cmukid87

20 minutes ago, drsel said:

29 minutes ago, cmukid87 said:

This topic seems to have digressed.  I think I have my answers from the original question.  Thanks all.
 
And to answer the question about why Carnival...I'm familiar with them, enjoy the product, and they are offering a very appealing deal right now.

Which specific deal are you referring to

$750obc 
There might be other pricing deals but the sailing I was looking at was 8 days, large balcony for $1200 (plus the 750obc).

This topic seems to have digressed.  I think I have my answers from the original question.  Thanks all.

And to answer the question about why Carnival...I'm familiar with them, enjoy the product, and they are offering a very appealing deal right now.

Hello all - 

Hoping to plan a sailing out of Australia for next year.  I have just a few questions.

1 - The final cost of the booking is exactly that, the total cost?  There are no gratuities/daily service charges required?

2 - I'm booking through carnival.com (not .au), is the total owed in USD or AUS?

3 - Does anyone have drink/beverage menus that represent pricing for carnival australia?

I'm sure I'll have more questions down the line but these are the important ones for now.

Check my watch it's 1:30pm.  Close my eyes and I'm sitting with my feet in the water at the Lido pool.  Just had my beer and my Blue's Patron Margarita dropped off to me.  I have about 4 more hours until I head to my stateroom to get showered and ready for dinner in the steakhouse.

All price drops.  Why wouldn't you?

Keep in mind this is across all of Carnival Corp.  This includes Carnival, Princess, Cunard, Costa, Aida, Holland America, P&O, and Seabourn.

Pure speculation but I would imagine at most 2 Carnival ships retiring but will probably just be one.  

To revive this thread....

If I use the 10% off wild card discount can I also use the RCL vouchers to pay my deposit?  

Also, has anyone used the discount AND redeemed points for OBC?

If that 2nd stimulus comes through I told my wife we are absolutely allocating money for gift cards!  12% off plus my current cashback bonus on my credit card would save us $500+!

2014 on Legend.

Hooked on day 1.

IMade - He was our room steward on Magic in December 2017.  He was fantastic.  Of course he did everything his job required him to do but what got me was he knew our names the first time he saw us.  We had FTTF and priority to our stateroom.  We were onboard around 11:45am and turned down our hallway and I heard "Hello Derek....Hello Vanessa".  We got to talking to him and it was his last week before he went on vacation.  We left him a few extra $ every day and on the last day whatever low denomination cash I had I put in an envelope for him.  It was only like $35 but I hope it went towards a memorable vacation at home.

Early April 2019 on Valor out of Galveston.  5 day trip to Cozumel and Progreso with my wife and two stepsons (12/8 at the time).  We had just went on a week long MSC Seaside cruise in December that was a HUGE letdown.  I felt like I needed to make it up to them so I surprised the kids with their first balcony.  It was awesome.  A trip I'd do 10 out of 10 times given the chance.

May just have to load up.  Additional 2% off of what is probably going to be $5k is a free $100!

Besides for potentially increased screening on the front end, I don't see much changing in terms of passenger experience.  I don't want to sound obtuse but it all starts with one thing....muster.  Getting every passenger on the ship into compact designated spaces to kick the sailing off negates any change they could dream of from that point forward.  If that doesn't change, no other chance matters.  

Once this virus is eradicated or at least under control, I hope that fear subsides and people can use a cruise as it is intended, as a vacation. 

Won't use the stimulus to purchase stock but will use it put a deposit on a family cruise for December.

We will 100% most certainly be cruising again as long as it is possible.  As long as it remains affordable and the cruise lines continue to offer a product that is pretty close to what we have experienced so far, we will.

It's no secret it is my, my wife's, my kids, and my in-laws favorite type of vacation and I'm so glad I was able to introduce it to everyone.  Because of that we are trying to get one on the books for December of this year.  I think that is extremely realistic but it does depend on how the global pandemic pans out both internally in the US and externally in port countries.  

26 minutes ago, CoachAname said:

 

I would definitely suggest calling your PVP. I know it is not always applicable to every rate, but sometimes they are able to extend the offer to the second room. I had to re-book my cancelled march cruises and I had four rooms and only two of them had really good rates. The guy was able to extend the offer to the other two rooms as well, so I got the good deal on all the rooms. 

I might just go ahead and try that.  I've always wondered why they wouldn't be more open to extending a VIFP offer to a 2nd room, especially in a time like now that they might be struggling to fill staterooms.  

3 hours ago, RWolver672 said:

 

 

 

The above is true if the offer is for the OP but it wasn't.  The offer was for their friend, not them.   The only way that I can think of is for them to cancel their cruise and the friend then book it in their name.  If  the offer isn't in your name,  they won't give it to you.

 

Hopefully the OP has either a PVP or a TA.  OP and friend call  together and at the same time, OP cancels and friend books before cabin is sold to someone else.

 

I have been thinking about this situation a lot lately.  I'm ready to book a cruise, looking at December of this year.  We need two identical rooms, both full with 4 people.  I have a great rate with OBC, all others have what I would call "normal" rates.  I figured that if the cruise lines were struggling as hard as a lot of people think, they might start taking offers to fill the ships.  I would have booked in a heartbeat if both rooms could be booked under my VIFP offer.  Thought I could call and pitch it to my PVP and see what happens.

March 2014 - Carnival Legend

My really good friend and I booked on a semi-whim.  This was my first ever cruise while he had been on a Princess cruise about 8 years prior.  We were both young, dumb, broke, etc.  Booked the first ship I saw that I could fly to for a fair price even though the cost of our room was high in hindsight (highest per person rate I've ever paid!)

We were leaving on a Sunday and we were supposed to have a nasty snow storm in the evening of the Saturday.  We were flying down to Tampa that Sunday morning but decided it was too big of a risk and flew down the day before.  Landed in Tampa and had nowhere to go so I found the cheapest nearby hotel on a discount travel sight.  We got to the hotel and went for a walk, ended up walking right into the production area of Cigar City Brewing and nobody even batted an eye.  Got a few beers in us and went back to the hotel to crash.  Next morning we got up and realized we couldn't even afford breakfast really, so we settled for stale continentals at the hotel.  Not knowing any better we headed off to the port at like 8:30am.  Needless to say we were waiting for about 3 hours.

Got onboard and immediately bought the CHEERS! package, effectively maxing out my credit card.  Thankfully my paycheck hit my bank on Monday and I could payoff a chunk of my credit card so gratuities could be paid.  

We drank our way around the ship that week and had an awesome time.  We met some really awesome people none of whom we kept in touch with but that's okay.  It leaves a little bit of that nostalgia by never being able to replicate the cruise.  

Since then I am a bit more financially savvy and have been a good handful of cruises.  That 7 days on Legend hooked me though and I will forever love cruising.

5 hours ago, lottiegreen56 said:

I know we're all here together because we like cruises or are  interested in cruising. As much as I love the activity, I'm going to be livid if they bailout the cruise industry. These companies have avoided taxes and hiring US workers for years and shouldn't take advantage of the American public fiske. Businesses shouldn't operate under the assumption that we are going to bail them out when they are on the verge of failing. Pull yourselves up by the bootstraps.

 

Am I the only one thinking this way? 

I don't think anyone who has supported the cruise industry has any right to oppose a bailout based on your thoughts.  If you truly had a problem with the workforce and how they interpret and use tax advantages then you shouldn't be cruising.

Everyone should keep in mind that yes, the government asked the industry to shut down and they complied.  The cruise lines aren't being crushed financially because of malfeasance or bad business decisions.  The pandemic is completely out of their hands.  

10 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

That's very strange. What does coronavirus have to do with selling e-gift cards? And if it's because cruises have been suspended, what do they have against buying the gift cards during that time? Their reason smells fishy to me.

I would imagine it might be to save face in case bankruptcy happens.  People bought thousands of $ in gift cards to a bankrupt company.  AARP being the supplier of those would face backlash.

7 minutes ago, Ronaldo807 said:

I don't see anything on the Carnival website about two free days. Does anyone have a link because I must be missing something?

Offer is not for everyone.  It is for qualifying VIFP numbers only.  My mother in law has it as an offer, I do not, nor does my wife.

Please keep in mind that these are all anecdotal.  Just because an island denied one ship, does not mean it is denying all.

2 hours ago, sholly said:

James:

I don't understand why I'm getting this.  When I check my VIFP Club offers, I'm not seeing anything out of the ordinary stuff I'm offered.

 

Regards,

Steve

It is a special offer code.  Not all VIFP members have this opportunity.  For example, I have a special rate where I can go for as low as $10p.p (including the $100obc).  If I log out and login with my wife's or my in laws VIFP that offer goes away.  

10 minutes ago, xcell said:

 

 

LOL -- I just saw.  Now I think it's going to hit lower than $40 -- this fear is going to stick around, especially if more cruiselines get hit -- at present, it seems to be mainly Princess -- haven't heard of any case on NCL or RCCL.

 

 

I don't think the stock is a direct correlation to a certain ship having someone infected.  These huge drops in stock are based on secondary factors to the virus.  The CDC telling people to not cruise is a bombshell.  That impacts ALL domestic voyages from the US, not just a certain cruise line.  This is frightening for the cruise lines, their employees, the travel industry, the countries where ships call on and those who love to cruise.

5 minutes ago, mbarker10 said:

We literally booked our spring break cruise last week, but the rate we have doesn't allow for OBC. Sucks! And we use a cheap airline (Spirit) so no way to get any credits on flights either lol. Ohhh well.

I am pretty sure you qualify for the OBC here.  As long as you aren't cancelling it should be available to you.  I don't think this type of OBC is rate specific.