LindaKE

Helicopter Glacier Landing in Alaska was the absolute best. Followed by Float plane in Ketchikan.

I always did a mock booking. You could find more rates that way.

 

ES is good for people as long as you’re OK with the restrictions but it’s not for everyone. Seems like the good deals are booked far out lately. It used to be the opposite and I personally haven’t seen any huge price drops after final payment in a few years. For the average difference in fare of approx $20 pp, I’ve found it better for me personally to book Past Guest Rate just in case I need to change something around.

What's the difference in ES and Past Guest Rate? I've saved $200 pp since our original booking using ES. I do a mock booking to check for lower fares. It worked for me when the Fare Viewer didn't. So what would I gain by booking Past Guest Rate instead?

Contrary to what everyone else seems to feel, we like the photos. They are the souvenirs we spend money on. We can look back at the photos and remember the good time of the cruise. Their photographers do a better job than we can do on our own. So the ship's photos are something we enjoy about cruises.

I just tried to cancel and rebook an excursion, but even though I put in SHOR10, the new price was the same as my original price.

Which pier do Carnival ships use?

Are the lines still crazy long now that there are arrival appointment times? I don't know how long Carnival has been making arrival appointments. I do know that lines to get to the terminal were unreal when I saw them a year or 2 ago.

I would love to hear your suggestions for how to spend some time in Mobile. Thanks!

Bellingrath Gardens is always beautiful any time of the year. The battleship Alabama is another very enjoyable and educational spot to visit. The Gulf Quest Museum, right next to the cruise terminal, is great too. These are personal favorites. If you stay long enough, a visit to Gulf Shores, about 60 miles away, is on the must do list. You will be amazed by the sugar white beaches.

You Jax Port experience sounds more like the typical Mobile Port. Long lines and confusion. Since we're leaving from Mobile in April, I hope Anton's experience is the new norm. The police will sometimes direct the first cars in line to go around if the line gets too long. Why they do that is a good question, but they do. There is a train track right in front of the terminal, so how fast car lines move may be influenced by a train passing. Who knows? Typical would be to expect massive delays getting to the terminal and slow getting out of the terminal. Once you get through the car lines, things hopefully move faster. Shuttles don't have to wait in line, so you may want to consider the park and cruise option you mentioned. We're going to go with a shuttle rather than drive ourselves, deal with the long lines, and pay the high parking fee to maybe get into the locked parking garage or maybe go to the overflow lot which isn't so secure.

Look under the Home Port boards. There are extensive discussions about where to stay in Mobile. You just have to do a little looking since Mobile is not a major player in Gulf Coast Departures.

See post above or https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2509336

With the mock booking, I get much lower rates for our upcoming cruise. We received $260 reduction so far, but Fare Viewer shows a higher rate, not a lower one.

According to Mobile TV: 50% refund and 50% future cruise credit. I don't know how accurate that is - they also said they would be sailing Sunday.

We've gotten 3 price drops so far - $260 pp savings. Hint - if you do a fake booking, you can sometimes find a cheaper fare than Fare-Viewer shows. For a fake booking just go all the way through booking until you get a final price, than get out.

There was just an announcement on Mobile TV that the Fantasy will depart Sunday making a 4 day cruise instead of the scheduled 5 day cruise.

Mobile news just said that strong winds would start Saturday afternoon. They didn't know enough to give a time or wind strength. The storm track has been moving slowly toward the west and is NOW expected to go into the Louisiana or Mississippi Gulf Coasts. But it is all tentative and subject to change. Mobile is still in the warned cone.

You could probably get out of Mobile in time. The question would be whether you could get far enough away to avoid the storm. Right now they're saying the storm should hit Sunday morning. It appears to be coming straight up the Gulf right toward Mobile.

Some excursions for our 4/29/18 sailing have been out for about 2-3 months, and they keep adding to the list. We're going on the Fantasy out of Mobile on a "special" itinerary (not the normal Fantasy itinerary).

I still get / got a better rate than fare-viewer is giving me even when I'm logged in. Going through a fake booking may be a better way to go than fare-viewer. Thanks for taking the time.

 

 

Than go ahead and try to submit it. Are you on the Carnival site doing your fake booking? It has to be a Carnival advertised price. I still don't see rooms for this sailing even with a fake booking. Worst that happens they reject it

 

No, I'm saying that the fareviewer price was above the price we got and that I get with a fake booking. I like my price better. My point was that the fareviewer was not giving the lowest price.

 

Double check the cabin category. Ie 4b, 4c, 4d

And make sure you are seeing the total for BOTH people not p/p

 

The ONLY open staterooms I currently see avail. Is a Suite for $3000+ before port/txs

 

No the price was pp, but it was almost $100 over what I got when I did it by a fake booking. It would be much easier to do it in one step like fareviewer, but if I get a lower price by doing a fake booking, I'll do the extra steps! There appears to be plenty of cabins available according to the fake booking.

Yes. If you search on the Carnival site for "fareviewer"

www. carnival.com/bookingengine/FareViewer/

Keep in mind that when looking at the prices you are looking at the CRUISE FARE before port/taxes. Also if you originally received a promotional OBC (ie $50 summer sale) that amount should be added to the $ of your cruise amount that you would match.

 

I just did that and the rate was higher than what I get when I do a fake booking. (my adjusted fare after the credit for lower rate) I was looking at the price before port/taxes. Why do I get a lower fare doing the fake booking?

I may be misunderstanding what has been said here. We booked Early Saver.

The price dropped $110 pp and Carnival gave it to me via a credit on the amount still owed. I read on their FAQ that, had I paid in full, they would have given me an OBC. Am I misinterpreting something here?

less stress if you wait untill after 1pm.

sail out of mobile in may 2017.no problems.waited untill after 1pm

to check in.was on the ship with in 15 minutes of arriving at the port.

Arriving after 1 pm were you able to park in the parking garage or did you have to go to the overflow lot?

Thank you for posting these! We're on the Fantasy for 6 days, but I assume the menus will be similar. I've been trying to get menus that would print out. I've seen 7 day menus on zydeco but can't print from there. I've not seen 6 day menus anywhere. Does anyone know the differences?

Out of Mobile, I assume you're doing a Western Caribbean? The only storm that should be a worry would be T.S. Kataia which is between the Yucatan and Mexico expected to eventually go into Mexico. That could POSSIBLY effect Cozumel. Irma should stay well away from you.