Please explain early saver and other questions for our upcoming cruise on the Spirit

[suspaul]

Hi. We're new to big ship cruising and I have so many questions after reading pages and pages of such useful information on this forum. We booked the Carnival Spirit and did the Early Saver (?) other than having booked months in advance I just don't have a clue about on board credits, how we find if we qualify for them, we didn't exactly select our cabin as the only balcony cabin available was an aft balcony 8272 I think. I was also wondering about the possibility and I use that term loosely about upgrading to a suite. We booked on our own and didn't use a travel agent. Thanks for any insight anyone can provide.
Susan

[Kryssa]

[quote name='suspaul']Hi. We're new to big ship cruising and I have so many questions after reading pages and pages of such useful information on this forum. We booked the Carnival Spirit and did the Early Saver (?) other than having booked months in advance I just don't have a clue about on board credits, how we find if we qualify for them, we didn't exactly select our cabin as the only balcony cabin available was an aft balcony 8272 I think. I was also wondering about the possibility and I use that term loosely about upgrading to a suite. We booked on our own and didn't use a travel agent. Thanks for any insight anyone can provide.
Susan[/QUOTE]

When you book yourself through Carnival and are not offered OBC at booking as part of a sale, you don't have any. If you own a certain amount of Carnival stock you can get some OBC that way. Otherwise, you can buy yourself some Fun Ship dollars ahead of time so that you have some OBC when you board.

This is why I like booking with a TA. Yes, you give up some control over your booking, but I get them to match Carnival's lowest rate and then they give me OBC on top of it. My family also buys eachother Fun Ship dollars as birthday and holiday gifts so we all board with at least a couple hundred OBC to enjoy :)

If you are interested in upgrading to a suite, you can call Carnival and see what the cost would be. Generally, it's the difference between what you paid and the current rate for a suite.

[Essiesmom]

Since you booked Early Saver, you should be checking prices every few days to see if the rates for your cabin category has dropped. If the price for your category and number of passengers has dropped, you can submit a form and get the difference credited to your account as OBC. If a category above your has dropped to the price you paid, you might be able to upgrade to that category, if there is a cabin open that is acceptable to you. EM

[girlscruise2011]

A lot of people check their prices every day, even a few times a day since there are "sales" throughout the day. With an Aft Balcony though, chances are your probably better off watching for the suites to come down so you can upgrade. If your price does drop though, submit the correct form to Carnival and if before final payment, they will adjust your amount due. If after final payment, they will give you the difference on an OBC. Not all TA's give OBCs. I booked my first 2 cruises with a TA (not including a trip to Aruba before) and never received anything from them for any of my bookings. I am now sailing in October and booked directly through Carnival with a wonderful PVP. I prefer to call Carnival and deal with them without having to depend on someone to do the talking for me. Good luck and enjoy your cruise

[suspaul]

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. I'm still confused :confused: but that is a permanent state of mind for me. Our first cruise with Carnival was this past February and not knowing insider info we missed lots, I thought that by booking again for this September I'd be more aware and hope to make our trip more enjoyable. Have gotten lots of great info on this website but it seems most people 'just think you know' how to go about checking current prices, etc.
Susan

[firefly333]

Just go to a TA site or carnival fareviewer (dont have the link), but pretend to book the same category you booked on your own. If the basic price is down, then the price has dropped.

Do you remember what category you booked and need to compare and what the price pp was?

[cuyahoga11]

Fareviewer to check prices

[url]http://www.carnival.com/BookingEngine/FareViewer/[/url]

[richfret]

Remember, there is one drawback to Early Saver. If you cancel for any reason, you are screwed and your only recourse is if you can use travel insurance if you took out the policy. So it is like the Carnival Casino. They win if you book the cruise and they win if you cancel the cruise. It's just a matter of degree.

[Scarlett33]

[quote name='Essiesmom']Since you booked Early Saver, you should be checking prices every few days to see if the rates for your cabin category has dropped. If the price for your category and number of passengers has dropped, you can submit a form and get the difference credited to your account as OBC. If a category above your has dropped to the price you paid, you might be able to upgrade to that category, if there is a cabin open that is acceptable to you. EM[/QUOTE]

How often do you think that prices actually do drop? My first cruise is in November so I'm a bit new to all this and I have recently started reading about checking the prices to get OBC or a possible upgrade and for the last few weeks I've been faithfully checking throughout the day and haven't seen any price changes. Do you think I am checking too early since my cruise is still 4 months away? Or is it in general a rare occurrence that the prices change for the better? Thanks for the insight!

[suspaul]

Thanks for all replies. I did the fareviewer, thanks cuyahoga11 for the link. Looks like the rates are higher so I'm not looking for any OBC.
Susan

[firefly333]

[quote name='Scarlett33']How often do you think that prices actually do drop? My first cruise is in November so I'm a bit new to all this and I have recently started reading about checking the prices to get OBC or a possible upgrade and for the last few weeks I've been faithfully checking throughout the day and haven't seen any price changes. Do you think I am checking too early since my cruise is still 4 months away? Or is it in general a rare occurrence that the prices change for the better? Thanks for the insight![/quote]

You probably dont need to start checking multiple times a day until much nearer the end. If you rate remains stubbornly high, I dont check but maybe once a week until after I hit final payment.

[All4fun&fun4all]

[quote name='Scarlett33']How often do you think that prices actually do drop? My first cruise is in November so I'm a bit new to all this and I have recently started reading about checking the prices to get OBC or a possible upgrade and for the last few weeks I've been faithfully checking throughout the day and haven't seen any price changes. Do you think I am checking too early since my cruise is still 4 months away? Or is it in general a rare occurrence that the prices change for the better? Thanks for the insight![/quote]

I got two price drops 3 months to the day before my last cruise. We sailed on 6/5/10 and there was a price drop on 3/3/10 and another on 3/5/10. I was pretty ridiculous with checking for drops. MULTIPLE times a day up until final payment. I didnt have ES, just a regular booking. Going to go with ES on our next booking (whenever that is) and see if I can do better this time around.

[slk09]

I had 4 price drops 2 to 3 months prior to my final payment and 1 after
my final payment which I then got as an OBC. And I kept thinking wow
great I'm going get maybe another OBC or two and then all the sudden
the price really jumped up! (and stayed up) and that was maybe a month
to a month and a half before sail date. So I just depends on availabilty
and how bad they want to book rooms. (I did book directly with
Carnival and used ES and will use it again too)

[BeccaBecca1713]

Remember when checking fare viewer you are comparing CRUISE RATE ONLY. The rate you are looking at on fareviewer does not take into account taxes/gov't fees, etc...

If your cat room price drops you fill out this form: [URL]http://www.carnival.com/cms/requestforms/CCLEarlySaverForm.aspx[/URL]
If it's the same cat, you checkmark the OBC box for on board credit. If a cat higher than you drops below what you paid you can elect to get obc AND upgrade to the new cat cabin.

If you are before final payment, you don't get OBC, they instead deduct the amount from your balance. Once you are after final payment and find price reductions, that's when you can start getting obc.


Nearer to your cruise, you may see Pack & Go rates appear and be significantly lower in price. But don't get too excited. The "trick" is that they are not specific cat cabins, they are instead "GTY" (Guarantee) Cabins which means you get your cabin assignment at a later date. Per ES rules, you can't price match to one of those.:(

Good Luck!!!

[tandemcruzr]

[quote name='Scarlett33']How often do you think that prices actually do drop? [/quote]

Our last 3 cruises booked as Early Saver, we had price drops on each one -- 2 on Dream, 3 on Legend and 4 on Fascination. They were all small $20 to $40 per person but they added up $60 t0 $100 as either credits prior to Final Payment or OBC after Final Payment. On the Fascination, we got a price drop about a week before departure. :D

[d76dots]

Guess I was a lucky one. We're first time on Carnival and only second time on a cruise (our first was "won" and all we had to do was show up..it was all done for us).

I booked the ES by phone with Carnival and she was very nice telling me to make sure to keep checking on the prices. I figured I'd get $10 or maybe $50, but imagine my surprise when I saw a $980 price drop!:eek: I wasn't sure I was seeing right.

I submitted my form anyway and got the email that I did see right and since we didn't pay our cruise in full yet, we got a price reduction!:D

I've since gotten 2 more, but not at that level. I received one for $60 and another for $120. Not to shabby and keep hoping for more..not to be greedy.:p These drops help to cover excursions and will allow for extra $$$ for other things while on the islands.

Very happy about booking ES and so far no problems. Can't wait for our cruise in December!:D

[suspaul]

Does anyone else find the Carnival website to be user unfriendly? I'm trying to check the fare again but for some reason after selecting the ship the menu won't offer sail dates?

Thanks to everyone above for the information, I'm so new to big ship cruising and so confused. On our first cruise earlier this year we never got our sea-legs so didn't see any shows or join in any of the activities, other than dining:D This is so different from river cruises on small ships/boats, it's like a darn floating city! By the time we figured out where things were it, we were back in port and leaving.

[Scarlett33]

[quote name='suspaul']Does anyone else find the Carnival website to be user unfriendly? I'm trying to check the fare again but for some reason after selecting the ship the menu won't offer sail dates?

Thanks to everyone above for the information, I'm so new to big ship cruising and so confused. On our first cruise earlier this year we never got our sea-legs so didn't see any shows or join in any of the activities, other than dining:D This is so different from river cruises on small ships/boats, it's like a darn floating city! By the time we figured out where things were it, we were back in port and leaving.[/quote]

I was having the same problem for a week straight and I was getting sooo frustrated. I use Google Chrome at work and at home and I tried it on regular Internet Explorer and the website works fine. So I guess Carnival is Google Chrome unfriendly! Strange I know but try using a different internet program! I hope it works for ya!