Cruise deal alert: This short-term gift card promotion can get you big discounts

Here at The Points Guy, we love free money, and we're guessing you do, too, which is why we're bringing you the news of a new gift card promotion from Holland America that can get you oodles of free money to spend on your next cruise.

The Seattle-based line today is launching a 10% bonus offer on holiday gift cards that can be used for spending on cruises — one that essentially has no limits.

For every Holland America gift card you buy during the promotion, which will continue through Dec. 13, you will get a second gift card in the amount of 10% of the original purchase amount (that's the free money we're talking about). Specifically:

• Buy a $250 gift card and get a $25 bonus gift card for free.
• Buy a $500 gift card and get a $50 bonus gift card for free.
• Buy a $1,000 gift card and get a $100 bonus gift card for free.

Both the original gift card and the bonus gift card can be used to pay for any cruise currently open for booking in 2022, 2023 or 2024, as well as a long list of onboard extras such as spa treatments, specialty restaurant dinners and drinks packages — as long as the extras are bought in advance of sailing.

You can also use the gift cards to pay for shore excursions purchased in advance of a cruise.

The only major limits to the promotion are that the 10% bonus cards only are available to U.S. residents, and they only are available when buying a holiday gift card worth at least $250.

Notably, there is no limit to how many gift cards you can buy during the promotion, and you can use them for yourself or give them as gifts. So, if you're planning to take your extended family on one or more cruises over the next few years, you could buy tens of thousands of dollars worth of the gift cards that would produce thousands of dollars in bonus money.

If you're the type of person who cruises five or six times a year, you could buy up enough gift cards to pay for them all.

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Just be warned that if you really go to town buying up the cards, you might hit a roadblock.

Specifically, Holland America has this wording in the fine print for the promotion: "There is no limit on the number of gift cards a guest can purchase, [but] some purchase limits may be imposed for fraud prevention reasons."

In addition, you want to be sure you don't purchase more gift cards than you can use in the next few years, as the bonus gift cards, at least, do come with an expiration date.

Related: The 4 types of Holland America ships, explained

While you can apply the bonus gift cards to any cruise that is open for booking in 2022, 2023 and 2024, you must apply them to a booking by Dec. 31, 2023. Only the bonus cards come with an expiration date, a Holland America spokesperson told TPG. The gift cards you get from the initial amount you put into them (before the bonus) will not come with an expiration date.

Purchase the cards online at Holland America's website. You can request a digital card to be emailed for instant or scheduled delivery. Holiday gift givers, take note: They come in a variety of holiday designs.

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