AARP Gift Cards

[RobertoF]

HAL gift cards are currently unavailable on the AARP website.  Hopefully they will be back tomorrow (a rep at AARP did not know).

Edited April 24 by RobertoF

[richwmn]

21 minutes ago, RobertoF said:

HAL gift cards are currently unavailable on the AARP website.  Hopefully they will be back tomorrow (a rep at AARP did not know).

I just looked since I bought some yesterday and found this note:

"

Through April 25th, various gift card brands will be unavailable as we perform system maintenance.

We apologize the inconvenience and appreciate your patience while we work to improve AARP Rewards.

"

[RobertoF]

34 minutes ago, richwmn said:

I just looked since I bought some yesterday and found this note:

"

Through April 25th, various gift card brands will be unavailable as we perform system maintenance.

We apologize the inconvenience and appreciate your patience while we work to improve AARP Rewards.

"

Thanks.  That is helpful to know they were available yesterday.  Lucky us, we have a hold on a couple of cabins for family members that are good for 24 hours.  We were not aware of the problem with the gift cards before making the hold.  I tried asking AARP whether the gift cards would be available tomorrow (the 25th) or the next day and could not get a straight answer.  The answer essentially was "check back tomorrow".  Hopefully our hold does not expire before we are able to buy the gift cards.

[YourWorldWithBill]

4 hours ago, cruisinsusin said:

The way I read the Amex travel insurance specs is that the entire trip must be paid with the Amex card so gift cards would make me uneasy, whereas the Chase Sapphire reserve travel insurance  specs say "all or part" must be paid with the Chase card. Might be a good question for Steve in the TripInsurance store

I should clarify somethin I said: It's interesting that when I had a long talk with an AmEx representative trying to answer that question, since the gift cards were for purchasing the cruise, I couldn't get a clear answer. So I don't use the gift cards for that. If one of us were patient enough to press them for an answer and wait for the reply, I'd bet that the cruise would be covered, since you could track the gift card number.

[BermudaBound2014]

5 hours ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

 I'd bet that the cruise would be covered, since you could track the gift card number.

I suspect a gift card purchased directly from HAL would be easier to track.  
 

A gift card doesn’t code as travel when purchased thru AARP.  It codes as a third party purchase.

 

The specific language in AmEx policy precludes me from relying on this cards travel insurance. I love the Amex product, but CSP language is much broader for travel insurance. I think you are wise not to pay for your trip with gift cards if your only insurance is that offered by Amex. 

[POA1]

Even if you purchase the gift cards with your Amex card, they are not covered by the travel protection. (I checked for American Express Platinum's standard coverage.) Only the part paid by the AX card is covered. There is supplemental coverage you can add which would cover it.

 

If you cancel your cruise, the $$ go back to the gift card, which is why you need to hold on to the original cards / PDFs.

 

For close-in trips, we pay with our Platinum Amex. We do occasionally backstop with HAL cruise protection. That's because "something happened to a relative and we can't travel" requires cancel for any reason coverage.

[NSinMG]

AARP gift cards for Holland America are back today.  They now are at a savings of 8% instead of 10%.  I waited too long to buy them.

[Hogladyrider]

1 hour ago, POA1 said:

If you cancel your cruise, the $$ go back to the gift card, which is why you need to hold on to the original cards / PDFs.

 

Question regarding a cancellation going back onto a gift card.  Original gift card purchase amount was $500.  Credit due for cancellation is well over $1K....I have been advised this credit will go back onto the original gift card.  Is this possible to put that much credit $$ back onto a gift card?

 

I do retain all the gift card #s and pins etc.

 

TIA

[mcrcruiser]

3 minutes ago, Hogladyrider said:

Question regarding a cancellation going back onto a gift card.  Original gift card purchase amount was $500.  Credit due for cancellation is well over $1K....I have been advised this credit will go back onto the original gift card.  Is this possible to put that much credit $$ back onto a gift card?

 

I do retain all the gift card #s and pins etc.

 

TIA

$500 will go back to the gift card you used & the balance credit goes back to what credit card you bused  .Keep the information on the gift card  as it never dies .You can use it on another HAL booking 

[POA1]

13 minutes ago, Hogladyrider said:

Question regarding a cancellation going back onto a gift card.  Original gift card purchase amount was $500.  Credit due for cancellation is well over $1K....I have been advised this credit will go back onto the original gift card.  Is this possible to put that much credit $$ back onto a gift card?

 

I do retain all the gift card #s and pins etc.

 

TIA

How did you pay the amount over the $500? If you used a $500 gift card and paid $625 on a credit card, the amounts go back from whence they came - in the same amounts as originally charged. The only exception would be if you closed the card on which you charged the $625. If the account was closed, then you enter the realm of check repayment. It takes longer, because the refund for the closed card has to fail first.

 

This is pretty standard for any type of transaction.

[Big Dawg CC]

37 minutes ago, NSinMG said:

AARP gift cards for Holland America are back today.  They now are at a savings of 8% instead of 10%.  I waited too long to buy them.

That is disappointing!

[Hogladyrider]

13 minutes ago, POA1 said:

How did you pay the amount over the $500? If you used a $500 gift card and paid $625 on a credit card, the amounts go back from whence they came - in the same amounts as originally charged. The only exception would be if you closed the card on which you charged the $625. If the account was closed, then you enter the realm of check repayment. It takes longer, because the refund for the closed card has to fail first.

 

This is pretty standard for any type of transaction.

Thanks for your reply, makes sense.

 

Original deposit was on CC $3,500 after that I used  $3,500 in HAL gift cards, each in the amount of $500.

 

When I cancelled the cruise I was hoping to transfer the $7k out among my other 3 cruises I have booked however HAL would only apply the credit to one other cruise and refund the balance, which will be approximately $4k.

 

 

[YourWorldWithBill]

2 hours ago, NSinMG said:

AARP gift cards for Holland America are back today.  They now are at a savings of 8% instead of 10%.  I waited too long to buy them.

Strange that after all this time they would reduce the amount to 8%!

Such is life. Such is cruising. Such is CCL, I guess.

[scooter6139]

18 hours ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

I should clarify somethin I said: It's interesting that when I had a long talk with an AmEx representative trying to answer that question, since the gift cards were for purchasing the cruise, I couldn't get a clear answer. So I don't use the gift cards for that. If one of us were patient enough to press them for an answer and wait for the reply, I'd bet that the cruise would be covered, since you could track the gift card number.

I too had to have a conversation about the Travel perks that come with our BoA Premium Rewards cards, or rather the benefits people that run those perks and not the bank itself.  At least with this specific card, certain benefits (like cancelation) require the entire "base" portion to be paid on the card.  Any additions like OBC, SPA, drinks, and HIA can be added later via other financing means. Others, like baggage and delay travel perks, only require partial payment on the card.  

[ChinaShrek]

4 hours ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

Strange that after all this time they would reduce the amount to 8%!

Such is life. Such is cruising. Such is CCL, I guess.

It's also interesting that the other cruise lines are still 10% off including Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity. 

[YourWorldWithBill]

10 minutes ago, ChinaShrek said:

It's also interesting that the other cruise lines are still 10% off including Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity. 

Especially Carnival, since it's the same company.

[TAW1963]

21 minutes ago, ChinaShrek said:

It's also interesting that the other cruise lines are still 10% off including Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity. 

Princess’s went to 8% several months ago, so apparently a trend is starting.   

[BermudaBound2014]

Princess went to 8% awhile ago. I expect Carnival will change soon.

 

Worth noting since other cruise lines have been mentioned. Each card has different terms and conditions. RCL/Celebrity cards are much less versatile.

 

Also worth noting, the HaL gift cards are technically not reloadable according to the T&C. The definition of reloadable has different interpretations but I’ve never liked this exclusion. 

Edited April 25 by BermudaBound2014

[bluesplayer]

Damn..  too many Seniors partaking the 10% offer..   now reduced to 8%..  supply & demand..  just when I learned to take cash on board from @POA1 no longer able to burn the extra 2% on the casino.  One more pull on a slot machine would have been nice.  sigh ... 

[Nodakboiler]

The 2% reduction compensates for the AARP OBC now available.

[klsd]

On 4/17/2024 at 5:28 AM, Sea42 said:

The OP is asking about using gift cards that are sold by AARP to be used for HAL. They can be purchased for a 10% discount.

Price change on AARP HAL gift cards - discount is only 8%.  I bought at 10% off on 4/20 but today, 4/25 the price is 8% discount of $460. The $100 card is now 92 vs 90.

[alwaysfrantic]

I think the 10% is no more.  Still discounted, but not at the 10% rate 

[alwaysfrantic]

[Haljo1935]

20 hours ago, NSinMG said:

AARP gift cards for Holland America are back today.  They now are at a savings of 8% instead of 10%.  I waited too long to buy them.

Now we know why they were taken down - price change.

I still appreciate the discount, but obviously like 10% more than 8%.

[mcrcruiser]

2 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Now we know why they were taken down - price change.

I still appreciate the discount, but obviously like 10% more than 8%.

  We now see a definite downside to AARP gift Vards for our use  to get a 8% dicount , Why well here is the reasons . We use the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card to pay for all our cruises bacause we get free trip interuption ,Trip cancellation & some baggage insurance up to $20,000 for a cruise .It is much easier to track the credit card payment if it is made as a direct payment than buying AATP gift cards with the same credit card  . Additionally ,we earn point with Chase which is cahj when cased in  . For our other travel insurance needs that Chase does not cover like med vac extra bag insurance ie we own a one year Allianz trip insurance which also covers us for more medical & more bag damages or missing & even auto rental insurance of a higher quality than credit cards  .When we do a land trip the Allianz insurance is already there for us as well 

So in ending we can use the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card & save big on insurance premiums . when you get to 70 & over watch how the trip insurance climbs  if bought from comapnies like Insuremy trip .com or Square Mouth .com   .If course you can but the Holland america policy but their best policy still only gives you 90% back  & you loose 10% . Thus ,let us say you have a cruise cost of $10,000 & have the platinum HAL policy & cancel you just lost $1000  . I personally find that type of insurance a bad deal .  Retired people should only cancel any trip based on  either health or death of one of the insured ,so save that 10 % that HALs   Platinum  takes  .I can see it for non retired business people because you can then cancel for any reasi=on & of it is a business related reason you can then deduct that 10% cancellation cost from  tax prep/ ,if you can support it by a legitimate reason 

 

 We each have our own reasons but we should always look at the downside before we see the uoside .All that looks shinny is not gold 

 

The foregoing  is  my   humble opinion