Princess AARP Gift Cards - Unable to login to AARP for weeks...

[Thrak]

I have just returned from 63 days aboard Grand Princess. While in Australia/New Zealand waters I wanted to purchase Princess Gift cards through the AARP website. I could never get the website login to work. I tried both Firefox and Chrome. I tried clearing browser histories and cookies. I tried using a VPN and not using a VPN. I was never able to login. Now I am back home and having the same issue. Once again I cleared history, cache, and current logins. (Naturally this has, once again, screwed up various logins that I will have to redo...) I still can't login.

 

I get the AARP login page and put in my (correct) user name and password and also type in the (correct) "moving letter verification code". It goes to a "processing" page and then, eventually, kicks me right back to try it all again. It has been many weeks and I am at a loss as to what to do in order to fix the issue. I really want this to work so I can buy thousands of dollars in Princess gift cards before the final payment date of our next cruise.[

 

Has anybody else had this issue? If so, can you please tell me how you corrected the problem? I would also be interested to hear if I am the only one with this issue.

[wallyj]

Hi @Thrak, I just logged into AARP and had no issues. Went to rewards and Princess gift cards were there to purchase.

 

Earlier on Thursday, yesterday, I was able to purchase 2 $500 Princess gift cards in case I find a cruise to book as I am boarding the Sapphire Princess later today, at San Pedro port. Email with gift cards arrived very shortly after completing purchase on AARP.

 

I had no problems logging into AARP earlier about 12 hours ago and about 5 minutes ago, so I think the problem may be with your account?

 

My friend who was on a Mexican Rivera cruise last August, tried to purchase gift cards while on board a Princess ship. The AARP website did not let him, I think it knows you are on a foreign/non U.S. server? I wonder if your many attempts to try to login flagged your account? 
 

Hopefully others will posts if they are having issues, but my guess is it is just you. I accessed using my iPad.

Edited December 1, 2023 by wallyj

[Jadn13]

6 hours ago, Thrak said:

I have just returned from 63 days aboard Grand Princess. While in Australia/New Zealand waters I wanted to purchase Princess Gift cards through the AARP website. I could never get the website login to work. I tried both Firefox and Chrome. I tried clearing browser histories and cookies. I tried using a VPN and not using a VPN. I was never able to login. Now I am back home and having the same issue. Once again I cleared history, cache, and current logins. (Naturally this has, once again, screwed up various logins that I will have to redo...) I still can't login.

 

I get the AARP login page and put in my (correct) user name and password and also type in the (correct) "moving letter verification code". It goes to a "processing" page and then, eventually, kicks me right back to try it all again. It has been many weeks and I am at a loss as to what to do in order to fix the issue. I really want this to work so I can buy thousands of dollars in Princess gift cards before the final payment date of our next cruise.[

 

Has anybody else had this issue? If so, can you please tell me how you corrected the problem? I would also be interested to hear if I am the only one with this issue.

I always had issues until  AARP told us to use Microsoft Edge.

It’s the only way I can get it to work.

[Musky Ike]

1 hour ago, Jadn13 said:

I always had issues until  AARP told us to use Microsoft Edge.

It’s the only way I can get it to work.

No problems on Chrome here. 

[Ken the cruiser]

Sorry to hear you're running into login issues. I just logged on and bought 5 cards and all went smoothly. I'm sure you have already thought of this, but here is the AARP Rewards contact number.

QUESTIONS

If you have any questions, please contact Customer Service at 866-451-6305, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday.

[no1racefan1]

I logged on yesterday via Chrome with no issues.

[dreams_of_travel]

I was able to buy 3 cards today, but had weirdness with it letting me submit the order.  Somehow the page had not properly loaded, and would not process/submit it.  I ended up backing out to previous page, (checking card info, and order amount), and then going forward again before the purchase finally started going through.  

[dickinson]

Never did this but am looking into it for our next cruise.  Can you purchase as many cards as you want/need?

[beg3yrs]

5 minutes ago, dickinson said:

Never did this but am looking into it for our next cruise.  Can you purchase as many cards as you want/need?

The limit is five cards per month per person. If you purchase cards on the last day of the month, you can purchase again the next day.

[Ken the cruiser]

13 minutes ago, dickinson said:

Never did this but am looking into it for our next cruise.  Can you purchase as many cards as you want/need?

Both my DW and I have separate AARP accounts, with mine being a free AARP Rewards account. We log into our respective AARP accounts at the beginning of the month to buy 5 cards each, for a total of 10. This approach definitely comes in handy as we have a lot of cruises currently booked with Princess. 

[dickinson]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Both my DW and I have separate AARP accounts, with mine being a free AARP Rewards account. We log into our respective AARP accounts at the beginning of the month to buy 5 cards each, for a total of 10. This approach definitely comes in handy as we have a lot of cruises currently booked with Princess. 

Does it cost $ to have an AARP Rewards account? We are members of AARP.

[dickinson]

2 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

The limit is five cards per month per person. If you purchase cards on the last day of the month, you can purchase again the next day.

Thanks!

[Ken the cruiser]

5 minutes ago, dickinson said:

Does it cost $ to have an AARP Rewards account? We are members of AARP.

No. My DW is the lead on our AARP account and I'm on it as well. But we needed a separate account so we could each order 5 every month. That's where the free AARP Rewards account came in very handy. 

 

AARP Rewards - Join Free, Earn & Get Rewarded

 

Edited December 1, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[dickinson]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

No. My DW is the lead on our AARP account and I'm on it as well. But we needed a separate account so we could each order 5 every month. That's where the free AARP Rewards account came in very handy. 

 

AARP Rewards - Join Free, Earn & Get Rewarded

 

Thanks.  Do I need to earn points so I can order gift cards?

[Thrak]

I had a note to remind me to call AARP today to find out what the problem is. I decided to give it one last try before calling so I could take screen shots, etc. Gave it a shot and it logged me in just fine. D'Oh! Apparently all the fiddling I did last night eventually worked (or I held my mouth right or something...).  Whatever the reason I was able to log on today after weeks of failure, multiple clearing of cache and history, etc. I bought 5 cards today and it looks like I am good to go. I can buy 5 more this month in my wife's name and that will do it for the next cruise. Final payment isn't due until January 4th so I "could" wait until the beginning of next month to spread out the credit card charges but may not want to cut it that close.

 

Note: As usual, after purchasing the cards I immediately went to the Princess site to verify the balance of each card. I recommend anyone who buys these cards does the same. Go HERE and then click on the big blue "CHECK BALANCE" BUTTON.

[Thrak]

2 minutes ago, dickinson said:

Thanks.  Do I need to earn points so I can order gift cards?

 

No. Points are for other uses. The gift cards have to be put on a credit card.

[Ken the cruiser]

9 minutes ago, dickinson said:

Thanks.  Do I need to earn points so I can order gift cards?

No, as @Thrak noted, the points have never served any purpose for us. Click on this link, then log in if you haven already. Then go down a ways and you’ll see the Princess Gift Cards among others you can order. You’ll order one, then go to the Cart and increase the number you want to buy up to 5.

 
https://www.aarp.org/rewards/redeem/#sort-by=default

 

[dickinson]

@Thrak and @Ken the cruiser  Thanks!

[Mjkny]

$500. cards used to be $450 for a $500 card now It costs $460 for the same $500 card 10% now you get 8%

[Rick&Jeannie]

38 minutes ago, Mjkny said:

$500. cards used to be $450 for a $500 card now It costs $460 for the same $500 card 10% now you get 8%

Yes...but still a lot better than 0%!

[newdesert_girl]

Help!!!,  I purchased 3 of these AARP gift cards.  However they went to my Email instead of my princess account. What do I need to do now?

[dreaminofcruisin]

5 minutes ago, newdesert_girl said:

Help!!!,  I purchased 3 of these AARP gift cards.  However they went to my Email instead of my princess account. What do I need to do now?

 

Click on the red "Get Your Reward" button.

This will give you a new screen with the Gift Card Number and Pin number.

Print off/store this page for future reference as if you get a refund for some reason, it will go back to the card.

Using the Gift Card Number and Pin Number you can then log on to your Princess account and make payments to your balance using the Gift Card option.....assuming that is what you want to use it for.

[newdesert_girl]

Thank you for the quick response.  However I was just wanting to add this to on board credit as I have already paid for this cruise.  I found were to add on board credit however  they are asking for either a credit card or Paypal. Is there a place I add these before or wait till I get on the ship.  My sailing is out of Galveston on Jan 7th.

[beg3yrs]

49 minutes ago, newdesert_girl said:

Thank you for the quick response.  However I was just wanting to add this to on board credit as I have already paid for this cruise.  I found were to add on board credit however  they are asking for either a credit card or Paypal. Is there a place I add these before or wait till I get on the ship.  My sailing is out of Galveston on Jan 7th.

To add a GC to OBC before sailing you have to call the Princess customer number. Some reps aren't sufficiently trained to add GCs to your booking as OBC but it can be done. If you strike out you can call again and try to get another rep. Otherwise as you said, just wait until you're on board.

 

If you choose the on board option, be sure and take printed copies of the screen with the GC number and PIN as I've had GS demand to keep those copies. I used to just have a spreadsheet which was good enough until they changed their policy. Fortunately I had kept the original screens on my laptop. I had to email them to myself, go to the Internet Cafe, log in to my email and then print the files.

 

I wouldn't try to cash in the GCs on the first day as GS is swamped. It's ok to wait until they're not too busy.

[newdesert_girl]

Thank you.  I will print them out and keep in my folder or as you say take a picture of them on my phone.