Cruise Fare Payable With Gift Cards?

[Musky Ike]

11 hours ago, tha sista said:

Are there kiosks so one can load their gift cards on their account?

Just take a printed copy to Guest Services they will add it to your account.

[CruzerDeb]

Thanks for all the contributors to this thread! I just bought my first 5 $500 gift cards and have applied them to my upcoming cruise. Hoping my husband can also buy 5; we have the same AARP membership number, but different login/PW credentials. We shall see!

[cruzsnooze]

On 4/14/2024 at 3:37 PM, smwg said:

I just want to make sure you  know that if you use a gift card and later cancel your cruise, the money will be refunded to the gift card you used.  So don't throw away those "used" gift cards until well after the cruise is over and you know you will not be getting any refunds.  Learned that the hard way. 😉

They will issue you a new cruise card. I use this method so I get one gift card back that is a larger amount rather then 5-10 individual gift cards.

[smwg]

20 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

They will issue you a new cruise card. I use this method so I get one gift card back that is a larger amount rather then 5-10 individual gift cards.

That is probably true if you are using official cruise line gift cards, but if they are gift cards like the Visa ones from grocery stores or Walmart, that's not the case.  (I had several of the Visa kind given to me at work.)

Edited Saturday at 01:27 PM by smwg

[TAW1963]

22 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

They will issue you a new cruise card. I use this method so I get one gift card back that is a larger amount rather then 5-10 individual gift cards.

Whenever I have used AARP gift cards and have had to cancel a cruise, they have always refunded it back to the original cards.   

[CRUISEWITHH]

On 4/16/2024 at 10:45 PM, AZjohn said:

Yes but purchase when boarding (same price). Then deposit you gift card(s) at customer service onboard and they will deduct price of the Plus/Premier that was purchased onboard (along with any additional purchases onboard).

If I understand what you are saying, I purchase the Plus when I board, not pre-cruise?  Then I go to CS and pay with my GC.  Does this interfere with on-board credit used for other things?  How do they keep it separate and use it only for Plus?

[AZjohn]

6 hours ago, CRUISEWITHH said:

If I understand what you are saying, I purchase the Plus when I board, not pre-cruise?  Then I go to CS and pay with my GC.  Does this interfere with on-board credit used for other things?  How do they keep it separate and use it only for Plus?

Yes, you understood correctly.

Onboard purchases will first get deducted from any OBC first until depleted then will start deducting from gift card.

Cheers

 

Edit to add: Most (but not all) OBC is use it or loose it. If that is the case you would want the OBC to be used up first. If there is still credit left over on your gift card at the end of the cruise you get that amount put back on gift card. So don’t throw the copy of GC and pass code away.

Edited Monday at 10:38 PM by AZjohn

[totz808]

I'm new to Princess, planning our first Princess cruise for summer 2025.  On Carnival, I can apply the gift cards to my account, and at the end of the cruise, cash that money back from the casino (after a few plays).  Is there a similar action available for Princess customers?  If so, I'd love to prebuy a bunch of GC to bring on board and spend what I want, and just get cash back at the end of whatever I don't use.

[yolotraveler]

Would someone please tell me how to purchase the Princess AARP gift cards. I have tried searching AARP with no luck. Thank you in advance 

[CruzerDeb]

11 hours ago, yolotraveler said:

Would someone please tell me how to purchase the Princess AARP gift cards. I have tried searching AARP with no luck. Thank you in advance 

From a desktop, there is a red bar at the top- choose AARP Rewards; you will need to log in (with or without a password); from the drop down box “Browse Rewards” choose Redeem all rewards; scroll down to find search box and type in Princess.