What has happened to the Early Saver option?

[dulcimergirl]

It's gone on the cruises I'm looking at, and Fall and Winter sale has taken its place. All my cruises are at least 3, 6, and 8 months out. Am I correct that it has to be an Early Saver price to get a drop on my existing cruise's I have booked? I did book ES. How can I compare rates if the ES option isn't there? Driving me nuts thinking maybe I'm missing a price drop.. lol

[bridgetjonesni]

If you have booked ES I believe you can price match to any rate that allows you to choose your category of cabin, including the Fall and Winter Sale.

[chocolate melting cake]

No, it doesn't have to be Early Saver. If any price (other than Easy Saver) is lower just fill out the form and get your matching price, or if you're paid up get OBC!

[dulcimergirl]

Great, thanks for answering! I appreciate it. Things I don't know about cruising could fill a cruise ship.. lol a big one.

If I book Fall and Winter sale, do I get price drops with that?

[Kim_KS]

I noticed the Early Saver rates were gone when I checked on a cruise yesterday too. Maybe a glitch?

[dallas52]

but what happens if you want to book an early saver rate, like he said, they arent showing it?

[dulcimergirl]

but what happens if you want to book an early saver rate, like he said, they arent showing it?

Exactly what I want to know.. Can you get price drops if you book Fall and Winter sale? I hope there not eliminating ES, so they don't have to honor price drops..

[ExFed drvr]

but what happens if you want to book an early saver rate, like he said, they arent showing it?

 

You have to book at least 6 months out to get Early Saver...But they will match any price including sales, resident, Friends & family ETC...My TA (for years) has told us that she will not book any Early Saver cruises for us because Carnival has made it too hard and time consuming to get the price drops...Here we come PVP....Dennis

[Elaine5715]

Early Saver stops being offered a few months before sail date and new cruisers can no longer book it because it is no longer Early.

[dale1088]

Dumb newbie question here...I booked Early Saver via Priceline. You have to be able to find your exact cabin classification in order to compare, right?

[tree.critter]

Exactly what I want to know.. Can you get price drops if you book Fall and Winter sale? I hope there not eliminating ES, so they don't have to honor price drops..

 

I was thinking the same thing, I've booked nearly all my cruises with the ES rate and like many others watch rates closely and/or use service that keeps track of them for us. Great for us... maybe not so great for CCL and their staff that have to process all these ES rate reductions. Knowing far in advance though that price is protected makes it easy to book the room we want and know we won't be kicking ourselves in the future when we see rate reductions. I've got my fingers crossed since we're waiting on a couple more itinerary releases.

[njmomof2]

You have to book at least 6 months out to get Early Saver...But they will match any price including sales, resident, Friends & family ETC...My TA (for years) has told us that she will not book any Early Saver cruises for us because Carnival has made it too hard and time consuming to get the price drops...Here we come PVP....Dennis

 

That's too bad. I put one in yesterday for a client who is not sailing until December and had the confirmation of price drop within hours. I have had some where I had to resubmit, but all in all, it works fine.

[ExFed drvr]

Dumb newbie question here...I booked Early Saver via Priceline. You have to be able to find your exact cabin classification in order to compare, right?

 

Yes, it has to be a cabin in your category..I have friends that love the 4K's (French doors obstructed view) but they go fast and usually do not re-appear..Dennis

[HeidiHo]

Last week when I was pricing a cruise, the rate was called Fall and Winter Sale/Early Saver, now they have removed the Early Saver part of that and are just calling it Fall and Winter Sale and there is no Early Saver at all.

[CruzCrazy]

Last week when I was pricing a cruise, the rate was called Fall and Winter Sale/Early Saver, now they have removed the Early Saver part of that and are just calling it Fall and Winter Sale and there is no Early Saver at all.

 

 

I've noticed the same thing. The cruises I'm looking at should still have the Early Saver option because they are still 6-8 months out from sail date, but the regular "Early Saver" disappeared with the institution of this new fall and winter sale.

 

I could be wrong, but I'm thinking that they've decided to remove Early Saver while these sales are running so that new bookings can't book Early Saver and then turn right around the put in for the price reduction based on the current sale (which I've been successful in doing previously). This way, they will get more people booking under the sale fare code, and these bookings wouldn't be eligible for price drops after final payment due date. (I've noticed other cruises that are not included in the fall and winter sale still have the regular Early Saver option).

 

Another thing is that these sales with reduced deposits with Early Saver included (like the last sale) were causing confusion because when people were trying to get price adjustments to other fares that were not reduced deposits, they were being blindsided by the fact that they would need to put down a full deposit when matching.

 

If my suspicion is correct, it could be that the regular Early Saver option will return when the sale is over (for cruises that are still far enough out).

[overeasy]

ES is supposed to be available 3 months or more before sailing for 3-5 day cruises, and 5 months before 6+ day cruises, but I see that for Galveston departures anyway the next available ES rates are for March 2014! Crud I hope they're not changing the rules on us.

[girlscruise2011]

I asked my PVP because I want to switch from Past Guest to Early Saver and she said the same thing. She thinks that due to the sale going on that they removed the ES option. She thought it might have been a glitch in the system. (Like we haven't heard that before :))

[dulcimergirl]

Early Saver stops being offered a few months before sail date and new cruisers can no longer book it because it is no longer Early.

All the cruises I'm looking at are way beyond 3 and 6 months out. Even 8 months out I can't get ES. I think there stopping it, there giving to much money back.. even if OBC. I'm betting the Fall and Winter sale will go on until next spring. So, we're out of luck with the ES.. (sigh)

[graceraffo]

Yes I think they took off ES for the sale only. Looks like it is gone for the fall and winter cruises due to the sale. I just "fake booked" a cruise for June 2014 and the Early Saver is there.

[HeidiHo]

According to goccl (the travel agent website) the Fall and Winter Sale only goes through tomorrow. I wouldn't hold my breath on that though. The Friends and Family event kept getting extended.

[ccruisequeen]

But they also have to match any qualifiers (ie 50% deposit).

 

 

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[BMurph1998]

OP you are correct on ES not showing up. They had a glitch a month or so ago and looks like another one. My cruise is Feb and ES is gone from rates. Glad mine is already booked and I am just checking rates!!! :)

[shandora]

I just called and talked to Carnival and they told me that if your early saver rates are gone that means that they are not offering it for that sailing anymore. It seems a little fishy to me since I know that in the past it has disappeared and then showed up again after a sale. I told her that my sailing wasn't until Jan. but she said that it didn't matter because they reached early saver capacity...lol

[lovebelle]

I just called and talked to Carnival and they told me that if your early saver rates are gone that means that they are not offering it for that sailing anymore. It seems a little fishy to me since I know that in the past it has disappeared and then showed up again after a sale. I told her that my sailing wasn't until Jan. but she said that it didn't matter because they reached early saver capacity...lol

 

Lol...another case of hand doesn't know what foot is up to. It seems this s an ongoing issue though (ES vanishing and showing up again). I wish whomever is responsible would just communicate the issue (or change in policy if thats the problem), so we can get accurate info and not just speculation.

[CruzCrazy]

I just called and talked to Carnival and they told me that if your early saver rates are gone that means that they are not offering it for that sailing anymore. It seems a little fishy to me since I know that in the past it has disappeared and then showed up again after a sale. I told her that my sailing wasn't until Jan. but she said that it didn't matter because they reached early saver capacity...lol

 

I know they CAN remove the Early Saver option at their discretion anytime before the usual 5 months prior to sail date (3 months for shorter cruises), but I think it would be highly unlikely that all of these cruises would have the Early Saver option removed because of "meeting early saver capacity." That would be a huge coincidence!

 

I still think it has to do with the sale going on right now, that they found too many people were looking at these sales but then booking Early Saver instead and immediately submitting price reduction requests for the sale price, and they decided to "fix" that or close the loophole by removing Early Saver for the duration of the sale. Sure, if you already had an Early Saver booking, you can price match to the current sale--but there won't be new Early Saver bookings trying to take advantage of the current sale.

 

This "fall and winter sale" is good for cruises through February 2014. It will be interesting to see whether Early Saver comes back on these particular cruises after the sale has expired, whenever that is. These days, it seems like there is a "sale" all the time--either the sale deadline gets extended or they only go a few days between sales--each with its own gimmick.

 

I actually think this strategy will work for them in the long run. They get new bookings on the sale, and many people won't bother to check later to see if they can switch to Early Saver. Even if they can switch, the price may be higher than what they paid during the sale--so they'd be taking a gamble that there will be future price drops to make up the difference.