Princess cruise gift cards

[DaleF624860]

I heard that AARP offered a Princess cruise line Gift card. I am new to the website and App and have not seen an offer. Can anyone confirm if this offer is still available?

[FredH923215]

NewEgg has cards on sale right now! ($500 for $460 with a limit of 2 per person). Promo code is SSPC5150

[SarahO634868]

FYI someone had responded with the newegg code and I was able to use it just fine but after my husband used it newegg canceled the order citing a lack of inventory. 

[BrianR728204]

I just purchased two, Promo Code SSPC5150 $500 for $460 with a limit of 2 per person

[TerryJ21000]

Thank you

[billd612468]

Celebrity gift cards clearly aren't like a real gift card. Seriously mislabeled, it should be called a Cruise Payment card because that is all it good for. Extremely misleading business practices. 

[Doodad101700]

Totally agree with you!  Celebrity gift cards from AARP are a SCAM!  They do not respond to emails (email address on the "gift" card) and last time I called I was 5 minutes on hold until I get fed up and hung up! Non Refundable by AARP! Not sure how I will get my $450 out of this card. Not a gift card a payment to Celebrity (not your Travel Agent) card.  You have to book through Celebrity. New cruise only!

[AARPConsumerCare]

Hello @Doodad101700, I can understand your frustration. Carnival Terms state that gift cards are redeemable at participating Carnival Cruise Line® ships for passenger travel to pay for ticket purchases and as deposit to an onboard account. Gift Cards can be redeemed for or on any cruise sold or operated by Carnival Cruise Line®, except onboard those sailings operating in a non-USD functional currency onboard. We recommend you contact them directly for information about your cruise selection and to find out if gift cards will be accepted for reservations or onboard before purchasing. Complete terms and conditions available at carnival.ourgiftcards.com. - Daniela R. 

[Doodad101700]

I was not talking about Carnival Gift cards. I'm telling people to watch out for the Celebrity Gift cards.  IMO they are not Gift Cards.  They are a SCAM!

[AARPConsumerCare]

I apologize for the confusion, @Doodad101700. Celebrity certificate may be used only as a form of payment toward a new reservation made directly with Celebrity Cruises. All passengers must sign and agree to the terms and conditions of Celebrity Cruises’ Cruise Ticket Contract available online at celebrity.com. Those terms and conditions are hereby incorporated by reference. As stated in the AARP Rewards Terms and Conditions, we cannot issue refunds for gift card purchases. Complete terms and conditions available at: https://www.aarp.org/about-aarp/rewards-terms-and-conditions/?cmp=SNO-LITHIUM---&socialid=1507405839... - Daniela R. 

[Doodad101700]

Yes... I got this as a gift for an upcoming cruise only to find out it can not be used.  $450 wasted! How about refunding "gift" Cards that will be unable to use?

[DanielC820725]

A person on another cruising website just wrote the following:

"I booked a Celebrity cruise, first thru Celebrity as I was using a book later cruise deposit I bought on a previous sailing. I was then able to transfer to my preferred TA and I then bought Celebrity gift cards on AARP to pay the balance due. Gifts cards were applied and accepted."

As another suggestion, if you are absolutely unable to apply your Celebrity gift card, try selling it for a discount on eBay or any other auction site.  I ended up with a $500 gift card for Norwegian that I couldn't use, and I put it for sale on eBay and it sold within 2 hours.  Just a thought...

[AARPConsumerCare]

We are sorry; refunds or exchanges cannot be provided for AARP Rewards items purchased or redeemed for points. Upon enrolling in the AARP Rewards program, you were required to read and accept the program’s terms and conditions. It's important to thoroughly review all disclosures and the terms and conditions displayed for each item in our catalog before purchasing or using points to redeem the item. - Daniela R. 

[ronvogel]

I just sent an email off to both the head of Princess and the head of AARP, hoping that they can kick start things and get something moving so Princess gift cards can again be offered via AARP Rewards.  Both sides saying that it was a decision by the other side isn't all that helpful.  Reps here saying that you can still buy other cruise gift cards isn't helpful.  It took me a while to get the head of AARP's email (Ms. Jenkins), but eventually found it.  The head of Princess is easier to find (Mr. Padgett).  Just hoping that they can both give whatever employees below them a swift kick in the rear to get the organizations talking to each other and the gift cards available again.

[ronvogel]

Just wanted to add that original email to Princess and AARP heads was sent on 10/18.  It is now 11/3 and no indication back from either side that anything is changing or being worked on.

[BrianH860871]

Very disappointed with AARP at not offering Princess Gift Cards.   We did renew our membership because of the Princess Gift Cards and are not planning on renewing.  I am guessing they were extremely popular with Members as they would occasionally run out.   I really do not think they listen to feedback on a message board, but I do think when I do not renew I will list the reason as no longer offering Princess Gift Cards.  I would guess they had some fulfillment issue that resulted in decision to drop them.  If more drop because of this reason, maybe they will bring them back. 

[WalterB925143]

Princess Gift Cards being gone has zero to do with AARP and 100% to do with Princess ending the program. If you want the program to return, complain to Princess Cruises and ask them why they are shutting out AARP members from the discounts. 

[FredH923215]

If AARP says Princess won’t give them and Princess says AARP won’t ask, it’s not a good look for either of them. But I suspect that AARP will lose more members than Princess will lose passengers.

So AARP better try to resolve this, with transparency. Give us contact information for whoever it is from EACH side so that members can get involved, express themselves, and not be powerless and in the dark. 

[ronvogel]

I just did what anybody could do, did a web search for the president and other contacts.  Came up with these:  'JPadgett@Princesscruises.com' and 'csteinke@princesscruises.com'.  I have no idea who to contact at AARP, there is the one or more people who post as someone within AARP but I haven't tried to contact them beyond replying to their messages on this forum.

[ronvogel]

I did exactly that (complain to Princess Cruises).  Sent an email to the President and Customer Relations head at Princess.  Got a call back a coulple days later from the head office.   The woman who called was actually surprised that AARP wasn't selling them anymore, because she had bought them through AARP before.  So she investigated with the higher ups at Princess, and was told that it was NOT a Princess decision, that it WAS an AARP decision. 

[Doodad101700]

FYI... When I canceled my auto-Renew with AARP because of No Gift Cards.  They asked me why. I clicked the link and the link was broken.  Guess they don't care.

[AARPConsumerCare]

I'm sorry to hear you decided to cancel automatic renewal, @Doodad101700. May I know which link are you referring to?

While the Princess Cruise Line gift cards are no longer available through AARP Rewards, we still have the ones from Carnival, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, and Holland America Line. - Diana G.

[LindaWic707]

We do NOT want the other cruise lines… we prefer Princess. Bring the Princess Gift Cards back please. Until then I will not automatically renew for this reason, along with the membership price increase FYI

[Doodad101700]

When I canceled my auto renew.  I got a screen asking me if i wanted to tell AARP why. I hit the yes button and it sent me to a screen telling me that screen was down.  IE a broken link.  Hope you can figure out that on your end.

As for other cruises... Celebrity is a SCAM in my option. I purchased a $500 card to find out I can't use it on existing reservations. No refunds from AARP also! I have an email to them but they do not reply... I've called and was on hold for 5 minutes... I don't cruise on RC or Holland or Carnival. Only Princess and Celebrity.

[AARPConsumerCare]

Thank you for the clarification, @Doodad101700. I will report that link. - Diana G.

[SuzanneM840223]

As we have repeatedly stated, we do not want to cruise on the other cruise lines.  Some of us are Elite and we only sail with Princess.  Or we already ahve multiple cruises prebooked with Princess.

[DanielC820725]

As a member, I'm sure I am also representing the opinions of many other Princess customers who are also AARP members.  It almost sounds like AARP is turning a deaf ear to our concerns.  Whatever the problem is between AARP and Princess, we want AARP to work it out.  Trying to refer Princess customers to other lines is showing AARP's lack of understanding the Cruise Ship market.  Brand loyalty is extremely important to us, and you are not going to sway people away with other offerings.  Listen to your members please and work this out.  Thank you.

[ronvogel]

Based on this thread, I reached out to Princess Cruise's President and Customer Relations people, and got a call back just this morning from the head office.  The woman I spoke to was just as surprised by this as I was, had reached out to various high up folks, and told me that this was AARP's decision, NOT A PRINCESS DECISION.   So someone is not telling the truth.  Don't know for sure which side, but she really, really was adamant that it was not a Princess decision.

There are some other ways to get discounted Princess gift cards.  Not sure if I can mention them here (don't want the entire post to get deleted).  They are not offered all the time, but I've seen $100, $200, and $500 Princess gift cards offered periodically at an 8% discount via a major online computer retailer website (with a coupon code and with signing up to their website).

[FredH923215]

Thanks, Ron. I wish I knew what that other website was. Anyway, if you hear anything at all, please let us know on this thread so that we will get a notification of your post. I really hope you can straighten this out. I am in the middle of a princess cruise right now, have another one coming up in a few weeks, and I want to book a third. 

[ronvogel]

Today 10/14, for another 13 hours or so, NewEgg has the $200 Princess e-GC available for $184 with a limit of 5, if you use a code.  The codes are weird, so no idea if unique per user.  I did try to PM my code to FredH, but his PM was disabled.  For others, I strongly suggest just getting on their mailing list so you can get notifications when Princess cards go on sale.