gift cards.  Is that the best way to do this?  I am assuming that when we got on board (or at pier check-in perhaps) we could put the cards on our account?   What is the normal process?

[FTLCruiseGal]

It is exactly as you stated above.  When you arrive at the pier, you can give gift cards instead of cash.  You can put as much in gift cards as you want.  If you find you are running low on funds, you can always add more at Guest Services or one of the kiosks on board.

[crdtrnr]

Just stop by Guest Services and they will apply the gift cards to your account.  Keep the cards, just in case (do not throw away).  You do not have to do it right away, you can wait until the crowd dies down.

 

[Gamecock_Cruiser]

You can add gift cards at the kiosk also!

[mar214]

Here's a question from a Carnival gift card newbie:  can we set up our onboard account as a cash account, apply our Carnival gift card balances once onboard and then switch to a credit card account? We do not have enough on our gift cards to cover all the cruise expenses, such as tips, etc. Would the gift card amounts show up as on board credit, and then we can just have other charges applied to our credit card? Thanks to all the CC posters for their great ideas!!!!

[FTLCruiseGal]

27 minutes ago, mar214 said:

Here's a question from a Carnival gift card newbie:  can we set up our onboard account as a cash account, apply our Carnival gift card balances once onboard and then switch to a credit card account? We do not have enough on our gift cards to cover all the cruise expenses, such as tips, etc. Would the gift card amounts show up as on board credit, and then we can just have other charges applied to our credit card? Thanks to all the CC posters for their great 

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[FTLCruiseGal]

32 minutes ago, mar214 said:

Here's a question from a Carnival gift card newbie:  can we set up our onboard account as a cash account, apply our Carnival gift card balances once onboard and then switch to a credit card account? We do not have enough on our gift cards to cover all the cruise expenses, such as tips, etc. Would the gift card amounts show up as on board credit, and then we can just have other charges applied to our credit card? Thanks to all the CC posters for their great ideas!!!!

Okay, my computer crashed so I don’t know what is going to happen with my reply.

 

You can add a credit card at anytime — On-line check in, check in at port, or on board at guest services or the kiosk. They will take the money from  the gift card or any other on board credit first and then move on to credit card.

[mar214]

Perfect! Thank you, FTLCruiseGal!!!!!!

[wemjam]

8 minutes ago, mar214 said:

Perfect! Thank you, FTLCruiseGal!!!!!!

Actually if you are pretty sure you may use a credit card for part of your expenditures, I would just set your account up with the credit card in advance.  Once on board you can go apply the gift cards that you have at anytime at guest services or a kiosk (though I will say kiosk for me is hit or miss working right, I just go to guest services), and then whatever balance you have left will automatically be charged to the card.

 

We do it this way for every cruise.

[Are.we.there.yet?]

Hi,

 

We do it the same as wemjam.  We set our account up as credit card so we can start charging things right away while the lines at guest services are long.  The kiosks are also hit or miss for us.  About day 2 or 3, we load the gift cards.  They will always use the gift cards first.  We also only load what we think we will use.  If we charge more, we load more.  That saves us from any kind of a refund situation.

 

Tina

[mar214]

Thank you to everyone who replied! I find the best info on CC! Love how so many cruisers like to share what they know!! 

[steveknj]

13 minutes ago, mar214 said:

Thank you to everyone who replied! I find the best info on CC! Love how so many cruisers like to share what they know!! 

 

Here here!!  I knew coming here for this question would save me from having to call Carnival.  Not that they aren't normally nice, just takes more time and effort!!   I've only ever used the cards to pay off a cruise (as I believe CCL is the only line that allows for that), but figured I'd save a few buck on board as well.  That's for all of your responses.

[Elaine5715]

I also set up a credit card to my account and only apply gift cards after I made enough charges to cover the gift card value.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

Does the procedure for AARP cards the same as CCL purchased cards?  Don’t know why it would matter but ya’ never know these days.

[weezal]

33 minutes ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

Does the procedure for AARP cards the same as CCL purchased cards?  Don’t know why it would matter but ya’ never know these days.

carnival gift cards are all the same

[LPut714]

If you have on board credit ie credit obtained while booking cruise-you will not get that back. Since we had pre paid tips on our recent Miracle cruise we just used the OBC to get $$ in the casino. Due to cancelled port due to med evac and refund of port charges they did send us a check for that-took about two weeks.

[Haljo1935]

When does Carnival send a check for refund and when do they issue it back to CC?

[BlerkOne]

On 7/12/2023 at 7:48 AM, Gamecock_Cruiser said:

You can add gift cards at the kiosk also!

Is there a difference between physical gift cards and eCards as far as adding?

[Elaine5715]

25 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Is there a difference between physical gift cards and eCards as far as adding?

I believe so.  When I have physical cards I never had an issue, no matter how many but when I had ecards, they would only take three at a time.  Something about they clear differently

[wemjam]

9 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Is there a difference between physical gift cards and eCards as far as adding?

I have only ever had 1 issue when using gift cards of any kind (hard plastic & E gift).  I was only allowed to apply $1000 and no more (and this was hard plastic cards).  I wanted to put more on my account at guest services but they advised that was the "limit" of what I could apply at one time.

 

I have personally seen no difference in using either e gift or physical plastic cards in my usage (and I use a LOT of gift cards).

[wemjam]

13 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

When does Carnival send a check for refund and when do they issue it back to CC?

Can't exactly answer this, but my suggestion is to avoid leaving anything in your account of any substantial amount.   Dealing with refunds of any kind AFTER the cruise can turn into a bit of a major headache.

 

I just got a refund for something for a cruise I took in SEPT 2022!  It wasn't a huge amount so I wasn't worried about it that much, but still gives you an idea of what can happen.

 

Better to try to plan it the last night that you have no real balance to speak of left on your account.

 

If you find you have money left on account the last night the best 2 options (IMHO) are:

Cash it out in the casino

Buy new gift cards in Cherry on Top to use for next cruise

[ngrund]

7 hours ago, wemjam said:

Can't exactly answer this, but my suggestion is to avoid leaving anything in your account of any substantial amount.   Dealing with refunds of any kind AFTER the cruise can turn into a bit of a major headache.

 

I just got a refund for something for a cruise I took in SEPT 2022!  It wasn't a huge amount so I wasn't worried about it that much, but still gives you an idea of what can happen.

 

Better to try to plan it the last night that you have no real balance to speak of left on your account.

 

If you find you have money left on account the last night the best 2 options (IMHO) are:

Cash it out in the casino

Buy new gift cards in Cherry on Top to use for next cruise

Option 3-depending on the amount-donate it to St Jude.

 

If there is a credit balance of (I think) $10 or less Carnival will just make it a donation, no refund.

[kelhag]

I added five e-cards to my account via the kiosk. We didn't use all the funds, and Carnival sent me an email with an e-card about three days after our cruise.

[LPut714]

21 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

When does Carnival send a check for refund and when do they issue it back to CC?

We had a credit card on file which to me would seem easier. Don't know why but just glad I got it in a timely mannner