A way that many passengers have saved hundreds on their Carnival cruise has just been cut down drastically. The result? If you’ve been taking advantage of this savings, be prepared to pay more for your next cruise.
Here’s what to know…
A Popular Discount That’s Been Cut in Half
We’ve discussed before that when you shop for a cruise, one nice aspect is that prices are the same, no matter where you buy. That’s good because it means you don’t have to scour a dozen different websites to see if you can find the same cruise for cheaper.
But that also means if you want to save money on a specific cruise, it can be a little more difficult. There isn’t a magic website or cruise broker that can save you money with a discounted cruise.
That is, except for one — AARP.
AARP, the special interest group focused on older Americans, offers “AARP Rewards” on its website. Here members can use points earned to enter sweepstakes or buy all sorts of gift cards for a sharp discount. This includes discounts on gift cards for Uber, AirBNB, and yes, even cruises.
For years, several major lines including Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Princess have offered up a great deal with this method. These lines have gift cards listed for 10% off the face value. So you could buy a $500 gift card for only $450.
And because you can buy multiples, you could save hundreds of dollars. For instance, a $2,000 cruise could be paid for with gift cards costing just $1,800.
We’ve personally used this method over the years to save considerably on cruises. But a change we noticed on AARP’s website may put an end to that.
When checking the site, we noticed that the 10% discount on Carnival gift cards first dropped to 8% and now it is listed only at 5%.
To be sure, a 5% discount off Carnival gift cards is still a nice chunk of savings. Still, it does make the deal a little less sweet. That same $2,000 cruise would now cost $1,900 out of pocket instead of $1,800.
It’s not clear if the change in the discount is made on Carnival’s end or if it’s something done by AARP. Either way, you’ll now get less of a discount.
As well, it is possible that the discount could go back to 10% in the future, though in our experience the discounts for cruise cards typically don’t change that much.
Meanwhile, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity still have cards listed for 10% off the face value. Holland America shows cards for 8% off. Princess, which used to be an option, is no longer listed.
