Jshutterbugf

Yes, if they had quoted me the true price when I entered the waitlist, I wouldn't have held out for this. I would have made alternate plans. Now I blew my vacation week with my family for the year.

My husband and I received a week off with about a months notice. I found the Carnival Pride had a balcony open for $829pp. When I called to book it, they told me that we could not have our 2 year old with us. (The agent actually suggested we just leave her home, but that's a whole new subject). They suggested we put down a refundable deposit of $250pp and be put on the waitlist. If someone canceled, which was likely, we could book a room for 3. The agent quoted me that the final price would be around $2000 for an interior and $2200 for an oceanview, before our frequent cruise discounts. Great.

The week before the cruise, I called every day, sometimes twice. I got every answer you can imagine from; we are #5 on the waitlist, we are #3 on the waitlist so the line was moving, the waitlist has no order, you're on but you just haven't been assigned a cabin yet. Even talking to supervisors didn't help. I got a different answer everytime I called. 4 days before the sailing, an oceanview cabin had opened up when I called. Thank god! They then proceeded to tell me that it was $3200 total! They refused to honor my quote, any discounts, anything I had been told. They even threatened to keep my deposit if I didn't take the reservation. I found myself 2 days before my vacation without any place to go and everything is either sold out or out of our price range now.

I searched and searched and hadn't found much for waitlist success or failures so, I think it's important to share what they did to us so people don't hold out hope. The likelihood that a few groups with cancel a few days before is high, but don't expect them to not take total advantage of you! I was told by a supervisor that it's acceptable because it's "around the same price". Totally ridiculous as well as expecting me to pay $1000 for an infant to cruise. I'm holding out for an escalated supervisor to call back but, I'm sure that's fruitless. They told me I'll get a phone call within 72 hours. Well, let's see if that even happens before the boat sails. I will never book Carnival ever again!