Do rates ever go below the Early Saver rate?

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thay do some times...

[miyasmom]

Hate to sound like an idiot but where do you check to see if rates have come down? Past cruises I've been on have been booked by a group or friends and we dis get credits, i just never paid attention to how :eek: Thanks!

 

 

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.

[GaNavy]

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.

 

Exactly. For my November cruise on Ecstasy, I booked ES and got a $100 price drop when Carnival ran a one-day :eek: Senior rate.

 

Having said that, it's the only time that the price went down for one of my cruises.

 

Happy sailing!

[GaNavy]

Hate to sound like an idiot but where do you check to see if rates have come down? Past cruises I've been on have been booked by a group or friends and we dis get credits, i just never paid attention to how :eek: Thanks!

 

Go here:

 

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

 

and enter the appropriate info.

[serene56]

Go here:

 

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

 

and enter the appropriate info.

 

 

you compare the price with what you paid on cruise fare only. (not taxes

[askimdog]

I cruise in about 2 weeks for the third time, none of our cruises ever went down and I check very often. We book a year out and everytime they have gone up. This time they are over 160.00 dollars more (before our cabin type sold out).

 

I am still waiting for the magical call to upgrade....someday :)

[eyegirl]

We sailed in Dec 2011, booked with ES. We got $250 off of our balance, since the $ came down before final payment AND $520 OBC ($ came down after final payment) :D

[Ardo09203]

I recently booked a cruise for our honeymoon on the magic in May. The past guest rate was lower than the ES rate. If the rates drop at all before March, am I elegible to receive an upgrade or OBC?

[Naomi John]

Booked ES on 4 cruises since it's inception. Once, our room price dropped so much, we paid $450 total for 3 people on a four night cruise, (not including on board tips, IS Verhanda deck, Fantasy Class). All price drops occurred before final payment. The other was $40 OBC on a 4 night cruise with an AFT Balcony, (Triumph Class cannot remember what floor). No price drops on the other two.

 

I check with the Carnival Booking engine,(don't sign in, do a "dummy" booking"), the web site some have suggested, and also check other travel sites.

 

I book through a TA, so have to note the price drop, call her, (or email), and then wait. Never had a problem, but sometimes wished I booked on my own. Some of the one day specials I know I have missed. But, I love my TA.

[MikeHem510]

hell my cove balcony on dream for may 5th went up 210 dollar per person.....i am patting my self on the back i did a good job lol

[Alliezona09]

I recently booked a cruise for our honeymoon on the magic in May. The past guest rate was lower than the ES rate. If the rates drop at all before March, am I elegible to receive an upgrade or OBC?

 

Past Guest rate is eligible for rate reductions up until final payment, after that you can upgrade to a higher catergory cabin if its less than what you paid for your cabin.

 

And my rate for my 3day cruise was $259pp when I purchased it and it has dropped to $209pp. There are also 2 guarantee rates for $189/169pp that I am trying to price match, knowing I will have to give up my cabin.

[EMTNURSE]

Some times the price does drop below the Early saver price. My son went on his honeymoon on Carnival legend and the week before he left the price dropped $300pp. they had a 600 credit on the ship. You just have to keep checking with Carnival. I call my cruise planner every couple weeks. So far I have gotten my cruise down $150. I sail on the Dream in February.

[seniormom]

I booked in June 2011 for an April 2012 5 day cruise on Triumph. So far I've received $340 reduction for my 9C (aft wrap) and $170 reduction for my 4D interior. I'm sold on early saver!

[Kerryman50]

I'm sold on booking ES with the price drops when they happen and the FCC and stockholder OBC credits it has worked out very well for us.:)

 

The only thing is that you have to track it very carefully and when it's not correct you have to call CCL to get it corrected, which they have done when I found errors.

 

The CCL IT system could be better but overall it has worked for us.

[glrounds]

I would say it depends:

 

There certainly are exceptions to every rule, I guess.

 

Only 3 day cruise I've ever been on was booked 2 days before the cruise. Wasn't planning on cruising that early but got on the 3-day Mexico run on the ELATION out of San Diego for $99pp for my son and me ! ! Had a ball.

 

[elcuchio24]

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)

 

I think alot depends on the time of year. We have (almost) always gotten at least some OBC on sept/oct cruises. Anywhere for $50-$500. But during the summer I wouldn't expect any.

[near the beach]

On our past seven bookings only two have not had any price drops. That means those two I got the best rate available on them. The rest I received some on board credit or a credit to the cruise price to the ones I had not paid in full yet.

[cruise_pirate]

I have gotten a price drop on EVERY cruise except the first one in 1997. and probably because I did not know about it..:p

[coder01]

Where do request the price drop? Do you call your vacation planner or is there a place on Carnivals website to request the price drop?

[serene56]

I think alot depends on the time of year. We have (almost) always gotten at least some OBC on sept/oct cruises. Anywhere for $50-$500. But during the summer I wouldn't expect any.

 

 

we cruise in Sept. (3rd week) and the week of valentines day. Every year.

This year we tried to go on an off week- January 29th- nothing not even a dollar--LOL and cruise is sold out for quite a few weeks now

[Alliezona09]

Where do request the price drop? Do you call your vacation planner or is there a place on Carnivals website to request the price drop?

 

If you booked Early Saver than fill out this form and send it in:

 

http://www.carnival.com/cms/requestforms/CCLEarlySaverForm.aspx

 

If you booked any other rate and you are before final payment call your PVP, if after final payment, you can not get the price drop, however you might be able to get an upgrade to a higher category cabin if it's lower than what you paid.

[happy to be sailing]

we booked a grand suite on a med cruise on the new Breeze about 8 months ago.The price dropped 2 weeks ago & i called our TA & she saved us $700.because we have not made final payment yet she deducted it off our balance owing.This is a great service that Carnival has.

[Ladybug75]

This is my first time booking an ES Rate. I booked my April 2, 2012 cruise in early November. I started checking prices every once and a while. I thought it was worthless at first, but then one day, I saw that the rates had dropped $75 per person. I submitted my form and 2 weeks later, they had taken $150 off of my remaining balance. The next day I checked, the prices had shot up. So you do have to check everyday. Since my cruise is paid off now, any remaining price drops will be OBC. I am hopeful for OBC!

[pattycake08]

So if I understand correctly, you as the cruiser are responsible for seeing if the price drops & informing either Carnival yourself if you booked through them or letting your TA know, its not as if the price drops below what you paid someone will be nice enough & let you know, correct?

[urbanhawk]

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.

 

Just an f.y.i.-Does Early Saver follow Carnival’s standard deposit, payment and cancellation terms?

The deposit and payment terms are the same. However, Early Saver reservations require a full non-refundable deposit per person. Last week, when I spoke with my p.v.p. about a pending reservation for this Dec.-if I understood him correctly, if I needed to cancel my cruise within days of the sailing (and I had no insurance), the TOTAL I paid for the cruise would be lost-there would no longer be a $50 cancellation fee, and the nonrefundable deposit would no longer be transferrable. Is this correct from what I heard him say? Thanks.