Anyone used the Discover card Rewards gift certificates befo

We have a Discover card and you can decide if you want cash back or if you want to double the amount of your reward and get gift certificates. They recently added Carnival as one of their partners (Celebrity and RCCL were already there).

I was wondering if anyone else has used these reward gift certificates for their cruises, either towards the final payment or turned them in for a ship board credit.

Just wanted to see if it was as easy as it seems to be.

[Thomas]

I haven't used any yet but I was checking my Marriott Rewards program a couple of months ago and found to my surprise they offered rewards on Carnival, HAL, Cunard and Costa. I have over 450,000 points and a 7 day cruise on Carnival for two in Category 6A was 170,000 points. HAL was a bit higher and so were the others.

It was great to know we have several cruises "in the bank" already paid for.

Regards,
Thomas

[Denise77]

Hi Michelle

We used our Discover for the upcoming cruise and I was wondering about the double rewards also. From what I understand, the payback is double with Carnival but you can't use it on the current cruise, you must use it on a future cruise. In any case, double cash back sounds great to me.

[mbuckellew]

I have a Discover card, too, and was curious about this as well. I was wondering if you had to book through the cruise line to get that deal, or will it work with any agent? Do you have to pay full fare to use the gift certificates?

Cheers,
Michelle B.

(Who is about to check out www.discovercard.com to see if she can dig anything up)


Carnival Fantasy


Land Cruise, Britain and Belgium

[mbuckellew]

A ha.

Here's what I found from the Discover Card site.

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Carnival® Cruise Lines

Present your Certificate at the time of deposit to receive credit off your final payment on a Carnival Cruise vacation. The Certificate amount will be credited towards the lowest available fare for the vacation of your choice at the time of reservation. Space is limited and certain restrictions apply. This offer is applicable to new reservations only and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or promotion. One Certificate per cabin. The Certificate has NO CASH value. Payment must be made with your Discover Card. The Certificate may only be redeemed through the Touraid Travel Cruise and Vacation Desk at 1-888-275-5605.

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Celebrity Cruises®

Present your Certificate at the time of deposit to receive credit off final payment on a Celebrity Cruises® Vacation. The Certificate amount will be credited towards the lowest available fare for the vacation of your choice at the time of reservation. Space is limited and certain restrictions apply. This offer is applicable to new reservations only and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or coupon. One Certificate per cabin. The Certificate has NO CASH value. Payment must be made with your Discover Card. The Certificate may only be redeemed through the Touraid Travel Cruise and Vacation Desk at 1-888-275-5605. Offer may be combined with Celebrity 5-star pricing program or other select pricing programs and Holiday sailings based on availability at the time of reservation.

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Royal Caribbean® International

Present your Certificate at the time of deposit to receive credit off final payment on a Royal Caribbean® Cruise Vacation. The Certificate amount will be credited towards the lowest available fare for the vacation of your choice available at the time of reservation. Space is limited and certain restrictions apply. This offer is applicable to new reservations only and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or coupon. One Certificate per cabin. The Certificate has NO CASH value. Payment must be made with your Discover Card. The Certificate may only be redeemed through the Touraid Travel Cruise and Vacation Desk at 1-888-275-5605. Offer may be combined with Royal Caribbean’s breakthru pricing program or other select pricing programs and Holiday sailings based on availability at the time of reservation.


Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Michelle B.


Carnival Fantasy


Land Cruise, Britain and Belgium

[Denise77]

Hey thanks Michelle. So the accrued cash back award can go towards payment on our next cruise vacation, not this one since we used Expedia. Like they say, "it pays to discover". OBTY, loved your review of Paradise.

[mbuckellew]

Not a problem. I wonder what kind of prices "Touraid Travel Cruise and Vacation Desk" offers. I found their web site but you have to fill out a form to request a quote. If anyone does, please let us know how they compare.

BTW, it was the other Michelle, the one who started this thread, who wrote the Paradise review. Your confusion is understandable... there are just too many of us! <G>

Cheers,
Michelle B.


Carnival Fantasy


Land Cruise, Britain and Belgium

[Denise77]

oops!! Please excuse......you both have some great tips.

I was kind of hoping that I could use it for this cruise. I guess I will have to wait for the next one. I'll just take the frequent flier miles on my other card when I pay the balance then. We are almost at 2 free flights, which will be great for that next cruise.

I hope their agent has decent prices.

[les]

Michelle -

Tried it once and found the restrictions made it not worth it on RCCI. This was a year or so ago, so maybe it has changed. I decided to switch and get the RCCI visa (see application on their website). Am making all my purchases on this card working toward a free cruise!!!

Leslie

Monarch - 6/9/03
Monarch - 8/4/03
Mercury - 11/5/03

I'm looking at the Carnival Mastercard too. If I can get the annual fee waived I might sign up for that one.

I might just use my Discover rewards points for restuarant gift certificates. We like to eat out too.

[mbuckellew]

I have the Carnival Mastercard. I switch off between it and the Discover card. Having good credit eliminates the annual fee. Although they start you off with a low limit... I went overlimit twice without realizing it.

With the Carnival card, spending $100,000 gets you a free seven-day cruise for two in an oceanview room. There are also other rewards - shorter cruises, upgrades, discounts, etc.

The Discover card pays 1% cash back. So if you spend $100,000 on your Discover card you will get $1000 back. With the cashback rewards partners, you can double the amount of your reward - so it seems to me like you'd earn a free cruise a little sooner with the Discover card.

Wish I'd done the math sooner - I may start using my Discover card exclusively now that I've figured that out.

Cheers,
Michelle B.


Carnival Fantasy


Land Cruise, Britain and Belgium

i am not going to use it towards my cruise, but i am going to get flowers delivered to the cabin for "free" more or less with the bonus partner f.t.d. it will be nice to have a lovely bunch of flowers waiting for me when i enter the cabin. i might even have enough to get a wine and flower basket. discover has other great partners to use for your cash back bonus money..