Do rates ever go below the Early Saver rate?

[SnowshoeCat]

I'm looking at a cruise for next fall. The Early Saver rate is good, but this past year the cruise was even less expensive. I've never booked an Early Saver, so I guess I'm just asking if it's possible for there to still be a price drop, and what else should I know about Early Saver (save me from reading the fine print :)). Thanks for any insights.

[KenMo]

Yes, price drops are possible with ES.

 

You not only want to be looking at ES rates, but all rates you qualify for. Such as Past Guest, Military, Interline, Senior Citizen, etc.

 

If any of those rates that you qualify for drop below the ES rate you booked, you can submit the price drop form up to 2 business days before sail date.

[serene56]

By reading these boards you would think that all cruises have come down in price.

In 15 cruises only 2 have ever came down in price. all the others have sailed way more then we paid

 

ES rates come with huge penalties if you cancel. They will keep 50 bucks and HOLD 200 for a future cruise (I dont know how long you have to sail but it is not long)

[luvdmouse57]

This is our first cruise with Carnival but when we booked we were told that if you book with the early saver rate, if the rate goes below what you paid, you will get either an onboard credit if you have already paid off your cruise or a price adjustment.

 

The other cruise lines that we've besailed with have done the same thing if the price goes lower than what we booked at. You just have to keep an eye on the prices & let your TA know if the price goes down.

 

Karla

[Miller_KC]

I've had price drops on all my ES cruises of between $10 and $70 per person. Sometimes the price only drops for a day or two so to find them you have to watch pretty close. Be sure to check for all the rates you qualify for included upgrades where you could have bought a cheaper room and gotten a free upgrade to the room you paid for.

 

Keep looking even after the class you bought fills up because they occasionally open up more rooms by upselling.

[kath00]

All of our cruises have always gone UP! But then again, we really do book early usually (like a year+ out). Many times, our friends decide to join us a few months before sailing and they are paying $200++ more than we are for the same thing. Booking early is probably much easier, cheaper and less stressful than watching the prices float down (if they do ever).

 

Katherine

[Smile31787]

Yup!! The cruise we took this past March was booked a year in advance with the ES rate. The close the cruise got the rate just kept dropping. Everytime I saw it, I would call. Being we were paid in full we kept getting the onboard credit. There were three of us in a room, so each person got the credit (my son was the third). We ended up with close to $200 of on board credit for our room. Go for it, and just keep checking the prices, especially as the date gets closer!

[tef43]

By definition, ES will provide you with the lowest price that you qualify for.

 

The main difference in price protection with ES is that you are guaranteed the lowest price up until 2 days prior to sailing. Other programs will only price match up to Final Payment Due Date.

 

If you can live with the restrictions, ES is a deal.

[mystone99]

I'm looking at a cruise for next fall. The Early Saver rate is good, but this past year the cruise was even less expensive. I've never booked an Early Saver, so I guess I'm just asking if it's possible for there to still be a price drop, and what else should I know about Early Saver (save me from reading the fine print :)). Thanks for any insights.

 

It doesn't always happen, but last cruise on the Miracle DW and I got $300 in OBC from price drops on early saver. If you know for sure you can go on that cruise (my work schedule is set up a year in advance) then ES is a great deal. But there is a penalty if you have to cancel or change sailing dates.

[NS-Cruiser]

It doesn't always happen, but last cruise on the Miracle DW and I got $300 in OBC from price drops on early saver. If you know for sure you can go on that cruise (my work schedule is set up a year in advance) then ES is a great deal. But there is a penalty if you have to cancel or change sailing dates.

 

When we sailed on the Freedom in '08, we moved from the "Main" deck (#2) up to the SPA Deck with no additional fees - they had lowered the Spa Deck prices to the same price as we had booked the Main Deck for.... good deal for us...

 

And on our last cruise on the Inspiration we ended up staying on the Main Deck, but with an almost $200.00 OBC...

 

We've booked ES rate for our upcoming cruise, but so far everything is going up, and it looks like the 6B cabins are selling out, so hopefully they will drop the prices on a balcony and we can move upwards.... Who knows, either way its the best price we have found... and the rates are up now, so if we had waited, we would have paid more...

 

If you do book ES rates, and then have to cancel, they keep your deposit value as a credit, which you then have 2 years to use for a future cruise... if you don't use it by then, you will lose it..

[SnowshoeCat]

Thank you. We are working on the 2012 schedule at work right now, so I'll know in a week or two if I can get my preferred week off. The ES sounds like a good deal. I'm not one who keeps checking the rates (I book what I find fair. A fair fare :D), but all this talk of price drops has piqued my interest. The restrictions don't seem too restrictive at all.

[KenMo]

I'm not one who keeps checking the rates (I book what I find fair. A fair fare :D), but all this talk of price drops has piqued my interest. The restrictions don't seem too restrictive at all.

 

If you book ES, definately check the rates at least daily (you never know when they will drop). It can pay off big and is the whole point of booking ES.

 

We had a 9C and received a $300 price drop. Didn't really expect one since there are only 6 of these cabins on the ship.

 

My mom had the cabin just forward of us and they had $600 OBC waiting for them on the ship. Ain't nothing to sneeze at.

[CruisingSoon88]

I booked ES on a cruise a couple of years ago. The rate never went down, but it was an aft wrap so I didn't really expect it to anyway. On our last cruise, my resident rate was less than the early saver rate so we went with it. Again, no reductions. I couldn't resist checking to see if we made the right decision. I booked our next cruise in November for next May. I got a casino VIP rate that was again less than early saver. This seems to be a popular cruise so I don't expect any reductions. Plenty of people have luck with using it, but it just hasn't been the best option for us.

[must2cruz]

Yes can they drop. If you book on your own (w/o a travel agent) watch the rates often, maybe daily. We had our rates drop twice last yr on the Freedom after we booked early saver. I forget the name of the email form that you fill out. It will ask where you saw the lower rate, your booking # etc... Very easy to do and worth watching for the rates to drop. Hope this helps.

[kona_wahine]

we booked ES for 2/2013. About a month after booking the price dropped about $40 pp, $80 total. I turned in the form and a few weeks later was informed our booking had changed to the lesser price. Just note, if you have not paid in full, they change the price of the cruise. You do not get OBC. It all comes out the same though. :)

[willy1094]

We booked all 4 of our cruises with ES. I never really knew to watch the rates closely so I'm sure we missed out on the first three. This year we are going with $120 OBC. We figure if something comes up that knocks us out of being able to go we will not care to loose the $50 pp. The rest of the deposit they hold and you have to use w/in two years. Or you can get the insurance but that costs as much or more than you would lose. :confused: Book early (10 months??) if you do ES and watch the rates. I used watching the rates as a way to help cope with waiting for the cruise:o I wouldn't expect the rates to go down after it gets to be a month out though.

[golfadj]

Keep watching ES especially when you get close to your sail date.

[finditapt]

Where do you watch the rates each day? On the Carnival website?

 

 

Keep watching ES especially when you get close to your sail date.

[big_duck]

Where do you watch the rates each day? On the Carnival website?

 

The easiest way:

 

http://www.carnival.com/BookingEngine/FareViewer/#

[Lawgrrl]

If you book ES, definately check the rates at least daily (you never know when they will drop). It can pay off big and is the whole point of booking ES.

 

We had a 9C and received a $300 price drop. Didn't really expect one since there are only 6 of these cabins on the ship.

I fund this very interesting as we're in an aft-facing balcony, category 8N, another cabin with limited availability. So far, no rate less than the ES we booked in May 2011 for February 2012, but you never know!. Also, I'm not expecting big fare drops for a February 26 departure--my recollection is that both the week before and after were slightly more expensive. I'm happy that we got the cabin we wanted for my birthday week (the big 60 this year!); any rate drop or OBC would just be gravy. :)

[golfadj]

where do you watch the rates each day? On the carnival website?

 

yes

[golfpccc]

I fund this very interesting as we're in an aft-facing balcony, category 8N, another cabin with limited availability. So far, no rate less than the ES we booked in May 2011 for February 2012, but you never know!. Also, I'm not expecting big fare drops for a February 26 departure--my recollection is that both the week before and after were slightly more expensive. I'm happy that we got the cabin we wanted for my birthday week (the big 60 this year!); any rate drop or OBC would just be gravy. :)

Keep checking!! We also have an 8N booked, I figured the price would never go down, lo & behold I happened to check 1 day & someone had canceled allowing me to grab a military rate for the cabin--about $80 cheaper pp. So, I have learned to never say never. However, this happened before final payment, but you never know.

[buddylover]

It doesn't always happen, but last cruise on the Miracle DW and I got $300 in OBC from price drops on early saver. If you know for sure you can go on that cruise (my work schedule is set up a year in advance) then ES is a great deal. But there is a penalty if you have to cancel or change sailing dates.

 

Most of the time, the penalty still makes the rate cheaper than any other fare.....it is just $50 loss, the rest of the money is transferrable to another cruise...worth the price difference in fare levels to us. We have had many fares drop in the past, but none recently. We book far out and in recent few years it has never dropped lower than we paid, but conversely it has gone way way up in price. So it has always been the cheapest way for us.

[willy1094]

We booked an aft balcony as well. I only used the rate engine when we were booking. The aft balconies fill up fast so I just started looking at the base price for balcony rooms. Since aft is base price plus so much per day I submitted any time the base price (on the cruise search results page) went down. I only had a problem one time. I guess I worded the request wrong and was denied. They told me I could not downgrade. I reworded and resubmitted and got the rate adjustment. The OBC is really your money and not "free" but it is money you didn't know you would have so it's still real nice to get.

[NileQueen]

How do you find the early saver rate??? Thank you