Called for a $100 price drop; got $300 instead

[jeffthx]

I've been checking prices for our 11/27 Legend cruise since I booked it back in May. They've held steady (or gone up) for the most part. We're in a premium extended balcony (8K), so there aren't that many of our cabin class available in the first place. One thing that was annoying me was that when I would check prices, any 8K's that were visible to me under the "fun saver" option were greyed out under the "past guest" option. I decided to try something different today, so I went to cheap tickets dot com, and saw that the price of an 8K had dropped $50pp below what I paid. I called the Carnival number to see if I could get them to honor that price. After lots of typing and checking by the PVP, she told me that she had gone ahead and processed a refund for the current past guest rate for $150pp (x2). I asked her to confirm that we still had the same cabin, same everything, but with the lower price adjustment. She stepped through all of the information, and it was all the same. I was even able to refresh my "payment" screen on Carnival.com while I was on the phone with her, and it showed that I had paid $300 more than my current fare rate (my balance was already paid in full before today).

 

The only downside: In the process, I realized that my $100 FCC OBC had dropped off. No problem--I called back and had another PVP who helped initiate the process to get that back on my account. I also asked her to confirm that everything that I was told about the refund was correct, and she confirmed that my booking info was all the same, and that she could see that a $300 refund was being processed back to my card.

 

I almost didn't make the call, because I figured that I wouldn't be eligible for the price difference because of some technicality. I believe that the original PVP gave me the refund based on the price difference for the "past guest balcony guarantee" rate (instead of the "past guest 8K" rate). After getting confirmation about the adjustment from two different PVPs, I've decided not to question it any further, and I'm happily accepting this unexpected windfall.

 

While I can't say that your results would be the same, I'll tell you that it does pay to look at other sites to try to get price adjustments. I was ready to dig in to fight for $100 credit, and I was able to get much more without any fight at all.

 

Good luck,

jj

[SteelerCruiser]

Congrats!!!

[boaterette]

Very nice.

[riclop]

Hip hip hooray!!!!!!!!!

[KroozFoolz]

Congrats! We are on that cruise too. Yesterday, I found a senior rate lower than what we paid, so I am hoping for a rate adjustment approval as well.

You need to join our roll call!

[blondietink]

We are on the same cruise, so I checked our rate and found a senior rate for the exact same price as our ES rate, but for a higher grade of balcony. However, I think I will keep what we got as the cabins available at that rate were on the Panorama deck ... too high for us and right under the lido deck. Otherwise, the other balcony cabin rates came out more than what we paid. Maybe after final payment they will come down some more and we will be able to get a credit! Good luck to everyone.

[MIZZ_K]

Congrats on the prices drop, I got 2 for a total of $180 for my cabin not to long after I booked in March, been checking ever since for more but the price kept going back up, sailing next week and it looks like my cruise is sold out.

The funny thing is, it is showing prices for tomorrows sailing.

[BenjiRodney]

It never hurts to ask. I used $1200.00 in Cruise dollars towards the November cruise. They are different then Funship Dollars. When the price dropped I submitted the form for the OBC. It was denied. I called, because I used certificates to pay for so much of it, they would not lower the price, but they would move me to another category at the new price level, so I am now in a Balcony on the Panaroma deck. I think it depends on who you talk to and how nice you are to them.