cruisinnewbie629

Following :)

We just got off the Pride on 8/24. The beds were very firm; so if you like a firm mattress, you are all set. I found it very uncomfortable and kinda like sleeping on a rock, but I prefer a squishy cushy bed. My DH thought it was just perfect and slept like a rock..LOL ;)

We last cruised on the Fantasy in 2010 and were still talking to people about how comfy cozy the beds were on her. We just got off the Pride on Sunday and wondered where did our comfy cozy bed go???? We noticed the difference right away. We slept "ok"; but not the fabulous sleep we had on the Fantasy!

I did not even know about the Egg Crate option! Didn't see any when we headed to our cabin (FTF..yay) and we were poking our heads into the different rooms to check them out.

Not as bad as another member of the Carnival Family

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2048149

Wow! That is horrible for them! Thanks for sharing this.

You're not supposed to call. People do it anyway.

I did try to submit the price protection form online; but it wasn't working. The Carnival rep confirmed that they were having issues with the form and a lot of people had to call in instead

was your original booking one that final payment was due 30 days before sailing and when you did the price protection it changed you to a final payment date of 75 days?

 

Bill

No, the original booking was in January and was only $50 per person deposit. Final payment was due on June 3rd and I made it then. My cancellation fee at that time was $200. But when I called to take advantage of the $186 price drop for the more=merrier rate (not the one where carnival picks your room), that apparently changed my cancellation fee to $1,000.

I think that the problem here is not that I can't do a price match, I still can. The problem is that Carnival said that the price I was able to find online and reserve with the 24 hour hold was a "bogus" price and was showing up due to a glitch in the system. They looked into it behind the scenes and found that the computer geeks were doing something with the rates to test for a future sale and somehow dropped the charge/rate for the 3rd and 4th passengers. That is why I could not get the $1,000 as a price match. They were going to let me book the new room with the bogus price since I was able to reserve it; but it didn't make sense as they were assessing a $1,000 cancel fee now on my original reservation.

The whole thing made my head spin at the time, but I really do get it. the price was a mistake and I am still getting a great deal and continuing to check for price drops.

thanks everyone for all of the great advice/opinions on this.:)

I questioned that too. She kept telling me that once I did the price protection, it was as if I booked under the new promotion and lost my old promotion. I guess the old promo had the $50/pp cancelation fee and the More=Merrier promo did no???? She said I could still use the Early Saver perks and get a price adjustment for up to 2 days before sailing. so I said, then I should still have the Early Saver rate as my promo. She still said not.

I am looking now to find an email address to send my complaint and screenshots to for assistance. I guess I'll start with the standard "contact us" email on Carnival's site.

I'll let you know how I make out ;)

I did take screenshots and did the 24 booking hold....not sure who to send it all to though??? She was already dealing with a Supervisor.

Worth a shot though to run it up the ranks, right??

So they told me it was def a "glitch" so they can't honor the Early Saver Price Protection. The rep was on with a Supervisor now who said I could cancel my original booking (and lose my $50/pp deposit - $200) and keep the booking that I just reserved for $1000.00 less. Plus I wouldn't get an OBC, they will refund me the difference instead. So, I would be rebooking for the same cabin at $1,000 less fare and receiving a refund check for over $1,000. Sounds great, right??? :rolleyes:

Well, except the cancellation fee is not $50/00; it is now $1,000 on my original booking because I did the price protection 2 days ago to get the $186.00 OBC. ::smacks head:: When that happened, they switched me to the More = Merrier rate and that increased the cancellation fee to $1,000. Ugh. :(

So I tried arguing that they should still be honoring the price that I was able to reserve and that if someone else was online at the time I was and booked at the lower price they would have to honor it; so they should honor it for me. The supervisor said no, they were already doing me a favor letting me "rebook" at the better rate so they wouldn't drop the cancellation fee. So really there was no point as the cancellation fee would eat up any savings I would get and I would lose the Faster to the Fun.

I told her; while I understood it was a "glitch", I felt they should still do something. After all, I was on hold for over an hour and a half while they "looked into this".

They are sending Champagne and Strawberries to the cabin. :cool:

I guess I need to take into perspective that it wasn't a real rate and I am still getting a great rate and going to have a fabulous vacation. Just feeling deflated after all the excitement of the possibility of saving $1,000:(

I'm tired now...LOL

I booked the Carnival Pride for 8/17/14 back in January on Early Saver (4 ppl / extended Balcony/ Verndah Deck). I have been checking the prices just about daily and did finally get to take advange of a price drop a few days ago and received an OBC for $186.00.

I decided to hop on today and check it again. I did mock booking and was shocked to see a more=merrier rate that dropped my price down by almost $1,000.00:eek::eek::eek:. So I called Carnival (price protection form wasn't working when you hit submit) and got a rep on the phone.

First, I was told that I wasn't booked as Early Saver, but when I asked her to kindly double check, she came back and said I was right and then proceeded to look up the price drop.

She could not find the fabulous rate that was staring at me in the face:confused:; so she had me do a 24 courtesy hold booking so she could then look at it. She looked at the booking and was super confused because she said she could not recreate the rate on her end at all. I have now been on hold for over 1/2 hour while she tries to figure this out.

I am wondering if this is a website glitch if they will honor the price since I was able to book it.

Will come back and update with the final result when I finally get off of perpetual hold..LOL :rolleyes:

I thought our price would never drop, but persistence paid off this morning for us too ;) $186.00 OBC for our Extended Balcony on the Pride. Thank you Early Saver!!!!

Fantasy was our first cruise, so not much to compare it to. We were surprised to learn that she was considered small! We had the BEST time and cant really think of too many negatives, other than only one pool. We chose it partly because we could do 5 in a room. Itinerary was ok, not a huge fan of the Bahamas, but half moon cay was awesome!

We are headed out in august on our second cruise and we went with the pride and again to Bahamas because the price was right. So if the price is right and location is ideal, go for it!

Well this is embarrassing. :o I just found a Hampton Inn Charleston/West Ashley that offers exactly what I wanted, at the very top of the page on the website, for around the same price. I'm almost positive that one wasn't listed on this site when I looked about 2 months ago, so I don't feel too bad, LOL. Didn't you say you lived in the West Ashley area? This place has good reviews on Tripadvisor, so I might try this one instead.

Hi Minerva 78: I am sailing on the Fantasy on 8/14 and we booked a room at this hotel....I booked it a while ago and got a great rate of $90.00 for the night; but didn't know about the whole parking offer at the time....So I went to check out rates for that night for that package and they were $197.00!!! Parking for our 7 day at the port is $105.00, so really not a deal for me...make sure you check prices without that package, it may end up being less expensive (or the same) to just book a normal rate and park at the port.

Good luck and enjoy your cruise :)

Sniff...Sniff....Tissues anyone????:(

Hope you cruise again real soon;)

Thanks again for the terrific review....I now look forward to the extra info to keep the review alive a little longer:)

You are welcome. After writing about debarkation, I intend on scanning the Fun Times for the whole week and touching on a few things like: things I packed that I didnt need, some things I wish I had done/known to bring & pictures of locations around the ship that we took on the final day. I cant wait to book again! :p

Excellent....more to look forward to after debarkation :D We haven't even gone on our first cruise yet, and I am looking at where to go next :rolleyes: DH thinks I am nuts, but I'll bring him over to the "dark side" :p

Okie dokie folks. Bandwith issue resolved. I had to upgrade to Pro. So, now that I have unlimited bandwith I am going to upload all the final day pictures and finish up this review so you guys can have some closure. ;)

No!!!!! I don't want closure.....your review has become my new obsession:o. I wake up in the morning and check it....I check it at work....I check it at night at home.... I think I might just go through review withdrawal...LOL.

Seriously, thanks so much for taking us on a journey, rather than just a critique of what you loved and hated. The bar has just been raised for any other review I read;)

Newbie, here's the Reader's Digest version of the highlights:

 

Anytime Dining was the BEST! Loved that. Longest wait was on the formal night and it was maybe a 20 min. wait. Never had to wait on line. We just went next door to the lounge with our pager. Had two GREAT dinners...formal night and a great lamb chop dinner. We loved that chocolate melting dessert too.

 

Had a couple of fun days out by the pool. Went to a few of the shows and enjoyed those. Loved hanging out at the Majestic Bar where we did the daily Sudoku and Crossword puzzles. My H and I competed against each other. I always lost. :( We're smokers by the way, so that's why we ended up there quite a bit. It's a nice quiet area though with big picture windows. I remember on our Fantasy cruise in 2002 we hung out there a lot too.

 

Everything really was great. Of course I didn't wear half of what I packed! When will I learn? :)

We have anytime dining as well. Am looking forward to the meals in the MDR! Our idea of eating out with 3 kids is Chili's/Friendly's, etc....LOL

So, they have daily crosswords??? Love that! Will need to add that to my notes, as well as another reminder to pack lightly:rolleyes: Thanks!!!

Just off the ship a few hours ago. It was fantastic all the way around!

Welcome Back! Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip :) Would love to hear more about it once you get your "land legs" back;) We are sailing on her in 53 days....woo hoo:D

I am loving your review and your writing style....my whole family was gathered around my little netbook last night as I read your review...kinda like story time...LOL You made us all LOL a lot and got my kids more excited than they have been in a while for our upcoming cruise.

Although, now they are mad at me for not getting a cabin with portholes...:rolleyes:

Thanks and can't wait for more:D